Even though Chu Lian wasn’t too fond of this half-sister of hers, it was the grand opening of her restaurant today, so she couldn’t really leave Miss Yuan hanging. She reached out and tugged at Miss Su’s sleeve with a smile as she said, “It’s about time now. Fifth Sister, Seventh Sister, Ninth Sister, the kitchen will send our meal over soon.”
Miss Su quickly shot a glance at the table behind them before looking at Chu Lian again. When she noticed that Chu Lian’s expression was calm, she inwardly heaved a sigh of relief before leading Chu Lian down to sit by the table.
As much as Miss Su and Miss Fu wanted to avoid creating any awkward situations, with Miss Yuan around, how could that be possible?
Miss Yuan sent another look at her handmaid. The handmaid then brought over a tray with the freshly brewed tea with an arrogant swagger to her walk. She kept her haughty expression even as she set a teacup in front of each of the ladies at the table.
Miss Yuan picked up the white porcelain teacup and lifted it to her nose. After a short sniff, she acted as if she was drunk on the smell of the tea. She then smiled and boastfully said, “Sixth Sister, I usually drink this Zhengshan tea at home, thanks to Grandfather and Grandmother’s love for me. After getting used to it, I just can’t drink any of this North Fujian loose-leaf tea of yours. I’m sure Sixth Sister has never had a chance to taste this Zhengshan tea before. Why don’t you try some?”
Chu Lian stared at Miss Yuan with her big, bright eyes- eyes that seemed like they could see through everyone’s hearts. Miss Yuan didn’t dare to meet that gaze and hurriedly looked away. Even though she should have been pleased with herself, there was a mysterious sense of guilt in her heart.
Miss Su and Miss Fu stiffened in surprise and turned to Chu Lian with peculiar expressions.
Chu Lian innocently blinked. “Thank you for the offer, Seventh Sister, but unfortunately, I don’t like sencha anymore.”
She had absolutely zero interest towards sencha. Forget Zhengshan; even if it was the highest grade of tea straight from the imperial tribute itself, Chu Lian still wouldn’t be interested. Seventh Miss Chu Yuan could slowly savour her precious Zhengshan tea by herself.
Chu Lian’s answer was completely out of Miss Yuan’s expectations. She stared at Chu Lian with wide eyes, her true emotions completely revealed on her face despite her best efforts to hide them.
How could that be? Back in the Ying Estate, Chu Lian had taken utmost pride in her sencha-brewing skill. Even Old Duke Ying had praised her for it once. At every special occasion or family banquet, she would always offer to brew some sencha to show off her skills and earn the favour of the older members in their family. However, despite her skill in tea ceremony, she still wasn’t able to get any high-quality tea in her hands. Miss Yuan always mocked her for that, even purposely wasting precious high-quality tea right in front of her eyes.
Today, she had gotten this Zhengshan tea specifically to provoke her. How could Chu Lian say that she didn’t like sencha anymore!
How could someone who had previously been so in love with sencha suddenly change her mind? Was that even possible?
All sorts of thoughts ran through Miss Yuan’s head for a while before she finally managed to calm down. She found the perfect excuse for herself and decided that Chu Lian was just hiding her real emotions. She was probably going mad with envy and jealousy inside, and only acting as if nothing was wrong on the surface.
Saying that she didn’t want to drink the tea was just to avoid feeling sad over it.
Hmph, she had already figured out exactly what that Chu Lian was thinking!
“Since Sixth Sister doesn’t like it, then the three of us will drink it together.”
After saying so, she took a sip right in front of Chu Lian, and even purposely started telling Miss Fu how sweet and aromatic the tea was and how it contained all sorts of flavours.
If Chu Lian knew that Miss Yuan’s abnormal behaviour was meant to provoke her, she would have rolled her eyes directly at Miss Yuan.
Since she was so good at jumping to conclusions, why didn’t she just jump straight up to heaven?
Conversely, Miss Su was the one who looked at Chu Lian with worry. “Sixth Sister, you used to love sencha so much. Why don’t you like it anymore?”
Chu Lian reassured her with a smile. “I’m not sure why, but I just lost all liking for it. Now I prefer to drink honey water or fruit teas. Perhaps our tastebuds just change with time.”
When Miss Su heard her explanation, she got lost a little in her thoughts. When she thought of how different Chu Lian’s life had turned after marrying into House Jing’an, she didn’t know whether she felt more sympathy or happiness for Chu Lian.
“Sixth Sister said it well. You’ll be happy as long as you follow your heart.”
Miss Yuan glanced at them from the corner of her eyes. Her mind was filled with hatred as she thought, ‘Keep acting, just keep acting! I want to see how long Chu Lian can keep acting for!’
Chu Lian didn’t have any energy to waste on guessing Miss Yuan’s thoughts. There was so much on her plate. There was no need to bother with a small fry like Miss Yuan who only knew how to jump up and down in a temper. She wasn’t the original ‘Chu Lian’ so Miss Yuan was just a stranger to her. As long as Miss Yuan didn’t go overboard, she wouldn’t use any of her limited time and energy to deal with her.
She wasn’t the original ‘Chu Lian’ anymore and she didn’t share any of her past likes. If she suddenly changed all at once, it might draw unnecessary attention, so why not remind her maiden family bit by bit that she was slowly starting to change? She was no longer that Chu Lian who stayed hidden in the Ying Estate.
Telling them that she no longer liked sencha was just the start.
She believed that Miss Su would remember her words. As long as Miss Su knew this, Madam Rong would naturally find out about it as well, and if Madam Rong knew, then so did the entire Ying Estate.
