"She said she'll be coming back this weekend." When mentioning her daughter, Lady Fang unconsciously revealed a smile.
Xia Rou asked: "I heard she is studying at a university, why is her holiday so late?"
"No, no, they've already started their holiday." Lady Fang said. "She's graduating, so she went for an internship. Haiz, her company tries to squeeze interns for free labor, always asking them to stay late for work and the don't dare say no. At least the internship is ending now, she's coming back soon."
"Wait till she's back, then you can have someone to accompany you. I'll ask her to play with you," Lady Fang continued. "This house is filled with masculine energy, it should have a girl to balance it out."
Xia Rou smiled gently, she was looking forward to it too.
In her past life she didn't spend too much time with Lady Fang's daughter, but she remembered her as a passionate big sister. When she was all alone in the Cao Family and nobody looked upon her well, only He Lili was kind to her.
Although she didn't get along with Lady Fang, she was very close to He Lili.
Not long after, Lady Fang had suddenly resigned from her job and left the house. Then she never met He Lili after that. Although she hated Lady Fang a lot, she would still sometimes miss that big sister.
The temperature was getting warmer day by day in the summer. Time flew as cicadas filled the air with their singing.
He Lili came back on a weekend. Translated by The Novelst
She had just graduated from university, so she was very young in her early twenties. But her chest was already bulging, unlike Xia Rou at 15 who was always seen as a child. He Lili had already started to ripen and become mature.
Her attitude toward Xia Rou was the same passion as in her memories.
"Are you Xia Rou? Oh my, you're really a little sister." He Lili smiled radiantly. "Your timing is so unfortunate. The second floor is still being renovated. Have you looked around the rooms yet? I can take you around so you can get used to the house."
In the past, Xia Rou had always been sensitive to other people's piercing gazes, so she would always lock herself inside her room and refuse to budge. It was also He Lili who had come back in her past and brought her around to look at the house.
In this life, Xia Rou had already been living in this house for almost ten years, so she was already familiar with the house. So even when she moved into the Cao Family, she didn't explore just like in her past.
Lady Fang felt that Xia Rou was a quiet and honest girl, so she told He Lili to bring her to walk around the house, since Xia Rou would still need to move into the main building once the second floor was finished.
Xia Rou knew that many of her past actions must be repeated once more. So she did not reject He Lili's kindness and followed her to the main building.
There were four floors in the main building. In the renovation, although they retained the original style of the building, they added a passenger lift and a worker lift for convenience. They first took a passenger lift to the fourth floor.
"I'm telling you this now, don't go to the fourth floor because that's where Commander and Madam Cao's bedrooms and study rooms are. Madam Cao also used to have a guest room here. You shouldn't simply enter this floor, especially because Madam Cao's room is here."
Even as He Lili warned Xia Rou, she herself familiarly led the way and pushed open the wooden door to Madam Cao's room. "Look, this used to be Madam Cao's room."
This room was probably the most unfamiliar to Xia Rou in this building. Even in the past when He Lili brought her to take a look, she had stood at the entrance to only peek in, and hadn't gone in.
In this life, she stopped in front of the door, same as before, and determinedly looked at He Lili.
"Didn't you say not to simply go in?"
He Lili grinned. "It's fine for me because I grew up here. Nobody can say anything to me, just don't touch anything. Come in, look at the bed. I'm telling you, this is an antique!" As she was saying this, she unceremoniously plopped on the bed.
This was a bed given by Cao Xiong to Madam Cao. He had poured a lot of effort in to obtain the bed. It was elegantly made in a western, classical style, and there were complicated patterns carved into the bedpost. He Lili traced the exquisite patterns, her gaze filled with passion.
However, Xia Rou stood in front of the door, her heart turning cold.
Was this the enthusiastic big sister of her memories?
That was right. Now that she remembered, He Lili warned her in the past not to step into Madam Cao's room, but her actions clearly spelled out the message, "actually it's fine to come in."
Madam Cao had passed away over ten years ago, but her master bedroom and guest room had still remained the same as when she was alive after all these years. Simply from that, Xia Rou could imagine how deeply Cao Xiong loved his wife, and also her importance as the mother to the four brothers of the Cao Family. It was common sense to everybody in the house that Madam Cao's room was forbidden to enter.
He Lili could enter not because nobody dared to say a word to her, but because the men of the Cao Family were not at home during the day, so they weren't aware. Also because she was the daughter of the person in charge of the house, she had a higher position when compared to others. Nobody dared to gab and make trouble for He Lili.
But… What if she had listened to He Lili's words and entered Madam Cao's room. What if she had carelessly touched the things left behind by Madam Cao? Once the men of the Cao Family knew, what would happen then?
Xia Rou didn't want to imagine any further. Translated by The Novelst
No matter how kind the Cao Family was, they still had their own bottom line.
Proofread by: Hannah