Duoduo shook her head.
“Father is very busy. There’s no need to trouble him over something so minor.”
“Besides, I’m not going out. I’m only asking him to come here.”
“Surely he wouldn’t dare cause trouble inside the Prince of Pingyang’s residence!”
Qingliu thought the Princess’s words did make sense.
Only then did she go over and call the young man inside.
Duoduo and Lüdou stood together as Qingliu led him to the entrance of the manor.
The young man reached the gate and let his eyes move between Duoduo and Lüdou.
Since Lüdou was no longer registered as a servant and had to go to the shop to inspect the business, she was no longer dressed like a maid.
Today, Lüdou wore a goose-yellow blouse and skirt. A gold hairpin adorned her hair, and she wore a matching gold bracelet.
Duoduo had been bored that morning and insisted on dressing Lüdou up. She even refused to let Lüdou take the jewelry off.
Duoduo had teased her, telling her to experience what it was like to live as a young lady.
Duoduo herself disliked gold and silver jewelry. Since she had to practice martial arts and refine medicine, she favored comfortable clothing.
So today, Duoduo was wearing green trousers.
At a glance, her outfit looked somewhat similar to Qingliu’s.
When Qingliu came to stand beside Duoduo, the young man immediately knew which of them was the person he was looking for.
A brilliant smile spread across his face, and he rushed excitedly toward Lüdou.
“Little Sister! I finally found you!”
The young man’s shout left not only Lüdou, but even Duoduo, completely stunned.
Duoduo looked at Lüdou curiously. How had she never known that Lüdou had family?
Lüdou was equally bewildered.
The young man looked vaguely familiar to her.
Could he really be some relative of hers?
Seeing the confusion on Lüdou’s face, the young man hurriedly patted his chest.
“Little Sister, don’t you recognize me?”
“I’m your Second Brother! Your Second Brother!”
“Second Brother?” Lüdou desperately searched through every relative she could remember.
Her mind was completely blank.
Qingliu, standing nearby, was puzzled when she realized that the young man had come looking for Lüdou.
She had clearly heard him asking about the Princess.
She tugged lightly at Lüdou’s sleeve. Lüdou turned around.
Qingliu leaned close to Lüdou’s ear and whispered, “The person he was asking about just now was the Princess.”
The trace of excitement in Lüdou’s eyes at the thought of seeing a relative vanished instantly.
She turned back and stared at the young man once more. She seemed to have guessed who he was.
Lüdou looked at Duoduo and blinked at her.
Duoduo was puzzled.
Lüdou then turned around and gave the young man a half-bow.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“I have no family. Every one of my relatives is dead.”
Her tone was severe.
Song Shuzhou froze for a moment before displeasure appeared on his face.
“Second Sister, how can you say that?”
“Back then, our parents were forced into selling you to someone else as a servant.”
“They didn’t do it willingly. It was all because… that person forced Father into it!”
“You were too young to understand!”
“Besides, without Father letting you go, how could you have become the Princess of the Prince of Pingyang’s residence?”
“Now that you’ve married into a powerful household, have you forgotten your family completely?”
When Duoduo heard Song Shuzhou’s words, she finally understood.
What had Lüdou meant by blinking at her just now?
She fell silent, clasped her hands in front of her stomach, straightened her back, and stared at the young man.
Aside from her two brothers, whom she rarely saw, no one else would call her “Little Sister.”
Duoduo had only seen her two brothers once or twice.
The first time was during the New Year, when the Song family had hosted a banquet.
Duoduo and Lüdou had sneaked into the kitchen for food and seen the two brothers striding proudly through the rear courtyard in the distance.
The other time, Song Shuyu had insisted on making a snowman with the two brothers.
Duoduo had seen them from far away then as well.
On both occasions, they had been too far away for her to make out their features.
Duoduo believed the same was true for them.
They probably had no idea what she looked like, either.
Duoduo considered the young man before her.
He was probably her Second Brother.
What was his name again?
Song Shuzhou!
Her elder brother had passed the examination to become a licentiate and fancied himself a man of letters.
He would never come to take part in such an emotional scene, not even if he were beaten to death.
So the person who had come must be her second brother.
Still, someone she had never truly met was suddenly acting so familiar with her.
It reminded her of what Master Li had once said:
“When someone offers you a favor for no reason, they’re up to no good.”
She wanted to see exactly what he had come for.
Duoduo pressed her lips together and decided not to say a word.
Hearing Song Shuzhou’s words, Lüdou’s face filled with scorn.
“Family?”
“When you were eating the finest food and drinking the best wine, did you ever remember that your little sister was starving in the rear courtyard?”
“When you were dressed in fine silk, did you ever remember that you had a little sister who didn’t even have proper clothes to wear?”
“At the Song residence, your little sister ate worse than a dog. As her elder brother, why didn’t you show up then?”
Song Shuzhou’s face flushed red after being denounced in public.
“I’m a man. I lived in the front courtyard. How was I supposed to know what happened in the rear courtyard?”
Lüdou’s face was full of mockery.
“Oh? You didn’t know?”
“You don’t even know how old your own sister is or what she looks like, yet you still have the nerve to call yourself her brother!”
Song Shuzhou’s face and neck turned bright red.
“Second Sister, I know you resent us.”
“Father said that we don’t blame you!”
“Let’s put the past behind us.”
“Our parents are both in the capital now. Before long, our whole family can be reunited.”
“I came today to ask whether you want to return home.”
“Father said that he was in the wrong back then and regretted it afterward.”
“That’s why he traveled all the way to the capital to look for you.”
“We’re planning to ask the Prince of Pingyang to let us buy your freedom.”
Lüdou’s eyes filled with surprise.
She instinctively looked at Duoduo.
Song Shuzhou had been watching Lüdou the entire time, so he followed her gaze and looked toward Duoduo.
He thought the maid looked somewhat familiar.
Then he remembered what his father had told him: the maid who had served Duoduo in the past had stayed by his sister’s side all this time.
Song Shuzhou racked his memory.
What was that maid’s name again?
Some kind of bean?
Red Bean?
Yellow Bean?
Golden Bean?
Song Shuzhou simply clenched his teeth and blurted out a name at random.
“You’re the maid who serves my second sister—Red Bean, right?”
“Father said that you and my sister are very close. If you’re willing to return to the Song residence, we can buy your freedom as well!”
Duoduo stared at Song Shuzhou for a long while. Then she suddenly broke into a dazzling smile.
“This is the Prince of Pingyang’s residence. People climb upward, while water flows downward!”
Song Shuzhou’s face filled with disdain.
“Long hair, little sense!”
“Forget it if she doesn’t want to leave!”
“Once you return home, Second Brother will find you a better maid!”
Lüdou stepped behind Duoduo.
“Qingliu, throw him out.”
