2 Chapter 2: Concubine Lu

Slowly coming in, Yingyue sensed no movement; it was as if this was an abandoned courtyard. Xiao Zhu seemed to feel her hesitation and held onto Yingyue's hands assuringly. "Third Miss, don't worry too much. Concubine Lu won't blame you and she really misses you. You should quickly go inside to her."

"Concubine Lu...?" Yingyue obediently followed inside, feeling a sense of familiarity. As they came through the narrow door, she heard quietly sniffling and shuffling around in the inner room.

Hearing movement outside, a teary Concubine Lu immediately rushed out and embraced her little girl. "Yue'er, mother is here. Your father was really too harsh on you yesterday. Mother knows you would never take your sister's hairpin."

Yingyue felt the young woman's arms wrap around her and stood within her warm embrace. "Mother...?"

Although she had a wealthy family in her previous life, her parents had always been strict. Even though they loved her, they never really displayed their affection. Hence, it had been years since she felt the warm embrace of her own mother.

As the little girl had been standing there for a while, not saying a word, Concubine Lu pulled back to examine her child. Losing the feeling of warmth, Yingyue finally came to her senses. As Concubine Lu was examining her body, she looked at the young woman in front of her; she realised that this woman only seemed to be in her late twenties. It seemed odd that Yingyue, who was already 23 in her previous life, could call this woman mother when she was more like an older sister.

Even though she wasn't wearing makeup and was visibly sleep deprived, Concubine Lu was still a blossoming beauty with round eyes, peachy cheeks and a pointed chin. If Yun'er was here she would have thought that this Concubine Lu was a famous actress, if not at least a model. "Yue'er, you must tell Mother if it hurts. Your father didn't mean to hit you so hard."

Hit her hard? From the feeling of her backside, it seems that he had nearly beaten the little girl to death. And for taking her sister's hairpin? Pshh, these people really took everything too seriously. She was curious about how this father of hers looked. She had never met a single person who was as strict as her own father in her previous life.

Seeing her daughter's tired and pained body, her heart could only ache. "Xiao Zhu, go quickly find Nanny Mu and draw a bath. Yue'er needs to get ready for the test, otherwise, we will be late."

Test? What is this monthly test they keep talking about? "Yue'er, listen to mother. Mother knows that you have tried your best to learn more this month; you must try hard this time, otherwise, your father will really beat you again. Do you understand?"

"En." The girl's voice was soft like a kitten. Even though she still hadn't figured out what was going on, for some reason, she wanted to make this girl's mother happy. Perhaps, in her heart, she had already accepted Concubine Lu as her mother in this life...

Another woman dressed in servant's clothing came into the room; it must be the Nanny Mu that Concubine Lu had called. She seemed to be in her fifties with a round face and kind eyes. "Xiao Zhu, let's take Third Miss to clean up."

When they let down her hair, it fell so long that it reached her bottoms. She had never seen hair so long in her previous life except in the historical dramas - it seems that the depiction of the dramas was quite similar to what it was like here. How is it that she had travelled to the past though...

The hair, being that long, took quite some time before it was clean. Then, the two of them scrubbed at her petite body until the skin was shining like pearls. It felt awkward for her body to be revealed to these people that she had never even met, but for some reason, she felt that the pampering was not too bad.

Not long after, they dried her hair and dressed her up. Even though her clothes were evidently old, they were still beautiful in her eyes, and fit her small body perfectly. Sitting down in front of the bronze mirror, she was shocked by the sight before her.

The image in the mirror was the face of a young girl. She had a pair of phoenix eyes that were lined by long lashes. Her peachy cheeks and pointed chin, that was framed by long hair, was just like her mother's. This girl was a real beauty! Well, at least after transmigrating, she had not lost her beauty from the previous life.

"Concubine Lu, it seems that Third Miss will grow up to be beautiful just like you." Xiao Zhu praised while organising Yingyue's hair into a cute shuang ping ji hairstyle [1]. Although Yingyue enjoyed this feeling of being pampered, she sighed. It seems that getting ready in this world takes much longer than in her previous life. The old Yingyue had always had a great complexion, so she never wore much makeup, and only needed to take a shower before she went to work at the hospital. Being the head surgeon, she was often needed to come in for emergencies, so she had never sat in front of a mirror for this long.

While Yingyue was blanking out, Xiao Zhu had already finished. She sighed; it was such a shame that the beautiful young miss was so untalented, otherwise, she would outshine her other sisters by a long way.

"Yue'er, come along now. We can't leave everyone waiting or else you will be scolded by your father again." Concubine Lu held her daughter's hand and pulled her along towards the main hall. Looks like she would finally find out what this 'test' was all about. She, Yingyue, had never failed a test in her life.