The Fourth Miss is Not a Simple Beauty

Her eyes opened up to the familiar ceiling of her own bedroom. 

Yujia paused, trying to remember what had exactly happened. A few colors flashed in her mind, with light blue being the one that stood out to her the most. 

Her head flinched to the side when she realized she had passed out while the five hundred taels were in Hui'er's hands. She saw that Hui'er sat next to her, holding a basin of water and a towel, her eyebrows flying up when she saw that Yujia had woken. 

"Miss!" she exclaimed. "You're awake quicker than I expected."

"How… long did I faint for?" Yujia struggled to push herself up as she spoke, but Hui'er quickly pushed her back down. 

"You're still weak, Miss. You shouldn't get up— keep lying down."

Yujia's eyebrows creased with worry, sharply asking, "What about the taels? Where are the taels? Are they safe?"

Hui'er nodded, gesturing to a slender wooden box on the table behind her. "Yes, yes. I even exchanged it for five gold taels. And to answer your question from before, you've been asleep for… less than an hour?"

"Then, let me deliver this to my father!" 

Yujia tried to get up again, but Hui'er pushed her down once more, shaking her head. "Get some rest first. Besides, the Old Master—"

Before she could finish her words, she paused at the sound of someone entering the room. Immediately, both her and Hui'er turned to look at who it was. 

Yu Zixu. 

The moment she saw his face, Yujia blinked a couple times to make sure she was seeing the right face. Yet there was no mistake to what she was seeing— a pair of dark eyes, pale and thin lips, and the sharply defined structure of his face— this was Zixu, no doubt. 

But why was he here?

Unless… Yujia was hallucinating?

Hui'er waved away Yujia's suspicion of hallucinations by calling out, "Young Master Yu! You really didn't have to."

She stood up and walked over to Zixu, who handed a tied package of medicine over to her. Quietly, he informed, "The directions for the prescription are with the package."

Yujia slowly stared at him, taking in the light blue color of his robes. Ah. She pieced two and two together, coming to an understanding of what may have happened for him to be in her room right now. Still, though, it was awkward to see him here. Wasn't he afraid of damaging both of their reputations?

Seeing that Yujia had a lack of response, Hui'er apologetically said to Zixu,  "My young miss must be shocked." She swiftly hurried back to Yujia, whispering under her breath, "Miss, Young Master Yu was the one who caught you when you fell and carried you back to the villa! He also went back and bought you medicine at the shop. If it weren't for him, I really wouldn't know what to do!"

Yujia paused, eyeing Zixu with the corner of her eye. "Why would he do that? Isn't it overstepping his boundaries to do all of that for… me?" If it was Xiaoyi who was in her situation, she would understand, but heavens, she was going to marry his father the very next day if something went wrong. 

Hui'er shook her head. "It's a hero saving the beauty— the most natural of things!" 

Upon hearing Hui'er say that, Yujia internally regretted some of the past words she told Hui'er. After telling Hui'er that she was from the future, Yujia also told Hui'er many stories from the future, with some of them coming from stories she had read or watched. She specifically mentioned the "hero saving the beauty" trope, and then told Hui'er about how after the hero saved the beauty, the beauty always dedicated her whole life to him. 

Of course, Yujia told this story in a mocking manner. How ridiculous was it for someone to decide the ending of their whole life to someone they barely met just because that certain someone saved them? Even so, Hui'er seemed to be really interested in it and remembered her words. She even brought it up last night when they were talking as they ate the cakes, making fun of how now that Yu Zixu saved her in the water, some things were bound to occur…

Yujia immediately shut down those dangerous ideas. 

Except now, hearing all of this again, Yujia felt her cheeks burning up. It was funny when Hui'er mentioned these things when the two were alone, but not when a certain young master was right next to them, in the same room! Now, it was just pure embarrassment!

"Remember Miss," Hui'er hummed quietly, "since the hero saved the beauty, then doesn't the beauty have to—"

Instantly, Yujia coughed very, very loudly, cutting Hui'er's words off before she could say anything else. "Hui'er, can you please go… cook my medicine, or something? I have some things I want to discuss with Young Master Yu."

Hui'er agreed to Yujia's request with a nod, standing up and spinning around, then headed out the room. She seemed more than willing to leave, but not before giving Yujia another mischievous grin. 

The younger girl liked teasing Yujia a little too much. With the relief that Hui'er wasn't here to blabber any more nonsense, Yujia shook her head and smiled a little at the thought of some of the things Hui'er said.

Now that Hui'er was gone, Zixu walked closer and sat down on a stool facing her. They still maintained a respectful distance. Yujia propped herself up against one of the poles of her bed once he sat down. 

"I seem to owe you twice in a row now, don't I, Young Master Yu?" Yujia tilted her head and sighed. 

Zixu shook his head. "The first time didn't count. It seemed as if you had no positive emotions after our encounter. The second time… it cannot be counted as saving you either. I was merely doing what any… normal human would do." A wry smile appeared on his face. "Didn't you say that it was human nature to be kind?"

Yujia paused, recalling the angry and muddled words she told him yesterday. "But I don't intend for you to go against your personal ethics just to follow my point."

"Well then, I'm not following your point just to follow your point," he pointed out, "I gave a lot of thought to it, and I think that your logic made sense. So now, here I am, trying to be a better person. How would you rate my level of good-person-ness? Ten out of ten?"

Yujia couldn't hold back a brief laugh. "I didn't know you had a humorous side to you, Young Master Yu."

Zixu blinked. "Then Miss Yang, I guess now you do." He glanced down at his hands. "I heard from your maid about details involving my father and your future. Are you… certain that you can succeed in your goal?"

"There are no certainties to anything, but I'm fairly positive. Things should work out well, and if they don't… I could say that I don't have any interest in marrying into the Yu Household. So rest assured, Young Master Yu, I wouldn't become your father's concubine and be at a generation higher than you."

"That's good to hear." Zixu smiled a little more warmly, now. 

"Though, there is one thing I want to know," Yujia continued, "It's been on my thoughts for a while. I wish the best for my younger sister, so I hope you understand the reasoning behind my question— what are your true intentions of taking the Fifth Miss as your wife?"

The smile on Zixu's face vanished. "What do you mean, Miss Yang?"

"You don't seem like the type that's willing to settle with someone of a lower status than you. It's clear to the public that the Yu Household is doing the Yangs a large favor, with my family being lower on the ranks of merchants. What point is there in marrying Yang Xiaoyi when I'm sure that you could settle with so many better choices of main wives?" Yujia pressed her lips together. "I don't want my younger sister to be mistreated."

Zixu looked her straight in the eye and replied with conviction, "That delves into deeper matters about business, which I believe I cannot explain to you due to confidentiality. However, I can assure you, Miss Yang, that I have no intentions of mistreating your younger sister. The matters of marriage are not set in stone yet— not even the betrothal gifts have been sent— but regardless of whether or not she will become my main wife, her status would not interfere with how I run my future household. You may see me as someone who only looks at power and wealth, but I treat my future partner, who will stay with me until both of our hairs whiten, differently. Business and this are two different matters."

Yujia still wasn't completely assured by his answer, but she had to admit that it was somewhat more comforting to know that he didn't have ill will towards Xiaoyi, at least based on what he said.  

She coughed, and leaned more on the bed post, her eyes closing and her brain wanting to fall asleep. All this talk was making her tired, so she simply let Zixu keep talking.

"About your illness, I already talked with your maid about your symptoms and discussed them with a doctor, who gave me a prescription to the medicine shop. Make sure you follow your maid's instructions about when to drink your medicine. And there is no need to worry about my presence here either. I came in through the side door, and it is too early for anyone to notice that I'm here." 

Yujia opened her eyes, smiling a little at Zixu while she felt like tons of iron were being pressed down on her eyelids and telling them to go back to being closed. "You're… being too kind that I'm almost suspicious."

"No, like I said before, I'm just trying to become a better person by your standards. It's the first step to being morally righteous, don't you think?" He cracked a grin. 

"If you say so… then I'll be your kind teacher… who tells you about your kindness scale…" Yujia's words mumbled together. She could barely stay awake, much less comprehend the exact words that she was saying. The sudden drowsiness came on too quickly. 

Zixu's words trailed off to a quiet whisper too, or perhaps Yujia was just too tired to hear properly either. "I'll be leaving you to rest, then," he seemed to murmur. 

Yujia heard footsteps signifying his departure. She immediately buried her face back into her pillow and welcomed the comfort of sleep.