Lin Siyu’s body trembled as she saw Lin Yuan’s gaze upon her, which was not the usual clear transparency but rather held a profound significance. Could she have discovered something?
Just as Lin Siyu wanted to delve deeper, Lin Yuan had already turned away and began to talk about something else with Lady Jin.
Lin Siyu’s heart pounded incessantly, and she hung her head so low that she no longer had the inclination to listen to what Lin Yuan and Lady Jin were discussing.
And at this moment, it wasn’t just Lin Siyu who lacked the desire to speak. Lady Jin, who had been watching the sisters argue with a cold eye, felt the same. She hadn’t found anything amiss with Lin Yuan’s words, which followed Lin Siyu’s quite naturally, but why had Lin Siyu suddenly changed her expression? Could it be that she really had done something unspeakable?
While responding to Lin Yuan, Lady Jin steal glances at Lin Siyu. Seeing her flustered and guilty demeanor solidified Lady Jin’s suspicions. Hmph, if she had indeed done something shameful, she would make sure to discipline this vile girl properly, to dunk her in a pig cage or sell her to a brothel, making her suffer every possible misery—that would be a good way for her to exhale her spite!
After all, Lin Siyu was no longer the person she used to be. The months spent in the Li Mansion had allowed her to grow. Although still somewhat uneasy, her face regained its composure.
When she noticed Lady Jin’s suspicious gaze, Lin Siyu snapped back to attention and quickly set her sights on Mrs. Liu, who had remained silent throughout.
"Why isn’t Sister Liu speaking? Are you bored?" Lin Siyu flashed the most innocent and harmless of smiles, but in Mrs. Liu’s eyes, it was exceedingly grating.
Mrs. Liu laughed softly, "Why would I be bored? It’s a pleasure just to listen to Madam speak."
"That’s true." Lin Siyu looked towards Lady Jin and smiled, "I just noticed Sister Liu seemed to be lost in thought, and I wondered if you might be thinking of someone else."
Lady Jin, indeed sensitive to such topics, immediately asked, "Oh? Who could be occupying Maternal Aunt Liu’s thoughts so deeply?"
Mrs. Liu’s hands on her knees clenched unnaturally together, and her shoulders shuddered involuntarily. Although these actions were hidden beneath her voluminous sleeves and invisible to others, Lin Yuan, seated beside her, saw it all very clearly. There was certainly someone in Mrs. Liu’s heart.
"To... to answer Madam’s question, this lowly one was just thinking of family," said Mrs. Liu softly and gently, much like herself, frail and weak, with no words to counter even after being repeatedly provoked by Lin Siyu.
Lin Yuan shook her head secretly. No wonder Mrs. Liu couldn’t stand up to Lin Siyu; she was even less capable than Lin Yuan had been in the past.
Lady Jin had yet to speak when Lin Siyu took the lead, "So Sister Liu misses her family. Oh, dear, I thought you were yearning for a past lover. I’ve heard about it—you and your childhood sweetheart from the village were very close. Unfortunately, his family was poor, and so were you, Sister Liu, and in the end, you couldn’t be together."
After speaking, Lin Siyu sighed seemingly sympathetically, but everyone could feel that the sigh contained little actual sympathy and was instead tinged with quite a bit of schadenfreude.
"A past lover?" Lady Jin’s eyebrows rose; clearly, she was not very familiar with Mrs. Liu’s past history.
Mrs. Liu turned deathly pale, biting her lips tight while the handkerchief in her hands was twisted so much that it wrinkled. Behind her, Ying Tao frowned deeply, glancing at Panpan across from her. This story of a past lover was deliberately leaked to Lin Siyu by the two of them, and through Lin Siyu’s words to Lady Jin, they intended to deceive Lady Jin into believing that Mrs. Liu held no affection for Li Chang so that she would be spared in the future.