Though Sheng Jiayu didn’t understand Hong Dou’s expression, she was disgusted by Hong Dou’s words and said angrily: “Who wants to go to the street with your miss? Don’t talk nonsense!”

Hong Dou rolled her eyes repeatedly: “You want it in your heart but won’t admit it. If you didn’t want to, why would you follow us?”

Did she think she’d benefit if the miss found a handsome young gentleman? What daydreaming.

Sheng Jiayu was so angry she told the truth: “I followed because I was worried Luo Sheng would cause trouble again.”

Luo Sheng finally spoke, her tone indifferent: “If I cause trouble, could Cousin stop me?”

“I—” Sheng Jiayu very much wanted to say she could, but ultimately couldn’t bring herself to lie with her eyes open. She was choked speechless for quite a while.

“Let’s go.” Luo Sheng called out lightly to Hong Dou and paid Sheng Jiayu no further attention.

Sheng Jiayu caught up: “Luo Sheng, I heard you!”

Luo Sheng stopped walking again and slightly raised her brows.

Sheng Jiayu believed she had caught Luo Sheng’s weak point and sneered: “You’re randomly procuring medicine for Cousin, are you trying to harm him?”

Luo Sheng stared at Sheng Jiayu for a long moment, then gently sighed.

“What do you mean by that?”

Luo Sheng smiled: “My father once told me that the Sheng Family is a scholarly household.”

Hong Dou grew excited.

The Grand Commander had indeed said this, especially when sending the miss away from the capital—he’d repeated it several times, telling the miss not to be willful anymore once she reached the scholarly Sheng Manor.

Heavens, the miss remembered!

The little maid was so excited she kept tugging on Luo Sheng’s sleeve.

Luo Sheng helplessly twitched her lips.

Anyone could figure out with their toes that Miss Luo’s father would have said such things. Why was the little maid getting excited over nothing?

If she truly possessed Miss Luo’s memories, that would be frightening. In that case, would she be Luo Sheng or Princess Qingyang?

“So what?” Sheng Jiayu didn’t know why Luo Sheng was bringing this up and was completely confused.

Luo Sheng curved her lips: “Cousin’s words and conduct don’t resemble those of a young lady from a scholarly household.”

She said this without mockery or excitement, calm and indifferent, yet it was like a resounding slap across Sheng Jiayu’s face, making her burn with shame.

Sheng Jiayu’s face suddenly flushed red.

Luo Sheng nodded slightly to Sheng Jiayu and walked forward, only to pause after a few steps.

Not far ahead stood a youth of sixteen or seventeen, noble and refined like a blooming magnolia.

Seeing Luo Sheng stop, Su Yao smiled faintly.

Luo Sheng walked past expressionlessly.

Su Yao was taken aback before turning to look at Sheng Jiayu.

Sheng Jiayu collected her emotions and curtsied to Su Yao: “Second Brother Su.”

Su Yao’s tone was gentle: “Did Eldest Miss and Miss Luo have an argument?”

Sheng Jiayu replied vaguely: “Just a few words of dispute, hardly an argument.”

“Why did you dispute?”

Sheng Jiayu was somewhat surprised.

She had thought Su Yao wouldn’t pursue questions about disputes between women.

Out of trust born from their childhood friendship, Sheng Jiayu still explained: “Cousin caught a cold, and Luo Sheng actually ran out to randomly procure medicine.”

“I see. How is Young Master Luo’s condition? How did he suddenly catch a cold?”

“Cousin will definitely be fine.” Sheng Jiayu bit her lip.

Family scandals should not be made public—naturally she couldn’t speak of how her cousin caught the cold.

Su Yao seemed to perceive that Sheng Jiayu was unwilling to say more and changed the topic: “Usually Second Miss goes out together with Eldest Miss. Why are you alone today?”

At the mention of Sheng Jialan, Sheng Jiayu’s eyes dimmed. She covered up: “Second Sister is ill and needs to recuperate properly.”

Su Yao’s eyes revealed sympathetic concern: “Both Second Miss and Young Master Luo are ill—how worrying. Eldest Miss should set your mind at ease. They will surely recover.”

“Thank you for your auspicious words, Second Brother Su. I must return to the manor first.” Sheng Jiayu absentmindedly thanked him and hurriedly took her leave.

She still needed to quickly tell her mother about Luo Sheng’s recklessness, lest Luo Sheng harm her cousin. Where would she have the mood for idle chat with Su Yao?

Only after Sheng Jiayu’s figure disappeared from view did Su Yao walk toward the Su Manor, with a book-carrying page boy following closely behind.

Sheng Jiayu returned to Sheng Manor and headed straight for the Grand Madam’s quarters.

The Grand Madam had just finished managing household affairs and barely had a moment’s leisure when a maid reported that Eldest Miss had arrived. She quickly let her in.

“Why have you run yourself into such a sweat?” Seeing Sheng Jiayu’s breathless appearance, the Grand Madam chided.

Though Jiayu had a lively temperament, she used to still have the appearance of a proper young lady. Since Cousin Miss arrived, she’d become all rushed and flustered.

Sheng Jiayu couldn’t spare a moment to drink water and moisten her throat, hurriedly saying: “Mother, Luo Sheng has indeed caused trouble again!”

The Grand Madam tapped Sheng Jiayu’s forehead: “How many times have I told you not to address your cousin sister by her given name directly?”

Sheng Jiayu dismissively pursed her lips: “But I just can’t bring myself to call someone like her that.”

The Grand Madam’s expression darkened slightly: “Jiayu, just because the other party is crude, does that mean you should respond with equal crudeness?”

Having experienced the matter with Sheng Jialan, the Grand Madam felt she could no longer indulge her daughter.

Sheng Jiayu was stumped by the question.

The Grand Madam raised her hand to smooth her daughter’s hair and said earnestly: “Don’t let yourself become what you most detest.”

Sheng Jiayu’s face gradually reddened as she lowered her head: “Mother, I understand.”

She detested Luo Sheng, disliked the trouble she brought to Sheng Manor, disliked how she made the Sheng Family the subject of neighbors’ gossip and mockery, so she lashed out with teeth and claws, forgetting that her own teeth-and-claws appearance was equally unbecoming.

Sheng Jiayu silently took warning and when mentioning Luo Sheng was now willing to call her Cousin Sister: “I followed Cousin Sister out and discovered she entered Jishi Hall to buy medicine. Mother, you definitely can’t guess what she’s buying medicine for.”

The Grand Madam cooperatively revealed an inquiring look.

Sheng Jiayu’s eyes flashed with anger: “She’s actually randomly procuring medicine to give to Cousin!”

“What?” The Grand Madam was truly startled. “Jiayu, could you have seen wrong?”

“Your daughter heard it with her own ears—there’s no mistake. Perhaps she’s already taken the randomly procured medicine to Cousin’s quarters by now.”

Thinking the matter serious, the Grand Madam quickly instructed her senior maid Shuangye to investigate the situation at Luo Chen’s quarters.

Mother and daughter waited for a while before Shuangye returned to report: “This servant asked Fu Song—Cousin Miss hasn’t been over.”

The Grand Madam breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Shuangye continue: “However, Hong Dou sent away Physician Wang, who was instructing Fu Song on preparing medicine.”

Sheng Jiayu said urgently: “Mother, she must be having Physician Wang prepare her medicine, then planning to give the prepared medicine to Cousin. You can’t let her act recklessly. Cousin’s body is already weak—he can’t withstand her blind tinkering!”

The Grand Madam couldn’t help but nod.

Even healthy people could be harmed by taking medicine randomly, let alone someone like Luo Chen.

“Mother, should I go to her quarters?”

“Going to stop her now wouldn’t be appropriate. Your cousin sister could simply say she’s preparing it for herself.”

“Then what should we do?”

The Grand Madam pondered for a moment and instructed Shuangye: “Go tell Fu Song that if Cousin Miss brings anything strange for Young Master to consume, he must intercept it and quietly send someone to report here.”

As night fell, Luo Chen’s fever still wouldn’t break, making the entire Sheng Manor sleep uneasily.

The next day, Old Madam Sheng personally went to keep watch and even summoned several of Jinsha’s most renowned physicians.

After consulting together, the physicians were quite pessimistic: if the patient’s fever didn’t break by tonight, he would be in danger.

As the sky filled with sunset clouds, Luo Sheng brought Hong Dou and stepped through Luo Chen’s courtyard gate.