26 The Fourth Miss Meets Her Dear Family

Yujia absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent did not expect to see a large group of people waiting for her by the time that she returned to her room— much less a group of very, very angry group of people waiting for her.

She can feel the judgemental stares of the people bearing down at her, taking in every aspect of her very unkempt appearance. Through the walk back in the forest, her clothes had dried for the most part, so she did take the cloak that the boy in the spring gave her off by the time that she entered the courtyard. Nevertheless, she was sure that she looked like a mess, her hair disheveled and her robes hanging stiffly on her. There was also the fact that her fingers were very obviously stained with mud, the dirt wrapped around her knuckles and caking the edges of her fingernails.

If she saw herself right now and didn't know what she just experienced, she didn't particularly know how she would think about her appearance.

"Hi."

Yujia winces while she waves her hand at the unfamiliar people. She takes a quick look at each of them and noticies Hui'er standing behind the group, a regretful look on her face.

Seeing her maid reminded Yujia that she was supposed to be the Fourth Miss right now, not the Yujia she knew. Raising her chin by an inch, Yujia straightened herself and sighed, her voice instantly turning icy and becoming part of the image she wanted to portray herself as.

"Hui'er, I thought I reminded you that I wanted some peace and quiet. Why is it that all these people invited themselves in the quarters of the unwelcomed Fourth Miss of the family?"

Hui'er opened her mouth to answer, yet she was swiftly cut off by a middle-aged man, who stepped forward to look Yujia in the eye. "Child, when have you become so disrespectful to your father?"

Father? Yujia took another look at the man. He didn't look particularly similar to her or her father in her old life. Seeing the man before her, she didn't particularly feel any sudden rush of warm emotions or love radiating off either of them, just cold emptiness.

Taking a deep breath, Yujia put on a placid, blank smile. "Father, how could I possibly disrespect you? You own the villa, the courtyards, and everything. Of course you are welcome here anytime, as long as you wish to see me. But these others—" she gestures at the group of around four or so others, "— I don't believe that any of them visit me on a daily basis. What wind blew all of you here to come pay me such a wonderful visit? Or do you all have some other ulterior motives or things that you still wish to exploit from me?"

A girl who didn't particularly look much older than Yujia stepped forward. "Little sister, don't accuse us of things we haven't done."

Little sister? So, this girl seemed to be Yujia's older sister, didn't she? Once more, Yujia examines her closely upon gaining this new information, finding that this older sister of hers was somewhat pretty as well. The genetics of the Yang family truly were some superior genes.

Before Yujia could formulate a response for her older sister, another familiar person in the group— Yang Xiaoyi, the Fifth Miss of the family— spoke up for her. "Big sister Yujia did nothing wrong, big sister Qingxia. She's right. We don't usually visit the Fourth Miss' quarters that much, so with her acting this way, it's just natural."

Yujia's older sister, Qingxia, scoffed. "Yiyi, you're always too nice to her."

Xiaoyi simply gave Qingxia a smile. "Big sister Yujia is my sister after all. Why shouldn't I be kind towards her?"

Yujia blinked, turning back to her father. "So, Father, as I mentioned before, why are there so many people visiting my place? My quarters are naturally small. I'm afraid that if you bring one more person in, the roof and walls will all collapse from being so crowded."

Instead of her father answering, another woman spoke up. "Is your memory failing, Yujia?" Her voice is sharp when she speaks, similar to her carved features. "Your wedding is coming up on the next month. I thought we already explained to you yesterday that the Old Master of the Yu family wanted you to have a good set of wedding robes, so we're going to start early and get you your size measured so that in a time like this where weddings are popular, you'll be able to get your robes on time."

Measuring her clothing size the day after they announced the marriage? Wasn't this a little too early? This family was certainly very hasty to marry her out to prevent any mishaps from happening.

The sharp-faced woman continued speaking. "Plus, you were gone for hours. We thought you ran away… yet now you return, looking like… this!" The woman shakes her head disappointedly. "Explain yourself!"

Yujia frowns. How was she supposed to explain herself? She wanted to make a pencil so that she went to the river to dig up some clay, yet ended up finding some naked boy bathing who also pulled her down into the water so that now she looked like this mess? Who would ever believe that?

Thus, Yujia chooses to raise her eyebrows, responding smoothly, "Why should I? It's not your problem, is it? Mind your own business."

"You— you— you!" The woman raises a finger towards Yujia and shakes it with ever "you" she stutters. Yujia only gives her vacant look. This woman definitely had problems. To get angry at such small statements… surely her anger management had issues.

The woman turns to her father, grabbing onto his arms. "Look, look how she's treating me, her mother! How could she act like this?"

Yujia's eyes widen instantaneously. Her mother?

As far as she could remember, everything Hui'er told her about her mother involved the fact that she was abandoned by her father after she gave birth to Yujia. It was impossible for this sharp-faced woman to be her mother, especially because again, Yujia could not see a single bit of resemblance in the woman's facial features to her own.

Why in the world was this woman claiming to be her mother, then? Was she insane? Or was Yujia herself going crazy?