32 Fitting Wedding Robes For the Fourth Miss

Just as Hui'er said, the tailor arrived soon, lead over to Yujia's courtyard by Madam Zhang.

It was not difficult to for the tailor to receive her measurements, and afterwards, Yujia had spent the entire morning looking at different fabrics and styles to pick between what she liked and what she didn't like, all under the carefully watchful eyes of Madam Zhang.

Apparently, according to information given from Madam Zhang, all of these options were provided to Yujia through her future-husband-if-she-didn't-do-something-about-it, the old master of the Yu family. He offered to pay for her entire wedding, from the bridal price to the actual dress itself. Even the tailor was specially selected and hired by him.

Yujia, of course, found it peculiar that he was planning to pay and care for so much. However, according to Madam Zhang, the old master of the Yu family was a very dedicated man, and, as she told Yujia, would not mistreat her at all when she married over.

Still, by all means, Yujia didn't feel any relief from this information. He was the age of her father. How could this be normal to her own perspective?

Just the thought of marrying someone like that sent chills down Yujia's spine.

All opinions put aside, Yujia still found it somewhat engaging to work with the tailor. She would obviously prefer working on her pencils and making money, but getting to observe all the careful embroidery and textures of the fabrics that the tailor provided was entertaining.

By the time that the morning ended, Yujia was wearing a testing robe in the shape and style she wanted. The tailor brought it over so that she could see what an actual robe felt like, and although it was a little too big for her, the entire appearance of the robe made Yujia smile.

It really was a beautiful piece of carefully folded and sewn red silk, nearly a piece of artwork of its own. Embroidered with detailed golden threads and pearl beads, Yujia nearly felt royal wearing it.

If only the wedding robe was for someone other than the old master of the Yu family…

Despite all the fun, it was already noon, and Yujia was starving. It was also a little exhausting being stuck in the same position for hours at a time so that the tailor could make notes and adjustments.

Yujia needed to get a breath of fresh air, but she was sure that if she ran out of her room at that moment, Madam Zhang would certainly have complaints again. It was also not a very Fourth Miss like behavior to be impatient, but Yujia was definitely an impatient person by heart.

So, as an excuse, Yujia asked to go to the restroom because despite the fact that there was a chamber pot in her room, she would feel "embarrassed to use it in front of everyone", so she opted to go to a latrine in the back of her courtyard, which was perfectly out of sight from anyone who tried to look for her.

With that lie, Yujia easily found a reason to run out of the room, not even followed by Hui'er, but that was after she realized she still had the robes the tailor gave for her to try on her body, and that the latrines would be a disgusting place to hide because of both the unpleasant smell and the fact that Yujia didn't want to ruin the stunning robes.

That was why Yujia ended up where she was now, wandering the Yang family's courtyard in order to avoid Madam Zhang and the tailor, who would surely bring her back to even more robe-fitting if they discovered that she wasn't doing what she said she was doing.

In order to avoid other people sending her back, Yujia even had an excuse prepared for anyone who asked her why she wasn't where she was supposed to be— she would simply say that Madam Zhang wanted her to go show her father what she looked like to see if he approved. As long as Yujia didn't run upon her father, she would be fine.

It was a good opportunity to get herself familiar with the villa as well. All that Yujia really knew as of that moment was how to enter and exit through the front door because Hui'er took her through there when they went to the marketplace. She knew that she wanted to prepare herself so that she knew all the exits of the villa in case an emergency occured and she would have to leave for some particular reason.

Yujia hummed a little as she walked, recalling the tune that Hui'er was humming that morning. It was a nice song.

Eventually, after a few twist and turns, each one being carefully noted in her mind so that she would not get lost, Yujia discovered herself standing in the opening of a fairly large courtyard compared to all the other ones she stumbled upon. There was a lovely, medium-sized pond right in the center of the courtyard, and the sides of the courtyard walls were dotted with flowers and greenery that framed the pond.

It was a tranquil sight, but the image was distorted when Yujia heard a splashing sound.

Glancing over in the direction of the sound, Yujia noticed a figure sitting at the corner of the pond. It was a girl wearing a set of light green robes that complimented her surroundings and holding a handful of pebbles in her hand which she was tossing out into the pond. Her back was turned away from Yujia, so Yujia couldn't determine if she was someone that she knew, and the girl could not see anyone approaching the opening of the courtyard either.

Curiously, Yujia stood where she was, observing the girl. She seemed almost melancholic the way she tossed the pebbles, each one skipping further than the last one.

While Yujia watched, things all seemed normal until the girl suddenly stood up in rapid movements, the handful of pebbles in her hand spilling out. She leaned forwards towards the pond, her back arching over the water. One of her feet took a step closer to the pond, her body tilting more and more towards the surface.

Yujia's eyes instantly widened.

Was the girl… going to jump in the water?

Don't tell her that this girl was going to… suicide?

Whatever this girl was doing, normal people did not jump into cold pond water in the early spring unless there was one goal!

Yujia could not simply stand there and watch the girl jump. She had to stop the girl. She had to!