CH 140

Villainous Fake Eunuch (17)

Song Xu Yi wasn’t sure if Gu Ruyu had informed her subordinates, considering Gu Ruyu’s cunning nature. It took Song Xu Yi and her system a long time to find the exotic fragrance hidden in Gu Ruyu’s waist. Even if Gu Ruyu had already notified her subordinates, Song Xu Yi doubted her ability to detect it.

Feeling guilty, Song Xu Yi hesitated to ask. Despite Gu Ruyu looking normal, her eyes lacked the usual luster, and Song Xu Yi felt remorse for the powerful and cunning Gu Ruyu she had first met.

Unable to bear the silence, Song Xu Yi finally spoke in a soft voice, “Do you want me to read you a book? I just heated up some porridge. You can have that to fill your stomach and then eat some fruit later.”

Gu Ruyu obediently smiled at Song Xu Yi, as she always did. “I’ll listen to you, Xu Yi.”

Gu Ruyu looked charming, and Song Xu Yi looked away, feeling her heart beating faster from guilt and pressure. She dared not meet Gu Ruyu’s eyes.

Fortunately, Gu Ruyu couldn’t see Song Xu Yi’s discomfort.

Taking a deep breath, Song Xu Yi suppressed her emotions, cleared her throat, and began to read the book.

These books were given to Song Xu Yi by the female protagonist, Zhao Qin.

Zhao Qin couldn’t read, but the male protagonist, Zheng Lian, could. To please the melancholic Zheng Lian, Zhao Qin bought some entertainment books recommended by a book vendor when she went down the mountain. However, after reading for a while, Zheng Lian’s mood soured, and he threw the book out of the window, telling Zhao Qin never to buy books from that vendor again.

Here is a proofread and edited version of the text:

But this was the book that Zhao Qin had spent a lot of money to buy. She couldn’t bear to let it be thrown away by Zheng Lian like that, so when Zheng Lian wasn’t paying attention, Zhao Qin secretly picked up the book and brought it back. Today, when she heard Song Xu Yi ask if she had any leisure books, Zhao Qin handed these books over to Song Xu Yi and asked her not to let Zheng Lian know.

Song Xu Yi took a look outside and saw that Zheng Lian was still busy in the tea field and had not yet returned. She breathed a sigh of relief and began to focus on reading the book.

The book had a strange title – “Why Are These Two Women Like This?”

At first, the book seemed normal, describing a wealthy man in a certain place who had a precious daughter who was as beautiful as a pearl. She found a woman who had lost her memory on the street and made her a servant girl.

The servant girl was beautiful, with a calm and stable personality, and she also knew how to read and write. The daughter grew more fond of her and gradually took her in as a personal servant girl.

When Song Xu Yi heard the beginning, Gu Ruyu’s fair face suddenly blushed, making her even more beautiful.

“What’s wrong?” Song Xu Yi had been paying attention to Gu Ruyu’s movements and stopped reading, looking at Gu Ruyu with concern. “Is the sun too hot? Do you want to go back to the house and rest for a while?”

This time, Gu Ruyu didn’t smile at Song Xu Yi as she did before. She turned her face slightly, closed her eyes again, and her long eyelashes trembled. Her long hair hung down, covering her blushing cheek. “No, it’s just that the story is too good. I got lost in it for a while.”

Song Xu Yi carefully observed Gu Ruyu and felt that something was amiss. But seeing that Gu Ruyu didn’t display any more unusual reactions, Song Xu Yi lowered her head and continued to read the book. However, it was Song Xu Yi’s turn to blush next.

The perspective in the story suddenly changed to that of the servant girl.

The servant girl looked up at her young miss with admiration, and used all her skills to become her young miss’s personal servant girl. The young miss was unaware that the servant girl secretly coveted her every moment, seemingly fulfilling her duties diligently while actually lusting after her young miss in secret.

As the plot took a turn for the worse, the servant girl started attending to the young miss’s bathing needs, and the language in the story became extremely explicit and risqué. Song Xu Yi quickly interrupted and coughed, saying, “I’ve made you some warm porridge. Drink some first.”

Blushing, Song Xu Yi hastily left with the book in hand. She finally understood why Zheng Lian had thrown these books away. She couldn’t believe that this book was that kind of novel.

Song Xu Yi’s gaze fell upon the roaring fire. According to her original plan, she was going to throw the book into the flames. However, she found that she couldn’t bear to burn these books – even though the story was trashy, it was critical to the plot. She decided that she would at least finish reading it before throwing it away.

After lingering in the kitchen for a while, Song Xu Yi finally composed herself. She secretly hid the book in her room and then pretended nothing had happened as she brought the porridge to Gu Ruyu.

Gu Ruyu was still lying on the rattan chair, seemingly unaware of anything unusual.

Song Xu Yi breathed a sigh of relief and dared not mention the book again. She helped Gu Ruyu up and said, “Ruyu, let me feed you the porridge!”

In order to distract herself from thinking about the unfinished book, Song Xu Yi racked her brains for a topic of conversation. “This porridge was made by Miss Zhao. Isn’t her cooking skill exceptional?”

“She taught me so many things these past few days. I never thought that there could be someone so talented and skillful in this world.”

……

However, Gu Ruyu seemed to have no appetite. After listening to Song Xu Yi’s words, her cheeks, which had flushed before, turned pale again. She coughed softly twice and took two sips before tightly pursing her lips and pushing away the bowl of porridge. “Xu Yi, I can’t drink anymore.”

“Is the porridge not tasty?” Song Xu Yi asked.

However, when Song Xu Yi was in the kitchen, she tasted it and found the porridge to be soft, fragrant, and delicious.

“Maybe it’s because of her recent illness and her poor appetite!” Song Xu Yi thought.

“It’s okay, let’s leave it for now. You can drink it later when you’re hungry.” Song Xu Yi didn’t insist and put down the bowl of porridge. She remembered that she still needed to find a chance to contact Gu Ruyu’s subordinates, so she squatted in front of Gu Ruyu again and asked, “Ruyu, can you walk? Do you want me to help you take a walk around here?”

Gu Ruyu loosened her pursed lips a bit and nodded, holding onto Song Xu Yi’s arm to stand up.

In order to win Zhao Qin’s sympathy and facilitate her escape, Gu Ruyu was still dressed in women’s clothing. Song Xu Yi didn’t have time to carefully examine her appearance before, but now that she had a moment to spare, her gaze unconsciously lingered on Gu Ruyu’s body. Gu Ruyu in women’s clothing was simply too beautiful! Her waist was slender, her steps graceful, and Song Xu Yi couldn’t help but recall the description of the young lady in the romance novels: “Beautiful as flowers and moon, with a jade nose and eyebrows like ink paintings, like a goddess or a fairy, making people look infatuated…”

Song Xu Yi accompanied Gu Ruyu for a walk around the yard and explained the current situation to her. “Ruyu, I took care of the wounds on your body. Don’t worry, I know you don’t like being touched by others. I blindfolded myself and didn’t see anything I shouldn’t have… But there’s something you need to be aware of. Your voice is hoarse when you just woke up, and although Zhao Miss didn’t suspect you were a man, it would be more appropriate to use a female voice later…”

Song Xu Yi spoke cautiously, watching Gu Ruyu’s expression. In fact, Song Xu Yi had her own selfish intentions behind these words. Even though Gu Ruyu had her own reasons for dressing as a man, she was living a very difficult life. Song Xu Yi hoped that during her recovery period, Gu Ruyu could stop being so hard on herself and be a woman for a while.

However, Gu Ruyu didn’t seem to want to revert to her female identity. After listening to Song Xu Yi’s words, her lips tightened again, and after a while, she coldly said “okay,” but her voice reverted back to a female one.

Song Xu Yi didn’t know why Gu Ruyu suddenly became unhappy again. She carefully reflected on her words but couldn’t recall where she went wrong. She was afraid of making Gu Ruyu angry with her words, so she remained silent and silently supported Gu Ruyu as they walked around the courtyard twice.

However, Gu Ruyu’s mood seemed to worsen, especially when she heard Zheng Lian’s voice at the dining table. It seemed that her mood had reached its limit.

Song Xu Yi could sense that Gu Ruyu was angry, even though Gu Ruyu still had the same cold expression that made it impossible to tell her emotions.

Now that Gu Ruyu was still recovering from her injuries and Zheng Lian seemed to have some martial arts skills, Gu Ruyu might not necessarily be able to fight her. Seeing Zheng Lian’s thoughtful gaze constantly falling on Gu Ruyu, Song Xu Yi was afraid of being noticed and tried her best to chat with Zhao Qin and shift the topic. Zhao Qin was also very cooperative, and as they talked, they became more and more compatible. In the end, Zhao Qin even suggested, “Sister Xu Yi, why don’t you sleep with me tonight? I haven’t met someone I’ve clicked with like this in a long time!”

As soon as Zhao Qin finished speaking, Zheng Lian’s face became extremely ugly, and Gu Ruyu, who was sitting beside Song Xu Yi, suddenly took a low breath.

“Ruyu, what’s wrong?” Song Xu Yi quickly asked.

Gu Ruyu lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling slightly as she softly spoke, “My eyes hurt a little.”

Gu Ruyu was a reserved person. She wouldn’t make any sound unless she was in extreme pain.

Upon hearing Gu Ruyu’s words, Song Xu Yi immediately approached and examined Gu Ruyu’s eyes, but Song Xu Yi only knew basic medical knowledge and couldn’t see anything unusual. In the end, she had no choice but to give up and went to the kitchen to check on the detoxifying herbs that Zhao Qin was brewing.

Zhao Qin was also thoughtful and knew that Song Xu Yi was taking care of Gu Ruyu, so she didn’t mention wanting to sleep with Song Xu Yi anymore.

Gu Ruyu had little appetite, and Song Xu Yi was worried that she wouldn’t have much of an appetite either. After eating a little, she helped Gu Ruyu back to the room.

“Xu Yi!” Just as she was about to bring the herbs to apply to Gu Ruyu’s eyes, Gu Ruyu suddenly grabbed Song Xu Yi’s arm and said, “I’m afraid it will be painful when you apply the herbs to my eyes. Xu Yi, can you please continue telling me that story?”

Song Xu Yi was stunned in place. She didn’t expect Gu Ruyu to still remember that story. But how could she tell that story to Gu Ruyu?

She had to come up with a story to tell Gu Ruyu.

In her previous life, Song Xu Yi was a creator, and her mind was extremely agile. While she was getting the medicine from the kitchen, she had a general idea in her mind and immediately made up a story about a servant girl who was actually skilled in fortune-telling and peeked at the young miss because she knew that the young miss would face a disaster in the future. As expected, the young miss was almost kidnapped by bandits, but the servant girl saved her, and the two became sworn sisters.

After telling the story with all her brainpower, Gu Ruyu’s eyes were treated, and Song Xu Yi was sweating profusely. She went outside to pour out the medicine and came back to find Gu Ruyu already lying on the bed with her eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

Thinking of Gu Ruyu’s melancholic expression while listening to the story, Song Xu Yi didn’t suspect anything. She looked around, closed the door, and took out her hidden book from the cabinet, blushing as she read it.

“Fraud!” Upon hearing the sound of the book flipping, Gu Ruyu couldn’t help but speak out in anger.

“What nonsense is this about ‘sworn sisters’? It’s complete nonsense!”

Gu Ruyu never expected it to be such a coincidence. The book that Song Xu Yi was reciting to herself happened to be one of the volumes that her subordinates had given her. Gu Ruyu had already read the entire book, which described how the servant girl had grown increasingly close to her naive young miss, and how the servant girl had manipulated her into doing shameful things. Eventually, the wealthy household became suspicious and drove the servant girl away. The haughty young miss was then forced into an arranged marriage, but on the eve of the wedding, the daughter of a local prince suddenly appeared. It turned out that the servant girl, who had regained her memories, was the prince’s daughter.

Afterwards, the prince’s daughter found a Taoist priest and used the excuse of her own ill-fated destiny to keep the young miss by her side for life. The two of them were deeply in love and engaged in intimate activities in the bedroom, study, and even in the woods…

Before, Gu Ruyu intentionally brought up this book to see Song Xu Yi’s reaction towards female relationships.

Because Gu Ruyu couldn’t help but feel jealous: even though Song Xu Yi acted dumb and pretended not to know her female identity, her anger and kindness towards Gu Ruyu could have been only to protect Zheng Lian…

However, Gu Ruyu found herself most concerned about the understanding between Song Xu Yi and Zhao Qin, and how Song Xu Yi’s words always revolved around Zhao Qin…

Could it be that Xu Yi… has feelings for Zhao Qin?

The author has something to say:

Oh my, who knocked over the vinegar jar?

Good night, muah~

Little angels, don’t stay up late.