Anning has no mory of the original owner and does not know who the two young ladies who have co are.
However, she had just heard the maid ntion Second Miss and Third Miss, so she smiled and said, "Second Sister, Third Sister, co in, sit down quickly."
The two young ladies sat down, then teased the maid who was stuffing the back support behind Anning, "Moli, hurry up and bring out the good tea and snacks from your house."
Anning noted this na.
She then heard Moli order, "Xiuqiu, go and brew the good tea that the young lady received the other day for Second Miss and Third Miss to enjoy."
Anning noted these two nas and guessed that the maidservants in her room probably all had flowers as nas.
"Does Eldest Sister feel a little better?"
Second Miss asked Anning with a smiling face, "Do you feel a little more at ease?"
Anning nodded, "Yes, I am feeling sowhat better."
Third Miss looked at Anning, hesitating as if she had more to say.
Second Miss then sighed, "Eldest Sister, try to be more open-minded. Now that you are better, don’t think about all those unnecessary things."
Anning lowered her head, looking sowhat downcast, "I understand, I will be fine in the future."
Actually, she did not know what this was all about, but she was just going along with what Second Miss had said.
Third Miss was a straightforward and candid person.
She blurted out in a few quick sentences what she had to say, "Eldest Sister is also down on her luck, with the Cui Family’s Six Rituals just around the corner, yet such a thing happened. Now the engagent with the Cui Family has fallen through, and that Xiao fellow ran off happily, but what can be done? The Xiao Family is so poor they can hardly afford trousers, how could Eldest Sister marry into such a family?"
Second Miss grabbed Third Miss’s hand, "Third Sister, say less, please."
At this ti, Xiuqiu brought over the tea and snacks, and Anning’s eyes started to redden. She held back tears and said, "This tea is quite good, Second Sister, First Sister, please try so too, and take so back with you if it’s good. I’m sick right now, and I can’t have this tea anyway."
Only then did Third Miss hold back so of the things she wanted to say.
The two young ladies hurriedly finished their tea and snacks, and Third Miss took a packet of tea with her. As they were leaving, Second Miss told Anning, "Eldest Sister, take care of yourself. Third Sister and I will co see you again when we have ti."
Anning bowed slightly, "My health is already not a big problem. If you have matters to attend to, you don’t have to co over all the ti, lest you catch the illness."
Third Miss laughed, "I am robust, it won’t be a problem."
Anning watched as the Second and Third Misses left, she then told Moli she still felt a little weak and wanted to lie down a while longer, asking Moli to take the two little maids out.
After everyone in the room had left, Anning began to analyze her current identity.
She looked at the furnishings and decorations in the original owner’s room, knowing that the original owner must have co from a pretty decent background and must have been a favored young lady.
Moreover, when the tea and snacks were brought just now, Anning had noticed that the tea was of fine quality and the snacks were delicately made, suggesting that this household must be thriving at the mont.
She had just paid attention to the conversations between Second Miss and Third Miss, speculating that the original owner of the body must have been engaged, and her fiancé must have been surnad Cui. Now that the original owner had reached the age for marriage, The Cuis and this family were about to go through the Six Rituals. However, right at this mont, the original owner suffered a mishap and thus, the engagent fell through.
Moreover, she had also heard about a poor individual surnad Xiao. The original owner must have had so entanglent with the Xiaos, which The Cuis ca to know about, naturally resulting in the annulnt of the engagent.
Based on Anning’s speculations, there could be several possibilities regarding the original owner’s situation.
The first was that the original owner was a maiden yearning for love, disdainful of the engagent with The Cuis, and had an affair with a young man surnad Xiao. When The Cuis found out, they broke off the engagent, but her family did not allow her to be with the young man surnad Xiao, which led to the original owner falling ill out of anger.
The second possibility was that The Cuis unilaterally broke off the engagent without cause, angering the original owner into illness. At this ti, a young man surnad Xiao, with so relationship with the original owner’s family, ca to propose. Her family did not quite agree to it.
The third possibility was that the original owner encountered danger and was rescued by a young man surnad Xiao, resulting in intimate contact. Naturally, The Cuis would annul the engagent, leaving the original owner with no choice but to marry the young man surnad Xiao.
Considering these possibilities, Anning took her own pulse and found that her body was suffering from a cold dampness and still had not fully recovered.
Cold dampness in the body?
Anning looked at the weather outside and knew that it had already entered autumn.
At this ti of year, if one had cold dampness in their body, falling into water was the most likely cause.
Anning smiled to herself; she was certain that it was the third possibility.
She must have accidentally fallen into water while out for a stroll, and it just so happened that a young man surnad Xiao passed by the water and rescued her.
Because of the rescue, the two unavoidably ca into close contact, and this scene was witnessed by others. Word got back to The Cuis, who felt that the original owner had been in contact with another man. Such a bride would not be accepted, so they directly cancelled the engagent.
As for why the original owner fell into the water, whether it was a coincidence or soone else’s arrangent, Anning was still not quite clear.
She was still unfamiliar with the household and didn’t even recognize the maids around her, so she had no capacity to worry about other matters.
Anning lay in bed to rest and recuperate, all the while, she listened carefully to the maids whispering outside.
Under the corridor, several maids took advantage of the good weather to work on their embroidery.
Anning could distinguish the voices of Moli and Xiuqiu, but she couldn’t make out a few others. However, after listening for a while, she could discern who was who from their voices and learned the nas of several maids.
The maid with the sweet voice was nad Chuntao, the one with a deeper voice was called Qiuju, and there was another who spoke very fast nad Peony.
Anning heard Chuntao tell Moli in a low voice: "Sister Moli, how co our Miss has such bad luck? She was about to marry the gentleman from The Cuis, but this had to happen right then. If we had known, we might as well not have gone out that day."
Moli’s voice was also quite low: "Don’t talk about it anymore, saying such things is useless and will only make Miss sad if she hears."
Chuntao glanced into the room: "Miss should be asleep by now, we’ll just keep our voices down. I heard from Madam’s maid, Sister Mingzhu, that the master is really angry about this affair."
At this point, Qiuju added her own comnt: "I’ve also heard that Madam plans to wed the Second Miss to The Cuis, but after all, Second Miss is a bit younger, and the gentleman from The Cuis seems to look down on our family’s Miss. How did he put it?"
Xiuqiu quickly added: "Eldest Son of Cui Family said that our family arises from criminal justice, being extrely ruthless. He also said that the misses from our family are mostly illiterate and vulgar in behavior. He intends to marry a daughter from a more noble family and looks down on a noble family like ours."
Peony snorted: "He should take a good look at himself before casting aspersions, acting as if The Cuis are nobles and scholars. The Cuis are of noble origin too, yet they look down on us. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black."
Moli sighed: "Poor Miss doesn’t have soone to decide for her. Although the master and Madam seem to be fond of Miss, she’s still an orphan without her own parents. An uncle and auntie can never compare to her own parents. If it was Second Miss or Third Miss in this situation, you’d see if the master and Madam were anxious or not."
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