Miss Cousin is Always Busy

Chapter 99

Jun Zishu originally thought that since she was playing the role of a child with mental deficiencies, if Luo Minghuan wanted to have a child, the girl wouldn’t have to find one or make one. Luo Minghuan could just settle for her.

However, after thinking it through, Jun Zishu decided that this idea was a little too mental. Luo Minghuan was only 18 years old, after all. Even if girls in this era typically already became mothers at the age of 18, it was still a little absurd for an 18-year-old girl to have a 15-year-old daughter. Not to mention, Luo Minghuan probably didn’t have any ideas of having a child.

After making some adjustments to her mission strategy, Jun Zishu closed her eyes and continued sleeping.

Since Luo Ninghuan wasn’t concerned about having any offspring, Jun Zishu had even less need to worry about it.

After sleeping for a while, Jun Zishu opened her eyes and yawned when she noticed movement beside her.

“Did I wake you?”

Luo Minghuan currently wore light-blue garments. Although she still had a sickly complexion on her face, she still gave off a much more comfortable appearance than when she was dressed in bright red yesterday. Even the intimidating aura that she emanated had lightened significantly.

“No, I’m not sleepy anymore,” Jun Zishu said as she hugged Luo Minghuan’s waist and rubbed her head against the other party. At the same time, her hazy eyes also gradually grew clearer.

“Get up, then. We’ll need to visit my parents later.”

Jun Zishu noticed that when Luo Minghuan said the words “my parents,” there was a noticeable sense of coldness and irony in her voice. The chilling sensation was capable of penetrating bone and causing others to involuntarily tremble.

“Do you not like your parents, Husband?” Jun Zishu widened her eyes as she looked at Luo Minghuan in confusion.

“How do you know?”

Luo Minghuan’s movements paused as she looked at Jun Zishu with interest in her eyes.

Jun Zishu knew that Luo Minghuan’s alert appearance. Even so, she maintained her confused expression and looked at Luo Minghuan earnestly.

“I can feel it. You don’t seem happy at all when you talk about them,” Jun Zishu said, making it sound as if it were a matter of course. Then, she let out another yawn.

Luo Minghuan rubbed Jun Zishu’s messy bed hair when she heard her answer. She had forgotten that children were best at distinguishing between fondness and disgust.

Even though people often said that children were ignorant creatures, there were some things that children could perceive much more sensitively than most adults.

“If Husband doesn’t like them, I won’t like them as well.’

“Why?” Luo Minghuan asked, feeling a little surprised. At the same time, though, a faint smile had also appeared on her face.

“Because Husband doesn’t like them. Whoever Husband dislikes must be people I dislike as well,” Jun Zishu repeated her words once more before leaning closer to Luo Minghuan.

“You dummy,” Luo Minghuan said with a smile before giving Jun Zishu’s head another rub. The girl in front of her was truly soft. It didn’t matter whether it was her body or her hair.

“I am not a dummy.”

Jun Zishu puffed up her cheeks unhappily.

Luo Minghuan raised her hand and tried to pinch Jun Zishu’s cheeks, but Jun Zishu swiftly evaded her hand.

“Yuanyuan isn’t a dummy,” Jun Zishu earnestly emphasized while looking at Luo Minghuan.

“Okay. You’re not. You’re a little dummy.”

Jun Zishu became happy again and leaned over to let Luo Minghuan touch her.

Luo Minghuan resisted the urge to laugh, not knowing what difference there was between the two titles.

…

After getting out of bed, Luo Minghuan informed a servant to notify her parents that she was feeling better now and could continue with the meeting. She also had Ruyun help Jun Zishu get dressed.

While getting her hair combed, Jun Zishu found the experience refreshing, so she looked around curiously left and right.

“Second Young Madam, please stop moving. I won’t be able to comb your hair,” Ruyun said in frustration.

“Second Young Madam? Is that me?” Jun Zishu asked as she pointed at herself.

Ruyun immediately looked toward Luo Minghuan, not sure if her way of addressing Jun Zishu was appropriate. However, she couldn’t possibly address Jun Zishu as Second Young Master.

Noticing Ruyun’s query, Luo Minghuan nodded lightly, giving her approval to Ruyun to address Jun Zishu using this title.

After gaining approval, Ruyun answered, “It’s you.”

Jun Zishu nodded. Then, she obediently looked at the mirror and waited for Ruyun to comb her hair.

A short moment later, Jun Zishu heard footsteps coming from outside the door.

Someone had entered the courtyard. It was Servant Wu, an old female servant. She was brought in as a dowry maid by the current Madam Luo.

“Second Young Miss, the lord and madam have already been waiting for some time, so they sent me here to check up on you two. May I know when you two will finish preparing?”

Although Servant Wu’s words were polite, anyone could tell that her tone was perfunctory.

“Did my father send you? Or did the First Madam send you?”

Apart from important occasions, Luo Minghuan did not like addressing the current Madam Luo as “mother,” opting to refer to her as “First Madam” instead.

“It’s the madam.”

Servant Wu politely bowed and answered.

Just when Servant Wu thought of urging Luo Minghuan again, Luo Minghuan waved her off and nonchalantly said, “Have them wait a little longer. We’ll go once we’re ready.”

Servant Wu’s expression changed a little. Although she wanted to say something about Luo Minghuan’s attitude, she eventually decided to keep her mouth shut and left after bowing.

Meanwhile, Ruyun behaved as if she was accustomed to this sight and continued combing Jun Zishu’s hair.

Not long afterward, Jun Zishu was all dressed up and ready.

“I’m ready, Husband. Let’s go.”

Jun Zishu ran over and hugged Luo Minghuan’s arm, a cute smile on her face.

Ruyun’s face twitched a little when she heard how Jun Zishu addressed Luo Minghuan, finding it very strange. However, after giving it some thought, she felt that there wasn’t actually anything wrong with it.

Subsequently, Luo Minghuan held Jun Zishu’s mellowy hand and led her out of the courtyard. As for Ruyun, she followed behind them like a little tail.

…

“Father, Mother.”

Luo Minghuan greeted the middle-aged man and woman in the main seats of the hall, her face remaining expressionless throughout the entire process.

“Father, Mother.”

Jun Zishu imitated Luo Minghuan and greeted the middle-aged couple with an expressionless face.

“You’re finally here. I was worried that your illness might be acting up again. I thought you wouldn’t be coming today. Thankfully, we managed to wait for your arrival,” Madam Luo said with a relieved expression.

Although Jun Zishu’s face remained absentminded and expressionless, she inwardly praised Madam Luo for her beautiful words. Despite her joyful words, the older woman was essentially attracting hatred toward Luo Minghuan. After all was said and done, Madam Luo was Luo Minghuan’s elder.

If other people in the Luo Manor were to hear Madam Luo’s words, they would think that Luo Minghuan was putting on airs and paying no regard for even her parents. It would be even worse if outsiders ignorant of Luo Minghuan’s condition were to hear about this. They would think that Luo Minghuan was deliberately making her elders wait.

Sure enough, Jun Zishu quickly noticed Lord Luo’s expression sinking slightly.

In response to Madam Luo’s words, Luo Minghuan frowned and let covered her mouth before coughing.

Meanwhile, as soon as Luo Minghuan started coughing, Lord Luo’s expression underwent another change.

“I originally wanted to visit Father and Mother early in the morning, but my body was feeling unwell at the time, so I had no choice but to delay our meeting until now. I apologize that my body is so disappointing,” Luo Minghuan said, her face carrying a gloomy and pale complexion.

“Are you feeling fine now? Have you taken your medicine this morning? Since you’re here already, we might as well wait for the rest of the family to have a meal together,” Lord Luo asked with concern, playing the role of the caring father he was described to be in the outside world. Though, only those in the know would understand the reality of the situation.

Madam Luo’s expression remained unchanged even after hearing Luo Minghuan’s words. Those ignorant would even think that she was truly feeling happy.

“You must be Yuanyuan, right? Come and let me take a closer look at you,” Madam Luo said as she beckoned at Jun Zishu, a friendly smile on her face.

Jun Zishu glanced at Luo Minghuan. Then, only after seeing Luo Minghuan nod did she start walking toward Madam Luo.

“It seems this child listens to you,” Madam Luo commented.

Luo Minghuan curled her lips upward and remained silent. Her eyes, though, revealed her thoughts.

—Jun Zishu was her wife, so of course the little dummy would listen to her.

Madam Luo scrutinized Jun Zishu. No matter how she looked at it, the girl before her didn’t look like a fool at all, so she couldn’t help but grow cautious.

However, when Madam Luo saw Jun Zishu’s eyes, her worries disappeared—There was no way a person who was not a fool could have such innocent and absentminded eyes.

Not to mention, so what if Jun Zishu wasn’t a fool? She had already conducted a thorough investigation into Jun Zishu’s background. She was even the one responsible for arranging this marriage. She was certain that there was nothing Jun Zishu could do to mess up her plans.

Afterward, Jun Zishu gave Jun Zishu a pair of jade bracelets as a meeting gift. Before accepting the bracelets, though, Jun Zishu looked at Luo Minghuan again. Only after receiving Luo Minghuan’s approval did she accept the gift.

Unlike Madam Luo, Lord Luo’s treatment of Jun Zishu wasn’t as enthusiastic. He merely asked a few casual questions.

It was time for lunch soon. The rule in the Luo Manor was that every family member present in the manor needed to have lunch and dinner at the same table. Of course, people with special circumstances such as Luo Minghuan were excluded.

The sight of the whole Luo family gathering around the dining table was quite the lively scene.

Seated at the head of the table were naturally Lord Luo and Madam Luo. Meanwhile, Luo Minghuan sat next to Lord Luo, while Madam Luo’s son sat next to her.

There were a total of eight children in the Luo Manor; nine if the dead eldest son was included.

The person sitting next to Jun Zishu was a girl who was about 13 years old. The girl was currently looking at Jun Zishu with a curious gaze, and when Jun Zishu looked back at her, she smiled shyly at Jun Zishu.

Jun Zishu knew who this girl was. She was the daughter of Lord Luo’s fourth concubine and the Luo Manor’s Fourth Young Miss. In the original storyline, she probably had the best ending out of everyone in the Luo family. She had already married into another family when Luo Minghuan started enacting her revenge, so she had escaped Luo Minghuan’s wrath.

Moreover, this Fourth Young Miss was one of the few people in the Luo Manor who did not hold any ill will toward Luo Minghuan. Hence, Luo Minghuan decided to spare her.

Jun Zishu scanned the faces of the people sitting across the table. Though, she didn’t behave too presumptuously and quickly retracted her gaze after a glance.

Out of those Jun Zishu spotted, two of them, a boy and a girl, gave her a very uncomfortable feeling. After sieving through her memories, she found that neither of them had good endings.

Out of the two, the girl was the Luo Manor’s Third Young Miss, Luo Ziqi. She had been a concubine’s daughter initially, but she became the first wife’s daughter after her mother became Madam Luo.

Luo Ziqi had found Luo Minghuan to be an eyesore even before her mother became the first wife. After her position in the manor rose, her attitude grew even worse, and she wanted nothing more than to see Luo Minghuan die as soon as possible.

As for the boy, he was the Luo Manor’s Fifth Young Master. His situation in the family was similar to the Fourth Young Miss, but he had become a skirt-chaser since a young age.

When Jun Zishu noticed him staring at her, she knew that he bore ill intentions toward her.

Jun Zishu held Luo Minghuan’s hand, her expression tensing up.

When Luo Minghuan was about to ask Jun Zishu what was wrong, she heard a voice coming from across the table.

“Why does Sister-in-law have such an ugly expression? Is the food not delicious?” Luo Ziqi asked curiously, bringing everyone’s attention onto Jun Zishu.

Originally, everyone had only been secretly observing Jun Zishu. After Luo Ziqi’s question, everyone started boldly scrutinizing her.

“It’s tasty,” Jun Zishu responded unequivocally, a confused expression on her face.

To prove her words, Jun Zishu deliberately took a big bite of her food.