A little giddy from all the proceedings, Chu Lian brought back a pile of presents from Qingxi Hall to Songtao Court.

The moment she entered, Senior Servant Gui was shocked by all the boxes Xiyan and Fuyan were carrying in.

“What happened?”

Xiyan and Fuyan clearly weren’t as calm as Chu Lian was. They looked rather listless. Xiyan was the one to speak up. “The matriarch and Eldest Young Madam gifted these to Third Young Madam.”

“Ah? It’s not a special occasion, so what are these gifts for?” The boxes alone already looked expensive; she could give a good guess at the value of the items inside.

Although the Jing’an Estate was much wealthier than the Ying Estate, senior family members wouldn’t randomly hand out precious gifts to their juniors without any reason.

Xiyan cast a glance at Chu Lian, and seeing that her mistress didn’t seem opposed, she reported the matter of He Sanlang going off to the northern border early in the morning.

Senior Servant Gui’s eyes widened. “What! Third Young Master just left?”

Chu Lian calmly looked at the servants around her and said, “Put everything away. I’m a little tired, so I’m going to take a nap.”

It was then that Senior Servant Gui took a look at Chu Lian. It was the middle of summer, so they were dressed in fewer layers. Chu Lian had rushed over to Qingxi Hall right after waking up, so she had quickly picked out a light dress. The breeze sweeping through the room had pushed her clothes flush against her body, making her seem weak and thin.

Senior Servant Gui thought of how Sixth Miss had suffered these few days. Her husband had been at loggerheads with her right after their wedding, and now he had abandoned her for the army! He hadn’t even given her any notice and she had had to find out from the matriarch instead.

How much Sixth Miss must be suffering in her heart...

While thinking of all the recent events, Senior Servant Gui couldn’t help but shed a few tears in sympathy for her mistress.

The personal maidservants also had sad expressions on their faces.

Senior Servant Gui saw that the atmosphere in the parlour had dampened, so she quickly wiped at her tears with a handkerchief. Then, she took to scolding them in a low voice. “Why the gloomy faces! Your mistress is standing hale and hearty before you! Dismissed, dismissed! Go off to your chores! It’s not like Third Young Master will never return. This is his home; no matter where he goes, he’ll still have this place in his heart.”

All the maidservants left in a hurry.

However, Senior Servant Gui knew that the situation wasn’t as good as she had tried to make it seem.

She knew what kind of place the northern border was. Since Third Young Master had gone there to join the army, once he entered the border troops, he’d have to stay there for a full five years unless he somehow achieved some merit!

Five years!

Third Young Madam was fifteen this year. She would be sixteen next year. If Third Young Master really stayed at the border for five years, Third Young Madam would be twenty by the time he came back.

Five years... How was Third Young Madam supposed to wait for him? Those were supposed to be the best years of a woman’s life.

How could Third Young Master treat their Sixth Miss this way?

However, Chu Lian’s thoughts were completely different from Senior Servant Gui’s. She was currently wearing a yellow halter top undergarment and white lounge pants as she lied on her large bed. Her legs were crossed as she fanned herself with a round fan. In the other hand, Chu Lian held a comedy book, which she was happily reading.

Whenever she got to an interesting part, she would even forget to fan herself.

She would also murmur to herself from time to time.

“I didn’t think that the ancients would have such vivid imaginations; they even wrote stories with gender roles reversed! Tsk, tsk... Too bad it’s not the guys giving birth, though.”