Chapter 3 Su Qingtan
Su Qingtan’s body trembled violently, and there was a shocked look on his face. The teacup fell from his hand and shattered into pieces. He seem not to realize that some of the boiling tea had spilled on his hand.
The servant girl picked up a handkerchief to wipe it off, but Su Qingtan pushed her hand away. He grabbed Nanny Li and said angrily, “Take me there!”
On the way to the hut, Nanny Li’s hand was held painfully by Su Qingtan, but she was calm because at least the first young master still cared about Second Miss. But why didn’t he respond to what the First Madam had done? Didn’t he know what happened?
At this moment, Su Zipei sat at a table in an exquisite and luxurious room in the western yard of the Su’s mansion. She was so furious that a group of servant girls were completely silent out of fear.
There was an extinguished charcoal basin in front of her.
“Where is Nanny Li?”
Su Zipei was so angry that her voice changed. The charcoal basin in her room never went out in winter. But when she came back from outside today, she found it was very cold in the room. How could she live this way!?
Nanny Li had always been in charge of adding charcoal. The big servant girl Chun’er stood up immediately and said, “Miss, Nanny Li often went to the charcoal room secretly this month. She went out before dawn every day. I don’t know where she went.”
The expression of Su Zipei changed slightly when she heard her words. Then she smiled coldly, got up and put on her cloak, and hummed, “Chun’er, gather some strong nannies, and let’s go!”
The hut was not close to the Su’s mansion. Nanny Li had to walk for two hours on weekdays, but this time it took less than an hour.
Su Qingtan was stunned when he saw the dilapidated hut that could fall at any time.
Did his second sister always live in a place like this?
“What’s going on?”
He remembered what his mother had said. Although the second sister was kicked out of the mansion, she had gone to live with their relatives and would be able to come back when their father was not angry anymore.
He too had been angry at what his sister had done. Yet he didn’t think that his mother would lie to him.
Su Qingtan pulled the door open, and dust covered his white training suit. But he, who always loved to be clean, didn’t seem realize it. He rushed to the bed when he saw Su Erya huddled like a stray cat. His heart twisted in his chest. It hurt so much that he couldn’t even breathe.
His sister was thinner than ever before and hardly looked like a human being.
“Sister, wake up. Brother is here…”
Su Qingtan called softly. Su Erya frowned, but she didn’t open her eyes and murmured, “I did not steal the night-luminescent pearl. Brother, why don’t you believe me…”
Su Qingtan felt the pain in her whisper, and his heart trembled.
Her subconscious wouldn’t lie to him. Did mother incorrectly blame his sister?
There was no time to think carefully, Su Qingtan picked up Su Li, who was very light. He turned and said, “Nanny Li, go to town and find the doctor of Baicao Tang. I’ll take my sister back.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Su Qingtan saw Su Li’s arm under her burlap clothes. There was blood. His pupils shrank, and he lifted her sleeves with his right hand. He placed her back down.
There were cuts all over Su Li’s arm, old and new. A lot of the new wounds had fused to her clothes. Now these blood clots were pulled by Su Qingtan’s movement, and the wounds were torn open again. A dark red stream came trickling out.
Su Qingtan did not check her left arm. He took a heavy breath and was about to ask Nanny Li who did it, when he heard the sound of m.u.f.fled footsteps outside.
Su Qingtan fixed his eyes and glanced at Nanny Li, who was in a panic. He thought for a moment and jumped out of the window.
Before Nanny Li could think, she heard the door of the hut swing open. Su Zipei, surrounded by four nannies and Chun’er, came in with a look of disgust on her face.
“Nanny Li, do you know what mistake you have made?”
Su Zipei’s faint words immediately frightened Nanny Li. Her face turned pale. “I had no choice but to do so, Miss. If there was no charcoal, Second Miss would have died! Please think of Second Miss’s life, Third Miss!”
“Hahaha…” Su Zipei smiled.
Her smile made Nanny Li bitterly disappointed.
“Second Miss?”
Su Zipei stared at Su Erya, who was in a coma on the bed, with her beautiful eyes. She went over and slapped Su Erya in her face!
“Nanny Li, did you miss something? My second sister has been kicked out of the Su family. I am the Second Miss of Su family.”
Hearing this crisp sound, Su Qingtan, who was secretly observing outside the house, was shocked. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
How could his gentle third sister act so rudely to her own sister!
He was about to rush into the hut and ask her, but a pent-up cough stopped him.
Su Erya was awakened by the slap and opened her eyes. When she saw who was coming, her body could not help trembling, and there was a look of fear in her eyes. She said in a trembling voice:
“Third sister, what…what are you doing here?”
Su Zipei’s eyes narrowed slightly. She smiled and said, “Sister, you are a bad girl. How can you call yourself the Second Miss of Su family? Our father was not joking when he drove you out of the mansion. It seemed that my dear sister has forgotten the feeling of being beaten by a cane… Nanny Zheng!”
“Yes, Miss!”
Nanny Zheng, who was standing behind Su Zipei, immediately took out a new and s.h.i.+ny cane. She grinned expectantly.