Miss Cousin is Always Busy

Chapter 114

Jun Zishu held Luo Minghuan’s icy palm, trying to stop her from being unhappy.

Noticing this, Luo Minghuan tried to smile for Jun Zishu. Only, the smile she wore looked forced and ugly.

“I don’t understand. What gives him the courage to speak to me like that? He wants that man to protect him? That heartless and unrighteous person? Does that kid think that man will have any affection for his children?”

Luo Minghuan started laughing as she vented the anger in her heart.

Luo Minghuan wasn’t getting angry over Luo Zihua’s foolish behavior in coming to provoke her. Instead, what angered her was that one sentence he uttered.

Protect him?

Hah! Who did he think he was?

What did a blood-related son mean to that man? Hadn’t she also killed one before?

Jun Zishu pretended not to understand and simply leaned against Luo Minghuan as she tried to calm the angered young lady.

Luo Minghuan took a deep breath to calm herself. She had gripped Jun Zishu’s wrist so tightly that Jun Zishu had started to feel pain. Even so, Jun Zishu endured it and kept quiet.

Luo Minghuan could remain calm with most matters she faced. However, only matters relating to her birth parents were an exception. Such matters were taboo for her. Yet, she had no choice but to tear open her wounds herself, spread the bloody scene in front of herself, force herself to analyze it, and plan her revenge.

In Luo Minghua’s eyes, Lord Luo was a heinous man capable of all evils. Yet, her opinion of him was also very conflicted.

On the one hand, Luo Minghuan respected him because he was her father. After all, Lord Luo had doted on her a lot in the past.

Moreover, to Luo Minghuan, Lord Luo wasn’t only her father. He was also her teacher in the field of business. He had taught her many things in regards to conducting business.

Yet, on the other hand, Luo Minghuan felt that her father was hypocritical, dirty, and heartless. It might have been fine if there wasn’t the devotion and doting he showed to her mother as a comparison, but shortly after her elder brother died, her father had taken in a woman as his concubine. Her mother had been grieving over her elder brother’s death at the time and needed comfort. Yet, Lord Luo had stabbed her mother in the back. To make matters worse, half a year after her mother died, Lord Luo had made that other woman his main wife.

Thus, Luo Minghuan hated Lord Luo. Then, when she discovered that her mother’s death might even be related to Lord Luo, that hatred of hers reached its peak.

Luo Minghuan initially believed that her mother had died because of illness. However, after questioning the doctor who treated her mother, she realized that her mother had died of depression. As to what her mother was feeling depressed about, it went without saying that it was because of Lord Luo and his concubines.

Shortly after entering the Luo Manor, the present Second and Third Madam had conspired with the present Madam Luo to deal with her mother. They had used all sorts of means to worsen her mother’s image in front of her father, causing her father’s treatment toward her mother to worsen.

When Luo Minghuan heard Jun Zishu gasping, she hurriedly dragged herself out of her muddy thoughts and loosened her grip over Jun Zishu’s wrist. Then, she quickly looked at Jun Zishu’s wrist.

Jun Zishu’s skin was faintly colored, so it was very easy to leave a mark on it. When Luo Minghuan saw that a dark-red ring had formed around Jun Zishu’s wrist, she couldn’t help but mentally reproach herself.

“Did I hurt you?” Luo Minghuan asked worriedly as she gently massaged Jun Zishu’s wrist and blew on it.

“No.” Jun Zishu shook her head. “Although I don’t quite understand what Husband said just now, so long as it is something Husband dislikes, I won’t like it, either.”

Luo Minghuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she heard Jun Zishu’s childish statement. Yet, she also couldn’t help but feel happy to hear it.

…

After the New Year’s festivities ended, the snow had also stopped falling as the weather entered the intersection of midwinter and early spring.

Jun Zishu learned from Little Fairy that Madam Luo was currently searching through the town’s handsome youths for a prospective husband for her daughter.

There were only a few days left before Luo Ziqi turned 14. In the current era, a child would be considered to have reached maturity after turning 14, which also meant that they had reached marriageable age.

Initially, Madam Luo hadn’t been in such a hurry to marry off her daughter. She had fully intended to keep Luo Ziqi in the Luo Manor a little longer and take her time looking for the perfect son-in-law.

However, the consecutive tragedies that had taken place in the manor had probably given Madam Luo a scare. While Madam Luo wasn’t worried that anything untoward would happen to her due to clashing with Luo Minghuan, she worried that her actions might impact her daughter’s happiness. She worried that Luo Ziqi might face an untoward situation as well. Thus, she decided to marry off her daughter as soon as possible.

According to the original storyline, Madam Luo had also married off Luo Ziqi when her daughter reached marriageable age. Unfortunately, the person Luo Ziqi married wasn’t a kind person. While the first few years of her married life were indeed a blissful experience, things started changing down the line.

In the original storyline, Luo Minghuan did not go after Luo Ziqi to take revenge. Even so, Luo Ziqi had lived a terrible life because her husband tended towards domestic violence. In the current era, though, domestic violence wasn’t considered a crime at all. In the end, Luo Ziqi had died in her struggles with her husband’s concubines and from her husband’s abuse.

Jun Zishu wasn’t sure if Luo Ziqi would marry the same person she did in the original storyline. Even if Luo Ziqi did, there was nothing Jun Zishu could do about it.

Although Luo Ziqi was a bit reckless and had a bad mouth, Jun Zishu felt that the girl was many times better than Luo Ziying.

Unfortunately, due to the restrictions of her character, Jun Zishu couldn’t take the initiative to do anything about Luo Ziqi’s marriage. She had already changed the plot significantly. In the original storyline, after the original owner died, no further tragedies had taken place in the Luo Manor. The Fifth Young Master was still alive around this time, and it would still be a few more months before he would lose his life. Naturally, the Third Madam escaping her courtyard and murdering the Second Madam her children was something that would only happen even further into the future.

Jun Zishu’s actions had already advanced the plot by at least half a year.

…

A few days later, Ruyun came to relay a piece of news.

Apparently, Luo Zihua had found a snake in his room. Fortunately, help had arrived in time, and the snake had been caught before he was bitten. Even so, he was frightened out of his wits because of this incident.

Meanwhile, when Luo Minghuan heard of this news, she simply sneered. She could tell that it was a childish scheme at a glance.

How could there be so many coincidences in this world? Not to mention, most snakes should still be asleep in this cold weather. How could a snake suddenly appear in this manor?

Out of the two snake incidents that had taken place in the manor last year, both were man-made incidents.

…

Luo Ziqi wore a frightened expression on her face as she sat in her room and looked at her mother.

“Mother, Luo Minghuan doesn’t intend on sparing any of us. Apart from the three of us and Luo Zihua, Luo Minghuan is the only one left in the manor. Does she really intend on getting rid of all of us?”

Luo Ziqi was scared. Matters involving taking another person’s life were something she dared not think about even in her dreams.

Right now, Luo Ziqi regretted ever speaking viciously in front of Luo Minghuan. Back then, she had only treated Luo Minghuan as a sickly person. She never thought that Luo Minghuan would be such a vicious person. Moreover, her means of getting rid of people was truly terrifying.

“What are you panicking for? I have already chosen a good family for you to marry into. Once I have made the necessary preparations, I will start negotiating with the other party.”

“What about you and Little Brother?”

Ignoring her daughter’s question, Madam Luo calmly analyzed, “This matter isn’t necessarily her doing.”

“Are you saying that Luo Zihua himself… It can’t be, right? He doesn’t have the courage to do that,” Luo Ziqi disputed.

Madam Luo did not refute Luo Ziqi’s reasoning. Even so, her expression remained heavy.

“I really don’t understand why Father is indulging in Luo Minghuan so much! Everyone knows that Second Mother’s death is Luo Minghuan’s doing! I refuse to believe that Father doesn’t know!” Luo Ziqi ranted. Then, in an aggrieved tone, she yelled, “Father has always favored her! It’s always like this!”

The reason why Luo Ziqi targeted Luo Minghuan wasn’t just because she found the other party hateful. Another reason was that Luo Minghuan had always received their father’s love. Compared to Luo Minghuan, Lord Luo’s attitude to his other children was ordinary at best. He behaved neither too coldly nor too affectionately. He would award those who did well and punish those who made mistakes.

“Is it because she can make money? Little Brother… Little Brother can also do that in the future,” Luo Ziqi said as she looked at her little brother, who was standing beside their mother.

Madam Luo sighed when she heard Luo Ziqi’s complaints. She did not get angry over her daughter’s words. Instead, she looked at her daughter calmly before beckoning at the girl. Then, she said, “I don’t think I have ever told you how I entered the Luo Manor.”

Luo Ziqi and her little brother curiously looked at Madam Luo, waiting for their mother’s following words.

“He saved me from an accident once and did not ask for anything in return. I wanted to repay him by marrying him, but your father refused, saying that he has a wife and children at home and that he only saved me out of kindness. Back then, I thought that he was a truly wonderful man and that his wife must be a very lucky woman,” Madam Luo said, a helpless smile appearing on her face as she recalled the past.

“But didn’t Father marry you in the end?”

“That is because he wanted to anger your First Mother. I don’t know what happened between them, but I was happy just to have the chance to stay by his side. I can see the situation more clearly than the others. Initially, I, too, had thought of competing for your father’s love. However, I later recognized that there are just some things that cannot be obtained no matter how hard I try,” Madam Luo said, shaking her head as she let out a rueful laugh.

“Mother…”

Luo Ziqi was a little confused. She couldn’t fully comprehend what her mother was saying.

“You don’t need to think about those matters. Just be good, marry into a good family, and spend the rest of your life there,” Madam Luo said as she held Luo Ziqi’s hands, a hint of worry in her eyes.

…

The weather outside was sunny today, yet everyone in the Luo Manor was in a dark and gloomy mood.

Of course, Jun Zishu was an exception. She stood outside this family feud, and she saw everything with perfect clarity.

Unsurprisingly, Luo Minghuan had received a summons from Lord Luo.

After Luo Minghuan left, Jun Zishu returned to the bed-chamber and watched the live broadcast with Little Fairy.

…

Inside the study, Lord Luo wore a chilling expression on his face as he sat behind his desk. Then, as soon as Luo Minghuan entered, he immediately slammed his palm onto his desk.

However, Luo Minghuan was not frightened at the slightest, simply maintaining a calm expression as she looked at her father.

“Are you not going to spare even him now?” Lord Luo demanded.

In response to her father’s question, Luo Minghuan snorted and contemptuously said, “I will never use the same method twice. If you have the time to criticize me for something I didn’t do, why don’t you look into who your good little son asked to help him with this matter?”

Lord Luo fell into thought for a moment upon hearing Luo Minghuan’s words. Then, after some time had passed, he opened his mouth and said, “Minghuan, stop making trouble.”

“Making trouble? I have not been making trouble. However, even if Luo Zihua didn’t employ this childish move, I still plan on killing him. After all, he has boldly come to me to proclaim that he will kill me one day.”

“Minghuan! What exactly do you want?! Do you want to massacre the entire Luo Manor before you are satisfied?! Do you plan on killing me as well?!”

Lord Luo sounded powerless as he spoke. He also looked exhausted as he sat in his chair.