Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 168: A Crease by the Waist

“Ruoyan, your face really is salvageable!” the Yun matriarch sighed as she caressed Yun Ruoyan’s right cheek with a withered hand.

The birthmark’s dark red color had turned pale, and the tendrils that had spread all the way to her eye and snaked behind her ear had both narrowed and shortened. Madam An, Yun Ruoyao, and Yun Ruoyu all craned their necks as they tried to inspect Yun Ruoyan’s birthmark.

Yun Ruoyao gasped and quickly covered up her mouth: this news was particularly difficult for her to bear. Yun Ruoyu weakly extended her hand, as though she was trying to touch her sister’s cheek to ascertain that what she was seeing wasn’t just an illusion. Madam An’s face turned pale, her palm covering her heart. It actually wasn’t… wasn’t just nonsense…

Yun Ruoyan took her grandmother’s hand in hers and began slowly, “Grandmother, my grandfather has never given up on treating my birthmark. All these years, despite failure after failure, he persisted and finally succeeded in concocting a salve that can fix my appearance.”

As she thought of Lin Zainan’s sudden death in her past life, and how both the Yun and Lin families had fallen to Pei Ziao and Yi Qianying’s schemes, tears seeped out of Yun Ruoyan’s eyes. “I know that the Yun and Lin families aren’t on good terms with each other because of what happened to my mother, but everyone from both families is dear to me, Grandmother. I couldn’t bear to give up either half of my family.”

“Oh, my dear granddaughter!” The Yun matriarch patted the back of Yun Ruoyan’s hand. “If your grandfather can really restore your face to its former beauty, then he’ll be my benefactor no matter what! I’ll head over to the Lin family myself and thank your grandfather properly. As long as they’re willing to let bygones be bygones, the Yun family will definitely drop the matter!”

After hearing the Yun matriarch’s words, Yun Ruoyan had the sudden temptation to wash off her fake birthmark entirely.

Perhaps because she had led far too stifling a life in the past, Yun Ruoyan found herself saddled with all sorts of urges in this one. For example, she hadn’t planned on having the birthmark slowly vanish—she simply wanted to disgust Madam An, Yun Ruoyao, and Yun Ruoyu after incidentally meeting them. Coincidentally, she had been lazy this morning and had painted her birthmark smaller and less vivid than it usually was.

Despite her urges, Yun Ruoyan was anything but reckless. Revealing her true appearance would be significant, and it wasn’t something she would do lightly.

“Congratulations, Sister Ruoyan!” Perhaps it was Yun Ruoyan’s imagination, but her sister’s remark actually seemed somewhat… sincere?

“Thank you, Sister Ruoyu,” Yun Ruoyan responded with a faint smile.

Despite their misgivings, Madam An and Yun Ruoyao could only accept the fact that Yun Ruoyan’s birthmark would soon heal. As complex emotions flitted across their eyes, the two of them forced out a few congratulatory remarks, which Yun Ruoyan also accepted with a smile.

“Your father doesn’t know about this, does he?” the Yun matriarch asked.

“No, only my brother and I know at the moment.”

“Oh, Ruoyan, you should have told me earlier!” The Yun matriarch clicked her tongue.

Yun Ruoyan lowered her head in repentance, as though she were a little child who had done something wrong. “It’s because the previous treatments failed, Grandmother, so I didn’t want to make a big fuss just in case. This only happened recently when I switched to a new salve, and Grandfather isn’t sure to what extent my face can be restored either. I’m afraid that something might go wrong halfway, so I didn’t dare to bother Father and you, Grandmother.”

Yun Ruoyan’s words were so laden with hope that the Yun matriarch couldn’t help pitying her granddaughter some more. Impulsively, she felt as though she had to do something for her granddaughter in recompense. “Has your grandfather asked for any rare ingredients or herbs? The Yun family will certainly supply any help we can.”

Yun Ruoyan’s eyes brightened. “Grandfather did mention that there were some precious ingredients that went into this salve, some of which are in short supply. He’s trying to procure more of the rarest ingredients at the moment.”

“Which ones?”

“He didn’t say…”

The Yun matriarch continued, “In that case, go ask him tomorrow. There’s no ingredient in the capital that neither the Yun nor the Lin families can’t track down together!”

Yun Ruoyan nodded fervently: she did need a number of rare herbs for the new spiritual pill that she was working on with Qiuqiu. She didn’t dare to ask for all of them immediately, and was planning on having a discussion with Qiuqiu beforehand.

What a genius she was, to come up with such a ploy!

“Oh, before I forget…” The Yun matriarch turned to Madam An, suddenly remembering something. “Didn’t you mention that everyone’s dresses are ready? Let the girls put them on now, so I can have a look.”

Clearly, this wasn’t something that Madam An had anticipated, and she hastily summoned one of her servants to prepare the dresses. During the brief interlude, Yun Ruoyan asked her grandmother about her brother’s affair.

The Yun matriarch had heard about the news from Xiao Lan early in the morning. She doted on her eldest grandson and had specially summoned Yun Lan to ask about the matter, who recounted what had happened to her.

“Xiao’er’s actions really were quite thoughtless, and your father was right to punish him,” she concluded, before turning to Yun Ruoyan. “Did your brother tell you about his plans beforehand?”

Yun Ruoyan lowered her head once more in repentance. “My brother mentioned that he didn’t want to return to the army quite a few times, but I thought he was just joking. I hadn’t expected that he would really follow through with his words…”

She looked as though she was fervently trying to suppress her happiness, prompting the Yun matriarch to think about how lonely both the siblings had been all these years.

Not long after, Hong Yu and a few other servants brought the girls’ dresses over.

“Ruoyan, this is yours,” The Yun matriarch pointed at a lake-green pleated skirt.

Yun Ruoyan’s formalwear came either from Peony or from her grandmother. This time, Madam An had volunteered to take over the design of everyone’s dresses, and the Yun matriarch had acquiesced. However, the Yun matriarch would decide on the color and style of the dress herself: after all, the Yun family’s sole wife-born daughter surely had to look presentable.

Yun Ruoyan critically inspected the dress. The color, material, and style were all impeccable, save for one glaring flaw: the narrow waistline. As expected, everyone else’s dresses fit perfectly, but Yun Ruoyan’s was stuck at her waist.

“My goodness, what should we do!” Madam An exclaimed dramatically. “How could it not fit? I followed Mother’s measurements to the letter! Second Miss, have you been consuming too much food in the meantime?”

Yun Ruoyan’s appetite had indeed been very good lately. She was developing both horizontally and vertically, and no longer the skeletal, skin-and-bones girl that she had been just a few months earlier.

However, the last time the Yun matriarch had summoned her over to have her measurements taken, she was certain that her waist hadn’t been so narrow. If she had had to put on the dress three months ago, she would barely be able to do so by forgoing a meal.

Now, however, she wouldn’t be able to put it on even if she starved herself for an entire day. Yun Ruoyan sneered in her heart. Was Madam An up to her little tricks again?

She pointed at the dress. “Madam An, I’m glad Grandmother thought to have a look at the dresses beforehand. If this mistake were to be discovered two days later, wouldn’t that have been embarrassing?”

The Yun matriarch also looked rather displeased: she had spent a great deal of effort on the design, only to find that Yun Ruoyan couldn’t even wear the resulting dress! And any further changes to it would undoubtedly ruin its overall aesthetics.

“Daughter-in-law, can’t you do anything properly? That waistline looks as thin as the middle of a gourd—surely no one could wear it!”

Madam An lowered her head, then suddenly turned to look at Hong Yu. “Didn’t I ask you to keep a close eye on the dressmaking?”

Hong Yu reacted quickly, with barely a moment of pause. Kneeling down on the floor, she hurriedly apologized for the mistake. “Madam, I, I hadn’t been feeling well the last few days, so I wasn’t able to go over to the dressmaker’s. Please forgive me, Madam, Matriarch!”

Yun Ruoyan sighed theatrically. “Grandmother, no amount of punishment will fix the problem now. Let’s forget about it.”

“Ruoyan, you’re truly a benevolent girl.” The Yun matriarch glanced at Madam An with disappointment, as if comparing her to a child and finding her unworthy.

Madam An clutched the handkerchief in her hand. Why isn’t anything going well today? No, it’s all that wretch’s fault—she truly is my bane!

“Thank you, Second Miss,” Hong Yu stood up and bowed in apology, but her tone sounded as arrogant as it had been.

“Hong Yu, are you feeling unwell today?”

“Second Miss, thank you for your concern. I believe I’ve recovered.”

“In that case, please supervise the modification to the dress. I want to see the finished product by this afternoon.”

“Yes, I’ll head over immediately, Miss.” After receiving permission, Hong Yu left with the dress.

Madam An, Yun Ruoyao, and Yun Ruoyu followed quickly after, but Yun Ruoyan stayed behind to chat with the Yun matriarch all the way past lunch.

In the evening, Hong Yu brought the modified dress to Yun Ruoyan’s cottage.

“Second Miss, the dress has been fixed.” Hong Yu handed the dress to Xi Lan, who brought it over to Yun Ruoyan to be inspected. She took only a cursory look before she exclaimed, “No, this won’t do!”

“What’s the matter, Miss?” Hong Yu was familiar with stitching and embroidery. She had spent the entire afternoon watching the workers fix the fabric, and could guarantee that everything had been adjusted accordingly.

“There’s a crease here by the waist,” Yun Ruoyan nitpicked. “Send it back for further modification!”