Chapter 282: [Unswerving Devotion] Another Line
Biyun quickly returned with a doctor, accompanied by a noble lady.
Xu Taotao knew that this was her mother, Lady Li.
Lady Li came forward and immediately wrapped her in an embrace.
“My child, where are you feeling unwell? Hurry, let the doctor take a look at you.”
Separated by a thin handkerchief, the doctor examined Xu Taotao’s pulse. Holding his breath in concentration, his brow was tightly furrowed, making everyone watching feel deeply anxious.
After a good while, the doctor spoke up: “It is nothing grave—merely a congenital weakness of the constitution paired with a deficiency of qi and blood. She requires proper conditioning and care; otherwise, it may affect her fertility.”
“Then Doctor, why don’t you prescribe a regimen?” Lady Li urged hastily.
“That works as well.”
Lady Li escorted the doctor outside, while Biyun set about washing up and styling Xu Taotao’s hair and attire.
The New Year was approaching fast, and it was quite cold outside. With charcoal fires burning inside the room, it remained reasonably warm.
Stepping out of her room, Xu Taotao saw that Lady Li had already returned.
“I’ve already dispatched the servants to fetch your medicine. Since you’re feeling unwell, don’t step outside.”
Lady Li gripped Xu Taotao’s hand, her eyes filled with distress and care.
“Sigh, you’ve been weak and prone to illness since childhood. If I don’t find a caring soul to take care of you, how can I ever put my mind at ease?”
“Mother, what are you saying? Do I not have people taking care of me here at home as well?” Xu Taotao said, feeling somewhat awkward.
“Look at you, getting shy already, aren’t you? You’re fifteen now. We wanted to arrange a match for you earlier, but things never went smoothly. But today, someone is coming to our house. When the time comes, you can take a look from behind the folding screen.”
Even as she spoke, Lady Li guided her toward the main hall.
“Go have your meal first; the guests won’t arrive so soon. Mother tells you, that family’s circumstances are quite similar to ours—a well-matched match of equal social standing. What’s more, their son has already passed the imperial examination to become a xiucai, and his grades have always been excellent. He’ll certainly pass the highest exams to become a jinshi down the road. By then, you’ll be considered a government official’s wife.”
“His mother, Madam Wang, is someone you’ve met before. She’s very kind-hearted and fond of you. Marrying into a family we know inside out means you won’t suffer any losses.”
Xu Taotao pressed her lips together tightly. She disliked these words, yet she couldn’t articulate why.
“Mother, I truly do not wish to get married,” Xu Taotao said.
Lady Li cast a chiding look at her.
“All young ladies must get married. What kind of nonsense are you speaking?”
Xu Taotao pressed her lips together once more.
Yet, she simply did not want to marry.
Xu Taotao turned her gaze to her side. In the dead of winter, the courtyard looked thoroughly desolate.
Withered branches shuddered subtly in the frigid wind, and Xu Taotao suddenly broke into a cold shiver.
She stepped into the main hall.
Throughout the meal, she remained exceedingly silent, though her personality was inherently like this to begin with.
Quiet, reserved, and gentle—she was the exact image of a daughter-in-law that noble ladies favored.
In truth, starting from last year, many people had come to seek her hand in marriage.
Yet for reasons unknown, the suitors who came to seek her hand always met with accidents. One by one, over time, certain unpleasant rumors began spreading outside.
Fortunately, these rumors weren’t too severe, as those suitors had merely suffered minor injuries without any loss of life.
For a period of time, Lady Li prayed to gods and Buddhas every day, praying for her marriage to proceed smoothly.
Yet in her heart, Xu Taotao always felt that if rumors of bringing misfortune to her future husband truly spread, it would be best never to marry for the rest of her life.
Xu Taotao found the food rather tasteless, barely managing a few bites before Lady Li arranged for her to sit behind the folding screen, saying the guests would arrive in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
Father Xu stepped inside as well.
Xu Taotao didn’t particularly like her father; she always felt that her father didn’t like her either.
Otherwise, why did the look in his eyes seem so critical whenever he looked at her? Yet her father looked at her mother in the exact same manner.
Before long, Madam Wang arrived, bringing her son along.
Xu Taotao took merely a single glance at his figure from behind the screen before losing all interest.
He was far too thin—so thin he looked as if he might be blown away by a gust of wind, looking frail even bundled up in winter clothes.
Xu Taotao thought to herself that she felt as though she could knock him out with a single punch.
The moment this thought surfaced, she froze briefly.
Afterward, she remained somewhat absentminded as well.
When Lady Li questioned her, she simply claimed that the other party was far too thin and looked sickly; given that her own health was poor, she couldn’t possibly choose another invalid.
These words left Lady Li speechless, whereas Father Xu flared up in anger instead.
“How can you judge someone like that based purely on their appearance? He doesn’t fall ill every day like you do! For a scholar, studying bitterly every day makes one a bit lean, which proves how hardworking he is. He didn’t mind your weak, disease-ridden body, yet you had the nerve to be picky first! Do you have any idea how people outside are talking about you right now?!”
A surge of nameless anger welled up inside Xu Taotao’s heart.
Casting an aggrieved, melancholy glance at them, she said, “Then would it be fine if I just go die? Once I am dead, everything will be fine, won’t it?”
Saying this, she turned around and left. Lady Li called out to her anxiously from behind, but was held back by the enraged Father Xu.
“Leave her be! She dares to threaten me with death now?!”
“Master, look at you…”
Xu Taotao walked exceedingly fast, her steps hurried and swift, nearly tripping over her own skirt.
Biyun rushed over hastily to support her, only to be shoved away by her.
Xu Taotao charged directly into her room, slamming the door shut in one motion, then sat before her dressing mirror, her eye rims red.
Her heart felt stifled and miserable, her chest throbbing with waves of pain, yet she possessed no means to even untangle the source of these emotions.
Staring at the mirror, she suddenly paused in a daze.
She leaned closer to the dressing mirror with serious precision.
And then she discovered: the person in the mirror and herself seemed… slightly different?
A gust of cold wind blew past—the window seemingly hadn’t been closed tightly—causing Xu Taotao to shiver from the cold.
And then, she witnessed a horrifying scene.
Her reflection in the mirror turned its head subtly, as if looking toward a certain direction.
Yet, she hadn’t moved at all!
Xu Taotao felt cold all over.
When Bai Cha opened her eyes, she discovered she had returned to her initial starting location.
She felt sore and aching all over, and she constantly felt as though something was missing—she couldn’t articulate what it was, but it felt bizarre.
She sat up, and then a knock sounded on the door.
“Miss, it is time for dinner.”
Bai Cha narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Come in.”
The maid stepped inside, setting the food onto the table just as she had at the very beginning of the instance.
Bai Cha walked over, cast a glance at the dishes on the table, and then turned her gaze onto the maid.
The maid remained somewhat baffled.
“What is it, Miss?”
Bai Cha abruptly picked up a portion of vegetables with her chopsticks and shoved it into her mouth.
Startled out of her wits, the maid was stuffed with a mouthful of spoiled vegetables and spat it out instinctively.
“Miss, what are you doing?” The maid looked at her in utter shock.
After all, the usual Bai Cha wasn’t like this.
“Can you taste what these vegetables taste like?” Bai Cha’s expression was cold and distant.
Realizing that she had seemingly returned to the very beginning, Bai Cha held zero intention of repeating the same sequence.
She had abandoned her character persona the moment she stepped into Biyi Tower; there was no need to maintain a character persona upon restarting.
The maid stammered somewhat, incapable of answering.
Yet she naturally knew that these dishes had spoiled; the meals over the past few nights had all been like this.
The primary reason was that by doing this, the kitchen staff could line their own pockets with an extra sum of money.
At any rate, Xu Taotao generally wouldn’t throw a fit, merely claiming that she had no appetite.
Bai Cha let out a cold sneer, saying, “Call the kitchen staff over.”
She didn’t know what that woman intended by throwing her back here, but having already visited the lantern festival outside, she might as well try another line directly.
Bai Cha’s gaze swept across the interior of the room, abruptly pausing for a second.
If memory served her right, that candle beside the dressing table hadn’t been this tall at the start, had it?
