Chapter 220: Chapter 220
It had been more than half a month since An Ning’s body fully recovered. During this time, besides her biological mother Yu who came twice every morning and evening without fail, several of the original body’s brothers and sisters along with the elder sister-in-law Lin had also come to visit.
In just a few days, except for the one in Shou’an Hall, practically all the young masters and young ladies of the Yang Residence had come to pay their respects.
This generation of the Yang family had three sons and three daughters in total. Except for the middle two, the second son and second daughter were born to the original body’s mother Yu.
The eldest son Yang Jin’an, the eldest young lady Yang Wan who had come the other day, the original body herself, and finally a younger brother who resembled the original body in both looks and intellect—Yang Jin Yu.
From An Ning’s observations over these few days, the four siblings of the Yang family were quite peculiar. Although they shared the same parents, their appearances and intellect were even more distinctly divided than the longitude and latitude lines on a map.
In short, the first two resembled their father, and the latter two resembled their mother.
To put it simply, beauty and intelligence truly could not coexist…
For example, right now.
“Third sister, third sister, look what I brought for you!”
Behind him, a group of maids and servants were panting as they hurried after him.
“How is it? Third sister, isn’t it pretty? I specially picked it out for you! I heard it’s from overseas…”
Glancing at the wooden cage, roughly palm-sized, covered in purple fuzz with a bit of pinkish brown on its head, An Ning nodded rarely and affirmatively said:
“Hehe, I knew you’d definitely like it, third sister!”
Among the whole household, only he and third sister really got along well.
Upon receiving the reply, Yang Jin Yu proudly lifted his little head. Even now, he didn’t forget to reach out his hand, humming an unknown little tune as he teased the colorful little bird inside.
An Ning couldn’t help but click her tongue.
How to describe it? This younger brother in front of her was not exactly a carbon copy of the original body’s siblings, but not far off either.
At just over ten years old, the boy was at that age where his features were delicate and androgynous. Yang Jin Yu especially stood out—his brows and eyes were exceptionally handsome and lively, with red lips and white teeth. Saying he looked like a girl wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Back when An Ning first arrived, the siblings had come in together, equally exquisite and beautiful, their clothes fluttering gracefully. It was no exaggeration to say that the entire Shou’an Hall brightened by more than one degree upon their entrance.
Even the old lady Zheng of the Yang family, who had wanted to say a few words, was momentarily stunned when seeing the two.
When she came back to her senses, the siblings had already quickly performed the greetings, taken their seats in order, with their actions eerily identical.
As they sat down, their biological mother Yu didn’t forget to send a glance toward them. Yang Yuanze sitting beside her furrowed his brow, then skillfully shifted his body slightly to block the mother and daughter’s exchanged looks.
At the head of the table, Zheng silently took everything in.
“Grandmother, Qin Ma said your throat has been a little uncomfortable these past couple of days. This is medicinal tea specially prepared by your granddaughter after consulting Doctor Zhang. Grandmother, please try it and see if you like it…”
Sensing something was wrong, Yang Wan quickly stood up, took the hot tea from the maid’s hands, and smiled as she offered it forward.
At the lower seat, Yang Jin’an also wore a concerned expression:
“What’s wrong? Has grandmother been feeling unwell these days? Did you call a doctor? What did he say?”
Yang Jin’an was twenty-one this year. Last year, he had already passed the second-tier imperial examination and was a promising Hanlin Academy scholar candidate.
Like Yang Yuanze, though his appearance was not especially outstanding, his tall, slender figure and refined scholarly aura surpassed many.
Nowadays, calling him a young talent was no exaggeration. He was the old lady’s favorite, truly a treasure.
Looking at the handsome eldest grandson who resembled his young father by at least seventy percent, the old lady took a deep breath and swallowed the reprimand she was about to give.
Forget it, she already knew. They were all a bunch of unrefined, stubborn blocks of wood. What was the point of arguing with them?
It was just an annoying waste of breath.
Looking at the unfortunate daughter-in-law who still didn’t know what she was laughing about and the unfortunate son beside her trying hard to hide his expression, the old lady once again propped herself up with her cane and took a long breath of the immortal air.
Speaking of this unfortunate daughter-in-law, though she didn’t approve of her, after all, she had married into the Yang family and become one of them. The old lady had previously thought about teaching her a lesson or two, but reality was, the old lady prided herself as a master with fierce methods, yet the results…
The fact was, rotten wood was always rotten wood; no matter how much you carved it, you couldn’t make a fine talent or beautiful jade out of it.
As if recalling some bad experience, she glared fiercely at her unfortunate son who was still quietly sipping tea.
Less than fifteen minutes passed before the old lady, exhausted, waved her hand to declare that today’s greetings were over.
Perhaps today her mood was especially bad. After the family left, Yang Yuanze himself was kept behind.
With his good hearing, An Ning could still hear the old lady’s various scoldings from the next room:
“Look at this! Look at how I warned and advised you a hundred times, yet you refused to listen. When someone dug a pit, you foolishly jumped right into it. Now look at this mess.
Look at the woman you married. Even if her family background is questionable, that’s one thing, but her ability is absolutely nonexistent.
You should consider yourself lucky. Thankfully, our Jin brother and Wan young lady don’t resemble their mother in looks or temperament; otherwise, if the whole family were like them, where would you cry now…”
Inside the room, Yang Yuanze helplessly wiped his face.
“Mother, how many years has it been…”
Still bringing it up! Yan’er has been in the household for so many years, and every year this topic comes up. His mother never got tired of nagging.
Hmm? Could there be other drama here?
On the way back, An Ning suspiciously glanced at her biological mother beside her, who was excitedly holding her precious daughter’s hand, seemingly eager to enter the house.
But with her mother’s intelligence, digging pits? Plotting against people?
She didn’t mean to underestimate anyone, but… could that really work?
Honestly, despite the ancestral grace, for someone this age to have reached the third-rank attendant minister position, clearly her adoptive father was no pushover—definitely not lacking in scheming.
An Ning reckoned these two probably had enough tricks between them to fill the Himalayas.
Glancing at her own mother, who was approaching forty yet still snow-white in complexion, radiant in spirit, with barely a wrinkle at the corners of her eyes, and then thinking about herself in the mirror every day.
Alright then, it’s not impossible!
One could only say that beauty is indeed a special kind of talent…