My game even includes ancient times

The next morning, the doctor came out of Bai Yushen's courtyard carrying his medicine box. As soon as he looked up, he saw Xia Yuan standing by the gate. He quickly cupped his hands and whispered, "Miss Xia, good morning. You've come to see the Third Young Master too."

Xia Yuan nodded slightly.

The doctor continued in a low voice, "Then I shall take my leave."

Xia Yuan nodded again.

Watching the doctor leave, she turned back to look at the door again, hesitated for a moment, and then stepped forward and knocked twice.

"dong dong"

"Hold on!"

Bai Yushen's voice came from the courtyard.

A few breaths later, a steady, powerful sound of footsteps approached, and the courtyard gate was opened.

Bai Yushen wore a cloak draped over his shoulders, with only a plain-colored inner shirt underneath, clearly indicating that he had just finished applying medicine and hadn't had time to put on his clothes yet.

He was clearly taken aback when he saw Xia Yuan standing outside the door.

"Third Junior Brother."

After a moment of silence, Xia Yuan spoke first. She lowered her eyes and handed the small jade box she had been holding to Bai Yushen. "This is Rouyun Ointment. You can apply it to your face and hands to treat chapped skin and frostbite."

A light shone in Bai Yushen's eyes, but in the next moment, as if he remembered something, it slowly faded away.

He reached out and took the small, exquisite jade box, saying calmly, "Thank you, Senior Sister. Actually, you could have sent someone to deliver it; there was no need for such trouble."

Xia Yuan paused for a moment: "My master asked me to give it to you."

Bai Yu lowered her eyes and looked deeply at the person in front of her: "I see, thank you for your help, Senior Sister."

"Just apply a thin layer of the Soft Cloud Cream before going to bed at night. I still have some business to attend to in the village, so I'll be going now. You should get some rest."

"Senior sister, walk slowly."

Xia Yuan turned and left.

From beginning to end, she never looked up at Bai Yushen.

Bai Yu watched her walk away quickly until her figure disappeared at the end of the stone steps, then he looked down at the small jade box in his palm.

After a long while, he sighed helplessly.

How could the master, a man over fifty, notice that his face and hands were chapped by the howling north wind and swollen from the freezing cold?

Even if they noticed, they wouldn't know about skin-nourishing products like Rouyun Cream, let alone have someone give it to them.

Bai Yushen couldn't help but think of the sandalwood hairpin with a blue phoenix design that Xia Yuan had carefully placed deep inside the package.

That was the first formal gift he gave her, and she only reluctantly accepted it after he pleaded with her.

She clearly said at the time that she didn't like it, wouldn't wear it, and would only keep it at the bottom of her trunk, but when he accidentally saw the hairpin, he found that the hairpin had a lustrous sheen that only comes from frequent rubbing, and the pearl in the blue phoenix's beak was also well-maintained.

Anyone who looks at it would think it is a hairpin that its owner loved and wore often.

But she never let him know any of this.

A gust of cold wind blew by, lifting the hem of his white jade cloak, causing his thin inner shirt to flare back and cling tightly to his firm chest and abdomen.

"Sister..."

He murmured softly, his deep voice filled with sighs.

"What are you really thinking...?"

……

"What on earth do you think?"

Chu Zheng looked helplessly at Chu Yunsi standing in front of him. Her stubborn and defiant expression made him feel that even the tea in his hand was no longer appealing.

"Father, I didn't think about it much."

Chu Yunsi stood there blankly on the ground, her tone stiff, "I don't want to get married, and I don't want to leave the manor. I want to stay with you, with my senior brothers and sisters, and my junior brother."

Chu Zheng rubbed his stinging forehead listlessly: "You little brat, you're really going to drive me crazy..."

Chu Yunsi glared at him: "Father, last time I said I didn't want to get married, and you clearly agreed. Why are you forcing me like this again? It's not like the sky will fall if I don't get married! This manor is so big, surely it can accommodate me?!"

Chu Zheng remained silent, then lowered his head and sighed.

"Father has really gone too far!"

Chu Yunsi threw the lantern in her hand to the ground, turned around and ran out of the house, almost bumping into Xia Yuan who had just entered the courtyard.

"Little junior sister?"

Before Xia Yuan could say anything, Chu Yunsi ran out of the courtyard and disappeared.

Did they argue again?

She walked into the study and saw Chu Zheng sitting behind his desk, his hand supporting his forehead.

"Did you two have another fight?"

Xia Yuan placed the documents she was holding on Chu Zheng's desk and picked up the broken lantern from the ground. "I just saw her run out crying."

Chu Zheng sighed deeply: "Sigh, it's all because of her marriage. We can't bring it up, or we'll start arguing."

“Master, I know you are doing this for my junior sister’s own good. Now that a storm is brewing, you are marrying her off to another place to protect her.”

Xia Yuan paused for a moment before continuing, "But Junior Sister doesn't know how dangerous what we're doing is. In her eyes, it's like you, her father, are rushing to push her away. Wouldn't that make her incredibly heartbroken?"

"The Chu family is now on the edge of a precipice. One wrong step and they will fall into the abyss. I dare not gamble."

Chu Zheng looked out the window, "The escape routes for over a thousand people in the village have been arranged. Yun Si can marry someone else, and Xiao Wu has that senior protecting her. Only the three of you..."

He looked at Xia Yuan, his gentle tone suddenly becoming heavier: "Yuan'er, are you sure you want to come and take this risk with us?"

Xia Yuan smiled slightly: "Master, what are you saying? My parents are dead, I have no relatives or friends, and I am all alone. I can't think of any other choice but to stand with everyone."

She changed the subject and brought up Chu Yunsi again: "Master, I think we should let Yunsi know about the current situation. She will be eighteen next year. In an ordinary family, she is already of age where she can have children and take charge of the household. I think we should listen to her opinion before making a decision. What do you think?"

Chu Zheng remained silent for a long while before saying, "Let me think about it. After all... now I only have her left."

Xia Yuan pursed her lips slightly, her thoughts stirred by those words, as if she had returned to twenty years ago, not long after she arrived at the manor.

At that time, Master's wife was still alive, Master was still young, and... that person was still alive too.

Looking at Chu Zheng, whose appearance had not changed but whose temperament had aged considerably, she took the initiative to change the subject: "Master, those are all the bills and expenses from tomorrow's New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival, as well as the New Year's greetings and invitations from various sects. Please take a look."

Chu Zheng shifted his gaze to the stack of documents Xia Yuan had brought, and straightened his posture: "It's all thanks to you that so many things were organized in less than a day."

Xia Yuan smiled without saying a word, found a chair, sat down, and poured herself some tea.

The study fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of Chu Zheng turning the pages of paper remaining.

A moment later, Chu Zheng looked at the bright red invitation in his hand and was quite speechless: "The Heyang Sect is going to hold a Lantern Festival banquet? Their lanterns are terribly ugly, who would want to go see them?"

Xia Yuan had already repaired the broken lantern and restored it to its original state.

It was a lotus lantern with a gradient of light pink color, and the details were exquisitely made. From a distance, it looked just like a blooming lotus flower.

“They hold a banquet every year, using various pretexts to repeatedly emphasize their status in the martial arts world to various sects.”

Xia Yuan picked up the lamp, examined it, and nodded in satisfaction.

Chu Zheng scoffed and casually tossed the invitation aside.

"We're not going this year. We'll just stay home for the New Year. Let the Heyang faction do whatever they want. We can't be bothered with them."