Chapter 77: Luo er's stunning beauty astonishes everyone!

The incident of Li Kechuan breaking his leg during Mid-Autumn Festival had caused an uproar all over Jinling; she hadn't been going out lately, so why did she today deliberately dress up?

Qu Shi had obviously been waiting for a while; upon seeing her daughter, who had now fully blossomed in beauty and demeanor, her eyes couldn't help but brighten.

"Daughter-in-law greets mother. Luo er, you've come."

Li Qingluo merely bowed slightly: "Mother."

Qu Shi sensed Li Qingluo's coldness, and couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed……

"Luo er, why are you so cold toward me, your mother, these days?"

I don't know what Madame Pei suddenly had in mind, but she had Li Qingluo ride in the same carriage as Qu Shi.

Li Qingluo could only follow Qu Shi.

In the carriage, Qu Shi stared at Li Qingluo and gave a slow smile: "Luo er, your attire today is quite nice. These accessories, weren't they sent to you last time by Mother through Qingyi?"

Li Qingluo: "It was sent by Grandmother."

From head to toe today, Li Qingluo's accessories and shoes were all arranged for her by Grandmother.

As for the items Qu Shi had recently sent her, she hadn't worn a single one; she simply threw them all into the storeroom.

Upon hearing this, Qu Shi's smile froze on her face.

"Mother, Mother didn't also send you some nice things? Why haven't you worn even one?"

Li Qingluo: "Oh, I am wearing one thing Mother sent today. It should be here."

Li Qingluo felt around her head and soon found a pin that was the darkest in color, the most old-fashioned, and the least valuable.

She pulled it out, placed it in her palm, and showed it to Qu Shi.

"Mother, do you still remember?"

Qu Shi's face immediately turned ugly.

This is what she sent?

How could this be……

Qu Shi suddenly recalled that when Li Qingluo first returned to the residence, because Chuan er had caused a scene in her chambers, under the strict order of the grandmother, she herself had indeed been very reluctant to let Chang Yaya pick out two or three of the most inconspicuous, least valuable accessories from the storeroom to send to her.

Could this be the very item that Chang Yaya had picked out back then?

This pin, even if Chang Yaya wore it herself, would look awful!

And what about her?

A young, tender maiden!

At this moment, Qu Shi finally felt a hint of shame in her heart.

"Luo er, back then I didn't investigate; it was the grannies who messed up. But later, didn't I also send you some valuable and beautiful jewelry?"

"I remember I even had a tailor come to the manor to take your measurements and make clothes; is this outfit you're wearing today the one I made for you?"

Li Qingluo stared at Qu Shi, feeling amused inside, and a hint of mockery involuntarily appeared on her face.

"Mother, you don't even know what color the clothes you made for me are, yet you ask about this?"

Qu Shi simply didn't know what colors Li Qingluo liked.

Li Qingluo likes cyan, white, pale yellow, and light green.

However, what Qu Shi sent her were all pink, purple, and bright red.

Li Qingluo continued: "Actually, those are the colors Li Qingzhu likes, right? If so, please don't bother sending them again, Mother."

"With Grandmother looking after me, I naturally have clothes to wear; otherwise, when I first entered the manor, I might have already started to rot."

Her words made Qu Shi shift from embarrassment to anger.

"You!"

Qu Shi fiercely tugged at the handkerchief in her hand, feeling that no matter how she looked at Li Qingluo, she seemed to be deliberately opposing her!

"I am your mother; are you really going to speak to me like this?"

Li Qingluo immediately lowered her head: "Yes, Mother. Luo er knows her mistake."

She admitted fault quickly, but Qu Shi clearly knew that she did not truly feel she was at fault!!

Li Qingluo buried her head and said no more, the corners of her eyes showing detachment and coldness toward her.

This was hard for Qu Shi to accept.

Clearly, when she first returned to the General's Residence, she had been deferential and respectful toward me, obedient and polite!

She even sent me many homemade snacks, massaged my back and shoulders, would pay her respects morning and evening, stood obediently to the side, and gazed at me with hopeful eyes……

But back then, Qu Shi, having just lost Zhu er, was heartbroken and thus treated her with some neglect.

These accessories and clothes are merely trifles; does she really have to hold a grudge to this day?

No matter how you say it, she is my own flesh and blood; I am now willing to reconcile with her, yet she is utterly ungrateful!

Thinking of this, Qu Shi no longer wanted to look at Li Qingluo; her heart filled with more resentment, and she involuntarily thought of her obedient Zhu er.

Unable to control herself for a moment, Qu Shi's eyes turned red again.

Zhongyi Hou Fu.

Li Qingluo supported Madame Pei as they were respectfully ushered into the manor by the gatekeeper.

However, the reputation of their residence at East Yin Lane Jiangjun Fu instantly drew many curious glances.

"Have you heard that the true daughter of the Li household has also come today?"

"What do you mean by real daughter and fake daughter?"

"Wasn't it said that she was sent to the countryside as a child to nurture her health?"

"You don't know yet. It's said that the previous one was an impostor whose identity had been swapped, while this one returning home is the true bloodline of the Jiangjun Fu!"

"What? There's actually such an outrageous thing? Let me take a look—how does this lady's appearance look?"

"Someone from the countryside—how could she be anything else? I heard that back then a midwife swapped her, sending her to a mountain hollow to do farm work and cut pigweed every day, so she ended up looking thin and dark; how could she be beautiful?"

I heard she even sleeps together with poultry, pigs and chickens, and probably still smells terrible.

What a sin! But could it be that she couldn't tolerate that fake miss, so Li Qingzhu ended up burning herself to death?

Who knows? But even if she died, she deserved it. She wasn't even of the Jiangjun Fu bloodline, yet she enjoyed over ten years of wealth and honor in someone else's place—can she bear that?

But switching identities back then wasn't the eldest miss's fault either. She was also innocent……

Li Qingluo had heard quite a bit along the way.

Her heart was a blank: ……

The real-and-fake miss affair was indeed her doing, and she let out together the news that there was a Li Qingzhu stand-in in Li Kechuan's room.

But she never spread rumors that she was dark and skinny, that she chopped pig feed, or that she slept with poultry.

But this isn't hard to guess either.

Liu Jinzhi has lately lost track of Li Qingzhu's whereabouts; she's probably the most anxious, so she hopes to curry favor with Li Qingzhu by humiliating Li Qingluo, which also suits her temperament.

Amidst the murmuring discussion, as Li Qingluo and Pei Lao Furen appeared together and walked into the crowd, suddenly all the noise vanished.

Skinny and dark?

The woman before them, her skin was clearly fair as snow, smooth as congealed fat.

How could she not be beautiful?

Her eyebrows like kingfisher feathers, her face like congealed fat, her eyes like dots of ink.

Her figure was graceful and tall, and not as lightly swaying as a willow that cannot hold itself.

She held her head high and shoulders back, dignified and graceful, and her whole bearing carried a unique air of unrestrained ease like that of Pei Lao Furen in her youth.

In this whole Jinling City, today nearly all the nobles and aristocratic families have brought one or two young misses.

But this Li family's legitimate daughter, without saying she outshines all flowers, is absolutely one of a kind, extraordinary.

Probably after a bit more nurturing, she'll surpass all beauty in Jinling, and that day is surely coming soon!