C15 The Arrogant Mrs Chen

Bai Yun quickly realized this wasn't a dream when she felt a bucket of water dumped over her. Everything went dark for a moment, and she jolted awake. Opening her eyes, she saw Mrs. Chen's furious face, still holding the wooden bucket, while Mu Jin stood nearby, tears in her eyes.

Bai Yun wiped her face with her hand, frowning slightly. She wasn't sure what kind of water it was, but it definitely wasn't clean.

Before Bai Yun could say anything, Mrs. Chen started, "Your grandmother told you to rest for a bit, and you really think you're some kind of lady now? It's this late, and you still haven't started cooking. Who are you trying to starve? Just because the merchant family wants you, don't think you're suddenly some young mistress. A lowly life is still a lowly life; even if you fly up to the branches, you won't become noble."

"Well, it's better than having no branches to fly to," Bai Yun replied. She wasn't usually grumpy when waking up, but having dirty water thrown on her would sour anyone's mood.

"You wretched girl, how dare you talk back to me!" Mrs. Chen hadn't expected Bai Yun to respond. Coupled with the anger from being ordered by Mrs. Zhao to clean the pigsty earlier, she raised her hand to strike Bai Yun.

Mu Jin, standing to the side, was startled, but Bai Yun remained calm, not even raising a hand to defend herself. She looked directly at Mrs. Chen. "Eldest Aunt-in-law, the merchant family's carriage will be here in a few days. If I go out with a handprint on my face and Grandmother asks about it, it might be hard for you to explain."

"You..." Mrs. Chen felt an inexplicable chill run down her spine as the girl stared at her. "She's definitely possessed!"

With that, Mrs. Chen turned on her heel and left, sparing everyone a lot of trouble. Jin looked at Bai Yun, a bit puzzled. Seeing Bai Yun drenched from head to toe, Jin felt a pang of sympathy.

Earlier, Jin heard some commotion in the front yard and figured Mrs. Chen was up to something. She planned to wake Bai Yun and tell her to get up and start cooking, but Bai Yun was in such a deep sleep that she couldn't be roused. Jin worried that Bai Yun might have fallen ill, but there was nothing she could do.

In the meantime, Mrs. Chen had barged into the room, shouting several times. Bai Yun remained motionless, leading Mrs. Chen to accuse her of pretending to be asleep. She grabbed the water Jin had used for laundry and dumped it all over Bai Yun.

Jin felt frustrated, knowing her timidity had prevented her from stopping Mrs. Chen, which only added to Bai Yun's troubles. She handed Bai Yun some clean clothes to change into and reapplied her medicine. Looking at the soaked bed, Bai Yun felt a bit guilty. "Jin, I'm sorry your bed got drenched because of me."

"It's no big deal, just let it dry out in the sun later. But you, my dear, you fell into the well yesterday and now you've been splashed with water again today. Be careful not to catch a cold," Mu Jin said with a gentle sigh. "You won't be staying at home much longer before you marry into the Shang family. Why stir up trouble with Aunt? She's got a fiery temper, and if she really gets mad and lays a hand on you, you'll be the one who suffers."

"But did you see her actually lay a hand on me just now?" Bai Yun replied. Although she wasn't really familiar with Mu Jin, everything she had sensed from their conversations, her own memories, and even the descriptions in the novel, showed that Mu Jin was a genuinely good person. Unfortunately, in this story's world, kind people often ended up being bullied.