“I think I do.” Shen Qinglan faintly spoke.

The smile on Shen Xitong’s face stiffened, and while looking at Shen Qinglan with resentment, she said, “Sister, I’m just bored of being at home by myself, that’s why… If you don’t like me coming along, I will just leave.”

Her expression showed restraint, as if she had been wronged by the heavens, while Shen Qinglan, who had rejected her just because of this little request, was petty.

She had thought that even if Shen Qinglan disagreed, her friend would persuade her to stay. But looking out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan were looking all over the place, but they never looked at her.

Shen Xitong’s heart secretly hated the fact that similar people fit better. They were just as annoying as she was, worthy of being Shen Qinglan’s friend.

She hadn’t taken Shen Qinglan’s friend seriously. Even though they were only an ordinary shabby family, she didn’t look down on them, but Master Shen and Chu Yunrong’s attitude towards the two of them gave Shen Xitong a deep sense of dismay.

Not to mention that Master Shen was already biased in favor of Shen Qinglan. Even if Shen Xitong was upset, she was used to it. But Chu Yunrong was different. She was always biased towards her, but today Chu Yunrong was acting unusually enthusiastic with Shen Qinglan’s two friends, even ignoring her friend. This was not a good omen.

In this family, she had already lost the love and affection of Master Shen and Shen Jun Yu. If she lost Chu Yunrong’s, too, would there still be a place for her in this family?

“Go away.” Shen Qinglan said quietly. She seemed to be angry at Shen Xitong.

Shen Qinglan’s maliciousness was extremely rare. Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan’s expressions remained unchanged, and had to restrain themselves from laughing out loud.

Shen Xitong’s expression, on the other hand, instantly turned ugly. She still wanted to maintain her good manners, forcing the corners of her mouth into a weary smile.

“Sister, since you seldom come back, you don’t know this garden as well as I do. Why don’t I show you around? Must be your friend’s first time here too. There’s not much chance of this happening again. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to have a good look.”

Shen Qinglan’s eyes showed a flash of coldness. Shen Xitong could really be stubborn. Taking a glance at Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan, whose smiles were fading from their faces, she opened her mouth.

“Shen Xitong, if I tell Grandpa what you just said, what do you think he’ll do??”

Shen Xitong’s eyes held a touch of panic, but she pretended to be calm. If she just spoke out of anger, Shen Qinglan would take advantage of it.

“Sister, even if you tell Grandpa about this, he won’t believe it.”

“Oh? Is that so? Do you want to try? Let’s see if Grandpa believes you or me.”

Shen Xitong gritted her teeth, irritated by the truthful statement. The last time he fell down the stairs, even Master Shen didn’t believe it, so it was doubtful that she would be believed now. In fact, that incident was also the one thing that Shen Xitong had regretted the most. Since that incident, she could clearly feel Master Shen’s displeasure towards her, and even Shen Junyu had distanced himself from her as a result.

In fact, Shen Xitong was blinded by jealousy. If she had been peaceful and non-competitive after Shen Qinglan returned to the Shen family, then the Shen family would have never treated her badly. But she was inclined to want to steal Shen Qinglan’s things, and even if Shen Qinglan herself didn’t care about that, the old man would never allow an outsider to bully his own granddaughter.

Don’t even say that it wasn’t Shen Qinglan’s doing, even if it was, Master Shen would have made others think it wasn’t.

“That’s better than some people who are shamelessly occupying the nest.” Yu Xiaoxuan snapped; her face holding an undisguised scowl.

Shen Xitong, who had torn off her disguise mask, glared viciously at Yu Xiaoxuan.

“An impoverished family from nowhere dares to be here and spew a lot of nonsense! A lower class person will always remain a lower class person, uneducated and inferior.”

Shen Qinglan’s face sank, looking at Shen Xitong’s eyes which were cold as ice. Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan were blue in the face, as it was true that their family lineage couldn’t compare to the Shen family, but how much better was Shen Xitong?

Shen Qinglan slowly walked towards Shen Xitong. Shen Xitong took two steps back subconsciously, in fear of her icy gaze.

Shen Qinglan came close to Shen Xitong’s ear, and her red lips opened slightly.

“Before you were adopted by the Shen family, you were just an orphan who snatched food from people in the orphanage. Orphans! If people knew that debutante lady Shen Xitong’s origins were what she called inferior, how many people would still worship you as a goddess?”

Her tone was cold and although it didn’t contain any anger, it caused Shen Xitong’s heart to chill. Her face turned white.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Then she rushed off.

“Sorry.” Shen Qinglan said to Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan.

Fang Tong didn’t mind, and shook her head. Shen Xitong was Shen Xitong and Shen Qinglan was Shen Qinglan.

“Qinglan, no wonder you hate this woman. Her mouth is too stinky. It’s a shame. I used to think she was the first debutante in the capital. I was blinded by my titanium eyes.” Yu was indignant.

(TN: My titanium eyes/my titanium dog allyy dog eyes =This expression describes something that’s extremely mind-blowing, mind-boggling, or shocking.)

“Alright, this kind of person doesn’t need to be cared about.” Fang Tong didn’t bother with Shen Xitong.

Since the atmosphere was ruined by Shen Xitong, the three of them had no desire to continue strolling around, and they planned to go back after no more than two steps in the garden.

When they returned, Mrs. Song had already prepared a dessert- Sweet Fermented Rice with cinnamon flowers sprinkled on top, which was deliciously fragrant.

“Sister Song, are you from the south?” Fang Tong took a bite and asked, “Sweet Fermented Rice is a special dessert of the south.”

Mrs. Song smiled and nodded, “I am indeed from the south, but I haven’t been to the capital in years. Is Sweet Fermented Rice delicious?”

Yu Xiaoxuan nodded her head repeatedly, “It’s so delicious, it’s the first time I’ve ever had a Sweet Fermented Rice that tasted this good.”

Fang Tong also nodded her head, and most of the displeasure from before because of Shen Xitong dissipated.

Mrs. Song’s smile grew wider, “It’s good that you guys like to eat it. Qinglan, your bowl of sugar that I put in separately shouldn’t be very sweet. Do you need to add more?”

Shen Qinglan shook her head, “No need, this is good. You go ahead and get busy, I’m fine here.” “Okay, just tell me what you want to eat, I’ll make it for you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Song.” Yu Xiaoxuan smiled sweetly.

After finishing the dessert, Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan wanted to take their leave, but they had promised Grandpa Shen to stay for dinner, and it was a bit difficult to leave now.

Shen Qinglan glanced at Fang Tong’s body.

“My grandfather should be up from his nap. He’s probably in the study now, let’s go up and take a look.”

Fang Tong and Yu Xiaoxuan were unable to find anything to pass the time, so upon hearing this, they went upstairs with Shen Qinglan.

TN:

Sweet Fermented Rice, or jiu niang (酒酿), also called Sweet Rice Wine, 甜米酒 (tian mi jiu) has numerous other Chinese names depending on what part of China you are from: 醪糟 (lao zao) ,米酒 (mi jiu), 甜酒 (tian jiu), 糯米酒 (nuo mi jiu), 江米酒 (jiang mi jiu), and 酒糟 (jiu zao). It’s made with sweet rice (AKA sticky rice, or glutinous rice) that is fermented with a distiller’s yeast we call 酒曲 (jiu qu) in Chinese. (Adapted from: https://thewoksoflife.com/sweet-fermented-rice-jiu-niang/)

This is how Sweet Fermented Rice/Jiu Niang looks like

Hi, Reallya’s here, the new translator for Addicted Pampering You. I’ll continue this book since the old translator from Translateindo can’t do. This is my first time translating chinese and have to work very hard to just translate one chapter (chinese and all the idioms)  (ノへ￣、). Before, I’m not confident enough for my english, but big thanks for my editor Jo, he helps me alot.