Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Juhua considered this and realized it was true. Her mother had always been saying it was much better, that it would be healed soon. Juhua had always felt this was just a mother’s wishful thinking, because her mother had been saying it nonstop since the very first face mask, which ironically obscured the truth.

As Qingmu spoke, he hurried to help her apply the face mask, adding with a smile, "This mask is truly effective. When cucumbers are on the market this summer, we can put a layer of cucumber slices on after the mask. Your face will be even more supple and dewy."

Liu Yunlan asked with delight, "Does that mean our sister won’t have to wear this veil anymore?"

Qingmu glanced at her with a smile but didn’t say anything. He thought to himself, ’My sister probably won’t take this veil off until her wedding night.’

Juhua wanted to answer, but since Qingmu was continuously smearing the mask on her face with a cotton-tipped bamboo stick, she couldn’t speak properly. She held back until he was done, then explained to Liu Yunlan with a pout, "I don’t want to take off my veil. It’s not that I’m afraid to be seen because of scars; it’s that I’m afraid of people gossiping about me all day. Sister, think about it—I’ve had this awful skin for so many years. If it suddenly got better, wouldn’t people treat it like some kind of spectacle? The story would spread, and it could cause trouble for me. That’s why I’m keeping the veil on. As long as our own family knows, that’s good enough. Who cares what other people say?"

Liu Yunlan’s eyes widened in understanding, and she couldn’t help but nod again and again.

She understood this feeling all too well. She had once been famous for her beauty, and suitors came to her door in wave after wave, which had caused a lot of vexing problems. Thankfully, she had successfully married the man of her own choosing in the end, and no real disaster had struck. Juhua’s looks were in no way inferior to her own. If people found out that her once-terrible skin had cleared up to reveal such a face, their curiosity would be even more intense. A beauty that might be rated a five would be rumored into a perfect ten, and that was certainly not a good thing.

So she said, "Then you should keep wearing it. We’ll all help you keep it a secret. It’ll be fine to take it off when you’re a bit older."

Juhua nodded. The thought that the scars on her face were truly about to fade away filled her with an irrepressible joy. She began to chatter at Qingmu, "It’s finally getting better. And best of all, it didn’t cost a thing! If Huai Zi saw this, he’d probably be even more shocked than the time I tore off my veil. Sigh! He’s really getting off easy. Let’s just call it compensation for testing him last time."

Qingmu, who was now helping Liu Yunlan with her mask, gave his sister an amused look. Inwardly, however, he was happy on Zhang Huai’s behalf. Liu Yunlan also let out a soft chuckle.

When Qingmu was done, he brought over two basins of water so they could wash their faces later. Then he found a book, sat down to one side, and started reading, glancing over at his sister and his wife from time to time with a relaxed smile.

When the time was about right, the two women washed off the egg-white masks. Qingmu asked from the side, "Lanlan, would you like something else to eat?"

Juhua immediately chided him, "Brother, didn’t we just finish a meal? You and Mom keep pushing Sister Yunlan to eat all this rich food, but eating too well is not a good thing. I was thinking, if the baby gets too big, won’t it be hard for her to give birth? And even if she manages, the mother is the one who suffers. Doesn’t that make sense? I think she should eat a little bit of everything—not too extravagantly, but not too poorly either."

She saw her brother and sister-in-law staring at her wide-eyed, but she paid them no mind, determined to convince them. ’This is my own family, so of course I have to treat this seriously,’ she thought. ’It’s not like with Li Changming’s family, where I can’t interfere at all.’

She said to Qingmu, "You’re an educated man; you know that everything has its own natural principles. Take crops—you can’t use too much fertilizer, or you’ll burn the roots. It’s the same with water; too much is as bad as too little. Poor families don’t have enough to eat, so their children are naturally weaker. But why do rich families also struggle to raise healthy children? It’s because they’re too fussy and overdo it. Look at Aunt Zhao and Sister Guizhi. They ate plenty when they were pregnant, but they weren’t overly coddled, and their labors were quicker. Oh, and Meizi did well, too."

Qingmu listened, considering her words seriously. He would never dismiss what his sister said as the nonsense of an unmarried girl. His sister was a thinker; she always sought to understand the reasons behind things. He knew she must have given this a great deal of thought.

Blinking her big eyes, Liu Yunlan watched the brother-sister pair without a word, waiting for Qingmu to share his thoughts.

It was funny, really. At home, she had always been the decision-maker. But after marrying into the Zheng Family, she found she didn’t have to worry about a thing when Qingmu and Juhua were around. Whatever the matter, before she even had time to form an opinion, the two of them would have it all settled in just a few sentences. Only then would they ask for her thoughts. By that point, she’d realize her own ideas were never as thorough as what they had already come up with.

Qingmu was one thing. They were a deeply loving couple; she adored him and respected his judgment, so even when she had her own opinion, she was in the habit of asking him first and following his lead. But this "little" sister-in-law of hers was also incredibly assertive. Though Juhua was younger, she acted for all the world like an older sister. Funnily enough, even while she was laying down the law, she would keep calling her "Sister Yunlan," not "Sister-in-law."

There was only one situation in which Juhua would reveal her more girlish side and plead with her like a younger sister: when she needed her sister-in-law to do some needlework for her. Because of this, Liu Yunlan loved to help Juhua with her embroidery, whether it was making a beautiful pillow or bolster, stitching flowers onto her curtains, or otherwise making her bedroom a bit more feminine. Whenever this happened, Juhua would be overjoyed, and Liu Yunlan would feel a special sense of accomplishment, as if she were finally living up to her role as an older sister.

After a few months like this, she had grown accustomed to listening to both of their opinions on everything.