boyutpedia Chapter 272 Illusion
Chapter 272 Illusion
The three of them worked together, and Jiaoyan Pavilion opened quickly. However, many people were skeptical of this rather novel approach.
After all, this is something that's applied to the face. If something goes wrong and it results in disfigurement, who could bear that?
However, the three of them were not in a hurry. They believed that such a good thing would not be available for long.
That day, Xiao Siyue was directing people to tidy up the painting she had asked Xiao Sibo to paint in front of the shop when she saw an unexpected person—Zhou Qingran.
"Sister Qingran," Xiao Siyue called out.
"Third sister-in-law, Qingran is here." Xiao Siyue said, calling out Xi Ningzhi from inside the house.
"Yes," Xi Ningzhi responded and came out of the inner room with Qu Yin.
"Qingran".
"Siyue, Ningzhi, Sister-in-law Xiao, I know you opened a shop, so I came to check on you." Zhou Qingran greeted them with a smile.
"I see. Qingran, would you like to give it a try?" Xi Ningzhi suddenly asked Zhou Qingran.
"Of course, I came here today specifically to try it out. I can see that your face is even more youthful than before you got married. I'm so envious." Zhou Qingran said, reaching out to pinch Xi Ningzhi's cheek.
"When are you going to stop pinching people's faces all the time?" Xi Ningzhi slapped Zhou Qingran's hand away, rubbed her own cheek, and glared at her.
"Ouch, that hurts! Ningzhi is so cruel." Zhou Qingran said, feigning grievance, her eyes filled with resentment as she looked at Xi Ningzhi, making everyone laugh.
"Didn't you say you wanted to try our beauty cream? Come in with me," Xi Ningzhi said to Zhou Qingran with a smile.
"Then thank you, Sister Ningzhi."
"Don't call me Sister Ningzhi, it's creepy." Xi Ningzhi felt goosebumps all over when Zhou Qingran called her Sister Ningzhi.
"hey-hey."
Next, Zhou Qingran went through a beauty routine. The maids gently massaged her face until she fell asleep. When she woke up, the process was over.
"You can really sleep a lot?" Xi Ningzhi said bluntly.
"Hmm, is it over? Did I sleep for a long time?" Zhou Qingran asked sleepily, somewhat unaware of what time it was.
"Isn't that right? You've been sleeping for almost an hour." There weren't many people in the shop, so Xi Ningzhi simply stayed with Zhou Qingran. She didn't expect that this person had slept for so long. If she hadn't seen that she was sleeping so soundly, she would have woken her up.
"Hehe, I'm just too sleepy, aren't I?" Zhou Qingran chuckled twice.
"Don't you sleep at night?" Xi Ningzhi asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Of course I am, but I've been too busy lately." Zhou Qingran's eyes narrowed slightly as she thought of this.
"What's wrong? I didn't know you were so busy that you couldn't even sleep?" Although the two were two years apart, they had grown up together since childhood.
So she knows Zhou Qingran quite well, and he probably doesn't have much to do these days.
When this was mentioned, Zhou Qingran's expression changed; she was no longer the girl who always liked to joke around.
“Ningzhi, do you know? My father kept a mistress outside, and that mistress had a son and a daughter, who are only a year younger than me.” Zhou Qingran said in a vacant voice.
"What did you say? Uncle Zhou has a mistress!" Xi Ningzhi could hardly believe it, because the Uncle Zhou she knew had always been a very loving husband. He had no concubines, only his wife. Many people envied his wife for having such a devoted and affectionate husband.
"Yes, so my father was just like everyone else." From initial disbelief, thinking it was a mistake, to finally having to accept it, she was already disappointed.
"Qingran." Xi Ningzhi didn't know how to comfort him. This was Zhou Qingran's father, and she couldn't even stand up for Zhou Qingran.
"Ningzhi, I'm fine, it's all over now." Zhou Qingran smiled; she no longer cared.
"I'm sorry, Qingran, I didn't know." Xi Ningzhi felt a pang of heartache; she hadn't been by Zhou Qingran's side.
“Ningzhi, I’m not sad. I just feel sorry for my mother.” Zhou Qingran patted Xi Ningzhi’s hand. Over the years, her mother had always believed that her husband loved her and that she was the only one in his heart. It turned out that she had been living in a lie all along.
"Qingran, what exactly happened?"
Zhou Qingran recalled what happened back then.
That day, she was having tea outside when she saw her father walking by hurriedly. She was a little confused; shouldn't her father be at home right now? Had something happened?
"Father," she called out, but her father didn't hear her. After Zhou Qingran had the maid settle the bill, she followed in her father's footsteps.
She followed him all the way to Baihua Lane, which made her even more curious. Baihua Lane was inhabited by ordinary people from the capital who had some wealth, so it shouldn't be the home of that official. What was her father doing here?
Her father stopped at the door of a house. He knocked and a servant-like man opened the door. Her father went inside. Zhou Qingran tried to see what was inside, but the door was already closed, so she had to go home.
However, after returning home, she had some doubts and went to see Zhou's mother.
"Mom, where did my father go?"
"Your father said he has official business to attend to and has gone back to the Court of State Ceremonial," Zhou's mother said with a smile.
She's back at the Court of State Ceremonial. Why did her father lie? Zhou Qingran had a bad feeling.
After that, Zhou Qingran kept an eye on his father, and sure enough, he went there again two days later.
This time, Zhou Qingran didn't plan to wait any longer and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" The servant opened the door and saw an unfamiliar young woman. Before he could stop her, Zhou Qingran barged in.
Upon entering the main hall, Zhou Qingran witnessed a scene that horrified her: her father, the universally praised good father and husband, was having dinner with his young daughter and a pair of teenagers.
The scene was one of harmony she had never seen before. If she hadn't known that the man was her father, she would have praised them as a very happy family.
The smile on her father's face was so bright. It turned out that what she had seen before was all a lie. The so-called "no talking while eating" was only directed at her, her brother, and her mother.
So this is what a truly heartfelt smile from my father looks like.
Haha, that's really funny. What's there to not understand?
At this moment, Zhou Qingran's anger reached its peak. The harmony in her family and the love between her parents that she had always believed in were just an illusion. Her father was truly a master at deceiving them.