The noble girl is beautiful.

Autumn rain battered the grass and trees, with every house and roof echoing. Shen Yourong listened to the rain all night and woke up feeling heavy-headed and weak the next day, exhausted.
She decided to ask for leave from the study hall and, after eating a few bites of food, lay on the couch to doze off for a while.
When she woke up again, the sky outside was gloomy, the rain pitter-pattered, and the soapberry trees in the courtyard swayed in the wind, casting huge shadows over the buildings.
She couldn’t quite tell what time it was. Du Juan hurriedly brought tea and said, “It’s time for lunch. Miss, please have something to eat, I’ll call for a doctor.”
She sat up, rinsed her mouth and drank tea, then walked to the dressing table. Opening the mirror, she saw a weary-looking girl with a pale complexion. She rubbed her face, then asked Hua Mei to bring water to wash her face and even out her complexion.
After lunch, she called for a doctor who prescribed some medicine. Du Juan immediately took it to brew. Shen Yourong pinched her nose and drank a bowl of bitter medicine, then asked Hua Mei to wait on her while she slept for a while. When she woke up again, she felt much better.
She asked for a lamp to be lit and brought the account book to carefully check the accounts from the previous quarter. Autumn came quickly, and with this autumn rain, it became even cooler.
She prepared Mid-Autumn Festival gifts for various stores and farms, and also remembered to send one to the family outside Jin Ling.
Du Juan saw this and brought all the gift lists from the stores and farms for her to see.
“Twenty baskets of crabs, twenty baskets of crucian carp, twenty baskets of whitefish, two stones of fresh lotus roots, as well as persimmons, dates, pomegranates, grapes, and various other fresh fruits,” Du Juan said.
“These are from the farms, while the stores sent things like silk, jewelry, and porcelain.”
Shen Yourong said, “Distribute the crabs, fish, and lotus roots to each courtyard. Elder brother likes to eat pickled whitefish, so tell them to make more for him.”
Du Juan complied and asked, “Should we also send some to Prince Duan and the Fourth Prince?”
She pondered for a moment and said, “Yes, send some.”
Du Juan agreed and asked, “What about the glass lamps and the glass screen?”
Shen Yourong decided, “Send one lamp to Elder Brother and one to Second Brother. Bring out the glass screen and put it in the room.”
All the gifts were taken care of, so she put away the gift list and instructed Hua Mei to store the remaining items.
As she was tidying up, she heard the door curtain rustle. Looking over, she saw Shen Qingyan coming in with an umbrella.
As soon as she entered, she asked, “Sister, are you feeling better?”
Shen Yourong sat cross-legged on the couch and said, “I’m much better, but what about you? You’re running around in the rain.”
Shen Qingyan stood at the door, taking down the umbrella, then walked into the inner room, saying, “I was bored, so I came to see you.”
“That’s perfect. I was just about to send something to you.” She gave her a box of velvet flowers.
“Wow, they’re so beautiful, they look real.” Shen Qingyan played with the velvet flowers eagerly, then couldn’t wait to bring up the real matter. “Sister, Guo Yu has been taken away.”
Shen Yourong paused. “Why? Is he involved in the exam cheating?”
“Who knows,” Shen Qingyan said. “Aunt only said he was taken for questioning, but it’s been a whole day and he hasn’t come back yet. Uncle Er is the Minister of Justice, so I heard he’s overseeing the matter.
Aunt is sitting at Uncle Er’s mother’s place and won’t leave. Uncle Er’s mother is annoyed to death.”
Shen Yourong hesitated. “What exactly happened?”
“I don’t know much either,” She said as she peeled some melon seeds. “I only heard that exam cheating in Jiang Nan is rampant.
The rankings are openly traded, with the top scorer demanding fifty thousand taels of silver and even the last place asking for five thousand taels. This is in Jiang Nan, but this autumn, it’s said that the exams in the capital are also not clean.
The top scorer this time is the nephew of Princess Zheng Fei. Her family is very wealthy, but her nephew, whom you’ve probably seen, is very useless. If he becomes the top scorer, it would be a disgrace to the entire nation.”
Shen Yourong tapped the edge of her tea cup and asked, “Apart from his family, who else?”
“It seems like quite a few,” Shen Qingyan said. “Many young masters from families in the capital participated in the autumn exams and have been called in for questioning.
It just so happened that our Second Brother didn’t participate due to illness, otherwise we would have been implicated too.”
“These are all bought with money. Who are the ones taking bribes?” Shen Yourong asked.
Shen Qingyan shook her head. “Who knows? I heard His Majesty is furious and has given a ten-day deadline to investigate the case.”
Speaking in a low voice, she continued, “I heard from the Fourth Prince that a mansion of a third-ranking official was surrounded yesterday. All the officials in charge of the exams have been detained, and no one is allowed to see them, not even a word can be passed to them.”
Just then, Shen Qinghan also entered the courtyard, holding an umbrella, and came into the house.
“They’re all here,” She walked into the inner room and said to Shen Yourong, “Quick, have a sip of hot tea to drive away the cold rain.”
She sat down, drinking tea, and asked, “What were you talking about?”
“We were discussing the exam cheating,” Shen Qingyan said, cracking open some melon seeds.
Shen Qinghan said, “This matter, it’s really a blessing in disguise. Second Brother missed the exam due to illness, but it saved him from today’s calamity.”
“That’s his luck,” Shen Yourong said casually, “Speaking of which, there aren’t many people like our Second Brother who missed the exams.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Shen Qingyan said. “I heard that the eldest son of General Zhong Yong also didn’t participate, but that’s because he wants his son to succeed him as a military commander and won’t allow his son to become a civil official, so he didn’t let him take the exams.”
“There’s also the son of Grand Secretary Qi,” Shen Qinghan said, “Because there are people in his family taking the imperial examination, Lady Qi and my mother are very close. I’ve heard from them that Young Master Qi took the exam, but failed. He was very upset recently, saying that even a Grand Secretary’s son failed the exam, indicating how difficult this year’s exam must have been.
Now it seems, most likely, someone manipulated things behind the scenes to make him fail.”
The sisters chatted for a while, and Shen Yourong couldn’t help but wonder if these people were related to Ji Zhuo. Were they coincidentally uninvolved in the imperial examination, or were they intentionally so, like Shen Qingfeng?
Shen Qinghan and Shen Qingyan sat for a while before leaving. Outside the window, the sky darkened, and the night rain grew even more desolate. Shen Yourong began to feel a dull headache again.
A dark figure flashed past the window, startling her. She got up to look, but it was Shen Shuo rushing in.
“What’s the matter?” She saw him coming in drenched from the rain, his official robes soaked. She ordered someone to fetch a towel for him and served him hot tea.
He asked as soon as he opened his mouth, “Did you know about the cheating in the imperial examination?”
Shen Yourong had already guessed he would come to ask about it. “Where did you hear such things? How could I know about such matters?”
“Then why did you stop Qingfeng from participating in the autumn exam?” His face darkened.
She remained silent. His face grew even more tense. “Shen Yourong.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t know anything. You won’t get anything out of me. Just know, I wouldn’t harm our family.”
Shen Shuo, who usually had a cold demeanor towards outsiders, found it difficult to be harsh with his sister. Du Juan came in at the right time and advised, “Miss is still sick, and considering she is still unwell, at least let her rest.”
Shen Yourong remained lying on the bed, silent. He sat down with a wave of his sleeve and asked, “Did you catch a cold?”
Shen Yourong, knowing her situation, supported her head and said, “The headache is getting worse.”
He frowned. “Did you call for a doctor?”
“The doctor has already come and prescribed medicine.” Du Juan found the prescription and showed it to him.
He examined it carefully. “It seems to be appropriate.”
He put down the prescription and looked at her, who looked even paler without makeup, appearing even more pitiful.
He softened his tone. “If it’s really unbearable, burn some calming incense, take your medicine, and honestly rest.”
“I can’t stand the smell of incense right now,” She said. “It’s suffocating with the smoke.”
“Didn’t you used to like it?” He said. “Besides, on a rainy day, burning incense can get rid of the dampness in the room.”
She still refused.
He had no choice but to instruct the servants, “Go to my courtyard and fetch some good tea leaves. Put them on the stove to roast. It will get rid of the dampness without bothering her with the scent.”
He knew he couldn’t get anything out of her now. After instructing her to take good care of herself, he got up to leave.
“Wait,” She took out a well-embroidered purse from her needlework basket and threw it to him. “Here’s something for you. I haven’t done much embroidery this summer, only this.”
He squeezed the purse and couldn’t help but smile. “Got it. Take care.”
In the East Pavilion, Changming hastily reported back to Ji Zhuo. Ji Zhuo put down his pen, somewhat surprised. “She’s sick?”
“Yes,” Changming said. “This afternoon, a doctor was called, and several young ladies and the eldest son of the Shen family went to see her.”
“Shen Shuo hurried to see her, not just because she’s sick,” Changming speculated.
Thinking for a moment, Ji Zhuo said, “Judging from Shen’s demeanor when he left, the eldest Miss probably didn’t say anything.”
His eyes deepened. “She’s obedient.”
He turned his head and instructed Bai Yan, “Take some flower dew and fruit juice to her, tell her since she’s sick today, she doesn’t have to practice calligraphy, and should rest properly.”