Eldest Sister Lin Ru Lan

After laughing, he instructed Xiao Qing, "Observe Xue Qing Ning carefully. If she shows anything unusual, report it to me immediately."
He still suspected Xue Qing Ning had ulterior motives.
Xiao Qing respectfully replied, "Yes," then curtsied to Lin Xing Cheng before turning and withdrawing.
Lin Xing Cheng turned again to look out the window through the curtain.
The sky grew increasingly gloomy compared to a moment ago. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and small raindrops began to fall. The rain pattered on the half-green, half-yellow parasol tree leaves and the dark green roof tiles above. Some strands of rain, carried by the wind, flew into the house, landing on his face, cool to the touch.
Lin Xing Cheng was about to close the window curtain when he suddenly heard someone knocking at the courtyard gate.
A Ren, his young attendant, braved the wind and rain to open the door. Lin Xing Cheng then saw a blue oiled paper umbrella and the person standing beneath it.
Upon clearly seeing the person's appearance, Lin Xing Cheng frowned slightly, but after only a moment, his brows relaxed. He reached out, calmly closed the two window panels, walked to the table, sat down, and slowly picked up two cups to pour tea.
By the time he had finished pouring the two cups of tea, Lin Ru Lan had already stepped into the room.
She wore a red damask coat woven with gold threads, her skin fair, her face slender, and her black hair casually styled into a "falling horse bun" atop her head. She wore no jewelry on her head, only a fist-sized red silk flower pinned to one side, yet this did not diminish her beauty.
It was a beauty that captivated hearts, extremely aggressive.
Moreover, an air of arrogance emanated from between her brows. When she looked at others, her gaze always slanted from the corners of her eyes, giving people an impression of extreme coldness and allure.
As soon as she entered the room, she went straight to an embroidered stool beside the table and sat down, resting her right elbow on the tabletop, and asked Lin Xing Cheng, "Just now, I met a maidservant outside. Was that Madam Xu's maidservant from the First Branch? What was she doing here?"
Her voice was cold, as if interrogating a criminal who had done something wrong.
Lin Xing Cheng frowned slightly, but when he looked up, his face was calm.
"Eldest Sister."
After respectfully calling Lin Ru Lan, he pushed a cup of tea in front of him towards Lin Ru Lan before speaking, "She came to deliver warm clothes and mooncakes to me."
He had hidden from Lin Ru Lan the matter of arranging for Xiao Qing to be in the First Branch, so Lin Ru Lan still didn't know that Xiao Qing was his person. Clearly, Lin Xing Cheng had no intention of telling Lin Ru Lan about this.
At this moment, Lin Ru Lan also saw the package and the plate of mooncakes on the table. She called her maidservant to open the package and saw two sets of warm clothes and a cloak inside.
The two sets of warm clothes were dark blue and jade green, respectively, and the cloak was stone blue. Both the warm clothes and the cloak had subtle patterns; they looked simple but were made of very good material, thickly padded with cotton inside, giving them a subtly luxurious feel.
Lin Ru Lan withdrew her hand from touching the warm clothes and cloak, somewhat surprised. "The Yongchang Bo Manor is not what it once was; it's just an empty shell now, and all expenses are much more frugal than before. Yet Madam Xu still had such good warm clothes made for you."
Lin Xing Cheng did not reply, lowering his head to quietly drink his tea.