by Ning er
Su Qian Yue looked at Su Yuan with eyes full of tears, inarticulately, she cried out in a small voice, "Daddy! Daddy!"
Su Yuan reined in his temper and looked down. Although his daughter was covered by a quilt, the exposed legs struck Su Yuan like a bolt and his mind suddenly went blank. His body retreated a few steps back, his eyes looked incredulously at Su Qian Yue, and he suddenly roared, "Who harmed you!?"
Su Yuan malicious eyes then searched for the figure of Su Qian Yue's handmaiden. When he saw the yatou curled up in a corner and not daring to make a sound, he took a sudden and large step forward, picked up the trembling yatou, then scolded, "I permitted you to accompany xiaojie, yet you actually allowed others to harm her, you ungrateful and useless thing. Quickly tell me what had happened here!"
That little yatou was already frightened by Yuan Qing Zhou's savage acts. Now faced with a vicious person like Su Yuan, she was suddenly so scared that her eyes rolled and she fainted again.
Su Yuan then roughly threw the easily frightened yatou aside, afterwhich, his face only grew darker as he moved to stand in front of Lin laotaijun and Yuan de taifei. With a firm expression, he said, "Laotaijun, taifei, my daughter must have been framed up by someone, please have mercy. I shall have some people send her home. At this place where people come and go, I really cannot bear to see my daughter continue to suffer from such humiliation, so please have some empathy, laotaijun, taifei."
Su Yuan's face grew more desolate and pitiful as he spoke, and his eyes were faintly flooding with tears.
Wu Qin Qin jumped then, pointing a finger at Su Qian Yue as she cursed, "No, this slut cannot leave! I will certainly not allow her to take a single step out of this room alive!"
Wu Qin Qinthen prepared to launch her body back towards the bed. Fortunately, Jiang mama who was standing nearby caught her.
Lin laotaijun suddenly picked up a tea cup and threw it on the floor. The sharp and clear sound of blue and white porcelain breaking caused everyone to shut their mouths.
Lin laotaijun looked at Wu Qin Qin with her sharp and keen eyes, then said in a stern voice, "What a scandal! Right now, you are no longer a noble xiaojie who is unaware of the world, how can you make a big fuss and recklessly hurl abusive words in front of all your elders? Where are your manners? Don't forget that you are now the young furen of Han Guo Gongfu. Even if you encounter something more embarrassing than this incident, you must be able to accept it! How can there be a person like you who jumps up on the bed, wanting another person's life? With this kind of behavior, do you think you are respecting Han Guo Gongfu's family etiquettes? Do believe you are respecting Han Guo Gongfu's reputation?"
After speaking to Wu Qin Qin, Lin laotaijun's eyes shifted towards Wu furen, her tone slightly moderated, "Wu furen, I know you dearly love your daughter, but this is Han Guo Gongfu, so everything shall be handled according to Han Guo Gongfu's rules. How can we accept your argument to bring home Han Guo Gongfu's young furen? If you do this, you are allowing other people to regard both Han Guo Gongfu and Wu Guo Gongfu as some kind of joke. Besides, the incident today still needs further investigation, furen you have already taught Su xiaojie a lesson, don't tell me that it still wasn't enough to eliminate the hatred in your heart?"
Even if Wu furen's heart still harbored a grudge, being persuaded by Lin laotaijun like this, she would not be able to vent it out now.
After all, moments ago, she had behaved recklessly in front of all those people. If she were to side with her daughter to give Su Qian Yue another lesson, she might even cause Wu Guo Gongfu to lose more of its reputation, or even get discriminated by Fu Guo Gongfu. It would be better for her to stand aside and observe how Su Qian Yue would explain herself.
Lin laotaijun knew that Wu furen was a tactful person, so she now shifted her attention to Su Yuan. "Come, help Su xiaojie up to go change clothes. Afterwards, bring her here again."
"Yes!" the mama beside Lin laotaijun immediately responded, afterwhich, she assigned a few yatou to help Su Qian Yue up, protecting her, as they moved to another room.
"Zhou'er, come over here and explain what happened." Lin laotaijun pointed at her useless grandson and asked, while Su Qian Yue left for a change of clothes.
Yuan Qing Zhou was still kneeling in front of Lin laotaijun. All throughout everything that had occurred inside the room, he remained quiet while lowering his head. Hearing Lin laotaijun mention his name and asked for him to respond, he immediately lifted his head, face blank. Aside from the thrill after seeking sexual pleasure earlier, he had been seriously unaware anything that had happened.
But facing the vicious gaze of the mother and daughter of the Wu family, and Su Yuan's sharp eyes, Yuan Qing Zhou's mind felt blank, still, he could only tell the truth, "Grandma, I really don't know what had happened. I only felt that my body didn't belong to me earlier. Only...only I wanted to find a woman…"
Yuan Qing Zhou did not continue further and only lowered his head. Even if he was surrounded by a group of women, he was simply too embarrassed in front of all these people.
But when he shut his mouth, Su Yuan's face turned ashen as he thought about his daughter's pitiful appearance. The hope Su Yuan felt was suddenly extinguished and the main offender was none other than Yuan Qing Zhou.
Even if Su Yuan wished he could cut up Yuan Qing Zhou's body into ten thousand pieces, he was still Chen wang's very own cousin. Even if Su Yuan wanted to take revenge for Su Qian Yue's sake, he may have the intention, but was powerless do it.
Su Yuan tried to suppress the anger in his heart, his clenched fists were trembling, and his heart was continuously thinking, 'Why hadn't it been Chen wang? If it had been Chen wang, everything would have gone as planned. According to his position, even if she were not to become the official wife, she would still be an imperial concubine. But of all people, it was the useless Yuan Qing Zhou. Even if Su Qian Yue became the legal wife, she would only ever be a furen. Compared to being an imperial concubine of Chen wang, this was something completely different altogether .
The more he thought of it, the more furious he became. Su Yuan took a step forward, then he said unyieldingly, "Laotaijun, taifei, this matter seems strange. I would like to request the two of you to investigate further for the sake of my daughter! My daughter is educated and well-mannered, she would never do something to disgrace her family like this. Someone must have used the wedding of this gongzi to frame my daughter, and ruin my daughter's dignity. Secondly, they caused it to make me become enemies with Wu Guo Gongfu. With such sinister intentions, laotaijun, taifei, you must find the culprit and bring them to justice!"
Hearing Su Yuan's analysis, Lin laotaijun and Yuan de taifei stared at him. They now started to look at Su Qian Yue's frivolous and shameless actions in a different perspective. From the rude behavior of the mother and daughter of the Wu family earlier, they did feel a bit of pity towards Su Qian Yue. After all, in this matter, Yuan Qing Zhou shared the same responsibility. If he did not have a reputation for being a playful man, how could anyone trick him through this loophole of his.
"Please take Qian Yue's current situation into consideration, laotaijun, taifei." Su Qian Yue, who now had a change of clothes, knelt down in front of them.
Everyone now looked at her direction. Su Qian Yue was now wearing a set of clean clothes, but her cheeks were still red and swollen, her originally white and smooth skin was littered with purple red palm prints, some bleeding a little. Her head black hair had also been decreased by half, and she simply pulled it up in a round bun. Her voice was pale and wan, with a bit of resentment, but quite pitiful still, yet it caused Wu Qin Qin to show a hateful expression on her face and still gave her thoughts of calling her a vixen, that even though she had been beaten like this, she was still acting so flirtatious.
Wu Qin Qin did not realize that, compared to Su Qian Yue who seduced Yuan Qing Zhou, the current impression these people had of her worsened a bit. After all, no one among the servants liked a master who killed people like
scything grass. Su Qian Yue was the daughter of the Minister of Justice; after beating her like this, if it had been a servant, they would have already lost their life.
"You must clearly explain it to me. What actually happened today?" Yuan de taifei spoke out, her face remained cold, but kept its graceful bearing which only caused Su Qian Yue to fear her. She did not dare to conceal anything from her and slowly said, "Today I saw that Yun xiaojie was feeling unwell, so I offered to assist Yun xiaojie to a side room for her to rest, yet I unexpectedly fell into her trap, and was framed like this. I was victimized, please help me, taifei, or else, even if I died, I shall never rest in peace!"
Su Qian Yue then stood up, faced the door frame behind her, and quickly ran towards it.
Everyone was greatly astonished, even Lin laotaijun and her people were not able to react to it quickly enough. They were all going to witness Su Qian Yue crash into the door frame with their own eyes.
But before Su Qian Yue's body touched the door frame, she was rescued by Ning Feng, who had just come rushing in, followed by Chen wang coldly stepping into the room. His ice-cold eyes took one look at Su Qian Yue who was weeping miserably, then he immediately said, "Su xiaojie, have you thought these words thoroughly before you spoke? I have interrogated Yun xiaojie moments ago, during the incident, she said she was not around, her yatou can attest to it. Su xiaojie, you must not accuse the wrong person."
Su Qian Yue's heart felt cold after hearing Chen wang protect Yun Qian Meng. Tears in her eyes rolled down her face as she suddenly turned to Chen wang and knelt down on her knees, then angrily said, "Wangye, how could I make fun of my own dignity? The only witnesses were Yun xiaojie's yatou, how can I accept it? If wangye doesn't believe me, you may ask my yatou to see if I am talking nonsense."
Su Qian Yue must be extremely angry right now, since there was inconsistency in her logic. She just said that Yun Qian Meng's yatou were unqualified to be witnesses, but in her following statement, she was presenting her own yatou as a witness.
Chen wang refused to look at her directly after seeing her mad behavior. He turned around to face Lin laotaijun, then said in a deep voice, "Grandmother, Su xiaojie's emotions are heightened right now, I'm afraid that her words might not be reliable. The most important thing we should do right now is to learn how to pacify the rumors that have spread. Today's incident has already become a joke in the capital. If Han Guo Gongfu isn't able to take full responsibility for Su xiaojie, perhaps it will be hard for us to settle a great number of rumors from the multitudes."
Chen wang then shot a cold glance at Su Yuan, who paused when he was about to speak. In his mind, he was trying to figure out what Chen wang's glance meant.
Lin laotaijun naturally would not permit Su Qian Yue to ruin Han Guo Gongfu's reputation. With Chen wang here to pressure Su Yuan, it was the best time for her to settle this matter right now.
Besides, permitting Yuan Qing Zhou to marry an additional concubine would not cause any harm to Lin laotaijun, so she stared at Yuan Qing Zhou and said, "Look at the good you've done, going so far as to let Chen wang worry. You've really caused other people trouble! But this time, Su xiaojie is the one who suffers."
Talking about suffering was merely to calm Su Qian Yue and Su Yuan, or else, with Han Guo Gongfu's power, it would not be an easy thing for Su Qian Yue to marry into to it.
"I…don't…" Chen wang was still siding with Yun Qian Meng, that slutty woman, and seeing Lin laotaijun taking initiative to marry her to Yuan Qing Zhou, in an instant the flame of fury hit her heart and Su Qian Yue's body went soft as she fainted.
"Yue'er!" Su Yuan heart felt the regret seeing his daughter like this. He immediately had the yatou behind him to support Su Qian Yue as he himself bowed with hands held in front. "Wangye, my daughter has suffered enough from accusations and humiliation. You must help my daughter, wangye! I will now take my daughter with me as I take my leave."
Su Yuan then left Han Guo Gongfu while still furious.
Yun Qian Meng who had left long ago was now sitting inside a horse carriage, with Chu Fei Yang was riding a horse next to it. Qi Ling'er's pheonix carriage was slowly moving in front of xiangfu's horse carriage, as it maintained a distance of three steps away.
"I said, xiangye, you must quickly leave now. With you here, I'm afraid that my horse carriage might still unable to reach Yun xiangfu even by evening." Yun Qian Meng pulled up a corner of the curtain and said extremely low voice. She at inside the horse carriage, so naturally, she would be able to feel that the speed of horse carriage was too slow, and the biggest reason, perhaps the main culprit was Chu Fei Yang.
Sitting on horseback, feeling relaxed and free, Chu Fei Yang only slightly smiled when he caught a glimpse of the heated indignant expression in Yun Qian Meng's eyes. In a really good mood, he pulled up his horse to approach the carriage window, without asking, he stooped to lean towards Yun Qian Meng, afterwhich he winked then happily remarked, "Why? Are you jealous, Meng'er?"
Stroking her shriveled belly, Yun Qian Meng coldly snorted, then immediately retorted, "I wouldn't dare! But I am a bit hungry now, please be reasonable, xiangye."
Earlier at Han Guo Gongfu, Yun Qian Meng naturally had not eaten the food there, and she had only had some congee this morning, in addition to fighting a battle of words a while ago, she was now very hungry.
But it seemed like Qi Ling'er was doing it on purpose, as the speed of her phoenix carriage was on par to that of the speed of a turtle, causing Yun Qian Meng some annoyance. After considering cause and effect, she deduced the source of the problem was perhaps Qi Ling'er, doing it firstly, in order to lessen her alertness towards the princess, and secondly, using her as a stepping stone to get closer to Chu Fei Yang.
"Then you just carry on with your hunger." Unexpectedly, Yun Qian Meng's rejection had caused Chu Fei Yang to act in a fit of pique. Immediately straightening his body, he increased the distance between them and then fully concentrated on sitting horseback, causing Yun Qian Meng to stamp her feet in anger.
But soon, Yun Qian Meng felt the speed of the horse carriage go faster. Mu Chun checked the situation outside, then smiled and said, "Xiaojie, xiangye changed our route. The horse carriage is now moving along in the middle of an alley, I presume Princess Ling'er's phoenix carriage wouldn't be able to pass through here."
Mu Chun lowered her head as she secretly laughed, even Ying Xia and Yuan Dong were covering their mouths laughing, while Yun Qian Meng blushed. She could not help lifting the curtain of the carriage window to stealthily looked outside, only to see Chu Fei Yang still sitting in horseback with a cold expression.
But he seemed to have expected that she would look at him, and had unexpectedly turned at this moment, facing Yun Qian Meng as he showed a contented smile.
When the horse carriage reached the gates of Yun xiangfu, they saw Qi Ling'er being helped down by palace maids and then stood by the phoenix carriage looking back at them.
"I thought Yun xiaojie had wandered off." Qi Ling'er said with concern once Yun Qian Meng had stepped down from her horse carriage.
"Thanks for your concern, Princess. Qian Meng apologizes for causing you trouble." Yun Qian Meng immediately smiled at Qi Ling'er but casted a cold glance at the corner of her eye at Chu Fei Yang.
"It is just a trivial matter, don't mention it, Yun xiaojie. Actually, Chu xiang has such sincere affections by protecting Yun xiaojie like this. It really makes other people jealous." Qi Ling'er had planned to not mention anything about, but her eyes suddenly shifted towards Chu Fei Yang on horseback, and her eyes flickered with an unknown expression.
"Thanks for your praise, Princess. Since there was nobody guarding Meng'er, then naturally I would be responsible for her." Chu Fei Yang's eyes were still firmly directed at Yun Qian Meng, "You are still not feeling well, go and get enough rest now."
Yun Qian Meng turned to him and nodded. Facing Qi Ling'er, she paid her courtesy, then led Mu Chun and all the others inside xiangfu.
Bu
t when she passed the gates of xiangfu, right before she sat inside the soft palanquin, they all smelled the extremely pungent scent of incense burning. Looking around, the entire xiangfu was covered by thick smoke, and they were unable to clearly see the path past ten feet.
"The eldest xiaojie has returned!" after receiving news of Yun Qian Meng's return, Liu Han Yu immediately came, leading a group of yatou. Her hands were holding a silk veil, while her own face was already covered up.
"What happened?" Yun Qian Meng's brows wrinkled, and couldn't help but pinch her handkerchief to cover her nose so as to avoid inhaling too much of the toxic air.
And Liu Han Yu's eyes seemed helpless as she gently placed the silk veil over Yun Qian Meng's nose, then unhappily said, "The old madam had Rui mama invite over a Daoist priestess, to pray for blessings for the two gongzi, hoping that they would obtain first place for the autumn exam this year."
Hou furen - As part of the five orders of chinese nobility, Hou (侯), being the equivalent of marquis, is bestowed a Gongfu (aka an estate). So Wu furen is called Hou furen (Wu being the family's surname) which means she is a marquis' wife.
the Qu family also has this rank, so YQM's uncle, Qu Ling Ao, is called a Houye, with "ye" meaing boss-man master bro of the house and Ji Shu Yu is the Hou furen.
Chapter 111: Part 1: Second Uncle's Entire Family Gathered at Xiangfu | Chu Wang Fei
"That's strange, I hadn't heard of inviting a Daoist priestess to put spells for the autumn exam." Ying Xia whispered to Yuan Dong and Mu Chun from her position behind Yun Qian Meng after hearing Liu Han Yu's words.
"As if putting the spells were enough. Look at how they are doing it, those who have no idea might think that our xiangfu is on fire." Mu Chun's gaze appeared to be mocking, thinking about how the old madam had tried hard to repeatedly send the fourth xiaojie to Chu xiangfu, her heart was utterly unhappy.