Chapter 204 - 202: Turbulent Winds Outside (First Update)

Chapter 204: Chapter 202: Turbulent Winds Outside (First Update)

Xu Jie was dragged along by her sister, stumbling all the way, until they finally exited the gates of Huacui Pavilion. Only then did she free her hand and angrily exclaimed, "Sister, what’s wrong with you? You just left like that, the other ladies and madams in the room might be laughing at you internally! You’re the Young Madam of the Wang Family, even if you don’t consider our Xu Family, think about the Wang Family..."

Xu Ya glanced at her dissatisfied younger sister, and couldn’t help but curl her lips in a mocking smile, letting out a light "heh". "The Young Madam of the Wang Family? Do you really think being the Young Madam of the Wang Family is so glorious!"

One’s origin is something that can never be changed, no matter how hard she tries, others still look down on her maiden family, and thereby look down on her!

And the husband she painstakingly won back is merely an incompetent son of an aristocratic family. Although he is the legitimate son of the second branch of the Wang Family, he has been neither literary nor martial since he was young. The only good thing is that he didn’t turn out crooked, not to the point of being despised like Wu Sanlang and the likes.

After growing up, relying on the family’s influence, he got a supervisory position in the Imperial Observatory, which any observant person could tell was just a way to muddle through. Compared to the endlessly talented and promising young men of other great families, her husband was so mediocre he had no presence at all.

However, precisely because of this, the Wang Family accepted her marrying her husband, simply because the Wang Family had already given up on this legitimate son.

Her life at the Wang Family was so difficult, yet the Xu Family knew nothing of it! How could she possibly compare with Zhao Shao Hua? Just in terms of origin, she couldn’t even compare to a single strand of her hair!

Xu Jie was taken aback, looking at her sister who seemed like a different person, and hesitantly said, "Sister, what’s wrong? Have you been wronged at the Wang Family? Whatever it is, you can’t delay serious matters. In the room just now was a lady from the Jiang Family, I was hoping to talk to her, see if she could introduce me to Jiang Erlang at Old Madam Zhao’s birthday banquet..."

She had come of age this year but her marriage had yet to be decided, but she wasn’t worried. Her sister was able to marry into the Wang Family, surely her marriage couldn’t turn out worse than her sister’s!

She had been preparing for Old Madam Zhao’s birthday banquet a whole month in advance. Old Madam Zhao was a heroine from the founding of the Great Chu, following her husband on the battlefield back then. The Grand Ancestor Emperor honored her as Lady Rongguo. The Zhao Family attached great importance to Old Madam Zhao’s seventieth birthday, inviting all the notable families in the capital. This was a great opportunity for her.

And she already had several targets in mind, Jiang Family’s Erlang, Zhao Family’s Liulang, and Xiao Family’s Erlang were all promising young men, yet unmarried. If she could marry one of them, wouldn’t she be able to live her life worry-free? By then, her sister would be beneath her!

She naturally also considered Xiao Qilang, but Xiao Qilang had married that woman and still had a child with her. If she were to marry there, she’d always feel a pang in her heart. Of course, if Xiao Qilang was willing to marry her, she wouldn’t be unable to tolerate that child...

Upon hearing this, Xu Ya couldn’t help but smile contemptuously, "You, daring to dream about Jiang Erlang?"

Seeing Xu Jie’s face change instantly, Xu Ya sneered, "Xu Jie, you were younger before, dreaming unrealistic dreams was one thing, but now you’re of marrying age, not only haven’t you restrained yourself, but your dreams have grown more and more absurd. Let me tell you, those chosen by heaven have their eyes on top of their heads, no matter how hard we try, we can’t catch their eye. Your sister marrying Wang Jiulang is already the best outcome for Xu Family women, unless you want to be shameless like that woman, but you saw what happened to her."

She knew very well what her sister was thinking deep down, even understanding that she was actually looking down on her husband.

Xu Jie’s face turned ugly, seemingly wanting to retort, but Xu Ya coldly said, "With your absurd thoughts, Mother hasn’t corrected you, it seems Mother has grown old and can’t see clearly like she used to."

Having said that, she turned around and walked out, leaving a spiteful Xu Jie glaring hard at her back.

This person knows nothing! Unlike her, she wouldn’t be content with marrying some useless legitimate son of the Wang Family and gloating as if she had found treasure.

She definitely wouldn’t live her life miserably like her!

...

Xu Jing spent the afternoon with Zhao Shao Hua at Huacui Pavilion, listening to the ladies and madams gossiping all afternoon, and even picked out a dress to wear for Old Madam Zhao’s birthday banquet.

Only today did Xu Jing find out that since Mrs. Yu took them hostage to redress her daughter’s grievances, she had divorced her husband and returned to Jizhou to become a nun, devoting her life to chanting scriptures and praying for her daughter.

As for the fact that the Heir of Huaiyin Marquis was one of the culprits in the Smiling Killer case had publicly caused an uproar, infuriating the Holy Emperor who immediately stripped the Huaiyin Marquis House of its title and dismissed the Marquis Huaiyin from his military post for not strictly educating his son, resulting in the downfall of the Huaiyin Marquis House.

It’s said that Young Madam Jiang had returned to the Jiang Family and hasn’t appeared in public since then.

On the way home, Xu Jing couldn’t help but marvel at how these ladies and madams could gossip so much; she had been so immersed in her own affairs that she hadn’t realized how much the world outside had changed.

Time flew quickly, and soon it was Old Madam Zhao’s birthday banquet.

The banquet officially started in the afternoon, but since the Minister of War’s wife had asked Madam Cen to request Xu Jing’s medical consultation, Xu Jing headed to the Zhao Family in the morning.

As soon as Xu Jing arrived at the Zhao Family, she saw the downcast Zhao Liulang, and couldn’t help but chuckle, recalling Madam Cen’s insistence that he accompany her in receiving guests on Old Madam Zhao’s birthday.

He seemed to have even taken a leave of absence today.

Seeing the teasing smile in Xu Jing’s eyes, Zhao Jingming looked even more dejected. In his gloom, he didn’t want others to have it easy either, slyly saying, "My mother is particularly enthusiastic today, determined to find me a true love, even arranging dates for Jingchen and Yanci. Especially Yanci, since he embarrassed my mother last time, she’s dead set on ensuring he doesn’t escape today!"

Xu Jing blinked, sincerely asking, "What does this have to do with me?"

Zhao Liulang: "..."

Oh, he had forgotten, this woman still had no romantic feelings for Xiao Yanci! Talking to her about this was like playing the lute to a cow!

He couldn’t help but grind his teeth and squeezed out two words from between them, "Nothing, at all."

After that, he hung his head and went to receive guests.

Xu Jing couldn’t help but lift the corners of her mouth in amusement.

Seeing him like this, he probably still didn’t know about her impending remarriage to Xiao Yi.

By the afternoon, more guests had begun arriving at the Zhao Family. After finishing the consultation for the Minister of War’s wife, Xu Jing stayed resting in the back courtyard. The maid, Qingyu, assigned to her by Madam Cen, looked up at the sun and said, "Miss Xu, everyone is quite busy today, they probably won’t be able to attend to Miss Xu. Would you like to wander around and take a look?"

Xu Jing nodded and said, "Alright, please lead the way."

However, she had just stepped out of the resting room when she collided with a maid rushing by. Fortunately, Chunyang was quick to react and caught her, preventing her from falling, though the hairpin from her head fell off.