Chapter 72 Chapter 72 "Besides your hypocrisy, I don't know...

Thinking of this, Jasmine stood still, wanting to wait for him to leave before leaving.

Unexpectedly, the Duke, who was striding forward, suddenly stopped, turned around and stared at her with a serious look without saying a word.

Jasmine had no choice but to move forward.

Duan Zhi was waiting anxiously at the first-floor lobby door, wondering why the Duke hadn't come down yet. Just as she was about to go back to look for him, she saw the Duke's tall, straight figure appear at the stairs.

In a blink of an eye, Duan Zhi saw Jasmine again, and the smile on her face froze.

"My Lord, what happened?"

The Duke did not explain, but simply bowed to Madam Duan and said, "Goodbye."

After saying this, the Duke walked out of the door, then stopped and looked back.

Duan Zhi followed his gaze and looked at Jasmine.

Although she thought that the fire might be related to her aunt, and that he might be looking for trouble with her, Duan Zhi still felt very strange.

Madam Duan looked at her, but Jasmine didn't even glance at Madam Duan and just walked straight past her.

Jasmine still wanted to walk past the cannibalistic Duke.

She deliberately circled around, and when she had successfully passed the person, she was secretly delighted when she heard a voice behind her: "Stop."

Jasmine stopped moving.

"Follow me." After saying these three words, the Duke went to the side of the road.

Jasmine knew that she was not talking to Madam Duan. She knew she couldn't escape, so she had to follow.

Jasmine followed him to a secluded alley.

See him stop.

She also stopped two steps away from him.

"Did you set the fire?"

Jasmine hated the way he looked at her with such sharp and suspicious eyes, as if she was an unforgivable criminal.

She was also angry and asked, "Why do you think it was me?"

"You still dare not admit it. Do you want to see the Jingzhao prison?"

Jasmine glanced at him, horrified. He had always been so kind to her, so kind that she felt he doted on her.

But now, she was sure that if she lied again, he would really tie her up and send her to Jingzhao Prison.

How could Jasmine not be afraid?

She was afraid, and she couldn't help but get even more angry. She simply rushed to him and said, "Yes, I was the one who released it. What are you going to do with me, Master?"

The aunt looked at him with tears on her face, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

The Duke looked at her with sorrowful eyes: "You set the fire, and you think you're right."

Jasmine knew that she was wrong, but she really didn't like him talking to her with such a strange look and tone.

Jasmine didn't know how to face him for a moment.

I only heard him say, "Besides being hypocritical, I didn't realize you were also vicious."

The voice in her dream finally reached her ears clearly on this day.

This day came so quickly.

Jasmine was afraid he would leave before she could finish her words, so she reached out and grabbed his collar before speaking in frustration, "I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to create some smoke, but who knew the tablecloth would catch fire!"

The Duke let her pull at his collar and asked indifferently, "What are you doing with the smoke?"

Jasmine felt embarrassed to say it out loud, but she was not afraid of embarrassment. "I, I don't want me to be with Madam Duan."

The Duke of Guo clearly understood. For a moment, he didn't know how to react.

She knew this man especially well. Jasmine sensed his tension and surprise, and his unusual reaction was a sign of his softness towards her.

She was so arrogant that she let go of his collar and hugged his waist.

Fit together tightly.

Although the alley was deserted, it was broad daylight on the street. The Duke shouted, "Let go!"

Jasmine didn't let go. She buried her head in his arms, sobbing and saying, "I promised Qiang'er that if I don't like Madam Duan, I won't be with her, okay?"

If it were the Third Master, the Fourth Master, or even the First Master, they would have thought of refuting Auntie's words. It was your Auntie Moli who asked to leave the Duke's Mansion! How dare you say that in front of me?!

But although the Duke felt something was wrong, he was helpless when he heard what his aunt said.

He had no choice but to explain: "It was just a chance encounter. Madam Duan wanted to talk to me, nothing else."

Jasmine looked up and asked, "Really?"

Looking at his aunt's tearful face, the Duke nodded seriously, "Really."

"Can you please forgive Jian'er? Jian'er really didn't mean it, and I won't dare to do it again."

As she spoke, Jasmine threw herself into the Duke's arms again.

Listening to the familiar, not-so-steady heartbeat, that long-lost sense of security returned.

She stood on tiptoe and looked over the Duke's shoulder at the master and servant who were peeping at them.

Seeing Duan Zhi's expressionless face, Jasmine felt even more secretly delighted.

Madam Duan is really persistent.

She said that she always felt someone was watching her these days, and it turned out to be Madam Duan behind her.

Jasmine was thinking about how to get Madam Duan to stop coming to see the Duke again, when she heard the Duke's voice: "I believe you this time. This is in public, and it's not proper. Let go first."

"Not unless I agree to something else." Jasmine continued to press forward.

"you say."

"Tonight, I'll come find Qiang'er."

After she finished speaking, Jasmine was brutally pushed away.

Jasmine was careless!

She glanced in the direction of Madam Duan and subconsciously wanted to throw herself back into her master's arms.

How could the Duke let her succeed? With a serious face, he flashed the scabbard. "Don't come over!"

Jasmine looked at the big knife in front of her in disbelief.

"You are hypocritical, vicious, and shameless." The Duke's eyes were red, and his face was full of regret. "Since you have already promised He Congde, how can you... How can there be a woman like you in this world?"

Jasmine knew she had said the wrong thing. How could she have forgotten how pedantic this man was? It was too late to regret it now.

Jasmine didn't even need to look up to know how proud Madam Duan was. But she didn't care about that and hurried to apologize to her grandfather: "Jian'er didn't think too much about it. Jian'er knows he was wrong, and he won't do it again next time..."

The Duke held his scabbard high, not allowing the concubine to get even a step closer. He then sternly declared, "You and I will marry as we please. We will have nothing to do with each other. Don't appear before me."

After saying this, the Duke glanced away, without looking at the concubine again, turned around and strode away.

"Master!"

Jasmine chased for a few steps, but was stopped by Yan Pu and his men. Jasmine was unwilling to give up.

"Auntie... Madam, please don't embarrass me."

Yan Pu did not leave until the Duke rode away.

Jasmine was so angry that she kicked the big locust tree by the roadside several times. When she heard the voice behind her, she remembered that there was someone else there.

"Madam Jasmine is truly a heroic woman. She thought she could have women everywhere? Unfortunately, I'm afraid she's found the wrong person."

She turned around immediately, her previous anger and resentment suddenly turning into ridicule: "Ah, Madam Duan is still eavesdropping?"

Duan Zhi stood calmly and smiled.

Jasmine took two steps closer and said, "Now that I've already left the Duke's Mansion, why is Madam Duan here talking to the Duke about this?"

Duan Zhi just thought she was scared. The smugness in her eyes grew even brighter.

"Could it be that she wants the Duke to dislike me even more? Or is Madam Duan simply venting her anger? Everyone says that Madam Duan is a bright and open-minded person, but it turns out she's just like this." The mockery on Jasmine's face was almost overflowing.

Jasmine noticed that Madam Duan's face had returned to indifference, and she became even more complacent.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what good things will happen to Madam Jasmine."

This statement seemed ambiguous. Jasmine turned her head and glanced at Madam Duan before walking away with her head held high.

When Jasmine returned home, Shancha's deadly eyes locked on her fiercely.

Jasmine was very tired, so she ignored her and went straight into the house.

Shancha followed behind him, and when the door was closed, she asked angrily, "Madam, don't you have anything to explain?"

Jasmine: "When I went over, Duan Zhi was telling me about how I had planned to kidnap her. I had no choice but to set the place on fire."

Shancha was dumbfounded.

In a moment, Shancha had heard the whole story from her. Jasmine had told her everything, omitting only the part about her invitation to the Duke to visit her that evening and her refusal.

"Do you think Duan will come to the Duke again? What if the Duke believes it?" Shan Cha became more and more panicked the more she thought about it.

"She had no evidence before, and she can't have any evidence now. Even if she found out that I had contact with Datu and the others, and that I ordered Datu to go to Xuzhou, it wouldn't mean that I was involved in her kidnapping."

"That's a relief." Shancha patted her chest and sighed, "We did kidnap her, but we also rescued her. Besides, it was her and her daughter who were looking for trouble with us in the first place. After all this time, she's still biting us like a dog, and she's the wife of a renowned Shangshu Mansion, yet she's only this narrow-minded."

Shancha suddenly thought of something and asked, "If the Duke knew that Datu and the others had gone to Xuzhou, would he cause trouble for us?"

"Even Datu and the others don't know my purpose. As long as Xu doesn't say anything, Duan Zhi won't know more. The Duke always speaks with evidence, and he won't do that. I'm going to sleep, you go out."

"Madam, are you going to bed without washing up?"

Jasmine ignored her and rolled over to the inner bed with the quilt in her arms, feeling exhausted.

Shancha had no choice but to follow her.

Only after hearing the sound of the door closing did Jasmine turn over and lie down again.

"You are hypocritical, vicious, and shameless."

"You and I can get married as you wish in the future, and we will have nothing to do with each other anymore."

Is it really over between her and him?

Jasmine was sadder than ever. She had been disliked and looked down upon many times before, and while she was not without anger, as long as she could retaliate, she felt happy.

She would shed tears to gain sympathy, but she would not be sad.

But right now, she was really sad. No matter how much that person said, she couldn't hate him. She only felt sad and desperate.

Jasmine bit the quilt and cried uncontrollably.

For days, Jasmine felt exhausted. She had no energy to work, and couldn't even muster a smile. When she returned to her courtyard, all she wanted to do was sleep. She had lost her appetite for the various meats she loved to eat.

On this day, the head manager, who had not appeared for several days, came to inspect again.

I don’t know if it was because the shopkeeper had a sharp eye or she was really too obvious, but the shopkeeper called her to the third floor for tea.

"But are you too tired? If you are tired, go back and rest for two days."

Having nothing to do all day, she was afraid her mind would wander even more. Jasmine refused, "No, I just didn't sleep well last night. Go to bed early tonight, and I'll be fine tomorrow."

"That's good."

The head shopkeeper didn't let her go. Just as Jasmine was about to say she was going out to do something, she heard the maid beside the head shopkeeper say, "Master, I heard an interesting story."

Yuan Liangliang: "Oh? Tell me about it."

Xiang Dai: "I heard that His Majesty has found another matchmaker for the Duke. It's with the Marquis of Changping's youngest daughter, Wan Sui'er. The Duke accepted it this morning."

Yuan Liangliang once again let out an exaggerated "Oh," "I heard that Miss Wan is exceptionally talented, simple and lively, and would get along well with the Duke. Your Majesty has done a great job finding a matchmaker this time. Does Jasmine think I'm right?"

Jasmine was shocked that the Duke was going to have another fiancée. She had never expected the head shopkeeper to ask her about this. She was stunned for a moment before she realized what was going on and smiled, "He's absolutely right."

Yuan Liangliang: "What's wrong?"

Jasmine was silent for a moment, then she spoke slowly, "Just like the head shopkeeper said, Miss Wan's personality is a good match for the Duke. They are both handsome and elegant, and their families are well-matched. They are a perfect match."

Yuan Liangliang looked at her seriously and said nothing more.

...

In the carriage returning to the palace.

Xiang Dai: "Master, do you think Aunt Jasmine will take action?"

Chunyu was holding a bag of meat she had bought on the street, chewing on it as she came up to him. "I don't think so. Didn't you just hear that she said Lady Wan and the Duke were a perfect match? She must be feeling low and want to give up."

Yuan Liangliang: "Wrong. She can."

Xiang Dai: "Master, how can you be so sure?"

Yuan Liangliang: "A feeling of mutual appreciation."

Chun Yu: "What if the master is wrong?"

Yuan Liangliang's face turned cold: "Then let it be considered that Duke Yan was lucky."

Your Majesty originally listened to the Imperial Concubine and did not intend to worry about the affairs of Duke Yan. However, the trend of favoring concubines over wives in Daqi still persists, making it difficult to make progress on the mission.

Your Majesty and the Duke discussed it together, and Your Majesty felt that it would be best for the Duke to get married first to show their love. For the sake of the mission, the Duke naturally obeyed Your Majesty.

The two hit it off and both thought that Changping Hou's youngest daughter Wan Sui'er was good.

The Duke's two previous marriages had failed, and now this was his third, and His Majesty was particularly fond of her. Therefore, he had the Imperial Concubine summon Wan Sui'er to the palace for tea. Only after confirming that Wan Sui'er was truly talented, pure, and kind, as the folk legend had it, did His Majesty finally feel relieved.

In both the Luo and Duan families, the problems had always been with the women themselves. This time, all he had to do was make sure Wan Sui'er didn't cause any trouble.

To prevent any complications, His Majesty has decided to move the wedding forward to two months later.

His Majesty also specifically instructed Marquis Changping to keep a close eye on his daughter and not let Wan Sui'er contact outsiders before the wedding, let alone let her go out.

The Marquis of Changping was embarrassed: "But Your Majesty, before the wedding, you must let my daughter and the Duke develop a relationship, right?"

Marquis Changping had a daughter in his old age and loved Wan Sui'er especially. He originally wanted to find a live-in son-in-law for Wan Sui'er, but unexpectedly, His Majesty arranged for her to be married to Duke Yan.

Although Duke Yan's fate was a bit tough and his marriage was difficult, Marquis Changping was still satisfied with his future son-in-law.

It's Your Majesty who is meddling in other people's affairs. Not only did he secretly set the wedding date for the two families, but he also made so many demands!

In Daqi folk, men and women have to meet each other before getting married. If they are not suitable, they can withdraw. If they want to get engaged directly, there is no such thing as a man and a woman getting married without ever meeting each other once.

Marquis Changping was reluctant to let his daughter suffer such injustice.

His Majesty thought it made sense. After all, no one wanted to share a bed with a stranger.

"I hope Marquis Changping will take care of Madam Wan's going out."

Seeing that His Majesty was easy to talk to, Marquis Changping immediately vowed to take good care of the matter.

...

The Duke is no longer the same as he was before. He is no longer as hesitant and confused as he was on the day he met Madam Luo.

When facing Miss Wan, he was not only polite and considerate, but also spoke appropriately and with ease when chatting with her.

Jasmine looked at it all the way with a sad heart.

I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but today the Duke asked Madam Wan to go for an outing and they chose the mountain near the Fahua Temple where they had gone with Madam Luo the previous day.

Jasmine found out their travel time and hired a car to follow them.

Seeing the two of them standing so close to each other, looking at each other from time to time, and chatting and laughing from time to time, Jasmine's heart was bleeding.

Especially, the two of them are a good match.

Jasmine didn't want to admit it, but it was the truth.

Today, the Duke was wearing a dark blue round-necked robe, with his hair tied up with a golden crown, and he stood tall and graceful.

Wan Sui'er is particularly bright and charming. Unlike Luo Ming'er who is slender and beautiful, or Duan Zhi who is bright and decent, Wan Sui'er is a great beauty who will make any man's eyes light up when he sees her!

Not only does she have a good figure, but her fair and pink face is also extremely outstanding.

When Jasmine put on the clothes from Concubine Liang's tailor shop, she looked like a maid stealing her master's clothes, which was completely different from Lady Wan's appearance when she put on the clothes that added icing on the cake and looked like a fairy descending to earth.

Feeling ashamed of herself, Jasmine became even more jealous and almost went crazy.

It would be great if it rained heavily right now. She wanted to see Wan Sui'er soaked to the skin!

Perhaps it was because she shouted too loudly in her heart, but the clear sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds.

Jasmine was dumbfounded.

What to do, she didn’t bring an umbrella.

But it’s worth it to see Wan Sui’er in such a miserable state!

The rain fell as she had hoped. Jasmine was soaked and shivering with cold, but the coldness in her body was not half as great as that in her heart. Her face was filled with joy.

He actually held an umbrella for another woman! The umbrella tilted, and he completely ignored the fact that half of his body was soaking wet, and only cared about Wan Sui'er.

One looked up, the other looked down, and they were talking about something that made people blush.

It turned out that what he said before about the difference between men and women, distancing himself from Luo Ming'er and not getting close to Duan Zhiduo, was all lies. If he liked her, he could just hide under the same umbrella with her like he was doing now!

Jasmine hid behind a tree, wiped her tear-stained face, and looked around. The servants from the Duke's Mansion and the Wan family followed her from a distance, not wanting to disturb their masters.

Wan Niangzi pointed to a place, and Jasmine watched the two of them walk towards a black shed pavilion in the corner.

Jasmine got ahead of the two of them and ran to hide in the black shed pavilion.

The Wupeng Pavilion is surrounded by low fences on three sides. In front of it is a large green meadow, while behind it is a dark sloping forest.

Hearing the sound of someone approaching, Jasmine hurriedly sat down against the inner fence and glanced at Heilin again.

The corner of his eye kept an eye on the movements ahead. Perhaps he noticed there were still women in the pavilion, so the Duke stopped at the stone steps of the pavilion and said, "Madam Wan, please go ahead."

Wan Sui'er bowed and was helped by her maid to hide in the black shed pavilion.

Jasmine glared at the Duke, secretly resentful. He could share an umbrella with Wan Niangzi, but she was the only stranger in the pavilion, so why did he have to avoid suspicion?

Jasmine felt that he was just being picky. Even though he didn't recognize her, she was still unhappy.

Then she glanced at Wan Sui'er. How tactless! How could she let the Duke stand in the rain with an umbrella? Couldn't she have persuaded him to come inside and hide?

Even a tall and strong man will get sick if he gets caught in the rain, right?

But in a blink of an eye, Jasmine noticed Wan Sui'er's worried look at the Duke, and she knew she was mistaken.

The pavilion was full of girls, so how could a man like the Duke enter the room? Wan Sui'er was a lady from a wealthy family, so even if she wanted to, she couldn't do anything rude.

Jasmine felt ashamed of herself again. Look at others, then look at her. The ladies from higher families were indeed different from her.

The maids beside her persuaded Wan Sui'er to sit down. One of the two maids was behind her, using a handkerchief to comb Wan Sui'er's hair, while the other was helping Wan Sui'er with her makeup.

Raindrops were hitting the bench on both sides, and only the bench where Jasmine was sitting was clean.

The maid glanced at Jasmine without saying anything. She just wiped the other half of the bench and turned back to greet Wan Sui'er: "Okay, my lady, come and sit down."

When Wan Sui'er saw Jasmine, she curled her lips, nodded at her, and then sat down.

Looking at Wan Sui'er's flawless face and her graceful and appropriate gestures, Jasmine was too lazy to pretend and turned her face away.

Wan Sui'er said nothing, but the maid beside her shouted, "What a rude lady! Do you know who my lady is?"

Jasmine stared coldly at the maid.

The maid was about to step forward to speak, but was stopped by Wan Sui'er. "Huan'er, don't be rude."

What a hypocrite! Jasmine thought to herself.

Wan Sui'er sat down beside her, two meters away. Jasmine was staring blankly at the shadow outside the pavilion when suddenly a hand appeared before her eyes.

"Madam, my wife is talking to you."

When Jasmine came back to her senses, she saw Wan Sui'er smiling slightly and handing her a handkerchief.

"Wipe it off. It will be troublesome if you catch a cold."

Jasmine couldn't stand her kindness, so she quietly refused, "No need. Put away your kindness."

Wan Sui'er didn't expect her to speak so harshly and was stunned for a moment.

"You..." Huan'er was about to scold her, but was stopped by Wan Sui'er.

The rain outside was still pouring, just like the day when the Duke and Luo Ming'er went on an outing. The only difference was that she had been with the Duke that day, but now she could only act in secret.

Just who can be blamed.

Humph, of course we have to blame the Xu family, but we have to blame those beasts even more!

If it weren't for them, she wouldn't have ended up like this.

The thought of it made her angry. Jasmine leaned back, her hands resting heavily on the mottled fence. She heard two creaking sounds, then felt a jolt under her elbows.

She was afraid of her life and jumped away subconsciously.

Looking back, I found that the fence was not damaged in any other way except for some serious paint peeling.

But she didn't dare to go any closer.

"My lady, be careful, your back is dirty. I only brought two handkerchiefs, so I couldn't wipe it very clean."

"Nothing."

Jasmine turned around when she heard this and saw Wan Sui'er leaning against the fence.

Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth is in the hands of God, so she doesn’t remind us!

She has never been a kind-hearted person, let alone Wan Sui'er.

Humph, it would be better if it fell down!

Just as she was thinking this, Jasmine felt someone grabbing her lower back.

It turned out to be a monkey! Seeing her looking at it, the monkey was not afraid. Instead, it bared its teeth and stretched out its hairy claws to grab Jasmine again.

"Did I provoke you? There's more than one person here, why are you only looking for me?"

Jasmine was already in a bad mood, and now she was even angrier. When the monkey tried to grab her, she saw that it was the only monkey around, so she also lay on the fence and grabbed it back.

But she suddenly forgot that the fence was not strong.

She only heard a "click" sound in her ears, and then a hand appeared in front of her. Jasmine grabbed the hand quickly.

But she hadn't expected it to be such a soft, boneless hand. Effortlessly, Jasmine grabbed the hand and leaned back with it.

My back fell to the ground, it didn't hurt, but I kept rolling down uncontrollably.

Jasmine heard the two maids' shrill cries again: "Madam, madam! Someone come and help me, I've fallen down..."