Chapter 21 Smearing Water The more beautiful he was, the more alarmed she became.
In the original novel, it was riding horses recklessly in the street that caused the conflict between Jiang Yingyun and Le Jin. Meng Shutai happened to pass by and shielded Jiang Yingyun from the bullying of the vicious female supporting character, and was instantly smitten. "Le Jin" pursued him intensely but to no avail, and her love turned to hatred, causing her to torment Meng Shutai after their marriage.
All the entanglements begin from this moment.
The rough, stiff reins pressed against Le Jin's palm, as if serving as a reminder—Meng Shutai was coming soon.
She had narrowly escaped death and was still in shock, but when she saw Jiang Yingyun, her heart settled back into her chest.
Le Jin sat up on his horse, holding the reins and looking down at Jiang Yingyun to demand an explanation.
"Who do you belong to? How dare you block my horse?"
She pretended to be fierce, but secretly found it amusing.
They were chatting and laughing when they met last time, but this time they "turned their backs on each other," like actors going to a film set with different makeup.
Jiang Yingyun was stunned by Le Jin's scolding, her eyes widening in disbelief.
She was the one who kindly saved her! If I hadn't intervened, that lady in her fine clothes would have been thrown off her horse and fallen flat on her face.
Besides, she even smashed the wine I had painstakingly brewed! The whole batch of wine was ruined, a year's worth of hard work was gone, and she still dared to turn around and accuse me?
“Speak reasonably. Riding a horse recklessly in the street and disturbing the peace, you’d be lucky to escape the prefectural governor of Luoyang with fifty strokes of the cane. You were in the wrong first, so why are you putting on airs here?”
As soon as Jiang Yingyun said this, the surrounding citizens and neighbors echoed her words, and amidst the noise, they speculated about Le Jin's identity.
"This woman on horseback doesn't seem to be from around here..."
"Is there such a person as her in Luojing?"
"What an arrogant tone! Whose daughter is being misbehaved..."
As the scattered words reached her ears, a surge of joy welled up in Le Jin's heart: Heaven is on my side!
"Cough cough—"
She sat on her horse, head held high, cleared her throat, and spoke each word with resounding force: "I am the eldest daughter of the Yue family of Shuzhou, and the eldest son of the Meng family of Luojing—"
Le Jin clenched that name again, etching hatred, resentment, and anger into it.
"Meng, Shu, and Tai's fiancée."
Everyone was met with a bucket of cold water, but after a moment of stunned silence, the atmosphere instantly erupted again.
Only Jiang Yingyun, who was standing in front of the horse, unconsciously took a step back.
Yuan Jingming had mentioned to her that Meng Langjun did indeed have a fiancée he had never met.
Is it really this person?
Lord Meng is so compassionate and kind, yet Lady Yue is so unreasonable and domineering...
Le Jin braced his arms on the saddle, urging his horse to stay close to Jiang Yingyun, his legs swaying gently.
"What is the Prefect of Luoyang? Does he have the right to convict me? He can't afford to offend my future husband's family."
A tub of thick, dirty, ink-filled water was splashed onto Meng Shutai.
Before they even met, she accused him of "indulging his wife." Anyway, he loved pretending to be a good person, so she let him pretend to his heart's content.
Le Jin tucked her hair behind her ear, fiddled with her bright red agate earring, and made no attempt to hide the smugness on her face.
In some mysterious way, the original plot of the book and Yue Jin's thoughts at this moment overlapped and merged into a single force.
Regardless of the shallow and absurd reasons why that vicious female supporting character was entangled with Meng Shutai, Le Jin was now determined to walk down this path and did not mind adding more melodrama to let Meng Shutai know what "blood debts must be repaid in blood" meant.
Sure enough, the dog blood worked instantly.
Someone shouted back, "Lord Meng would never protect such an arrogant and wicked person as you!"
"right!"
"This must be the umpteenth wife who's madly in love with Young Master Meng, hahaha..."
"Exactly! Take them directly to the prefect."
Le Jin reached for the riding whip tucked into the saddle, decisively pulled it out, and lashed it out at the air with a "snap".
"dare!"
She pointed her riding whip at the people and shouted, "Get out of my way! Anyone who dares to block my way will get whipped!"
The crowd was taken aback by the spectacle, and after examining Le Jin's clothes and jewelry, they guessed that she was from a wealthy family and dared not say anything more.
Jiang Yingyun glanced at the long whip in Le Jin's hand, then said nothing more and silently walked away with her head down.
The whip swayed slightly in mid-air. Yue Jin was surprised; her confident demeanor suddenly cracked open, and a cold, helpless wind blew in.
Jiang Yingyun walked away? Then how should I "bully" her? Chase after her and beat her? No, no...
Le Jin's forehead was covered in a little sweat, and she glanced around discreetly.
The platform for Meng Shu has been set up for you, why aren't you coming?
As Le Jin was inwardly complaining, Jiang Yingyun suddenly held something up to her, walked back to the front of the horse, and said calmly, "If you've made a mistake, you have to admit it. There are so many shops, stalls, pedestrians, and vendors. You think you can just leave without compensation?"
Le Jin looked closely and realized that Jiang Yingyun had been looking down to find something.
She picked up a long-handled copper ladle from the wonton stall that had fallen to the ground in the chaos, pointed it directly at Le Jin, and challenged her to a fight with her horsewhip.
She let out a long sigh. Le Jin's lips curled up and then quickly fell back, glaring fiercely at Jiang Yingyun like an angry rabbit.
"If you don't accept my toast, I'll drink the wine for you."
Le Jin raised her whip, ready to strike with the ladle, when suddenly a male voice shouted, "Stop!"
pretty.
It's finally here.
Le Jin turned her gaze toward the sound.
A square carriage with three horses running side by side, draped with a long, clear blue veil, fluttered slowly, as if it were a fairy in disguise.
The person seated in the center wore a long, wide, dark purple robe with a jade belt around his waist, adorned with tassels, jade pendants, and embroidered sachets. He was also wearing a filigree gold crown, and his hair was loose and flowing down his back. He was as noble and graceful as a purple peony.
Le Jin's heart clenched suddenly. "So beautiful..."
It looks even better than it did four years ago.
The dazzling light that pierced her eyes felt like icy water seeping in, slowly transforming into an indelible sorrow.
The more beautiful he was, the more terrified she became.
This is the first time Yue Jin saw Meng Shutai in the original book; no wonder she fell madly in love with him afterward.
Le Jin stared blankly at the person behind the veil, her sorrow growing ever stronger.
This appearance is truly intimidating. Even though she died at his hands once before, she would still be amazed by it now.
God is so unfair.
Pooh.
A young boy ran up to the car and bowed to Jiang Yingyun.
"Our lord asks, what has happened here?"
Le Jin stared at the man's figure, hardly believing her eyes.
How come he looks so much like "Jiu'an"?! They're at least seven or eight parts similar!
Jiang Yingyun's gaze shifted back and forth between Le Jin and the boy.
"The sound of chess pieces... This lady says she is your husband's fiancée."
After finishing his explanation, he turned to Le Jin and introduced the boy named Qisheng, with a relaxed air of watching a play.
"He's from the Meng family. Do you know him, madam?"
"I don't know him."
Le Jin crossed her arms and leaned back, looking utterly disdainful: "How would I know anything about these little cats and dogs?"
"You—" Qi Sheng was fifteen or sixteen years old, in the prime of his youth, and because he had never been looked down upon while serving Meng Shutai, he wiped his face and put on a dignified appearance.
"The Yue family lives far away in Shuzhou. How could they let their young lady ride alone to the capital?"
Qisheng waved his hand, "My lady, don't talk nonsense..."
Le Jin was anxious and didn't want to argue with Qi Sheng, so she directly urged Ru Yunfu to go to the main party to chase away the enemy.
As she ran, she called out to Meng Shutai, "Hey—do you recognize me?"
The clatter of horses' hooves pounded against Meng Shutai like a torrential downpour of pearls.
Le Jin added with "sincere affection": "I am Le Jin from Shuzhou, your fiancée."
A beautiful woman, smiling, galloped in on horseback—a scene that should have been incredibly moving and passionate. But after she landed, Meng Shutai, through the curtain, only glanced at her sideways, his tone slow and leisurely, revealing neither joy nor anger.
"The lady gallops swiftly, her figure graceful and elegant. But if she gathers a crowd to surround the market and obstruct traffic, even her divine beauty will be wasted."
"Furthermore, I have never met you before, madam. It is probably inappropriate for you to openly use the Meng family's name."
This time, Meng Shutai withdrew his cold gaze and didn't even glance at Le Jin.
"Let alone a mere fiancée, even if she were my wife after we've been married, if she ever bullies men or women, I would never tolerate her. What need has a great man have to worry about not having a wife?"
"My wife's clever plan shouldn't have targeted me."
That doesn't make sense...
You pretend you didn't even see your wife cheating on you right in front of you!
But... this ruthless madman, who clearly didn't love "Le Jin," why did he later put up with it?
Back then, wasn't it true that "a great man has nothing to worry about when he can't find a wife"?
Le Jin scoffed inwardly.
I don't understand him.
A note from the author:
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So, did a reader named Xiaobao rave about this book somewhere? Its popularity has skyrocketed these past two days! I'm so touched! [pity][pity][pity] If so, thank you so, so, so much! [sprinkling flowers]
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