Banquet Strife
"You're so annoying! Does it have to be that you're the only one who's powerful among the women of Chang'an? Teaming up with a bunch of people to bully a young woman who's a year younger than you and has just returned home, you've got some nerve!"
Madam Cui rolled up her sleeves, feeling so angry that she wanted to go up and beat her up.
"Wan, calm down."
The beautiful woman beside her reached out to stop her and whispered in her ear, "If you really lay a hand on her, wouldn't that just be giving her a free chance to complain?"
"We only asked Sister Mingyi a few questions. The ladies were just curious, after all, Her Highness the Princess is so noble, we thought that anyone who could win her favor must have something special. Lady Cui probably misunderstood our good intentions, but there's no need to get so angry." Liu Xi held up his fan, revealing only his smiling eyes.
Upon hearing this, the women around him echoed his sentiments.
Cui Wan: "Tch!"
"Madam Liu, you'd better be careful. Harming others will ultimately harm yourself," said the beautiful lady, standing in front of Cui Wan.
Then, the aloof lady in white stood before Cui Wan and coldly looked at Liu Xi, saying, "If you don't want to marry Cheng Langjun, just say so. There's no need to cause trouble. Since you admire the Princess so much, I will petition the Emperor and appoint you as the Princess's lady-in-waiting."
"I just saw Young Master Cheng. If it's inconvenient for Madam Liu, I can pass on his message." As soon as Xu moved to the same side as the others, the stance on the matter became clear.
"You!" Liu Xi put down his fan, glanced coldly at Xu Mingyi, whose eyes were blurry with tears, and chuckled.
"What are you all doing? Even though the young master is the daughter of Brother Zhijie's mentor, he shouldn't interfere in his marriage. As for Madam Pei and Madam Ning, Madam Pei is indeed remarkable as a lady-in-waiting in the palace, but the rules in the palace are strict. Madam, you should be careful with your words."
"A teacher for a day is a father for life. Has Lady Liu already disowned her mentor on behalf of Young Master Cheng before even marrying into the Cheng family? Today, when I return home, I will have a good talk with my father about how Duke Liu raised his daughter. She hasn't learned a single thing about being kind and gentle. The model of elegance and grace that Lady Chang'an speaks of is just a hypocrite." Xu Zhixu was too lazy to reason with her and would just say what she cared about most.
Liu Xi: "I..."
She gripped the fan handle tightly, her smile frozen, and gritted her teeth as she said, "Young Master misunderstands me. I didn't mean that. I just wanted to say that the marriage agreement between the Liu and Cheng families was made by our elders when we were young, and it will never be changed."
Sui Zhixu sneered, "Oh, really? Madam Liu, who considers herself a model of virtue, is openly bullying others on the Cheng family's territory. Does she not know better than to say she doesn't want this marriage anymore?"
“I already said I was just curious about Mingyi, perhaps she misunderstood.” Liu Xi turned her head. Xu Mingyi was just crying. She felt annoyed but patiently called out, “Mingyi, Mingyi…”
"Enough. You're bullying someone and then forcing her to cover for you? Even if the Anyuan Marquis's Mansion is in decline, the Ming family elders aren't all gone. The only bloodline of the Ming family in Chang'an has been ruined by you. Do you want the censor to impeach everyone in the family?" For some reason, Sui Zhixu thought of Sui Chengyu again. If she was bullied and Sui Chengyu didn't care, she would definitely not let her off and make a scene at her Jianjia Pavilion forever.
Following Dan Hong's list of relationships among the women of Chang'an, Xu glanced at them and said, "Wang Qi Niangzi's brother, as a Jinwuwei, neglected his duties; Chu San Niangzi's father privately accepted bribes from candidates; and there's Zhang Da Niangzi, Li Er Niangzi, do I need to continue? I just saw your fathers and brothers greet me, earnestly saying they were wronged and hoped I would plead with their fathers on their behalf. Judging from your behavior, it seems that what you women say is all false."
"Young Master, please have mercy! No, Madam Xu, I spoke without thinking just now. I apologize to you and hope you can forgive my mistake. Please don't implicate my brother."
Sui Zhixu watched coldly as they apologized to Xu Mingyi one by one. A group of young women whose interests were intertwined, she found it utterly boring.
Liu Xi: "You guys..."
She turned her head and said, "I'm sorry."
Yueling forgot about her one-sided cold war with Sui Zhixu and watched the show with great interest. "I remember Liu Xi's father is the Duke of Liu, right? That old man is very cunning. He talks a good game but does nothing. It's lucky you ran into him, otherwise these young ladies wouldn't be so easy to fool."
Sui Zhixu casually replied, "Of the four people, only Chu San Niangzi's father accepting bribes is a big deal; it's just to scare them."
Liu Xi put on a smile again, "In that case, we'll be going then."
"Um."
Seeing the group leave in a hurry, Xu Mingyi, who was huddled in the corner of the pavilion, thanked them incoherently and cried uncontrollably, but the group did not care.
Sui Zhixu asked the maid beside her to take her home. She was crying like this; why should she stay any longer?
Xu Mingyi kept saying thank you, and in her dazed state, she was helped away by a maid.
After she left, the group looked at each other in bewilderment.
“You are the young lady from the Sui family and the Cong family.” Cui Wan began to circle around Sui Zhixu.
"It looks... just so-so. You're lucky you didn't get the better eye and weren't fooled by Liu Xi."
The beautiful Ning San Niangzi grabbed her arm. "Young Master, please forgive her. A-Wan is a cheerful person who has always admired Master Sui. That's why she was so excited to see you, Madam Sui. Please forgive her."
On the other side, the elegant Madam Pei frowned and said, "Cui Wan always speaks without thinking, so please forgive her for not being quick-witted..."
"Pei Qinglian! You're the one who's not smart, I think your whole family is not smart." Cui Wan broke free from her restraints and walked up to Pei Qinglian, looking up at her angrily.
Pei Qinglian waved her hand, "You saw it too."
"No, no, no, Ah Wan, listen to me. You know Qinglian always talks like this. She doesn't have any bad intentions." Ning Yan, a beautiful young woman, gently patted Cui Wan's back and secretly winked at Pei Qinglian.
Pei Qinglian turned away and ignored them, while Ning Yan looked on helplessly as the two started arguing again.
"Hmph." Cui Wan turned her head and snorted softly.
Ning Yan had no choice but to speak with Sui Zhixu, saying, "Greetings, Young Master Sui. I am Ning Yan, the third daughter of the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review."
Ning Yan tugged at Cui Wan and Pei Qinglian.
"Cui Wan, the only daughter of the Cui family, Minister of Revenue."
"The eldest daughter-in-law of the Duke of Pei, Pei Qinglian." Pei Qinglian smiled. "Cui Wan is a simpleton, but isn't it amusing to watch her frolic?"
Sui Zhixu nodded. "That is indeed interesting."
Sui Zhixu knew that they were from the Conglan faction, or rather, the Emperor's people.
"Please." Sui Zhixu walked to the pavilion; she had originally wanted to find a place to rest.
"good."
Cui Wan was still angry with Pei Qinglian, so she turned her head away and leaned on Ning Yan's shoulder, not wanting to talk.
The young lady's anger came and went quickly; before long, she was still unwilling to give up and ran back to Pei Qinglian's side.
"Pei Qinglian, why are you ignoring me?"
"I'm tired, I don't want to talk."
...
"Don't you want to talk to me?"
"You knew that too?" Pei Qinglian looked up incredulously, as if to say, "So you finally found out." This made Cui Wan so angry that she threw herself into Pei Qinglian's arms and made a scene.
Pei Qinglian, seemingly indifferent, grabbed Cui Wan's wrist with amusement and began scratching her waist.
Ning Yan watched them joking around with amusement, while pouring tea for Sui Zhixu.
"Please excuse my poor performance, young master."
"No, it's very fun."
Ning Yan felt completely relieved when she heard Sui Zhixu's calm voice and natural expression.
"It seems you've had a good time at home."
"Many thanks to the elders in my family for their help, otherwise I would not have returned so soon. I offer you this tea in lieu of wine to express my gratitude for your kindness." Sui Zhixu recalled the day the family sent a message to the palace on the day he returned home.
"It's nothing, we're just neighbors." Pei Qinglian blocked Cui Wan's mischievous hand to prevent her from scratching her waist.
He continued, "Besides, you've already thanked the Pei family. I heard from my sister-in-law that you met my little nephew on the first day of the Lunar New Year and gave him a gold bead. He's young, but he knows the gold bead is a treasure and holds it in his hand all day long."
Xu felt embarrassed; she had just given it to him casually.
Cui Wan's eyes lit up as she stared intently at Sui Zhixu. "Jinzhu? You're so generous!"
Seeing that she was staring at Xu, she took out a gold bead from her sachet and said, "If you like it, you can have it."
"My God, did your money grow on trees?"
With her hands propped on the table, Xu knew she was not short of money. She and Fan Lingzhang had agreed not to take his money, but he kept sending it back, and she couldn't return it. In addition to what her parents had given her, she was no longer the penniless and robbed person she had been at the beginning.
"No, no, no." Cui Wan shook her head like a rattle drum. "It's fine if A-Lian's little nephew accepts it, but I'm not a child. I can't accept something for nothing unless it's a holiday."
Pei Qinglian chuckled, and Cui Wan turned to look at her coldly, "Do you want to die today?"
Pei Qinglian: "No."
Cui Wan: "Hehe."
"I just think they lack self-awareness, acting like adults when they're still young."
"?" Cui Wan was incredulous and lunged at Pei Qinglian.
"Pei Qinglian! I want you dead, ahhh!"
Ning Yan helplessly spread her hands, "This? There's nothing I can do about it."
Sui Zhixu silently sipped his tea, watching the two of them bicker.
"Young Master's heroic deeds are quite similar to those of the head of the family. I've heard that the head of the family was also very righteous and saved many people back then."
Sui Zhixu's eyes were hidden in the mist, and others could not see her evasiveness.
She chewed the words "hate evil as if it were her enemy" carefully, swallowed them, and her mind remained blank.
"By the way, the Imperial Tutor also received favors from the Sui family head, but unfortunately the two disagreed later and have had less contact in recent years."
Upon hearing her mother's name, Sui Zhixu looked up and stared blankly at Pei Qinglian.
"What? The Imperial Tutor is also one? My God, the Patriarch is amazing." Cui Wan ignored Pei Qinglian and stayed by Ning Yan's side, listening intently to Sui He's heroic deeds.
Pei Qinglian straightened her clothes, which had been disheveled by Cui Wan, and casually said, "Fortunately, the princess is not here today. The princess cannot bear to hear the imperial tutor's name at the moment."
"What's wrong?"
Ning Yan and Cui Wan stared at her with bright eyes, while Sui Zhixu, standing to the side, was also quite interested.
Sui Zhixu secretly raised an eyebrow. Princess Chaoyang had eyes everywhere. Was there anyone in the palace she was afraid of?
"Uh, you don't need to do that." Pei Qinglian almost choked on her tea.
"...The Imperial Tutor is now teaching the Princess. After the New Year, the Imperial Tutor discovered that part of the Princess's homework had been written by her husband. He punished the Princess by making her copy the palace rules thirty times. That's how it was."
Thirty times? You'd be copying it to death.
"Ah Wan, watch your words!" Ning Yan slapped Cui Wan's hand impatiently.
"Oh, I see. No wonder the head of the family and the imperial tutor disagree and punish each other with copying. Ugh, that's terrifying."
Pei Qinglian: "Their discord isn't due to these trivial matters. While it's inappropriate for the princess to have her husband write for her, it's really gone too far, and the princess has been troubled by this recently."
As Sui Zhixu sat leisurely drinking tea, it was hard to imagine that the Princess Chaoyang who had teased her was looking so worried.
Suddenly, Yue Ling shouted to Sui Zhixu, "Disciple! Your luck has changed, it's increased, it's increased dramatically!"
"My story has spread so quickly?"
"What are you thinking? You saved the young lady. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, so it's your merit. I've done some calculations, and if you weren't here today, the young lady would probably have been forced to jump into the lake, and it's hard to say whether she would have survived. So, Ah Xu, you should save her."
Sui Zhixu replied, "Impossible. I did it without any intention."
"You stubborn fool, it's that simple. Saving people is no better than standing in the eye of the storm. Your father and mother didn't achieve their success overnight. You're so young and you don't expect to get rich overnight."
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