Chapter 331 What is the Min family doing?
“Madam!” Min Pan’er raised her head and looked at Min Qiao Shi without any fear. “I know you are Madam Qiao Shi of the Xuanping Marquis’s Mansion, and I also know you are from the capital.”
“I even know that you were stripped of your imperial title and sent back to your ancestral home by the Emperor.”
Min Qiao looked at A-San.
Ever since Min Pan'er fainted on the road and was taken to the carriage, A-San has been taking care of her.
Min Qiao looked at A-San, wanting to know if A-San had revealed the identities of their group.
Ah San naturally understood what Min Qiao Shi meant and quickly shook her head.
Madam Min smiled slightly; this was interesting.
Even after traveling with them for several days, Lian Jiang Hongling still didn't know her identity. How could this Min Pan'er have figured it out in a single sentence?
It seems that Min Pan'er fainting in front of her car was not a coincidence.
So, you came here specifically for me from the beginning?
"Yes." Min Pan'er didn't try to evade the question and admitted it directly.
"Why did you come to me?" Madam Min Qiao carefully observed the changes in Min Pan'er's expression. "I don't know you."
Min Pan'er gave a wry smile. "You don't know me, but I know you."
"There is no one in the Min family who doesn't know you. Especially the women of the Min family! Your deeds are as wonderful as legends to us. Almost all the girls in the Min family admire you."
Madam Min raised her hand to interrupt Min Pan'er's flattery, "There's no need for these meaningless words. Tell me your real purpose in coming to me?"
Why did you come to me? And why did you ask me to save you?
"And why did you propose selling yourself into slavery to serve me in the first place?"
"Since you know my identity, you should know that as a girl from the Min family, you can never be my servant."
"What do you mean by that?"
As if to bolster her courage, Min Pan'er took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then said, "Madam, I truly hope you can save me. I also truly want to sell myself into servitude to you."
"You may have already heard some of what my cousin Hongling has said about me. But what Hongling saw was only the surface."
"The truth is far beyond what Cousin Hongling can imagine."
Min Qiao's expression remained unchanged, only her gaze deepened slightly.
She looked at Min Pan'er quietly and gestured for her to continue.
Min Pan'er nodded and began to tell her own story.
Just as Jiang Hongling said, Min Pan'er's aunt was a courtesan who was lucky enough to move into the Min family after giving birth to her.
However, at the beginning, neither her aunt nor she herself were well received by the Min family.
Their status in the Min household was even lower than that of the servants.
However, Min Pan'er's aunt was no ordinary person. Otherwise, she wouldn't have risen to the position of courtesan queen, nor would she have secretly given birth to Min Pan'er.
Therefore, Min Pan'er's aunt, Liu, began to secretly train her when she was very young.
While teaching her how to be an elegant, dignified, and noble young lady from a prominent family.
On the one hand, she was forced to admit defeat, act weak, and act humble in front of everyone, and to the point of being humble to the core, like someone slapping her left cheek and then offering her right cheek to ask if she wanted to be slapped symmetrically.
Liu did this for two reasons.
The primary objective was to ensure that the mother and daughter could survive under the powerful Jiang family.
The more humble and miserable Min Pan'er's life is in the mansion, the less likely Jiang Shi is to target them.
Sure enough, the humble Min Pan'er successfully lived to the age of ten, reaching the age when her appearance blossomed and her beauty was undeniable.
Therefore, Liu planned to make a name for herself at the Min family's matriarch's 70th birthday banquet.
This was Liu's second objective.
The more the Min family looked down on Min Pan'er before, the more shocked they will be when they see the completely transformed Min Pan'er, who is so different from what they remember.
Things unfolded exactly as Liu had meticulously planned.
Min Pan'er caught the eye of the old lady of the Min family, and at the same time became the darling of the Min family's men.
The lives of Min Pan'er and her daughter have also undergone earth-shattering changes.
However, just when the mother and daughter thought that their suffering had finally come to an end and that they could finally have a place in the mansion, they discovered that they had unknowingly fallen into another vortex.
No! To be precise, it was Min Pan'er who was truly caught in the vortex.
After gaining a title and status, Liu no longer focused her attention on Min Pan'er. Instead, she began to fawn over Jiang, the matriarch of the household, carefully trying to please and flatter her. She almost completely abandoned Min Pan'er.
As a result, Min Pan'er was naturally taken to live with the Min family matriarch.
Everyone thought she had achieved instant success. She initially thought so too.
It wasn't until Grandma Min started teaching her all sorts of unbelievable things that she gradually realized something was wrong.
Upon hearing this, Madam Min Qiao thought of Min Pan'er's alluring demeanor that she exuded at any time and in any place, and began to have some guesses in her mind.
"Go on."
Min Pan'er nodded and continued, "The old lady found many people to teach me."
"Someone taught me how to walk so that I can walk gracefully."
"Someone taught me how to speak in a soft and alluring voice."
"Someone taught me how to cry so beautifully that it dazzles people."
"...Everything about me has been meticulously crafted."
"Yes, carving. That's what the old lady said."
She said that only when a piece of jade is carefully carved and is so perfect that it is without any flaws can it go where it is meant to go.
Madam Min Qiao understood. Min Pan'er was being treated like a commodity by the Min family, carefully nurtured and waiting to be sold at a high price.
This reminded Min Qiaoshi of a group of people.
Yangzhou's "slender horses" (a euphemism for prostitutes).
However, just as Madam Min Qiao was thinking this, she heard Min Pan'er continue, "I originally thought that they just wanted me to go through a marriage alliance, or to become a concubine for some nobleman in the capital."
"It wasn't until Old Madam Min hired three tutors to teach me the official language of Xixi and the dialect of the eastern part of Xixi that I realized the Min family was planning to send me to Xixi."
"I dare not say, I cannot say, about such things."
"Therefore, I can only resist silently."
“I blinded the old woman who was in charge of watching over me, cut out the tongue of the maid who scolded me for not studying hard enough… I also did many other things that seemed outrageous to outsiders.”
"And I have indeed ruined my reputation myself."
However, what awaited me was neither punishment nor rejection.
"On the contrary, it was the old lady of the Min family and several gentlemen who praised her."
"They said that in addition to having seductive skills, I also need the arrogance and cruelty that belong to beautiful women."
...
Min Pan'er continued her story, but Min Qiaoshi could no longer hear what she was saying next.
Now, all Min Qiaoshi could think about was: Xi'e, the Min family, the Min family, Xi'e...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com