Chapter 662 There's trouble at the entrance
After Qiao Qingping and his wife left with Old Madam Qiao, Qiao Qinghe said to Madam Zheng with embarrassment, "I'm sorry you had to see this."
Madam Zheng waved her hand, "What kind of relationship do we have? There's no need for such formalities."
Qiao Qinghe nodded with a wry smile, "You're right."
Zhou couldn't help but interject, "My elder sister has had a tough time these past years. She barely escaped death and got rid of her past, and now she has to help us, the impoverished relatives of the Qiao family. It's truly been hard on her."
Madam Zheng looked at Zhou Shi with gentle eyes and nodded in deep agreement: "You're right. It's rare to find someone as reasonable as you in the Qiao family."
Hearing these words from Madam Zheng, Madam Zhou couldn't help but feel a little excited, but she still spoke in a pleasant tone.
"There's nothing we can do to help Qinghe. I'm just hoping that we won't hold her back."
"Speaking of which, Qinghe is fortunate to have a benefactor like you taking care of her. Otherwise, how could she be where she is today? We poor relatives wouldn't be able to benefit from her success either."
Madam Zheng smiled and said, "Don't say that. Ah He's success today is due to her own abilities. It has nothing to do with us."
"Oh, by the way, did your Yuanyao come today?"
"Speaking of which, she has been guiding my eldest granddaughter Danqing for a while now, and I haven't had a chance to properly thank her yet."
Zhou repeatedly said he dared not accept such praise.
The following year, the old ladies started talking about Wei Wanwan learning to paint from Qiao Yuanyao again.
It is said that a beautiful sedan chair needs many people to carry it, and the two of them chatted back and forth, getting along very well.
Qiao Qinghe, the hostess, couldn't even get a word in edgewise.
However, Qiao Qinghe was delighted with this.
After sitting for a while, guests began to arrive one after another.
Many families have been invited today, but Qiao Qinghe has no idea how many will actually come.
Unfortunately, although the Qiao family was a second-rank official residence, no one from the family had ever served as an official.
In addition to what Qiao Qinghe had done before, most officials in the court despised her.
Therefore, Qiao Qinghe was quite surprised to see the first few distinguished censors who came to her door.
These people have always disliked her the most, so it's quite strange that they would come to the banquet.
No, Qiao Qinghe frowned slightly. These censors didn't seem to be on her invitation list, did they?
Li Sanqi is clearly up to something at today's banquet. Why would she be so foolish as to invite the censor?
Are we waiting for them to impeach Li Sanqi and her?
Sure enough, the wives of the imperial censors who entered all smiled somewhat awkwardly.
It would be strange if someone who comes uninvited had a bright smile on their face.
Since the person had already entered, Qiao Qinghe didn't want to send them away, so she politely invited them to sit down.
However, Qiao Qinghe soon had no time to pay attention to these people.
As time went on, more and more people came, and their status became increasingly distinguished.
First, people from the Marquis of Enping's residence arrived, followed by people from the Marquis of Yongning's residence.
Since Su Rongrong was less than three months pregnant, she did not come to the Enping Marquis's residence this time.
Marquis Enping himself came, presented generous gifts, and then went to the outer courtyard to take charge. He had the air of a powerful local deity.
Upon hearing the servant's report, Qiao Qinghe couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a smile.
It's obvious without even asking that Su Rongrong forced Yan Jin to come and support her.
Otherwise, given her meticulous nature, she would probably consider it a success if she simply had the housekeeper deliver the gift.
There's no way he'd come in person; he's even making it seem like he'll stay until the banquet is over.
As for the Yongning Marquis's residence, it was still the Yongning Marquis's wife and Yu Zhenhuan who came.
After being rejected by the King of Chu, everyone thought that Yu Zhen would hide away and be too ashamed to face anyone.
On the contrary, Yu Zhenhuan not only went out shopping as usual, but also attended various banquets in a grand manner. When people pointed at her, she not only did not hide, but also went up directly to use her status to intimidate them.
In the capital city now, apart from Li Sanqi and Li Jingyue, there are really few unmarried young ladies with a higher status than her.
Of course, everyone has to obediently greet and pay their respects to her.
She'll make trouble for anyone who speaks ill of her.
The greeting posture is not standard, the voice is too soft, and you get up without saying "no need for formalities"—how can this be acceptable?
Let's try again!
Is it still not right?
Let's do it again!
...
After all that, now those girls avoid Yu Zhenhuan whenever they see her, and they wouldn't dare say a word about her anymore.
Qiao Qinghe was quite amused when she heard about these things.
After enjoying the moment, she couldn't help but sigh, marveling that even someone as simple-minded and straightforward as her had learned to use her status to intimidate others.
A quarter of an hour had passed since the maid came in to announce that Lady Yongning and Princess Gaoping had arrived, but they still hadn't come in.
Qiao Qinghe was puzzled and was about to send someone to check what had happened.
Then she heard a maid rush in and whisper in her ear that the people from the Yongning Marquis's residence, the Yongchang Marquis's residence, and the Liu family were making a scene at the gate.
Qiao Qinghe was startled. Why were these three families fighting?
Wait, she didn't seem to invite anyone from the Yongchang Marquis's residence, did she?
How come the Yongchang Marquis's residence is involved here?
Without time to think, Qiao Qinghe told Madam Zheng and Madam Zhou beside her, then got up and left the table.
Once outside, following the little girl, she lowered her voice and asked what had happened.
The maidservant quickly recounted what had happened.
It turned out that Lady Yongning and her daughter had just gotten off their carriage and were about to enter the gate when they were stopped by someone.
The person who called out to them was none other than Wenxi, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Yongchang's mansion.
I don't know what's wrong with Miss Wen, ever since she set a wedding date with the King of Chu, she's had a hard time getting along with Yu Zhen.
In her original plan, Yu Zhenhuan, who had been publicly rejected by the King of Chu and lost face, should have stayed at home and dared not go out after the rejection.
But Yu Zhenhuan not only went out, but also used her status to suppress others from talking about her.
Well, those people didn't dare to talk about Yu Huanzhen anymore, so they turned around and started talking about her.
They say she's shameless for stealing someone else's fiancé.
It's likely that she's been flirting with the King of Chu for a long time.
Some people even stared at her stomach, the implication of which couldn't be clearer.
Wenxi had fought with several young ladies over this matter, but it was all to no avail.
She strongly suspected that Yu Zhen was behind all of this, deliberately trying to ruin her reputation.
As they say, enemies are especially hostile when they meet.
Wenxi started off with a barrage of sarcastic remarks, even scolding Lady Yongning.
She is said to be cunning and scheming, which is why she raised a murderer like Yu Zhenhuan as her daughter.
He also said that the deaths of Madam Yu and Miss Yu were all Yu Huanzhen's fault.
They also said that the Marquis of Yongning was forced to leave the capital to guard the border and was unwilling to return, all because of the mother and daughter.
In any case, Wenxi had no scruples whatsoever and said whatever came to mind.
The uglier Lady Yongning's face was, the more uncomfortable Yu Huanzhen felt, and the happier she became.
Yu Huanzhen is not so easily bullied.
He immediately slapped Wenxi across the face and asked her if she had forgotten what it felt like to be beaten.
Just as Wenxi was clamoring to teach Yu a lesson, the Liu family arrived.
The Liu family had originally planned to watch the play and maybe add some firewood. Instead, the fire ended up burning them.
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