"My daughter is late in getting dressed, please don't blame me, father and brother."
Su Yan looked up angrily and saw Su Jinyue and Xiaotao standing inside the gate of the mansion with smiles on their faces.
After just over a month of not seeing her, her daughter, whom she had brought back from the countryside, had grown so graceful that Su Zhiyao's dull face outshone her.
Seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to her, Su Zhiyao immediately said, "Sister, today is the big day when father and brother come back. Why did you come just now? If you're any later, we'll have dinner!"
It sounded like a reproach, but in fact it was implying that Su Jinyue didn't know the rules and was late for such an important event as Lian Feng.
Jiang Caiping snorted coldly, "She has always been lazy and doesn't even know the rules of propriety. How can we expect her to know the rules of propriety?"
Su Jinyue was not angry, but smiled and said, "That's interesting. No one told me in advance that my father and brother were coming home, and no one informed me to go to welcome them in the morning. How come I have clairvoyance and super hearing?"
These words made Jiang Caiping and Su Zhiyao, mother and daughter, choke and speechless for a moment.
“Humph!” Su Yan’s anger at the door had not yet subsided. He pointed at Su Jinyue and scolded her coldly, “I heard that you showed off your power in the capital, but you actually canceled the engagement in public?!”
"Father, you are wise," Su Jinyue said, "On the wedding day, Xie Qingxu will bring Su Zhiyao into the mansion as his co-wife. His Xie family doesn't care about face, but his daughter does."
Su Yan gritted his teeth and pointed at Su Jinyue, "You want to save face?! If you really wanted to save face, you wouldn't have taken care of his mother for three years without any reputation or status!"
"Everyone in the capital knows that you are already Xie Qingxu's wife. Now you want to break off the engagement, but do you care about the reputation of Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion?!"
Su Zhiyao's eyes rolled, and she immediately said in a gentle voice, "Father, don't blame my sister. It's probably because of my identity that my sister has always been uncomfortable."
"It's normal for my sister to lose her temper. Don't let your daughter cause a rift between my sister and father."
It would have been fine if she didn't speak. As soon as she spoke, Su Yan's face became even angrier, "Su Jinyue! How much trouble are you going to cause just because of jealousy?!"
"I told you that you and Zhiyao are both my daughters now! Since you came back, I have always treated you both equally!"
"But you have repeatedly caused trouble for Zhiyao. Zhiyao has given in time and again, but you still won't give in. How can you be so cruel!"
Being accused by her own father of having a vicious heart, Su Jinyue now just wanted to laugh a few times.
Looking at the father in front of her, who claimed to treat them equally, every time something happened, he would always stand in front of Su Zhiyao and protect her unconditionally.
Su Zhiyao was punished badly every time she framed someone, is this what they call equal treatment?
Seeing Su Jinyue not saying anything but with a faint smile on her lips, Su Yan frowned, "You go to the Xie Mansion right now and apologize! If the Xie Mansion refuses to accept you, you must kneel outside the Xie Mansion until the Xie family forgives you!"
Su Yan's attitude was particularly tough. "Today, even if you kneel in front of the Xie Mansion and break your head, you must marry into the Xie Mansion! I want to see what kind of face you want!"
"Oh."
Su Jinyue laughed sarcastically, and her clear eyes swept across the people opposite, "I, no!"
Her voice was aggressive, and when her eyes met Su Yan's, she was not at all inferior. "Father, am I your biological daughter?"
"Letting the daughter of Ningyuan Marquis's family go and give herself to the Xie family, it seems that my father likes to put his own face on others!"
"you!"
Su Yan's face turned red with anger because of Su Jinyue. How could this damn girl be so eloquent now? !
"Father's equal treatment, I don't agree with it. I see that you don't want me to come home, so you should have let me go outside, so as to avoid such a mess today."
Without waiting for them to speak, Su Jinyue said to herself, raised her eyes and smiled at the people opposite, "You are afraid that if you find your biological daughter and don't bring her back to the mansion, people in the capital will talk about her."
"Shut up!"
Jiang Caiping couldn't help but stop Su Jinyue from continuing, "Su Jinyue! In the past few years since you came back to the Su family, we have never owed you anything. We even spent more on your food, clothing and daily expenses than Zhiyao!"
"You are so ungrateful for saying this now! I gave birth to you, and I asked you to admit your mistake and change you, but all your glory and wealth came from the Su family. It's fine if you don't know how to be grateful now, but why are you still speculating about your father so maliciously!"
Su Jinyue said coldly: "Mother, please stop talking about food, clothing and daily expenses. If you check the internal accounts, you can't lower your face and say such words!"
Her words made Jiang Caiping stunned. What did she mean by asking her to check the internal accounts?
The internal accounts of the mansion have always been managed by Yuehua, a first-class maid who always stays by her side. She often accompanies her husband on the affairs of the inner house, which she always finds troublesome.
As soon as Jiang Caiping looked at Yuehua, Yuehua's expression became anxious and she spoke to Su Jinyue first.
"Since the young lady returned home, I have done everything myself, fearing that she would be dissatisfied. If she is angry with me because of Madam, she can just punish me. Why accuse me for no reason?"
Su Jinyue sneered when she heard it and was about to retort, but Su Jingnian on the side interrupted her.
"Su Jinyue, don't make random accusations! You called off the Xie family's marriage on your own initiative. Since ancient times, marriages have been decided by parents and matchmakers, not to mention the emperor's decree. How dare you disobey the emperor's order and call off the engagement!"
"Brother, you misunderstood," Su Jinyue still had a faint smile on her face, "The imperial decree was for Su Zhiyao, asking her to marry into the Xie family as a concubine."
"I have broken off my engagement with the Xie family. If you want me to get married, can you produce the marriage documents?"
Su Jingnian was stunned for a moment. He didn't know what was going on and turned to look in the direction of his mother.
Jiang Caiping's face changed suddenly. When Su Jinyue just returned to the Su family, the marriage contract with the Xie family was just a verbal agreement. Because she didn't take it seriously, she didn't keep the documents of exchange between the two families.
After noticing that his mother's face looked strange, Su Jingnian saw Su Zhiyao standing beside his mother, looking at him with tears in her eyes. Her pitiful appearance particularly made him feel pity for her.
At that time, Su Jingnian turned to Su Jinyue and said coldly: "We are all family! Why are you making things difficult for Zhiyao for this!"
"Zhiyao is your sister. It's a good thing for her to marry into your family and share the same husband. Don't be ungrateful!"
The second oldest, Su Chengjiang, had always looked down on Su Jinyue, and immediately followed Su Jingnian in agreeing, "That's right! Su Jinyue, how long have you been back in the Su family? You still act like a jealous country woman, no wonder mother and father look down on you!"
If it were in the past, Su Jinyue would have been deeply hurt by Su Chengjiang's words, but now she has died once, and she has long since let go of all her ties with these people, and there is no longer any ripple in her heart.
"Haha, second brother is joking."
"If that's the case, then why don't the eldest brother and the second brother marry one wife together? Isn't it a beautiful thing in life for two men to share one wife?"