Su Xuerong walked past him with a sullen face.
But her arm was grabbed by a hand, and then she was pulled tightly into an embrace.
Su Xuerong was shocked and hurriedly pushed him away, saying, "What are you doing..."
Xiao Yuan's relationship with her was already ambiguous, and now that she was seen being so intimate with Ling Qingxue, she truly didn't care about her reputation anymore.
Just as she was pushing, she heard a sharp shout from not far behind her: "You unfilial son, what are you doing?"
Ling Qingxue's expression froze, and she hurriedly released the person in her arms.
Su Xuerong looked up and saw a group of people.
The woman in the lead, surnamed Xiang, had a livid face, followed by Xiang Rulan and several other women she did not recognize.
Xiang looked at Su Xuerong with extreme disgust: "Su, you really are from a humble background, and you have no shame whatsoever!"
Xiuchun, who was standing to the side, immediately became angry: "It's clearly your husband who doesn't respect himself. He started touching my wife inappropriately after only saying a few words!"
Just then, Zhou, who had heard the commotion, came out with Yuan'er in her arms and Wang.
"Arong, what's going on?" As soon as Zhou saw Xiang's group, she sensed that they were up to no good. She handed Yuan'er to the wet nurse beside her and stood in front of Su Xuerong.
Madam Xiang sneered, her face full of disdain, and said, "This must be Madam Su, right? I advise you to keep your wife in check and stop bothering my son. My son is going to marry a princess. If she doesn't respect herself, even if she comes into the manor as my son's concubine, I may not agree to it."
She doesn't even look down on Xiang Rulan, so how could she possibly look down on Su Xuerong, who comes from a commoner background?
Zhou squinted, crossed her arms, and looked at Ling Qingxue, raising her chin: "Is this your mother?"
Ling Qingxue's face flushed red, and she said helplessly, "Madam, this is a misunderstanding..."
"What misunderstanding?" Zhou sneered. "You yourself want to climb the social ladder by marrying the daughter of the King of Chu, yet you claim to the outside world that A Rong is harassing you?"
"Why don't you tell your arrogant mother that when you were down on your luck and almost thrown into the river because you had no money for a boat, who saved you? Who fed and clothed you along the way and even taught you how to make hot water and tea to win the prince's favor? Do you really think you've gotten this far because of your good fortune?"
Ling Qingxue's face turned pale and then red, and she hurriedly said, "Madam, I am ashamed..."
Madam Xiang's face stiffened, and she said angrily, "Don't talk nonsense! My son was able to catch the prince's eye entirely because of his own abilities!"
"Oh, this is a classic case of crossing the river and then burning the bridge!" Zhou said with a sneer. "I've always thought that a mother raises a son like her son."
"Pah! Ungrateful, repaying kindness with enmity, what kind of noble family are you?" Wang said disdainfully from the side. "I think your face is even worse than that of a vegetable-selling old woman in the market!"
After saying that, she shouted to the onlookers, "Everyone, come and see this woman. Her son was so poor that he didn't even have money for a boat ticket. He relied entirely on my niece's charity along the way. When he was poor, he wanted to covet my niece's money and wanted to marry her. No matter how much we tried to persuade him, he vowed to marry my niece."
"Now look what's happened. My niece helped him gain favor with the prince, and now he's starting to rise in status. He wants to dump my niece and climb up to some princess. And that's not all, this old hag actually came to our door to curse us. Tell me, is there any justice in this world?"
Most of the local residents were renters from Su Xuerong in her house at Tianchang Temple. They had all met the Su family before and knew what kind of people they were.
Upon hearing what Wang said, he was immediately filled with righteous indignation.
"How shameless! Her own son is a snob who loves the poor and has no sense of shame, yet he still causes trouble for Madam Su!"
"Didn't the old lady just say that like mother, like son? What high-class family? Bah!"
“I’ve always lived next door. Ever since I moved in, I’ve seen this Ling young man going to the Su family’s house every day. I heard that the house he lived in used to belong to Su Niangzi!”
"Her own son took advantage of another woman and then refused to admit it, even coming here to curse her. Where did this shrew come from!"
...
The people around him were all talking at once, which made Xiang Shi so angry that her face turned ashen.
She pointed at Su Xuerong, trembling all over: "You, you, you..."
Upon learning that her son was determined to take Su as a concubine, she had originally planned to come and see what Su Xuerong's family background was like, and if they had enough assets, it would be acceptable.
But now, even if this Su family is extremely wealthy, they absolutely cannot marry her!
Just as the surrounding people were spewing spittle, Ling Qingxue suddenly knelt down heavily before Madam Xiang and shouted, "Mother, my love for Arong is deep and unwavering, it's not what you think! I must marry Arong..."
Xiang felt dizzy and furious, she said, "A shameless person like her should never set foot in the Ling family!"
"Mother, if you do not agree to let Arong marry into the family, your son will absolutely not marry the princess!" Ling Qingxue saw that today's matter had escalated, and if he did not express his opinion, he might really lose Arong.
Xiang was about to faint when she suddenly heard Su Xuerong's voice: "Ling Qingxue, what did you say?"
Ling Qingxue grabbed Su Xuerong's sleeve with a helpless expression: "Arong, what I just said is absolutely true. Even if I marry the princess as my legal wife, my heart will only belong to you. I will never have a marital relationship with anyone else in my entire life..."
"Smack!"
A slap rang out, and everyone around shut up.
A faint palm print immediately appeared on Ling Qingxue's face.
Madam Xiang stared in disbelief, her eyes wide with shock: "You...you dare to hit my son?"
And in front of so many people!
Su Xuerong coldly looked at Ling Qingxue kneeling on the ground: "Ling Qingxue, what do you take me for? A stepping stone on your path to advancement?"
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