Chapter 104 Chapter 104 (Full Text) Being...
Being looked down upon, the man stiffened his neck and said, "I... I am, so what?"
A woman, also carrying a bag, tugged at the man and said with a smile, "Don't be offended, everyone. We've all heard it. We heard that a person's character is revealed when they are three years old. She's been a mean girl since she was little, and only dared to kill when she grew up."
Man: "We didn't say that. We just heard it from others..."
"What the hell! If the Duke's wife wasn't a good person, how could she have pretended for so many years?"
"That's right. Besides, the person the Duke favors can't be a bad person! Madam herself is smart, capable, and helpful."
"Even if I did something bad in the past, I've reformed myself..."
"What are you talking about! The Duke's wife has never done anything bad. She doesn't need to change!"
"I'm just saying that. Everyone, let me explain. What I'm saying is that the saying 'you can tell a person's future by looking at him when he's three' is completely bullshit. The Duke's wife was abandoned by her own parents when she was three. With nothing to eat or drink, a child could only resort to stealing and robbing. If that's the case, then all disaster victims are evil people. Why is Your Majesty providing disaster relief? You could just kill them all!"
"You're right."
"Yes, absolutely right, that's exactly the truth!"
The couple from other places had spit all over their faces. When they escaped from the crowd, their hair, which was already as dry as grass, became even more messy and their clothes were wrinkled.
The two men groped their way to the Duke's Mansion, but didn't knock, instead lingering in front of the door. Scared away by the gatekeeper, they fled, only to return a short while later and hide beneath the wall next to the Mansion.
They waited until it was completely dark, and both of them were ready to hold out all night, when they saw a team of carriages coming on the wide stone road.
Leading the way were two rows of guards riding tall horses, and behind the guards was an equally tall canopied carriage.
The carriage stopped in front of the Duke's Mansion. Two maids got out first, and one of them, a pretty maid, reached out and helped the person out of the carriage.
Seeing this, the couple rushed forward immediately.
"Bai Xiang! It's Bai Xiang, right?"
Xiuhong raised her eyebrows, shielding her wife behind her, and looking towards the direction of the voice, she scolded: "Why are these troublemakers making a noise in front of the Duke's Mansion?"
The couple was startled and when they came to their senses, the man had already entered the mansion.
Jasmine only glanced at the door before entering. When she heard the shouting behind her, she kept moving forward.
Xiuhong didn't know as much about some things as Shancha, but as long as the lady didn't say anything, she didn't need to ask and could just chase the person away.
"mother!"
Jasmine had just walked to the backyard living room when a small figure jumped out in front of her. In the blink of an eye, Jasmine felt heavy in her arms.
Jasmine rubbed her daughter for a long time, unwilling to let go. "My dear, Man'er, I'm sorry. Man'er, you must be very bored alone."
Manxi grinned, revealing her white teeth: "I'm not bored. Grandma is playing with me. She gave me a lot of things."
Manxi spread his arms exaggeratedly to show his mother that there were so many things.
Jasmine exclaimed, "Wow," "Grandma is so kind to you."
"Of course. She's my grandmother after all!"
Jasmine felt a little strange. Although the old lady had been nice to Manxi in the past, she only gave her gifts on Maner's birthday. This happened for no reason.
But it was getting late, so Jasmine decided to ask again tomorrow.
When she returned to the main courtyard, she learned that the old lady had given gifts not only to Manxi, but to all the other families. However, the gifts given to the eldest and third young wives were for adults, while hers was double.
Jasmine couldn't sit still any longer, so she changed her clothes and knocked on the old lady's door that night.
Seeing the old lady trying on new clothes with great energy, Jasmine slowed down her pace as she entered the room.
"Is there any good news, mother?"
The old lady just glanced at her, took another indigo dress, and asked the maid to try it on herself.
Nanny Qian smiled and said on behalf of the old lady, "The Fourth Master is coming back!"
Jasmine has been busy with the new charity granary lately and hasn't paid much attention to anything else. Only six months ago, her grandfather mentioned that the Fourth Master would be released early. She didn't expect it to happen so soon.
Jasmine counted in her mind and found that the Fourth Master had been in prison for seven and a half years.
Nanny Qian sighed and said, "The Fourth Master was released so early because he was quiet and hardworking in prison. The last time the old lady visited him, Governor Li praised the Fourth Master for his excellent basket weaving."
"Why are you telling her this?" the old lady asked dissatisfiedly.
"Yes, yes, I won't say any more." Nanny Qian responded with a smile.
Jasmine asked, "Is it because Mother is happy that she becomes a money-giving mother?"
"If you don't want it, you can just return it." said the old lady.
Jasmine didn't want to talk to her anymore: "Thank you mother for the reward, I'll take my leave."
Nanny Qian walked her to the corridor and whispered to her, "The old lady is afraid that if she divides up the things after the Fourth Master comes out, he will be unhappy. It's better to divide them up before then to keep things quiet. The old lady likes Manxi. Of all the children, only Miss Manxi often comes to hang around the old lady's lap and is willing to give her delicious and fun things as a filial gift. The old lady said that if she doesn't treat her things equally, then she won't treat them evenly. She's not afraid of what others say."
Jasmine nodded: "The old lady is quite strong-willed."
"you do not say."
The sound of footsteps approached from afar. It was the maid in the main courtyard. "Madam, the Duke has returned and is calling you to the front courtyard."
Jasmine was horrified: "Who did he bring back?"
The maidservant said: "They are a beggar couple."
Jasmine patted her forehead, said something to Nanny Qian, and left in a hurry.
The old lady came out upon hearing the noise and told the maidservant beside her: "Hurry and take a look."
The maid replied "yes" and ran out.
...
Not long after, the maid came back to report, panting, "Oh no, old lady, the Duke's wife and the Duke are arguing."
Madam Qian: "What's the quarrel? Did the Duke scold his wife?"
The maidservant said, "No. The Duke was very kind and gentle. It was the Madam who saw the beggar couple and immediately asked the Duke, 'Since you know who they are, you shouldn't bother with them.' I didn't dare get close and only heard the Madam's words."
"Useless thing." The old lady said this, her eyes fell on Tao'er who was guarding outside, "Tao'er, you go."
Tao'er was startled for a moment, then suddenly perked up, said "yes" excitedly, and ran out.
In about half a minute, Tao'er came back and told the whole story.
"...The couple and the Duke claimed to be the Second Madam's biological parents, saying they were accidentally abducted by human traffickers. They also said they had been searching for the Second Madam for years, first going to Mita Village and finally finding their way here. But the Second Madam refused to believe them."
The old lady had a face full of anger, and the maids around her thought that she disliked the second lady for being too cold-blooded.
But then the old lady said, "Even the daughters don't believe it, so why is the Duke making such a fuss? It's not right for her to shoulder this responsibility alone."
The old lady didn't plan to sleep either. She put on her cloak and was about to go.
From a distance, he saw the eldest young lady's wife standing in the corridor of the front hall. Her voice could be heard clearly: "...You two are extraordinary. You didn't look for her when she was lost, but now you are looking for her. After all these years, a little girl, are you sure she's still alive?"
The old lady waved her hand, and then the group turned around and went back.
The eldest young lady asked the two with a half-smile, "How many children do you have?"
The couple didn't understand why she asked this, and the woman replied, "Six...six."
The eldest young lady's wife said with a look of understanding, "Five daughters and one son, right?"
"How do you know?" the man asked in horror.
The eldest young lady's wife said: "I guess the daughter you lost is the youngest one."
The couple stared at her in shock.
The eldest young lady's wife turned around and looked at the Duke: "Does the Duke have anything else to ask?"
At this point, Yan Ke still had nothing to be unclear about. He said in a deep voice, "Sister-in-law has asked clearly enough. Come, kick those two out. How dare they pretend to be my wife's biological parents? How dare they do that."
"We didn't lie, Qin Baixiang is really my daughter!" The man only realized what was happening and shouted after being dragged to the corridor.
The woman clung to the doorframe and shouted, "There's a scar on her chest half the size of a palm. It was caused when she fell into the fire... right after she was born. Your Majesty, you'll know it just by looking at it! Please, my nobles, just look at it and you'll know... My daughter..."
"Bring the person in!" Yan Ke said.
The couple was brought back to the living room and was overjoyed. They kept asking to see Jasmine so that they could tell if she was their daughter.
"Take the men out. The women stay."
The man was dragged out again.
The Duke said again, "Bring the screen."
"No need," Jasmine said, "We're all women, so what's there to be afraid of?"
As she spoke, she began to untie her belt, and Xiuhong directed the maids to surround the door threshold and windows.
All I saw was a piece of white and smooth skin, without any scars or even moles.
The woman was dumbfounded. She kept muttering, "How is this possible?" As she was being taken away to be beaten with a stick, she kept muttering, "It's obviously her, there's no way I could have mistaken her, there's no way I could have mistaken her..."
"Thank you so much, sister-in-law, I will go talk to you tomorrow."
The eldest young lady nodded and said, "Compared to what you have helped me, this is nothing. Let's go."
Back in the main courtyard, Xiuhong patted her chest, looking frightened, and said to Jasmine, "Fortunately, Madam had been applying ointment earlier."
Jasmine: "Even if the scar is still there, I won't show it to them."
"That's the truth!"
Only Jasmine and the Duke were left in the bedroom.
Yan Ke watched her change clothes, his eyes fell on her chest and said, "I remember there is indeed a scar here."
At that time, he asked her what happened. Jasmine said she fell. He asked how she fell, and it looked like she was burned. Jasmine said she didn't remember.
Jasmine really didn't know where it came from. She'd had it since she could remember. She suspected it was from being beaten by Qin Kushi when she was a child.
Today I finally know how this scar came about.
Jasmine: "I'm afraid they really are my children. But they're not good, and I don't want to acknowledge them."
"I know. They were begging me at the door just now. I was inconsiderate. I'm sorry, stubborn boy."
Why does this great general always bow his head and apologize to her so easily?
Although Jasmine was angry that he meant well but did something bad, she chose not to hold it against him because he had the courage to apologize.
She snuggled into her grandfather's arms and shook her head again.
Fearing that the couple would refuse to leave, Yan Ke sent someone to escort them out of the city that night. He also ordered them not to enter the capital, or they would have their hands or feet cut off.
"...Do these two think everyone else is stupid? They were the ones who threw you there, yet they said they weren't careful. Are they really that careless?"
Jasmine went to see the eldest young lady, and she started to talk a lot again.
Cuizhu: "That woman let it slip that the Second Madam fell into a fire pit when she was born because of her own carelessness. Is it possible for a newborn baby to be careless?"
Shancha looked at Jasmine with red eyes: "The scar is gone, but it still hurts, right?"
Jasmine shook her head: "I don't feel anything anymore."
"I don't believe it."
Jasmine also wanted to cry.
The eldest young master's wife said: "But there is one thing I don't understand. If they threw you away, how come they only burned you and didn't burn you to death?"
No one spoke.
Jasmine said, "Maybe you're reluctant to let go?"
The eldest young lady's wife said firmly, "Impossible. If they couldn't bear to part with you, they wouldn't abandon you. A child that young will die anyway, so what difference does it make?"
"The eldest young lady is right."
"I think so too."
Jasmine didn't say anything else.
The eldest young lady's wife tactfully dropped the subject. Instead, she continued, "You don't have to thank me specifically. As I said, you helped me the most. If you hadn't followed me back and killed so many people, my parents and brothers wouldn't have stopped. Most importantly, you helped me secure a large sum of money!"
It was three years ago. The eldest young lady was short of money and wrote to her family asking for money, but they didn't even reply. She asked Cuizhu to go back again, but they didn't even let her in.
The eldest young lady knew that she was married and shouldn't take anything from the family anymore. But her parents and brothers owed her this.
Although their family could make some money at the beginning, it was just a small family. If it weren't for her planning in the Duke's Mansion, their family would never have been able to do such a big business.
Seeing her down and out, she wanted to cut ties with her. The eldest young lady went to her house to make trouble.
When the eldest young lady asked her why she was helping her, Jasmine said politely, "We are all family." In fact, she felt that the Duke's Mansion could not do without the eldest young lady's family, which was a cash cow.
As the wife of a duke, of course she has to fight for it.
In short, after that incident, the relationship between the two became much more harmonious.
...
"Get lost! This is my last warning. If you come again, I'll kill you!"
The couple tried to enter the city gate again. They had spent all their savings to get here, so how could they bear to give up?
At least they had to get that girl to give them some money for the journey. Once they entered the city gate, they started howling. They were barefoot and weren't afraid of those wearing shoes. I don't believe that stinky girl is really stingy!
However, the gatekeeper had portraits of the two men in his hand, and no matter how dark they painted their faces, the guards could always recognize them at a glance.
The third time, after hearing the gatekeeper’s words, the couple did not dare to go forward.
No matter how much money you have, it's not worth it if you lose your life.
The two of them supported each other and walked away from the city gate. Then they sat in front of a tea stall and started to curse: "The Duke's wife is my biological daughter. How dare my biological daughter disown her biological parents..."
"My daughter, who I carried for ten months and gave birth to, is just like this... Ouch! Who hit me?!"
The woman picked up the purse and realized something was wrong. She opened it and saw a bag of silver bars. The couple looked up at the little girl in front of them in shock.
"My sister asked me to ask you a question. If you tell the truth, this silver will be yours." Liutu said seriously.
The couple nodded repeatedly.
"Ask, just ask, anything is fine."
"My sister asked, where did the scars on her body come from?"
The woman guessed that the sister she was talking about was Qin Baixiang, and said excitedly: "She finally acknowledges us?!"
"Do you still want the silver? Answer me now."
Woman: "That scar really was caused by her falling into a fire pit."
"Then why didn't you burn to death?" Wutu saw the woman hesitate and added seriously, "If you dare to lie, forget your money."
The woman clutched the silver tightly in her arms. Before she could say anything, the man spoke first, "A neighbor's wife just...just happened to see it and picked it up in time. Her mother and I were working at the time..."
Liutu had a wooden face and turned away without waiting for them to finish their words.
The couple looked at each other nervously and found that the girl was missing. They were afraid that the girl would change her mind and look for her, so they looked around, got up and ran in the opposite direction of the city gate.
Jasmine finally felt relieved when she heard what the couple said.
"I knew they did it on purpose. They made me nervous for a long time. Now it's okay. I don't have to have two more burdens."
Jasmine sat in the courtyard for a while before she stood up and said, "You guys go about your business. I have things to do this afternoon. I'm going to rest for a while."
"yes."
...
Manxi was studying with Erpang in the palace, playing with Erpang from time to time, when suddenly she missed her mother.
She had Erpang in the palace and everyone to play with, but her mother was all alone.
Manxi stood up immediately and started clamoring to leave, and no matter how Erpang tried to try to keep her, it was useless.
Manxi said to him, "My mother has been in a bad mood these past two days. I have to go back to be with her. I'll come see you in a couple of days."
When Erpang heard this, he had no choice but to nod in agreement.
On the way back to the Duke's Mansion, Manxi missed her mother. Before the carriage stopped in front of the mansion gate, Manxi jumped out of the carriage and rushed into the mansion like a little leopard. She ignored the servants who greeted her along the way and went straight to the main courtyard.
"mother!"
A voice of "Mom" was heard outside the door, and the next moment the door was pushed open.
Jasmine didn't have time to clean herself up. She turned her back to the door and said, "Mom has something to do. Please wait outside for a while."
"Okay." Manxi answered, but she was very confused in her heart. Whenever her mother saw her, she would welcome her with her arms.
Without wasting any more time, she closed the door and rushed towards her mother.
When Jasmine heard the door close, she thought she had left. When she turned around, she saw the mother and daughter looking at each other.
Manxi looked at his mother's face in disbelief and reached out to hold her face: "Mom, what's wrong with you?"
Jasmine's eyes were red and swollen, and her face was covered with traces of tears. Seeing her daughter's concerned eyes, Jasmine curled her lips and said, "Mom was a little sad just now because my parents don't like me. But I'm also very happy to see you because my child has parents who love him."
Manxi rarely cried. In the past two years, she hadn't cried even when her father punished her by making her stand for a long time. But when she saw her mother, who rarely cried, shed tears, she couldn't help herself.
"Mom's parents are so bad!" Manxi endured it again and again, but couldn't help it anymore: "Mom! Aa ...
Manxi couldn't imagine that her parents didn't love her. When she thought about herself becoming her mother and how pitiful her mother was, she couldn't control herself.
The Duke heard the crying and rushed in, but he didn't say anything. He just walked forward quietly and let the mother and daughter lean on him.
I don’t know how long it took.
The sky darkened. The Duke hadn't ordered the lights to be lit. Manxi had fallen asleep. The Duke carried his daughter to bed.
He turned around and stood quietly beside his wife again.
Jasmine hugged the warm and familiar waist, and her tears still fell silently as she thought of something.
"When I was little, whenever I was unhappy, I would think of my parents. I thought they would be very sad if they saw me being bullied. I thought they must be careless, and that I might have been abducted by human traffickers. I thought they must be looking for me everywhere, and would find me, hug me, comfort me, and then take me away. And then one day they actually showed up."
Tears streamed down his face, soaking half of the Duke's clothes.
"Master, how good would it be if they didn't show up?"
The Duke was silent for a moment.
Jasmine knew he wasn't good with words, so she didn't expect him to say anything. Then she heard him say, "That stubborn boy, you can treat me as your father or mother, okay?"
"Hey..." Jasmine couldn't help laughing when she heard this.
"I'm really good at coaxing people."
Jasmine wiped her tears and snot on her grandfather, looked up, and was stunned.
Her grandfather's eyes were red and sparkling with tears. When he looked at her, tears fell from his eyes.
"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to anyone else."
"good."
"Jian'er is lucky to have met Yan Lang in this life."
"You got it the other way around."
-----------------------
The author has something to say: It’s over, it’s over~
I had originally planned to end the story with the Duke saving Jasmine and the two of them heading off to guard the border, but there was a lot left unsaid. I also wanted to give my daughter a highlight moment.
Jasmine is not a good heroine. She may be selfish, hypocritical and arrogant, but in the author's heart, her daughter is very good! Super good!
It will get better in the future.
I wish all the friends who read this article good academic performance, career and health in the future.
Thank you all for your company and love along the way~
There will be more extra chapters after that.
Also recommend the current novel pre-collection: "I Love Her Very Much" will be published on December 25th
The heroine in "Love Her Very Much" also has many flaws that make people dislike her. She is vain and selfish. She approaches the hero in the beginning just to seduce him, but when she finds out that he is just an ordinary person, she turns around and leaves. But the hero falls in love with her.
(The author mutters: Everyone has their share of dirty deeds. What’s wrong with being vain, greedy, or unreasonable? If you want to be an angel, then be it. No matter what! My daughter is the best!)
Authors' Meeting
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