Chapter 10: Turning Away
As soon as Doctor Liu arrived on the street, he was stopped by someone.
"My lord invites you." Ling Feng stood in front of Doctor Liu and made a gesture of invitation. His face was expressionless, and he looked inhuman and intimidating. He also held a sword in his hand, which frightened Doctor Liu so much that he dared not disobey.
After entering the teahouse opposite, Doctor Liu met the Marquis Ling Feng mentioned, Qi Wuhan, in the private room on the second floor.
Since their last meeting, Qi Wuhan stopped harassing Jiang Lan and instead secretly had someone keep an eye on every move in the Shangshu Mansion.
"What were you doing at the Shangshu Mansion?" Qi Wuhan was holding a cup of tea, supporting his head with one hand, looking lazy, with his eyes half drooped, looking lazily at Doctor Liu who was kneeling on the ground.
"My Lord," Divine Doctor Liu replied with a look of deep trepidation, "I am going to see a young lady in the mansion."
"What's the disease? Tell me about it." Qi Wuhan said casually.
Divine Doctor Liu replied after careful consideration, "That young lady is just a little weak. Girls tend to be weaker after all. She just needs to be properly cared for."
Qi Wuhan put the teacup on the table without saying anything, still looking lazy, but the atmosphere in the room suddenly became quiet, filled with an invisible sense of oppression.
Doctor Liu knelt on the ground, his head buried lower and lower, cold sweat on his forehead. He mustered up the courage to raise his head, and just met Qi Wuhan's half-drooped peach blossom eyes. The half-covered pupils were emitting a faint cold light, like a knife. He was so scared that he immediately lowered his head and never dared to look up again.
Beads of sweat were oozing out of Doctor Liu's forehead. He had no choice but to raise his sleeve to wipe them away, fearing that the sweat would fall and stain the floor.
"Go down."
Receiving the grace of these three words, Doctor Liu felt as if he had been pardoned. He immediately took his leave and left with Ling Feng.
After Ling Feng came back, Qi Wuhan asked, "Is the medicine house open?"
Ling Feng shook his head.
"Send a message to Ye Rushui and ask him to come back immediately." Even though he used such urgent words as "immediately", Qi Wuhan's tone was still nonchalant, as if he could leisurely drink a cup of tea even if the sky was falling.
"My Lord, have you forgotten what Young Master Ye said before he left? Even if you are about to die, don't look for him before he comes back." Ling Feng replied.
"Then send a message saying that I am dying soon. If he doesn't come back, I will sell his medicine house." Qi Wuhan said confidently.
"My Lord, if you sell the medicine house, Young Master Ye will probably fight you to the death when he comes back." Ling Feng replied.
"Then tell him to get back to me as soon as possible." Qi Wuhan cursed calmly, which sounded particularly elegant.
Ling Feng bowed in response and went to send someone to deliver the message.
Because General Cui's mansion was going to hold a wedding, Jiang Lan's house arrest ended early.
Old Madam Cui is celebrating her 60th birthday this year, and her daughter-in-law, Princess Pingyang, has decided to hold a grand celebration. Princess Pingyang is the cousin of the current queen, her husband is a renowned general, and her father is a founding hero. Looking across the capital, apart from the queen and Concubine Xu who gave birth to two princes, no one can compare to the honor of this general's wife. Even the concubines in the palace have to be polite to her when they see her, and the ladies who receive invitations feel proud.
Mrs. Zhang, the wife of the Shangshu, also received an invitation, and the invitation also invited the second lady Jiang Lan.
The guests at the birthday party must be children of noble families, maybe even a prince. Zhang didn't want Jiang Lan to take advantage of the situation and climb up the social ladder, so she discussed with Jiang Cheng that Jiang Lan was in poor health and asked her to stay at home to recuperate, so as not to go to the general's mansion and cause gossip.
Jiang Cheng thought about it and felt that it would be bad not to go. It would make him look like a guilty thief. He couldn't stay at home and not see anyone for the rest of his life. Besides, it had been a while since the incident happened, so he should look forward to it.
Seeing that Jiang Cheng had made up his mind, Zhang didn't say anything more.
After dinner, Jiang Cheng went to visit Jiang Lan again and gave her some advice. First, she should be generous and decent at the birthday banquet so as not to make people laugh at her. Second, she should never make Princess Pingyang unhappy. If she could win the princess's favor, the gossip about her would naturally disappear.
As long as Princess Pingyang praises her, she will be recognized as a good girl in the capital and will have no worries about marrying into a good family.
Jiang Lan heard this meaning from her father's words.
She knew that her reputation had long been ruined, and she didn't expect the princess to praise her. She just hoped that she wouldn't believe the rumors and deliberately make things difficult for her.
On the birthday, Jiang Cheng took his family to the general's mansion to celebrate.
When leaving the house, Zhang noticed that Jiang Lan looked better than before, so she quietly called Qing'er to ask about it. Qing'er said that it was because she had put on makeup, and her complexion looked better, but in fact it was still the same. Zhang did not pursue the matter any further. After all, one had to dress decently when attending a banquet.
When they were almost outside the general's mansion, Jiang Lan pulled aside the curtain and looked forward, just in time to see the carriage of Duke Pei's mansion parked at the door. When she saw the people in the carriage get out, she lowered the curtain.
Duke Pei and his wife, Pei Yu and his wife, Pei Qian and Jiang Yao got off the three carriages one after another.
After getting off the carriage, Pei Qian also saw the carriage from the Shangshu Mansion. His eyes fell on the carriage behind and he knew that Jiang Lan was sitting inside.
Duke Pei snorted coldly, and without waiting for his relatives to come over and exchange greetings, he took his wife and entered the general's mansion first.
Jiang Yao lowered her head in shame and cursed Jiang Lan again in her heart. If it weren't for her, her current situation wouldn't be so embarrassing.
"Second brother," Pei Yu reminded Pei Qian when he saw him still looking at the carriage, "Let's go in first."
When the Shangshu Mansion's carriage arrived at the door, Duke Pei and his family had already gone in.
After Zhang got off the previous carriage, Qing'er called her "Miss", and then Jiang Lan pulled open the curtain and got off the carriage with Qing'er's hand.
Just then, another carriage came along, accompanied by the light and ethereal sound of copper bells.
When Jiang Cheng saw Marquis Jin'an arrive, he was about to take his family in to avoid meeting him, but he was still a step too late.
"Lord Jiang." Qi Wuhan lifted the curtain with the bone fan in his hand and shouted.
Jiang Cheng couldn't pretend he didn't hear, so he had to go up to him and greet him. Jiang Rui also followed him and bowed to greet him, looking like he was trying to please him.
Qi Wuhan raised his fan to let the two of them excuse themselves. When he got off the carriage, his beautiful and charming peach blossom eyes smiled brightly in the direction of Jiang Lan. Jiang Lan turned her face away, pretending not to see anything.
"When is Lord Jiang free? I would like to ask for another cup of tea." Qi Wuhan said as he walked towards Jiang Lan, waving a fan. His eyes searched her face and found that she looked better than a few days ago.
Jiang Lan subconsciously took a step back, trying to stay away from him.
"The Marquis can come anytime he wants." Before Jiang Cheng could speak, Jiang Rui answered first. After being reprimanded by Jiang Cheng, he shrank his head and hid behind Zhang.
"Hello." Zhang was halfway through her greeting when Qi Wuhan started talking to Jiang Lan. Zhang awkwardly withdrew her greeting.
"It has been a long time since we last met, and I haven't seen the Second Young Lady."
As soon as these words were spoken, several pairs of eyes were fixed on Jiang Lan.
Jiang Cheng was wondering when the two had met, while Zhang secretly cursed Jiang Lan for being shameless and hooking up with Marquis Jin'an so quickly.
Qing'er and Gui'er were nervous, fearing that the last incident would be revealed by this outspoken marquis.
"Your Majesty, you are joking." Jiang Lan bowed politely, using a nonchalant attitude to prove that the two of them were really not familiar with each other.
Qi Wuhan said playfully, "The Second Miss is really ungrateful."
“…”
It's as if there's something between the two of them.
Jiang Lan took a deep breath silently, maintaining a calm expression on her face, without giving any response, letting him sing his one-man show to his heart's content.
"My Lord, I think we should go in first." Jiang Cheng tried to smooth things over, fearing that this playboy would get entangled with his daughter and cause another romantic affair.
After entering the mansion, a group of people came up to Qi Wuhan to curry favor with him. He said a few words to one of the adults, and the other party left in disgrace. The others also left in embarrassment, fearing that their shortcomings would be exposed in public.
Jiang Cheng told Jiang Lan to stay away from Marquis Jin'an. Jiang Lan obeyed obediently and followed Zhang to pay a visit to Princess Pingyang.
"A blessing in disguise." Qi Wuhan walked over, fanning himself, and said intriguingly, "This Marquis is a few years older than the Second Miss, and he's still unmarried. This shows that marriage is destined, and when the time comes, it will naturally fall into place."
Jiang Cheng found it a bit strange that this Marquis Jin'an could actually be reasonable...
"Isn't that the Duke? Why doesn't Lord Jiang go over and say hello?"
As expected, it’s still the Marquis of Jin’an who likes to watch the fun and not mind getting involved.
After all, they were relatives, so Jiang Cheng took the initiative to go over and greet Duke Pei, who also greeted him with a smile. The two of them managed to save face in front of outsiders.
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