Chapter 3: A Big Gift
After Jiang Yao and Pei Qian's marriage was settled, Jiang Lan felt relieved.
It was like a rag that had been stuffed into her mouth to disgust her was finally pulled out.
Her top priority now is to take good care of her health.
Bi'er left the house on the grounds that "my mother was sick and I had to go back to take care of her". Then Zhang assigned Qing'er, a second-class maid, to Jiang Lan to be the head maid. Jiang Lan asked Gui'er to learn more from Qing'er, so Gui'er became a good student who was studious and inquisitive. She always followed Qing'er to learn from her.
Qing'er became impatient of being followed and complained to Jiang Lan, asking her to take care of Gui'er. Jiang Lan said that it was a good thing that Gui'er was studious and inquisitive, and encouraged the other three maids to learn more from Qing'er. She took out a jade bracelet as a reward for Qing'er and asked her to teach the four of them more. She also took out some exquisite little gadgets as rewards for Gui'er and the other three, asking them to study hard.
The five people who received the reward got along very harmoniously for some time afterwards, and no one caused any trouble.
Before, she had never put any thought into rewarding or punishing her servants, leaving everything to Bier. Now she also had to learn to spend some time cultivating her confidants.
A few days after the marriage was settled, Jiang Lan was lying on a lounge chair in the yard watching the sunset in the evening.
Jiang Yao came over with her personal maid Hua'er. When she saw Jiang Lan, she apologized first, looking harmless and pitiful.
Jiang Lan lay on the recliner without getting up, watching her performance quietly.
"Second sister, this is all my fault. Don't blame Brother Qian. I also persuaded Brother Qian to marry you before, but love can't be forced. I am sorry, Second sister. If it weren't for me, Brother Qian wouldn't have broken off the engagement with you and let you be laughed at by others."
It turns out he was here to show off and take advantage of someone's misfortune.
After Jiang Yao finished, Jiang Lan said calmly, "Third sister, you haven't wronged me. It's me who doesn't want Pei Qian anymore. Since you like him, then I'll give him to you. There are many handsome and elegant men in the capital, and there are many who are better than him. Why rush into it and marry without even seeing him clearly? You will suffer in the future." At this point, she sincerely thanked Jiang Yao, "Third sister, I should thank you for letting me see clearly before we get married."
Jiang Yao's expression changed again and again. First, she was surprised that Jiang Lan could be so calm. Then she was angry, annoyed, and jealous. The smug winner mentality she had at the beginning was gone. She refused to admit that she was at a disadvantage, so she misinterpreted this calmness as powerlessness. "Second sister, I know you must be very sad. It doesn't matter. You can still see Brother Qian again when I return home in the future."
“…”
Jiang Lan was speechless. Why should she look at him any longer? Wasn’t her eyes dirty enough? . . . .
She was too lazy to say anything more.
Jiang Yao felt that she was speechless and had to admit defeat, so she comforted her in a sarcastic tone with the attitude of a winner, and then left with satisfaction.
Originally, as long as the two of them didn't bother her, she wouldn't bother with them anymore.
But Pei Qian deliberately spread rumors, confusing right and wrong, and put the blame on her, saying that she was shameless and had an affair with the servants in the mansion and was pregnant with a bastard. After the matter was exposed, she still shamelessly cried and begged to marry him. It was really a daydream and wishful thinking. A shameless woman like her should be cut into pieces and sent to the eighteenth level of hell.
Since people say she is shameless, she will let these people see what shamelessness means.
Until the day of her wedding, Jiang Lan acted very calm, as if she didn't care at all about the rumors from the outside world. Jiang Cheng also came to persuade her to be innocent and not to pay attention to the gossip outside, but he also told her not to go out these days and wait until the storm has passed.
When the storm died down, people had new topics to talk about, but her reputation could never be restored. Spreading rumors and maliciously destroying a girl's reputation was tantamount to forcing her to death.
She is said to be shameless, then let's see who is shameless.
On the wedding day, Jiang Lan stayed quietly in her yard embroidering. When the groom arrived, she said she was sleepy and went to her room to rest.
After a while, Guier ran back excitedly and told Qinger that everyone at the gate was scrambling for the wedding money, and asked her to go quickly, otherwise there would be none left if she was late.
Qing'er originally wanted to join in the fun at the gate, but Zhang had instructed in advance to keep a close eye on Jiang Lan and not let her cause trouble at the wedding. However, Qing'er saw that Jiang Lan had been quietly embroidering and reading these days, not taking the things outside to heart, and she was resting now, so she thought she would not cause trouble. It would not be a big deal for her to go and watch the fun, so she went with Gui'er.
After the bride left and got into the sedan chair, Gui'er took Qing'er to the street to watch the excitement for a while. After they came back, Qing'er asked if Jiang Lan had woken up. The little maid Lu'er said that she woke up once, felt a little headache, and went back to sleep after drinking a cup of calming tea.
Qing'er thought that since the bride had gone out, nothing would happen, so she went to meet Xi'er and the others without worry.
On this side, after the wedding procession returned to the Duke's Mansion, the handsome groom in a bright red wedding suit led the beautiful bride in a phoenix coronet and bridal robe. Under the gaze of everyone, they bowed to heaven and earth, then to their parents, and then the couple bowed to each other.
Just after the third bow, a loud voice suddenly attracted the attention of everyone present.
"Wait a minute, I have a big gift for the two newlyweds."
Amidst everyone's astonished and curious gazes, Jiang Lan calmly walked in holding a wedding tray.
When Jiang Yao heard Jiang Lan's voice, her face, which was covered by the round fan, was filled with shock, and her body trembled with fear.
Pei Qian stared at Jiang Lan's face intently. Shock and confusion quickly gave way to hatred. He asked gloomily and viciously, like a wolf baring its fangs, "What are you doing here?"
Jiang Lan smiled, which made Pei Qian slightly stunned. He had never seen her smile before, and she smiled at him so calmly without a trace of timidity. She seemed like a completely different person from her usual wooden appearance.
He suddenly hoped that she had come here to make a big fuss. If she knelt down and begged him with tears, he would change his mind and perhaps consider taking her into his house.
Thinking of the scene of her kneeling and begging him, he couldn't help feeling proud, and his eyes lingered on her face. It was a face of beauty, but because of her illness and thinness, it lost some of its color. Now, with her smile, the color returned.
Glancing at the smug look in Pei Qian's eyes, Jiang Lan sneered. A dog will always eat shit. Did he think she was here to steal the bride? He was dreaming.
"Mr. Pei, look here! I have prepared a great gift for you." She picked up the handkerchief on the plate and suddenly shook it open.
Everyone was in an uproar, and the sound of whispering suddenly became like a boiling pot.
There was a dark red mark on the handkerchief.
The blood on the handkerchief did not mean that Jiang Yao was still a virgin. After the two men fooled around in her bed that night, Jiang Yao did not have any period. Only then did she realize that the two men had been having an affair for a long time.
Seeing the bloodstained handkerchief, Jiang Yao screamed in shock and fainted.
Everyone present looked like they were enjoying a good show. This wedding scene was even more exciting than the opera performances in the Peking Opera Theater. It was truly worth the trip.
"I'm afraid you two may have left something important behind on your wedding night. I've specially returned it to you today. I wish you two a long and happy marriage."
Hearing the ridicule around him, Pei Qian's face turned ashen, and he looked like he wanted to eat someone. He stared at Jiang Lan fiercely and roared, "I will kill you!" He pounced on Jiang Lan like a wolf and tried to strangle her to death. He reached out a hand to grab her wrist and pulled her behind him, while a folding fan blocked Pei Qian's way.
"The bride has fainted. Second Young Master, you should go and see that beautiful bride first."
When Jiang Lan heard the voice, she felt like she had fallen into an ice cave and her whole body was cold. Even if the other person didn't turn his head, she recognized his fan.
That unique bone fan.
Made from the most beautiful dead body bones he personally selected, it was an ornament carved to the utmost exquisiteness and the utmost perversion.
She couldn't let herself be caught by this madman again.
run!
She struggled to break free from his thin, cold hands and fled.
Those beautiful and charming peach blossom eyes looked at her escaping back, with a playful smile on the corner of his mouth.
"How could she have run away instead of me when there were so many girls in the capital who wanted to hold my hand?" Qi Wuhan said with interest, shaking the beautiful bone fan.
Ling Feng replied solemnly from behind him: "Perhaps it was the Marquis's shamelessness that frightened the girl."
Qi Wuhan waved his fan and said confidently, "She must be shy."
Ling Feng said, "If the Marquis says so, then so be it."
Jiang Lan ran three miles in one breath and leaned against the wall. Without even catching her breath, she quickly looked back. Did that madman not catch up with her?
No, that’s great.
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