"Indeed, the woman covered her face with her hands and hurried past, no doubt out of embarrassment. Miss Jiang Yuyao is as beautiful as a flower, and her face is radiant. How could she be ashamed to appear in public?"
"Miss Jiang Yuyao is so elegant and dignified, with both talent and beauty. If not for her background, she could have become the Fourth Prince's principal wife. Her every move is honed under the careful guidance of the palace maids. How could she have the slightest vulgarity?"
Xinyi Zigu originally thought that the woman was quite similar to Jiang Yuyao, but now, listening to everyone's praise, he couldn't help but doubt his previous judgment.
Ever since Jiang Yuyao deceived him and framed Jiang Songyi, he had harbored a grudge against her and had not seen her for a long time. Now, listening to everyone's praise for Jiang Yuyao, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic for her.
This peerless beauty, who is both talented and beautiful and is highly admired, is his concubine.
Zhang Dingqian observed the whispers around him coldly, a sly malice curling up his lips as he taunted, "The Yongding Marquis's Mansion isn't just home to Miss Yuyao. I heard that the Jiaqing County Lady, Jiang Songyi, grew up in the wilderness, uneducated and uncultured. Her behavior is somewhat uncouth, which is understandable."
His hatred for the Yongding Marquisate was like a raging fire. They had forced him into infamy, and now that they had fallen out, he naturally would not miss any opportunity to tarnish the reputation of the Yongding Marquisate.
Especially the young Jiaqing County Lady Jiang Songyi, who was just a young man with little experience in the world, dared to humiliate his mother. His mother, a distinguished wife of the Imperial Censor, actually suffered the humiliation of the eunuch because of that woman.
Although Zhang Dingqian has been unpopular recently and many people have distanced themselves from him, when he said this, no one dared to refute him for a while.
Yao Zhe crossed his arms, his heroic brows raised slightly, and he retorted: "According to this statement, the rudeness and impertinence of the children of the Yongding Marquis Mansion seems to have become commonplace."
Yuan Tong had met Jiang Songyi once before; she had once given him wild geese to try, and he had a very good impression of her. So he turned to Jiang Jinzhao and asked, puzzled, "Master Jiang, was that delicate, graceful woman just now really Princess Jiaqing? I don't think she is. Princess Jiaqing is a skilled archer, and her beauty is as gorgeous as a peony. How could she be so ashamed to see others?"
Jiang Jinzhao's brows were set in a cold expression. He heard Yao Zhe's sneer mingled with the morning mist: "I heard that Princess Jiaqing changed her carriage again yesterday?"
The soft sword on Jiang Baichuan's wrist popped out three inches with a "clang". The cat's eye stone inlaid on the hilt reflected Yao Zhe's sarcastic face: "The bastard of the Zhang family is rotting in the mud, but he has the nerve to cling to the Marquis' Mansion?" The sword tip brushed past Yao Zhe's neck and cut off a strand of hair.
Yao Zhe grabbed Jiang Baichuan's wrist with his backhand, and the black iron wrist guard flew sparks: "Is that all you can do?" He exerted force suddenly, and Jiang Baichuan was thrown off the horse, and the soft sword hit the hitching post.
"Young General Yao is so impressive." Jiang Jinzhao dismounted, his moon-white brocade robe sweeping across the ice crystals on the ground. "Using force against a civil official only makes your father look so heroic when he slew the enemy on the battlefield."
Yao Zhe's pupils suddenly constricted. His father had been impeached by the censor for cowardice on the battlefield, and it was the memorial submitted by the Marquis of Yongding.
"Stop it." The Fourth Prince, Xinyi Zigu, stood in the middle, his sable cloak sweeping across the two men on the verge of a fight. "It's just about a carriage—"
"That's the Qing-curtain carriage purchased by the Marquis' Mansion!" Jiang Baichuan jumped up and down, clutching his bruised wrist. "My sister's imperial carriage has an eight-treasure glazed roof. Only a blind man couldn't tell the difference!"
Yao Zhe suddenly leaned over and picked up the soft sword. The tip of the sword lifted the jade pendant from Jiang Baichuan's waist. "Second Young Master Jiang, you didn't take the joke Princess Ziyan said at the Qionghua Banquet last month seriously, did you?" The jade pendant's tassel wrapped around the sword's tip. "For example, something like keeping a lover?"
"You're looking for death!" Jiang Baichuan grabbed the whip and swung it, but Jiang Jinzhao grabbed the tip. The mutton-fat jade ring cracked, and blood seeped into the gold wire wrapped around the whip handle.
Xinyi Zigu frowned at the brothers. The three sons of the Yongding Marquisate, the eldest was dignified and upright, the second was a dandy and absurd, and the youngest was a master of martial arts… He recalled the day Jiang Yihuan left the capital, the silver spear piercing the eastern pearl from his crown with such ferocity that his throat tightened.
"Why don't we go and take a look?" He suddenly turned his horse's head. "If she is indeed the county princess, I can ask her if the Dongzhu crown given by my father is suitable."
Yao Zhe was the first to rush out on horseback, his iron hooves crushing the remaining snow on the side of the road.
Jiang Jinzhao looked at the curtains swaying in the distance - the style of the carriage seemed to be exclusive to the Yongding Marquis Mansion.
The brothers Jiang Jinzhao and Jiang Baichuan met each other's eyes, reached a tacit understanding in an instant, and immediately stepped forward to intercept.
The people around followed suit, thinking to themselves that if this matter was indeed related to the newly conferred Princess Jiaqing, it would be truly fascinating and worth a look.
Su Sheng's hand, gripping the whip, was sweating profusely. The mauve figure in front of him looked more and more like Jiang Songyi. If it was really that living devil...
He shuddered suddenly, and the scene of the third princess having her head shaved and sent to a nunnery some time ago came to his mind again.
"Can Brother Su's peonies be more valuable than those of Princess Jiaqing?" The young man in the blue robe kicked the horse's belly, "Gee!"
Jiang Yuyao listened to the thundering clatter of horse hooves behind her, her embroidered shoes nearly scuffing the hem of her skirt. The pearl hairpin she had deliberately worn askew scratched her cheek, but she ignored the pain and ran towards the carriage, her tea-stained skirt in hand.
Liao Xianxian chased after her and shouted, "Yuyao, slow down!"
"Get out of the way!" Jiang Yuyao pushed away Yu Chuwei who was blocking the way.
Yu Chuwei grabbed her shawl with her backhand, "Why are you running, Second Miss Jiang?" She smelled the sour smell on her clothes and sneered, covering her nose with her handkerchief, "Did you sneak in and eat the food?"
Jiang Yuyao dug her nails into her palms.
The Fourth Prince and his companions were chatting and laughing so close that she could even hear the jingle of her second brother's silver spurs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Liao Xianxian huddled behind the shaft of the carriage, her face swollen and covered in finger marks.
"Miss Yu, be careful with your words." She pulled back her scarf. "My brother hates to see me being wronged."
Yu Chuwei raised her foot and stepped on the hem of her skirt: "Then please ask General Jiang to judge..." She suddenly raised her voice, "Everyone, come and look! Did someone overturn the swill bucket?"
Jiang Yuyao grabbed Yu Chuwei's fallen horse bun with her backhand, and the golden hairpin fell off. Yu Chuwei let go of her hand in pain, but saw Jiang Yuyao had already climbed onto the shaft of the cart. She immediately rushed over and pulled at her belt: "Want to run?"
"Liao Xianxian!" Jiang Yuyao turned around and shouted.
Liao Xianxian stepped forward tremblingly, but was pushed down by Yu Chuwei.
The jade-inlaid belt snapped, and Jiang Yuyao's outer garment unraveled, revealing her rouge-stained, snow-blue bellyband. Yu Chuwei burst into laughter, "So Miss Jiang is so eager to see her lover!"
The sound of horse hooves stopped abruptly.
When Yao Zhe threw off his horse's stirrup, his boots crushed half of a dead branch on the side of the road.
He folded his arms and sneered at the two men wrestling together: "The daughter of the Yongding Marquisate making a scene in the street is more entertaining than the acrobatics in the West Market."
Jiang Yuyao clenched Yu Chuwei's jade necklace with her fingertips, and with her back to the crowd, she covered her face tightly with a handkerchief embroidered with gold thread.
Yu Chuwei's hair was disheveled, and her gold and jade hairpin had been thrown away somewhere. At this moment, Yao Zhe called her a "shrew", and she was so angry that she was shaking all over.
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