Chapter 218 Frame-up
Jiang Ruolin felt like a nobody in her husband's family, so she just settled down in Jiang's family.
When Yao learned about this, she rushed into her yard and started scolding her.
"How can a married daughter always stay at her parents' house? If it gets out, people will laugh at you. Knowing this will make you feel wronged, but as a daughter-in-law in her husband's family, how can she not feel wronged?"
The handkerchief in Jiang Rulin's hand was twisted and deformed. When she raised her eyes, they were already covered with a layer of red. "Even the grievances we suffer have different degrees of severity! In the Wei family, my sisters-in-law stepped on me, my mother-in-law looked at me coldly, and Wei Mingzhen treated me like a worn-out shoe. Even in such a life, my mother also expects me to endure it?"
Yao was choked by her question, then she tried to persuade him, "Every family has gone through this. Just bear with it and it will pass. If you really anger the Wei family, what will you do in the future?"
"At worst, I won't go back!" Jiang Rulin said, "It's better than just living like a living dead over there. Mother only knows how to criticize me. Why doesn't she think about this: if I could really make a living in the Wei family, why would I come back and endure all this criticism from you?"
Yao's face turned pale from being blocked. She wanted to say some more words of persuasion, but just as she opened her mouth, Jiang Rulin suddenly stood up.
"You'd better stop talking. All you have to say is clichés! Jiang Rufei is away from home all day, and you don't say a word. It would be wrong for me to just go back to my parents' home."
Yao was startled by her yelling, and then she got angry too. She pointed at her and said, "You little girl, you still talk back when I say something to you!"
Jiang Rulin was so angry that she was shaking all over and turned around and walked out.
Yao called out from behind, "It's getting dark, where are you going?"
Jiang Rulin felt very upset and didn't want to pay any attention to him. The maid hurriedly chased after him with a lantern.
She can no longer stay in the Wei family, and now her parents' family won't tolerate her either. The man she once wanted to marry now makes her feel that her life is filled with misery. How can she be happy at all?
As they walked, they arrived near the west wing where Jiang Rufei lived.
Jiang Rulin paused and walked towards Jiang Rufei's yard as if possessed by a ghost.
The gate was closed and opened with a gentle push.
Out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to catch a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing by in the corridor, so fast that it seemed like an illusion.
Jiang Rulin's heart skipped a beat, and she asked the maid beside her, "Did you see anything flash by just now?"
The maid followed her gaze and saw only a few pots of green plants in the empty corridor. She shook her head and said, "No, Madam."
Jiang Rulin frowned and looked twice more. She really didn't see anything. She thought she was dazzled, snorted, and walked inside.
There was not a single lantern lit in the corridor, and the room was pitch black. As soon as the door was opened, a faint smell of dampness mixed with mold hit me in the face.
Jiang Rulin covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, "Even a dog can't stop..."
As the maid lit the oil lamp, the dim light slowly spread, illuminating the scene in the room.
The voice stopped abruptly and Jiang Rulin's eyes suddenly widened.
Is this still Jiang Rufei's room?
This place is completely different from before. It is as exquisite now as it was simple before. The furnishings and ornaments are all exquisite. It is even more decent than her room in the Wei family.
There was a shiny bronze mirror on the dressing table, and several brocade boxes were piled next to it. One of the opened boxes revealed a red gold hairpin inlaid with a ruby, which shone so brightly in the light that it made people dizzy.
The words "even dogs don't live here" seemed to be stuffed back into her throat, making her chest feel stuffy.
Jiang Rulin walked a few steps to the dressing table, picked up the hairpin and put it on her temples in front of the mirror. It looked really beautiful.
She curled her lips, her tone a little sour, "Just put it there casually, aren't you afraid of it being stolen?"
"Who would dare?" the maid said, "Most of her things were gifts from Prince Zhaoning. No one would dare to touch things sent by Prince Zhaoning. Even if someone stole them, no one would dare to take them."
Jiang Rulin paused, feeling even more uncomfortable.
She had some evil thoughts in her mind, but after hearing what the maid said, she no longer dared to take it. She threw the hairpin back to its place and opened the drawer to look through it.
The jewelry inside was even more exquisite than those displayed outside. The jade bracelets, the kingfisher-inlaid hairpins, the pearl earrings... all of them made her jealous. She touched them with her fingertips, but in the end she didn't dare to take them.
As I was flipping through the pages, I suddenly caught sight of a porcelain vase in the corner of the drawer.
The bottle was simple in style, without even any patterns, and it was out of tune with the exquisite jewelry around it.
Jiang Rulin frowned as she picked it up, uncorked the bottle and brought it to her nose to smell. There was a bitter medicinal smell mixed with a faint fragrance, but she couldn't tell what it was.
Jiang Rulin curled her lips, immediately covered the bottle, and threw it back into the drawer with a "pop" sound, and spat, "Maybe it's the dirty thing that Jiang Rufei, that bitch, uses to seduce men."
She couldn't take it, and it made her upset just looking at it, so Jiang Rulin simply closed the drawer and got up to walk out.
The maidservant quickly followed and waited on her all the way out of the yard.
The yard was quiet for a moment, and suddenly a dark shadow appeared under the west wall.
The man entered the room in the dark, walked straight to the dressing table, opened the drawer, and fumbled among the jewelry for a while.
When he touched the plain bottle, he was visibly relieved.
He pushed the bottle deeper into the drawer, carefully sorted out the jewelry around it, and then quietly left.
As the black shadow disappeared outside the courtyard wall, another black shadow floated down from the eaves, his eyes locked on the figure in front, and followed silently on tiptoe.
Two figures merged into the night one after another.
…
The morning mist was about to dissipate, revealing a clear and cold sky, and lead-gray clouds had already filled the sky.
Princess Anping withdrew her gaze from the courtyard, reached out and pulled the half-open window inward, and said, "The weather is getting colder. The New Year is coming to an end next month. It has been many years since I celebrated the New Year in the Princess's Mansion."
Jiang Fei stretched out her hands to warm herself by the fire. She had walked all the way from the gate of the princess's mansion and was shivering all the way. Only then did she realize how cold the weather had become.
She usually stayed with Pei Jing, and the carriage could go directly to the inner courtyard of the palace, and she could walk into the house in just a few steps. She had never felt such cold before, so it seemed that she still needed to get a few down jackets.
Warmth seeped into her palms. Jiang Fei raised her eyes and looked at Princess Anping. "How's the situation between you and Zhang Zheng going? I've only heard some rumors, but they're mostly nonsense."
Princess Anping knew what was being said outside, so she walked over and sat down next to Jiang Fei. "What else can we do? He doesn't agree to the divorce."
"What does it matter whether he agrees or not?" Jiang Fei raised her eyebrows.
Princess Anping laughed softly, not knowing what she was thinking about.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Fei asked.
"You didn't see Zhang Zheng's expression when I went back to move things." Princess Anping leaned closer to the charcoal basin and said, "When he saw me come in, he acted all cocky and proud, and asked me, 'You finally decided to come back?'"
Jiang Fei sneered, "Give him what he wants. Do you think you'll finally give in?"
"I didn't bother to pay attention to him, but he kept pestering me. He even came up to me and pulled my sleeve, saying, 'I'm talking to you, can't you hear me?'"
Princess Anping imitated Zhang Zheng's tone and laughed first. "Then I turned around and glared at him, saying, 'How dare you!' His stunned expression still makes me laugh when I think about it now. And that Concubine Zhou was hiding behind Zhang Zheng the whole time. I asked her to come out and pay her respects, but Zhang Zheng told me not to go too far."
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