Chapter 125: As for Cui Lingyan, she was left with only jealousy and envy...
Qi had only one nephew, Qi Shaozhang, but Lu Bingzhi did not go to the Qi residence in person for his nephew's wedding. Instead, he only asked Cui Lingyan to come. Not only did his mother, Mrs. Wu, lose face, but she, as the mother-in-law, also lost face.
Hearing Old Lady Wu's question, Qi's face showed a hint of embarrassment. She sighed softly and said, "The Crown Prince is of noble status, so he must have his own ideas."
This tacitly acknowledged that Lu Bingzhi, the Prince of Weiguo, looked down on his relatives, the Qi family. Old Madam Wu was furious and even wanted to summon her granddaughter, Cui Lingyan, to question her, asking how it was that she, as a wife, couldn't even win over the prince. Hadn't people outside been saying how much Lu Bingzhi valued and cherished Cui Lingyan as his wife? With such respectability, how could he not even give the Qi family a little bit of face?
After all, the Qi family was kind enough to educate Cui Lingyan, and the prince couldn't act like this even for Yan's sake.
In front of the packed room, no matter how upset Madam Wu was, she couldn't show it. But everyone present was shrewd, and some had already noticed that Lu Bingzhi, the Duke of Wei's son, hadn't arrived. For a moment, everyone, without saying it, secretly looked down on the Qi family.
Indeed, the Qi family was a small and insignificant family, and even being related to the Ningshou Marquisate didn't change anything. The woman he had married was just a disgraced concubine from the second branch of the Marquisate. The only thing that made them wary was that the Marquisate also had Cui Lingyan, the Crown Prince's wife.
But everyone in the capital city knew that there had been a grudge between these two cousins for a long time, and Cui Lingyan did not grow up in the capital city. Even if they really put aside their past grudges, how much affection could there be?
If Cui Lingyan was willing to say more good things about the Qi family in front of the prince, the prince might be more humble.
Some people were more thoughtful and recalled the rumors between Cui Lingyan and today's groom Qi Shaozhang. They wondered if the prince had some dislike for Qi Shaozhang because of the previous incident, so that's why he didn't come.
If it is for this reason, it is really difficult to persuade Cui Lingyan as his wife.
Everyone had their own thoughts. After waiting for a long time for the guests to leave, Cui Lingyan went to the upper room to say goodbye to Old Madam Wu.
At this moment, there was no one around. Old Madam Wu had been feeling depressed for a long time, but she couldn't help but ask, "I heard that the prince accompanied you to the Ningshou Marquis' Mansion this morning. Then why didn't he accompany you to the Qi family to attend your cousin's wedding? It can't be that the prince just happened to have something important to do and called you away after you left the Ningshou Marquis' Mansion, right?"
Old Lady Wu almost asked Cui Lingyan directly whether Lu Bingzhi, her grandson-in-law, looked down on the Qi family as a relative and felt that entering the Qi family would lower his status.
Mrs. Wu spoke so directly, without any euphemism. For a moment, the room fell silent. The atmosphere, which had been joyous due to the wedding, suddenly became a little tense.
Zhan also felt that without Lu Bingzhi, the marriage was not going to go well, and the Qi family would be looked down upon. If word got out, her son would also be looked down upon in the Imperial College.
But now that things have come to this, she doesn't want her mother-in-law to speak so bluntly and completely offend her.
Therefore, Zhan spoke up to defend Cui Lingyan, saying, "Mother, what are you talking about? The Crown Prince, with his status, is naturally much busier than the rest of us. Let alone something going on at the Duke's Mansion, perhaps the Emperor or the Empress Dowager summoned him. With just one word, they could be sent out of the palace, and the Crown Prince would come in. The Crown Prince values Yan as his wife, so why would he deliberately make an excuse not to come?"
Old Madam Wu was furious at the moment, so how could she accept Zhan's offer? She glared at Cui Lingyan standing there, and said with a hint of dissatisfaction, "If, as you say, the prince values Yan as his wife, then he should remember the kindness the Qi family showed her in raising Yan. Even if he has something else to do, he should at least come to the Qi residence. It's better than just not coming here without saying a word and only going to the Ningshou Marquis' residence."
"Yan girl, tell me yourself, is it because the prince didn't care about the reputation of the Qi family? When you married the prince, he should have called me grandmother. If that's the case, why did he act like this when Shaozhang got married?"
When Cui Lingyan heard the old lady say this, she suddenly chuckled.
Her smile made the atmosphere even more tense. Qi frowned and was about to open her mouth to scold her when Cui Lingyan said, "Grandma, I disagree with what you said. I'm marrying up into the Duke of Wei's mansion. Even if I can gain the respect and dignity of the Crown Prince, I must not forget the difference between our two families. You also said that the Crown Prince is of noble status. He is the son of Princess Shuning, not an ordinary young man from a noble family. You want him to consider the reputation of the Qi family in everything for the sake of me, your wife. I can only say that you think too highly of me and the Qi family."
"Not to mention, when my cousin's wife started all those rumors, the prince was already very generous by not suspecting my cousin Shaozhang and me. If he came in person today, wouldn't the guests think of those rumors, even if they didn't say them out loud, wouldn't they think of them in their hearts?"
"Grandmother, do you think it's a shame that Cousin Shaozhang's wedding date was discussed and arranged like that at the banquet?"
Cui Lingyan's words almost tore Madam Wu's face apart, and made her face turn blue and red. She couldn't even utter a word of defense.
Qi said in a deep voice, "Yan girl, you are the younger generation after all. Today is your cousin's wedding day. If you make your grandmother angry and something bad happens to her, can you bear it?"
Cui Lingyan said, "Yan'er naturally can't bear this, so please mother, comfort Grandmother on Yan'er's behalf. Yan'er will take her leave now."
After Cui Lingyan said this, she bowed to the two of them, then turned around and left with Birou.
Seeing her leave the room like this, Old Lady Wu was so angry that she picked up the teacup on the table and wanted to throw it to the ground. However, she thought that today was her grandson's wedding day, and smashing things like that would be unlucky. She could only restrain her actions and sighed heavily, "Little Yan has really grown arrogant. Not only does she not take you, her mother, seriously, she even looks down on me, her grandmother who raised her since she was a child."
"I finally understand. It's not the prince who looks down on the Qi family, it's clearly Yan who looks down on the Qi family. Since she, as his wife, is like this, the prince will see it and naturally look down on the Qi family even more."
"I thought that since the Qi family had raised her, she would be able to help the Qi family and her cousin Shao Zhang now that she was in power. Who could have imagined that she was so unreliable and wanted to stay away from our Qi family?"
Madam Wu drank a few sips of warm tea before turning to Madam Qi and saying, "When Qiu Zhi's affairs are settled in a few days and she shares Yan's favor, I wonder if that girl will still be so arrogant!"
Zhan's heart skipped a beat, and she waved her hand to ask the two maids serving in the room to leave.
Seeing her behavior, Old Madam Wu said with a hint of disdain, "What are you afraid of? Didn't Miss Yan also say that the Crown Prince's status is noble, not comparable to the ordinary young masters of the noble families in the capital. Which young master has only one wife in the backyard? He must have other concubines to serve him. In this case, Miss Yan shouldn't be jealous. She always has times when she is not well, and she always has to think about the Crown Prince. She was raised by our Qi family, and as an elder, I have thought of things for her that she couldn't think of. How can she blame me?"
After hearing what her mother-in-law said, Zhan felt really powerless. She always felt that a good marriage was ruined because of her mother-in-law's behavior, which made people feel unlucky. So she found an excuse and took her daughter Qi Ruorou away.
After leaving the courtyard, Zhan sighed heavily and said, "Your grandmother is getting more and more confused as she gets older. Even if she's unhappy, she shouldn't have asked directly. What good would it do to offend Yan girl by tearing her face like this? If those words were to get to Lu Bingzhi's ears, who knows how he would look down on our Qi family and even implicate Yan girl."
"I've heard her praise of my upbringing so often that my ears are callused. We've offset that with what your sister-in-law did before, but if something serious were to happen and I had to ask for help from Miss Yan, would Miss Yan really not help me? Your grandmother's behavior is what makes people feel unhappy and resentful. You say people are getting older, why aren't they as sensible as they used to be?"
Qi Ruorou also heard what her grandmother said when she mentioned Qiu Zhi, and couldn't help but ask: "Mother, do grandma and aunt really intend to call that Qiu Zhi..."
She didn't finish her words, but her meaning was clear.
Zhan nodded and sighed, "Your grandmother and aunt both think Yan has grown too powerful, which is why she's changed her ways. If someone were to share her favor, she'd understand her own worth and wouldn't dare to look down on the Qi family and your aunt like this."
"Although I also feel that Yan's temper is a bit overwhelming now, her status has changed. How can she be as humble and cautious as before? But your grandmother just can't understand it, and your aunt has always been a person of incalculable decisions. After your grandmother's words, she listened and tacitly agreed to let Qiu Zhi attach herself to Lu Bingzhi."
"I'm worried about what might happen, but I can't persuade him."
Qi Ruorou listened to these words, took a deep breath, and couldn't tell what she felt in her heart.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't jealous of Cui Lingyan's current status. After all, while she and Cui Lingyan had gotten along well at the Qi family, even though Cui Lingyan was a legitimate daughter of the Ningshou Marquis's mansion, she was still living under someone else's roof, sometimes even having to please and consider the Qi family's moods. Back then, while she was jealous of Cui Lingyan's status, she also felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction, feeling that she was superior to her.
But since Cui Lingyan came to the capital and married Lu Bingzhi to become the wife of the Prince of Weiguo, everything changed. She was left with only jealousy and envy towards Cui Lingyan.
Although being on good terms with Cui Lingyan would allow her to help the Qi family and benefit her brother and sister-in-law, she was secretly jealous. Thinking that the maid Qiu Zhi would one day become Lu Bingzhi's concubine, destroying Cui Lingyan's current beauty and dignity, Qi Ruorou felt as if even thinking of that scene brought back the familiar pleasure she had when she was at the Qi family.
She quickly shook her head, suppressing her emotions, and said, "Grandmother and Aunt have made up their minds, and Mother can't dissuade them. Grandmother is right. A prince of that status can't be without concubines. How can a girl raised by our Qi family be known for being jealous and intolerant?"
......
The carriage stopped in front of the Duke of Wei's mansion.
As soon as Cui Lingyan entered the hanging flower gate, she felt that the looks given to her by the maids and old women were a little strange, and the atmosphere in the mansion was also a little weird.
She frowned, called a maid to her, and asked, "What happened in the mansion?"
The maid hesitated for a moment before speaking in reply, "Young Madam, the prince returned home this afternoon and went straight to Wutong Courtyard to read. He felt thirsty and asked for tea. Unexpectedly, the young madam's maid, Miss Qiuzhi, came into the room and shamelessly seduced the prince. The prince was furious and immediately ordered someone to come in and beat Qiuzhi with thirty sticks. He also called in a human trafficker to sell her off."
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