Chapter 1: The marriage was interfered with
"Aunt, love is a difficult word to understand. Two hearts are not the same, and they end up being resentful couples. My foolish nephew loves Sister Shu'er and does not want to marry Sister Li. Please grant us your blessing!"
Qiao Jingchuan, dressed in a light blue round-necked Taoist scholar's robe, knelt with his back straight, his handsome face full of determination.
Shi Jianli looked at him coldly, with no expression of joy or anger on his face.
The spring day is far away, the warm wind plays with shadows, and the pear blossoms are flying again. This is the fifth year that Shi Jianli has come to the Duke of Anguo's Mansion.
After losing her father and her mother to illness, Shi Jianli was surrounded by dangers and dangers. At the age of twelve, Shi Jianli fled from Duzhou to Beijing to seek refuge with her aunt, the second master of the Anguo Mansion.
Last autumn, her aunt found a marriage for Shi Jianli. The man was her mother's nephew, named Qiao Jingchuan. Shi Jianli had to call him cousin.
Qiao Jingchuan is twenty years old. He passed the imperial examination last autumn and became a juren. Although his family background is relatively low, he has good knowledge and a promising future. He is a good match for Shi Jianli, an orphan.
After paying the betrothal gifts, asking for the name, and agreeing on the marriage proposal, all that remains is to pay the betrothal gifts in September this year.
However, her marriage was snatched away by her aunt's concubine's daughter.
At this moment, Mingyue Shu, who was trying to snatch the bride, was kneeling with her fiancé in front of the second master's wife, Qiao Ruoying, Shi Jianli's aunt, and expressing her love.
"I am ashamed of my kindness to you, Auntie. I beg you to punish me, but please don't vent your anger on Sister Shu. All my mistakes are my fault!"
Ming Yueshu looked at Qiao Jingchuan with emotion, tears in her eyes. Her voice was mournful as she lowered her head and sobbed, "Mother, I was wrong. I knew that Cousin Qiao was the fiancé you chose for my cousin, but I still couldn't help but cross the line. I'm sorry, cousin, but I will never be separated from Cousin Qiao!"
"Don't blame Cousin Qiao, blame your daughter if you want to blame someone. It's all because of her stupidity. If I can't fly with Cousin Qiao, my daughter will never be happy in her life."
Listening to their words of defending each other and being inseparable, Qiao Ruoying, who had just recovered from an illness, was so angry that her eyes turned black, she staggered back two steps, and almost fell backwards.
Shi Jianli reached out to support her, stroking her back gently, and said in a soothing voice, "Aunt, calm down. Don't get sick from anger. It's not worth it."
Qiao Ruoying looked at Qiao Jingchuan and coldly scolded him, "You have no sense of shame! You're so shameless! You can even seduce your fiancée's cousin. What kind of sage books have you read? Have you even read them to death?!"
"I thought you were a polite person, but I was wrong!"
"Punish you? After all, I'm just your distant aunt. How dare I punish you, Mr. Qiao!"
She pointed at Mingyue Shu and cursed, "Shu'er, you are a noble lady. He has no shame. Don't you care about your reputation? Why are you trying to steal your cousin's marriage?"
"If you don't have a matchmaker, you're a concubine!"
Li'er was the only daughter left by her sister. She had carefully chosen such a marriage for her, but she never expected that this concubine's daughter would interfere!
There was nothing good about having this marriage interfered with, but that didn't stop Qiao Ruoying from being angry.
"You come from a Duke's mansion, so you can find any good marriage you want. You've met many good men. Why do you insist on having an affair with a man who's already engaged?!"
"I've worked so hard to raise you, how can I face your father and grandmother?"
The distinction between legitimate and illegitimate daughters is not that important in high-ranking families. They rely on the father's protection. There is no legitimate daughter in the second house, so the illegitimate daughters are raised as legitimate daughters.
Ming Yueshu did this, what status did she put her as the legitimate mother? The old lady and her husband would think that she was the legitimate mother who failed to teach her well.
Qiao Ruoying became more and more angry as she looked at them, and raised her hand to press her temples which were swollen and painful from anger.
Shi Jianli helped her sit down and asked the maid to call the palace doctor.
Seeing her stepmother so angry, Ming Yueshu sobbed softly. Amidst her fear, she saw Qiao Jingchuan, whose expression was in agony, and she felt a surge of courage. "Mother, I know I was wrong, but if I can't marry the one I love, what's the point of this life?"
"I understand the logic. As long as I arrange Sister Li's marriage, it won't count as running away without a matchmaker."
"What did you say?" Qiao Ruoying glared at her, revealing the aura of a mistress of a house.
Ming Yueshu was so frightened that she shrank her shoulders and cried even harder: "What can I do, mother? I can't let go of my cousin Qiao..."
"I've heard that my father begged my grandmother to agree to marry you. You understand that matters of the heart are beyond our control. Could you please put yourself in their shoes and sympathize with me?"
Qiao Ruoying didn't expect that she would use her past with her husband as an excuse, and she was so angry that she couldn't speak.
Qiao Jingchuan stood up distressed and wanted to hug Mingyueshu's shoulders to comfort her, but Qiao Ruoying stopped him: "Stop!"
"How dare you, a foreigner, touch me in front of me?!"
She was so blind that she couldn't see how shameless he was before!
Mingyueshu looked at Qiao Jingchuan with tears in her eyes, then avoided his hand. Seeing that she couldn't persuade her stepmother, she knelt down in front of Shi Jianli and said, "Cousin Li, please help me and my cousin get together. Shu'er will be grateful to you for the rest of her life."
"You are also a woman, can you really bear to see me suffer?"
"I dare not accept your kneeling." Shi Jianli dodged, her clear eyes expressionless. "As my aunt said, you are a daughter of the Duke's Mansion. Why are you degrading yourself like this?"
"Isn't this degrading? I like my cousin. Doesn't a girl from a Duke's Mansion have the right to pursue love? I don't want my mother to marry me off to a Duke's family I don't like as a favor to my third brother."
Qiao Ruoying raised her hand and slapped her, "Is that what you think of me? You are so narrow-minded!"
She knew it was hard to be a legitimate mother of a wealthy family, but she never imagined it would be this difficult! She was looking for a husband for her concubines' sons and daughters, but they said she was selling them out as a favor!
A crisp slap sounded, causing Mingyueshu's face to tilt to one side, and her fair cheek quickly swelled up.
"Sister Shu, does it hurt?" Qiao Jingchuan raised his hand to touch her red and swollen cheek with concern.
Ming Yueshu threw herself into his arms and cried, her eyes blurred with tears. She looked like she was about to cry herself to death. She looked so pitiful, "Cousin, my life is so miserable. Why can't lovers get married?"
"Pull them apart!" Qiao Ruoying was really mad at them.
The servants separated them and held them down to prevent them from hugging each other.
"You have a miserable life! You were born in a wealthy family, how can your life be miserable? I've never seen a fool like you!" Qiao Ruoying pointed at Qiao Jingchuan and said, "Throw this shameless man out of the house!"
What she meant by "a miserable life" was that she was being humiliated by her stepmother and not letting her live a good life. She was an ungrateful person!
Qiao Jingchuan was dragged out by the servants with red eyes.
"Aunt, please don't make things difficult for Sister Shu. This is all my fault. If you have anything to say, come to me. Don't make things difficult for Sister Shu!"
"What's wrong with it? It's his fault in the end, but a woman has to beg for him! I'm not the one who's sorry!" Qiao Ruoying slammed the table so hard that the teacup on the table shook and made a noise. Her hand hurt so much that she took it back angrily.
Aunt Su hurried over. When Qiao Ruoying saw her, she raised her eyebrows and shouted, "Kneel down!"
Aunt Su had always been afraid of her mistress, so she knelt down without a second thought. Tears welled up in her eyes, which resembled Mingyueshu's. She hugged her daughter distressedly, "Shu'er, you are so confused!"
"Why are you crying? You cry all day long. You look timid, but what you do is outrageous!" Qiao Ruoying shouted, "Kneel down and reflect on your actions. Look at the good daughter you raised, she can do something like stealing someone's marriage!"
She should be crying!
Qiao Ruoying stood up and hurried towards the east courtyard.
Shi Jianli glanced at the mother and daughter who felt they were the miserable ones, and took the newly arrived doctor and several maids to chase Qiao Ruoying.
"Ma'am, where are you going?"
"I'm going to ask my mother to make the decision for me. I don't dare to tell her, for fear that she will say how bad I am and torture her!" Qiao Ruoying said angrily.
But halfway through the journey, her body went limp and she fainted.
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