Chapter 213 Regret and Jealousy?
Yao Qingling spent a long time getting ready.
Zhou Zhining, however, thought that Yao Qingling was so ill that she was on her last breath and had no strength left to entertain guests. She was thinking of saying something to provoke her and send her to meet the King of Hell.
But then, the radiant Yao Qingling emerged with elegant steps.
Zhou Zhining clenched her fists instantly.
Isn't she about to die?
But the woman in front of me had a rosy complexion and a healthy body; she looked like she could live to be eighty or ninety!
Looking at her bright and luxurious attire, she seemed much wealthier than before.
After the Zhou family's property was confiscated, Zhou Zhining, despite having Zhan Xingzhuo's full protection, became much more reserved than before.
And Yao Qingling? She went from looking disheveled to becoming more and more noble and elegant. Her eyes were no longer as dull as still water; they became brighter and more lively the more you looked at them.
Zhan Xingzhuo was attracted to her because of this, wasn't he?
However, Yao Qingling shouldn't be like this.
She must have lived a miserable life, despised by the world and rejected by the Marquis's mansion. She could only live in a remote corner and be forgotten until she died silently.
Zhou Zhining clenched her fists tightly, hatred and jealousy almost overflowing from her eyes.
Yao Qingling held the enamel hand warmer and looked at her indifferently: "Miss Zhou, what brings you here?"
It wasn't that Yao Qingling was unwilling to give her a friendly look, but rather that the hatred in Zhou Zhining's eyes was too intense, so why should she bother to smile?
She wouldn't do something like offering a warm welcome only to be met with indifference.
Zhou Zhining was a servant girl, while she was a proper young lady from an official family, a descendant of a loyal and virtuous family. How could a young lady give a servant girl a kind look first?
Given how Zhou Zhining used to bully Yao Qingling, it's already a miracle she wasn't kicked out.
Yao Qingling chose to meet her in person for two reasons: firstly, to confront this "arch-enemy" head-on; and secondly, if Qingling refused to meet her, it would be interpreted as her being afraid of her.
Zhou Zhining listened to her nonchalant voice, even the tone of which revealed a pampered and lazy attitude, which made her hate her even more.
But she came here not to be bullied.
She smiled and, with the same languid elegance, pointed casually at Yao Qingling, saying, "It's important news."
"Master Zhan has been promoted and ennobled, and the Emperor has bestowed upon him many fine gifts. In principle, these things should be kept and safeguarded by you, but why did you insist on making a fuss about divorce?"
"The Second Master said there were no female relatives in the mansion, so he asked me to keep them safe."
"I thought that you risked your life to give birth to the Second Master's child, so I should send you something to reward you for your hard work. That's why I've decided to send you two boxes of things."
"These two boxes, one box contains precious medicinal materials such as donkey-hide gelatin, ginseng, deer antler, and rhinoceros horn, to ensure your health and longevity; the other box contains silver. I know you like this kind of thing, after all, didn't you insist on divorce because you thought Second Master didn't make enough money?"
After she finished speaking, she smiled at Qingling with a sarcastic and sharp look in her eyes.
Her words conveyed two meanings.
First, she is now the nominal mistress of the new mansion.
Secondly, it implies that Yao Qingling is short-sighted, looks down on Zhan Xingzhuo's low official position, is materialistic and favors the rich, and abandons the wife of a high-ranking official like the wife of a vice minister.
Lou Yue retorted angrily, "That's not how it is!"
Why did Yao Qingling want a divorce in the first place? Wasn't it because the daughter of a disgraced official was bullying her in the mansion, constantly humiliating her, driving her to the point where she would rather die than stay?
Zhou Zhining glanced coldly at Lou Yue and scoffed in disgust, "Yao Qingling, you still can't discipline your maids properly, you have no manners."
Yao Qingling glanced at Lou Yue and said with a faint smile, "My maid can distinguish right from wrong and is loyal to me. More importantly, she comes from a respectable family and only had to sell herself into the household because of poverty. But you are different."
“Official slaves are only those from families that have committed serious crimes and are thus degraded to such lowly status.”
"Oh, you just said you were in charge of all affairs in the new mansion... you must be a household slave, right? Zhan Xingzhuo bought your slave status from the Duke of Shen's mansion?"
Tao Weixian bought Zhou Zhining from the Sinong Temple and then resold her to Zhan Xingzhuo. She was bought and sold like a commodity!
This humiliation made Zhou Zhining grit her teeth in hatred.
"Yao Qingling!"
Suddenly, her anger turned to mockery, "You're just feeling regretful and jealous, aren't you?"
"So what if I am a government slave? Brother Xingzhuo has always put me first, and he has never treated me as a slave."
"Even when he became a vice minister, I was always there for him, constantly urging and encouraging him. And what have you done for him?"
“Brother Xingzhuo is a promising young talent in the current court, with unlimited potential. He might even become a first-rank official in a few years. At that time, my Zhou family can overturn the verdict and return to the capital, and I will no longer be a slave. And what about you?”
After Zhou Zhining finished speaking, she arrogantly raised her chin, stared at Yao Qingling, and felt a great sense of satisfaction.
She knew that Yao Qingling must be filled with remorse right now, which was why she could only humiliate and provoke her like this.
She wouldn't fall for her tricks and let herself become hysterical and ugly.
Zhou Zhining never loses to anyone!
Zhou Zhining, accompanied by several servants, strode away proudly.
But Yao Qingling's words, "house slave," were like a huge thorn stuck in her throat, impossible to swallow or spit out, making it hard for her to breathe.
As Zhou Zhining stepped out of the Marquis's mansion, she took several deep breaths and turned back to stare intently at the plaque that read "Marquis's Mansion of Loyalty and Valor".
Ah, a loyal and virtuous woman?
She will soon take down the plaque and make Yao Qingling a government slave as well.
Just wait and see.
In the courtyard, Lou Yue rolled her eyes at the two boxes: "Following a man without any status or identity, she actually has the nerve to come here and show off. This world is truly going to the dogs."
Xia Chan said coldly, "She's not just nameless; she's Master Zhan's female slave."
Lou Yue chuckled: "Xia Chan, when did your mouth become so sharp?"
He Yin never offered any opinions. She bent down, picked up a box of ginseng from the box, and smelled it.
Lou Yue assumed He Yin was obsessed with medicine and snatched it away, saying, "What's so great about this? We have plenty in our own household. Humph, it's really not worth it for Miss to waste time dressing up and personally come out to greet her for such a small thing."
Yao Qingling smiled and said, "It's worth it, how could it not be worth it? The jewelry I wear is nothing compared to this amount of silver."
“Miss…” Lou Yue felt that her mistress had lost her backbone again.
Xia Chan asked, "But what about these things? Should we return them?"
Qingling held a silver ingot in her hand and played with it.
It's silvery and sparkling in the sunlight, it's really beautiful.
Ah, Zhan Xingzhuo went to Luozhou to manage the floods, which should have been an opportunity to atone for his crimes, but instead, he used this opportunity to rise to prominence.
The Duke's mansion still has a lot of power. As long as they find a pretext, they can easily send him to the top.
The Emperor's rewards certainly didn't stop there.
This reward should be more than Zhan Xingzhuo's salary for the past three years, right?
But Yao Qingling, who had been his wife for three years, received nothing but a child.
Making money is so hard, why doesn't she want it?
Consider this money as money for raising his child.
Yao Qingling said calmly, "Send it to my private treasury."
At this moment, He Yin was still examining those precious medicinal herbs one by one.
But her expression wasn't one of infatuation; rather, it was one of solemnity.
Qingling asked, "He Yin, is there a problem with these medicinal herbs?"
Lou Yue immediately felt a sense of impending doom: "These medicines have been poisoned? I knew that poisonous woman had ill intentions!"
He Yin shook her head, handed the donkey-hide gelatin in her hand to Qing Ling and asked her to look at it carefully, then gestured with her hands: "These are all fake."
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