"Miss, Feng Ruilan has sent a letter."
Qingying took the letter from Tongxia, opened it, looked at it, and then burned it on the fire.
"As expected, Pan did not disappoint me." She ate the peach blossom pastry in a good mood. "Whether it was Feng Ruilan who injured Liu Shushu or not is no longer important. Someone has to pay the price for this. Since she can't catch the real culprit, she can only make fun of Feng Ruilan."
Tongxia asked, "When will you go to see her, young lady?"
"No rush, let her worry about it for a while." Qingying smiled mischievously.
People are always stubborn, never giving up until they're faced with dire circumstances. Before, I was the one seeking her out; now it's her turn to beg me.
Meanwhile, Feng Ruilan waited anxiously, but a day passed without Qingying appearing. In her desperation, she summoned her maid and demanded, "Are you sure you delivered the letter?"
The maid knelt on the ground, trembling: "This servant has indeed given the letter to a maid named Tongxia."
"Then why hasn't she come yet!"
"This servant does not know."
Feng Ruilan swept all the cups and saucers off the table and onto the floor. "She did it on purpose! What a scoundrel! How dare a lowly concubine's daughter act so arrogantly? If she didn't have such a seductive face, how could the young master have taken a liking to her!"
She had already sent people to inquire. The eldest son of Minister Wen had already lost two wives and had a house full of concubines. He had no children all these years. Outsiders said that he had a hidden illness that forced his two wives to their deaths. The number of maids and concubines who died at his hands was countless. If she married him, it would be like a lamb entering a tiger's den.
Although the Minister's family was prestigious, she wasn't about to ruin her entire future. She was still so young; she didn't want to die.
Since Pan Hongyu married into the Feng family, she has controlled all the affairs of the Feng family, big and small. If her parents knew the real reason for this marriage, they probably wouldn't have allowed her to marry into the family, but she knew in her heart that Pan Hongyu would never give her that opportunity.
She was isolated and helpless in the capital, and now the only person she could turn to for help was probably Liu Qingying.
Fortunately, another day passed, and Qingying finally arrived.
Feng Ruilan greeted her with a beaming smile, a completely different attitude from last time. "Qingying, I've been waiting for you for so long, and I'm so glad you've finally come."
Qingying's smile seemed much more perfunctory as she explained, "I was busy with my own wedding the other day and it was delayed. Aunt Feng won't blame me, will she?"
"Of course not. You're going to be the Crown Prince's wife in the future, so naturally you won't have the leisure of us commoners."
"It's good that Auntie understands."
Qingying deliberately ignored the fleeting jealousy in her eyes and went inside to sit down. "Your mother has been making arrangements for your marriage these past few days. I know you don't want to get married. If you don't do something soon, it will soon be a done deal, and it will be difficult to change the situation then."
Feng Ruilan grasped her hand and said ingratiatingly, "Good niece, please tell me what to do quickly. As long as I don't fall into that wolf's den, anything is fine. I will definitely repay your kindness today in the future."
"Don't worry, Auntie." Qingying patted her hand reassuringly and said, "I came here today because I've already thought of a solution for you."
"Quick! Tell me about it."
“There are three ways to cancel this marriage.” Qingying held up three fingers and said slowly, “The first is to ruin the other party’s reputation, but this is obviously not advisable. First, Young Master Wen doesn’t have a good reputation to begin with, and second, it might provoke his family to become even more aggressive and deliberately target the Feng family in the future. If the marriage cannot be canceled, you will not have a good life in the Wen family either.”
So she lowered one finger and continued, "The second option is to make Young Master Wen dislike you first, but this might be bad for your reputation. Even if the engagement is broken off, it will delay your future search for a good man."
Feng Ruilan quickly shook her head: "That won't do either. Our Feng family is already of low social standing. If we ruin our reputation, I'm afraid my life will be ruined."
Qingying knew, of course, that this wouldn't work. Feng Ruilan was determined to marry into a prestigious family, so how could she dare to damage her reputation? She was just saying it to scare her.
From beginning to end, she only arranged one way out for Feng Ruilan.
So she lowered another finger and said, "Then there's only one way left—find a better family to replace the current marriage before they set a wedding date."
Upon hearing this, Feng Ruilan's eyes lit up for a moment, but quickly dimmed again. She said with distress, "Where can I find a better family?"
The Feng family is a humble family, and to be able to marry into the Minister's family is already a great honor. If it weren't for the fact that Young Master Wen is not worthy of being entrusted with a marriage, this would be a marriage that she couldn't find even with a lantern.
"Isn't that easy?" Qingying smiled and said, "Although I am not the eldest daughter of the General's Mansion, I am much more familiar with the circles of powerful and influential people in the capital than Liu Shushu."
Feng Ruilan was overjoyed and quickly took out a jade bracelet and handed it to her, saying with a smile, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Sister Liu."
...
On the way back to the General's Mansion, Qingying casually gave the bracelet that Feng Ruilan had given her to a beggar.
"How dare you use such a poor-quality bracelet to bribe people?" Yu Yue said disdainfully.
Qingying yawned lazily and said, "In her eyes, I am just a concubine's daughter, while the Feng family, though of low social standing, is at least the legitimate daughter of the Feng family. Naturally, she looks down on me and sent me this thing to get rid of me. She probably thinks I should be grateful to her."
"Heh~ You're such a snob, and you have no foresight! Don't you even know that you've been in the General's Mansion for so many years, and you've even been able to come and go freely in the Imperial Palace? What good things haven't you seen?"
"How high can one's horizons be if one comes from a humble background?"
If it weren't for the fact that she had some use, Qingying really wouldn't have bothered with her.
"I'm afraid their ambitions are higher than the sky, but their fate is as thin as paper."
She gently stroked the jade bracelet on her wrist, a gift from Wei Dongchen. Yesterday, accompanied by Prince Yu and Princess Yu, he had brought the betrothal letter and gifts to the General's Mansion with the matchmaker, thus finalizing the marriage.
Next came the setting date, the wedding procession...
Outsiders all say that Liu Qingying is lucky. Even if she can't be the Crown Prince's wife, she can still be the Heir Apparent's wife. Either way, she's destined to be rich and noble for the rest of her life.
What they saw was merely the surface of the glamorous scene.
She could not forget what Princess Yu had said to her arrogantly in private yesterday: "You are nothing but a mistress who cannot be seen in public. Your biological mother, Ye Ning, is the descendant of a disgraced official. Such a status is far from worthy of our Chen'er."
Unfortunately, he loves you, and as his mother, I cannot be the one to break them up and hurt my son's feelings. Therefore, I hope you have the wisdom to know your place and take the initiative to give up this marriage.
I believe you can do it; you've done it very well before.
Qingying knew she was referring to the matter of breaking off the engagement with the Crown Prince. That matter was indeed handled well, and Wei Huaixu has not been affected so far, and can still openly and honestly be affectionate with Liu Shushu.
However, she only agreed to break off the engagement because she truly didn't want Wei Huaixu anymore.
But this time, on what basis?
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