Seeing everyone's behavior, Madam Qian's face turned pale. In an instant, she thought of the Marquis's instructions and felt uneasy.
Then she thought that this matter concerned the young master's life, and the Marquis originally intended to find a powerful maternal family for the young master. Looking at the entire Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, the only one who could speak in court was the third son of the Shi family, but he was still far away in Huainan and of no benefit to the young master. Madam Qian felt that she was right to refuse this marriage.
Wang sneered twice, staring intently at Qian.
The old lady was worried that Wang might say something outrageous in her anger, giving others something to gossip about, so she served tea.
Wang knew her mother-in-law's worries, but thinking of her daughter's situation, she couldn't help but feel resentful, and her words were inevitably sharp: "Even if the girl from my Earl's Mansion is not good, she is still precious. I hope the Lady of the Marquis will not regret it, otherwise she will be slapping herself in the face."
Madam Qian stood up, scoffed, and thought to herself, "She'll regret this? Unless it rains blood from the sky, she doesn't want a family like this."
After Qian left, Wang sat in her chair in silence for a moment. Liu, who had always been silent as if she were invisible, finally spoke.
"Third sister-in-law, you handled this matter poorly."
Wang was already feeling a pang of pain as she thought about sending her daughter away, and when Liu started blaming her, Wang, combined with the anger from the previous two days, exploded.
"Second sister-in-law is quite proper. She hasn't uttered a single word since just now, as if she weren't even a member of this household."
Liu paused, not expecting Wang's attitude to remain so firm at this moment.
Seeing the two women facing off, Zhou sighed inwardly and said, "Alright, what's done is done. What's the point of discussing whether it's appropriate or not? Qian is clearly not going to admit it. No matter how reasonable we are, she won't back down."
Zhou's words clearly showed that she was biased towards Wang.
Liu pursed her lips and remained silent. After all, her husband was born out of wedlock and was the only one who had inherited a hereditary position.
The old lady glanced coldly at Liu, who was indignant, knowing that she was worried about her daughter, and said, "Alright, since the Marquis's mansion is unwilling, then we can't force it. Let's find a time to send Lan'er to the family temple."
Madam Wang's face turned pale, and after a long while she said, "Please wait a few more days, Mother. If there is no further improvement, there is no need to go to the family temple."
The old lady's expression was equally unpleasant. "You mean..."
Madam Wang nodded and said resolutely, "I know my daughter is not capable of such hardship. Rather than that, it would be better to send her far away, and let the Earl's Mansion pretend that she never existed."
As soon as Wang finished speaking, the room fell silent.
Not to mention the servants attending to her, even Madam Zhou was so shocked that her mouth gaped open, and for a moment she forgot to lose her dignity as the wife of the Earl.
Liu's expression changed slightly, clearly not expecting Wang to respond in this way.
Of all those present, only the old lady, though her face was pale, did not lose her composure. Instead, she nodded slightly and said, "Very well, if there is really no way to turn things around, then this is the only option."
Wang clenched her fingers into a fist, curtsied, ignored the various expressions on everyone's faces, and took her leave.
Back in the courtyard, Wang slumped weakly into a chair, unable to recover for a long time.
Granny Huang brought over a cup of calming tea and stepped forward to comfort her, saying, "Madam, you spoke a bit too soon. Things haven't come to that point yet. If you say it now, the second branch of the family will inevitably seize on it and gossip about it."
Wang Shi twitched the corner of her mouth and said weakly, "If I hadn't said that, Lan'er would already be being taken to the family temple by now."
Granny Huang sighed and said, "That Qian woman is obviously clueless, while Marquis Changqing is quite sensible. In my opinion, we should ask Lord Han to give us some pointers; perhaps things will take a turn for the better."
Madam Wang stared at the rising steam from the teacups on the table, lost in thought for a moment, then murmured softly, "We're both officials in the court, it's fine for my senior brother to offer some advice from the sidelines, but it's not good for him to directly intervene." As she spoke, her eyes suddenly brightened, and she turned to look at Granny Huang, "I remember when we were little, there was someone who often came to ask my father for advice, and later he even got along well with my elder brother. That person is now an imperial censor, isn't he?"
Granny Huang frowned and thought for a while before saying, "There is such a person, but when I went back to deliver New Year's gifts a few years ago, I heard that he had already been promoted to Tongyi Dafu."
Madam Wang frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Never mind, I'll write a letter to my elder brother and ask him to handle it for me. Lan'er is his own niece; we can't let her be bullied like this."
Granny Huang quickly brought over the writing materials, and Wang wrote a letter in a flash. After sealing it, she said, "Send someone to deliver it to my elder brother as quickly as possible."
Granny Huang responded and left with the letter in her hand.
Wang slumped back into her chair, frowning sullenly.
In the main courtyard of the Marquis of Changqing's residence, Zhu Xian stared at the room full of gift boxes, his face contorted with malice as he glared at Madam Qian.
"What's going on?"
Madam Qian tossed her handkerchief in dissatisfaction and said, "What else could it be? I went to apologize with good intentions, but those people saw that I was easy to talk to, so they took advantage of the situation and tried to force the young lady into our Marquis's mansion under some pretext." She glanced at Zhu Xian and saw him frown, which immediately gave her confidence. "How could I dare to agree to this? I just said that I couldn't make the decision, and when they got angry, they kicked me out."
Her eyes were slightly red, and she pulled out a handkerchief to cover her eyes, saying, "It's infuriating that Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion. I am, after all, a Marquis's wife, and I was just kicked out like this. If this gets out, I won't need to go out to socialize anymore."
After speaking, she lowered her head, deliberately revealing the graceful curve of her neck, nodding her head little by little, her voice mournful and delicate, each sound alluring to the bone.
Zhu Xian stared at the white figure for a moment, perhaps recalling past memories, and his expression softened considerably. "The young lady had an accident here, and we have already offered our condolences, which is the fulfillment of the host's etiquette. If they refuse to accept it, it is their fault. Our Marquis's Mansion is hereditary, and it is the Emperor's boundless grace that makes us think so. Who would dare to look down on you in the slightest?"
Zhu Xian reached out and pulled her into his arms, whispering, "Alright, stop crying. If you cry any longer, your eyes will be swollen tomorrow. How will you manage things then?"
Qian hadn't been this intimate with Zhu Xian in a long time, and she was secretly delighted. She twisted her body slightly and deliberately rubbed against him, while letting out a soft hum from her nose.
The soft touch continued to rub against her sensitive areas. Zhu Xian's eyes darkened, his arms tightened, and he picked her up, striding towards the inner room.
Qian cried out softly, her face full of panic as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fair and smooth wrists brushing against his cheeks in an ambiguous way.
Zhu Xian suddenly let out a heavy breath, disregarding the fact that it was still dark, and directly dismissed everyone.
In an instant, the red tent was rippling with waves, and the brocade quilt was being tossed about like a tidal wave.
At almost the same time, Beiningyuan received the news.
Zheng Ziran snorted coldly and said, "Look at her, even now she still won't settle your marriage. I think she just wants to force her niece on you."
Zhu Yi frowned and said, "Don't talk nonsense. I've already sent someone to look at families that are a good match for my cousin. Don't mention this again."
Zheng Ziran scoffed, and said sarcastically, "You're willing to do that?"
Zhu Yi said coldly, "Men should marry when they come of age, and women should marry when they come of age. What's there to be reluctant about?"
Seeing that he was really angry, Zheng Ziran pursed her lips and said nothing more.
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