The boatman seemed to enjoy watching the spectacle, and unconsciously the boat gradually moved closer to the shore.
Miss Fan seemed to still be venting her anger after she stopped cursing. Her chest heaved, and she could not hide the smugness and resentment in her eyes.
At this moment, Fan San Niang's hair was already disheveled, and she covered her abdomen with both hands, burying her head in front of her and refusing to look at the different gazes around her.
When they stopped, the second young lady of the Fan family grabbed the third young lady of the Fan family by the collar with one hand, as if to pull her up from the ground. But the third young lady of the Fan family refused, protecting her lower abdomen and stubbornly refusing to comply with the second young lady of the Fan family's wishes. In the struggle, the third young lady of the Fan family exerted force, and the second young lady of the Fan family fell to the side without any dignity.
The surrounding people all looked at her with the air of watching a show, staring at Fan Er Guniang for a long time. Her face turned as red as a braised pig's head.
It was truly inappropriate for the two women to be pulling and tugging at each other, but the person involved also had a husband. Some people had already looked at Fu Chen, who had been standing silently at the bow of the boat, and then remembered the identity of this person that Miss Fan had mentioned earlier. He was the heir of the Marquis of Guangping from Luling.
No wonder the young concubine's daughter from the Vice Minister's mansion would disregard all shame to protect the child in her belly. Those present realized what was happening and looked at her with disdain.
Fu Chen had delicate features, but his face was flushed red. He took two steps forward as if he were furious. As he passed by Fan San Niang, his gaze fell on her delicate face with tear stains. Seeing the grievance and tears in her eyes, Fu Chen couldn't bear it but still looked away.
He looked at Miss Fan, who had already stood up with the help of her maid, but stared at him with great displeasure.
“Miss Fan, I only met your sister by chance. I don’t know your sister at all. Miss Fan, you keep talking about what kind of relationship you have with me. What is your intention?”
He spoke calmly, and when Fan Er Guniang's gaze fell on her half-sister, who was sitting on the ground protecting her lower abdomen and looking bewildered, her mood suddenly became much happier.
"Could it be that the bastard child in her belly isn't the prince's?"
Fu Chen could feel the gaze on him from behind, and his hands clenched tightly within his wide sleeves.
He liked the gentleness and submissiveness of the third sister, but now that his efforts in the marriage with the Xu family were about to go down the drain, this liking was no longer important in comparison.
"Of course not."
After speaking, Fu Chen raised his head and calmly scanned the surroundings: "I stayed in the capital, naturally for the sake of my beloved. If we let Miss Fan talk nonsense about what happened today, and it gets back to my beloved, I'm afraid even ten mouths wouldn't be able to explain it clearly."
Compared to the legitimate daughter of a duke, he preferred the gentle and considerate daughter of a vice minister to the daughter of a duke, and even more so to the daughter of a duke, Xu Lingzi, who could bring him a bright future in his career.
Moreover, Xu Lingzi is even more beautiful, and her manners and conduct are most suitable for a mistress of the household. Someone like Fan Sanniang is suitable to stay by his side to serve him; with one wife and one concubine, he can enjoy the bliss of having two women.
The Xu family members on the boat had different expressions. Li Shiyue was the first to look away, having lost interest in watching any further.
Today, Miss Fan Er is causing quite a stir. The crowd of onlookers is already three or four layers deep. It is estimated that within an hour, the whole capital will be filled with the news that the illegitimate third daughter of the Vice Minister of Justice is pregnant before marriage, but no one knows who the father of the child is.
The heir of the Marquis of Guangping is upright and honest. If he is framed, he can probably get away with it easily by paying some money.
That's how the wealthy young men in Yunzhong County behaved. Meng Zhuo had learned it quite well back then, and she saw it all in the Yunyang Earl's Mansion. She found this spoiled behavior utterly disgusting.
I thought Fu Chen was a handsome and honest young man, perhaps a bit of a playboy, but I never expected him to be like this.
Li Shiyue picked up her teacup, drank the rest of the tea, but didn't know what to feel.
"He has someone he loves? Then why does he still come to the Duke's mansion every day? Isn't he afraid that his sweetheart will misunderstand?"
Xu Lingqing, also an unmarried woman, saw this and thought that perhaps Miss Fan was intentionally trying to frame powerful people. But if no one took responsibility for her current situation, she and her unborn child would probably suffer a very bad end.
As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Lingqing's expression froze. Of the Xu family's legitimate daughters, she and her tenth daughter, Xu Lingwan, were not yet of marriageable age; there were only Xu Lingzi and Li Shiyue.
But Li Shiyue didn't know who Fu Chen was at all. Fu Chen came to visit every day. Could it be that he was here for her sixth sister?
Xu Lingqing's idea was also the idea of others.
Some whispers broke out in the crowd, and eventually, they stopped trying to hide it and started talking loudly together.
"How come I remember that the heir of the Marquis of Guangping lives in the Grand Secretary's residence, which is his maternal grandfather's house? Could it be that his sweetheart is his cousin?"
"Not necessarily. I've seen this person knocking on the door of the Duke of Rong's mansion several times. Doesn't the Xu family still have unmarried daughters? I've heard that the two families have been coming and going quite often. Could it be a daughter from the Xu family?"
"The Xu family? Which Xu family? The Xu family of the Duke of Rongguo's mansion! Good heavens, the Xu family currently has two young ladies of marriageable age: one is the Princess of Yichang, personally bestowed by the Emperor, and the other is the Crown Princess's younger sister, the Sixth Miss Xu."
"Two noble ladies, that's hard to say. I wonder which one is the one that Prince Fu is truly in love with."
"Who cares which one he marries, his future career is guaranteed, unlike you and me, who are just commoners."
As the discussion among the crowd grew louder, Fu Chen showed no intention of stopping it. Instead, he listened attentively with a gentle expression, seemingly acquiescing to it.
The expressions of the people sitting in the boat, especially Xu Lingzi's, were almost as if a storm was brewing. Her hand, which was gripping the teacup, kept tightening. She had always been the apple of her parents' and siblings' eye since childhood and had always lived a carefree life. When had she ever suffered such grievances?
Before she could get up, a young man in blue robes walked out from the crowd.
Xu Yunyao, with his sharp eyes, saw the young man walk to the front of the crowd, his gaze fixed intently on Fu Chen. He frowned in confusion: "It's Guo Shaoqing, what's he doing here?"
That person was none other than Guo Xun, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
Today was his day off, and he was dressed in a dark-patterned wide robe and blue gown, with a silver crown in his hair and a folding fan in his hand, exuding the air of a scholar.
"You are Fu Chen, the heir of the Marquis of Guangping?"
Fu Chen had never seen him before, and judging from his calm tone, he didn't seem to be there for revenge. He nodded hesitantly, then looked over questioningly, scrutinizing Guo Xun from head to toe.
"It's me. And who are you?"
Guo Xun smiled and said, "Who I am is not important. I just think that the young master is about the same age as me, and I have some things I want to say to him."
Seeing that his calm attitude didn't seem fake, Fu Chen searched his memory for a long time, but the people in front of him didn't match the people in his memory.
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