Chapter 93 She Wants to Reveal Shen Qingtan’s Background
"What happened in the Marquis's mansion today was even more exciting than a play. A daughter of a dignified Marquis, the granddaughter-in-law of a Duke, actually gave her own aunt a pair of fakes as a birthday gift. This is the first time in history that has happened."
"This is the first time I've seen such a thing, and it's truly eye-opening. Even a poor family wouldn't do such a thing as giving away fakes to impress others... She's worthy of being raised in a humble family; her manners and behavior don't match the demeanor of a wife."
"I was curious before, why didn't the Marquis's family bring their second daughter to the banquet? It turns out she's not presentable enough."
"Mrs. Zhao Er, you must be more careful with her. Don't let the noble reputation of the Duke's Mansion be ruined by her."
They giggled as they spoke, then said to the eldest lady beside them, "Mrs. Zhao, you have always been a blessed person. Your master doesn't take concubines, and your son has married a virtuous daughter-in-law. We all envy you."
The eldest lady rolled her eyes and ignored these fence-sitters.
The second wife's face turned pale, and she was angry that Shen Mingzhu bought fake goods and made her lose face.
Shen Mingzhu's face turned pale. One said she was unfit to be the principal wife, implying that she was only fit to be a concubine. Another said she was the root of trouble and would bring ruin to the Duke's Mansion.
On the contrary, they all complimented Shen Qingtan, praising her for being blessed and capable.
These words were like sharp knives cutting into her heart, but she felt a little better when she thought about her next plans.
She wanted to see whether these self-righteous people would condescend to befriend Shen Qingtan, the daughter of a lowly merchant.
If Shen Qingtan loses her status as the eldest daughter of the Cheng'en Marquisate, she will fall into the quagmire. Let's see how she can still be proud.
Shen Mingzhu calmed herself down and slowly walked out of the inner room.
Everyone in the room looked at her in unison, and those gazes were like needles piercing Shen Mingzhu.
She clenched her handkerchief tightly, suppressed the urge to flee, and came before Lady Yongyi.
"Aunt, I'm shortsighted and was cheated by the shopkeeper just now. Giving you a pair of fakes on such a happy day has spoiled your fun." Shen Mingzhu apologized sincerely: "Zhu'er will collect a pair of real night pearls to give you as a replacement."
"No need." Lady Yongyi suspected that Shen Mingzhu looked down on her and deliberately gave her a pair of fake night pearls to fool her. She said coldly, "I can't afford such a generous gift from you."
Shen Mingzhu clenched her fingers, held back her tears, and stood aside.
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi was angry and also displeased with Madam Shen. She did not intend to cooperate with them in dealing with Shen Qingtan today.
If anything goes wrong again, she will become a laughing stock.
She stood up and said to the guests, "I've made a fool of myself today. Let's go to the back garden. There's a stage there, and they've invited famous actors to perform."
The guests left with Lady Yongyi.
Madam Shen had a stern face and walked out side by side with the second and first wives.
Shen Qingtan and Zhao Wan walked behind.
Shen Mingzhu stared at the place where the noble man was, her eyes full of desire. She wanted to say hello to the noble man and let him have an impression of her.
But she didn't have the courage, fearing that she would be reckless again and anger the nobleman, so she suppressed the disappointment in her heart and left with everyone else.
Liu Ruojiao ran over, rolled her eyes at Shen Mingzhu, and said sarcastically, "Second cousin, my mother doesn't covet your things. If you can't afford to give her something expensive, don't try to be so conceited. Fortunately, there's an official's wife who knows what's good, otherwise others would think my family is taking advantage of you."
Shen Mingzhu bit her lower lip hard and did not argue.
Liu Ruojiao snorted disdainfully and looked down upon Shen Mingzhu even more.
She used to flatter Shen Qingtan with sweet words and was able to get a lot of good things from Shen Qingtan. But she was very jealous of Shen Qingtan and envied her for being reborn into a powerful family like the Marquis' Mansion.
It was not until she learned from her mother that this cousin was not her aunt's daughter but a lowly merchant's daughter that she felt a secret pleasure in her heart.
But now that she saw that Shen Qingtan was valued by her in-laws, she had other plans in her mind.
"Big cousin, I'm sorry I offended you today by being rude," Liu Ruojiao said coquettishly. "Second cousin said you'd received many awards and would prepare rare gifts for my mother. I was so curious that I stole your box just now."
Shen Qingtan knew what Liu Ruojiao was thinking. She just wanted to please her and get benefits from her.
Everyone in the Yongyi Marquis's mansion is a snob and has no family affection at all.
They will fawn on anyone who does them a favor.
Shen Qingtan wanted to use Liu Ruojiao as a chess piece to alienate the relationship between the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion and the Yongyi Earl's Mansion.
She deliberately ignored Liu Ruojiao's words, and would only take the bait when she was anxious.
Liu Ruojiao was anxious and took her hand: "Cousin, I really know I was wrong. Please forgive me this time."
Shen Qingtan avoided Liu Ruojiao's hand and said coldly, "Jiaojiao, you grew up with me. Don't you know what kind of person I am? You embarrassed me in public today, which really broke my heart."
Liu Ruojiao was not giving up and wanted to say something to please Shen Qingtan, but she saw the female official beside the nobleman coming hurriedly.
The female official stood in front of Shen Qingtan and respectfully handed over an exquisite invitation with both hands: "Second Madam Zhao, His Highness invites you to visit the Princess's residence tomorrow."
Shen Qingtan looked at the post in his hand in surprise.
The lady-in-waiting smiled and said, "His Highness admires your embroidery very much."
Shen Qingtan said, "Thank you for coming here, Aunt. I will go to the mansion to visit His Highness tomorrow."
After hearing what was said, the female official turned and left.
Shen Qingtan handed the invitation to Liu Yue, wondering why the eldest princess would come to attend the birthday party of the wife of the Earl of Yongyi?
Could there be some other hidden secret?
Shen Mingzhu's face turned pale, jealousy boiling in her heart. She wanted to marry someone so high up, but she couldn't.
Shen Qingtan did nothing, but was appreciated by the nobleman.
Shen Mingzhu bit the tip of her tongue a little and tasted the blood, which made her mind clearer.
But the more sober she became, the more she regretted it.
If she hadn't planned to have Shen Qingtan show her embroidery, Shen Qingtan wouldn't have been looked at differently by the noble.
She thought of Shen Qingtan's embroidery, and the doubts in her mind gradually became clear.
Chunjiao seemed to be coerced and bribed by her to betray Shen Qingtan, but in fact Chunjiao deliberately pretended to betray Shen Qingtan and leaked the embroidery information to her.
Shen Qingtan had long anticipated that she would be restless, so he set up a game of chess and waited for her to join.
From the moment she found Chunjiao, she fell into Shen Qingtan's trap.
Then why is the pattern embroidered by Shen Qingtan the same as the one she replaced?
Because Shen Qingtan had been eyeing her for a long time and knew that she had bought such an embroidery, he secretly asked the embroiderer to embroider the same one, taking advantage of her trick.
But why did Shen Qingtan take advantage of the situation?
Shen Mingzhu figured it all out, because Shen Qingtan also knew that pheasant was the sore spot of the Lady Bo, and guessed that she would take advantage of the situation, so she went with the flow and made the Lady Bo dissatisfied with her.
Shen Qingtan did it, because his word "pheasant" really made Mrs. Bo unhappy.
Shen Mingzhu felt vaguely uneasy, always feeling that this was just Shen Qingtan's first step, and she had other tricks waiting for her.
Liu Ruojiao, who was standing by, also felt very regretful. Seeing that Shen Qingtan had hooked up with the eldest princess, she became even more determined to please her.
The eldest princess is the eldest sister of the current emperor. Although they are not born of the same mother, she grew up under the care of Empress Xiaoen, the biological mother of Emperor Jing'an.
Even though Emperor Jing'an had been a hostage in another country, the relationship between the two never faded, and they were still as close as real siblings.
After the eldest princess's fiancé died of illness, she never married and lived alone in the princess's mansion, rarely interacting with others.
A family like theirs didn't dare to invite the eldest princess at all. It was the eldest princess who took the initiative to send someone to say that she would come to the Earl's Mansion to attend the birthday banquet.
This action was so sudden that no one could guess what the princess was thinking.
She inexplicably had a thought that the eldest princess was coming for Shen Qingtan.
The group came to the back garden with different thoughts and sat down one after another.
Shen Qingtan brought Zhao Wan to the seat next to the eldest lady and sat down. He raised his eyes to look at the stage and saw that the female lead had already come on stage to sing.
Shen Mingzhu glanced at Shen Qingtan obscurely, curled the corners of her mouth, and watched the show with a relaxed look.
When this scene was over, Shen Qingtan's good days were over.
With a loud crash, someone overturned the table and said, "Stop! No more singing!"
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