"Young lady, it's already the hour of Xu." The maid Ah Man walked into the inner room, lifted the sky-blue gauze curtain hung on the bunk bed, and whispered to the girl lying on her side on the bed.
It was early summer now, and it had just gotten completely dark outside. The pale night sky enveloped the girl's face. With the candlelight on the table, one could vaguely see the girl's appearance inside the tent.
The girl had eyebrows like distant mountains, a sharp nose, cherry lips, rosy cheeks and fair skin. She was actually a most outstanding beauty.
The girl is the fourth daughter of the Jiang family in the Dongping Earl's Mansion, and her given name is "Si".
When Ah Man saw Jiang Si's look, he became furious and started to stand up for his own girl.
Is it possible that the third son of the Duke of Anguo's Mansion is blind? The girl's looks are enough for her to enter the palace and become a queen, but he is not very enthusiastic about this marriage. Does he think that the girl is not worthy of him?
Ah Man's anger stems from a poetry meeting in spring.
The poetry meeting was held by some famous young men in the capital. It was nothing more than a group of young people getting together to drink and recite poetry for fun. When they were a little tipsy, someone started to joke with Ji Chongyi, the third son of the Duke of Anguo, and his words seemed to be full of envy for his upcoming marriage to the famous beauty in the capital.
Who would have thought that Ji Chongyi, drunkenly, laughed at himself and said, "Life is nothing but a bag of skin. Women should value a gentle and kind character."
Originally, it was just the drunken talk of a young man, which would pass by after being heard, and would naturally be forgotten after he sobered up. However, who would have thought that the rumor would spread out somehow, and the fourth daughter of the Jiang family immediately became the topic of conversation among people.
The Dongping Marquis's mansion had a weak foundation to begin with, and the title could only be inherited for three generations. By the time of Jiang Si's father, the Dongping Marquis, it was already the third generation, so Jiang Si's brother was not even given the title of crown prince.
That is to say, after a hundred years of the reign of Duke Dongping, the Duke Dongping's Mansion would withdraw from the circle of nobles and become an ordinary family.
Even so, a girl from such a family was actually engaged to the Duke of Anguo's Mansion. Putting aside the reasons behind it, this was enough to make many people dislike Jiang Si for marrying into the Duke of Anguo's Mansion.
Ji Chongyi, the third son of the Duke of Anguo's Mansion, said that a woman's beauty is not important, and he cares more about her temperament and character. Doesn't the implication of this mean that he dislikes the fourth Miss Jiang's bad character?
Regardless of whether Ji Chongyi said this intentionally or unintentionally, once this remark came out, Jiang Si immediately lost face. When he went out to attend gatherings of noble ladies, he was filled with gossip.
Jiang Si was a man with a bad temper. He fell ill as soon as he returned and was ill for half a month.
Jiang Si, who was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes.
The curvature of her eyes was extremely beautiful, and they curled up slightly at the ends, outlining an indescribable beauty.
At this moment, the pair of extremely beautiful eyes met Ah Man's, revealing a faint smile: "Why do you look like you want to eat people?"
"When I think of someone who is blind, I feel angry for the young lady."
The smile in Jiang Si's eyes quickly disappeared, but the curve of his mouth deepened, and he said lightly: "That person has never seen me, so he can't be said to be blind."
"Girl, you are still speaking for him!" Looking at the girl who had lost weight in just half a month, Ah Man felt distressed and unwilling to accept it.
Half a month ago, the girl went to the flower-viewing banquet at the Yongchang Marquis's residence and burst into tears when she came back. She even smashed her favorite jade Pixiu ornament. She gnashed her teeth in hatred when she mentioned the third son of the Anguo Duke's residence. Why has she changed now?
"I'm not speaking for him, it's just a drunken remark." Jiang Si's eyes turned and looked at another maid, Aqiao, who was standing next to the screen, and ordered, "Aqiao, go and get the two sets of clothes I asked you to make a few days ago."
Soon Ah Qiao brought two sets of clothes, one of which she gave to Ah Man and the other one for Jiang Si to put on.
As Ah Man put on his clothes, he said angrily: "My drunken words made the girl a laughing stock."
Jiang Si's eyes became colder, he simply closed his eyes and said softly: "What does this mean?"
Her life's misfortune began with this unequal marriage.
Thinking back to the time when she was young and ignorant, she was so proud to be engaged to the son of the Duke of Anguo. Who would have known that the third son, Ji Chongyi, already had a lover.
Ji Chongyi's sweetheart was a girl from a commoner family.
Only after she got married did she gradually learn that the commoner girl had by chance saved Ji Chongyi who was in danger while out for fun. Ji Chongyi recuperated at the girl's home for several days before he was found by the Duke's Mansion. The two had developed feelings for each other and had been secretly in contact ever since.
While she was still full of longing and pride in this marriage, Ji Chongyi had already rebelled against his family elders many times in order to be with his lover.
The marriage was imminent, and the Anguo Mansion would naturally not allow Ji Chongyi to act recklessly, not to mention that he wanted to marry a commoner woman who was not even as good as the Jiang family. Naturally, no word of Ji Chongyi's resistance and dissatisfaction was spread.
When Jiang Si thought about Ji Chongyi's truthful words after drinking, he felt that he was very stupid at that time. After being angry, he couldn't help but find excuses for him, thinking that he was not vulgar and was not one of those vulgar men who only cared about women's appearance. He said that he was just stating the facts.
Let's just talk about the facts. Tonight, on the night of April 15th in the eighteenth year of Jingming, this noble and distinguished young man from a prominent family ran to the shore of Moyou Lake with his sweetheart and jumped into the lake to commit suicide for love.
Later, Ji Chongyi was rescued, but his sweetheart died.
In order to cover up this matter, their wedding, which was originally scheduled for early winter, was moved forward by several months. After she got married happily, until Ji Chongyi's accidental death, for nearly a year, this man with Bai Yueguang in his heart never touched her.
After that, more misfortunes happened until she opened her eyes again after her tragic death and returned to the year she was fifteen.
It can be said that all her misfortunes started from her marriage to Ji Chongyi. Now that she can start over, her top priority is to resolve this marriage and draw a clear line between herself and the unconventional Third Master Ji and the unattainable Duke Anguo's Mansion, never to have any contact with them until death!
In a moment, Jiang Si had already put on his clothes for going out and nodded to Ah Man: "Ah Man, let's go."
Ah Man picked up the bag on the chair.
Ah Qiao hesitated for a moment, then stopped Jiang Si and said, "Girl, it's so late, are you really going out? The second door is already locked—"
"It's okay, all of these are ready. Aqiao, you just take good care of the yard." Jiang Si looked determined.
If possible, she certainly didn't want to run out at night to take risks. However, except for two personal maids, she couldn't find anyone reliable to help her.
Seeing this, Ah Qiao could only nod her head heavily, said "Don't worry, young lady", and made way.
Jiang Si and Ah Man quietly left her residence, Haitangju, and walked through the garden and numerous doorways under the shade of lush flowers and trees, and came to the second gate.
"Girl——" Ah Man looked at the closed door and called out softly.