Gu Nanjiao paused, then said, "My husband is highly learned, has an amazing appearance, and is as pure and gentle as a breeze. Tell me, what do you have that I could possibly seduce?"
Lu Yanzhao smiled, in an unusually good mood. He liked what Gu Nanjiao said today.
"Well... he really deserves to be hit!" Bai Luochen looked embarrassed. He considered himself to be handsome and a dashing young man, so how could he be considered worthless in Gu Nanjiao's eyes?
Upon hearing Bai Luochen's reply, Wang Fu was heartbroken and cried out, "Young Master Bai, how could you say such heartless words? Gu Nanjiao framed me; I did not say those words."
Gu Nanjiao's face darkened; it seemed she hadn't been harsh enough in dealing with him earlier.
Lu Yanzhao said, "It is better to report to the authorities and let them thoroughly investigate this matter, since they are provoking trouble, using hurtful words, and even turning around to accuse others after their false accusations fail."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Gu Nanjiao approached Wang Fu and whispered, "My father's good friend and brother is the county magistrate. Why don't we go together?"
Wang Fu's expression changed. No matter how rich her father was, he was still just a lowly merchant. This was why Wang Fu was clinging to Bai Luochen. Although the Bai family of Yuzhou was also involved in commerce, they had a deep family foundation. Many of the Bai family's sons in the capital had entered officialdom, and even the current Empress was related to the Bai family by marriage. Although the Empress had been convicted and the Crown Prince's whereabouts were unknown, even a fallen camel is bigger than a horse. If they could marry into the Bai family, they could escape their lowly merchant status.
Gu Nanjiao's arrogance today must mean she has powerful backing. She shouldn't confront her directly; there will be plenty of time to settle scores with Gu Nanjiao later.
Wang Fu closed his eyes. Seeing this, Hong Huang Lan Lv rushed forward to help him, but Wang Fu pushed them away forcefully.
“Young Master Bai…” Wang Fu stared at Bai Luochen with tears in his eyes, a sight that evoked pity.
Bai Luochen still had business dealings with Wang Dafu and didn't want to make things too ugly. Seeing this, he stepped forward and said some conciliatory words. Wang Fu's dejected mood began to slowly recover.
Gu Nanjiao didn't intend to go to court, since she was in the wrong for hitting someone. Her earlier performance with Lu Yanzhao was just to scare Wang Fu.
Bai Luochen said, "Since that's the case, let's just forget about it for now. For my sake, let's all go home!"
"I'll listen to Young Master Bai!" Wang Fu wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, lowering her head to hide the malice in her eyes.
Gu Nanjiao didn't know what Wang Fu was thinking, nor did she care. She glanced at him indifferently and said calmly, "That's settled then. I still have business to do, don't block the entrance and affect us!"
She paused, as if she had thought of something, and said to Bai Luochen, "If you dump this mess on me again, I won't cooperate with you anymore."
Lu Yanzhao chuckled, glanced at Bai Luochen, and followed Gu Nanjiao into Jiaoniang Pavilion.
Bai Luochen...
...
For the next few days, Gu Nanjiao was busy making ice. She planned to build an ice cellar to store more ice so that it would be convenient to take it out whenever needed.
With less than two months until the autumn examinations, Lu Yanzhao's studies were becoming increasingly demanding. He had heard that the headmaster of Nanxiang Academy valued him highly and often personally guided him in his studies and policy essays. This was similar to the modern-day academic elites; even if you came from a poor family, you were still a key student cultivated by the academy, regardless of your academic performance or character.
Because of the summer heat, spicy food doesn't sell well, so Gu Nanjiao mainly sells cold skin noodles, cold rice noodles, jelly noodles, and various cold drinks.
The cold drinks include chilled plum juice, iced mung bean smoothie, and iced milk tea.
Iced milk tea is the most popular among students, and even girls from the neighborhood come to try it.
The tapioca pearls in the milk tea are made by rolling tapioca flour and brown sugar into small round shapes, with a little red bean and barley added. Gu Nanjiao hasn't made any other complicated flavors yet, so for now, she only has red bean and barley tapioca pearl milk tea.
Before they knew it, Lu Yanping's wedding day arrived.
Early in the morning, Li arrived at the Lu family home with a radiant smile to announce the good news, saying that Lu's mother was his aunt and that she absolutely had to attend her nephew's wedding.
Mother Lu felt embarrassed not to go, since they all shared the same surname, Lu, and Yanzhao still had to take the imperial examinations. It wouldn't be good for the family to have a reputation for discord that could affect his career.
Li's purpose was simple: she wanted Gu Nanjiao and Lu's mother to see how much importance her family placed on getting married, while Lu Yanzhao's wedding was incredibly shabby. There was no bride price, not even an oxcart; Gu Nanjiao had to shamelessly walk over.
When Huang Qingqing calls Lu's mother "Auntie" again, she'll definitely get a gift and a "change of address" fee. Li's wishful thinking was going smoothly, and she became increasingly smug.
For Lu Yanping's wedding, Li hired a sedan chair, wanting the whole village to know, especially Yang Meiqin.
Unfortunately, Yang Meiqin was very busy; she was dreaming of becoming Wang Dafu's concubine!
...
Huang Qingqing was woken up early in the morning to get ready, and Huang's teacher and mother were extremely busy. Huang's mother gave Huang Qingqing the silver bracelet that she had given as part of her dowry when she got married, and Huang's teacher took out twenty taels of silver and handed it to her.
Looking at their daughter in her red wedding dress, Mr. and Mrs. Huang's eyes welled up with tears.
His ugly daughter finally got married. With makeup and wearing this red wedding dress, she looked like a completely different person; the ugly daughter was no longer ugly.
His daughter has changed a lot recently; she looks noticeably different now. He hopes his son-in-law won't find fault with her in the future.
A crowd gathered outside the Huang family's wall, all eager to see what kind of man the Huang family's unmarried, ugly daughter had married—would he be pockmarked, lame, and have a gap-toothed man?
Some people gloated, saying that Master Huang was in a hurry and randomly found a widower to marry his daughter.
Lu Yanping rode the rented horse with a dark face. Although he was extremely unwilling to accept this marriage, he couldn't go against his parents' wishes, otherwise he would have been kicked out of the house.
Behind Lu Yanping, four burly men carried a small sedan chair, which drew much discussion from the crowd.
In ancient times, only wealthy families could afford to ride horses or sit in sedan chairs. Ordinary families would have brothers take turns carrying their children to the wedding if they lived nearby, and if they lived a little further away, they would ride in an oxcart. You'd never see anyone riding horses or sitting in sedan chairs. It seems the Huang family's ugly daughter married quite well, especially the groom, who had fair skin and was quite handsome.
At this point, someone else said sourly, "I heard that Master Huang gave twenty taels of silver as a dowry. I think the groom is probably only after the money."
Upon hearing this, everyone exclaimed, "That's true! Look at how unwilling the groom is; he's probably being forced."
The onlookers huddled on the wall, eager to watch the spectacle.
Huang's mother put the red veil on Huang Qingqing's head, but Huang Qingqing immediately lifted it off: "I won't wear it, I'll go out like this!" She wanted to be confident, she wanted to shine, she was the most beautiful!
Huang's mother said, "Qingqing, only the groom can lift the veil. It's unlucky not to have the veil on."
Huang Qingqing said willfully, "I'm going to show everyone that I'm not ugly anymore! I'm the most beautiful!"
Master Huang's lips twitched. Although her daughter had changed a lot, she was still far from beautiful.
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