"What happened that you called me here in such a hurry?" Wei Xian asked as he walked in, his face looking rather grim.
Cen Jie opened her mouth as if to say something, but when she got closer and smelled the perfume on him, her expression immediately changed. She said irritably, "That little beast hasn't come back yet, I don't know where he's hiding. At a time like this, Master is still out fooling around with those filthy women. If things are exposed, no one will be happy!"
After being exposed, Wei Xian felt a moment of unease, but his expression quickly changed, and he said in a firm tone, "What nonsense are you spouting? Nothing of the sort! It's just that several officials were discussing official business, and I couldn't refuse. Besides, that little brat is always running off; there's no place for him in this mansion. You can tell at a glance that he's the son of a brute. Like father, like son; a rat's son knows how to dig a hole. He's been restless since he was little, and he couldn't even sit still while studying!"
Seeing his forceful attitude, Cen Jie dared not pursue the matter of him finding women any further. Instead, she said anxiously, "Master, this time is probably different from before. Even if he ran away before, he would send a servant back to let us know where he went. But this time he didn't even take a servant with him; he went out alone!"
"Besides, it was too chaotic that day. I have no recollection of when he ran away, and the servants below don't know either. I'm afraid Cen Ying discovered something. Could it be that she arranged for that little beast to leave?"
These servants all treated their servants differently based on who they were dealing with. The two masters treated the young master very badly, and even the servants looked down on him behind his back. In addition, Jiang Chengyi had been beaten several times that day, so everyone's attention was focused on Jiang Chengyi, and no one paid attention to anything else.
"What are you afraid of? If your elder sister really knew something, would the Marquis of Zhongyi's mansion have tolerated it for so long? If that family of brutes knew that they had been raising someone else's child all these years, they would have come to kill them long ago. How could they have waited so quietly until now? You can put your mind at ease!"
The couple were discussing when Wei Jiao rushed in from outside: "Mother, Mother!"
"Father, you're here too!"
"What kind of panicked behavior is this?" Cen Jie said irritably.
"Mother, I heard that Liusu Pavilion just received a batch of extremely precious jewelry. Shall we go and buy some? Last time at my birthday banquet, I was supposed to be dressed the best, but everyone else dressed better than me. I can't swallow this!" Wei Jiao said with great dissatisfaction.
Cen Jie was already worried about the serious matter of switching her son, and seeing Wei Jiao still engrossed in dressing up, she became even more anxious.
"When will you grow up? Clothes and appearance are just external things. If you are humble and composed, you will have a certain elegance even if you wear coarse clothes. No one will dare to look down on you!" She scolded her daughter in a cold voice.
Wei Jiao snorted coldly: "Mother, you just don't want to buy it, so why say such things? If it's really as you say, why are all the ladies and young women attending the banquet dressed so nicely? Besides, when I dressed like that before, those two annoying cousins from the Jiang family not only ridiculed me, but also laughed at Father!"
Wei Xian, who was originally planning to slip away, stopped in his tracks upon hearing this.
What did they say about me?
"They said our Wei family is poor and that the gardener you hired wasn't Master Hongbo's disciple, but a fraud. They also said my clothes were shabby and that they were subtly mocking my background!" Wei Jiao covered her face with a handkerchief and began to cry, feeling wronged.
In reality, she was trying to hide her expression. After all, her words were exaggerated, and Wei Jiao could always be seen through when she lied. So this time, she covered her face to prevent her parents from seeing her expression.
As expected, the couple didn't pay attention to their daughter's behavior; instead, they were both angry because of those few words.
“No wonder they’re a family of brutes; even their daughter-in-law is so mean and vulgar. Jiaojiao, have your mother take her to buy clothes and jewelry. Although our Wei family doesn’t like to compete with them, we’ve been bullied to the point of being humiliated. If we don’t fight back, they’ll think we’re easy to bully,” Wei Xian declared.
Wei Jiao's face immediately lit up with joy: "Thank you, Father. Then, Father, let's hold another flower-viewing banquet at home."
If you buy clothes and jewelry but don't wear them out to show them off, then what's the point of buying them?
"Alright, then Father will invite a few scholars back and have them write some poems to elevate the style of this flower-viewing banquet!"
Wei Jiao cheered immediately and couldn't wait to go back to her room to write the invitations.
"The little bastard hasn't been found yet, so it's not appropriate to hold a big banquet to avoid causing any unforeseen complications," Cen Jie said, somewhat disapprovingly.
"What's there to be afraid of? The banquet isn't for him. Besides, Yi-ge'er is injured, and we don't know how well he's recovering. We can take this opportunity to invite him to our residence for a chat."
Wei Jiao returned to her courtyard and immediately began to whine to her wet nurse, "Granny Yan, I did as you taught me, and Father and Mother really agreed. Father will even invite scholars to write poems. Although he didn't say it outright, I know he's angry. Inviting these people to write poems is simply to dampen the arrogance of the Jiang family, because they're all strong-willed but simple-minded people. Haha, there's bound to be some fun to watch!"
She couldn't help but laugh as she spoke, clearly overjoyed.
Granny Yan patted the back of her hand and lowered her voice, saying, "Miss, this old servant advised you to hold this flower-viewing banquet, not to make fun of them."
"I know, it's mainly to let those guests see that our Wei family daughters are not some impoverished family, and that our clothes are all precious and exquisite. We just don't like to show off." Wei Jiao pouted, a hint of displeasure on her face, clearly still holding a grudge about what happened last time.
“Silly child, that’s even less necessary,” Granny Yan denied again.
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