Chapter 87 is a piece of trash. In the past two months, Su Zhihan and Jiang Zhenniang...
In the past two months, Su Zhihan and Jiang Zhenniang's business has been booming, and they are living a very comfortable life. However, the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion seems to be shrouded in gloom, with a depressed and gloomy atmosphere.
The reason for this was that Chang Ge'er had failed the imperial examination again. Chang Ge'er was known as a talented scholar and his reputation was widespread, but now he had become the laughing stock of the day, and the ridicule and mockery from the outside world came like a tidal wave.
As the heir of the Marquis of Zhongyong, Changge'er, who had grown up amidst the praise of others since childhood, could not bear such humiliation. From then on, he refused to step into the Imperial Academy again, and stayed in his own courtyard every day, never venturing out.
On the surface, he claimed that he was studying hard at home, but in reality, he was playing and frolicking with a group of maids in the room. Even when his elderly wet nurse, Madam Hu, tried to persuade him, it was to no avail.
The wet nurse, Madam Hu, secretly shed tears and couldn't help but sigh in front of Pearl. Seeing this, Pearl wanted to go inside and persuade Chang Ge'er.
Unexpectedly, Chang Ge'er was having a great time playing in the room. When he saw her come in, he pressed her down on the couch and, in broad daylight, tried to take off her clothes to do *that*.
Pearl was both shocked and furious. She instinctively struggled twice, but was slapped first, and heard him scold her angrily: "I used to give you a lot of face, but you're just a servant. Since you don't want to serve me, don't come into my room anymore. Tomorrow, I'll choose a stable boy to marry you off to!"
Upon hearing this, Pearl's heart trembled, and her pretty face instantly turned as white as paper.
At first, she was incredulous. She looked up at Chang Ge'er, who was full of hostility, and subconsciously reached for his waistband with both hands.
She should be, she should belong to Chang-ge'er...
But the moment Pearl looked up, she met several pairs of eyes around her, some filled with smugness, some with disgust, and some with jealousy. Her heart sank into an ice cellar. She pushed Chang Ge'er away with both hands, covered her face, and ran out crying.
As Chang Ge'er watched Pearl's departing figure, he immediately recalled her past kindness and felt somewhat regretful for his actions.
He considered chasing after her, but then thought that Pearl was just a servant girl, and chasing after her would only be giving her too much credit. He decided to wait until she came back to serve him in the room, say a few sweet words, and coax her gently.
Having thought this through, Chang Ge'er gave up his idea and lost interest in continuing his antics. He waved his hand, signaling all the maids gathered around him to leave.
The other maids obediently withdrew, but Xiuhe, who harbored ulterior motives and wanted to take the opportunity to make Pearl truly leave the room, lingered and was the last to leave.
After everyone else left, she unbuttoned her thin jacket, hugged Chang Ge'er from behind, and said in a sweet voice, "Chang Ge'er, I apologize to you on behalf of Sister Pearl."
"Sister Pearl didn't do it on purpose."
"She has a heart full of love for you and treats you as her future husband, which is why she supervises your studies and often scolds us, telling us not to bother the young master... Ah!"
Before she could finish speaking, a sharp pain suddenly struck her, and before Xiuhe could react, she fell heavily to the ground.
She fell and her face turned deathly pale, while Chang Ge'er's face was frosty as he sternly rebuked her, "Do you think I'm a fool? Do you think I can't see through your intentions?"
"Get out of here!"
"Ugh... ooh..." Xiuhe trembled with fear, but couldn't stand up. She struggled a few times, then suddenly felt a heat below her, followed by blood staining her skirt.
"What are you still standing there for... Heh!" Chang Ge'er scolded angrily, but his expression changed when he saw the blood spreading: "Someone! Someone come quick!"
Chaos erupted immediately in Chang Ge'er's courtyard.
Pearl, who ran out of Chang Ge'er's courtyard, had no idea what was happening behind her. She ran a long way before gradually slowing down, wiping away her tears with a handkerchief, feeling that she was completely finished.
She was chosen to live in Chang Ge'er's courtyard when she was young, and even the head mistress said that she would be given a special ceremony when Chang Ge'er got married. In the past, Chang Ge'er would play around with the other maids, but he treated her differently, and she also felt that Chang Ge'er treated her differently.
But now it seems that she is nothing more than a servant, and what difference is there between her and other maids? Even if she takes off her skirt and fools around with him, in his eyes she is nothing more than an object that he can summon and dismiss at will.
When Pearl saw someone coming from ahead, she wiped away her tears, but the tears just wouldn't stop. She could only raise her sleeve to cover her face and wipe her face haphazardly with a handkerchief.
Pearl didn't dare go home, fearing her family would ask questions, and she didn't want her younger sister Yinghong to see her in such an embarrassing state. She wandered around for a while, then decided to go out through the back door, intending to find a place to sit and think about what to do next.
Pearl hadn't taken two steps when she remembered Chang Ge'er saying he wanted to marry her off to a stable boy, and she couldn't help but shed tears again.
It is now late autumn, and the leaves are falling in a swirling motion.
Seeing this scene, Pearl thought of herself and felt a deep sadness. She walked forward, wiping away her tears. Some people tried to chat with her because she was alone, but she quickly scolded them away.
Pearl stopped when she reached the bridge. Looking at the shimmering lake below, she suddenly felt an urge to jump in.
Rather than be married off to a stable boy, rather than be ridiculed in the mansion for decades, she'd rather end it all. But Pearl thought of her parents and Yinghong at home, and felt a pang of reluctance. She leaned on the railing, lost in thought.
At that moment, a hand reached out from behind her.
The newcomer grabbed her arm and abruptly dragged Pearl back a few steps: "Madam, what is this... Pearl?"
"Pearl...is Pearl Sister?"
"..." Upon hearing this voice that was both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar, Pearl froze, looked up, and exclaimed, "...Han-jie'er?"
The newcomer was Su Zhihan, who had just returned from the residence of the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. The lady of the house was generous and gave her money as a reward, and also rented three sedan chairs to send Su Zhihan and the others back.
Su Zhihan decided to check out the pavilion stall since it was on her way. According to the maid in charge of the business there, business was booming, but the space was too small and there wasn't enough room. The stall owners next door were always complaining.
Unexpectedly, as she rode in a sedan chair under the bridge, she saw a girl in the distance, leaning against the railing and wiping away tears.
Su Zhihan felt a jolt of fear, worried that her wife might do something rash and jump. She told the sedan bearers to stay below, then ran up the bridge and pulled her back.
To my surprise, it turned out to be an acquaintance.
Su Zhihan stared at the pearl, feeling extremely frightened.
If she hadn't lifted the curtain to look outside, if she hadn't planned to go to the pavilion stall today, if she hadn't noticed the situation on the bridge...
Just imagining it sent chills down Su Zhihan's spine.
She composed herself, looked at Pearl who was bowing her head and remaining silent, and saw that her clothes were neat and tidy, except for mud on her skirt and embroidered shoes. She breathed a sigh of relief and asked her, "What happened in the manor? Why did you come here?"
"I'm fine, I just came out for a walk to clear my head."
"You call this a relaxation?" Su Zhihan was furious and laughed. "I came here in a sedan chair. I'll take you back to the Marquis's residence."
"I don't want to go back to the Marquis's mansion!" Pearl blurted out, then lowered her head again after meeting Su Zhihan's eyes.
“…Then let’s go to my house for a ride.” Su Zhihan thought for a moment, then pulled Pearl into the sedan chair. The two squeezed into the sedan chair and swayed back to the Jiang family home.
Once she was in the sedan chair, she regretted her decision, thinking she should have gone straight back to the manor.
However, Su Zhihan had already noticed her restlessness, so she ordered the sedan chair bearers to carry the sedan chair directly into the Jiang family's gate before pulling Pearl out of the sedan chair.
Pearl had no choice but to lower her head and follow Su Zhihan into the house. When Jiang Zhenniang heard that her daughter had brought a beautiful guest back, she hurriedly came out to check. When she saw Pearl, she was first taken aback, then her face lit up with joy: "Pearl, it's been a long time."
"Madam Jiang, it's been so long..."
"How are your parents? How is Yinghong doing in the kitchen?" Jiang Zhenniang asked several questions before noticing that Pearl's face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red and swollen. She hurriedly instructed a maid to take Pearl inside to wash her face, and then secretly asked Su Zhihan, "What happened to Miss Pearl?"
Back when the mother and daughter left the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion, Pearl was an outstanding figure in Chang Ge'er's courtyard, dressed and made up very differently from ordinary maids. She was never as disheveled as she is now.
Su Zhihan whispered what she had seen, which startled Jiang Zhenniang: "What? You mean Pearl looked like she was about to jump into the river and commit suicide?"
“That’s right. I said I would send her back to the Marquis’s residence, but she said she didn’t want to go back.” Su Zhihan muttered to Jiang Zhenniang, while a sense of worry crept into her heart.
Just as she had predicted, the decline of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion was not a matter of a day or two, and there must have been signs of it long ago.
For example, the Third Prince, whose career was originally going smoothly, suddenly passed away, and was replaced by the Second Prince, whose reputation and political standing were completely different from his own. Su Zhihan had heard about this to some extent when she worked at the Peng family mansion or other official households.
For example, when the Third Mistress chose to leave the Marquis's mansion with her children and return to her maiden home to live as a widow, the Second Mistress, who took over the household affairs, was far more stingy and petty.
Even when Granny Zhao saw Jiang Zhenniang, who had come to inquire about things, she couldn't help but complain that life in the mansion was not as good as before and was becoming increasingly difficult.
Pearl's current reaction seems to indicate that a new upheaval may be quietly taking place in the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion.
Jiang Zhenniang was uneasy. When Zhenzhu came out, she took her hand and inquired carefully. She finally learned that Chang Ge'er had failed the autumn examination and had given up on himself, playing around in the mansion every day.
"I want to persuade him to study..."
"But he forced me to do it, and when I didn't want to, he scolded me, saying I was just a servant and had no right to advise him." Speaking of this, Pearl buried her face in her hands and wept again: "You don't know, my heart feels like it's being cut by a knife..."
"He even said he wanted me to marry that stable boy..."
"I imagined marrying a stable boy and being summoned by the maids in that house to serve them by washing their faces and feet, and so I... I..."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhenniang immediately understood why Zhenzhu was trying to commit suicide. She was a very respectable person in Chang Ge'er's household, and it was said that she would become Chang Ge'er's concubine in the future.
Throughout the mansion, countless maids were envious.
Even if pearls are of good quality, they will naturally be an eyesore to others.
Just like the man Jiang Zhenniang remembered, who was once a favorite of the young lady, but was later forced to clean toilets, a task he performed for decades. He used to be so respectable in front of the young lady, with so many people trying to please him, but in the end, his eyes were lifeless, he was numb, and his whole body reeked of an inescapable stench.
Jiang Zhenniang felt uneasy, and was even more grateful that she had left the manor and was now free. However, she couldn't say that, and had to persuade Zhenzhu, telling her that Changge'er was just angry and that's why he was talking nonsense, and advised her to go back and check.
“You were personally chosen by the eldest mistress, and you grew up with Chang-ge’er since childhood. Your parents are the head stewards of the mansion. How could they possibly marry you off to a stable boy?”
"Chang-ge'er was just angry for a moment, that's why he said those words in anger. When you go back, give him a way out, and this matter will be over."
Jiang Zhenniang comforted her for a while, and seeing that Zhenzhu's emotions had gradually calmed down, she hired a sedan chair to send her back to the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence.
Watching the sedan chair depart, she turned to Su Zhihan and said, "I really want to teach Pearl to redeem herself and go outside. With her character and talent, she's more than qualified to be an official's wife."
"How could it be treated like this..."
"But Pearl is a servant born into the household, and she was chosen by the eldest mistress. It seems her heart is tied to the mansion... Sigh."
"And Chang-ge'er...tsk." Chang-ge'er's self-destructive behavior after failing the autumn examination reminded Jiang Zhenniang of her deceased father, Su. After a long while, she spat out, "He's a piece of trash!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
