Chapter 9

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Xu Momo angrily brushed her sleeve, unable to stay in this wretched place for another moment. As she turned to leave, Gu Yan Fei’s leisurely voice called out from behind, “Oh, and remember to leave the monthly allowance before you go.”

Xu Momo’s body froze. She turned back and met Gu Yan Fei’s gaze, speaking sarcastically, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t return to the Marquis’s residence? I thought you wanted to sever ties with the family!”

A country girl is just a country girl, obsessed with money, still thinking about the Marquis’s silver!

Gu Yan Fei took off a carved gold and jade bracelet from her wrist and handed it to Juan Bi, saying, “Take this and pawn it.”

Xu Momo recognized the bracelet immediately; all of Miss Gu’s jewelry had been prepared by the Old Madam, each piece bearing the Marquis’s mark. The earrings that were pawned haven’t been redeemed yet. If this bracelet is also pawned, it will only confirm the rumors of the Marquis’s decline!

Xu Momo, reluctant and grinding her teeth, said, “I’ll have someone retrieve the monthly allowance right away.”

“Juan Bi, accompany Xu Momo and retrieve my three months’ worth of allowance,” Gu Yan Fei said with a smiling face.

Xu Momo’s face turned ashen, her neck veins bulging. She thought one month’s allowance would suffice, but this country girl was so greedy, demanding three months’ worth.

The silver should have been hers!

Xu Momo’s heart felt like it was bleeding, as if a piece of her very soul had been carved out. Distraught, she left. She needed to return to the capital quickly to report to the Old Madam. If anything went wrong with the marriage between the Gu and Fang families, she would be finished!

Half an hour later, Xu Momo’s carriage left Dan Yang City, traveling swiftly day and night. Upon returning to the Marquis’s residence in the capital, she didn’t even bother to freshen up. Her first act was to rush to Ci He Hall and plaintively recount her grievances:

“Old Madam, though I wouldn’t say I exhausted myself, I’ve done my utmost to instruct the second young miss. Yet, she misunderstands me, thinking I’m intentionally making things difficult for her! The second young miss grew up outside, used to her previous way of life, always wandering and not settling down. When the carriage accident happened, I merely offered a few words of advice, and she laid hands on me… That’s how I lost this tooth.”

Xu Momo vividly described Gu Yan Fei as a crude, ignorant, and uncultured country girl.

In the corner of the eastern room, a cloisonné incense burner quietly emitted wisps of smoke. A dignified woman in her fifties sat on a rosewood luohan bed, dressed in a dark purple ten-patterned silk robe. She fiddled with a string of Buddhist beads, her gaze sweeping over the black gap in Xu Momo’s upper front teeth, her expression unreadable.

An elderly woman with silver hair beside her spoke softly, “Old Madam, please calm down. The second young miss is still young.”

“Still young? She’s almost of age,” Old Madam Gu sighed quietly. “What a calamity.”

The elderly woman was momentarily speechless.

This incident was a scandal for the Marquis’s residence. The Gu family of the Marquis of Dingyuan had been military officers for generations. The late Marquis Gu Ce was the eldest son of the Old Madam.

In the sixth year of Xuanren, Gu Ce, with his wife Xie Shi, was stationed in Yangzhou’s Sishui County. Unexpectedly, Nan Yue launched an attack. Xie Shi, seven months pregnant, was arranged by Gu Ce to leave Sishui County. Nan Yue, having somehow learned of the situation, sent people to pursue Xie Shi, attempting to use her to coerce Gu Ce into surrendering.

Xie Shi, frightened on the road, gave birth prematurely and died after delivering a baby girl. The wet nurse, Su Niang, fled with the infant, taking months to return to the capital. No one expected that Su Niang would secretly pass her own daughter off as the legitimate daughter of the Gu family, deceiving everyone for a full fourteen years. It wasn’t until half a year ago that Su Niang’s gambling husband came to extort her, and was discovered by the Old Madam, revealing the truth of the swapped daughters.

“Old Madam,” Xu Momo pretended to wipe her eye with a handkerchief while nervously glancing at the Old Madam from the corner of her eye, “there’s one more thing about Fang Gongzi…”

“Fang Ming Feng?” Old Madam Gu stopped turning the beads, her brows furrowing slightly.

“Yes, the heir of Duke Ying.” Xu Momo swallowed hard and then delivered the blow, “The second young miss unexpectedly encountered Fang Gongzi in Dan Yang City. She… she actually went to him and said that the marriage between the two families was off! The second young miss also said she wouldn’t return to the capital unless… unless you personally go to Dan Yang City to fetch her.”

Xu Momo downplayed the faults and shifted all the blame to Gu Yan Fei, lowering her head and tightly clutching the handkerchief in her hand.

Smack!

Old Madam Gu slammed her hand heavily on the tea table, her lips tightly pressed together, her whole being enveloped in a heavy cloud of anger. For this granddaughter she had never met, Old Madam Gu felt neither affection nor disdain.

For her, Gu Yun Rong was the granddaughter she had raised herself, the one she was proud of.

Gu Yun Rong excelled in every way—appearance, temperament, and talent. She was praised by everyone in the capital and had even caught the favor of Kang Wang, the biological son of the current Empress Dowager. After the current emperor ascended the throne, he was granted the title of Prince. If Gu Yun Rong were to become the Princess Consort of the Kang Wang, it would undoubtedly be a great honor for the Marquis of Dingyuan’s household.

However, the Gu family and the Fang family have had a marriage agreement for years. When the old Marquis was alive, he betrothed the eldest daughter of the main branch to Fang Ming Feng, the heir of Duke Ying. If they were to break off the engagement, the Gu family would undoubtedly be accused of being untrustworthy and of seeking to curry favor with the powerful.

After much deliberation, Old Madam Gu decided to bring back the “true” eldest daughter of the main branch. In this way, they could fulfill the marriage agreement between the Gu and Fang families without tarnishing the reputation of the Gu family or Gu Yun Rong.

Old Madam Gu had already weighed the pros and cons repeatedly and mentally prepared herself. She knew that this second granddaughter had grown up in the countryside and would require at least half a year to a year of careful training before being presentable, but she never expected her to be so uncouth!

Being uncouth and foolish could be overlooked, but the problem was that this girl had no self-awareness. How dare she go to Fang Ming Feng and speak so recklessly, completely humiliating the Gu family!

Old Madam Gu slowly lifted her eyelids and said, “I told you to take good care of the second young miss, and this is how you do it?!”

Her voice was so cold it seemed like ice shards would fall from it.

Xu Momo cursed Gu Yan Fei a thousand times in her heart, then quickly knelt down and admitted her fault, “This servant is ashamed, but I truly don’t know how to handle the second young miss.”

After she spoke, the room fell into an oppressive silence, the air heavy and still. The maidservants standing nearby all lowered their heads, as silent as cicadas in the winter.

At that moment, a young maid’s crisp voice broke the silence from outside the curtain: “Second… third young miss!”

The tense atmosphere in the room suddenly eased. In the next moment, the curtain was lifted from outside, and a beautiful, slender girl gracefully entered the room, carrying tea.

Her soft features formed a well-defined oval face, her skin as fair as jade. With willow-like brows and rosy lips, her eyes sparkled like stars. When she smiled, a pair of adorable dimples appeared on her cheeks, exuding a lively and charming demeanor that immediately endeared her to anyone who saw her.

The girl had her hair styled in two flat buns, adorned with ruby-studded gold butterfly hairpins. She wore a crimson robe embroidered with branching begonia flowers. As she walked, her slender figure swayed gracefully, her steps light yet elegant.

Her arrival was like a warm spring breeze entering the room, which had been as cold as a winter wind.

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