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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*~ Confessing To An Annoying Boss ~*
The female boss is named Chi Yin.
She has a stunning and radiant face.
Her dress is elegant and her demeanor is superb.
At work, she is efficient and decisive.
She’s a perfect example of a modern, high-quality woman who is both beautiful and capable. If only this woman didn’t keep causing trouble for her.
When the workload doubled,
When perfect drafts were ruthlessly returned with nitpicking,
When she had to work late into the night with only the lonely lamp for company.
Qiao Ziman felt desperate.
But what made her even more desperate was that her few remaining free moments were filled with blind dates arranged by her mother.
One day, after Qiao Ziman calmly finished with the last blind date—another mama’s boy—she received a call from her mother as expected.
Facing her mother’s "frenzy," Qiao Ziman chose to "freak out" in response.
In the choice between "becoming a nun" or "succeeding," she calmly chose "coming out."
Qiao Ziman unexpectedly said: "I like women."
Her mother responded surprisingly: "As long as it's a person."
Her mother became even more relentless, thinking about future blind date scenarios. Qiao Ziman made up a story: "I have a girlfriend, she’s wealthy, has big breasts, is my boss, has a bad temper, is a sadist who will hit me, and I advise you not to make trouble."
Qiao Ziman happily hung up the phone.
Turning around, she encountered the very person.
The person glanced at her own chest and then raised an eyebrow meaningfully.
Feeling extremely embarrassed, Qiao Ziman decided to give up and retorted: "Yes, that’s right, it’s you!"
After saying that, she pretended to leave calmly and gracefully.
According to online sources, after confessing to a boss, the boss would avoid the person to relieve the awkwardness.
Qiao Ziman let go of her worries.
Unexpectedly, the next day, Chi Yin called her into the office.
Chi Yin pulled out a thick stack of notebooks from her bag and solemnly introduced: "No romantic experience, owns a bar, two restaurants, three cars, four houses, and five million in savings. The house will be under both our names, and the bank card password is your birthday."
"Emotionally stable, won't hit people, good work schedule, and runs home after work."
Seeing Qiao Ziman in silence, she added: "Not well-endowed, but if it doesn’t work out, we can find a solution."
Qiao Ziman was baffled: "What does this mean?"
Suddenly, Chi Yin smiled, pure and innocent: "Aren’t you my girlfriend?"
Qiao Ziman was shocked!
Oh no! What if she really meant it?!
=> READ IT HERE <=
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*~ Chasing Jade ~*
Synopsis:
After her parents passed away, Fan Changyu faced a string of hardships—her childhood sweetheart broke off their engagement, greedy relatives wanted to seize her inheritance, and with a five-year-old sister to care for, she decided to take a husband in name only.
Her plan centered on a man she had saved: wounded, with nothing to his name but a strikingly handsome face. They quickly reached an agreement: she would take him in to recover, and he would pretend to marry her, helping her hold on to her family assets.
Once the family business was secure, Fan Changyu prepared to write the divorce agreement, as promised. However, a war erupted, and soldiers were recruited; her “husband” was conscripted and vanished without a trace.
The next time she saw him, he was drenched in blood, lying in a wounded soldiers’ tent. His handsome face was smeared with blood, while his simple soldier’s uniform was torn to shreds. Seeing the hardship he had endured, Fan Changyu’s eyes reddened with tears.
“Don’t be a soldier anymore,” she whispered, her voice choked. “Come back. I’ll slaughter pigs to support you.”
He barely opened his eyes, coughing up blood. “You… wanted a divorce…”
Her eyes filled with tears. “No divorce, no divorce!”
[Mini Theater]
Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an, became renowned at a young age, his achievements in battle granting him the title of marquis before he even turned twenty. His methods in military command were famously strict and ruthless, making him unmatched across the entire Dayin dynasty.
Recently, however, the soldiers noticed something peculiar about their marquis. He no longer resided in his spacious command tent, preferring instead to squeeze into the cramped and shabby tent designated for the wounded.
Though he’d taken a serious injury—a wound deep enough to bleed through his armor—under normal circumstances, he’d be back on his feet within a couple of days. Yet this time, he’d been lying there for over ten days with no sign of improvement.
The camp’s grizzled strategist clicked his tongue after visiting him. “Hmph. If someone is by your side to wipe your brow and feed you medicine, of course the wound takes longer to heal!”
It wasn’t until the marquis’s mysterious wife—who had never shown herself before—snuck into the barracks, wearing her husband’s tattered soldier’s uniform, and took his place on the front lines, fearing her “delicate, sickly husband” might die on the battlefield. Only then did the “gravely wounded” marquis leap up from his bed in shock, hastily don his armor, and rush to chase after her.
As the blood-red sun set, a lone goose cried across the vast sky.
With a butcher knife in hand, Fan Changyu hacked off the enemy general's head and squinted toward the distant friendly troops kicking up clouds of yellow dust as they approached. She pulled over a nearby soldier and asked, "The one charging at the front, wearing that bright armor with the Qilin shoulder guards and riding that big horse… why does he look a bit like my husband?"
The soldier: …Isn’t it possible that he actually is?
=> READ IT HERE <=
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