Chapter 60 - Don’t understand the childhood sweethearts...

“What do you want to say?” Yun Fenghuang tried to free herself several times but failed. Instead, she felt that his thumb gently rubbed her wrist. She was furious, and slapped him again with the other hand. She sneered, “Are you gonna tell me that you want me to forgive you because the curse came true and therefore you have no offspring? Or that Chao Jingyou didn’t vent all her aggrievance on me when she came to Xie’s Family before, so she wants you here to revenge for her?!”

Qi Jiulu wanted to dodge this time, but stopped suddenly, because he softened for seeing her anger. He took the slap again and then frowned, “Chao Jingyou has gone to Xie’s Family to embarrass you?”

He was indifferent when mentioning his newly-wedded wife, showing no affection. Noticing that, Yun Fenghuang sneered secretly. She said coldly, “It has never been a secret that she was jealous of me, so how could she miss the opportunity to laugh at me?! You don’t pretend to be muddled!”

“I don’t like her, either…” Qi Jiulu explained quickly, but he was interrupted when he just got started. Yun Fenghuang said, “You said so because you are in front of me. If you are in front of her, I’m afraid that you will slander me to please her, right? Qi Jiulu, I haven’t seen you just for three years, but you are more skillful at pleasing girls…”

Qi Jiulu coughed helplessly and said gently, “I wish I could be more skillful at pleasing girls. I don’t expect to please you but want you give me a chance to explain.”

Yun Fenghuang said coldly, “Do you think that I still trust you now? Why should I trust you!”

“Gui Ren Yun!” Gongxiang Xiao, who was an onlooker this whole time, repeatedly told himself that this was a matter between them, and as an outsider, especially an outsider who had tried to have affairs with Yun Fenghuang, he should shut up and pretend he wasn’t there at all.

But!

He really could not bear it. He said, “If Xinyun really doesn’t care about you, why does he come to Dijing City from the north thousands of miles away right after he got married? Moreover, he insisted on taking ‘Xinyun’ as his style name, which means admiring bamboos, and the word “Huang” in your name means bamboos… As for the meaning of the word ‘Xinyun’, how could you, such a clever person, not know it?”

Yun Fenghuang sneered at him, “I know, of course I know! I am not very talented, but was praised by my tutor when I was a child. Since ‘Xinyun’ means admiring the good quality of bamboos, it is obvious that the bastard can’t forget my good look, right? But I am now a concubine, so he is not qualified to do that!”

Gongxiang Xiao, “!!!”

He tried to help again, “It is said that Xinyun’s wife is also very beautiful, no worse than you. If Xinyun is randy, how could he…”

“Shizi, you have not got married yet, but I think you are not such unscrupulous person who admires the wife of his follower.” If he didn’t say that, it would be fine. But as he did, Yun Fenghuang was even more furious, staring at Qi Jiulu, “Such being the case, how did you know that his wife is beautiful?!”

She quickly reached a conclusion, “It must be you who was very proud of marrying her, so you always told that to Shizi, right?! You haven’t come to Dijing City for a long time, but you… You indeed love her so much, Qi Jiulu! You couldn’t help speaking highly of her as you arrived here! Maybe before our engagement was cancelled, you and she had…”

“Nonsense!” Qi Jiulu looked at Shizi with accusatory eyes, clearly showing that “Why did Shizi repay my sincerity to you by putting me in the dilemma?” Qi Jiulu explained, “I have never mentioned Chao Jingyou to others, let alone said that she is so beautiful. How does she deserve to compare with you in terms of beauty?”

Seeing that Yun Fenghuang was unmoved, he sighed and said softly, “In my opinion, there is no one more beautiful and gentler than you in the world!”

He said this firmly and took it granted, which shocked Gongxiang Xiao. After a while, Gongxiang Xiao walked to a corner silently, wondering that he couldn’t understand the childhood sweethearts for his being unmarried… As people like Yun Fenghuang, who had nothing else except beauty and wanted to kill her lover, how blind Qi Jiulu was that he used “gentle” to describe her?

Did his conscience hurt…

Whether delivering the message last time or leading the way this time, there was no need for Gongxiang Xiao, a noble Shizi, to do so personally.

But he still insisted on doing it personally. One of the reasons was to get close with Qi Jiulu. Another was that he was curious about what would happen when they met again, because Yun Fenghuang once told him frankly that “Am I that easy to sleep with”, which obviously showed that she was not virtuous. He wanted to what she did to Qi Jiulu. Why did he miss her so much that he boldly went to the Imperial Harem to see her after being married?

… Now he saw that. Well, whether Yun Fenghuang was resourceful or not, Qi Jiulu really disappointed him… Men would always get their wives soon or later! No, he already had a wife, so why did he still play up to her? He just lost all the faces of men…

As Gongxiang Xiao thought about it in a mess, Yun Fenghuang sneered and said, “I know clearly how beautiful I am. I don’t need you to praise me! But there are those cheap scumbags in this world, who doesn’t love their gentle wives but flirt with other bitchy women!”

“… I married her for your sake.” Qi Jiulu was silent for a while, and then said slowly, “Aunt Jiang told me that you were sent into the Imperial Harem by Duke Yi’s Mansion, but I came to Dijing with the help of Prince Regent’s Mansion. In order to avoid Noble Consort Shu’s suspicion that you have collusion with Prince Regent’s Mansion, I could only marry Chao Jingyou, who is at odds with you, to show that after ending our engagement, we have no relationship and even become enemies!”

There was a legitimate girl from the previous generation of Qi’s Family who married into Jiang’s Family, so Qi Jiulu and Ms. Jiang were somehow relatives. Before having the engagement, Qi Jiulu had called Ms. Jiang aunt.

As Qi Jiulu mentioned her mother Ms. Jiang, Yun Fenghuang, who was originally angry, calmed down and said indifferently, “My mother told you that? My aunt came to the palace two days ago, saying that she has not dared to tell my mother about this. I didn’t expect that she had already known this.”

She actually understood that even if Ms. Xie could hide such a big thing from her mother, that latter still had her own ways to learn about the news. How crafty Ms. Jiang was. She knew that Ms. Xie was not a mean person who would take advantage of her brother and sister-in-law but maltreat their only legitimate daughter, but it was impossible for her to let her daughter only take Nian Xuan to live in other’s family at Dijing City, which was thousands of miles away from home.

By taking the opportunity of sending the dowry to Dijing City at that time, Ms. Jiang planted many trusted followers at various shops.

Those people frequently asked about the situation of Yun Ju’s family and reported her about it.

Unexpectedly, Ms. Jiang received the news so early, and it was estimated that Ms. Jiang had known it when Yun Fenghuang was still studying the rules outside the palace.

… Yun Fenghuang had no idea how sad she was when she heard the news.

When Xie Fenghuan had the mishap, Ms. Jiang cried heartbrokenly with Yun Fenghuang in arms, saying that she had only this daughter since then… Thinking of this, Yun Fenghuang pinched her palm hard and held her tears back. She said indifferently, “Since the engagement had cancelled, why did she tell you this?”

Qi Jiulu looked at her and said, “If we’ve done, why do you hate me for marrying Chao Jingyou?”

Yun Fenghuang sneered, “I dislike her. Can’t I?”

“…” Qi Jiulu did not dare to quarrel with her, for fear that the more he said, the more mistakes he would make. So, he decided to simply talk about the business, because Yun Fenghuang only agreed to see him tonight for the message. Therefore, it would be a wise decision. He said, “Another reason for marring her was that your sister’s death was related to Chao’s Family.”

Yun Fenghuang glanced at him. She was not very interested and said, “Just for this?”

“You’ve known that?” Qi Jiulu was stunned, “Why didn’t you deal with Chao Jingyou when you left the north?”

That was not the way Yun Fenghuang acted!

Yun Fenghuang had been vindictive since she was a child, always seeking revenge for the smallest grievance. Xie Fenghuan’s disgraceful affair mortified the whole Xie’s Family, and made Yun Fenghuang suffer more… According to her temper, it was not surprising that she would disturb the whole Chao’s Family. How could she go to Dijing City quietly?

Yun Fenghuang said with a sneer, “Then why do you think that I let you swear to marry anyone except Chao Jingyou?”

Qi Jiulu said surprisedly, “I see! I only thought you didn’t like her…”

“What?!” Yun Fenghuang, who had just calmed down, immediately got angry again, “If it’s just that I don’t like her, and her family had nothing to do with my sister’s death, would you plan to marry her?! You bastard! How about your firm promise? It’s only three years passed, but you have already totally forgotten what you promised! So, you married her for the sake of having no offspring as your pledge said! You… you…”

Suddenly, she couldn’t bear it and burst into tears. She choked, “How dare you see me again!!!”

Qi Jiulu kept silence for a while, and then said softly, “I was grounded in the ancestral hall by my family for half a year after returning from Kong Que Hill. My father told me mercilessly that I would not be free if I refuse to admit my mistakes. At that time, I just thought that going out meant nothing for me. Since you left the north, I would just spend my whole life in the ancestral hall to live a peaceful life. But half a year later, Aunt Jiang sent a message to me, saying that the coming days would be long. She also told me that the reason why our engagement was annulled was that I was just a young powerless Zongzi of Qi’s Family. She suggested that I endure this thing for a while, pretending to obey the clan, and wait until the day I would have the power to marry anyone I like!”

Qi Jiulu was convinced, so he pretended to figure it out, serving tea to the master of Qi’s Family, Ms. Chen and others for admitting his mistakes, and finally won their trust with his honeyed words. Qi’s Family had few children in the recent two generations, and Qi Jiulu’s two younger brothers had little talent. Therefore, he had a stable position in the family. Even though he made some mistakes for Yun Fenghuang, it was not surprising that young people were trapped by love for a while.

So, after changing his attitude, he restored his previous status and treatment, and began to actively pursue power.

However, just when he made some achievements, the master of Qi’s Family once again mentioned his marriage, and this time Ms. Chen finally got her wish.

There were only a few families in the north that were qualified to match Qi’s Family. Because of Xie Fenghuan’s affair, the misses of Xie’s Family were the most affected ones, and those of Jiang’s Family the second. It was known that Xie Fenghuang was raised by Ms. Jiang, who naturally kept her natal family’s culture.

Except the girls from Xie’s Family and Jiang’s Family, Ms. Chen could also choose those from other families except Chao’s Family. But Yun Fenghuang was too popular in the north before, and recognized as a wise and virtuous beauty… No matter what her nature was, people all thought so before Xie Fenghuan’s affair.

At that time, only Chao Jingyou was qualified to compare with her.

Ms. Chen took advantage of the situation and said to the elders of the clan, “It is not the fault of my family to annul the engagement. So, my son can only marry girls who are better than that girl of a dissolute family! Otherwise, people would think he can’t marry a good girl except the one of Xie’s Family!”

These words convinced all the people of Qi’s Family. Because of Yun Fenghuang, Qi Jiulu did not like Chao Jingyou, and even Chao’s Family as well. He did not disgust them obviously, but he definitely did not like them. Knowing this, Ms. Chen was worried that he would oppose the intended marriage. So, she made a quick decision to exchange the marriage contact and informed her son afterwards.

Yun Fenghuang’s face was gloomy, but she sneered secretly, because what Ms. Chen did would make Qi Jiulu hate Chao Jingyou more deeply and even have more bad feelings towards Ms. Chen herself… When Yun Fenghuang was in the north, she often teamed up with her mother Ms. Jiang to separate the mother-child relationship between Qi Jiulu and his mother.

But this time it could be said that Ms. Chen made it herself.

“If it were in the past, I would probably not keep calm and even fight against them with my life.” Qi Jiulu said this in a calm voice, but there was deep coldness in his eyes, “But I had done this for keeping our engagement, and it turned out to be useless. So, this time, I decide to listen to Aunt Jiang.”

He calmly accepted the marriage, at least superficially.

Then he requested to pursue official career at Dijing City.

Yun Fenghuang frowned, “How could your family agree?”

“Why not?” Qi Jiulu smiled strangely, “Do you really think that the elders and my father would agree the marriage just because of a few seemingly-righteous words of Ms. Chen?”

Yun Fenghuang’s eyelids jumped, and she had a feeling that there was an answer coming out but it was not totally right. Therefore, her heartbeat was gradually accelerating. She licked her lips and asked in a low voice, “Why then?”

Qi Jiulu was about to answer. Seeing her move, he couldn’t help but stop for a moment, and finally turned to look at Gongxiang Xiao, who was listening to them absorbedly, “Shizi, is there any water?”