After a long while, she lowered her eyes and said calmly, "Sister, what you said is really interesting. The Second Prince is of noble status. How could it be our turn to fight over him?"
She had never had any private contact with the Second Prince. The few times they met were very covert, and Chen Tingfeng was always present. It would be a wild fantasy for anyone to try to smear her with this.
"I saw it in the peach orchard that day," Chen Huanyun said with a strange smile on her face. "Sister is so charming. The Second Prince was smitten at first sight."
That day when she went out, she happened to see the carriage of the Marquis's Mansion heading towards the outskirts. After a moment's thought, she followed it. She originally wanted to take this opportunity to persuade Lady Bai to let her into the mansion. But to her surprise, as soon as Lady Bai and Fu Zhen got off the carriage, they separated. After a brief hesitation, she took advantage of the servants' inattention and followed Fu Zhen to the peach orchard.
The guards at the manor in the outskirts were not strict. Moreover, the peach trees were lush and green, making it easy to hide a slender woman like her.
Just as she hid herself, she heard the sound of a horse's hooves. She was startled. Before she could react, she saw the Second Prince leap into the air and catch Fu Zhen, who had suddenly fallen from the tree.
A man and a woman having a tryst in the peach orchard. She almost gritted her silver teeth to pieces. But then she thought it was a great opportunity.
At first, she really wanted to get close to the Second Prince. But she found it too difficult. With her status, she had to pray to the gods just to meet him once. Moreover, the Second Prince was very scheming and not a man she could easily control. After much thought, she decided to give up this chance of rising in society.
But who would have thought that the opportunity would just fall into her lap?
The two people in front of her were still in each other's arms. She sneered. If she spread the news of their tryst, Fu Zhen would surely be reviled by thousands of people. Once her reputation was ruined, her own good days would come.
But she never expected that Chen Tingfeng would appear!
What frightened her even more was the cold and direct look that Chen Tingfeng gave her from afar. It was as if he had exposed all her ugly thoughts to the sun, making her flee in a hurry!
What a good opportunity, but it was just spoiled by Chen Tingfeng!
Just thinking about it, Chen Huanyun still couldn't help getting angry. Her face darkened.
Between her and Fu Zhen, Chen Tingfeng clearly wanted to help Fu Zhen. Even if she spread the news of the tryst, as long as Chen Tingfeng showed up, others would only think that the elder brother had happened to meet his cousin with a friend. They would never think that there was an affair between the Second Prince and Fu Zhen!
Thinking of this, Chen Huanyun gave Fu Zhen a long look and said, "Sister is so lucky. You just wave your hand and there will be people willing to go through fire and water for you. Unlike me, I have to go to so much trouble just to get into the Marquis's Mansion."
"If I had sister's good skills, why would I worry about not being able to marry into a noble family?"
She was crazy.
She didn't know what she was talking nonsense about.
Fu Zhen looked at her coldly and said, "So? Sister has said so much. What exactly do you want to do?"
"I just want to make peace with sister. My life is so hard now. Even the servants look down on me," Chen Huanyun changed the subject. "If sister can help me, my life will surely be much better."
Fu Zhen still had that cold look on her face and didn't answer her.
Chen Huanyun paused and then said softly, "Sister and Miss Jin are close friends. She often invites sister to the Jin Mansion. Miss Jin had some misunderstandings about me before. I wonder if sister would be willing to introduce me to her so that I can apologize to her in detail?"
I'm afraid her purpose is not to apologize, but to get into the Jin Mansion, right?
Combined with what she said before about marrying into a noble family, Fu Zhen almost immediately understood her intention.
Miss Jin Xianghuan's elder brother is twenty - eight years old. He once married a wife, but unfortunately, his wife had a difficult childbirth and died, and the child didn't survive either. Maybe he missed his deceased wife, so he hasn't remarried yet.
Fu Zhen was almost angry and laughed. After all this talk, wasn't she just trying to use her to climb up?
"If sister wants to apologize sincerely, you just need to send a visiting card and bring some gifts to the door. Why do you have to talk in such a roundabout way?" Fu Zhen didn't have the patience to entangle with her anymore. It was simply a waste of her time. "Sister is so smart. I'm sure you don't need me to be able to climb up to the high - ranking family you want."
After saying that, she gently dusted her sleeves as if brushing off something dirty, and then turned around and left.
Only Chen Huanyun was left standing there with a distorted expression.
*
The next day.
It started to drizzle. The world was filled with moisture, like a white mist, making people feel lazy.
Fu Zhen was lazy and didn't get up until late in the morning.
"Miss, don't sleep anymore. If you sleep too much, you won't be able to sleep at night," Bi Yu pulled up the bed curtain and served Fu Zhen to get dressed.
Fu Zhen yawned and said, "The sound of the rain is really hypnotic. It makes me sleepy."
Cui Huan brought in some water. After Fu Zhen washed her face, she combed a neat hairstyle for her and only inserted two hairpins for decoration.
"Tomorrow is the City God Temple Fair. Miss, don't you want to go out and look at some clothes and jewelry?"
Judging from what the Marquis said that day, it seemed that he wanted to choose a husband - in - law for her at the temple fair. But looking at Fu Zhen's lazy appearance, it was obvious that she didn't take it to heart at all.
"It's raining. Everywhere is wet. I'm too lazy to go out," Fu Zhen got up and sat down at the table. She picked up some pickles and ate them. "Moreover, I already have three big boxes of clothes, and there's no room for new jewelry in the jewelry box. There's no need to buy any more."
The Marquis's Mansion would regularly send her a batch of fashionable clothes and jewelry. In addition, she would occasionally go out and buy some. She had so many that she didn't know what to do with them.
Why bother to buy more? No, she wouldn't go.
Bi Yu joked beside her, "A girl can never have too many beautiful clothes. I think miss is just being lazy and doesn't want to move in spring."
Fu Zhen smiled and pointed at Bi Yu and said, "You little girl, now you even dare to laugh at me. Cui Huan, go and teach her a good lesson!"
Cui Huan also laughed and quickly agreed. Then she pretended to pull Bi Yu's face. The two of them immediately got into a tussle.
After the dishes were cleared away, Bi Yu whispered to Fu Zhen, "The girl next door got up very early. According to the doorman, she only took a maid and took a carriage out. She said she was going to pick some jewelry."
Fu Zhen leaned on the soft couch and casually took a sip of tea. She just said, "Don't worry about her."
Chen Huanyun had suffered losses at her hands many times. Since she failed to make peace yesterday, she must be plotting something bad. She just didn't know when she would act.
But she didn't care. She blew the foam on the tea bowl. With her acting like a headless fly and bumping around everywhere, she would surely suffer in the end.
On the street.
Although it was drizzling today, it didn't matter much to the common people. It just wet their clothes a little. They still set up their stalls and shouted to sell their goods as usual.
In front of the gambling house, three tall and strong men dragged out a middle - aged man in ragged clothes who looked like a beggar. They threw him on the street and cursed, "If you don't have money, why the hell did you come to the gambling house! I'm telling you, if you don't pay back the fifty taels you owe to the gambling house in three days, I'll cut off your hands to pay off the debt!"
The man groaned and rolled on the ground. His face and body were all blue and purple. It was obvious that he had been beaten severely.
The surrounding common people pointed at him and talked about him. He came to his senses, staggered up from the ground, pointed at the three strong men and cursed, "How dare you treat me like this! Do you know who I am?"
He looked proud and raised his chin high. "I'm telling you, my daughter is a young lady of the Marquis's Mansion! A noble young lady! And I'm the noble son - in - law of the Marquis's Mansion! If you dare to treat me like this today, you'll just wait to kneel on the ground and beg for mercy tomorrow!"
The three strong men looked at each other and burst into laughter. "You a beggar still dare to claim to be the son - in - law of the Marquis's Mansion? I spit on you! You don't even look at your own virtue in the mirror. If you're the son - in - law of the Marquis's Mansion, then I'm the Heavenly King! Hahaha!"