"You just mentioned my second aunt..." Li Wanming forced the conversation back on track.
"Oh, her. She always acts like the mistress of the eldest branch. She's been bent on getting into the circle of noble ladies. She's so two - faced. She's really hard to deal with."
"Has she ever played tricks on your family?"
"She wouldn't dare!" Fang Zhi glared and made a false grip in the air. "My father is the current Chief Secretary. Does she have the guts to play tricks on our family?"
"Then how do you know she's hard to deal with?" Li Wanming asked anxiously.
Fang Zhi had been talking for so long without getting to the point, and Li Wanming was really getting impatient.
"My mother told me!" Fang Zhi raised her eyebrows. "My mother said that among all the female relatives of the officials in the capital she's met, there are the lofty, the self - abased, those from good families and those from not - so - good families, the talented and the illiterate... But she's never met anyone like the Second Lady Kang who tried so hard to ingratiate herself with us."
"Maybe you don't know yet?" Fang Zhi leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Before the Prince of Ning returned to the capital, that Second Lady Kang had tried to curry favor with all the noble ladies in the capital.
"Not only did she send gifts on every festival, but she even didn't miss solar terms like Tomb - sweeping Day and Grain Rain. Moreover, she often inquired about the preferences and schedules of the ladies. Every time there was a tea party or a flower - viewing party, she would butt in. She even wanted to prepare the carriages for others!"
"I really don't understand. The Princess of Ning is from the Cheng family of Langya, one of the top noble families in our Great Sheng. How could she tolerate her sister - in - law acting like a rat scurrying around for personal gain?"
Li Wanming lowered her head and curled her fingers slightly on her knees.
She knew it was because in the Princess of Ning's heart, the eldest branch owed the second branch a life... But this was the most hidden secret of the Prince of Ning's Mansion, and she naturally wouldn't tell Fang Zhi.
"Later, after the Prince of Ning returned from the southern border, it was said that he severely scolded her. Only then did she start to restrain herself and learn the calm and elegant demeanor of others."
Fang Zhi rolled her eyes. "You have to admit, she learned quite well. Now many of the ladies in the capital have been deceived by her. They all regard her as a real gentlewoman from a noble family, completely forgetting about the embarrassing things she did in the early days."
"However, my mother is different!" Fang Zhi picked up another candied almond and popped it into her mouth. "My mother said that she hates this kind of pretentious white - lotus the most! Others are too concerned about their dignity to expose her, but she's so full of herself. She really thinks others are stupid and can't see through her!"
Pretentious... white - lotus...
Li Wanming had to admit that Mrs. Fang's description accurately captured the essence of the Kang family.
Li Wanming swallowed silently. It seemed she had found the source of Fang Zhi's blunt and head - less way of speaking - like mother, like daughter.
"So my mother told me that if I had the chance, I should give you a heads - up and not let that Second Lady harm you." Fang Zhi crunched on the candied almond in her mouth.
Li Wanming was stunned. "Mrs. Fang told you to give me a heads - up? You kept me here to talk today... because Mrs. Fang told you to?"
"Otherwise?" Fang Zhi waved her hand impatiently. "Just because of the tacky bracelet you gave me today, do you think I'd want to keep you? Hurry up and tell me what dirty tricks the Second Lady Kang has played recently. Let me give you some good advice!"
Li Wanming pinched her knuckles white in her sleeve and silently recited in her heart: For the sake of your mother's good intentions, I'll bear it...
She hesitated for a moment and gently frowned. "There's nothing else. It's just that the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching. My second aunt helped me prepare the festival gifts for each family. I always feel something is wrong, but I can't put my finger on it..."
"Oh?" Fang Zhi raised her eyebrows. "Tell me about it."
Fortunately, Li Wanming had checked the gift list over and over again in the past few days and was already very familiar with the gifts for each family. She immediately listed the gifts for each prince's mansion, duke's mansion, and marquis's mansion.
When she was talking about the gifts for the Duke of Qing, the Marquis of Xuanping, the Earl of Zhongyi, and the Earl of Xingyuan, Fang Zhi didn't say anything and just kept urging her to hurry up. But when she mentioned the Marquis of Guangyi, Fang Zhi suddenly interrupted her.
"Why are you still sending gifts to their family? Do you know who they are?" Fang Zhi's greasy little hand pressed on her arm, and her eyes suddenly brightened, sharp as a blade.
Li Wanming's heart skipped a beat. She didn't even care about Fang Zhi's greasy hand and just said confusedly, "Yes, I do. The Huo family of the Marquis of Guangyi is the family of my aunt, the Princess Chengping."
"Ha..." Fang Zhi gave a meaningful smile. "Do you know that General Huo Xiaoyan has long separated from the Marquis of Guangyi's Mansion and severed all relations with them?"
"What?!"
Li Wanming's pupils suddenly shrank, and her breath stopped for a moment.
General Huo had severed his relations with the marquis's mansion?
She really hadn't heard anything about this...
Fang Zhi gently raised her eyebrows, looking a bit proud, as if she had predicted her reaction. She slowly picked up the teacup, took a small sip, and then began to speak unhurriedly.
"It happened more than twenty years ago. After General Huo passed away, few people talked about this. No wonder you don't know."
"General Huo's biological mother was not the current lady of the marquis's mansion, but the original wife of the marquis who passed away early. And the current Lady Marquis is actually the marquis's second wife... Well, in a way, Lady Huo was the first wife, and this second wife was the marquis's childhood sweetheart."
She paused for a moment and scanned Li Wanming's face meaningfully, obviously very satisfied with the shock on Li Wanming's face.
"I heard that they originally had a marriage contract. It's a pity that the father of the childhood sweetheart later committed a crime, and the whole family was exiled. So the marquis then married Lady Huo. And that childhood sweetheart naturally married someone else."
"Later, the husband of the childhood sweetheart died, and she returned to the capital alone. Somehow, she got involved with the marquis again. Tsk tsk, like dry wood meeting fire, they just got entangled with each other..."
Li Wanming couldn't help interrupting, "When you tell a story, can you please stop using these useless rhetorical devices..."
"Can't you stand this?" Fang Zhi chuckled, raising her eyebrows slightly, looking more and more nonchalant. "There's more exciting stuff later."
"When the marquis married the new wife, Lady Huo had been dead for less than half a year... Well, actually, it's nothing unusual. Men are all heartless. They can't live without a woman in their bed."
"But the marquis shouldn't have gotten involved with that slut when Lady Huo was seriously ill and even had a child with her."
"What did you say..." The air suddenly froze. Li Wanming stared wide - eyed and couldn't say a word for a long time.
There was a faint chill in Fang Zhi's eyes, and her eyebrows were full of contempt.
"Yes, you heard me right. That childhood sweetheart gave birth to a daughter just seven months after she entered the mansion. She gave birth faster than my family's dog!"