After Chen Wanrong and the others arrived at the Chen Mansion, the servants immediately led them to the garden where guests were entertained.
What came into view was a garden lake that seemed to stretch out of sight. There was a three - story attic on the lake, with a tea - room and an observation deck.
A Liushang Pavilion was built along the lakeshore. The lake water meandered through the pavilion and then flowed back into the lake after passing by a rockery.
At this moment, there were people gathering in twos and threes on the attic, sipping tea and enjoying their leisure time.
The servants led them up to the top floor of the attic. Several noble ladies were sitting in order, chatting in low voices.
Su Hele spotted Mrs. Xie at a glance. Since Mrs. Xie was here, Xie Yao must be around too.
She rolled her eyes slightly but couldn't find Xie Yao.
"Sister - in - law, am I late?" Chen Wanrong smiled even before she spoke.
Chang Yi, the wife of Chen Xuan, gave her a reproachful look and said with a smile, "It doesn't matter when you come. You're back home but still act like a guest here."
Chen Wanrong sat down beside Chang Yi and said with a smile, "I knew sister - in - law wouldn't blame me."
Chang Yi's smile grew broader. She pointed behind Chen Wanrong and said, "Stop acting silly with me. You're a mother - in - law now. Don't let the younger generation laugh at you."
"Paying respects to aunt."
"Paying respects to aunt."
Su Nansheng and the other immediately bowed.
Chang Yi nodded. After introducing the people sitting beside her one by one, she said, "The other young ladies are all having fun downstairs. You two don't have to be so restrained here. Go and join them. Nansheng, Mingzhu was very happy to know you were coming."
Chang Yi looked at Su Nansheng tenderly.
Although she didn't know much about Su Nansheng, since her daughter liked this girl, Chang Yi naturally liked her too.
"I'll go and find her now."
Su Nansheng smiled and stepped back.
Su Hele held her head high, and a flash of irritation crossed her face.
It seemed that this aunt of hers, just like Chen Wanrong, only liked vulgar people like Su Nansheng and couldn't appreciate her elegance.
After getting off the top floor, Su Nansheng deliberately kept a distance from Su Hele. She had also seen Mrs. Xie.
Su Hele and Xie Yao had a long - standing feud, and she didn't want to get involved.
Fortunately, Nanny Du was keeping an eye on Su Hele this time, so she didn't follow Su Nansheng all the time.
On the second floor, she didn't see Chen Mingzhu. So Su Nansheng went to the first floor but still couldn't find her.
"Have you seen your young lady?"
Su Nansheng looked at a young maid who was waiting on the side.
The young maid smiled and said, "The gatekeeper came to say that someone was looking for her. Miss just went out, but she said she'd be back soon. She asked you, Lady Su, to take a stroll first. She'll come and find you when she gets back."
Hearing this, Su Nansheng looked upstairs. She didn't know if Su Hele would come down.
"Tell your young lady when she comes back that I'll just take a stroll along the lake."
Su Nansheng wasn't familiar with the young ladies inside. Instead of sitting there boredly, she might as well enjoy the scenery.
...
The garden lake was huge. After strolling for about half an hour, Su Nansheng had only covered half of the way around the lake and was already exhausted.
She looked at the pavilion in the front. It was quite far away. Then she looked at the pavilion behind. It was still a long way off.
"Madam, how about we go and rest behind the rockery?"
Bitao noticed Su Nansheng's hesitation and came up with an idea in time.
Su Nansheng looked at the few scattered figures in the distance, then quickly walked behind the rockery. She spread a handkerchief on the ground and sat down to rest.
"They should build more pavilions along the lake."
Bitao was massaging Su Nansheng's legs while saying this.
Su Nansheng gently pinched her other leg and said, "There's a connecting bridge in the front that leads to the attic. I don't want to go there."
She was afraid that Chen Mingzhu wouldn't be able to find her later.
"Madam, are you really going to let the eldest young master marry Miss Chen? I heard she's a willful and headstrong girl. She might be hard to discipline."
A delicate and crisp female voice came from in front of the rockery.
Su Nansheng and Bitao looked at each other and immediately stopped their movements. They held their breaths.
"Humph, no matter how willful she is, once she's married into our family, we'll keep her on a tight leash with the morning and evening greetings. Keep grinding her every day, and she'll naturally behave."
"But what if she refuses to be disciplined and complains? Her cousin is a great general."
"Her family knows what kind of person she is. So what if she complains? I'm just disciplining my daughter - in - law. What can her family say? Besides..."
The voices faded away until they couldn't be heard anymore.
After waiting for a while, Su Nansheng and Bitao quietly walked out from behind the rockery.
Su Nansheng looked in the direction where the voices had disappeared. The two women had already got on the connecting bridge, and their backs were a bit blurry.
"Bitao, can you tell who those two are?"
Bitao had better eyesight than her.
But Bitao shook her head. "I can't tell, but they mustn't be the ladies who were on the attic just now."
"You're fast. Go and catch up to them and find out. I'll wait for you here."
Su Nansheng watched Bitao running onto the connecting bridge from afar. Then she looked at the rockery.
This was really a good place. She must ask Bitao to remind her not to whisper secrets near the rockery in the future.
...
Su Hele was sitting alone in a corner on the second floor of the attic.
If those young ladies from noble families didn't greet her first, she wouldn't go over. They were all vulgar girls who only knew how to enjoy themselves.
Thinking about this, Su Hele raised her chin again and showed a faint smile.
Unexpectedly, a snort came from beside her at this moment. She followed the sound and saw several young ladies gathered together, pointing at her. Xie Yao was leading them.
Su Hele frowned. When did she come up?
She hadn't noticed when she went up before. But when she saw Mrs. Xie, she had been more cautious. She had stayed here because she hadn't found Xie Yao on this floor.
It must be that Xie Yao had seen her and deliberately come up to cause trouble.
Su Hele scanned the surroundings but didn't see Su Nansheng. So she decided to go to the first floor.
At this time, Xie Yao's voice came over with the wind.
"I was wondering why I've been so unlucky today. It turns out I've met this jinx."
Su Hele's movement of getting up paused. What did Xie Yao mean?
"It's not enough that she harmed Zhao Qingyi. Now she wants to come and harm us. It's really bad luck."
By the end of the sentence, Xie Yao was almost speaking directly to Su Hele.
A flash of anger crossed Su Hele's eyes. Was she talking about her? Calling her a jinx?
She turned around and was about to go towards Xie Yao, but Nanny Du blocked her way.
"Second young mistress, rumors stop with the wise. You don't have to pay attention to them."
Thinking of Chen Wanrong's expression before, Su Hele gave Xie Yao a cold look and then continued to go downstairs.
"Hey, she's leaving. It seems she has some self - awareness after all."
Xie Yao's voice was full of pride, which led to a burst of giggles from the others.
Hearing this, Su Hele squinted her eyes, and her silver teeth were almost gritted to pieces.
Just then, she saw from afar that Su Nansheng was walking over with Chen Mingzhu from the connecting bridge. Anger welled up in her heart.
The real jinx was Su Nansheng.
Since she had married into the Marquis of Anshun's Mansion with her, her life had never gone smoothly.
Although she didn't know why Xie Yao had said such things, it must be Su Nansheng's doing.
She had to teach Su Nansheng a lesson and vent her anger.