NCCnovel Chapter 245 Right Prime Minister’s Mansion
Chapter 245 Right Prime Minister’s Mansion
Chapter 245
After hearing this, the Marquis's wife feigned anger and laughed, scolding, "You naughty monkey, how dare you tease your aunt! Forget it, forget it. I had Madam Sang prepare plenty of food this morning. You'll have plenty to eat."
Lu Zhaozhao sat down next to the Marquis's wife, holding her arms with both hands. She glanced at Luo Shuiyao with a hint of pride, but said coquettishly, "I thought Aunt had forgotten Zhaozhao long ago, but I didn't expect that Aunt still cared about me. This is really petty."
After saying this, the marquis's wife was immediately amused and laughed out loud, "You haven't learned anything else in recent days, and all you know is making fun of your aunt. You deserve a beating." The two of them chatted back and forth, appearing to be particularly intimate.
Luo Shuiyao sat alone, with a faint smile on her lips, looking at them quietly, her heart as calm as water, without any ripples.
Lu Zhaozhao glanced at Luo Shuiyao sitting alone. Seeing her eyes downcast and silent, she was certain she was secretly sad. At this thought, she couldn't help but snort inwardly. "A mere grain of sand, relying on its beauty, dares to stand shoulder to shoulder with the pearl, without even considering its own weight. How foolish indeed."
It was a pity that the man she despised never even raised his eyes to look at her, and seemed not to notice his wanton gaze on her, nor did he seem to care at all, as if she was not worth his attention at all.
Seeing this, Lu Zhaozhao lost all the joy she had expected. Instead, she felt a sense of powerlessness, like a fist hitting cotton. The pride she had originally felt at winning the round dissipated somewhat, leaving only an indescribable feeling of frustration lingering in her heart.
The carriage was much quieter for the rest of the journey. The Marquis' wife, perhaps preoccupied with what was to come, occasionally exchanged a few words with Luo Shuiyao. Luo Shuiyao responded politely, her words and actions never exceeding the bounds of propriety. Seeing this, the Marquis' wife sighed inwardly. This child was indeed quite good-looking, but it was a pity that she came from such a humble background. Otherwise...
Regardless of the Marquis's feelings, the carriage sped along, and soon they arrived at the gate of the Right Prime Minister's residence. The vermilion gate stood majestically, the bronze door knocker gleaming with an ancient luster in the sunlight. The servants lined up in front of the gate, each one in high spirits, proclaiming the majesty and grandeur of the Prime Minister's residence.
After getting off the carriage, the steward of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion hurried to greet him, with a smile on his face, and bowed respectfully, saying, "Your servant greets the Marquis's wife and the two young ladies. My mistress is waiting inside. Please come in."
The Marquis's wife nodded slightly, smiling, and walked into the gate with Luo Shuiyao and the other two.
As soon as I entered the house, the wife of the Right Prime Minister came to greet me and said warmly, "Madam Hou, your arrival today is truly a great honor to our humble home."
As she spoke, her gaze turned to Luo Shuiyao and the other girl, eyes full of admiration, and she continued to praise, "These two girls, I haven't seen them for a while, but they look even more beautiful. It seems that our Kyoto's feng shui has been very good for them. Look at them, each one is as beautiful as a flower, really enviable."
The Marquis's wife smiled and replied, "No matter how envious you are, she is still my daughter. Don't worry about it."
The wife of the Right Prime Minister pretended to be slightly angry and gently scolded: "Look, you know that I don't have a daughter, but you are deliberately digging into my heart. I don't have one, and now you won't even let you think about her. This is too cruel." After that, she snorted in pretending to be aggrieved.
Madam Hou chuckled, patted herself lightly, and said, "I said something I shouldn't have said, Sister Liu, please don't blame me for being too talkative."
Before she could even put her hand down, the Right Prime Minister's wife quickly grabbed it and said with a smile, "Look at you, can I really blame you?"
Then, the Right Prime Minister's wife looked at Luo Shuiyao and the other girl, and continued, "We sisters haven't had a good chat for a while. Why don't you come with me to the front to catch up on old times, and let these two girls go play over there with the children?"
As she said this, she calmly looked at Luo Shuiyao and the other girl carefully. Then, she winked at the maid beside her and ordered, "Hurry up and take these two girls to the flower hall. I will treat them well for me."
The maidservant quickly responded and stepped forward to Luo Shuiyao and the others and said respectfully, "Ladies, please follow me." After that, she led the way.
Luo Shuiyao bowed slightly to the wife of the right prime minister and the wife of the marquis, then followed the maid in front.
Seeing this, Lu Zhaozhao quickly bowed as well, then followed the two people ahead. Along the way, they passed through winding corridors, passed by exquisite pavilions, and finally arrived at the so-called flower hall. Rather than calling it a flower hall, it would be more appropriate to call it a garden. The garden was full of flowers, and the fragrance of flowers filled the air. The beautiful scene was like a fairyland, and one glance at it filled one's heart with joy.
The maid walked briskly and soon led them through the entrance of the flower hall. She pointed forward and said, "Ladies, the girls are in front of you. I will be waiting here. If you need anything, just call me."
As Luo Shuiyao reached the entrance to the flower hall, she heard bursts of laughter emanating from within. Following the maid's finger, she saw a vast open space, filled with bouquets of flowers and numerous rattan tables. Around the tables sat young ladies, some leisurely admiring the blossoms in the garden, while others, in pairs, whispered and giggled.
Seeing this, Lu Zhaozhao nodded slightly and said to the maid, "Thank you very much, young lady."
As he said that, he turned his head and looked at Luo Shuiyao, "Sister Yaoyao, let's go."
Luo Shuiyao withdrew her gaze. Naturally, she would not offend the other party in such an occasion, so she nodded lightly and walked forward with Lu Zhaozhao.
Lu Zhaozhao's thoughts turned slightly. She reached out and gently took Luo Shuiyao's arm. With a smile on her face, she acted like a sister and said, "When we're out and about, we sisters should help each other out. But don't let others laugh at us because of some misunderstandings."
Luo Shuiyao frowned slightly and tried to pull her arm back calmly, but her arm was held tightly by her and she was unable to move it.
Luo Shuiyao was speechless. She truly admired Lu Zhaozhao's thick skin. She was worthy of being the heroine. Her audacity was truly remarkable. Despite their relationship, she could feign indifference. She no longer wanted to feign sisterly affection with Lu Zhaozhao. The smile on her face slowly faded, and she wanted only to quickly pull her arm away. Unconsciously, the two of them had already walked into the crowd, drawing curious glances from the surrounding girls.
Luo Shuiyao paused in her attempt to pull her arm away, then glanced quickly at Lu Zhaozhao. She was almost certain she was up to something sinister again, but she couldn't quite guess. Right now, in public, if something unpleasant happened, it would undoubtedly upset the Marquis' wife. With that in mind, Luo Shuiyao had no choice but to suppress her temper and give up on trying to free her arm.
Lu Zhaozhao took in Luo Shuiyao's every move, her lips curled up slightly, and in an instant, she put on a gentle and lovely smile. She pulled Luo Shuiyao and gracefully knelt slightly to salute the girls present. She greeted them with a smile: "Hello, sisters, I am Lu Zhaozhao, the cousin of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery."
After saying that, she turned her head to look at Luo Shuiyao and then introduced, "This is another cousin from the Marquis' Mansion, Luo Shuiyao."
Afterwards, Lu Zhaozhao turned to the crowd and said apologetically, "Sister Yao, this is your first time attending a banquet like this. I'm afraid you might not be used to it. I hope you sisters can help out."
Several young ladies in the room had seen Luo Shuiyao before in the Marquis' Mansion, but at this moment they just raised their eyelids and glanced at her lightly, without any intention of going forward to talk to her.
After hearing this, the young ladies from various families looked at Luo Shuiyao with critical eyes. Some had contempt in their eyes, some had disdain on their lips, and some just glanced at her casually and turned their heads and pretended not to see it.
Every noblewoman in the capital knew that the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery's mansion had recently taken home two young cousins. Rumors spread that one of them was from the countryside. As the news spread, the ladies in the capital reacted with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Some were curious, eager to see what made this country girl so special that she could be accepted by the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery; others expressed disdain, believing that someone of such humble origins was unworthy of such a noble family. In short, no one seemed to be interested in speaking to her.
At this time, a tall lady with a pretty face shook off the hand of the person next to her and strode forward. She looked Luo Shuiyao up and down with a look of disdain, then pouted and said to Lu Zhaozhao, "Is this the sister you mentioned who is as beautiful as a fairy? She doesn't look that good."
Although it was said in such a derogatory tone, anyone could tell by the strong jealousy in it.
Luo Shuiyao lowered her eyes and bowed to her gracefully, her expression calm and without showing any anger.
However, this behavior did not give the woman opposite a sense of accomplishment, but instead made her even angrier.
This village girl, though from the countryside, showed no sign of fawning or flattering like the others when she saw me. Look, even the girl from the Lu family had been eager to talk to me the few times we'd met. Only this village girl was acting like this. Humph, she truly didn't know how to appreciate my kindness!
Luo Shuiyao sighed inwardly. Whatever was coming finally came. She had a premonition when Lu Zhaozhao approached with ill intentions, knowing that things would be difficult to calm down. Sure enough, judging by the woman's current appearance, she was definitely here to cause trouble.
Seeing her imposing demeanor, accentuated by her height, Luo Shuiyao felt a new sense of certainty. This woman was Zhang Wan'er, the daughter of the Imperial Tutor. Contrary to her gentle name, she possessed an arrogant and domineering personality. Her father, a powerful and influential official of the Second Rank, had three sons before this daughter, spoiled from childhood, often bullying the daughters of lesser officials in the capital. Everyone, concerned for their fathers and brothers, dared not speak out in anger.
In the original novel, Zhang Wan'er is on the side of the heroine. The text describes her as cheerful, very righteous, and loves to stand up for the weak. She has rushed to the front many times to help the heroine, but she didn't expect to be used by the heroine instead and became a gun in her hands. She was kept in the dark and had no idea that the original owner had suffered a lot at her hands.
She had originally planned to stay in a corner during the banquet, quietly waiting for it to end before leaving. Unexpectedly, Lu Zhaozhao dragged her to the front of the crowd, completely ruining her previous plan. From what she had just said, it seemed as if the heroine had said a lot about herself in front of her. Perhaps this was the reason for her inexplicable hostility towards her.
Thinking of this, she turned her head and glanced at Lu Zhaozhao.
Lu Zhaozhao seemed to have finally come to her senses and hurried forward to comfort her, "Sister Zhang, please don't be angry with Sister Yao. She's not ignorant of etiquette, but she grew up in the countryside, so it's inevitable that she'll be timid when she's in such an occasion. If she's done anything inappropriate, I'll apologize to you on her behalf."
As she spoke, Lu Zhaozhao bowed down and saluted respectfully, keeping an extremely humble attitude.
Zhang Wan'er felt much more relieved when she saw her acting this way. She raised her chin slightly, looked at Luo Shuiyao with contempt, and said loudly, "Since that's the case, for the sake of this maid Lu, I will not argue with you, a country girl."
As she spoke, she lifted her chin high. Her arrogant expression made Luo Shuiyao look up, and what caught her eye were her two dark, dark nostrils, which looked truly absurd and ridiculous. But she herself was completely unaware of it, feeling perfectly fine. She snorted again. Looking at her like that, Luo Shuiyao was afraid she might get excited and burst into snot bubbles, so she turned her head away with a hint of pity.
Even if Lu Zhaozhao performed the ceremony on her behalf and took all the blame on her, Luo Shuiyao didn't care about such an obvious plot. She was afraid that if she stared at Zhang Wan'er, she would burst out laughing, which would make it easier for others to catch her.
As for their calculations, what could they do? The worst that could happen was to fight back. After all, she wasn't the one apologizing, so she wasn't at a disadvantage. As long as she didn't make any mistakes, Zhang Wan'er, no matter how arrogant she was, wouldn't dare to really target her. After all, she was the cousin of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery. Zhang Wan'er wasn't stupid, otherwise how could she have been so arrogant in the capital for so many years? She only dared to bully those girls of lower status than her.
Seeing her turn her head away and remain silent, Zhang Wan'er assumed she was mortified and utterly embarrassed. Suddenly, she grew even more elated. With a swift movement, she said, "We were just discussing a little game among the sisters. Now that we have this girl who has been 'personally praised' by His Majesty, our little game will surely be even more interesting and exciting, won't it?"
It was obvious that her words were filled with ill intentions, and she dragged out the words "personally praise". The meaning in her words was clear as day, and it was obvious that she was trying to trip someone up.