Chapter 76 Part 5: Breaking Marriage Contract
Ji Chen-shi nodded. In the middle of their conversation, they unexpectedly saw Jiang You Yao run in from outside. She ran so anxiously that she didn’t even notice Ji Chen-shi. She only called out “mother”, her voice was choked with sobs.
Ji Shuran jumped in fright and at once stepped forward to pull Jiang You Yao’s hand. Seeing the tear stains on her face, she asked worriedly: “You Yao, what happened to you?” She also angrily rebuked Jiang You Yao’s servant girls, Jin Hua and Yin Hua: “How do the two of you take care of your mistress——”
“Mother,” before Ji Shuran could continue talking, Jiang You Yao had first thrown herself into her embrace. She sobbed: “Heir Zhou, heir Zhou wants to break the engagement with me…….”
“What?” Ji Chen-shi who was at the side, slapped the table and stood up, “You Yao, what did you say?”
Only then did Jiang You Yao discover that Ji Chen-shi was also there. She called out “aunt”, then continued to cry incessantly.
Ji Shuran told the servant girls guarding the door to close it before asking Jiang You Yao: “You Yao, what nonsense are you talking about. How could Zhou Yan Bang cancel his engagement with you? Perhaps you heard this rumor from somewhere…….”
“It’s true, Jin Hua’s older sister was in Ning Yuan Marquis’s residence on an errand. Last night, the marchioness and the heir quarreled and that servant girl bribed the servant boy in the heir’s courtyard to ask clearly. The heir said… the heir said that he wants to cancel his engagement with me and marry Jiang Li!”
“Jin Hua!” Ji Shuran asked: “Is what You Yao said true?”
Jin Hua immediately knelt down and said: “This servant said the truth, this matter is real.” Jin Hua’s heart was also endlessly in a panic. The entire Yanjing already knew that Jiang You Yao and Zhou Yan Bang’s marriage was already a done deal. Even if Jiang Li returned, it was unable to be changed. But at this juncture, heir Zhou had unexpectedly mentioned wanting to marry Jiang Li. This was nothing but a dispute between close people who failed to recognize each other, own relatives hitting their own relatives.
“Truly preposterous!” Ji Shuran said indignantly: “What does Zhou Yan Bang take our Jiang family as? Coming and going as he wishes?”
Jiang You Yao had already cried and ruined her make-up. She persistently gripped Ji Shuran’s sleeve: “Mother, what should I do? Heir Zhou doesn’t want me. He wants to marry Jiang Li……. I’ll be Yanjing’s laughingstock. Mother, I don’t want…….”
Looking at her crying like raindrops on a pear blossom, Ji Shuran felt broken-hearted and was endlessly distressed. She grabbed Jiang You Yao’s hand and said: “Rest assured, mother will make a statement for you. That Zhou Yan Bang is indecisive, our Jiang family is not for picking and choosing; wanting to cancel the engagement is not so simple. Mother will make whoever wants to make you the laughingstock in Yanjing to regret their whole life.
Ji Shuran almost broke her teeth at the end of her words.
“You Yao should first stop worrying,” Ji Chen-shi was more cool-headed than Ji Shuran. She merely said: “Since Zhou Yan Bang quarreled with the marchioness last night, it means that the marchioness doesn’t approve Zhou Yan Bang’s idea. Moreover, Zhou Yan Bang has already broken the engagement once, how could he break it for a second time? The older sister changed to the younger sister, then the younger sister changed to the older sister, this is the first time it’s heard in Beiyan. If Zhou Yan Bang still wants to be promoted to a nobility in the future, he shouldn’t put out such an absurd affair. Ning Yuan Marquis will not let him do so, your father will also not agree.”
Jiang You Yao heard this and felt a bit calmer. She asked: “Heir Zhou wouldn’t break his engagement with me?”
“Of course not.” Ji Chen-shi smiled: “You are the di daughter of the Jiang family, your father is the imperial court’s chief assistant. Who dares to treat you like this.”
“But Jiang Li is also a young lady of the Jiang family,” Jiang You Yao was unreconciled, “it’s good if she isn’t a member of the Jiang family. If she was just a commoner, there wouldn’t be so much trouble.” If Jiang Li was just an ordinary person, with Ji Shuran’s family background, she naturally could let the other party back out of the situation. Perhaps even be eliminated and “disappear” without any noise.
“Precisely because she is a member of the Jiang family that it’s not so troublesome.” Ji Chen-shi patted Jiang You Yao’s shoulder and said: “You Yao, go back first. I still have some matters to discuss with your mother.”
Jiang You Yao originally still wanted Ji Shuran to stay. But looking at Ji Chen-shi, she knew that Ji Chen-shi had important matters to discuss with Ji Shuran. In the end, she didn’t say much and with her undried tears brought Jin Hua and Yin Hua back to her Bright and Precious Courtyard.