Chapter 113 A Psychologically Twisted Wild Child
The Lian Family arrived first.
The aunt, Wang Lianshi and her daughter, Wang Qingqian had been mentioned by Lian Chen before.
Wang Lianshi was only thirty years old. She had beautiful features and a fair complexion. Probably because she was widowed when she was young, there was a lingering light sorrow between her eyebrows. She looked depressed.
Her daughter, Wang Qingqian, was bright and lovely with a small apple-like face and curvy black eyebrows. Her big black and white eyes flickered, and her white skin was like a shelled litchi. She was brimming with the childish beauty of cardamom.
Qiu Yelan looked at her for a moment and praised her. She said to Wang Lianshi, “I heard from Cousin Lian that Cousin Wang was very cute. I don’t know until I see her today that what my cousin said was still not comprehensive. When cousin Wang came in, the room becomes brighter.”
“Sister Commandery Princess is so beautiful!” Wang Qingqian not only looked beautiful, but also had a pleasant temperament. The melancholy Wang Lianshi had not said anything, she had already twittered, “I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you.”
Wang Lianshi was obviously very indulgent to her daughter. Instead of scolding her for snatching her words, she nodded and said, “At that time, Princess Ruan was a famous beauty in Jing City. Many princes and young masters wanted to marry her, but she refused them. If your Uncle Qiu and Princess Ruan hadn’t had a childhood relationship…”
Speaking of this, she suddenly looked very dull. She didn’t know if she thought of her late husband who died young. Instead of talking about the past, she asked about Qiu Yelan’s foot injury.
Qiu Yelan said perfunctorily according to the prefabricated story, and made amends for her, “I wanted to visit you when I heard earlier that my aunt and cousin were here. I just heard my Cousin Lian said that he was moving. I was afraid that I would make troubles for the elders, so I thought I would go there after the Courtesan Competition. I didn’t expect that accident in the Yunyi Restaurant was caused all over the city by some people. I was afraid of dragging the Lian family into this, so I had to give it up. It was rude of me to let my aunt and cousin come to see me first when the matter dragged on like this.”
… In fact, she just forgot about it.
However, even if Wang Lianshi was so skeptical, she could not have debunked her. After saying a few words, “It doesn’t matter”, she routinely asked about her health. In the middle of talking, the maid, Chen Shui, came in to confess her guilt and said to Qiu Yelan, “When the Lu family heard that Your Grace is injured, they send some medicine. Miss Qiu also prepares something. Princess Yang sent someone to bring these two things to the yard. They are outside now.”
“You ask Mrs. Zhou to find a place to put it.” Qiu Yelan said indifferently, “In addition, the fourth sister is now going to help Mistress Tian take care of Mistress Bian. I am injured again, and I am not going to boudoir school these days. But it is not good for us to delay the study of Miss Sheng and Miss Qiu. Let Madam Shao continue to open the school.”
After Chen Shui went out, Wang Lianshi and her daughter did not speak for a while. Qiu Yelan also felt a little embarrassed when she remembered that the Lian family intended to let Wang Qingqian study here, but she was rejected by Ruan Qingyan and herself. She thought about it for a moment, saying, “Madam Shao is excellent. It’s a pity that she doesn’t know how long she can stay and teach.”
Wang Lianshi and her daughter didn’t say anything, but they still had some bad feelings about the matter. They were all a little surprised at what she said this at this moment, “Isn’t she just be invited? Why is she leaving again?”
“The Young Lady He told me before that Madam Shao is going to another school and is unwilling to get paid in the Jiang family for nothing after teaching the eighteenth young lady of the Jiang family.” Qiu Yelan lied, “But recently I heard that the young lady Sun of the Jiang family and others also want her to continue to teach them. Although I hope to keep her, on the one hand, Madam Shao has taught in the Jiang family for many years and has deeper feelings in the Jiang Family. On the other hand, these days, my fourth sister is too scared to leave because Mistress Bian almost had a miscarriage. She doesn’t care about the boudoir school. There can be more harmony in class… When she was there before, she would get into a few fights in every class. Madam Shao doesn’t say anything, but she is tired of thinking about it.”
Wang Qingqian asked doubtfully, “I heard that Miss Qiu’s birth mother’s surname is Tian. Mistress Bian had a miscarriage. Why is she so worried?”
“Don’t be so talkative!” Wang Lianshi did not spoil her daughter this time and gave a light reprimand. She said to Qiu Yelan, “It’s hard for you. The so-called aristocratic family is as deep as the sea, let alone the Prince’s Mansion. Even the boudoir school is so complicated. Fortunately, I listened to Ruan Hanlin’s advice and didn’t ask Qianqian to come over. Otherwise, she is bound to suffer because the child is spoiled by me.”
The Lian family was considered a distinguished family before its decline. As the official granddaughter of Minister Lian, how could Wang Lianshi not know about the twists and turns in the deep courtyard? As soon as she thought of the fourth sister, mistress and miscarriage, she knew that none of this was a good thing. She originally didn’t want her only daughter to be wronged in front of her female classmates. Now that she heard that the Prince’s Mansion was so complicated, she was even more determined to ask her daughter not to come and study with Shao Yuemei.
So at this moment, following Qiu Yelan’s hint, she simply spoke out.
Qiu Yelan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she understood what she meant. She was about to answer, but Wang Qingqian was a little dissatisfied and said, “At this age, why should I be worse than others? How come I must be the one who suffers?”
Wang Lianshi frowned and said, “All right! There is no enmity between us. What do you mean by that? Fortunately, your cousin is not an outsider. If people heard about it, they would think you have a grudge against someone from the boudoir school of the Prince’s Mansion.”
After hearing this, Wang Qingqian was still not convinced. Seeing her like this, Qiu Yelan secretly smiled in her heart, “You are such a naive little girl. You don’t even know how to show your joy and anger. You are still so competitive. When you really get into this boudoir school, it’s time for you to cry.”
Even if only Sheng Shishui and Qiu Qian were attending classes as usual. Not to mention Qiu Qian, because she was introduced to this school by Ruan Qingyan and her, she might not embarrass Wang Qingqian. But Sheng Shishui who was a young lady having a dishonorable background was not very convinced to her.
If she really wanted to deal with Wang Qingqian, it would be estimated that even if her cousin Wang were sold by her, she would count the money for her.
No one knew her daughter better than a mother. Qiu Yelan could see that Wang Qingqian was not suitable for living in the big mansion. Wang Lianshi was naturally more aware of this, so after decisively making her eyes stop her daughter from continuing to disobey, she casually said a few words and hurriedly left. She guessed she went home to educate her daughter.
After they left, Chunran smiled and said, “This young lady Wang is naive and lovely.”
“It is obvious that the Lian family has been pampering her.” Qiu Yelan sneered, “Without the pity and humility of the whole family, how could they raise an innocent young lady?” Kang Lizhang, who also grew up in her grandfather’s house, was a case in point.
Therefore, although Wang Qingqian was not suitable for coming to the boudoir school of the Prince’s Mansion, it didn’t mean that she was not good. She had a good fate and grew up smoothly. The first thing my uncles did after they resumed their official posts was to take them to the Jing City for a rest, which showed that they attached great importance to them. Even if they had thought of sending her to boudoir school to make some connections for their uncles, they didn’t mention it after they were stopped… With the protection of such elders, it was not a big deal to be naive.
The day after the visit by Wang Lianshi and her daughter, the General Ruan senior’s only surviving descendant surnamed Ruan. Ruan Qingyan, whose background was obscure, was not included. Ruan Ciyi also brought a six-year-old boy to visit.
Before she came here, Qiu Yelan had asked Mrs. Zhou about her. This cousin Ruan was the eldest granddaughter of the General Ruan senior. If Ruan Qingyan were really a member of the Ruan family, these two people would be half-brothers and sisters of the same father.
She married Fang Nongyan. Although he was not from a famous family, he was a proud young talent at that time. When he was nominated for the gold list, he was less than 30 years old. His marriage was delayed because he was preoccupied with his studies, and he happened to be chosen as his son-in-law by the General Ruan senior.
According to Mrs. Zhou, the couples were very good-looking and matched each other very well at that time, and they became a good story in the Jing City.
It was just that she had been demoted for more than ten years, and her mother’s family had no son for a long time. Under such a blow, even if she were as beautiful as a flower, it would look like a decline in color. Ruan Ciyi was only a few years older than Wang Lianshi, but she seemed to be half a generation older than Wang Lianshi. In particular, there was heavy indignation between her eyebrows, which was tantamount to writing clearly that she had been unhappy in the past two years.
The boy she brought was handsome, but he didn’t look like her. Maybe he looked like Fang Nongyan.
When she saw the cousin Ruan, who was very different from what Mrs. Zhou said, Qiu Yelan was very sad in her heart. It was just that although they were cousins by blood, when Ruan Ciyi and his wife were demoted and left the Jing City, Qiu Yelan just turned one year old and still couldn’t remember anyone. They were strangers to each other now.
After a long period of careful greeting, they got to know each other a little bit.
At this time, Qiu Yelan looked at the time and left them for lunch. She saw her nephew, Fang Zijun, playing with the jade pendant of Ruan Ciyi in boredom. She called Su He, “When I talk to my cousin, Zijun is probably boring to listen to us. You show him around the yard. By the way, give him Whitey to play with. The kid maybe likes it.”
She did not expect that soon after Fang Zijun was taken out, a mournful scream of the Whitey came from the yard.
It scared Qiu Yelan and Ruan Ciyi stood up together.
“Did the Whitey scratch Fang Zijun?” Qiu Yelan secretly regretted her carelessness. Although Whitey used to play with Su He and others, it never hurt anyone, but it was an animal. The child was ignorant and hurt it, and it became angry and inevitably showed its wildness. It was just that she and Ruan Ciyi ran out in a panic, only to see that Fang Zijun was there safely. Su He blushed and kept comforting the Whitey in her arms.
Seeing Qiu Yelan and Ruan Ciyi coming out, Su He almost burst into tears on the spot. She hugged Whitey and came angrily, “Your Grace, I hugged Whitey to play with the young master Fang. I didn’t expect that the young master Fang looked at it for a while, and he suddenly picked it up and threw it to the ground. I never knew he could play like this with Persian cat.”
Hearing the words, Qiu Yelan’s face could not help changing color and look at Fang Zijun, only to see him look innocent. He murmured, “It’s just a cat! Yesterday, Uncle Ruan said I could do whatever I wanted.”
Seeing that Qiu Yelan did not look good, Ruan Ciyi hurriedly reprimanded him, “How do you talk to your aunt? This is your aunt’s cat. Your aunt kindly asked someone to take it out to play with you. How could you hurt it?”
“Forget about it. The child is not sensible.” Qiu Yelan took a deep look at her little nephew who felt that nothing had happened. He stopped Ruan Ciyi indifferently, “It seems that he doesn’t like Persian cat. Su He, take the Whitey away. Chen Shui, you go and get that pair of glazed horses for Zijun.”
After such an episode, the two cousins returned to the house. The intimacy accumulated by the previous pleasantries had gone. After lunch, Ruan Ciyi said they were going to leave. Qiu Yelan symbolically asked them to stay and asked Mrs. Zhou to see them off on her behalf.
When Mrs. Zhou finished seeing them off, the first thing she did when she returned to the yard was to pull Su He’s ear and bring her to Qiu Yelan to apologize, “Although the Whitey is given to Your Grace by Young Earl Ling, and you usually like it, it is just a cat in the end. Today, cousin Ruan came here for the first time with her son, and you actually said the young master’s fault in front of Your Grace and cousin Ruan. Didn’t you embarrass cousin Ruan? Those who don’t know the matter think that Your Grace is deliberately contemptuous of the cousin Ruan.”
Su He, with tears in her eyes, was about to kneel according to the words of Mrs. Zhou, but Qiu Yelan shook her hand and hummed coldly, “Not to mention cousin Ruan, I don’t like Fang Zijun very much, too. He was brought here by my eldest cousin, or I’ll beat him up!”
Mrs. Zhou couldn’t help staying in a daze. Although Whitey belonged to Qiu Yelan, Qiu Yelan usually didn’t attach great importance to it. Why did she take it so seriously now?
As the dowry of the Princess Ruan, Mrs. Zhou naturally had a sense of closeness to Ruan Ciyi. She was worried about the gap between Qiu Yelan and Ruan Ciyi. She hurriedly advised her, “Your Grace, don’t listen to Su He’s provocation. You and Miss Ruan are flesh and blood relatives, which is difficult for the ordinary people to compare, let alone a cat. The young master is young and ignorant. Miss Ruan will certainly teach him this time when she goes back. I’m sure she won’t make you angry in the future. Please don’t argue with him!”
Qiu Yelan didn’t look good, “I don’t think he hurt my ego. I think it’s terrible that such a young child directly kills a young cat for no reason.”
If Fang Zijun were just a wild child, such as stepping on Whitey’s tail and pulling its beard, Qiu Yelan was not the one who regarded cats as more important than people. She could just smile and forget it. But this boy unexpectedly wanted to throw Whitey to death. He was not a wild child at all. He had a psychological problem at all.
Even if such a person was a seemingly harmless child, who knew what he would do? Qiu Yelan just deliberately looked bad. She’d better stay away from this kind of nephew.
“Listening to what he said is that cousin Ruan spoils him very much. If cousin Ruan was really the blood of Uncle Ruan, Fang Zijun is his own nephew. My cousin is so kind to me, not to mention their Ruan family.” Qiu Yelan rubbed her forehead and thought, “But this nephew is not normal at all! If I don’t remind cousin Ruan, I really don’t rest assured. If I reminded him… Such a thing happened today. What if my cousin thought I love the Whitey to complain about him on purpose?”
She felt a headache.