chapter 66.2

Just at that moment, Qiu Shi held onto her skirt and hastily rushed into the house. She did not bother to salute them, opened her mouth and shouted, “Bad news, Young Miss! Fang Zhi Chen is kicking up a fuss outside claiming that he exchanged keepsakes with you long ago and you had secretly agreed to marry him. He also wants to file a formal complaint against our Marquis manor; for not keeping its word, and planned to marry their daughter into two families[1]! The Old Madam has ordered you to hurry to the Main hall to meet her, so you should quickly make preparations!”

“What? An exchange of love tokens, privately agreed to marry him and being involved with two families for marriage? Nonsense, there is no such thing!” Yu Si Yu abruptly stood up and yelled out, even her voice became hoarse due to being overly shocked. In the next moment, she recalled the private night rendezvous where she had confessed her feelings. Her indignant expression turned into guilt.

Even if the exchange of love tokens were untrue, it was true that she had pledged to marry him without her parent’s consent. At that time, she did have the intention, but Yu Xiang caught her in the act. Even if she had a hundred mouths right now, she wouldn’t be able to clear her name!

She immediately felt like she was on the verge of collapsing and she was so terrified that she became speechless. She could barely steadied herself with Yu Miao Qi’s support and stumbled towards the Main courtyard. Yu Miao Qi lowered her head slightly and a smirk flashed across her face.

At the same time, the Fang family’s mother and son were making a huge scene in front of the manor. Pei Shi kept insisting that the Marquis manor already agreed on the engagement, and was only waiting for the Marquis manor to propose marriage later on. On the other hand, Fang Zhi Chen even took out a pink Dudou[2] embroidered with Yu Si Yu’s name and revealed it to the crowd, saying that it is a love token given to him by Yu Si Yu herself and she had commanded him to keep it by his side.

Immediately, the crowd of onlookers was in an uproar as they conjured up countless steamy scenes in their head and commented that this Young Miss from the Marquis manor was too bold and unrestrained.

The guards that were guarding the manor entrance wanted to seize both of them. The two people immediately shouted as they ran into the crowd, “Who doesn’t know that Marquis Yongle is the King of Hell that can kill without batting an eye?! How can we get out alive if you capture us? No, I am definitely not going! If your Marquis manor is sincere, we would visit and propose marriage. Otherwise, both of us, mother and son, would sound the Deng Wen Drums[3] and make a formal complaint against your Marquis manor for corrupting personal virtue by having your daughter to be engaged to two people at once! We are temporarily residing in a small courtyard in Bai Hua Jing alley opposite Fu Ji Pastry. The respective folks can witness to the fact that if we were to die, it would mean that we were exterminated by the Marquis Yongle.”

Both of them were running and shouting, causing the crowd to point their fingers at and criticize the Marquis manor. Upon noticing the situation, the two guards were forced to give up on arresting both of them and went back to report to the Old Madam.

Once Yu Si Yu had just taken a half step over the threshold, she heard the Old Madam shouted sternly, “Shameless thing, quickly kneel down!”

Yu Si Yu’s legs went limp and knelt down at once. Then, her knees inched forward and kowtowed as she explained, “Grandmother, I really didn’t exchange love tokens with him, you must believe me!”

“You didn’t exchange love tokens? But you did privately agree to marry him?” The Old Madam was livid. “How many times have I told you? If you had only listened to me, how would you be in this mess? You are an idiot! It’s a disgrace to my Marquis Yongle manor!” As she said that, she threw the teacup on the ground causing a loud shatter.

Yu Miao Qi took a few steps behind and hid behind Lin Shi’s back as she lowered her head as if she was extremely frightened.

Yu Si Yu’s entire body was shaking as she wailed, “Grandmother, it is this granddaughter that wasn’t able to think it through. This granddaughter knows her mistake. You must never marry Granddaughter off, or else…”

She didn’t even get to finish what she had to say when a pozi[4] rushed into the room and whispered into the Old Madam’s ear. The Old Madam gradually scrunched up her ashen face and became terribly frightening. She dismissed the pozi with a wave of her hand and laughed with gritted teeth, “Good…Good…Good. Really a shameless evil beast. Even giving out items like Dudou! You didn’t know, right? Just now, Fang Zhi Chen took your Dudou out and showed it to the whole street filled with young and old. In half a day, you are famous! Are you happy now?”

When Yu Si Yu heard that, she felt all the blood rushing to her scalp, which was already almost squeezing her already not very clear head to burst. She immediately sprung up and shouted, “What Dudou? Why would this granddaughter ever give him my Dudou? Grandmother, he’s framing me! I only met him once privately, spoke to him briefly and never given him anything at all!”

She suddenly thought of something and revealed a relieved expression. She went forward to grab the Old Madam’s legs and spoke hurriedly, “Yu Xiang was also present that night, so she knows what happened between me and Fang Zhi Chen. Grandmother, you will know if you summon Yu Xiang and ask her. So you should let someone go and summon her!”

She did prepare a love token to give it to Fang Zhi Chen that night, but it was a good quality jade pendant and it wasn’t a Dudou. If Yu Xiang hadn’t appeared at that time, she would have given it away long ago, and now it was a blessing in disguise. The only thing was Yu Xiang had to tell the truth!

As she thought about this, the relief that Yu Si Yu barely laid down was raised high once again. She regretted in her heart why she always went against Yu Xiang. If she held a grudge against her, she would be knocked into the abyss with just a few casual words today.

The Old Madam kicked her away and snarled, “What are you looking for Xiang’er for? To taint her ears? Do you think that there aren’t enough people that know about your scandalous deeds?!”

Yu Si Yu slumped on to the ground. For a moment, her heart crumbled into dust. However, she didn’t expect to hear the sudden sound of a wheelchair turning outside the door. Then, a clear voice sounded, “Xiang’er begs Grandmother for coming uninvited.”

She was pushed by two sturdy pozi in front of the Old Madam. She did not mix her personal feelings and stated, “Since Elder Sister asked me to be her witness, I will do so. Elder Sister only spoke a few words with Fang Zhi Chen that night, but did not exchange love tokens. As for privately agreeing to marry him, she did have that intention but she was coincidentally interrupted by me and it was not successful. Fang Zhi Chen is trying to ruin Elder Sister’s reputation in order to influence the Marquis manor. Such actions are disgraceful. Grandmother, Elder Sister can never be married to such a man.”

Yu Si Yu was dumfounded. She had never expected Yu Xiang to speak up for her in any case.

Yu Miao Qi pinched Lin Shi and Lin Shi snapped out of her daydream and spoke, “But the matter has blown out of proportions. How will it end if we don’t marry Si Yu off? Do we really kill the mother and son? The entire capital is watching our Marquis manor, and if anything happens to him, Yan’er will be attacked by the literary officials? Not only can we not touch them now, we also have to keep them safe and settle the matter in the shortest possible time. As for whether Si Yu is innocent or not, there is really no point in arguing that now.”

Lin Shi’s words were reasonable. The Old Madam revealed a pensive expression and Yu Xiang remained silent, leaving only the sound of Yu Si Yu’s increasingly rapid breathing in the hall.

She knelt on the ground and frantically struggled, “No, Grandmother, you can’t marry this granddaughter off to him! Don’t forget that this granddaughter has just been engaged and is about to be married! And my husband’s family is still related to you, how will you explain to them?”

After saying that, Wan Qiu came in with a small booklet. She stammered, “Ol-old Madam, the Li family returned Eldest Young Miss’ betrothal letter and Gengtie. They said that… said that they do not dare to take such a daughter-in-law in for fear of tarnishing their family’s social status.”

It was as if Yu Si Yu was struck by lightning as she was rendered speechless, like a river fish stuck in the souls of a dying river desperately puffing out her chest attempting to find a way to live.

A string of light chuckles suddenly rang out like crackling lightning. Nevertheless, it was Yu Xiang’s merciless mockery that cut her to pieces and remorseful. “Have a look at Elder Sister’s discernment. The first is shameless and unscrupulous; the second is treacherous and hits you when you are down. I told you not to be blinded by the riches in front of you, yet you simply didn’t listen? It’s also Elder Sister’s fault for ending up where you are today. Pitiful, pathetic yet hateful…”