Chapter 3
Chapter 3
That evening, Zhou Rong came as usual with servants to flip my dining table.
But this time, I did not meekly let her have her tantrum.
Before the servants could flip the table, I snatched up the bowls and plates and dumped them all over Zhou Rong.
“Ah!!-”
She was so enraged that she tried to hit me.
But when she saw the wooden stick I held, she lost her nerve.
The household servants dared to bully me at Zhou Rong’s bidding.
But I was, after all, the daughter of the Marquis of Pingyang.
No one who valued their life would lay hands on me directly.
Zhou Rong shrieked through tears:
“I’m telling Father!
“You’re dead!”
She ran off.
Before long, Zhou Rong came back, dragging the Marquis by the sleeve.
From a good distance, the Marquis had already raised his voice:
“Brazen, unfilial girl!”
I knelt straight down and said stubbornly:
“Father, you said that as long as I remember my place, the Marquis Manor would not deny me a single meal.
“Since I entered this manor I have never once disobeyed. Yet now I cannot even get a bite to eat-what logic is that?!”
He puffed his beard and glared in fury.
“You still dare talk back?
“Someone, bring the family discipline rod!”
I lifted my chin and met his eyes, neither yielding nor humble.
“The eldest legitimate grandson of the Duke of Zhenguo has made it clear he wants me in his household in the future. How dare you injure me!”
The Marquis froze.
At that, I knew I had guessed right.
Xue Jing, the eldest legitimate grandson of the Duke of Zhenguo’s household, was a notoriously lecherous playboy in the capital.
The day my mother took me out on a procession through the streets, his carriage followed slowly behind me, his eyes fixed for a long while.
After I moved into the West Wing Courtyard, I peered out through the dog hole every day.
In only three days, I twice saw that dissolute noble son-who normally never exchanged visits with the Pingyang Marquis Manor-appear at the gate.
Xue Jing was the sort of scoundrel who had driven countless respectable young women to their deaths, but everyone dared only believe they had been taken by “sudden illness.”
Even a refined family like the Pingyang Marquisate could not afford to offend the Duke of Zhenguo, who doted on his legitimate grandson.
The Marquis had no idea how I could know all this, and for a moment he couldn’t get a read on me, so he remained locked in a stalemate with me.
Zhou Rong, confused by all this, shook the Marquis’s sleeve in exasperation.
“Father, what are you waiting for? Beat this little wretch and vent my anger!”
“Zhou Rong!”
A stern female voice sounded from behind them.
“Who taught you such foul words?”
Zhou Rong immediately stood rod-straight.
“Mother…”
The Marquis patted her shoulder soothingly and cast a disapproving glance at the Lady of the house.
“How can you scold your own daughter over an outsider?”
The Lady ignored him and simply extended her hand toward Zhou Rong.
“Rong’er, come here.”
Zhou Rong bit her lower lip but still timidly walked over to her mother’s side.
Yet the Lady did not punish her; instead, she gently gathered her into an embrace.
Then she lifted her head and spoke coldly to the Marquis:
“The servants wouldn’t dare chatter out of turn in front of Rong’er.
“Who told her there was a newcomer in the household?
“Who told her this newcomer’s status?
“Who told her that the discord between her parents is because of this girl?
“Lord Marquis, you detest Xue Jing’s bad name and don’t want to be linked with him, yet you dare not refuse the Duke of Zhenguo’s mansion yourself.
“So you used your own daughter’s hand to force this girl to flee on her own-or to die.
“Then, you would say the child was unruly, and no one would truly hold it against Rong’er.
“But have you ever considered, Rong’er is still so young. Once she learns these schemes, what sort of terrible person will she become?”
With each word she spoke, the Marquis turned a shade paler.
“I was only thinking of the manor’s reputation…”
The Lady paid him no further mind.
She cupped Zhou Rong’s face.
Zhou Rong had heard those words, but she only half-understood their underlying twists and turns.
“Mother, did Rong’er do something wrong?”
“Yes, Rong’er was wrong to say things that should not be said. From now on, you must never speak such filthy words again, do you understand?”
“Yes, Rong’er understands.”
Then the Lady looked at me.
It was the first time I saw her face clearly.
Her brows and eyes were soft and composed, bearing an expression of compassion.
But the slight upward tilt at the corners of her eyes and the straight set of her lips lent her an air of stern authority that commanded respect without anger.
I suddenly remembered what my mother told me.
The wife of the Marquis of Pingyang had a very beautiful name.
Lin Zhaotang.
It truly was beautiful.
“What is your name?”
Her voice was beautiful too.
A little flustered, I answered:
“I don’t have a formal name.
“My mother has always called me Ah Nan.”
A sharp slap rang out.
I fell to the ground and only then realized I had been struck.
The Marquis barked, “The very day you set foot in this manor, I told you: from now on, you have only one mother-the Madam of this house!”
“Zhou Huaishuo!”
The Marquis froze.
The Lady seemed to be furious beyond measure.
“You lay the blame on a child-don’t you feel any shame in that?”
How strange.
For a lowborn bastard born of a kept woman like me,
she had first grown stern with her own daughter,
and now she was raging at her own husband.
The sting of the slap meant nothing to me.
The hunger of these past days was something I could still endure.
But when I realized this, my tears suddenly couldn’t stop flowing.
The Marquis turned cold, furiously swept his sleeve, and stormed away.
The Lady looked at me and sighed.
“Come with me.”