Chapter 3
Soon enough, the day of the banquet arrived.
I dressed with care and went bearing a costly gift.
Once a maid had shown me to my seat, I lowered my head, kept my eyes demurely downcast, and quietly listened to the noblewomen nearby.
“Have you heard? Miss Mu’s wedding to the heir has been set for the third month of next year.”
The Miss Mu they meant was Mu Qingyan.
“If you ask me, Duke Zhenguo’s family may be distinguished, but his heir is a little too mediocre.”
“Mediocre would be one thing. I’ve also heard he’s exceedingly fond of the cousin living in his household. It’s admirable to look after a younger cousin, but men and women ought to keep a proper distance. They really should be more careful about appearances.”
I couldn’t help glancing over from the corner of my eye.
The ladies were all looking in the same direction.
People say you can’t help looking at the subject of your gossip. Presumably that was the table where the women of Duke Zhenguo’s household were sitting.
I sipped my tea for a little longer before I dared steal a look.
I recognized the cousin almost at once!
She wore a pink gauze dress and looked sweet and innocent. In her hair was the pink peony pin.
Every other pink ornament she wore was also a design the heir had bought.
Another young lady seemed to be complimenting her earrings. She raised a hand to touch them proudly, laughing like little silver bells.
The sight stirred anger even in me, let alone Mu Qingyan.
Here she was at Qingyan’s birthday banquet, wearing gifts from Qingyan’s own fiancé and making such a show of herself.
It was an outright provocation!
At that moment, I longed to expose the truth myself and let everyone see those two for what they were!
While I was seething, a stern-faced middle-aged man on the dais gave a light cough.
The room fell silent.
I looked up. Qingyan and the heir stood beside him.
After a few courteous words to the guests, the man took a pair of jade pendants from inside his robe.
“Today is my daughter’s seventeenth birthday. I would like to take this opportunity to give this pair of family heirlooms…”
Before he could finish, a commotion broke out nearby. Bowls and chopsticks clattered to the floor amid the crash of breaking crockery.
A girl in a pink dress had collapsed, clutching her belly, cold sweat beading on her forehead as she groaned in pain.
The moment the heir saw her face from the dais, his expression changed drastically.
He abandoned Qingyan and the Grand Secretary without another thought and rushed down between the banquet tables.
“Xianghe!”
Ignoring all propriety between men and women, he gathered his cousin tightly into his arms.
He shouted at the servants, “What are you standing there for? Fetch a physician!”
The noblewoman beside them looked grim, struggling to contain her displeasure.
“Chong’an, we will look after Xianghe. Go back to the dais. Don’t disgrace yourself before the Grand Secretary.”
He was so frantic that even the rims of his eyes had turned red.
“How can you worry about manners at a time like this? Qingyan’s birthday matters, but Xianghe’s health doesn’t? Her life could be at stake, Mother!”
The Grand Secretary had managed to preserve his composure until then. Now his face darkened.
I glanced at the noblewomen beside me. They all wore expressions that said more than words could.
Taking advantage of the uproar, I turned quite naturally to the lady next to me.
“How very odd of his lordship. He seems to care more about a cousin than his own fiancée.”
I spoke neither loudly nor softly, just loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.
The ladies had long been indignant on Qingyan’s behalf. Now their tongues were loosened.
“Who can explain it? If my son dared behave like that, I’d break his legs!”
“That girl has no sense of propriety either. She’s still clinging to his neck. He may not care about his reputation, but does she not care about hers?”
“Hmph. If they’re this shameless in public, who knows what they’ve done in private? Poor Qingyan…”
These were all ladies of the capital’s great houses. Naturally, their sympathies lay with a properly brought-up young woman of good family.
They had no patience for seductive tricks and secret liaisons with men.
Hearing the remarks directed at them from all around, the heir froze in embarrassment just as he was about to stride out with his cousin in his arms.