20demayo Chapter 191
Chapter 191
"this wretched creature is getting more and more outrageous."
before the new year, she had insisted on dragging lady zhou to go ice skating on the lake, ignoring all the servants' attempts to dissuade her. as a result, she fell into the icy water herself.
lady zhou, desperate to save her daughter, rushed onto the already cracked ice surface without a second thought. she managed to pull jiang yulin out and push her to safety, but sank into the freezing lake herself.
the servants didn't dare approach the shattered ice and could only use tools to rescue lady zhou.
however, due to being submerged in the icy water for too long, and because lady zhou couldn't swim, she had swallowed a stomach full of freezing water. that night, she became delirious with fever.
jiang yankun had never seen someone so feverish that their entire body seemed to be steaming.
this unfilial daughter showed no remorse and even tried to kill her own sister.
jiang yankun stormed into jiang yulin's embroidery chamber, furious. since her elder sister jiang yutong had entered the palace, jiang yulin had been the sole occupant of the chamber.
"my lord..."
the nanny of the embroidery chamber had barely approached when jiang yankun kicked her. his face flushed red as he shouted, "where's ling'er? tell her to come out!"
the nanny fell to the ground and crawled to kneel at jiang yankun's feet. "my lord, the third miss is traumatized and feeling unwell. she has already gone to bed."
"she's traumatized?" jiang yankun could hardly believe such shameless words could come from his daughter. he widened his eyes, "one might think the fifth miss had pushed her into the koi pond! how dare she sleep after committing such a grievous error? quickly call her out, or i'll sell off every servant in this courtyard today. it's you despicable slaves who whisper nonsense in the young miss's ear all day, making her so extreme and vicious."
using "vicious" to describe his own daughter seemed a bit excessive, but lady ruan felt he wasn't harsh enough.
some people are born wicked, like jiang yutong and jiang yulin. perhaps they inherited lady zhou's arrogance and cruelty, which is why they all came to bad ends.
after sister yue entered the palace, jiang yulin bullied yan sister quite often. but as a legitimate daughter, lady ruan couldn't openly do anything about it. she could only teach yan sister to use sister yue's old tactics of playing the fragile flower in front of her father.
in private, lady ruan only put on a show. the treatment in the embroidery chamber was now worlds apart from when lady zhou was in charge.
yet others still thought her kind and virtuous. they believed lady zhou had spoiled the third miss, while lady ruan was strict.
after seven or eight lashes, jiang yulin couldn't take it anymore. she rolled on the ground, begging for mercy. "father, i was wrong, i know i was wrong. father... father, please stop hitting me, wuwuwu... i truly know i was wrong."
her face also bore an angry red welt, a shocking sight to behold.
in hexi palace—
jiang xinyue had just gotten up and taken a few steps when jiang chuan entered. "your highness, a letter has arrived from the jiang family outside the palace."
"no one else saw it, right?"
"rest assured, your highness. it was still our people..."
jiang xinyue nodded and tore open the envelope.
the letter was from her eldest brother. it said that the third sister had fallen ill due to constant worry over their mother's condition and developed hysteria. their father planned to send her to a temple to chant sutras and pray. he was writing to inform her of this.
jiang xinyue read it and immediately burned the letter. she could guess that jiang yulin, that fool, had probably done something stupid again to anger their father.
lady zhou was critically ill, her eldest brother was simple-minded and weak, jiang yutong had turned to bones, and now jiang yulin was being sent to a temple. their branch of the family was truly dwindling.
this meant her mother would now dominate the jiang household.
excellent!
"your highness! are you ready? his majesty has ordered this servant to bring the sixth prince over. all the members of the imperial clan have already gathered."
jiang xinyue wore a deep purple consort's robe, her hair styled in an elaborate bun adorned with a consort's golden crown inlaid with luminous pearls. long golden hairpins were inserted on both sides of the crown, their tops adorned with delicate dangling ornaments that shimmered like cascading gold threads, falling over her shoulders and back. in the flickering candlelight, she looked resplendent and majestic.
today was the sixth prince's one-month celebration banquet.
jiang xinyue was fully dressed, but she still instructed nanny xiang to carry the milk-drinking bundle who was chewing on his hand. "you and eunuch wang take the sixth prince over together."
tonight, she absolutely had to make a grand entrance as the finale.