Seeing Li Qingquan silenced, Feng Yuyan turned and realized her wet nurse was nowhere to be found. She looked like she was about to cry. “I want my wet nurse.”
“Your wet nurse got kicked by the marquis,” Qian Jiaoniang said flatly, “She’s gone to see the doctor.”
With no other option, Feng Yuyan wiped her eyes, put down her handkerchief, and began, “On my birthday night, the marquis… had a few too many drinks. His expression suddenly turned dazed, and he—he grabbed me. I couldn’t avoid it, and then… with the marquis, I… it just… happened.” Her face turned beet red, and she twisted the handkerchief tighter and tighter. “We… completed the good thing.”
What utter nonsense. Had he not heard it with his own ears, Xing Muzheng wouldn’t have believed such a shameless lie could come from the mouth of a highborn lady.
“A good thing?” Qian Jiaoniang sneered coldly. “You call that a good thing?”
Feng Yuyan’s hair stood on end at that single cold laugh. She felt as though the chair she was sitting on had grown spikes. “What do you mean by that?”
“You’re asking me what I mean?” Qian Jiaoniang said. “Miss Feng, do you remember your status in this household? You are the marquis’s future equal wife—a proper equal wife of this noble household! Even in modest families, a wife is expected to be proper and upright. And yet you act like a courtesan! You haven’t even married in, and just because a man hugs and kisses you, you throw yourself into his arms…”
This woman—was she truly furious? Hearing her crude street-market words, Xing Muzheng should have been offended, but instead, he found it amusing.
“Qian Jiaoniang, you’ve gone too far!” Feng Yuyan shot to her feet, screaming in outrage. Her clenched fists trembled, and she glared daggers at Jiaoniang. How dare she… How dare she!
“Insolent!” Qingya snapped. “Our madam is the legal wife of the marquis! Who are you to call her by name?!”
“I’ve gone too far? Miss Feng, I’m not the one seducing a man before marriage—you, a noble young lady, did that!” Qian Jiaoniang slapped the table. “In just half a year, you’d have entered the marquis manor in a grand sedan chair, and you couldn’t even hold yourself back until then?!”
Feng Yuyan nearly leapt up. “The marquis is extremely strong—how could a weak woman like me resist?”
“Couldn’t resist? I think you never wanted to resist! Your courtyard has plenty of maids and old servants—couldn’t you have called for help? And besides, the marquis has a bed maid in his own courtyard—how hard would it have been to send someone to fetch her? As I see it, you’re just shameless!”
“I didn’t! I didn’t…”
“Didn’t what?” Qian Jiaoniang narrowed her eyes.
Feng Yuyan panicked. “I didn’t…”
“Madam, please—let it go,” Li Qingquan interjected. “Men, when they drink, do become hard to control. The general is Miss Feng’s fiancé, and they’re clearly fond of each other—it’s only natural that…”
This fool, Xing Muzheng cursed inwardly. At the mere mention of a child, Li Qingquan lost all sense of judgment.
Feng Yuyan turned to Li Qingquan, grief-stricken. “Lord Li, I was already overwhelmed with shame. If not for the sake of the marquis’s child, I would’ve hanged myself with a white silk ribbon rather than suffer this humiliation!”
Li Qingquan hurried to comfort her. “Miss Feng, don’t be upset, please don’t!”
Feng Yuyan stamped her foot and cried into her hands—what a pitiful sight.
Li Qingquan turned anxiously to Qian Jiaoniang. “Madam, Miss Feng is carrying the general’s child!”
Qingya snorted coldly. Men. Always putting heirs first—as if any child, from any random woman, is a treasure. “Miss Feng, please stop crying. When our madam first met you, she thought you were a dignified, well-mannered, educated young lady—someone fitting to marry our marquis. That’s why she generously agreed to let you be brought into the household. But to think, Miss Feng would shock us all with such disgraceful behavior before even entering the door…”
Xing Muzheng let out a soft laugh. These two—madam and maid—both had razor-sharp tongues. Whoever offended them was bound to be skinned alive.
What do you mean she only agreed because she thought I was decent? Do I need this country woman’s approval to enter the marquis household? That d*mned girl—what a twisting, slandering mouth! Feng Yuyan was so furious she nearly fainted. She cried harder. “Now even the servants scold me! What’s the point of living? I’d be better off dead!”
She lifted her skirt and rushed toward a pillar. Li Qingquan panicked. “Stop her! Quick!”
Wang Yong leapt forward, blocking her with his arms. Feng Yuyan sobbed and tried to get around him, crying “Let me die!” Qingya not only didn’t comfort her—she added fuel to the fire. “You refuse to act like a proper wife and instead mimic those seductive concubines—truly disgraceful. If you ask me, forget the pillar. You ought to be drowned in a pig cage!”
“Ahhh—” Feng Yuyan lost control and scratched at Wang Yong’s face in fury, angry he was stopping her from dying.
“Miss Qingya, enough already—I haven’t even found a wife yet!” Wang Yong cried out as his face was scratched, but he didn’t dare retaliate against Feng Yuyan.
“Miss Feng, please calm down, think of your health! Your health!” Li Qingquan had assumed Qian Jiaoniang would be easy to deal with—but she was proving impossible. He urgently cupped his hands and said, “Madam, what’s done is done. There’s no point in arguing further. Right now, the general’s child is what matters most. Shouldn’t we focus on what to do next?”
Qian Jiaoniang asked, “Lord Li, what solution do you propose?”
Qingya jumped in first: “This young lady is so lacking in virtue. If word of this gets out, our Marquis Manor will be utterly disgraced. Dingxi Marquis has always been noble and upright, a man of integrity. Our madam is quiet and virtuous, chaste and proper, modest in conduct, and graceful in manner—” Qian Jiaoniang sat up straight and gave a dry cough at that. Was I really that virtuous?
Qingya continued, “How can such a household of noble tradition be ruined by Miss Feng alone? In my opinion, the child in Miss Feng’s belly should be gotten rid of, and she should be expelled from the manor!”
“No!” Li Qingquan suddenly roared, loud enough to shake the roof.
Both Qian Jiaoniang and Qingya were startled by his shout. Feng Yuyan was also frightened; she held her forehead and weakly slumped to the side, almost fainting. Wang Yong quickly pulled over a chair to let her sit.
Dingxi Marquis let out a loud roar.
Ah Da stepped forward, frowning at Li Qingquan. “Qingquan, you’ve frightened Madam and Miss Qingya!”
Li Qingquan came back to his senses and knelt on one knee before Qian Jiaoniang. “Madam, I was out of line. But I absolutely cannot agree to abort the Marquis’s bloodline!”
“And what do you propose instead?” Qian Jiaoniang didn’t like people kneeling before her. She waved her fan to signal him to rise.
Li Qingquan stood up. Instead of immediately answering, he walked to stand before Feng Yuyan and said solemnly, “Miss Feng, the matter we previously discussed—I’m afraid it can’t go as planned.”
Feng Yuyan hadn’t yet recovered and looked confused as Li Qingquan turned to Qian Jiaoniang and said, “Madam, the general’s child must be preserved, and the child must have a proper status. Why not allow Miss Feng to enter the manor first as a concubine…”
Before Qian Jiaoniang could respond, Feng Yuyan’s eyes went wide in shock. “Lord Li, what are you saying?”
