"Then. Let's. Just. Wait. And. See." Yun Qian Meng stared at those cold eyes, pausing at each word.
After hearing Yun Qian Meng's response, Chen wang's whole body immediately turned fierce, his arms abruptly tightened up, quickly lowered down his head facing Yun Qian Meng's beautiful face, then mumbled, "What if I granted you the title of the main wife?"
But Yun Qian Meng immediately lowered her right hand, a silvery light flashed out from her sleeve. She immediately pressed it against Chen wang's waist, as she responded coldly, "Wangye, please behave yourself."
When she spoke, she had exerted more strength with her hand and the dagger pressed directly against Chen wang's waist.
Jiang Mu Chen had not expected that Yun Qian Meng would carry a dagger on her and had been caught off guard. He was being threatened by a woman, yet he did not get angry, but only looked at Yun Qian Meng's utterly cold face. He could not bear it anymore and slowly released her, but his words still would not allow Yun Qian Meng to get away, "If you reject me now, you will regret it in the future."
"Wangye, you are too severe. But one thing that I'll never regret is the withdrawal of the marriage agreement with you, wangye." The dagger in Yun Qian Meng's hand was once again pressed against Chen wang's flower inlaid jade brocade belt. The sharp dagger gradually scratched the belt, indicating that it would soon pierce through to Chen wang's waist.
Chen wang's heart was suddenly angered at her words, and he immediately regretted releasing her. His long arm stretched out, wanting to grab Yun Qian Meng again, but a hand suddenly appeared and grabbed him instead. The huge hand was slender and pretty, its joints appeared to be like the most amazing gifts from the heavens, but the blue veins were sprouting out from this hand, and the knuckles even turned white, showing that the hand was exerting a large amount of force.
Despite being grabbed by the wrist, Chen wang's face remained emotionless, the corner of his mouth exposing a grim smiling expression. He then turned around to look at the person behind him, only to see Chu Fei Yang bearing the expression of someone who had rushed into the narrowly spaced rock garden. Chen wang's face grew darker and he immediately said in a cold voice, "I have rarely seen Chu xiang being anxious like this. Apparently, Yun xiaojie must be Chu xiang's weak spot."
But right after he spoke those words, the circular jade embedded into the belt around his waist split in two, half had separated itself from the belt as it fell onto the ground, indicating the amount of strength Yun Qian Meng exerted. But despite this, it still could not vanish the anger that raged in Yun Qian Meng's heart. The force in her hand was increasingly heavier and had already punctured Chen wang's outer clothing, gradually piercing inside…
Chen wang had not expected that Yun Qian Meng would dare to hurt him, or maybe because of Chu Fei Yang's support, she had become absolutely unrestrained. Thinking that the two of them would soon become a married couple, Chen wang was infuriated, and immediately he rambled, "For Chu xiang to head over here so quickly, you must have guessed that some incident had already happened in this rock garden."
With only this simple statement, if it were to spread, Yun Qian Meng's reputation as an honorable lady would be ruined.
But facing this kind of threat, Yun Qian Meng and Chu Fei Yang were not jarred even the slightest bit, and Yun Qian Meng only coldly laughed, then simply said, "If wangye really intended for the others to know, you might have done it already. Why would you even secretly hide in this rock garden? Now that you have intended to ruin my reputation as a woman, wouldn't you fear that all the people in the world will laugh at you with such a nasty behavior?"
Jiang Mu Chen immediately turned to look at Yun Qian Meng, his eagle-like sharp eyes were staring at her cold expression. Harbouring confusing thoughts when faced with her calmness, he grew angry but reluctantly so as he continued to allow this woman to humiliate him. Although he was quite unwilling, for a short moment, Jiang Mu Chen firmly stared at Yun Qian Meng before he took a step towards her but had suddenly been pulled back by Chu Fei Yang.
Chu Fei Yang's seemed to have understood his intentions, Jiang Mu Chen's eyes shifted to him instead and stated with a cold smile, "Chu xiang, you are overly concerned with Yun xiaojie."
And Chu Fei Yang just pursed his lips at Jiang Mu Chen continuously going too far. His gaze had formed into a thousand years cold ice, the air surrounding his body became dreadful as he coldly gazed at the evil smile on Jiang Mu Chen's face, before he slowly opened his mouth to speak, "Wangye, don't you think that your actions are too childish? Inciting disharmony between us, do you think Meng'er and I would fall into your trap?"
Ultimately, Chu Fei Yang had very deliberately called Yun Qian Meng's name in such an intimate way. This caused Chen wang's expression to became even gloomier, his eyes exposing a malicious look, as if he dearly wanted to tear Chu Fei Yang's body into pieces.
Instead of reacting with a grave expression, Chu Fei Yang relaxed his body and said, "A while ago when I came over here, I saw Yuan de taifei commanding her people to look for wangye. Now that your noble guests have arrived, doesn't wangye need to perform your duties as the host? Else, our guests might think that Western Chu's wangfu has no manners."
Hearing Chu Fei Yang's rejoice in his misfortune, Chen wang glanced at Yun Qian Meng, then proceeded to say in a cold voice, "Since that is the case, then please proceed to the garden, Chu xiang."
"Of course." Chu Fei Yang's lips curved up in a smile. His eyes flickered as he looked at Yun Qian Meng, then he left the rock garden with Chen wang.
After they left, Yun Qian Meng bent at the waist to pick up the piece of jade that had fallen onto the ground, carefully pinched between her fingers. Soon after, she also walked out of the rock garden, but the direction she went in was the exact opposite of where Chu Fei Yang and Jiang Mu Chen had gone. She appeared to be returning through her original path towards the garden, yet from afar she saw Wu Qin Qin leading a group of ladies over.
"Yun xiaojie, I've made you wait so long." Wu Qin Qin had already started to speak even before both parties had converged. Her choice of respectful words attracted the admiration of others., Wu Qin Qin had always kept a low profile so the people she came into contact with were not many. Moreover, when facing others she always had a smile on her face, and had never exhibited hostility against another. That, in addition to her noble background, gained her the friendship of a lot of ladies within a short time.
"The scenery here is beautiful, you'll never feel time pass by so quickly. Wu xiaojie, you must be exhausted from running here and there." Yun Qian Meng's words seemed to contain a deeper meaning, even as she remarked indifferently.
The smile in her eyes was infused with indecipherable insight, and Wu Qin Qin's heart suddenly trembled. She immediately lowered her head to look at her hands, when she the circular fan, she relaxed a bit, then smiled as she remarked, "When I returned earlier, I had told these ladies about the multi-colored butterfly, everyone was curious about it, so they accompanied me here."
Just like the saying, "300 silver is not hidden here", Wu Qin Qin could not be any more transparent.
However, Yun Qian Meng only maintained her shallow smile, without inquire further about her superfluous explanations, and somewhat regretfully replied, "Sorry to disappoint you, ladies, but the butterfly had already flown away up ahead."
"What? It had actually flown away to the osmanthus forest?" Wu Qin Qin suddenly blurted out, causing a lot ladies to raise their eyebrows.
After all, for the majority of the xiaojie present today, this would be their first time here at Chen wangfu. Even Su Qian Yue and Qu Jing Qing, who took advantage of being allowed by Yuan de taifei to frequently move about near Chen wangfu, they had not been aware of an osmanthus forest up ahead.
The way Wu Qin Qin had described it so precisely at that moment made the others around her apprehensive. Even the expressions in their eyes as they were staring at Wu Qin Qin was as if she were a strange phenomenon.
Meanwhile, Yun Qian Meng only indifferently smiled. She had also caught the fragrance of the osmanthus flowers a few moments ago at the rock garden as she had started to probe Wu Qin Qin.
Wu Qin Qin anxiously realized her shameful behavior, she had inadvertently leaked out the information, but sensing all the gazes were casted onto her, she realized that it was already too late.
Wu Qin Qin was already feeling intense remorse in her heart.
"You naughty girl, running all over the place in search of new and odd things, you have made me feel worried. Fortunately, Wu xiaojie here was very familiar with Chen wangfu, or else how could I have been able to quickly find you?" seeing Yun Qian Meng shot a glance at her, Qu Fei Qing immediately understood Wu Qin Qin's intentions, so quickly approached Yun Qian Meng, her words slightly blaming her.
Qu Fei Qing's words were like pouring oil into fire, and Wu Qin Qin was suddenly pushed to the heart of the struggle.
The various xiaojie, one by one, exposed cold smiles towards Wu Qin Qin. Knowing now that on the surface, the Wu Family's xiaojie only appeared to be a well-bred young lady, yet on the inside she was a frivolous and superficial person. Perhaps she had been in Chen wangfu on numerous number of occasions, otherwise she would not be familiar with the scenery ahead. She had practically reacted instantly to Yun Qian Meng's question, just as she had led them with great familiarization.
"Thanks for reminding me, cousin. Meng'er didn't consider it carefully." Qu Fei Qing smiled at the remark as she looked at Yun Qian Meng, and the two of them immediately walked towards the group.
Meanwhile, Wu Qin Qin's hands were tightly pinching the handle of the circular fan. With an embarrassed smile on her face, she tried to curry favor, "How can we blame Yun xiaojie? If it wasn't for Qin Qin's playfulness, she would not have been left alone here. Did Yun xiaojie come across any strangers? Were you frightened?"
With these implicating words, Wu Qin Qin seemed like someone who was not to be trifled with. When Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing pushed her to be the center of attention with just few words, she naturally would not allow herself to get trampled on by others.
At Wu Qin Qin's sincere eyes, a extremely faint coldness surfaced in Yun Qian Meng's eyes, yet the corner of her mouth was still wearing a smile as she respectfully answered, "Could it be that Wu xiaojie encountered someone on the way? Aside from appreciating the scenery, Qian Meng did not see anyone else."
Yun Qian Meng's eyes were flickering with sincerity, and her tone seemed calm, so the other xiaojie relaxed their tense hearts. On the other hand, they grew resentful towards Wu Qin Qin who was only full of lies. They found this woman to be quite scheming so her words earned no respect from them.
"Since that is the case, let's just quickly go back to the garden. We shouldn't make Yuan de taifei wait." Qu Fei Qing had interjected after a glimpse at Wu Qin Qin.
Among these ladies, Qu Fei Qing was the one with the best family background, because of this, people did not oppose her words. One after another, they looked strangely at Wu Qin Qin, following which they quickly turned around and returned to the garden.
Yun Qian Meng pulled Qu Fei Qing back and they fell behind the group on purpose, slowly walking behind Wu Qin Qin's yatou.
"Oh!" unexpectedly, the maid was caught off balance, and she fell forwards, falling onto Wu Qin Qin's back.
And since Wu Qin Qin was preoccupied with the thoughts in her head, she had not noticed what had occurred. In a short moment, she was suddenly being pushed by her own yatou as they simultaneously fell down, incidentally knocking a few of the ladies in front of them. For quite some time, noises echoed along the pathway, as the group of ladies with bright colored clothes and delicate adornments one by one fell to the ground. It was truly a magnificent sight!
As the ladies shouted and fell to the ground, Qu Fei Qing's eyes watched in ridicule, but her heart was greatly surprised; she had clearly seen Yun Qian Meng stepping on the yatou's skirt, which had caused her stumble.
Yet Yun Qian Meng did not even care to jeer at the disgraceful situation of the xiaojie. Instead, she had immediately rushed to carefully supported Wu Qin Qin, who was lying on the ground and unable to get up, as she asked with concern, "Are you alright Wu xiaojie? Why did you suddenly fall down?"
She then ardently stretched out her arms to pat Wu Qin Qin's slightly wrinkled skirt, helped her arrange the jade ornamented spice bag that she wore on her waist, and fixed up her slightly messy hair. She then proceeded to lend an arm to support the other ladies.
When everyone had tidied up their dresses and hair, quite a long time had already passed. A old mama was approaching them from quite a ways away. Seeing all the ladies in this area she bent at the knee, then coldly said, "Taifei invites all the xiaojie to go inside."
"Yes!" one after another they responded in low voice, since Yuan de taifei had personally dispatched her most reliable mama, none dared to be impudent. Following behind the mama, they proceeded towards the garden.
At this moment, the garden was already fully occupied with the rest of the invited guests.
Aside from Chu Fei Yang, who Yun Qian Meng had already met moments ago, the three brothers Qi Jing Yuan, Qi Jing Xuan, and Qi Jing Han were also present.
And since Yuan Qing Zhou was a part of Jiang Mu Chen's family, he was naturally also invited to this event.
Apart from this, there were many men from influential families who were present at this banquet. Apparently, they were all quite curious about Chen wangfu which rarely invited guests into the residence. The originally spacious garden was now full of people.
And what amazed everyone the most was seeing Hai Tian unexpectedly sitting beside Princess Ling'er. The way the two of them discussed things gave the impression that they had known each other for a very long time.
The daughters who were late paid their courtesies towards Yuan de taifei then hurriedly took their seats. Following which, a line of yatou silently came through the arched door, one by one, bringing delicious food to the tables of the guests.
Seeing more than twenty different dishes and pastries in front of her eyes, Yun Qian Meng felt that the noble families of ancient times really knew how to enjoy themselves. A single person's share was so large and so varied, yet during the chaos of war, the common people were not even able to consume a full meal. It was indeed as the saying went, "while the rich people have wine and meat, the road was littered with frozen bones of the common people".
Yun Qian Meng's heart sighed with this thought, then she completely lost her appetite.
During this time, in the seat of honor, Chen wang was staring coldly at Yun Qian Meng. Although she bore her usual expression, her eyes seemed somehow discontented with the food. She did not even lift her chopsticks, as her look grew increasingly gloomy.
Like Yun Qian Meng, Chu Fei Yang only quietly sat as his tranquil eyes watched the lively sight in the garden, yet he also never touched the food in front of him.
Seeing the two of them having the same reaction, Chen wang's eyes were suddenly brimming with a malicious expression. He lifted the wine cup towards Chu Fei Yang, and said in a clear voice, "I propose a toast to Chu xiang."