Luo Residence.
Guests filled the entryway.
Shen Hua specially changed into a powder orange embroidered plum blossom facing robe, paired with a bead-sewn gold belt and red skirt. It accentuated her red lips, white teeth, and her icy smooth skin. Naturally beautiful, she applied her delicate and charming makeup ticulously.
Her eyelashes were fine and dense, her movents graceful and soft, delicate and frail. She moved like a gentle breeze.
Luo Chengdong secretly took several glances at her.
His heart itched with longing, but soon, Cui Yun blocked his view.
"What are you looking at, Brother Luo?"
Luo Chengdong made no effort to conceal it.
"You guard her closely."
"Alright, I won’t look anymore."
"Co with to the room first, as for the person by your side."
He chuckled roguishly and called over a servant from behind: "Take him to Madam, Brother Yu is an honored guest, we must serve his people well."
This was naturally just polite talk.
A re concubine, how could she deserve to be personally received by the Lady of the Prefecture Residence?
Luo Chengdong’s disdain for Shen Hua was clear, but Cui Yun, considering the bigger picture, still suppressed the coldness in his eyes. So matters would naturally be settled later. With Yingwu and Xiaoqi behind Shen Hua, nothing would happen to her.
Lady Luo was entertaining a few Madams, and upon seeing Shen Hua, she twitched her eyelid.
Shen Hua gave her a brief look, a courtesy. She stood there without even bending her knees, her tone indifferent: "Lady Luo is well."
Lady Luo imdiately saw through her pretentious nature, and took an instant dislike to her, yet held back her feelings.
The old woman serving behind her caught the cue, and deliberately pulled aside the servant who brought Shen Hua, inquiring thoroughly.
After returning, she whispered into Lady Luo’s ear.
"This is soone kept by Young Master Yang, surnad Shen."
Upon hearing this, the old woman, showing disdain, continued.
"Young Master Yang is just a rchant, ignorant of the rules. Coming as a guest to the Luo Family, it is the Yang Family’s ancestral virtue. Yet he brought an improper concubine here."
Lady Luo’s frown deepened even more.
A concubine daring to co to the Luo Residence?
But she knew well that Luo Chengdong intended to give Yang Yu face. Naturally, she couldn’t hinder his plans. Reluctantly, she nodded coldly towards Shen Hua, exchanging a few perfunctory greetings before inviting her to sit down.
It was not intimate, but it also wasn’t awkward.
The ladies sitting before her were all notable figures from Hengzhou, and Shen Hua was naturally seated at the very end.
The Madams complinted each other with one sentence after another.
Lady Luo: "My son is trouble-free, unlike your son. It’s also my fault, I can’t teach like you."
"What are you saying? Your son Zhao is now a Master Scholar."
Shen Hua, sipping wine in small sips: ...
She knew!
Cui Yun told her!
Luo Chengdong’s son cheated on the examination.
He is just a diocre, and couldn’t even write as well as her.
Half of the officials’ descendants in Hengzhou cleared the examinations by secretly using silver to open doors.
This way, quite many genuinely knowledgeable and ambitious scholars from poor families got pushed aside.
An authentic loss of virtue.
Lady Luo hypocritically said: "That’s also because I pray to Buddha every day, eat vegetarian, and the Three Pure Ones saw my sincere heart. That’s how he accidentally succeeded like a blind cat finding a dead mouse. Speaking of which, at his age, he should also get married. I should go to the Daoist School, pray for a marriage match."
Soone took up the conversation.
"Our Daoist School in Hengzhou is especially effective for seeking marriage matches. Not to ntion anything else, but the girl from the Zhou Family, though ugly, got married off to a good household."
Shen Hua silently listened.
"Lady."
Soone called her.
Shen Hua looked over, it was the woman sitting next to her in the second seat from the end.
The woman smiled: "I haven’t seen you before, which family’s madam are you?"
Shen Hua smiled too.
"I followed him without any official status."
The woman was stunned.
Shen Hua very subtly replied, "Who can bla when my young man has a bit of money."
The woman looked at Shen Hua with an added sense of aning in her eyes.
Not disgust, but sympathy born of shared suffering.
She even lowered her voice to encourage the girl.
"I was originally kept by the master outside as well, he had few heirs, but fortunately, I bore him a healthy boy, and he brought into his household. Later, I gave birth to two more sons for him. The main Madam was displeased by my presence and harassed daily. But I had good fortune and outlasted her, getting recorded on the family registry as Madam."
"If I could do it, so can you."
Shen Hua: ...
Seeing her silence, the woman took it as her being young and thin-skinned.
"I have a secret recipe here, which makes it easy to conceive. I was taking this dicine back then, which accounted for my smooth days now. I think you’re quite likable, if you want it..."
Shen Hua’s eyes suddenly sparkled.
"I want it!"
For the girl, this was indeed like tily help in the snow.
"Does this secret formula have any side effects?"
"Yes."
The woman casually responded: "It just affects longevity."
Shen Hua: ?? Just like that?
"As soone of our humble origin, if we want to climb higher, we need to be harsh on ourselves. Living ten years less isn’t such a big deal."
"No, thank you."
"Sister, listen to my advice."
The girl didn’t hesitate: "I’m selfish."
In this lifeti, destined for death since birth, one does not live that long. It wasn’t easy for her to have nursed her health back.
Seeing Shen Hua unconvinced, the playful smile in the woman’s eyes faded. Thinking her ungracious, the good intentions were taken for granted: "You’ll inevitably age and beco less attractive, and you won’t be afraid when your young man abandons you. You’ll have your tears then."
Lady Luo had been paying attention to Shen Hua.
Seeing her engage in conversation with another concubine who had climbed up the social ladder, she looked down on them even more.
However, she was the Family Head of the Luo Family, and the banquet was specifically for Yang Yu, so she naturally couldn’t ignore Shen Hua continuously.
"Miss Shen."
She asked nobly, "I am planning to visit the Daoist School; would you care to join ?"
Unexpectedly, Shen Hua was even more dignified.
Her eyes shimring like those of a vixen, the girl tenderly swayed her fan, lacking in backbone.
"I’m afraid I must decline Madam’s kindness."
"My husband cannot do without ."
Shen Hua innocently remarked, "This is truly troubleso."
Lady Luo’s heart clenched.
Shen Hua reminded her of those least admired Yangzhou thin horses in her household!
"Miss Shen, it’s indeed good that you can compete with the courtesan. Young Master Yang spent a fortune to be with her last night, and he has been frequently visiting the Qin Chu Pavilion recently, apparently still excited about it. Everyone outside is talking, he might redeem her freedom, and once Cheng Garden welcos a newcor, you’ll be redundant."
Shen Hua gleefully replied, "No matter how good the courtesan is, she can’t match my ability to act coy and tender. I hold my husband’s heart firmly in my grasp. See, when I got annoyed and refused to follow him, he was so scared that he repeatedly promised to focus on and stop visiting the Qin Chu Pavilion."
Shen Hua covered her abdon: "The doctor said this baby is likely to be a young man."
"Who can compare with having a son by my side?"
"Maybe I’ll even get promoted to the main wife."
Shen Hua said, looking up.
"Next ti we et, my seat will have moved forwards."
The ladies: ... Damn little wench!
So shaless!
But the woman nearby: !!! How fearso the young can be!
The room fell deadly silent.
Seeing they weren’t talking, Shen Hua boredly took out her copper mirror.
Is it the numbness caused by the alcohol, or the sister’s beauty?
(Visit Xiao Xiang Academy for updates.)
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