Xiao Yuzhang finally understood the taste of regret.
Leaning on his servant, he clutched his chest, feeling nothing but heartache.
“Gou Dan, do you think it’s possible my ears are really broken?”
How could the little fairy be Jiang Fu, the fourth daughter of the Jiang family who had broken off the engagement with him? It must be that his ears weren’t working properly and he had misheard.
The servant struggled to support his master, his face full of sympathy. “I went to ask—she really is the fourth daughter of the Jiang family.”
Xiao Yuzhang rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.
“Young Master! Young Master!”
When Jiang Fu entered the Imperial View Pavilion with Bai Xing, Xu Yun was in the middle of an argument with Lin Xueyan.
Both were among the top noble ladies in the capital, and no one dared to intervene in their quarrel.
“A good dog doesn’t block the road! Lin Xueyan, do you really think this Imperial View Pavilion belongs to your family?”
Lady Xu hadn’t come today, so Xu Yun only brought her maid Chunyu with her.
Lin Xueyan, on the other hand, had a whole crowd of maids and elderly servants, standing in a row with an imposing presence.
Crossing her arms, she stared at Xu Yun with disdain.
“Who cares whose family it belongs to? Without a token, you’re not allowed into the first-class private rooms.”
There were only three first-class private rooms in the Imperial View Pavilion. Two of them were reserved by the Xiao and Xie families, while the remaining one had been secured by the Lin family with a hefty sum of money.
Lin Xueyan had deliberately arrived early today, just to humiliate Xu Yun by blocking her way. Seeing Xu Yun head upstairs as soon as she arrived, Lin Xueyan’s disdain deepened.
“You’re not trying to freeload off Sister Xie’s private room, are you? The prestigious Xu family can’t even afford to reserve a private room and has to rely on freeloading. How embarrassing it would be if word got out. Good thing the ladies in the palace aren’t here, or even the Empress would be humiliated along with you.”
There was another reason why Lin Xueyan targeted Xu Yun so fiercely: Lin Xueyan’s aunt was the current Consort Lin.
Back when the Emperor had not yet ascended the throne, he married ladies from both the Xu and Lin families at the same time, with Empress Xu as the principal consort and Consort Lin as the secondary consort.
At that time, the head of the Lin family was not yet a minister, and his official rank was two levels lower than that of Minister Xu. However, while Minister Xu was lazy and disliked managing affairs, Lord Lin worked tirelessly to climb the ranks. In less than ten years, he became the Minister of Revenue, far surpassing Minister Xu in influence.
Once their official ranks were reversed, Lord Lin grew dissatisfied.
Why was the Xu family’s daughter the Empress, while his sister was only a consort?
Lord Lin wanted to support Consort Lin in ascending to the position of Empress. Every time he entered the palace, he urged Consort Lin to quickly conceive a royal heir.
Who would have thought that after so long in the palace, her womb had remained barren, while Empress Xu had given birth to a son and a daughter.
Especially after the son was born, the Emperor directly named him Crown Prince.
But Lord Lin did not give up on his ambitions because of this. Before the Crown Prince ascended the throne, everything could still change.
Besides, even if the Crown Prince took the throne, he had ways to pull him down.
What was missing now was an heir from Consort Lin.
The Imperial View Pavilion was crowded with people, and Lin Xueyan’s voice was loud, clearly intending to humiliate Xu Yun.
Xu Yun sneered, “How do you know I don’t have a token for a first-class private room? If I do, what will you do?”
“If you have one, I’ll kneel down and kowtow to you twice!”
Lin Xueyan boldly declared her threat. She had already made inquiries: although Xiao Jing hadn’t come, the manager wouldn’t dare to assign his private room to anyone else.
Xu Yun was just putting on a brave face, bluffing.
“Fine.”
Xu Yun smiled.
She took a token from her sleeve and held it up in front of Lin Xueyan. “Take a good look. Is this a token for a first-class private room? Miss Lin, a bet is a bet. Kowtow.”
As she spoke, she even took a step back to make room for Lin Xueyan.
“Impossible, how could you have a token for the A-class private room? It must be fake! Yes, it’s fake!”
Lin Xueyan simply refused to believe it, persistently denying it.
Xu Yun had long anticipated that she would go back on her word and directly instructed Chunyu to summon the shopkeeper.
“Shopkeeper Xue, take a look—is this token fake or not?”
Shopkeeper Xue was sweating profusely; neither Xu Yun nor Lin Xueyan were people he could afford to offend.
He carefully took the token, and upon clearly seeing the characters on it, his face paled with shock.
“This token is genuine—it belongs to Third Master Xiao.”
“Third Master Xiao? How could Xu Yun be connected to Third Master Xiao, and even have his token?”
By now, the onlookers had lost interest in the spectacle between Xu Yun and Lin Xueyan. Instead, they were far more intrigued by Xu Yun’s relationship with Xiao Jing.
Xu Yun paid no heed to the whispers, retrieved her token, and looked down at Lin Xueyan with an air of superiority.
“Now you can finally admit defeat, right? Hurry up, the dragon boat race is about to begin. Finish your kowtow quickly and leave—don’t delay me from watching the competition.”
“You!”
Lin Xueyan knew she had fallen into Xu Yun’s trap—Xu Yun had deliberately provoked her.
“You just wait!”
With that, she turned and left with her maids and attendants. Xu Yun watched her retreating figure and sneered coldly.
“Well, well, Miss Lin is quite the sore loser. Does Lord Lin know about this? Perhaps even the Noble Consort would find your actions disgraceful if she heard.”
This was a direct return of the mockery Lin Xueyan had dished out earlier.
Lin Xueyan stumbled slightly but quickened her pace.
“Hmph!” Xu Yun finally vented her pent-up anger, feeling immensely relieved.
Clutching the token, she felt genuinely grateful to Jiang Fu.
Xu Yun knew that Xiao Jing had given her the token solely to invite Jiang Fu to watch the dragon boat race—she was merely benefiting from Jiang Fu’s connection.
Thinking of this, Xu Yun asked her maid Chunyu, “Where is Sister A Fu? Go out and meet her.”
“Yes.”
At that moment, Jiang Fu had just been intercepted by Jiang Yao.
She felt she must have forgotten to check the almanac before leaving home today. Running into Xiao Yuzhang was one thing, but as soon as she entered Yujing Tower, she was spotted by Jiang Yao.
The commotion upstairs did not reach the main hall. The Jiang family, a declining household of the Loyal and Brave Count, naturally lacked the funds to reserve a private room.
Jiang Yao, along with Madam Yan and others, was squeezed into the bustling main hall, her face filled with disgust.
Yet, even the most ordinary main hall was not a place Jiang Fu should have been.
“Who gave you permission to leave the house? You’ve really grown bold, sneaking out like this. No wonder, with no parents to teach you, you don’t understand manners or rules. Leave now, and don’t embarrass us here!”
Jiang Yao kept her voice low, as she still cared about her reputation.
Jiang Fu’s delicate face turned cold. “Sister Yun invited me here. What, does Second Sister intend to blame Sister Yun?”
She was not one to be easily bullied—Jiang Yao couldn’t take advantage of her.
Sure enough, hearing Jiang Fu use Xu Yun to pressure her, Jiang Yao’s expression stiffened.
“What does the Xu family matter? Without permission from the elders, you shouldn’t be out at all!”
Jiang Fu ignored her and walked past her toward the stairs. Mama Cao had told her that Sister Yun was waiting for her upstairs.
“…Jiang Fu, did you hear me? Stop right there!”
“Where did this ugly creature come from, daring to yell at the little fairy!”
Xiao Yuzhang entered with Gou Dan and saw Jiang Yao bullying Jiang Fu. He immediately strode forward and grabbed her pointing finger.
How dare this hand point at the little fairy—it might as well be broken.
“Ahhh, it hurts…”
Jiang Yao’s fingers were nearly snapped by him, the pain making her want to curse, but upon seeing who it was, her face paled first.
“Xiao… Young Master Xiao?”