Jiang Qingyue’s face flushed red all the way to her ears. “Jiang Qingran, I’ve been tolerating you again and again, yet you have the nerve to be so shameless and say such things.”
Jing Mofeng, as the emperor’s legitimate son, could have any woman he wanted. If she hadn’t used some tricks in that regard, how could she have made him devoted only to her?
“You’re the one who sneaked around with a man in the middle of the night, so how does that make me shameless? Qinghe, go find a group of beggars right now and spread word of the Fourth Miss’s seductive skills throughout the Imperial City.”
“Yes.”
Jiang Wenxiang’s eyes widened like bronze bells as he pointed at Jiang Qingran and cursed angrily, “You beast, how dare you!”
But before his words even finished, Qinghe had already leaped over the wall.
Jiang Qingran smiled faintly, her eyes curved, looking dreamily beautiful under the hazy light. She took out a folding fan from her waist and toyed with it in her hand.
Softly, she said, “Why wouldn’t I dare? What can you do to me?”
Jiang Wenxiang took several deep breaths of cold air, his eyes gleaming with malice.
“Hmph! You’re just relying on the fact that I need you to take the place in the marriage to the Seventh Prince’s Mansion, aren’t you? Jiang Qingran, once you marry over there, I can have you skinned alive.”
Jiang Qingran didn’t speak, but laughed a few times, “Hahaha…”
Suddenly, the folding fan snapped open and swiftly spun toward Jiang Wenxiang. Before anyone could see clearly, it had already left a red mark on his neck, then landed steadily back in Jiang Qingran’s hand.
“Ah!”
Jiang Wenxiang cried out in pain, reaching up to touch the sore spot—his hand came away covered in blood.
Old Lady Jiang and Shen Ruoliu were both horrified.
“Wenxiang!”
“My lord, are you all right?”
Jiang Wenxiang only looked fearfully at Jiang Qingran, his eyes flashing with intense killing intent.
“You rebellious daughter, are you trying to kill your own father?”
The servants at the Manor Estate had said that over the past ten years, she had done nothing but eat and sleep every day. How could she have mastered such profound martial arts?
Jiang Qingran smiled, her voice gentle. “Killing one’s father would invite a thunderbolt—I wouldn’t dare. But crippling you or something like that would be easy. So, I advise you, Prime Minister, to face reality sooner and bother me less.”
“Jiang Qingran!” Jiang Qingyue shouted loudly, a sword appearing in her hand at some point. “You’ve tarnished your own sister’s reputation and now you’re acting so rebellious. Tonight, I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
She had always been the most outstanding young lady among the nobles and officials in the Imperial City, but today she had been repeatedly humiliated by Jiang Qingran, that lowly Zaixing, and had long been seething with anger.
She had thought Jiang Qingran was merely good-looking, arrogant, and ignorant of her own limits. She never expected her to have some real skill, and jealousy was driving her mad.
She had to crush Jiang Qingran’s arrogance fiercely!
Jiang Qingran beckoned to her with a finger. “Come on.”
“Ah!”
Jiang Qingyue’s face twisted fiercely as she thrust her gleaming sharp sword straight toward Jiang Qingran.
Jiang Qingran leaped backward, kicking Jiang Qingyue’s arm.
With a clang, Jiang Qingyue fell to the ground along with her sword.
“Yue’er!”
Shen Ruoliu hurriedly helped her up, secretly shocked. Her daughter had started learning martial arts at the age of seven—how could she not even withstand a single move from that little wretch Jiang Qingran?
Jiang Qingran straightened her clothes. “Alright, I’m tired and going to sleep now. From now on, don’t come bothering me anymore. In my eyes, you’re just a few monkeys—something to play with for fun when I’m bored.”
Jiang Qingyue clenched her fists, her long nails digging viciously into her flesh.
“Jiang Qingran, don’t get too smug! So what if you’re the legitimate daughter? So what if your martial arts are superior to mine? In three days, I will become the Third Prince’s Wang Fei, the future empress. And you, the wife of the useless Seventh Prince—I will have your family seized and exiled, and torment you to death on the road!”
Jiang Qingran narrowed her eyes and chuckled softly, “I’m looking forward to it, Third—Wang—Fei! Hahaha…”
Her final laugh carried a hidden meaning, thick with mockery.
That night, Jiang Qingran was the only one in the Jiang family who slept soundly.
Early the next morning, all the women of the Jiang family dressed themselves up in dazzling finery.
Especially Jiang Qingyue, whose goose-yellow waist-cinching gauze dress was adorned with feathers and strings of pearls.
A golden butterfly hairpin inlaid with kingfisher feathers was pinned in her hair, looking as if it were about to take flight with her every movement.
After breakfast, they waited a full two hours before the Chief Eunuch Gao Jian finally arrived.
“Imperial decree has arrived! Jiang Qingyue, receive the decree!”