Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 240 - 239: A Play

Chapter 240: Chapter 239: A Play

Chen Shiying arranged the girls in new sequence again, and clarified that he had taken a day off tomorrow. In the morning, he would include Chen Afu’s name in the ancestral hall, under Mrs. Jiang’s name. Moreover, The Chus’ Mansion had already sent a delivery in the afternoon today, stating that Marquis Chu and Mrs. Chu would invite General Mr. Fu as a matchmaker to their mansion for consultation tomorrow.

Afterwards, Mrs. Jiang took her place of honor, and Chen Afu kowtowed to her. However, she didn’t call her "mother," but still called her "mother."

Mrs. Jiang was not fully satisfied with this address, but seeing Chen Afu’s sharp confrontation with the old lady just now, she genuinely did not want to offend this precious daughter anymore. Not only was this because she was about to marry into The Chus, but also because she was truly capable.

Mrs. Jiang took off a translucent, bright-green jade bracelet from her wrist, and with a full smile said, "Good girl, this was left to me by my grandmother, and I am giving it to you now. I hope that you will get along well with your brothers and sisters and always remember that this is your home."

Chen Afu responded, "Thank you, mother," then rose to accept the bracelet.

Chen Yuhui was extremely angry. At that time, the old lady had said something about letting Mrs. Jiang also include her under her name. Mrs. Jiang had agreed wholeheartedly, but she didn’t mention it anymore now. And the other thing was, grandma fell ill and she didn’t know if it would continue...

After Chen Afu completed the ceremony, Chen Shiying said, "You siblings must care for each other and unite. Alright, let’s all go have a meal."

Chen Shiying led the children to the West Wing for dinner, while Mrs. Jiang led the maids to the old lady’s bedroom to serve her dinner.

Chen Afu took out the two plates of gold cakes from the food box and placed them on the table.

Chen Shiying took a piece first and ate it, repeatedly nodding his head in approval, "Mmn, it does taste delicious—fragrant, sweet, soft, and dissolves in your mouth." He then asked a maid to take two pieces to the old lady.

Chen Yulan also picked up a piece and ate it, repeatedly confirming, "This is really good. Did sister make this by hand? It’s even better than the pastries they sell in the stores."

Chen Afu smiled, "As long as you like it, brother. Sister knows how to make a lot of things to eat, I’ll make more of them for brother in the future."

After Hearing this, Chen Yuqing and Chen Yuxia immediately started to eat the gold cakes too. In particular, Chen Yuxia, a child who loves sweets, ate it all up in a few bites. Though she still wanted more, she was too embarrassed to pick up another piece and was caught in a dilemma.

Chen Afu laughed and gave her another piece.

Chen Yuhui didn’t eat the gold cake. Even though its special sweet fragrance kept entering her nostrils, she managed to resist the temptation and did not pick one up.

Chen Shiying and Mrs. Jiang returned to the main court. Chen Shiying, recalling the old lady’s distrustful gaze, softly sighed to Mrs. Jiang, "Hatred can cloud one’s mind. My mother is old and confused, and adding on hatred, I’m afraid she may do something foolish. During the few nights Afu will be staying in the mansion, you should dispatch a few trusted old maids to secretly watch over the second gate, Hengshou Pavilion, and Rose Courtyard. If anything happens, don’t create a commotion. If the Chus find out that mother dared to harm Afu, they won’t let our family off lightly." After a pause, he added, "Also, let someone watch over Mrs. Tang’s and Hui’er’s courtyards."

Mrs. Jiang nodded. She too feared that the old lady might do something reckless and cause trouble for her husband and children. Not to mention that Chen Afu herself was quite formidable, but the individuals of the Chu family, Marquis Chu, Chu Lingxuan, and Mrs. Chu, were all people they could not afford to offend.

Meanwhile, as Chen Afu was on the way back to the Rose Courtyard, she said to Qiu Yue and Qingfeng, who had accompanied her to Hengshou Pavilion, "Don’t tell Mrs. Xu and Yin Zhu [Silver Bracelet] and Yu Zhu [Jade Bracelet] about the conflict I had with the old lady today. This is a family matter of the Chens, and it’s not good if they know about it."

Both Qingfeng and Qiu Yue nodded their confirmation.

It wasn’t that Chen Afu truly feared the Chen family’s problems getting leaked. She knew she had greatly offended the old lady, so she would hide in her space every night. She was rather concerned that if Mrs. Xu learned about this, she would insist on staying in her room through the night, which would indeed create inconvenience.

After returning to her room, both Qiu Yue and Qingfeng insisted on staying in her bedroom for the night. However, Chen Afu didn’t agree, and had them set up beds in the hall instead, where they would still be able to hear any sounds from the bedroom.

Mrs. Xu also insisted on staying in the hall for the night. Because she had stayed in Mrs. Jiang’s courtyard the night before, she wasn’t worried about anything happening to Ms. Chen. However, now that they were in a separate courtyard, she wanted to be prepared for any eventualities.

After lying down in bed, Chen Afu waited for Qiu Yue to let down the Net Tent and extinguished the candle before she left and closed the door.

After lying for a while, Chen Afu quietly got up, propped up a pillow under the quilt to give the appearance that she was still in bed, and tiptoed to the washroom.

The washroom had two doors, one facing the bedroom, the other the backyard. She bolted both doors and then slipped into her space.

She leaned against the Swallow Sink Incense Tree, her mind full of hope that if everything went well, the matchmaker would come tomorrow to discuss the engagement, then the day after, the official matchmaker would come to formally propose, and once both families agreed on the birthdates and formally agreed on the engagement, she could leave The Chens’ mansion and return to her country home...

She fell into a doze, and she didn’t know how long it had been when she was awoken by the very faint sound of knocking at the door. Afterwards, she heard the whisper-like twittering of a swallow.

It was Jin Yanzi. It said, "Open the door, it’s me."

There were no windows in the washroom, and once both doors were bolted tight, it was thoroughly sealed. So, Jin Yanzi couldn’t get into the washroom or the space.

Chen Afu quickly left her space, and slightly opened the door facing the backyard. Jin Yanzi flew in at once.

Both Chen Afu and the swallow then entered the space.

Chen Afu asked, "Why are you here? Is Dabao alright?"

Jin Yanzi replied, "Master Chu sent people to fetch your dad and mom. Once they’ve arrived, even though that stinky Dabao is still making a fuss, it’s not as bad. If they didn’t come, they wouldn’t have been able to witness such a grand drama."

"What grand drama?" Chen Afu asked.

Jin Yanzi replied, "I missed mommy, so when Dabao fell asleep with granny, I came to see mommy.."

As soon as Jin Yanzi flew over The Chens’ courtyard, it sensed something was amiss, for there were people squatting and hiding under trees or among the bushes. Startled and worried about Chen Afu’s safety, it quickly flew to the tallest artificial hill in the backyard, where a towering tree stood. From the treetop, it had a clear view of the entire backyard.

Just as it expected, at around midnight, it saw a person crawl out from a certain courtyard. Even though his face was thoroughly covered, from his build and movements, one could tell he was a man.

The man ran directly towards Chen Afu’s courtyard. However, as he passed by a flower path, three old women suddenly jumped out from the bushes. They simultaneously raised their sticks to hit the man’s head. The man ducked and dodged two of the attacks, but was still hit by the third woman, falling to the ground with a cry. The women then continuously hit him a few more times, tied him up, gagged his mouth with a rag, and stuffed him into a sack. They then dragged him away to another courtyard.

Chen Shiying and Mrs. Jiang came out to interrogate him simultaneously. Upon searching him, they not only found a knife but also some knockout smoke on him.

The man turned out to be a relative of Mrs. Tang’s wet nurse, named Wang Sanlang. He worked at a gambling house in Dingzhou and was somewhat skilled in martial arts. He was approached by Mrs. Tang’s wet nurse at midday today, who claimed there was an easy task, and if completed successfully, he could become The Chens’ son-in-law and receive quite a sum of silver...