Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 547 - 538: Insult

Chapter 547: Chapter 538: Insult

Chen Afu picked up Yu’er and gently patted her little bottom. She chuckled softly, hugging him and planting several slobbery kisses on his face.

The Third Lady, standing nearby, laughed, "Compared to Yan’er, I prefer little Yu’er’s temper. As a child of a family like ours, she should be more assertive. As long as she conducts herself properly and avoids making mistakes, no one will be able to criticize her or dare to bully her. Yan’er is too weak. Even when she marries into her husband’s family, we’ll have to worry about her..." She sighed deeply, murmuring under her breath, "It’s all because of Rong Zhao."

Chen Afu agreed with her. For Yu’er, who was so young, he had very few worries. But for Chu Hanyan, from her infancy to the present and well into the future, he worried constantly. Even if she married Shiyi, whom he fully trusted, he was still afraid of unforeseen problems arising.

Chen Afu chuckled, "Third aunt, I want to find a good nanny for little Yu’er. Teaching her to behave appropriately and with a sense of proportion should start from young."

The Third Lady replied, "That’s no problem. After the great empress dowager passed away, a number of her maids were let go." After some consideration, she added, "I recall, Mrs. Ding and Mrs. Su are both smart and steady. Both were particularly favored by the great empress dowager and aren’t too old. I’ll have someone inquire about it."

Chen Afu expressed his gratitude with a smile.

At that moment, the chatter of children echoed from the courtyard, signaling the return of the children who had been visiting the He Royal Mansion.

The two Li siblings raced into the room first, followed by Chu Lingzhi and Chu Hanyan.

The Li brothers, rushing to the front of Chen Afu, spoke over each other in their eagerness, "Mother, mother, sister cried."

"Yes, sister cried so sadly. She apologized to Brother He and made the mean sister leave."

A worried Chen Afu glanced over at Chu Hanyan. The young girl’s eyes were red, and she was already standing in front of Chen Afu, her eyes welling up with a fresh round of tears.

"What happened?" Chu Lingxuan came over from another table.

Everyone else lifted their gazes to Chu Hanyan.

Chen Afu handed little Yu’er to the Third Lady standing beside her and examined Chu Hanyan up and down to make sure she hadn’t been injured. That eased some of her worry. She then pulled the little girl into her own arms and asked, "Hanyan, did someone bully you?"

The little girl sniffed, tears trickling down, and began to speak almost in whispers, "I, I, Sister Yang, she, she..."

Seeing her well up with tears again, Chen Afu was both distressed and frustrated. For so many years, she had been relentlessly teaching her not to be too submissive, not to allow herself to be bullied, and to learn to fight back, but to little effect. There was nothing much she could do about it. Although Chu Hanyan had recovered from her illness and displayed significant progress, the trauma from her early years had determined her personality and intelligence.

Chu Lingzhi said, "All of this is because of Yang Wenfang’s irritating behavior. She spoke rudely and upset Hanyan. My brothers and I rebuked her, and Prince He was so angry that he drove her away."

Mrs. Huang stepped forward and said, "Madam, this is what happened..." She glanced at the children and chose not to continue.

Chen Afu wiped away Chu Hanyan’s tears and said, "Good child, go and play in the next room. Remember, we, the Chu family, won’t be bullied by just anyone. You don’t need to be afraid of anyone. If anyone bullies you, you must bully them back. If you can’t fight back, your father and mother will exact justice for you."

To this quiet and weak little girl, her words needed to be encouraging.

It was only when all the children and servants had left that Mrs. Huang related the whole story.

Today, Lady Yang’s younger sister, Yang Wenfang, was also present. She had been brought by Grand Princess Rong Jing.

Rong Jing, noticing that Prince He disapproved, explained with a troubled look, "I had no other choice. Yesterday Yang Wenfang stayed overnight with Lady Yang. Early in the morning, she came to my palace and insisted that Lady Yang wanted me to take her to my brother’s mansion to play. She went on, saying that we are all relatives and should spend more time together."

Prince He had no response to this.

In the beginning, Yang Wenfang didn’t cause any trouble. Although she was rather presumptuous and loved showing off, the other children mostly ignored her. Later, when she saw that Prince He was especially kind to Chu Hanyan and rather cold towards her, she became unhappy. Mrs. Wei and Aunt Qiu (Qiu Yue), both of whom were with Prince He, as well as Mrs. Huang, were all on guard and managed to defuse and stop some of Yang Wenfang’s unfavorable remarks towards Chu Hanyan.

The trouble started at dinner.

They were seated at separate tables. At one table were Prince He, Chu Lingzhi, Li Xuan, and the two Li brothers; at the other were Rong Jing, Chu Hanyan, and Yang Wenyi.

At this point, Mrs. Wei and Aunt Qiu were serving Prince He’s table, while Mrs. Huang stood behind Chu Hanyan, waiting on her.

The boys’ table was lively with stories and jokes. Li Xuan, for example, joked that he admired Prince He and wished he could have a wife at an early age. His remarks drew so much laughter that everyone’s attention was drawn away.

Yang Wenfang then leaned over to Chu Hanyan and whispered, "Sister Chu, I heard that many noble girls have their hearts set on Prince He. They say he’s handsome, talented, and is loved by both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. They also say that you’re not smart and that you had dementia before, and your family was part of the rebellious group. They say that you’re not good enough for Prince He. Right now, Prince He is young and naive and thinks you’re nice. But when he grows up, he will not be fond of you anymore. Every man is fond of a smart woman... "

Mrs. Huang, initially diverted by the laughter from the boys’ table, was horrified when she heard the last few sentences. "Oh, Ms. Yang, how can a young girl like you say such embarrassing things?"

Yang Wenfang defiantly responded, "I’m not the one who said it, they said it. A lot of people say it, I’m just reminding Sister Chu, out of goodwill."

Chu Hanyan was so upset that she began to cry.

When Chu Lingzhi and the Li brothers saw that Chu Hanyan was being scolded, they rushed over and reproved Yang Wenfang. Chu Lingzhi scolded her as "shameless", and the Li brothers called her "rotten". One of the brothers even tried to kick Yang Wenfang, but was instead pushed down by her.

Prince He was furious and ordered Yang Wenfang to leave, which left her crying.

After hearing this, everyone in the room was fuming.

Chu Lingxuan clenched his teeth and said, "Relying on having produced a consort, the Yangs are getting more and more arrogant. And that Lady Yang, she has no shame, not only brazenly encouraging her younger sister to win Prince He, but she even dares to talk like this. The Yangs? We are not afraid of them. In the future, I will definitely find an opportunity to teach them a lesson."

Marquis Chu said grimly, "I am going to tell the Emperor tomorrow that my granddaughter has a hidden disease and is not suitable for Prince He. Let’s forget about their engagement. I blame myself for being useless, letting Hanyan be bullied when she was a child, and now she has to suffer humiliation when she grows up..." Before he could finish, he choked back sobs, hastily covering his mouth with his fist. After a pause, he continued, "Mrs. Luo and Hanyan are the two people that I owe the most in my life. One is now a nun in a temple, and the other, although she’s still young, has all her relatives worried about her future..."