She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 475 - 473: Do You Need Someone to Be a Burden?

Chapter 475: Chapter 473: Do You Need Someone to Be a Burden?

Having come out of Duke An’s study, Ye Xinyan went to Madam Yin’s courtyard to ask what kind of nonsense that little girl from the Han family was pulling, behaving so rudely towards her.

Madam Yin was drinking tea in her room when Ye Xinyan entered and first asked Nanny Huang, "Have Qi Jia and Sanshun returned?"

Nanny Huang smiled and replied, "Not yet. This morning, Master Guan took the two boys and Jiuhua out to enjoy the temple fair, where they happened to meet His Highness Prince Yu. They had lunch together at a stall in the temple fair. After returning to the mansion, they’ve been playing with a few guards in the front yard and haven’t returned to their rooms yet, perhaps by dinner time."

"Met His Highness Prince Yu?" Is Jinrong so idle? To wander around the temple fair and even eat lunch at a stall there.

The quality of that lunch... all sorts of snacks? On such a bustling day, the eighth day of the first month of the lunar year, she had wasted an entire day at Prince Fu’s Mansion and missed the opportunity to feast on the various snacks to her heart’s content.

Seeing the signs of her daughter’s salivation, Madam Yin chuckled and said, "Take off your coat and sit on the kang. Are you not satisfied with your lunch? The kitchen is currently baking crispy cakes, and Nanny Jin has also prepared some milk tea, which should be served shortly."

Cui Zhu and Jiuyue helped Ye Xinyan take off her coat. Once she climbed onto the kang, she snuggled up to Madam Yin and asked, "What’s really going on with that little girl from the Han Mansion? It’s as if she has a deep grudge against me. You know something, don’t you, Mother?"

Since there were no outsiders in the room, Madam Yin didn’t hold back. "The year before last, not long after you left the Duke’s Mansion, His Highness Prince Yu earnestly begged the Emperor, saying he was bored in the capital and wished to visit his fief."

Ye Xinyan nodded her head; that must have been around the time Jiang Yifan was removed from his position as official in charge of matters within the imperial court and was sent to serve in Qingyuan County.

"After the Emperor agreed to this, Han Yufang of the Han family disregarded etiquette and public opinion, chasing and blocking His Highness every day, asking why he wanted to leave the capital and when he would return. Rumors began to circulate that Prime Minister Han’s granddaughter had fallen for His Highness Prince Yu."

Ye Xinyan looked at Madam Yin in disbelief—Jinrong got himself entangled in such a love mess, and she was the one who got the brunt of the anger? What did it have to do with her? Everyone should know that with her poor reputation and difficult situation, this was the only reason she could serve as a steward for Jinrong despite being the daughter of Duke An’s Mansion.

She nodded slightly, "That’s true, the status of His Highness Prince Yu is indeed highly coveted among unmarried women. But what does that have to do with me? Given my status, how could I possibly aspire to win over a prince? Prime Minister Han’s granddaughter couldn’t be unaware of this, right?"

Thinking further about what Han Yufang had done, even if it was in pursuit of true love, wasn’t it a mismatch in terms of social status?

Ye Xinyan said indignantly, "Why is it that after I simply argue and quarrel with somebody a few times, my reputation gets so tarnished? Han Yufang, on the other hand, openly pursues The Perfect Gentleman, and nothing happens to her? How is that fair? Is this bullying?"

Madam Yin opened her mouth to respond to her daughter’s complaints but swallowed her words, instead choosing a soothing tone, "Miss Han simply likes His Highness Prince Yu herself and follows him around to ask a few more questions. A young girl’s longing for love is only natural. Ah Yan, you’re always fighting and arguing with others, and that’s offending people. When you’re involved in other issues, how can people speak or think well of you?"

Ye Xinyan glanced at Madam Yin and then at Nanny Huang, Nanny Jin, and the others. Thinking about the original host’s daring acts—desperately trying to force her way into marrying The Perfect Gentleman whom she’d met only once—she truly couldn’t compare with Han Yufang.

Forget it. Given such a predecessor, she had to accept her fate.

Recalling the whole encounter with Han Yufang at Prince Fu’s Mansion, she asked Madam Yin, "Princess Fu said at that time I should think hard where I might have offended Han Yufang. Was she hinting at me, telling me to realize Han Yufang’s feelings for His Highness Prince Yu and back off accordingly?"

Madam Yin was silent for a moment, and did not directly answer Ye Xinyan’s question, but soothed, "Ah Yan, don’t take it to heart. Princess Fu mistook us, but we aren’t eager to go to the deep courtyards of the mansion. It’s not that we can’t compare to Eldest Miss Han."

Ye Xinyan didn’t care about this. Let alone now, even in the past when the original host was still a well-behaved girl in her boudoir, she couldn’t compare to Han Yufang. But as for not yearning to go to the deep courtyards of the mansion, that couldn’t be truer.

Ye Xinyan frowned and thought for a long time. She, a manager who wholeheartedly and dutifully worked for the master’s house, suffered an undeserved disaster because of the bad luck Jinrong brought with his unwelcome suitors. She wondered if she could ask Jinrong for some compensation.

...

Jinrong felt extremely uneasy when he heard that Princess Fu had earnestly invited Ye Xinyan to a banquet at Prince Fu’s Mansion. He immediately arranged for someone to find out who had been invited to the Spring Welcome Banquet at Prince Fu’s Mansion.

Then, a very abrupt figure appeared in Jinrong’s view.

"Shen Qixiang took his second son to Prince Fu’s Mansion?" Sitting in an outer room of Prince Yu’s Mansion bedroom, Jinrong asked Wan Yan, "Were there many scholars at the Spring Welcome Banquet of Prince Fu’s Mansion?"

Wan Yan replied, "There were indeed several scholars, but they are all quite prestigious and known for their etiquette. Only Shen Yongzhen was a Successful Candidate without much fame."

Jinrong’s expression darkened, "These past few days, has Madam Yin Xiaocheng been inquiring if there are any young masters from the noble families who are not betrothed yet?"

Wan Yan bowed and answered, "Indeed, she has been inquiring, but it seems casual among idle chatter, and it has not drawn much attention." Wan Yan paused for a moment, then comforted, "This old servant thinks Sixth Master needn’t worry too much. Miss Ye is not someone to be easily influenced in matters of her life decisions. These people are merely wishful thinkers, and it won’t work on Miss Ye."

Jinrong was truly worried, "Regardless, Ye Zi is of an age where the matter of marriage urgently needs to be resolved." However, given his status, he couldn’t do much for Ye Zi, and he still needed to keep it well hidden. If he wasn’t careful and people learned of his feelings for Ye Zi, not only would it be unacceptable to Imperial Father, but it might also bring disaster upon Ye Zi.

Jinrong sighed inwardly, knowing he could only wait and see how things unfolded.

He instructed, "First, have someone keep a close watch on the young man from the Shen family, and in addition, thoroughly inquire about his character and private morality. Whether or not he can marry Ye Zi is secondary. If she gets entangled with someone of poor character, it will needlessly implicate Ye Zi and tarnish her reputation."

Hongzhi, standing in an inconspicuous corner of the room, carefully cast his eyes towards the ceiling. Sixth Master’s words suggested that Miss Ye’s reputation needed others to tarnish it? She had long since tarnished it to the extent where she could only tarnish others.

Although Ye Xinyan had made a name for herself with the operation of the Railway Carriage, her everyday interactions were very low-key. Since returning to the capital in the twelfth lunar month, until the seventh day of the first month of the lunar year, she hadn’t shown her face in any noble house apart from her maternal grandfather’s, Marquis Yong’s mansion.

However, on the eighth day of the first lunar month, her attendance at the banquet at Prince Fu’s Mansion officially introduced her into the social circle of the Capital’s Noble Ladies.

The news that Princess Fu treated Miss Ye of the Ye Family favorably spread like wildfire, and then, invitations for Miss Ye to attend various floral gatherings, poetry meetings, and handkerchief clubs came one after another to Duke An’s Mansion.