She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 675 - 673: Not Getting Along

Chapter 675: Chapter 673: Not Getting Along

Ye Xinyan regarded the three of them with a smirk that wasn’t quite a smile, twisted the corner of her mouth, and said, "Is that necessary? For so many years, the task of surrounding the knees of our Duke’s Mansion with children has always been done by the Second Miss and her two good brothers, has it not? I am well aware that I don’t possess the cleverness to deal with the Second Miss, so it is better for me to stay away and avoid carelessly falling into her traps, lest I inadvertently anger Grandmother during the New Year’s celebration."

It seems that Ji Chengru must have admired Ye Xinyi back in the day, or perhaps knowing that her mother, Madam Yin, held little standing with Ye Hongyang, he allowed Ye Xinyi’s consistent disrespect toward her mother to go unchecked after their marriage. Hearing a couple of her pointed remarks now should be expected, right?

However, Ye Xinyan seemed to have forgotten that they had brought a child along.

Ji Chengru felt displeased, but said little. He had always looked down upon this wife’s sister and did not deign to pay her any attention. It wasn’t because of her status or anything, but simply because he truly looked down on her behavior and character.

As for the young Ji Sheng, he was not willing to let it pass. The five-year-old child could already read adults’ expressions, and he clenched his little fists, glaring at Ye Xinyan. "You are a bad person. My mother was speaking nicely to you, and yet you are so rude to her!"

Ye Xinyan blinked her eyes. What in the world was this? She had actually been rebuked by a bratty kid.

Yet... she couldn’t just not swallow this loss, could she? What else was she to do? Was she, an adult, really going to get into a serious argument with a child, telling him that his mother wasn’t a decent bird, filled with nothing but bad intentions, and that even though he thought his mother was speaking nicely, she was actually ulteriorly motivated? And that her response was merely appropriate retaliation?

Ye Xinyan felt utterly disheartened. Had she known something like this would happen, she should have fetched Qi Jiaer much earlier, rather than agreeing to meet Qi Sanshun and Qi Jiaer at the alley entrance.

If Qi Jiaer had been there, it should have been fine for a seven-year-old to have a verbal clash with a five-year-old. In that case, why would she have had to endure this injustice?

Therefore, it is said that children raised in large, influential families could never have pure thoughts. From a young age, they would witness the adults acting like smiling tigers, fighting with knives and swords behind each other’s backs, while keeping warm and affectionate appearances. Then, the children would reveal each other’s shortcomings in private, utterly destroying one’s moral values.

Ye Xinyan, her face flushed with awkwardness, flicked her sleeves as if to shake off the despondency weighing on her heart. "My Brother Jia is still waiting outside for me, so I’ll be leaving first."

Before she could step onto the footstool, she heard the child’s voice rise from behind her, "That’s right, it’s you evildoers. Your Qi Jiaer and someone else, they ganged up and hit my second brother."

Ye Xinyan halted, turning to look at the little brat. She was being slandered about Qi Jiaer, "Who said so, is there such a thing?"

Ji Sheng’s small face burned with anger, "Yes, there is. Just a few days ago, I heard it from my second brother."

Ye Xinyan scoffed. "Your second brother is the naughty child; he lied and deceived you. Since he was beaten, have you seen any bruises on his face or body?"

"..." Ji Chengru glanced at Ye Xinyi, your legitimate elder sister, still stooping to quarrel with a child and deceiving him with trivial matters.

He took Ji Sheng’s hand and said, "Let’s go. We should pay a visit to Great-Grandfather."

Ye Xinyan called from behind, "Your second brother lied and gossiped maliciously about others, yet your parents and uncles did nothing to stop him. You should go back and ask them if they are not all bad people."

Ji Chengru stopped in his tracks, glaring furiously at Ye Xinyan. What kind of person was she, teaching a child such things in front of adults?

It serves her right! Ye Xinyan didn’t look back at them again and stepped into her carriage.

The fight, when had that even happened? Ji Sheng was so young, even if he knew about it at the time, he probably wouldn’t remember it now. Even Ji Guangwen’s own children might not remember it all the time because of a fight, unless they see the person again, they probably wouldn’t even recall it, right?

It must be that there were new rumors about her in the capital; hence, the elders of the Ji Family picked up those stale topics for discussion once again.

But as for the matter of the fight, didn’t the adults at home have a clear understanding of the rights and wrongs at the time? Yet they allowed the children to talk nonsense.

Ye Xinyan had left in the carriage, but Ji Sheng looked up, eyeing his parents suspiciously. His second brother indeed had no injuries, yet the adults had been talking like this for the past few days, and his second brother had said the same.

Ji Chengru, with a head full of black lines, said, "Let’s go, don’t keep Great-grandfather waiting."

Ye Xinyi and her husband took their son to pay their respects to the Duchess in the inner hall first.

The brazier in the Duchess’s room kept it toasty warm; the curtains and decorations were all newly replaced, cheerful in color, with windows adorned with festive and exquisitely cut paper, vividly red.

On the heated brick bed lay Ye Yuan, wearing a bright red outfit with ’fortune’ characters, playing with various toys as two little maids sat by his side, playing and laughing with him.

The Duchess’s serving girl and Nanny Qian also stood by the bed. At that moment, serving the Duchess was secondary; the primary concern was watching over Ye Yuan, who had just learned to walk, to prevent him from falling to the ground.

This was the brat born to Maternal Aunt Zhao, because of whom her two brothers were directly abandoned by their grandfather. Ye Xinyi only glanced at Ye Yuan before withdrawing her gaze.

She, her husband, and Ji Sheng performed the ritual kowtow to the Duchess, who smiled and bid them rise and sit on the chairs to the side.

When Ye Xinyi instructed Ji Sheng to greet Ye Yuan, the Duchess laughed and stopped her, "Never mind, they are all children, especially Brother Yuan, who can’t even sit still, let alone perform greetings. Let’s wait until Brother Yuan is a bit older."

She gave Ji Sheng his New Year’s money first, then let the maidservant lift him onto the bed and brought out a box of fancy gold and silver rattles that had been prepared early, setting a table full of pastries and fruit.

Only then did she pick up Ye Yuan and say to Ji Sheng, "This is Brother Yuan, your little uncle. You should play nicely together, understand?"

Ye Yuan, upon seeing a child even smaller than Qi Jiaer, was curious, his large eyes fixed on Ji Sheng, ceaselessly observing.

Yet Ji Sheng did not fancy this little brat—who was so young, carried around, and drooling—whom he was supposed to address as uncle. He disliked it.

He barely whispered "little uncle" before pulling back; he had no desire to play with this little brat.

Ye Yuan could probably sense that this slightly smaller child didn’t like him, took another look, and then lost interest. He squirmed out of the Duchess’s arms to play by himself, no longer regarding Ji Sheng.

The Duchess was also helpless; she sighed inwardly. The Duke really knew better, having wished early on that the Qi family’s children could play with Ye Yuan. As it turned out, Brother Yuan indeed got along better with the Young Master Qi.

The couple spoke with the Duchess for a while and had a symbolic half cup of tea before Ji Chengru got up, intending to take Ji Sheng to the outer courtyard to see Duke An and Ye Hongyang.

The Duchess initially wanted to keep Ji Sheng a bit longer, but before leaving home, Ji Chengru had received instructions from his father; he did not want Ji Sheng to meet Ye Hongyang’s maternal aunt, and thus he excused himself by saying he wanted Ji Sheng to learn more from his elders and brother about proper conduct and to gain more experience.

After Ji Sheng once again kowtowed to the Duchess, they headed for the outer courtyard.