allonlinenovel Chapter 863 [Splendid Heart 2]
Chapter 863 [Splendid Heart 2]
Since childhood, Youyou has grown up with Xu Lingyi. As Xu Lingyi's cousin, Youyou often stayed at Xu's house when she was young. The two were close and childhood sweethearts. During that time, they played together and spent many carefree and happy days together.
However, things are unpredictable, and everything changed when Xu Lingyi married Luo Yuanniang. The relationship between Youyou and Xu Lingyi gradually became distant, and the intimacy they once had slowly disappeared. Now she only regards Xu Lingyi as an ordinary cousin.
It is said that Luo Yuanniang's health has been deteriorating since she gave birth to Zhun Ge. On the one hand, she has to deal with many affairs in the mansion, and on the other hand, she has to guard against the open and secret attacks from the backyard. All these things made her already weak body even more overwhelmed, and eventually she became terminally ill and could no longer support herself.
Seeing that her time was running out, Yuanniang was most concerned about her young Zhun Ge. She knew that once Xu Lingyi remarried, the child's future would be bleak and he would most likely be mistreated by his stepmother. For this reason, the worried Yuanniang hurriedly wrote a letter to her mother, earnestly asking her mother to choose one of her sisters to marry Xu Lingyi so that she could take care of Zhun Ge and protect him.
In the spring of that year, the Yongping Marquis's Mansion held a grand spring banquet. Madam Luo followed her daughter Yuanniang's instructions and personally led the three young ladies of the Luo family to pay a visit to her eldest sister Yuanniang.
Yuanniang felt a little relieved when she saw her relatives, so she took out three jade pendants as rewards and asked them to choose one.
Luo Er Niang was quick-witted and quick-handed. She was the first to choose a jade pendant engraved with auspicious patterns. Luo Shiyi Niang, who was ranked eleventh, was slower and was the last to make her selection. At this time, the only jade pendant left was engraved with the words "many children and good fortune" to choose from.
After the three of them left carefully, only Yuanniang and Madam Luo were left in the room. Yuanniang took a sip of tea, frowned slightly, and slowly told Madam Luo what she thought: "Mother, in my opinion, the Second Madam must have known that I was planning to find someone to take over her care of Zhun Ge, so she deliberately avoided the jade pendant that symbolizes many children and good fortune. But this Eleventh Madam..." At this point, Yuanniang couldn't help but shook her head, looking embarrassed, "Her mind is really hard to figure out, I need to observe her for a while longer."
At this time, a piece of news came like a bolt from the blue - Mr. Luo's reinstatement still has many twists and turns! Upon hearing this news, Yuanniang looked solemn and immediately made up her mind to choose a suitable person from her sisters as soon as possible. On the one hand, she could become the successor of the Xu family and continue to maintain the marriage between the Luo and Xu families; on the other hand, she could betroth her other sister to the notorious playboy Wang Yu, so that Zhun Ge could naturally marry into the Jiang family in the future.
However, Yuanniang knew that this was not an easy task. Not to mention whether her sisters were willing to accept such an arrangement, there were many hidden crises within the Xu family. Especially Xu Lingyi's childhood sweetheart Qiao Lianfang, who gave Yuanniang a headache.
Although the relationship between Qiao Lianfang and Xu Lingyi has become increasingly distant in recent years, Madam Xu has always doted on her.
If the situation is allowed to develop, Qiao Lianfang will undoubtedly become a huge obstacle to Yuanniang's plan. Thinking of this, Yuanniang secretly clenched her fists and said to herself with a firm look: "This Qiao Lianfang, I must find a way to completely get rid of her!"
On this sunny and breezy day, a grand spring banquet was being held. Everyone was dressed in gorgeous clothes, laughing and talking, and the atmosphere was very cheerful.
At this time, Xu Lingyi's brother Xu Lingkuan was so excited that he personally went on stage to show his opera talent. However, this action aroused the dissatisfaction of Mrs. Xu, who thought that Xu Lingkuan's action was too rash and unworthy of a great man, so she blamed him.
Seeing this, Xu Lingkuan's wife Danyang stepped forward without hesitation to speak for her husband. She softly explained to Mrs. Xu: "Mother, don't be angry. Lingkuan was just in a good mood and wanted to bring some joy to everyone."
At the same time, on the other side of the stage, the young ladies were listening attentively to the music on the stage. Just as they were fascinated by the music, Yuanniang sent someone to tell them that she invited the young ladies to go to the garden to fly kites.
After hearing the news, Mrs. Luo wanted to keep Er Niang, perhaps because she had other things to tell her. But Er Niang only wanted to fly the kite, and she turned around and left without caring about Mrs. Luo's request.
In contrast, Shiyi Niang seemed particularly smart and sensible. When she heard Mrs. Luo's message, she nodded slightly to show that she understood, and then followed Mother Tao to where Yuan Niang was without any hurry.
And at this spring banquet, there was another special person - Youyou. It seemed that she had already seen through all the things that would happen at the banquet today, so from the beginning, she cleverly found an excuse and did not attend the banquet at all.
Yuanniang saw that her carefully planned scheme had failed to successfully calculate Youyou, and she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of helplessness. This banquet was originally a stage she had carefully planned, hoping to use this opportunity to achieve her goal, but it went against her wishes, which made her feel extremely frustrated and lost.
As the banquet ended, everyone dispersed. Yuanniang used the excuse of feeling unwell to quietly invite Mrs. Luo into her room. At this time, only Shiyi Niang was left in the hall. Yuanniang had planned this arrangement. She had already made up her mind to let Shiyi Niang marry into the Xu family, because in her opinion, Shiyi Niang was just a concubine's daughter of low status, with little influence, and would have to rely on the power of the Luo family to gain a foothold in the Xu family in the future. In this way, the Luo family could easily control the new daughter-in-law and realize their various plans.
On the other hand, after Shiyi Niang returned to the mansion, Aunt Lu heard through various channels that the Luo family seemed to be interested in forming a family relationship with the Wang family. As smart as Shiyi Niang was, she naturally guessed the truth behind everything that happened at the banquet today. She knew very well that the candidate chosen by Yuanniang to be the successor of the Xu family was probably herself. However, Shiyi Niang was not interested in this seemingly glamorous marriage at all.
When Aunt Lu learned about this, she was delighted and thought that being able to become a marquis' wife would be extremely glorious. But Eleventh Lady had a completely different idea. She did not have much yearning for such so-called glory and wealth. On the contrary, she longed to live independently and freely like Master Jian. Even if she did not get married and start a family, she could still live a wonderful life of her own.