"That's right, why?" Qiuxiang stopped crying, tears still clinging to her lashes. "Miss, has he gone mad?"
Fengyu playfully blinked, her eyes sparkling with sly cunning. "He will!"
Chunlu suggested, "Miss, you could have the master uphold justice for you. His rank is high; he'll surely think of a way."
Fengyu smiled faintly. "Uncle is the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. If he wanted to trip up Jiang Yang, it would be easy. But the trouble is, Jiang Yang and the Feng Family have just clashed. If Uncle retaliates, people will surely criticize him. Being a man of principle, he would never use public power for private grievances."
"So, Miss, you'll just let him bully you like this?"
Fengyu's lips curved upward as she softly asked them, "And what is your Miss known for in the Capital City?"
Chunlu remained silent, while Qiuxiang awkwardly scratched her head and cleared her throat. "Illiterate, wild, and uncultured."
"Well, isn't that perfect? A wild person should do wild things."
Fengyu whistled lazily yet playfully. Her grudges were hers to settle, the way she liked!
The Jiang Residence was also located in Southern City, not too far from the Feng Mansion. It was a three-courtyard compound near a bustling marketplace, with two ginkgo trees at its gate. Across the street was a flower-and-bird market, and just a bit further east stood the famed Wangjiang Restaurant of the Capital City.
Two years ago, when the Feng Family moved to the Capital as Feng Changlin was promoted, the Jiang Family, mother and son, also moved there to prepare for the imperial examinations. Penniless, Jiang Lin had asked Feng Changqing for money to buy a property. At the time, Feng Changqing and his wife were in a hurry to head to the battlefield, so this matter was left to Feng Shu and Fengyu to handle.
Feng Shu initially found a single-courtyard house, but Jiang Lin deemed it too small. Given the Capital's sky-high real estate prices, Feng Shu reasoned that a single courtyard would be enough for just the mother-and-son pair, especially while they were busy studying for exams. But Jiang Lin was unsatisfied. Thinking there was a marriage agreement between Fengyu and the Jiang Family, Feng Shu figured the residence might eventually become her younger sister's home. So, she brought Fengyu along to make the arrangements.
Fengyu, valuing convenience, selected the three-courtyard compound. The Jiang mother and son were somewhat content. This property cost 1,500 taels at the time, and Fengyu had Jiang Lin write an IOU. After some initial reluctance, Jiang Lin, faced with Fengyu's firm insistence, ultimately signed and sealed the IOU with her handprint.
That day was lively at the Jiang Residence gate. A group of Feng family attendants shouted slogans with a large banner accusing the Jiang Family of owing money and refusing to pay, declaring their behavior as against heaven's principles. Their voices were loud and resonant, but the gates of the Jiang Residence remained tightly shut, with no one going in or out. The timing, around 7 a.m., was when the streets were busiest. Merchants, porters, and pedestrians passing by all noticed the commotion and started inquiring about what was happening.
The burly leader of the group responded, "Jiang Lin owes the Feng Family thirteen thousand taels and refuses to repay. Third Miss ordered us to collect the money within a day, but we had no choice but to resort to this."
The story of Jiang Yang breaking off the engagement and publicly humiliating Fengyu at her coming-of-age ceremony had already spread far and wide, and bystanders were delighted to watch the drama unfold.
"A debt unpaid is a violation of heaven's laws! Jiang Yang, repay the money and stop being a coward!"
The attendants' synchronized and booming cries were so loud that even those inside the renowned Wangjiang Restaurant, two streets away, could hear them clearly. The restaurant, a favorite gathering spot for the Capital's wealthy young heirs, quickly became a hub of gossip, with word spreading like wildfire.
Wangjiang Restaurant was the largest in the city, a three-story building packed with patrons daily. Nobles and elites loved to host banquets there. The street it was on teemed with guesthouses, restaurants, cosmetic shops, jewelry stores, and fine clothing boutiques, making it a bustling area with heavy foot traffic. Since the Jiang Residence was nearby and the attendants were shouting so loudly, they had already drawn the attention of the restaurant's customers.
In a street-view luxury private room, a few young men in lavish attire chatted and laughed as they discussed the feud between Fengyu and Jiang Yang over cups of wine.
"Fengyu clearly doesn't care about her reputation anymore! To gather attendants and demand repayment in such a high-profile manner? How utterly vulgar."
"I heard after the broken engagement, she tried to drown herself in a lake. Quite tenacious to have survived. Now she's had an epiphany and turned hatred from love. Can't have the top scorer? Might as well ruin him—a truly malicious woman."
"This is exactly the kind of thing she'd do. If I were the top scorer, I wouldn't want to marry her either. Inconsistent: sometimes frail as water, other times brash and reckless. She seems a bit unhinged. Didn't she also kick Lin Xiao into the lake once? Where does she get such strength? What a barbaric and uncouth woman, pretending to be delicate and pitiable all the while. Lin Xiao, what did you do to offend her for her to kick you into the lake?"
Lin Xiao's expression darkened as he slammed his wine cup on the table. "Shut up! Bring up Fengyu again, and I'll beat you."
The well-dressed young men immediately fell silent, fear evident in their faces. Lin Xiao, the eighteen-year-old son of the Minister of War, was tall, well-built, and a martial arts practitioner. Arrogant and prone to using force to solve problems, he was notorious in the Capital. Getting pushed into the lake by the frail Fengyu and catching a cold for six days after was nothing short of a public humiliation for him.
The group eagerly awaited his revenge on Fengyu, but to their surprise, Lin Xiao swallowed his pride and moved on, letting the matter drop.
"Fengyu is a soldier's descendant, so it's natural for her to have some brutish strength. Lin Xiao probably just lost his footing and fell into the lake himself; she didn't kick him."
"Li Pengfei, are you unable to understand human speech? Speak again, and I'll beat you!" Lin Xiao's dark scowl deepened, and veins popped on his forehead. The group dared not bring up the topic again. Lin Xiao's hand shifted to his waist reflexively at the memory of her kick—a kick so powerful it left bruises on his abdomen for ten days, nearly injuring his internal organs. Forget the lake incident; he had struggled to even get up from the ground. Just the thought of Fengyu made his injury ache faintly even now.
"Fine, fine, I won't mention it again. I'll punish myself with a drink." Li Pengfei raised his hand in mock surrender and downed a cup of wine as atonement.
"This young master will settle the score with her sooner or later!" Lin Xiao huffed coldly, gritting his teeth. That wretched girl, Fengyu—just wait and see!
"I heard that after her failed suicide attempt, she fell seriously ill, and the Feng Family was even preparing her funeral arrangements. She might not live long enough for you to seek revenge—she could just die in bed." Li Pengfei commented gleefully, setting down his wine cup with satisfaction.
"Is that true? Does she like the top scorer that much?" Lin Xiao leaned lazily against the balcony railing, his brows arching disdainfully. "Stupid, vulgar, and with such poor taste. The sooner she dies, the sooner she can reincarnate."
"When a typical young lady gets rejected so publicly at her coming-of-age ceremony, how could she still have the face to keep living? Let alone someone like Fengyu, who cherished Jiang Yang so much and was so brutally spurned by him. How does she even dare to show her face anymore?" someone chimed in, currying favor with Lin Xiao and Li Pengfei as they poured them more wine.
Lin Xiao irritably tugged at his collar, his lips pressed into a tight line, frustration and distaste evident in his expression.
Li Pengfei suddenly made a sound of surprise and leaned forward, his eyes fixed across the street on a bustling boutique named "Linglong Beauty," a long-standing establishment loved by the Capital's young ladies and noblewomen, offering fabrics, ready-to-wear clothing, cosmetics, and jewelry.
Li Pengfei chuckled. "Isn't that Fengyu, who was supposedly bedridden and on the verge of death?"
Fengyu certainly didn't look sick or haggard. Instead, she wore a dazzling peacock-feather cloak shimmering with vibrant colors, its luxurious brilliance radiating confidence and flair. The fur trim at her collar made her fair skin appear smooth as jade, her beauty as striking as blooming Chinese crabapple. Her hair was adorned with a pomegranate-flower hairpin, complete with pearl tassels that exuded an air of lavish nobility. From head to toe, she conveyed one message loud and clear: "Rich and unbothered!"
Fengyu's mother was the only daughter of Su Ming, the wealthiest man in Jiangnan. When she married Feng Changqing, her dowry consisted of seven ships and ten cartloads of treasures, stirring envy amongst many. Even during the Feng Family's fall from grace and exile to Ningzhou, they never once lacked money.