Help! The General’s Gone Mad With Pampering Me - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Dissipating Rumors

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The elders were inside the house.

Naturally, they couldn’t wander around in the courtyard like the younger generation. They sat in the house, each one more stern than the one before them. They chatted leisurely.

The woman naturally could not talk about the affairs of the Imperial court. Their conversation contained nothing more than the going-ons in their residences and idle gossip.

“Madam Lu, I heard that your Si Yan is back. Are you not going out to meet them?”

The one who spoke was He Ruhui. Her husband was a lecherous man, and there were more than ten concubines in her family. One could imagine how much of a headache she had to deal with.

However, she had her own way of coping with her miseries, and that was to see how bad the situation was in other people’s households.

The Si Family was a favorite topic of hers. She had heard many stories about Lu Xiangwan, their bastard son, was disobedient and joined the army without a word. He even gave his house away.

He Ruhui heard that he had come back injured. There were even rumors that he had broken his leg. He Ruhui was a little curious, but it was not appropriate to ask one directly. She could only try to probe until the other person exploded.

Lu Xiangwan’s answer didn’t disappoint He Ruhui.

“He did come back, but he’s in a pitiful shape. He’s still a child, after all. I’ll try to talk to him again. It’s not a good idea to abuse his body at such an age.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up when they heard this. The floodgates opened, and the chattering started.

“He’s really injured?”

“Are you trying to get him back to the Marquis’s Manor?”

Lu Xiangwan calmly let a moment of silence hang in the air. She took a sip of tea and said slowly, “In the end, he is still the son of the Marquis. He must have learned his lesson. If he could live in peace from now onwards, I could rest easy.”

He Ruhui continued probing her.

“You’re too kind. When we think about what your son, Shu, did, your good intentions were really wasted.”

He Ruhui was obviously trying to pick a fight, but Lu Xiangwan did not take the bait.

Lu Xiangwan was a veteran when it came to verbal battles.

He Ruhui felt indignant, but she could not act out of line.

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a figure, and the corners of her mouth immediately curled up.

Oh, isn’t that Madam Wu? Why did you come alone? Where is your daughter-in-law?

Wu Quifen’s body froze. ‘Was she referring to Shen Li?’

That jinx!

Wu Quifen was born in a poor family. She had relied on her husband and son to get to where she was today.

Jin Changqing had worked hard in the Imperial examinations and won the first position in the second grade. He then stayed in the capital as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. He did not hold a particularly high rank, but his future was promising.

Mr. Jin’s hard times had come to an end, and he had just been promoted not too long ago.

But even so, Wu Quifen did not blend in well with the circle of rich ladies in the capital, mainly because she was not good at socializing. The moment she opened her mouth, her pettiness would expose itself.

For example, when He Ruhui asked about Shen Li, Wu Quifen immediately exploded.

“I don’t have a daughter-in-law. Shen Li is unworthy!”

In the past, everyone would have ignored Wu Quifen when she began spouting off, but today, they seemed to indulge her.

He Ruhui added some fuel to the fire.

“Why not? I heard that your family even beat gongs and drums to welcome the bride.”

Wu Quifen immediately exploded when she heard this and tried to denounce it.

“That was in the past. Now, she has been defiled by bandits. I was kind enough to save her, but she struck me. How could I ever permit her to enter my house again?”

Such a statement was a death sentence for any girl. Rumors were fleshed out into truth.

He Ruhui’s eyes lit up when she heard this.

“So, it’s all true? Shen family’s young lady…”

Before she could finish her sentence, He Ruhui suddenly caught a glimpse of two figures outside the door and fell silent.

Shen Li and Jin Changqing looked at each other. Jin Changqing was surprised. He walked to Shen Li aggressively and spoke harshly, “Come here.”

Shen Li had a “who are you?” expression on her face. She did not show any intention of talking to him at all. However, before she could move away, a figure suddenly rushed out of the room.

Mrs. Jin placed her hands on her hips and looked furious.

“Why are you here?”

Shen Li felt that there was a problem with these people’s brains. She sneered.

“Is this your house? Why can’t I be here?”

Mrs. Jin choked. She grabbed Jin Changqing’s arm and sized Shen Li up.

“You’re so shameless. You still dare to come out and embarrass yourself after such misfortune happened.”

Shen Li rolled her eyes at her.

“Why wouldn’t I dare to go out? On the day of our wedding, your son abandoned me and ran away. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to escape the bandits. I didn’t expect the men of your Jin family to not only be cowardly, but also be so absurdly irresponsible.”

The people in the room heard the movement at the door and looked out.

He Ruhui pondered over Mrs. Jin’s words and rolled her eyes in surprise.

“This is Shen Li?”

As soon as the voice fell, the people in the room immediately looked at each other. The Shen family had always lived in seclusion. They only knew that the Shen lady was a widow with a mute, so they probably did not go out to hide their hideousness.

Who would have thought that the young lady of the Shen family was so beautiful and had such an agile tongue?

Prime Minister Wen’s wife had just returned from her search for Wen Xiaoxi. When she reached the door, she heard Shen Li’s words and could not help but frown.

In the past, she only knew that the Jin family had encountered bandits on their way to the wedding. After the return of the young lady from the Shen family, her temperament had changed drastically. She even dared to insult her elders. The Jin family had no choice but to break off the engagement.

However, she didn’t know that Jin Changqing was the one who left the bride behind.

Wen Xiaoxi was currently discussing marriage with Jin Changqing. If the Jin family’s brat was really this irresponsible, she would never marry her daughter off to him, no matter what.

Xiao Ting looked at Shen Li and asked her sternly. “Is what you said true?”

Before Shen Li could respond, Wen Xiaoxi grew anxious. She angrily blurted out, “She’s definitely talking nonsense. Big Brother Changqing has always been gentle and polite. How could he be such a person? It’s obvious that you stepped out of line and insulted your elders. That’s why Big Brother Changqing didn’t want you.”

Shen Li did not know where this girl had come from. She sneered and drawled, “On the day I married him, he left me to the bandits. I hid in the suburbs for a night and did not meet a single person, so how am I wrong?

When I returned home the next day, the Jin family insisted on accusing me of being unruly and even tried to demote my position to a concubine. I was already going easy on them.”

When Shen Li said that, everyone’s jaws dropped.

It was bad enough for a man to abandon his wife, but now that he had found her, he wanted her to be his concubine. Was this not an insult to her? No matter who it was, they would definitely beat him up and throw him out.

When he sensed the strange gazes around him, Jin Changqing could no longer keep his eyes up.

Indeed, he could not bear to part with Shen Li. To be precise, he was unwilling to do so. Although they had been engaged for a long time, Shen Li had barely left the house in the past few years. He had not even held her hand.

However, when looking at the current situation, Shen Li was not willing to compromise with his mother. He could not help her.

Jin Changqing sighed and walked to Wen Xiaoxi’s side with a sincere expression.

“Xiaoxiao, she and I used to be just parents. Now, my heart is yours. Don’t overthink it.”