Chapter 18 Part 2: Asking around

The servants that Ji Shuran sent could only be Jiang Li’s close-knit servants. These two were wearing much more expensive clothes than Tong’er, especially Xiang Qiao. The bracelet on her wrist was actually pure gold, it was so bright and lustrous.

Although Yun Shuang was paying respect, her eyes showed arrogance. Her actions when she paid respect were also careless. She probably felt that Jiang Li was just a miss with no power. Even if she had returned home, at the moment, Ji Shuran was the one in charge of the affairs in the whole residence. Sooner or later, this miss would not have a good ending. She didn’t even try to pretend.

Xiang Qiao was shrewd and her mouth was sweet. Here eyeballs incessantly turned around the small box full of jewelry that Ji Shuran had sent as she reverently paid respect to Jiang Li.

Regardless of the shapes and forms, after all, they were the people sent by Ji Shuran to watch her. Jiang Li only took a glance at the expressions and movements of these two people. She could already sort of understand the character of these two people.

Yun Shuang held herself high and looked down on people, Xiang Qiao was an opportunist who was greedy and liked money. Both were small-minded people. Although they weren’t her own people, it didn’t necessarily mean that she couldn’t use them.

Towards these two people, no matter how Tong’er looked at them, they were not pleasing to the eye and she displayed her dislike on her face.

Jiang Li waved her hands and spoke: “There’s nothing to do here. Xiang Qiao, you stay behind to tell me what’s the current situation in the residence. Yun Shuang, you can go out first.”

Yun Shuang was eager to leave as soon as possible and promptly agreed while Xiang Qiao stayed behind. Jiang Li let her sit yet Xiang Qiao didn’t dare to.

After Xiang Qiao declined her invitation to sit down, Jiang Li opened the small box containing jewelry that Ji Shuran gave her. From inside, she fished out a ruby dragonfly hairpin and stuffed it into Xiang Qiao’s hand. She spoke: “I just returned to the residence, so I have to rely on Xiang Qiao jiejie. Xiang Qiao jiejie, share with me the situations in the residence, ok?”

Xiang Qiao swallowed her saliva. She was supposed to decline but the hairpin with the precious stone felt heavy in her hand and she was unable to decline.

It was enough if Jiang second miss didn’t shoot, once she shot, the lure made people incapable of refusing. Who would be able to resist?

After thinking for a while, Xiang Qiao arrived at a thought. It seemed like second miss was someone without any brain. Since now she would be waiting by second miss’s side, as long as she could make second miss happy, then wouldn’t she be able to earn money every day? As for talking about the residence’s situation, anyway, there were no clever people by Jiang Li’s side.

Wasn’t she also still relying on herself to tell what’s happening? This way, she didn’t betray the madam, and still would get two parts of silver.

After thinking, Xiang Qiao was happy and spoke: “Second miss shouldn’t say it like this. It’s this servant’s duty to explain to you…….”However, she didn’t release her grasp on the hairpin.

Tong’er anxiously tweaked her ears and scratched her cheeks1. This Xiang Qiao clearly had bad intentions, yet Jiang Li actually gave her such a generous reward. The person was not worth it, but looking at the present Jiang Li, she was evidently listening carefully to what Xiang Qiao said.

Xiang Qiao spoke vigorously until her mouth was dry. Seeing how Jiang Li listened to her attentively, she couldn’t help feeling proud. She seemed to be talking meticulously but, in fact, for most part, she only talked about the second and third branch. While for the first branch, Madam’s side, she didn’t even divulge a bit. This second miss was also foolish, actually believing without any doubt at all. Just by saying a few insignificant words she already got a precious hairpin. What a hard-to-come-by fantastic matter.

After talking for half a day, there was nothing else she could talk about. Xiang Qiao said: “Replying to second miss, this is the current state of affairs in the residence.”

Jiang Li seemed entranced when Xiang Qiao stopped. She appeared to still wish to continue listening. After thinking, she replied: “Since there’s nothing else to say about the residence, then tell me some interesting stories from outside the residence, ok?”

“From outside the residence?” Xiang Qiao stared blankly.

“Yes, exactly what interesting things have been happening in Yanjing in recent years? I heard the old madam of Rong Xin Ling passed away three years ago. I remember when I was small, she gave me a double-sided embroidery of the Goddess of Mercy. Also, I heard Yu Xiang jiejie mention Yanjing’s first beauty. Her husband was also the latest top scorer in the palace examination. I heard she died of illness a few days ago, is that true?”

－－－－－－ Author’s ramblings－－－－－－

The original host, soft2 and girly, was the result of a lack of family education during childhood. In the process of growing up, she didn’t receive proper guidance. As a result, there’s a bit of flaw in her disposition. While the current “Li” was different as her family was very wholesome and happy. The slag she encountered in her previous life was also encountered after she got married. So “Li’s” disposition wasn’t gloomy. On the contrary, she was very wise and farsighted, warm, and she was also a young lady with a feeling of righteousness.

The person with a character defect in this book is the male lead. Unusually cold, vicious and merciless gloomy evil king.

However, this type of cruelty was particularly special and tough to train ah, right? Training a big bad wolf and turning it into a loyal dog has a very satisfying feeling, isn’t it?

Right!

Coming from Cha Cha’s evil interest. [smile] (Cha Cha is nickname of the author)

Why speak about ML if he probably won’t appear anytime soon ah >.< Enjoy the extra chap for Valentine’s, the regular chapter on Sunday will probably be posted with delay cuz I need to prepare for a test on Monday, so you can probably expect it between Monday and Tuesday… (but worry not, Lime says that after this chap things are gonna get exciting ^^)

Footnotes:

1: 抓耳挠腮 (zhuā’ěrnáosāi) : to tweak one’s ears and scratch one’s cheeks (as an expression of anxiety, delight, frustration etc) (idiom).:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:

2: 软妹 ruǎnmèi: “软” means “soft,” and “妹” means younger sister. Originating from a popular Chinese animation show “I Am MT,” the term is often used by netizens to refer to young women with a gentle disposition, a soft voice, and a slender figure. Usually these women wear straight long hair, dressed in a very feminine style. Innocent and naive, these kinds of girls are the ideal love interest for homebodies. The opposite of “软妹” can be “女汉子” (tomboy)..:leftwards_arrow_with_hook: