Chapter 23 – Descending the Mountain at Dawn (Part 4)
The Hejian Prefect wasn’t a fool; given the crowd around, if this issue was revealed, the purity of the noble girls could be truly protected.
Although he felt that Jiang Pengji was a bit boastful, who knew if she might actually pull it off?
Oh, next up was Jiang Pengji flaunting her skills… no, it was another long-winded speech that left everyone stunned.
Seeing that all the noble girls looked weary yet otherwise unscathed, he couldn’t help but believe it.
At that moment, the Jiashou’s heart, which had been held high, finally dropped, and he regarded Jiang Pengji with newfound respect.
This young brat right in front of him was actually his savior for keeping his position and his life intact. Otherwise, if multiple noble families had their eyes on him, even the Hejian Prefect had some status, but he would surely end as mere cannon fodder, unable to even struggle.
To have such a serious incident happen during his watch was enough to make him wish he were dead!
Observing all the noble girls being carried down the mountain by the house servants on shoulder palanquins, while Jiang Pengji sat neglected, the Hejian Prefect’s eyes twinkled.
“Liu Lanting, why not accompany this official down the mountain? The path is steep, and without someone to guide, it’s easy to get lost…”
The Hejian Prefect was also quite clever, affectionately calling Jiang Pengji “nephew” without her even realizing.
She thought for a moment before nodding… even though she had no clue when the Hejian Prefect had become her uncle.
Feng Jin and his group had quietly followed behind the aristocratic servants, so they were unlikely to get lost; she only needed to worry about herself.
I wonder what Liu Lanting’s family was thinking? Their son disappeared, yet they didn’t send any house servants to search?
Sitting in the palanquin, being carried down the mountain, she would switch to a carriage once they reached the smooth road.
In the carriage, Jiang Pengji found it unbearably dull and had the System turn on the livestream; chatting with the audience would be better than just sitting there.
However, her channel was still quite new, and the audience who showed up yesterday had just been lucky; today, her luck seemed quite poor.
Even in the Hejian Prefect’s special carriage, it still had a noticeable bumpiness, but the carriage driver was better than those bandits driving like maniacs earlier, managing to keep it relatively steady. Despite a bit of jolting, after a while, it wouldn’t make one feel too nauseous.
Noticing Jiang Pengji sitting silently to one side, he couldn’t help but recall how lonely she had looked standing by herself a moment ago.
“Liu Lanting, are you thinking about why no one at home is out looking for you?”
The Hejian Prefect, while not as perceptive as Jiang Pengji, had been in the bureaucracy for years, becoming quite the old fox when it came to understanding human emotions.
Jiang Pengji snapped back to reality, unconsciously glancing at her memories of Liu Lanting’s family, frowning slightly.
“Perhaps it’s because Father is soon returning, and the house is so busy that they can’t spare anyone…”
She answered that way, but inside, she felt truly disgusted.
Relying on the distance from the emperor, that woman dared to act like this.
Liu Lanting’s mother hailed from a prominent family in Langya County, and she and Liu Father had been in love for many years. Their marriage bore a legitimate son in the second year, who sadly passed away. In the fourth year, they welcomed a pair of twins—Liu Lanting and her brother—as a fortunate omen.
Having learned from the lesson of their legitimate son, they took great care of the hard-won legitimate second son and legitimate daughter. Unfortunately, due to the negligence of the servants, their four-year-old second son drowned tragically.
Then, what happened next was a total mystery; the family publicly declared that the deceased was the daughter among the twins instead of the second son.
Ever since then, Liu Lanting’s mother’s health deteriorated day by day, and within half a year, she passed away.
To maintain good relations between the families and to take care of Liu Lanting, Liu Father was persuaded to marry Liu Mother’s younger sister as a stepwife.
In truth, Jiang Pengji couldn’t grasp the inevitable logic behind it.
A husband loses his wife and marries his wife’s sister? Sharing one’s little sister-in-law? This world’s male mentality was something she simply didn’t understand.
Could it be true that nothing beats a dumpling at dinner, or fun with an older sister-in-law, or the comfort of a younger sister-in-law?
Of course, it wasn’t that the stepmother treated Jiang Pengji poorly.
As an observer, she could see that the stepmother treated her “stepson” as if he were her own, looking out for her study while not being too pushy. Occasionally, she even personally cooked nourishing soup to send her way, while her daily task was to scold the servants and maidservants around her whenever the weather changed just a bit, worried she might get sick.
By the standards of raising children in this era, she was about as good as a biological mother.
The problem, however, lay with another concubine in the household.
Though termed a concubine, everyone referred to her as Lady Die behind closed doors.
Oh, and by the way, Lady Die was Liu Father’s cousin, born into a decent family herself. She could have been a proper wife, but who knew which string in her head got loose, that she insisted on becoming a concubine despite the public derision.
The stepmother was like a medicine canister, with a frail body, and since last winter, she had been bedridden, and no improvement had been seen; she spent most of her days barely awake.
Now, the one holding the reins of the household was that overbearing Lady Die… so it was quite understandable why no one was sent to search for her.
Jiang Pengji rubbed her forehead, feeling she might indeed see her own coffin when she returned home.
Ah, speaking of Lady Die’s image as remembered by Liu Lanting, it was quite likely she would do something like that.
The cagey Hejian Prefect, observing Jiang Pengji’s expression, pondered for a moment and realized she was facing quite a challenge.
“Today is a holiday; I originally invited a few old friends to my home for tea. However, after that incident yesterday, I simply had the steward cancel the invitations. I didn’t expect things to resolve so quickly, leaving me idle with nothing to do… Would the young nephew be willing to let this official escort you back? It could also help pass the time,” the chubby prefect said with a warm smile, as if Jiang Pengji were indeed quite dear to him.
“Thank you, Prefect.” Jiang Pengji bowed in gratitude. Having the Hejian Prefect escort her back would save her a lot of trouble.
At that moment, the system, which had been quiet for a while, was almost quaking with excitement.
“Host, the next event will be your very first skirmish in household struggles. A good start can half your efforts and double your results!”
Although Jiang Pengji detested palace struggles, she could settle for household struggles instead.
Household struggles didn’t necessarily revolve around the main wife tussling with the concubine, nor the concubine teasing the main wife. It could also involve the legitimate son/daughter, or the bastard children against the biological and step mothers, or siblings squabbling, and if the conflicts escalated, it might even involve fighting with the elderly grandmother. Should her luck run out, she might even deal with bizarre relatives.
Surely the host wouldn’t just use violence to slap someone to death, right?
Jiang Pengji replied, “Boring.”
The system felt a surge of anger but reminded itself to keep calm, “Then what do you think is interesting?!”
“Stepmother and Lady Die…” Jiang Pengji paused for a moment before continuing, “both look quite beautiful.”
The system: “…”
A moment of realization struck.
Hold on a sec, Liu Father, your fake son is planning to flirt with your stepwife and concubine!
