Climbing on the Sparrow Branch – CH 018

Chapter 18: Plan

“An Zhi, are you going too far?” Lin Shuyao couldn’t help it. An Zhi actually hinted that she liked An Chengye. How could this be possible!

An Zhi sneered, “Why is Sister Lin suddenly angry?”

“You…how can you slander my reputation?” Lin Shuyao frowned. If she didn’t explain An Zhi’s words clearly, and these noble ladies spread the rumors, people would say that she had bad behavior since childhood and would never be able to marry into a good family in the future.

“Sister Lin, I didn’t. I just asked if you became friends with me because you admired my father.” An Zhi looked innocent. She had learned a lot from An Rong and Mistress Xu during this period of time, and it was indeed very useful in practice.

At a moment like this, An Zhi didn’t need to confirm a single word. All she had to do was raise an intriguing question, add a little evidence, and she could spark endless imagination among these noble ladies. And as the women spread the story, the truth of the matter became less important.

“How is that possible!” Lin Shuyao was almost furious. She yelled, attracting the attention of even more people nearby. She lowered her voice and walked towards An Zhi. “An Zhi, you’ve gone too far today. I used to associate with you out of pity for you, but now you slander me in public. If you don’t give me an explanation for what happened today, I’m going to find the wife of the Weiyuan Marquis and ask her to give me justice.”

“Then go ahead.” An Zhi sat down again indifferently. “You said you were associating with me because I was pitiful, but I’m not pitiful. My father may not be a high-ranking official, but he’s at least a fourth-rank official. At least 30% of the fathers of the people present are not as good as my father. And my aunt is the wife of a marquis, and my uncle is a second-rank general of the cavalry. If this is considered pitiful, then how can Sister Lin expect others to deal with themselves?”

An Zhi was right. Although she was not the best, she was definitely not so bad that she deserved pity. So what Lin Shuyao said just now was wrong. She even offended many people, including the An’s.

“Forget it, I won’t argue with you. After all, today is my aunt’s birthday party. But since you said you don’t have that intention, then don’t snoop around my house all day, otherwise it will really easily lead to misunderstandings.” An Zhi said with a smile, and walked out of the pavilion with her head held high, regardless of Lin Shuyao’s ashen face.

As soon as she left, the expressions on the faces of those noble ladies were all wonderful, and the way they looked at Lin Shuyao was very intriguing.

There would definitely be quarrels in crowded places. She said she was tired of teaching Lin Shuyao a lesson and didn’t want to waste any more time arguing, so she went to the garden where there were fewer people.

When the Weiyuan Marquis Mansion was prominent in its early years, it received many rewards, so the garden at home was considered one of the best in the capital.

When no one was around, Binglu started to worry about An Zhi again, “Miss, you just said that to Young Lady Lin. It was a way to vent your anger, but it will also ruin your reputation.”

What worried Binglu most was that her young lady just had an engagement broken off before. If she developed a reputation for being sarcastic and mean, who would dare propose marriage? Furthermore, the young lady was already quite old; by the age of sixteen, most young ladies were either married or engaged. With no mistress at home, she didn’t know what the new wife would be like, and it was impossible for her to arrange her own marriage. This worried Binglu to death.

In fact, what An Zhi wanted was a bad reputation. She had no intention of getting married right now, so that was why what happened just now happened.

After what happened in her previous life, An Zhi now only wanted to make money. When her brother came back with achievements, she would find a satisfactory sister-in-law for him, and then she would travel with her private property. She didn’t want to take care of her husband and children in this life. She didn’t want to meet another unfaithful man and be locked up in the backyard of a deep house and waste her life.

“Binglu, you’re only a few months older than me, why are you so worried?” An Zhi looked at Binglu with a smile, “Don’t look so worried anymore. Your young lady is not in a hurry to get married, so why do you care so much?”

“But you weren’t like this before?” Binglu was puzzled.

“Before, I was hoping to marry into the Pei family, so I was so self-disciplined and cautious about everything. But now, you know how good I was to Pei Yu, and yet Pei Yu changed his mind. Look at my father, does he even care about my mother?” An Zhi snorted, “So, men can’t be trusted. I’m telling you the truth, I don’t expect to get married anymore. From now on, I’ll just let fate take its course. If I don’t find someone I like, I’ll just travel around the world. Don’t worry about my getting married every day. Just smile, you won’t look good if you frown.”

An Zhi teased Binglu, and seeing Binglu smile, she smiled too, and the two walked towards the rockery together.

But she didn’t know that her conversation with Binglu was heard by Pei Que behind the bamboo forest.

Next to Pei Que stood a man in a dragon robe. He had a square face and sword-like eyebrows. He was the fifth prince of the current dynasty, Li Da.

Li Da heard the footsteps fade away and chuckled softly, “This girl is quite interesting. I’ve heard that the eldest daughter of the An family is the most beautiful woman in the capital, but I didn’t expect she’d be so interesting.”

Pei Que glanced at Li Da’s face, “She is interesting, but it has nothing to do with Your Highness.”

“Why not?” Li Da stopped smiling and looked at Pei Que meaningfully. “She has broken off her engagement with the Pei family. She can’t be the principal wife, but she can definitely be a concubine.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Pei Que’s eyes suddenly turned cold.

“She’s mine.” Pei Que stated his attitude coldly, “Your Highness should think about how to choose a wife. The Queen and the Prime Minister are going to give you a headache.”

After saying this, Pei Que headed in the direction An Zhi left.