CHAPTER 217: CHAPTER 217: TRAINING

Princess Nanzhang was furious beyond measure.

While she was angry, Su Jin remained unaffected.

Some people are naturally forgetful, never learning from their mistakes.

They fall in one place and simply treat it as a bed, feeling uncomfortable if they don’t lie there every few days.

Su Jin was resolute in her attitude.

Princess Nanzhang was in a bit of a fix.

The Third Madam looked on with amusement, showing no intention of helping to smooth things over.

It would be great if Princess Nanzhang and the Eldest Young Madam quarreled.

The more intense the fight, the better.

When the sands of fortune shift, the clever will gain the advantage.

Xie Jingchuan walked in and said, "Mother, it was my idea to have the servant climb over the wall to get the military book; you don’t need to cover for me."

The dutiful son appeared, trying to save his mother’s dignity that was on the verge of collapse.

Xie Jingchuan apologized to Xie Jingchen.

Xie Jingchen said blandly, "The servant didn’t enter my bamboo house."

Hmm.

The servant climbed the wall to get the military book.

But ended up not entering the Eldest Young Master’s bamboo house, instead intruding on the Eldest Young Madam’s domain, and had bad luck.

This was exposing the lies of Xie Jingchuan and Princess Nanzhang.

Xie Jingchuan could only pretend not to understand, bowing to Su Jin to make amends.

"Eldest Sister-in-law, it was my fault this time, please forgive me," Xie Jingchuan said.

They are indeed mother and son.

Equally good at playing dumb, with the son even surpassing the mother.

However, since they acknowledged the mistake and apologized, Su Jin couldn’t keep harping on it.

But just letting it go would ruin the reputation that offending her brings bad luck, wouldn’t it?

Su Jin looked at Xingxing.

Xingxing handed the invitation in her hand to Su Jin.

Su Jin handed the invitation to Princess Nanzhang and said, "This is an invitation from the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion, written by my mother, inviting you to attend the housewarming banquet of Dongxiang Marquis Mansion."

The crisp and pleasing voice, like the song of a skylark in a remote valley, echoed in the room.

The maids and old women were stunned.

The fact that the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion invited Princess Nanzhang to their housewarming banquet was astonishing?!

The Duke Chong’s Mansion was like half of Princess Nanzhang’s family.

Their family ancestral house was taken over, yet they still asked Princess Nanzhang to attend the housewarming banquet? Isn’t this too much of an insult?

However, the words "too much of an insult" didn’t quite fit here.

After all, it was the Heir of Duke Chong who wanted to gamble dice with the Young Master of Dongxiang Marquis Mansion.

The gambling skills of the Young Master of Dongxiang Marquis Mansion were superb. He could roll whatever score he wanted and even deliberately ended in a draw with the Heir of Duke Chong to keep the peace.

It was the Heir of Duke Chong who kept pursuing the matter relentlessly, becoming meat on others’ chopping boards, against his wishes.

And on the court, the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion had no allies, but there were many who helped the Duke Chong to ask the Emperor to make sure Dongxiang Marquis honored the bet.

It was ultimately the Duke Chong Mansion’s overly aggressive actions that forced themselves into this situation.

The things that the Duke Chong Mansion did could certainly be done by the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion.

They knew the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion wasn’t to be trifled with but provoked them anyway, they deserved the misfortune.

The Eldest Young Madam hadn’t yet expressed forgiveness for the Second Young Master. If Princess Nanzhang didn’t give her face, she would surely rub his face into the ground without any hesitation.

Princess Nanzhang clenched her silver teeth tightly, making a grating sound.

The sound was truly harsh on the ears.

Xie Jingchen glanced at Princess Nanzhang and said to Su Jin, "Leave the invitation, Mother will attend. She orchestrated our marriage, she wouldn’t have done so without appreciating my in-laws’ character. How could she miss the opportunity to celebrate with them?"

Su Jin, "... ."

She couldn’t help the twitch at the corner of her mouth.

She couldn’t resist giving Xie Jingchen side-eye.

The steps he provided were increasingly rotten.

This time, they were downright moldy.

But—

She liked it.

Su Jin felt delighted.

The veins on Princess Nanzhang’s forehead bulged.

Xie Jingchen’s words were all but calling her out for self-inflicted damage.

By no stretch of the imagination did the Duke Zhen Country Mansion and Dongxiang Marquis Mansion match in status.

The only thing that Duke Zhen Country Mansion could possibly admire about Dongxiang Marquis Mansion was their character.

These words, whether Princess Nanzhang admitted it or not, she had to accept them.

Su Jin put down the invitation. Princess Nanzhang, in her fury, remarked, "Even the Emperor showed respect by attending the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion’s housewarming banquet, how could I not go?"

In the end, her own solution worked best.

However, Su Jin only cared about making Princess Nanzhang attend the housewarming banquet; her reasons for going didn’t matter.

"Mother, you don’t look well, you should take good care of yourself these days," Su Jin said with concern.

She didn’t want any excuses of ill health later to avoid attending.

She wasn’t so easy to deceive.

With no way out, Princess Nanzhang’s fists tightened.

Su Jin looked at Manager Li, "Do those three servants have any family?"

Manager Li, "... ."

Why did he get himself involved?!

"One of them has family, the other two were bought into the mansion a few years ago," Manager Li replied.

"Alright, I want those two servants. Hand over their contracts to me, and give the other one twenty lashes," Su Jin commanded.

"... ."

Manager Li silently glanced at Princess Nanzhang.

Princess Nanzhang said nothing.

Manager Li took her silence as tacit approval and said, "I’ll send their contracts to the Eldest Young Madam shortly."

"No need."

"Send those two servants along with their contracts to the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion, let the Marquis Mansion train them well for me; I need some people to run errands."

Manager Li, "... ."

Servants from Duke Zhen Country Mansion being trained by the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion?

Such a disgrace to Duke Zhen Country Mansion!

The Third Madam couldn’t help but say, "Eldest Young Madam, isn’t this going too far?"

Su Jin looked at her, "How is it too far?"

"Servants that even the prestigious Duke Zhen Country Mansion couldn’t train, how could the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion?" the Third Madam argued.

Xingxing couldn’t hold back, "Today, both Prince NanAn and Marquis Jingguo gave my Marquis five thousand taels of silver each to let him help train Prince NanAn and the Heir of Marquis Jingguo."

Third Madam, "... ."

Slap!

Xingxing’s chubby hand slapped over.

Third Madam’s face changed colors from green to red and then purple.

If even Prince NanAn could be trained, couldn’t they handle a few servants?

And it was the parents who paid to have Dongxiang Marquis Mansion train them.

The Third Madam could only think that Prince NanAn had lost his mind.

Dongxiang Marquis Mansion was a bandit lair!

Wasn’t he afraid his son would be led astray?

The matter was temporarily resolved.

Though Xie Jingchuan apologized, Su Jin neither said she forgave him nor did she say she didn’t, she simply took her leave.

Upon leaving Qihao Hall.

Xingxing looked at Su Jin and said, "Miss, those two servants belong to Princess Nanzhang, do you really want to use them?"

Su Jin replied with a faint smile, "The one with family is likely Princess Nanzhang’s person, the other two merely helped with the ladder."

They waited outside for a long time without anyone emerging, so they climbed over the wall to see what was happening.

Being able to quickly come up with a reason for their fainting shows cleverness; with proper training, they might be useful.

If not, with the contracts in hand, they can simply be sold off.

She wanted all the maids and servants of Duke Zhen Country Mansion to understand one thing—

If they crossed paths with her, the Eldest Young Madam, their fate was at her discretion.