Waiting for the Play, Sleeping Together (1)
Even if Luo Old Madam and them already saw the dowry list that the Ding Duke Manor sent over in advance, already antic.i.p.ating that it would be this kind of situation, but, when these things were completely displayed before their eyes, they still couldn"t help but sigh at the Ding Duke Manor"s generous hand. At least, for a short period of time, outsiders will certainly say, ‘In the future, the Luo family will be depending on Sun Yi Jia to provide for them." Indeed, with this dowry of Sun Yi Jia"s and a family like the Luo family, even if they ‘only sit and eat until the mountain empties out", it would still be more than enough to provide for several generations. Even though the Luo family definitely won"t touch a single one of Sun Yi Jia"s things.
“If one had known earlier that the Ding Duke Manor would give a disfigured daughter this generous of a dowry, then the people seeking to marry her would probably trample through the Ding Duke Manor"s doorsteps. Marry her back to be a decoration, then raise a bunch of beautiful concubines, wouldn"t that be refres.h.i.+ng?”
“Haha, these words are very much correct. She"s just a disfigured one, so presumably won"t have the face to compete for affection and be jealous either.”
“According to how I see it, perhaps it still has to do with brother Jing Bo"s current worth, creating the Gongbi style, and very possibly becoming a renowned master. Just based on this bit, don"t know how many people are eyeing him. If the Ding Duke Manor"s dowry is too thin, afraid their family"s young miss will further be unable to establish herself, and they themselves would be embarra.s.sed as well.”
“That"s right, that"s right.”
The male guests outside commented like such, and the female guests inside weren"t any better either. It was nothing more than two kinds of saying, one being that the Ding Duke Manor was going for Luo Jing Bo"s reputation, and the second being that the Luo family has picked up a great benefit. In any case, regardless of which saying, no one was optimistic about the union between Luo Jing Bo and Sun Yi Jia themselves as individuals. By the time Luo Jing Bo truly becomes renowned throughout the world, Sun Yi Jia probably will only be able to wait for death in a corner somewhere.
These rumors and gossip, quite a few, all landed in the ears of the Luo family, but no one refuted. After all, even among the Luo family themselves, there were still quite a few that had these thoughts. In fact, some even, in front of Luo Jing Bo"s face, made fun of him. Luo Jing Bo also just smiled, because one, he really didn"t mind Sun Yi Jia"s face, and two, even now he wasn"t all that fond of beauties, and didn"t believe he would change in the future, and lastly three, he can"t betray his little sis"s expectations. After marrying Sun Yi Jia, he will treat her well for an entire lifetime, not for the sake of her dowry, but purely just because of that piece of sincerity.
That"s why, no matter what one says now, it would all be useless. If others won"t believe, why should he waste that breath.
Yuan Qiao Qiao, this living ancestor according to her mother, this while, was being supported by her servant girls with more than half her body leaning on Jing Wan. Hearing the whispers of those around them, she was extremely furious, “Older cousin Jing Bo isn"t that kind of person.”
Jing Wan was rather calm and composed, “What are you getting angry for, I"ve already said before, commenting on these right now was all meaningless, just wait another twenty years. Actually, with my third brother and Yi Jia, don"t even need to wait that long before one can see the results.”
Yuan Qiao Qiao nodded her head, her anger dispelling. “Wan Wan, look at that one, seemingly in a very good mood. No matter what, something"s wrong, right?”
Jing Wan swept a glance at Jiang Ling Shan, “Merely another one that"s willing to lower themselves, what are you bothering with her for?”
“Eh, little sister Wan, what do these words mean?”
“Without these things, she perhaps might still be able to give up on my third brother, but with these things, heh……………..” Jing Wan coldly scoffed.
Yuan Qiao Qiao understood and covered her mouth in disbelief, “She wants to become older cousin Jing Bo"s concubine, and then monopolize these things? Isn"t she being too delusional?”
“You may think this, but others won"t. People with similar thoughts as hers, afraid, aren"t in the minority either. In the end, for them, it was all the same. Big sister Jia naturally ought to be disdained by my third brother, the person who is able to win my third brother"s favor naturally should be able to monopolize these things. Although these things are big sister"s dowry, but how many married young women are able to truly and completely have their dowry used on themselves. For the sake of currying favor with one"s husband, for the sake of currying favor with one"s in-laws, women that have emptied out their dowry probably aren"t in the minority. Big sister Jia"s situation is further like so. That"s why, no one believes that big sister Jia will have these things tightly guarded. Since the things have been brought out, whose hand they will fall into in the end, isn"t something big sister Jia has a say in.”
“These people are really too skilled on the abacus[1].”
“So what if they are skilled on the abacus, still need to see whether my third brother gives them the chance or not.” Jing Wan suddenly felt giving her third brother the ‘guard against women lecture" was truly too wise, else if her third brother gets schemed against, even if he doesn"t want to, he"d still have to take them as a concubine. Jing Wan right now was even rather looking forward to seeing a good show play out. And when time comes, when each and every one are all covered in dirt, their faces completely lost, will they regret their decision?
On the other side, w.a.n.g-s.h.i.+ was busy receiving the people delivering the dowry, and for the most part, was running around like the wind, making Zhang-s.h.i.+ very much embarra.s.sed. Even if she wasn"t good at it, nor knew how to deal with it, Zhang-s.h.i.+ till hardened herself and went forward to help.
Once they were done showing off the dowry, satisfying enough people"s eyes, it naturally needed to be properly stored away. Just leaving it in the courtyard like this definitely won"t do. Fortunately, because they"d already antic.i.p.ated this situation, they"d long sorted out several empty rooms for temporary storage. And after Sun Yi Jia marries in, she can have her own people properly organize them herself.
This while, those servants that were part of the dowry were also all put to use. Although the amount of people weren"t as many as if she were to marry into a qinw.a.n.g"s manor, they were still all carefully selected. Capable, efficient, and loyal, these were all the most basic elements.
The two servant girls in the lead took the others and expressed that they were willing to help.
w.a.n.g-s.h.i.+ naturally didn"t have any complaints. These things were all Sun Yi Jia"s, so having her people handle it naturally was for the best.
Jing Wan also finally noticed that these two were actually Sun Yi Jia"s first-ranked servant girls. Generally speaking, shouldn"t the four first-ranked servant girls that are part of the dowry come over together with Sun Yi Jia tomorrow? How come at this time, two came over first?
This kind of thing, rather, wasn"t appropriate for Jing Wan to ask either. Perhaps there"s some purpose in this, one can"t say for sure. In any case, Jing Wan didn"t think they were specially sent over to watch the dowry. Although many people would all do this, it was unlikely for Sun Yi Jia.
Because there were too many things, by the time they finished putting everything away, this day was already over.
Yuan Qiao Qiao very unhesitantly occupied Jing Wan"s bed. Jing Wan wasn"t one that tosses around in her sleep, so she didn"t need to worry that she would kick her when it gets hot at night, and thus just went along with her intention. Yuan Qiao Qiao"s mother, Luo Rong Hui, was also helping with the dowry, so didn"t have that much spare energy to bother with her. Letting her stay at Jing Wan"s place was also very rea.s.suring for her.
(T/N: Not sure if this is a common saying elsewhere, but in chinese, there"s saying that people will kick the blanket at night.)
Afterwards, Yuan Qiao Qiao not all that unexpectedly saw Hei Mei, “Oh my, someone this dark can also be this beautiful?”
Qing Ju very much unapologetically had their own miss ‘sold out".
Yuan Qiao Qiao has probably long been convinced by Jing Wan"s various extraordinary abilities to the point where she wasn"t surprised in the least, just coiling around Jing Wan again and pestering her for a good while, asking her to also put on makeup for her sometime.
Jing Wan was helpless at her pestering and could only agree. Yuan Qiao Qiao clung onto her like a snake on a pole, wanting it right now.
“Older cousin, there"s still things to take care of tomorrow, settle down a bit and quickly go to sleep.”
Yuan Qiao Qiao pitifully looked to Jing Wan, while Jing Wan just smiled, too lazy to bother with her again. And after changing her clothes, Jing Wan let Gong mama take care of her daily ma.s.sages.
Yuan Qiao Qiao followed over to see, while her wet nurse also observed Gong mama"s technique, probably wanting to give Yuan Qiao Qiao a try.
When Yuan Qiao Qiao saw that Jing Wan"s body was actually the same as her hands and face, that skin flawlessly good, she was incredibly jealous, shouting that Jing Wan was stingy, only saying half and keeping half to herself, “Alright, alright, let your wet nurse go learn from Gong mama.”
Yuan Qiao Qiao was finally satisfied, lying down next to Jing Wan, reaching out for a feel from time to time. She was still all kinds of jealous and envy.
The servants watching all giggled incessantly. Yuan Qiao Qiao"s wet nurse originally was still somewhat embarra.s.sed, but upon hearing Jing Wan"s words, became rather serious in learning. And Gong mama wasn"t stingy either, explaining as she ma.s.saged Jing Wan.
After the two went to bed, Yuan Qiao Qiao was unwilling for each to have their own blanket, insisting on squeezing in together with Jing Wan. And that hand even naughtily felt around under Jing Wan"s clothes.
These ten some years, in addition to the twenty some years of her past life, Jing Wan has always been used to sleeping alone. Suddenly encountering such a clingy person, at the moment, she really was very unaccustomed to it. As for that night under the cliff at White Dragon Temple, it was selectively forgotten by Jing Wan. Jing Wan grabbed Yuan Qiao Qiao"s hand, “Older cousin, stop moving, if you keep moving about, I"ll have to kick you out.”
Yuan Qiao Qiao pouted, “I"m helping you get use to it. In the future, when you get married………….” She evilly laughed, “Wan Wan rather can let me have the advantage first.” As she said this, she even pinched above Jing Wan"s waist.
“Older cousin—–” Jing Wan"s voice slightly raised. On her waist were all her ticklish spots, in other words, her sensitive area, “I"m really going to get angry.”
“Alright, alright, won"t mess with you anymore.” Yuan Qiao Qiao hugged Jing Wan in her arms and obediently closed her eyes.
[1] Meaning they are very good at calculating.
T/N: After last chapter, this chapter felt like such a breeze to post. I keep feeling paranoid like I might be forgetting some picture to add.