Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved

Chapter 113: Chapter 113 Your Mother Has a Weak Stomach
 

Murong Man indeed lost her composure.

She saw herself as the Phoenix Destiny, the future Empress of the Great Yan Nation, and though marrying Ni Yuanshan was only a temporary measure, she resisted it deeply, harboring strong dissatisfaction.

She thought enduring for a month or two would have been enough, but to her dismay, on the day of the wedding, nothing went smoothly.

Her parents presented her for marriage with faces full of pustules, and sitting inside the bridal chamber, she could hear servant girls outside discussing whether her parents had contracted some epidemic, fearing contagion to the extent that they dared not enter her room.

This was bad enough, but soon after, a fire broke out in the western courtyard. It was supposed to be a joyous day – how could Marquis Ensu’s Mansion bring such disgrace upon themselves?

Before long, her maid reported with a pale face that a serious incident had occurred in the western courtyard.

Hearing this, Murong Man’s face turned white as well.

She was furious, she loathed.

Wait one or two more months, after the Second Prince had made use of Murong Jiu, then revealing the truth about Ni Yuanshan keeping a gigolo. She would denounce him with righteous indignation, ensuring that others wouldn’t dare gossip about her.

By then, everyone would know she had been deceived, that she remained pure and untouched, and even if she remarried, who would have anything to say?

But she never expected that on the day of her grand wedding, the keeping of the gigolo would be exposed, with all the guests present, and Ni Yuanshan so severely beaten his life hung in the balance, it was said every bone was shattered.

With such a scandal happening on her wedding day, hadn’t she become the laughingstock of the entire Capital City?

This was not what she wanted to see.

Therefore, she had to step forward and call off the marriage, to maintain her image in people’s minds, letting them know she was of pure standing and would never marry into a clouded, unhealthy Marquis mansion.

She also knew that by doing this, Murong Jiu might have the Second Prince marry her off again, but having just annulled her marriage, hurrying into another would be a joke, wouldn’t it? She believed the Second Prince understood this as well.

In this way, it worked out perfectly for her, freeing her from marriage and once again making her an unmarried woman.

But what she hadn’t accounted for was that the two old fools of the Marquis household were unwilling to agree to the divorce. Did they want her to stay and live like a widow? How could she be happy with that?

So, her tone inevitably became anxious and sharp, and while she ranted in anger, she took on more of the demeanor of her mother when she used to beat the servants in the Marquis Mansion.

The guests present only felt it was unexpected; they had thought of Murong Man as gentle and kind, but the woman in front of them seemed like a different person.

Initially, people felt sympathy for her marrying such a man, but now they felt that the two were not so ill-matched after all.

“Enough!”

The Second Prince suddenly shouted sternly.

He saw that Murong Man was panicking, but staying silent would have been the easiest way for her to gain sympathy.

But the situation being what it was, the marriage was definitely to be annulled.

“This matter will be investigated by the palace…”

Before the Second Prince could finish speaking, the Prefecture Magistrate’s men arrived.

The Third Young Master Fu promptly stepped forward, explaining that they had sent for the officials, and someone from the Su Family stayed behind, quickly clarifying the situation to the Prefecture Magistrate.

The Second Prince, originally intending to protect Marquis Ensu’s Mansion, saw how eager the Fu brothers were and knew of their hatred for evil. Considering the good relationship between the Su and Fu families, Ni Yuanshan’s keeping of a gigolo would be hard to resolve amicably.

How foolish of that idiot to be so reckless that he even dared to lay a hand on the young master of the Su Family!

Very soon, the matter spread far and wide, and everyone in Capital City was aware of it.

The Second Prince discreetly sent someone to Yongning Marquis Manor, instructing Marquis Murong and his father to personally take Murong Man back home.

Who would have known that the two of them would fall seriously ill, their whole bodies emitting a foul stench so strong that even the court physicians had to enter with thick veils over their faces.

It was the Marquis Mansion’s second elder who brought Murong Man back.

When Murong Jiu heard about the situation in the Marquis Mansion, she suddenly remembered what Jun Yuyan had said about giving her a surprise, and it dawned on her that the illness afflicting both the Marquis and the Marchioness must be related to him.

“I see now, you got the poison from my master; that’s why no one can cure it!”

Jun Yuyan nodded with a smile, “Ah Jiu is correct, the poison was provided by Uncle Zhai, and even the Imperial Physician can’t detect that the two were poisoned. Besides Uncle Zhai, no one can cure them.”

Murong Jiu became curious, what kind of poison had her master developed now, to have such an effect?

So she cheerfully went to find her master to “learn.”

Jun Yuyan, with a doting smile, told her to be careful, to stay away from those poisons. He followed her personally to ensure her protection at all times.

Meanwhile, Murong Man had already returned to the Yongning Marquis Manor, bringing all her dowry back with her.

She went to see her parents for a moment, but their room was so foul-smelling, filled with their painful wailing and itching that had them constantly scratching themselves, that the air was thick with the stench of rot.

She covered her mouth and nose and quickly left to find the Old Madam.

“You mean Murong Jiu’s birthmark is gone, and her appearance is restored?”

The Old Madam’s hands were trembling, and her walking stick fell to the ground with a clatter.

Murong Man frowned, “Why are you reacting this way, Grandmother?”

At this moment, she was unaware of Murong Jiu’s true identity, having only heard her parents mention in passing that Murong Jiu was picked up at random, merely to contrast her own brilliance.

Thus, she had always regarded Murong Jiu as an ordinary ugly girl, always looking down on her from on high.

“We should have strangled her in her cradle!”

The Old Madam hissed viciously, collapsing back into her chair.

“What exactly is going on, Grandmother, please explain clearly!”

“Enough already, Murong Jiu’s true identity is actually that of a young miss from the General’s Mansion, and indeed, you have a real younger sister, someone whom you have met before; she is none other than Fourth Miss Fu, Fu Baozhu!”

Murong Man stepped back in disbelief.

“How is that possible? Isn’t Murong Jiu just some random girl our parents picked up? How could she be a young miss from the General’s Mansion?”

She couldn’t fathom that Murong Jiu’s identity was so significant.

“Back when your mother and hers were pregnant, the fortunes of our Marquis Manor were dwindling, living beyond our means, while the General’s Mansion was thriving, with countless royal gifts. Consequently, we had such thoughts. The court physician claimed your mother was carrying a boy, and we thought to have him inherit the General Mansion’s wealth, seeing as General Fu always went to battle, and with the peril of war, if he and his three sons died out there, no one would know it was related to us.”

At this point, a disdainful sneer flickered across the Old Madam’s face:

“But unfortunately, your mother’s belly failed us, giving birth to a daughter! There was no choice but to let her be raised in the General’s Mansion and when she came of marriageable age, somehow find her a gigolo to secure the Fu Family’s wealth!”

Murong Man’s eyes widened in disbelief, unaware that Fu Baozhu was, in fact, her biological sister.

Thinking of how Fu Baozhu was always the center of attention amongst the noble girls, adorned with the latest fashion in jewelry and dresses, no woman in the Capital City was as fortunate as her, with not only a loving father but three formidable elder brothers to boot.

Murong Man had envied this in the past, never imagining that the life Fu Baozhu was living had been stolen from Murong Jiu.

Whereas Murong Jiu grew up in the countryside, where her parents said even servants treated her worse than a dog, fed worse than one; if not for her master who was a barefoot doctor, Murong Jiu would have long starved to death on the manor.