jdhmnovel Chapter 298 A prostitute trying to maintain a virtuous image
Chapter 298 A prostitute trying to maintain a virtuous image
Su Mu ultimately couldn't hold on for more than three days.
The poison penetrated his lungs and internal organs, and by the third day he couldn't even drink his medicine.
His face turned bluish-purple, and he would vomit blood every fifteen minutes.
Su Qingchan stood by, her heart breaking.
She could see that her brother was enduring excruciating pain every single second, but whenever her mother asked her "Does it hurt?", Su Mu would weakly say that it didn't hurt.
How can it not hurt?
Su Qingchan clearly saw that the blood her brother vomited contained fragments of internal organs!
She couldn't bear to see Su Mu struggling in such pain, so she stopped giving Su Mu the medicine.
Su's mother acquiesced.
It's better to leave sooner rather than later after suffering like this.
When Su Qingchan watched Su Mu breathe her last, she felt dizzy and almost fainted.
Su's mother was bedridden when she learned of her son's death and fainted from grief.
He remained unconscious for two days after that.
The Su family had no close relatives in Shengjing, and Su's mother was bedridden. Now, Su Qingchan was left alone to face the successive bad news.
Upon learning of Su Mu's death, Yu Wan immediately rushed to the Su family home with Shen Shi, wanting to help with the funeral arrangements.
With Su's mother still lying in bed unconscious, Su Qingchan had to handle Su Mu's funeral arrangements all by herself.
Yu Wan and Shen Shi helped set up the mourning hall and receive guests who came to pay their respects.
After waking up, Su's mother knelt in front of her son's mourning hall and refused to get up no matter how Su Qingchan and the others tried to persuade her.
Logically, given the great calamity that befell the Su family, the Jiang family, who were engaged to Su Qingchan, should have sent someone to comfort and visit them.
However, since Su's father was killed and Su Mu was imprisoned, no one from the Jiang family has ever come to visit.
No one from the Jiang family came to offer condolences today.
Yu Wan felt that the marriage was probably not going to happen.
Su Qingchan was well aware that the reason the Jiang family had initially taken a liking to her was simply because she had a promising older brother. Now that her brother had died tragically and the Su family had declined, the marriage was naturally out of the question.
She was prepared, but she didn't expect the Jiang family to come to her door today.
The Jiang family only sent a minor steward.
As soon as the Jiang family steward entered, his eyes darted around. When he saw Su Qingchan, he walked straight up to her and said with a forced smile, "Miss Su, please dismiss everyone else. I have some things I would like to tell you on the orders of the master and madam."
Not many people came to the Su family to pay their respects.
At this moment, inside the mourning hall, besides Su Qingchan, there was Su's mother kneeling, as well as Yu Wan and Madam Shen.
Yu Wan immediately sensed that the Jiang family steward was up to no good. She frowned slightly, glanced at Su's mother kneeling in front of the prayer mat, who looked increasingly haggard from excessive grief, and said, "If the Jiang family has any instructions, why not wait until Su's funeral is over?"
"If the Jiang family has any instructions, it would be better to wait until Lord Su's funeral is over before discussing them."
The steward of the Jiang family sized up Yu Wan.
He had inquired and found out that the Su family didn't have any powerful figures backing them up anymore. The woman looked unfamiliar, so she was probably just an insignificant outsider.
Yu Wan refuted him, and he immediately looked displeased. "I'm talking to Miss Su, what right do you, an outsider, have to interrupt?"
“They are not outsiders.” Su Qingchan raised her head, concealing the weariness and sorrow in her eyes. “Butler, please speak your mind.”
The Jiang family steward frowned slightly. Although he was unhappy that Yu Wan and Madam Shen were present, since Su Qingchan had already said so, he couldn't argue any further.
So he took out a brocade box from his sleeve.
Inside the box was a pair of ordinary jade bracelets, which were obviously not very valuable.
The steward of the Jiang family looked at Su Qingchan with feigned concern, a fake smile plastered on his face.
“Miss Su, you see, the Su family has suffered such a sudden misfortune. My husband and wife were deeply saddened to hear of it. However, life is unpredictable, and some things can only be done as they come. These jade bracelets are a small token of the Jiang family’s goodwill towards you, Miss Su. We hope you will accept them.”
Before Su Qingchan could speak, her mother asked in a trembling voice, "What does the Jiang family mean by this?"
The steward of the Jiang family glanced at the haggard-looking Su's mother, a slight, barely perceptible hint of contempt creeping onto his lips.
He then took something out of his sleeve and handed it to Su Qingchan, saying with feigned helplessness, "Madam Su, Miss Su, to be honest, my young master recently fell and injured his leg while racing horses in the suburbs. The doctor examined him and shook his head, saying that he might not be able to walk properly in the future."
"If the two families continue with the marriage alliance, it would be inappropriate for either of them. Therefore, I am here today on the orders of my master and mistress to deliver the letter of annulment."
As he spoke, he handed the betrothal gifts and tokens that the two families had exchanged after the marriage was arranged to Su Qingchan.
Su Qingchan looked at the betrothal letter in the hand of the Jiang family steward, and slowly raised her head expressionlessly.
His gaze was fixed on the Jiang family steward, his eyes so cold they seemed to freeze the air.
The steward of the Jiang family felt uneasy under her gaze and was inexplicably annoyed.
In his view, the engagement between the Jiang and Su families was a case of the Su family marrying above their station to the Jiang family.
Now that the Su family is almost ruined, how could they possibly be worthy of his young master?
The Jiang family even kindly gave the Su family a pair of jade bracelets as compensation, which was already considered as a sign of consideration for the past friendship between the two families.
Upon hearing this, Su's mother trembled with anger and grief, and she couldn't catch her breath, coughing violently.
Su Qingchan didn't have time to say anything. She rushed forward and gently patted her mother's back, her eyes filled with heartache and anger.
"Mother, please don't be angry."
Yu Wan quickly brought over some tea and handed it to Su Qingchan.
Su Qingchan carefully fed her mother some tea. Once her mother had recovered a little, she slowly raised her head, looked coldly at the Jiang family steward, and said, word by word, "If the Jiang family wants to annul the engagement, they should just say so. Why make up these baseless excuses?"
The steward of the Jiang family felt a little guilty under Su Qingchan's gaze, but still stubbornly said, "Miss Su, everything I said is the truth. You must be busy with family matters and not know what is happening outside. My young master did fall off his horse and hurt his leg. Now he is announcing the engagement for Miss Su's sake. Please don't be ungrateful."
Yu Wan couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
She raised an eyebrow at Madam Shen, "Mother-in-law, isn't this just like a prostitute trying to maintain a virtuous image?"
Shen was so shocked by Yu Wan's words that she almost burst out laughing. But then she realized it was inappropriate in the mourning hall, so she quickly covered her mouth, coughed lightly, and said sternly, "Yu Niang, don't talk nonsense."
Upon hearing this, the Jiang family steward's face turned bright red, and he angrily said, "You...you insult the Jiang family like this, aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"
Yu Wan stared directly at the Jiang family steward and laughed sarcastically, "The Su family has encountered misfortune, and the Jiang family doesn't want to continue this marriage, so they should just say so. But you've done the bad thing and still want a good reputation? Do you think that just because the Su family is now without anyone, you can bully them at will?"
The Jiang family butler was speechless after being rebuked, and angrily pointed at Yu Wan, "Who exactly are you? How dare you offend the Jiang family? You'll definitely regret it!"
Yu Wan remained calm and composed, looking at him with a smile and a hint of mockery in her eyes, and asked in return:
"Does the Duke of Anguo know about this?"
He paused, then deliberately dragged out his words.
"Did you know that the Duke of Anguo's mansion has recently found its eldest daughter, who had been missing for over a decade?"
She watched as the Jiang family's butler's face gradually paled.
Finally, Yu Wan slowly said, "I am Yu Wan, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Anguo's family."
"The Jiang family, is it? I'll wait and see how the Jiang family makes me regret this."
Seeing the astonishment and panic in the eyes of the Jiang family steward, Yu Wan experienced the exhilarating feeling of bullying others for the first time.
What is the Jiang family compared to the Duke of Anguo's mansion?
The Jiang family isn't even one of the five major clans, yet they dare to be so arrogant in Shengjing.