Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Just as the Duchess of Chengen and the Lady of the Marquis were exchanging pleasantries, someone suddenly burst into the private room, and the waiter couldn't stop them.

The person who barged in was Chu Yue, who had investigated and found out that Linlang was looking for someone here.

Upon seeing that the person who barged in was Chu Yue, Lady Cheng'en was immediately startled, and an ominous premonition arose in her heart.

Sure enough, as soon as Chu Yue entered, he glanced at the young master of the Marquis's mansion and said aggrievedly, "You even like this kind of trash (Young master of the Marquis's mansion: ...Are you being polite?), but you don't like me? I'm much better looking than him, aren't I?"

Then, becoming increasingly aggrieved, she said, "Even if you didn't agree to the marriage proposal, I could have at least written you a letter asking why you rejected it. You could have at least written something to explain why I didn't like you. You didn't even write a letter. How could you be so heartless? Even if you didn't agree to my proposal, we used to get along well, we were friends, right? You didn't even say a word to your friend?"

Linlang listened quietly to him finish speaking, then feigned ignorance and said, "A letter? What letter? A marriage? What marriage? I don't know anything about it."

Chu Yue's aggrieved voice stopped abruptly. He glanced at the Duchess of Cheng'en, who seemed a little uneasy, and said, "I asked my mother to propose marriage for you, but you said you were unwilling. I was a little unwilling and wanted to ask you why you were unwilling, so I wrote you a letter, but you didn't reply."

Linlang still looked bewildered and said, "No one told me that you proposed to me? Who did you ask the matchmaker to propose to? My maternal grandmother? My maternal grandmother didn't say anything. If you don't believe me, ask my maid and nanny."

Chu Yue glanced at the increasingly panicked Lady Chengen and seemed to understand something. He then slowly said, "...Your family is managed by your eldest aunt, so the matchmaker was your eldest aunt."

So Linlang looked at Madam Chengen with a death stare and said, "Aunt, can you give me an explanation, no, an excuse?"

How can this be explained—no, how can it be justified!
Lady Chengen never imagined that the Zhou Prince's Mansion would send someone to propose marriage to Linlang. She originally wanted to get Linlang engaged as soon as possible, so that even if the matter was exposed, they would have no way to turn back. After all, the Zhou Prince's Mansion was just a member of the imperial family, and she was not afraid of what they could do to the Chengen Prince's Mansion. Unexpectedly, before she could coax Shen Linlang into getting engaged, the matter was exposed.

Alright, this room is full of servants, including hers, the lady of the house across the street, the waiters from the teahouse, Chu Yue's attendants and guards—Chu Yue is the grandson of the Prince of Zhou, so it's impossible for him to go out without people by his side—the news that she returned her good marriage without consulting her niece is about to spread throughout the entire capital.

Then the ladies of those wealthy and powerful families in the capital, being shrewd old foxes, immediately understood what she was up to.

So, facing the death stares of Chu Yue and Lin Lang, Madam Cheng'en could only force a smile and say, "I... I just think Young Master Chu is too young and not suitable for you. Your aunt was only saying this for your own good..."

Linlang said coldly, "Oh? You didn't even ask me a question before making the decision for me? And then, afraid that I would find out about this, you even took it upon yourself to stop the letter Chu Yue wrote to me?"

If she weren't afraid of offending people, she would have said so, and then introduced her to a bunch of inferior men who were far worse than Chu Yue. What, didn't she deserve a better marriage?

However, once this gets out, she will spread all the information about the people that the Duchess of Chengen introduced to her. Then all the high-ranking families in the capital will know what the Duchess of Chengen is planning. Isn't she just jealous that her niece is marrying well?

When Lady Chengen heard Linlang's question, she couldn't answer it at the time. Chu Yue, who was standing to the side, had already grabbed Linlang's hand and said, "You took it upon yourself to reject my marriage proposal to Linlang. You just wait."

He immediately pulled Linlang away. At that moment, Chu Yue felt a great sense of accomplishment; he felt like a great hero who had rescued a beauty from a monster.

The group in the teahouse felt awkward. Lady Hou then seemed to wake up from a dream and spoke up, saying, "Since your young lady has someone proposing marriage, then let's just leave it at that. I'll head back now."

I've really stumbled upon some juicy gossip today.

She had just overheard people talking about how the young man who ran in was the young master of the Zhou Prince's mansion, and that he must be quite well-off. Otherwise, the Duchess of Cheng'en wouldn't have stopped it. It seemed that the Duchess of Cheng'en wasn't as kind to her niece as she appeared on the surface. You see, before, the Duchess of Cheng'en had always acted like she was very kind to her niece, even personally worrying about her marriage. But when the niece had a good marriage, she disagreed and then found a bunch of undesirable men to harm her.

—Although this scoundrel is also cursing her, doesn't she know her own family's situation? This Lady Cheng'en clearly wants to send her niece into a fire pit.

Then, recalling the past, it's said that the wife of the Duke of Cheng'en had a falling out with her sister-in-law. It seems that she hated her niece because of the house, and wanted to harm her.

This is huge news! She needs to go out and share it with everyone right away.

She wasn't afraid that the Duchess of Cheng'en would say she was spreading rumors. There were so many people in the private room just now, too many people heard it. When people in the capital find out about these things, how can the Duchess of Cheng'en be sure that it was her who said it? She wasn't afraid at all.

Seeing the mother and child retreat quickly, Lady Cheng'en, after seeing off the outsiders, turned completely pale.

Then came panic.

Because she knew that once Chu Yue found out about this, the Crown Prince's wife would definitely send someone to propose marriage to the old Duchess again, and the marriage would definitely be successful.

Then, the Zhou Prince's Mansion will definitely deal with her. After all, she dared to return the marriage proposal from the Zhou Prince's Mansion without asking Linlang's opinion. She must have offended the Zhou Prince's Mansion one hundred percent. It would be strange if they didn't deal with her.

Although she wasn't afraid of what the Zhou Prince's Mansion could do to her, she was certain she wouldn't escape the scolding from the old Duchess and her husband.

It's no wonder that Madam Chengen's face was pale at the thought of being scolded by her mother-in-law and husband.

Leaving aside what Lady Cheng'en was thinking about on the other side—how to deal with the storm that was about to break in the manor—Chu Yue was instantly refreshed and his gloomy mood vanished when he learned that Linlang had not rejected his marriage proposal.

In a great mood, he immediately asked Linlang, "Where do you want to go for fun?"

Linlang tried to pull her hand away from his, but he held it tightly, as if afraid she would run away. Linlang knew that men and women shouldn't touch each other, and that this was wrong, but thinking that they would be together in the future, she didn't care and let him do as he pleased. (End of Chapter)