Chapter 130

Chapter 130 – Strength Of Character

Lu Jing did not expect Ye Zhen to have the audacity to prove her wrong. Although Ye Zhen claimed that she held no secret, Lu Jing was unwilling to be humiliated especially by her.

“Yaoyao, I heard that you sent Third and Fourth Brother to find Princess Liu Hua?” Lu Jing soon asked.

Thrown with such a question, which sounded harmless to others but actually bore malice, Ye Zhen only felt annoyance. She knew that Fourth Miss Lu didn’t like her and had always wanted to crush her. This time, Ye Zhen thought, she chose the wrong method.

“Yes, she owed me money. Since she accepted my bet and I won, she will naturally lose a sum of money to me.”

“But Liu Hua is the only daughter of Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of the late emperor. Even the emperor has great respect for her.  Didn’t you make her lose face by letting our brothers knock on her door and collect the money she lost? I’m afraid that Third Sister’s mindlessness would make sworn enemies for our family sooner or later!” Lu Jing practically snorted, folding her arms in front of her chest.

As everyone in the academy knew, Lu Jing tried her best to befriend the princess and now that Ye Zhen had humiliated the other, she feared that it would spoil her relationship with the royalty.

Although the Lu Family now had Lu Wushuang as an imperial concubine and Lu Lingzhi as a high ranking official, in the eyes of the real aristocratic families, the Lu Family was still nothing.

“If her mother, Princess Royal, was afraid of her daughter losing face, she wouldn’t have let Liu Hua open the bet in the first place. Since she instigated it herself, she should be prepared to bear the consequences. Besides, if I don’t ask her for my silvers, she would think that I don’t take her seriously,” Ye Zhen said with a nimble laugh.

“You are simply trying to argue rationally!” Lu Jing fumed with anger.

“Fourth Sister, why don’t you help me instead of worrying about people who tried to humiliate me? You’re not worried because of my relationship with the princess, it is yourself that you are so concerned about. Liu Hua does not associate with you that much and it’s our business. She won’t be angry with you,” Ye Zhen said lightly.

Lu Fang followed and said, “Yes, Fourth Sister, don’t worry about it. Besides, when you made the bet, the princess openly expressed her agreement.”

“You…” Lu Jing stared at them with disgust. “Who is Princess Liu Hua? Aside from being the only daughter of the Princess Royal, she is the empress dowagers’ most loved princess! There are many noble ladies who have made friends with her in the capital. What good would it bring us to have a feud with her? Ah! She must abhor me now!”

With a horrified face, Lu Fang gasped in realization. “That’s also true…” She forlornly nodded and turned her gaze to the floor.

Nonetheless, Ye Zhen faced them with incorrigible confidence. “You are now the misses of a noble family and different from before. Why do you feel the need to go through all these lengths to please others?”

The sisters couldn’t speak so Ye Zhen continued.

“There is no need to curry favor with others deliberately. If you think others don’t want you in their circle or to talk to you, then you should consider simply nodding across their ways whenever you see them. What a simple thing to do!”

The Lu Sisters used to be the daughters of imperial merchants. In order to gain some respect, they were used to worshipping noblewomen like saints. But for Ye Zhen, she was born in a family of splendor and came from a high position. She had her own strength of character and would never stoop low to curry favor with Liu Hua.

Lu Jing turned pale after Ye Zhen spoke. “So, Third Sister thinks that it is not worthy to talk to the princess?

Extremely tired and exasperated by all of these, Ye Zhen answered indifferently. “If you want to think like that, there’s nothing else I wish to say.”

“All right. Second Sister, let’s go.” Lu Jing pulled up Lu Fang with her and ranted as they walked away from the tea-table.

“I don’t agree with Third Sister at all! We just want to make friends and there’s nothing wrong with this! It turns out that these are all despicable practices in her eyes. She even thinks so highly of herself that she refused to accept us in her study!”

Able to hear every word that came out of Lu Jing’s mouth, considering her deliberate loud voice,  Ye Zhen let out a sigh. She had speculated none of the things the Fourth Miss Lu had said.

Now, with brisk steps, Lu Jing took her sister’s hand and urged her to make haste. They stepped in the upper wing and saw Lu Lingzhi talking sincerely to Old Madam. Nonetheless, Lu Jing announced their arrival with adamant fervor. “Grandmother, you have to decide for us!”

Looking at the two granddaughters coming in with flushed and disappointed faces, Old Madam Lu asked what happened right away.

“Third Sister is really cruel!” Lu Jing’s nose flared and her voice choked faintly.

When Lu Lingzhi heard that it had something to do with Ye Zhen, he decided to postpone his exit.

“Yaoyao? What’s wrong with her?” Old Madam Lu asked.

Huffing a breath, Lu Jing’s eyes became moist, and she relayed exactly what Ye Zhen told them. “… Grandmother, listen to this, Third Sister thinks lowly of us! Is it wrong for us to get along with others as if our doing so humiliates her?”

“Yaoyao has just arrived in the capital. She is a little ignorant so you should not dispute with her,” Old Madam Lu said, her heart was still in favor of Ye Zhen.

Taking in what had transpired, Lu Lingzhi let his opinion be heard.

“Yaoyao is not wrong. Now, you have different identities. You don’t have to be the same as before. You always cater to others’ favor. You have to show respect to yourself before others will respect you. In the first place, you should have taken Yaoyao’s side.”

Lu Jing originally wanted to shame Lu Yaoyao while Lu Lingzhi listened, but she didn’t think that even he would be biased towards Lu Yaoyao.

“Eldest Brother, should we then be like Third Sister who likes to feud with others?” she asked, clearly hurt.

“Feuding with others? These girls! It seems that I should invite someone to come and teach you etiquette!” Old Madam Lu could be seen shaking her head, not a bit pleased with the sisters.

“Grandmother, what else are we not doing well?” Lu Jing was a little anxious. She didn’t know what she was doing badly and how Lu Yaoyao was right. She felt that her position in the Lu Family slowly declining from what she first thought it was.

“I’ll teach you how to be a noblewoman!”

“Grandmother…” Lu Jing bitterly sobbed.

Where on earth am I not like a noblewoman?

Thinking of how kind Ye Zhen was to give medicine for his injury, Lu Lingzhi added. “Although Yaoyao grew up in the border town, she did not lose sight and tolerance towards others. She is just bold with her words, that’s all.”

Although Old Madam Lu did not think Ye Zhen’s words were entirely right, her mind changed into thinking that Ye Zhen was definitely right upon listening to her grandson’s opinion. The misses of the Lu Family should not lower their status by pleasing others now.

“She was brought up by your third uncle. How can she be any less bold in character?”

At this very moment, with Old Madam and Lu Lingzhi opposing her, Lu Jing knew that it was futile to argue further. As long as Lu Lingzhi thought that Lu Yaoyao was right, no one would dare say that he was wrong.

This way, she felt even more resentful towards Ye Zhen.

In the meanwhile, Ye Zhen finally received the Letter of Admission from the Academy for Women and the Lu Brothers also arrived with the silvers she won from the princess.

A total of 21,000 taels, although not a large sum, was really a lot of money for Ye Zhen.

“Brother! I also want to return 2,000 taels to Tang Zhen.” Ye Zhen took the bag of silver and beamed at Lu Xiangzhi.