The Double-Chapter 37 - 35 Princely Heir

37: Chapter 35 Princely Heir

37 -35 Princely Heir

Jiang Li passed by with Tonger and Mother Shen and daughter Shen Ruyun.

On her face, she still wore the same mild smile as before, as if it had become a natural mask.

Yet, upon closer examination, the curve of her lips was somewhat chilling.

Mother Shen and Shen Ruyun indeed came.

After marrying Shen Yurong, she had come to the capital.

Mother Shen was not an easy mother-in-law to deal with, and Shen Ruyun was even more willful and selfish.

Xue Huaiyuan loved his daughter and had tried his best to provide her with a generous dowry.

Those dowry items were all used to support the Shen family, and her own clothes and jewelry were often taken away by Shen Ruyun under the guise of affection.

She was not a saint and, as the beloved pearl in the palm of the Xue Family, when Shen Ruyun and Mother Shen displeased her, it would show in her expressions—even she, Xue Fangfei, would reveal her feelings.

At these times, Shen Yurong would step in just right.

Shen Yurong would always say that his widowed mother and his younger sister had raised him single-handedly, and that his achievements were all thanks to their efforts, urging Xue Fangfei to be kinder to them.

Xue Fangfei, after all, had a kind heart, and thinking of the hardship the two women faced raising Shen Yurong, she would tolerate as much as she could.

But this tolerance did not earn her the same respect.

In her last six months, Mother Shen and Shen Ruyun never came to comfort her.

Sometimes, they would even talk outside her door in a volume she could hear, questioning when she would die for committing such a disgraceful act and for being a burden to the Shen family.

Had it not been for Xue Fangfei’s resilient nature, she might have truly been unable to bear it and taken her own life to prove her innocence.

“Miss?” Tonger noticed something off with her companion’s mood and called out softly.

Jiang Li came back to her senses and laughed, “I’m alright.” But in her heart, she thought that Mother Shen and Shen Ruyun could not possibly be unaware of Shen Yurong and Princess Yongning’s affair.

The Princess could move through the Shen family’s home as if it were her own, which obviously indicated she was familiar with them.

With the Shen family’s opportunistic nature, seeking alliance with an Imperial Princess was certainly more advantageous than with a minor official’s daughter.

Today, she had seen with her own eyes that the clothes and jewelry of Shen Ruyun and Mother Shen were somewhat beyond what Shen Yurong could afford on his current salary.

This was probably the “kindness” of Princess Yongning.

Jiang Li contemplated this and felt the Shen family was both pitiable and pathetic.

Princess Yongning might be of high birth, but the Princess who could kill her husband and child without batting an eye was certainly not someone easy to deal with.

The Shen family saw only immediate gains, oblivious to the tears that would follow.

She was delighted to watch the drama unfold.

The Shen family, Shen Yurong, and Princess Yongning were the culprits who ruined her family, and she would reclaim that debt, little by little.

As the two of them headed back to Fangfei Garden, even though Jiang Li had vindicated herself at Jiang Youyao’s coming-of-age ceremony that day, she seemed still to be a daughter of the Jiang Family overlooked by others.

None paid her any attention.

Midway there, a man approached them head-on.

When had a man entered the Jiang Family’s back courtyard?

Jiang Li stopped, not approaching any closer, conveniently keeping a distance between herself and the man.

The man also adhered to propriety, not advancing further.

Jiang Li stepped aside, intending to leave by another path, but then the man suddenly spoke up in a low voice, “Second Miss?”

Second Miss?

A tone of familiarity, Jiang Li turned to look at him.

The man appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years of age, dressed in a pine-scented long robe of exquisite fabric.

His hair was fastened with a jade pin, his figure tall and erect, a flawless handsome young man with a refined and profound temperament, his gaze upon Jiang Li stirring slightly.

Jiang Li stared at him, and perhaps her gaze was too foreign, making the man before her feel somewhat embarrassed.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Second Miss may not remember.

I am Zhou Yanbang.”

Zhou Yanbang?

Jiang Li suddenly realized, and even Tonger beside her almost exclaimed in surprise.

So, this was Heir of Marquis Ningyuan, Zhou Yanbang.

When she was still Xue Fangfei, she often heard this name from her younger sister-in-law, but she had never met him in person.

She only knew of him as a handsome and elegant man.

Now, as Jiang Li, Zhou Yanbang had become her former fiancé, which was somewhat miraculous.

Jiang Li paused, then said, “Princely Heir.”

Her tone was very ordinary, without excitement, nor a flood of emotions.

It was as simple as treating a stranger on the street.

Zhou Yanbang was somewhat surprised.

He had known about his engagement to Jiang Li since he was young.

When he was a child, he was oblivious and felt nothing. freewebnoveℓ.com

Later, Jiang Li was sent to the temple for the crime of plotting against her stepmother.

Zhou Yanbang often heard his parents discuss whether to cancel this marriage arrangement, but in the end, somehow, the fiancée had changed to Jiang Youyao.

Zhou Yanbang had met Jiang Youyao.

She was a delicate and beautiful girl, pure and lovable.

He was very satisfied with Jiang Youyao and had no objections to the marriage arrangement.

Yet today, while attending Jiang Youyao’s hairpin ceremony, Zhou Yanbang unexpectedly saw Jiang Li, whom he had not seen in many years.

Zhou Yanbang only remembered that Jiang Li was a chubby girl with a bad temper when they were children.

However, her appearance at the hairpin ceremony stirred ripples in his heart.

Jiang Youyao was like an exquisite piece of jade jewelry, suitable for placing in a room.

The purity and elegance of Jiang Li, however, was like the clear moonlight in the sky, desirable but unreachable.

Zhou Yanbang watched Jiang Li silently from among the crowd of male guests.

Seeing Jiang Li being accused by everyone and calmly turning defeat into victory increased his admiration for her.

Now, having encountered her by chance in the backyard of the Jiang Residence, Zhou Yanbang felt pleasantly surprised, yet the way Jiang Li looked at him was as if she was looking at a stranger.

This made Zhou Yanbang feel a little disappointed.

It seemed that the more unattainable something was, the more appealing it became.

Jiang Li’s lukewarm attitude toward him only caused Zhou Yanbang’s emotions to fluctuate even more.

He thought to himself that just a few days ago, he had heard that Jiang Li, upon learning of Jiang Youyao’s engagement to him, was so heartbroken that she had thrown herself into the lake.

Thinking about it now, perhaps he had hurt Jiang Li back then, which explained why she was now so cold to him.

Perhaps he should speak with his father and reconsider the marriage arrangement, Zhou Yanbang thought, as he looked at Jiang Li again with the vision of her being his fiancée.

Jiang Li slightly furrowed her brows.

Zhou Yanbang’s gaze was all too familiar to her.

When she was Xue Fangfei, and even after she married Shen Yurong, there were still many such gazes surrounding her.

Disgusting.

She had no desire to speak further with Zhou Yanbang.

Although she had become Miss Jiang the Second, she did not wish to have any relationship with this man.

Jiang Li was about to leave when suddenly she heard a sweet call from behind her, “Princely Heir Brother!”

Jiang Li almost grimaced at this call.

Turning around, she saw Jiang Youyao running over.

Jiang Youyao ran up to Zhou Yanbang, raised her face with a smile, and said, “Princely Heir Brother, Second Sister, what are you talking so happily about?”

Although smiling, the look Jiang Youyao gave Jiang Li carried the hostility of a legal wife catching an adulteress, full of fierce aggression.