SGEIRS -Chapter 35 Feeling Sorry for A-Yao

The sisters-in-law wandered around for quite a while before Meng Jinyao finally parted ways with Madam Zhang.

After Madam Zhang had walked far away, Qingqiu couldn’t help lowering her voice and saying, “Madam, the First Madam has ulterior motives. You must be careful.”

Ningdong immediately agreed. “Yes, she definitely doesn’t mean well. Every single thing she says has hidden meanings.”

Meng Jinyao glanced at Madam Zhang’s figure, which was about to disappear from sight. She narrowed her eyes slightly and said slowly, “So even the supposedly harmonious Gu family isn’t that peaceful after all.”

Madam Zhang’s intentions weren’t hard to guess.

If she and Gu Xiuming ended up fighting, then if Meng Jinyao lost, her future days would surely be miserable. If she won, then the position of Heir would have to change hands.

The heir position of the Changxing Marquis’s household was currently vacant. Gu Jingxi had a hidden illness and couldn’t have children of his own. Madam Zhang’s eldest son, Gu Xiuyuan, was the eldest grandson of the household. With the advantage of seniority, he was the closest to inheriting the title. Naturally, she hoped Meng Jinyao and Gu Xiuming would clash so that she could reap the benefits.

What a good scheme.

Meng Jinyao didn’t get along with Gu Xiuming, but she wouldn’t take the initiative to plot against him. However, if he made the first move, she wouldn’t show mercy either.

Seeing her staring thoughtfully in Madam Zhang’s direction, Ningdong said with sympathy, “Madam, it feels like you’ve just escaped from a tiger’s den only to enter a wolf’s lair. This servant thought that once you became the marquis’s wife, your hardships would be over. Who knew there would still be so many troubles? These difficult days… who knows when they’ll ever end?”

Meng Jinyao withdrew her gaze and smiled faintly. “Although the Gu family isn’t very peaceful, it’s not a wolf’s den either. It’s much better than the Meng family. In this household, apart from that rebellious Gu Xiuming, who would dare disrespect me?”

Qingqiu and Ningdong were stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement. That was true. Thinking about their mistress’s cautious life in the past, they couldn’t help feeling heartache for her.

The Meng family had truly been both suffocating and exhausting.

Madam Sun was gentle on the surface but ruthless at heart, constantly scheming. Their young lady was only a daughter who would eventually marry out and wouldn’t inherit the title. Why did Madam Sun target her so relentlessly, as if there were some deep-seated hatred?

As for Old Madam Meng, her own grandmother, she not only disliked her but even treated her harshly, calling it “disciplining a disobedient granddaughter.” Every time Madam Sun hypocritically stepped in to “protect” her, it only deepened the old madam’s dislike, while Madam Sun gained a reputation as a virtuous stepmother.

Although the Marquis didn’t mistreat her, he also ignored her. The heir and the second young miss, both born of Madam Sun, were spoiled and arrogant, showing no respect to their eldest sister.

In the entire Meng family, only the concubine-born Second Young Master was decent. If the eldest young master hadn’t died young, he probably would’ve been decent too. After all, he and the second young master were twins—if the younger was good, the elder likely wouldn’t have been bad.

The Next Day, Meng Jinyao went out to Tea Ran Pavilion for her appointment.

Meanwhile, Song Xinning had already been waiting in the private room for quite some time, pacing back and forth. She had thought that once A-Yao married the heir of the Changxing Marquis’s household and escaped the Meng family, she would finally live well. Who would have expected Gu Xiuming to flee the wedding and elope? Heartbroken, A-Yao ended up marrying her prospective father-in-law instead. Song Xinning had been so worried that she couldn’t sleep properly for days.

When the door opened, Song Xinning abruptly looked up.

She saw Meng Jinyao, now wearing a married woman’s hairstyle, enter slowly with two maids.

Song Xinning hurried forward, grasped her hand, and examined her closely. Seeing that she looked healthy, rosy, and smiling—nothing like someone living miserably—she still couldn’t relax.

“A-Yao, have you been doing well these past few days?” she asked nervously.

Meng Jinyao gently patted her hand. “Don’t worry, A-Ning. I’m doing fine. I haven’t suffered any grievances.”

“You still say you haven’t?” Song Xinning shot her a reproachful look. Her eyes reddened at once, and her voice choked. “How can you fool me? Gu Xiuming ran away on your wedding day! How could you not feel wronged?”

Meng Jinyao pulled her to sit down. “He did run away, but the Gu family doesn’t have only one unmarried man. Look—the wedding still went on smoothly, didn’t it?”

Song Xinning sniffed and forced her tears back. “It did go on, but do you know how people outside are talking about you?”

Meng Jinyao could easily guess. She smiled. “They say the Meng family raised a shameless daughter—if she couldn’t marry the son, she married the father instead? That’s fine. I’m not the only one being gossiped about. My ‘good’ father and ‘good’ stepmother are involved too, and even the Gu family can’t escape. After all, they raised an unruly son.”

Seeing her still able to laugh, Song Xinning grew even more worried. She reached out to touch Meng Jinyao’s forehead. “A-Yao… have you been overstimulated?”

Meng Jinyao shook her head lightly. “I’m really fine. I even dared to change grooms on the spot. Would I be afraid of a few rumors?”

Song Xinning stared at her in a daze. “But you clearly had better choices—the Second Young Master or Fourth Young Master. Why did you marry that nasty old man, Marquis Gu, out of spite? You’re ruining yourself!”

“Nasty old man?”

Hearing those words, Meng Jinyao froze.

Gu Jingxi’s handsome, jade-like face flashed through her mind. He didn’t even have fine wrinkles and looked only twenty-three or twenty-four. Such a refined, elegant man really couldn’t be associated with the words “nasty old man.”

Seeing her friend’s look of utter disdain, she couldn’t help defending him. “Actually, Gu Jingxi isn’t that old. He’s only twenty-nine, not even thirty yet. His hair is thick and black, without a single white strand. He looks quite young.”

Song Xinning completely disagreed and glared at her. “How is that not old? He’s Gu Xiuming’s father! We have to call him Uncle Gu! And about white hair—your father is older than him and doesn’t have any either!”

Meng Jinyao paused, then smiled. “Isn’t that good? He’s Gu Xiuming’s father, so I’m Gu Xiuming’s mother. From now on, he’ll have to respectfully greet me as ‘Mother.’”

Song Xinning was stunned. Then her heart ached even more, and she choked up. “A-Yao, you still say you’re fine? You married a much older man with a hidden illness just to get revenge and make your ex-fiancé call you ‘Mother’? A-Yao, how can you be so foolish?”

By the time she finished speaking, her eyes were filled with tears. She looked devastated and hopeless, as if her best friend marrying an “old man” was more painful than if she herself had done so.