Chapter 328: Chapter 328: The Suffering Wife VS The Mistress (Part Fourteen) Chapter 328: Chapter 328: The Suffering Wife VS The Mistress (Part Fourteen) Meanwhile, Qin Shao’s favorable impression of the Prince of Zhenbei’s Mansion had hit rock bottom.
Gu Shengyin was unaware that a simple outing could bring her such unintended benefits.
Starting from the day she met Zhang Mingshu, Gu Shengyin gradually came into more frequent contact with her, and Zhang Mingshu also slowly began to bare her soul to her.
“I’ve noticed that in Capital City, noble ladies of Sister Meng’s age would have their marriages arranged by now. I wonder if Sister Meng has been promised to anyone?” Zhang Mingshu asked.
Gu Shengyin’s face flushed, and she bowed her head, saying nothing.
Seeing her response, Zhang Mingshu felt she knew the truth. Remembering her own secret love with her cousin, who she could not be with for life, she said melancholically, “I wonder which young master is so fortunate.”
Gu Shengyin remained shy, “I’ve not yet met him, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about him.”
Little did she know, her shy and hopeful demeanor was inadvertently touching Zhang Mingshu’s sore spot.
She herself would likely never have the chance to be a bride. With the Grand Tutor’s Mansion fraught with peril, if Miss Liang from the Liang Residence were of a spoiled nature, she wouldn’t allow her to marry in.
Seeing her suddenly weep, Gu Shengyin seemed greatly surprised and quickly inquired what had happened.
Wiping her tears with a handkerchief, Zhang Mingshu suddenly felt an urge to pour her heart out.
She slowly began to tell her own story.
The more Gu Shengyin listened, the harder it was for her to suppress a cold sneer in her heart.
In Zhang Mingshu’s story, she and her cousin were a match made in heaven, destined to be together; it was his fiancee who came out of nowhere, using her family’s influence to force His Majesty to decree their marriage. She had to leave her cousin to avoid suspicion, and now lived alone in such a place.
If someone ignorant of the truth heard this, they would surely sympathize with the loving, helpless couple and see the fiancee as the vile and unsympathetic villain.
Gu Shengyin sneered. The Grand Tutor’s Mansion never had any intention of engaging their daughter to the Prince of Zhenbei’s Mansion, and the imperial marriage decree came at the request of the Old Princess Consort of the Prince of Zhenbei’s Mansion herself. How could the Liang Residence be accused of splitting up a pair of lovers? Moreover, if they had known about Qin Yuanzheng’s closely-knit cousin earlier, even at the risk of defying imperial orders, Grand Tutor Liang would never have agreed to marry his daughter into such a family.
What a story, twisting truth and fabrication so eloquently!
Seeing Zhang Mingshu looking pitifully at her, Gu Shengyin understood that she undoubtedly hoped for some words of solidarity, perhaps even to join her in condemning the “wicked” fiancee.
She would not grant her that wish!
Gu Shengyin looked worriedly at Zhang Mingshu, “Then I wonder, sister, what are your future plans? Since your cousin’s marriage is decreed by His Majesty, it’s impossible for him to break it off. A person like you, sister, certainly should not lower yourself to become some demeaning concubine.”
When she spoke of a concubine, there was an undeniable look of contempt on Gu Shengyin’s face.
Zhang Mingshu was choked by her words. She could never have anticipated that Gu Shengyin would bring up this topic. Shouldn’t the normal reaction be to pity her, comfort her, and along with it, chastise her cousin’s fiancee?
Moreover, with Gu Shengyin’s statement out in the open, Zhang Mingshu could not, no matter how thick-skinned she was, frankly admit she was planning to become the “lowly and humble” concubine she spoke of.
No, she could not even be considered a concubine; after all, a concubine still holds some status, whereas she was relegated to being a mistress, someone to be hidden away.