Chapter IBMLS Ch.11 Return to the Owner (2)
It was a fact that Jiang Mingwei’s whereabouts had been unknown for an entire year. This was a very difficult indignity to recover from.
Jiang Honghao accepted that his daughter was still young and ignorant and thus prone to making mistakes, but what about Xie Xuanji? Which man wouldn’t care that his fiancee had eloped and lived with a barbarian man for a year?
Jiang Honghao almost didn’t dare to mention it, but Xie Xuanji was a member of the imperial family. In the long term, avoiding this topic would only bring him more harm than good.
He paused for a moment and then said in a deliberately natural manner, “Your Highness, you and Mingwei have been close since childhood. Out of all the children who lived on our street, it was the two of you who got along the best. Later, when our families moved apart and were no longer neighbors, Your Highness’s relationship with Mingwei also grew distant. It is very touching to see the two of you become engaged. We moved to the capital city when the child was at the rebellious age of fourteen or fifteen, and I was busy with the affairs of the imperial court. Her mother refused to leave the child on her own, which not only caused her to become spoiled but also flamed her desire for freedom. When she ran away from home, it was all due to our poor discipline. Your Highness…”
“Father-in-law.” Xie Xuanji reached out to stop Jiang Honghao and said, “Our two families have been close to each other since childhood. I remember eating at the Jiang Manor many times, and Madam Jiang cared for me like I was her own son. The Jiang family is truly dear to me, and Mingwei is my childhood sweetheart. We are of the same mind, so how could I possibly doubt her virtue? You need not talk about it anymore, father-in-law. It is not only insulting to Mingwei but also to my feelings for her. Let bygones be bygones. It is enough that she has returned.”
A wave of relief immediately washed over Jiang Honghao. He cupped one hand in the other before his chest and then picked up his cup. “Your Highness is truly noble and upright! This official would like to replace wine with tea and present this cup to Your Highness to express my admiration.”
“How could I accept that?” Xie Xuanji quickly picked up his own cup and returned the gesture. “I should be the one showing respect to you, father-in-law!”
The atmosphere in the study was very harmonious, but in the main room of the Jiang Manor, it was quite the opposite.
“Why?” Jiang Mingwei threw a pearl hairpin to the ground and turned her back. “She is just a lowly refugee! What right does she have to marry the Prince of Qiyang and become the Princess of Qiyang?!”
“Oh, you!” Madam Jiang chastised her enraged daughter and picked up the exquisite hairpin before placing them back on the table. “This is the latest style from the Jade Pavilion. A commoner living in the capital would have to work for a year to be able to afford it, not to mention it is not something money alone can buy.”
Jiang Mingwei couldn’t help but think of the dark and desperate days she had lived through in the past year. A simple and crude bed in a foreign palace, locking her in forever. Not long ago, she had been the concubine of Ye Luyan, the emperor of Beirong, the land of the northern barbarians.
The Jiang family was actually not from the capital city, and Jiang Honghao’s position as one of the Three Grand Ministers was not something he had earned through his own efforts. At the beginning, the Jiang family was just an ordinary eight-rank civil official’s family from Lin’an. Although they were better off than a commoner’s family, they were by no means wealthy or influential.
As a matter of fact, their whole street was filled by people of the same family background.
The Xie family, or rather, Xie Rui’s family, had lived next door. The street they lived on was called Jian’an Street. The adults of both families forbid their children from associating with the children of the commoners and merchants, so they only played with the other children on their street. Jiang Mingwei and Xie Xuanji were of the same age, lived close to each other, and their parents were also acquainted, so naturally, they became childhood friends.
Jiang Mingwei had always been an attractive girl, even when she was a child. She was outstanding among her peers and very popular with the boys.
Xie Xuanji was intelligent, tall, and knew how to gather followers from a young age. He was the king of the children in their district. They were two birds of a feather, both similarly talented and beautiful. Out of his own pride, Xie Xuanji would always feel annoyed when people made fun of Jiang Mingwei, and whenever someone joked about the two of them marrying each other when they grew up, Jiang Mingwei would run away blushing.