A Lady’s Tranquility Chapter 11.2

Chapter 11(2): Reverse Scale

You Yue wasn’t oversensitive. On one hand, she felt that Jiang Xue Ning was too good-looking to the point that it was obtrusive but on the other hand, she disdained that Jiang Xue Ning had grown up in the wild countryside when she was young. She gave a fake laugh and intentionally said, “How come I only see Second Young Miss today, where is your sister?”

Many people looked stealthily over.

Everyone had heard of the situation of the two legitimate young ladies of the Jiang Residence.

It was very apparent that You Yue wanted to make Jiang Xue Ning unhappy by intentionally mentioning her sister.

They all watched to see how Jiang Xue Ning would react with the mind of looking at a joke.

But who would’ve thought that she would stay very calm, neither embarrassed nor annoyed. She simply looked back at You Yue with a smile and responded indifferently, “Sister naturally went to the Cheng Guo Duke Mansion with Mother, they specially asked me to send their apologies to the You Residence.”

You Yue’s face instantly changed.

 The others also secretly took a deep breath: This Second Young Lady Jiang looked calm but her words sure were harsh!

Who didn’t know that Qing Yuan Earl Mansion’s banquet collided with Cheng Guo Duke Mansion’s today?

There were smart families with lots of members who had a few members go to one side and the others to the other side. Everyone knew it but didn’t speak of it. Jiang Xue Ning’s reply was clearly stating that Madam Jiang who had a higher status in the Jiang Residence had taken the Eldest Young Lady to the Jiang Guo Duke Mansion while she was the only one who came to Qing Yuan Earl Mansion. What difference was this to slapping You Yue in the face right in front of her?

You Yue took a step forward, wanting to explode.

You Shuang who was standing beside her had her eyelids twitch. She had quick hands and eyes, she grabbed You Yue by the hand and took over, “What’s wrong with that? After all, everyone is staying in the Capital and there will be many more opportunities to gather to appreciate things like the flowers and the moon. Let’s sit down and chat, please.”

Only then was Jiang Xue Ning invited to sit down.

One of the noble young ladies who had been in contact with Jiang Xue Ning a few days ago started doubting her impression of her after seeing her calm and composed posture. Apart from her face, she wasn’t suitable to bring out at all so how was it that her demeanour today seemed even more noble than theirs?

Jiang Xue Ning knew that quite a lot of people were secretly judging her but she didn’t care.

She didn’t come for the banquet anyway. Plus, she hated these hypocritical banquets in the Capital. After sitting down, she stopped talking and simply listened to the idle chatter of those around, her mind fully occupied by You Fang Yin.

The appearances of You Fang Yin in the previous life and this life kept flickering and interlacking in her mind, making her feel extremely perturbed.

You Yue was angry for a while but seeing that Jiang Xue Ning didn’t speak again after sitting down and after the girls around her flattered and complimented her for being able to invite Yan Lin and Shen Jie to the You Residence, she gradually forgot about the previous quarrel.

As she was chatting about the recent events in the Capital, she clapped her hands, suddenly remembering something, “Hey, there is an interesting story, did you hear about it? The Ministry of Punishment challenging the imperial guards.”

Jiang Xue Ning had just absentmindedly taken a small piece of osmanthus cake from the table. When she heard, “Ministry of Punishment”, her heart trembled and her hand stopped. She suddenly raised her eyes and looked towards You Yue.

You Yue had a contemptuous look on her face as she sneered, “Who doesn’t know that after the previous Emperor established the imperial guards, he relied heavily on them and many of the prison matters were handed to them. Some time ago, Commander Zhou took people to arrest two scholars who were writing nonsensical texts about the pedantry of the court. Who didn’t know that was the Emperor’s intention? The people were arrested and sent to jail but guess what? On the second day, someone handed the Emperor a letter, saying that the Imperial Guards took people without the consent of the Ministry of Punishment and wanted to impeach Commander Zhou! It turns out to be someone called Zhang Zhe, just a small seventh rank assistant minister in the Ministry of Punishment but his courage sure is big, he thinks his life is too long!”

Commander Zhou had some connections with the Jiang Bo Earl Mansion.

Because of this matter at court, Earl Qing Yuan had already cursed multiple times in anger in his study. You Yue naturally felt that this Zhang person was too troublesome hence her tone was impolite.

The others also echoed in agreement, “This sesame seed sized official dares to go against the imperial guards, he doesn’t know what’s good for him!”

Jiang Xue Ning loosened her hand and the piece of osmanthus cake that she had just picked up dropped back into the plate. She interjected for the first time with a laugh, “If this is considered ‘not knowing what’s good’, then according to your opinion, what’s considered ‘knowing what’s good’?”

Everyone froze for a moment.

They had been sitting there chatting for a long time. As Jiang Xue Ning hadn’t spoken, they all gradually forgot about her existence. Suddenly hearing her talk, they were all at a loss for a moment.

Looking at the Second Young Lady from the Jiang Residence’s expression, they were subconsciously a little surprised.

Even just then, when You Yue had used words to prick Jiang Xue Ning, she still had a calm expression which showed that she didn’t really care.

But at that moment, although she had a smile on her lips, it was a little cold.

A pair of beautiful eyes quietly looked up, revealing a sense of seductiveness. Alongside the cold smile on the corner of her lips, it gave a type of sarcastic sharpness.

You Shuang was stunned.

You Yue felt that the words were directed at her and her face darkened, “Your words sound like you’re trying to get justice for this Zhang person but how come I haven’t heard about how capable Assistant Minster Jiang is that he even wants to support some random unknown seventh rank official?”

These words were to imply that Jiang Bo You was backing Zhang Zhe.

Jiang Xue Ning wasn’t good-tempered in her previous life not to mention, You Yue’s words had struck her taboos!

Hence, the remaining trace of a smile disappeared cleanly from her face.

She took the brocade handkerchief that Tang’er passed over, wiped her hands then said word by word, “The imperial courts regulate that aside from needing to have an official letter, the imperial guards also need to have consent from the Ministry of Punishment before they can take smeone. This Commander Zhou acted very boldly, even disregarding the court’s laws and regulations. It is his own fault to have been called out by Zhang daren*! How is it now Young Lady You’s turn to feel wronged for him unless you are wanting to disregard the court’s laws and turn black to white?”
*[Title of respect towards superiors]

The expressions of everyone around them changed.

Although the imperial guards were becoming more and more arrogant, people in the courts and the public were slowly getting used to their behaviour. It was the first time that someone had brought the law into the conversation, making people afraid to intervene.

Even You Yue felt terrified when she realised.

It was just that she didn’t like Jiang Xue Ning to begin with and she had been refuted for no reason. If she backed down and kept her mouth shut now, it would truly be an embarrassment thus she gritted her teeth and said, “To bring the law into this, let’s just wait and see what happens to this ‘Zhang daren’.”
*[Title of respect towards superiors]

Jiang Xue Ning smiled slowly, “I’m also waiting to see what happens to Commander Zhou.”

When she smiled, there was no smiling intent in her eyes, there was only hostility at the bottom of her eyes as she stared at You Yue.

In her previous life, although she didn’t ever take the initiative to harm anyone, but she had experienced massacres and there were some things within her bones that were different to these young ladies.

Her gaze hid a bloody aura.

Where would have You Yue ever seen this before?

For a moment, she trembled at the gaze and opened her mouth but couldn’t utter out a word.

How would she have known what the name “Zhang Zhe” meant to Jiang Xue Ning: this person was the only person she felt guilt towards in her previous life. She clinged to life and feared death but at the end of her life, she sacrificed the courage of her life for him.

So how could she allow others to insult him the slightest bit?

Not to say that it was just a tiny little You Yue today, even if it was Xie Wei sitting there, she would still dare to speak out!