Chapter 53: Our Feud Will Never End

Chapter 53: Our Feud Will Never End

Xie Peiyu was straightforward, bowing his hands in apology. "Your Highness apologizes to Miss Zheng for my ignorance. I mistook your intentions."

Zheng Jinyu felt a bit better, turning to Zheng Jinxiu. "And you? What do you have to say?"

Zheng Jinxiu, adaptable as she was, hurriedly replied, "Sis, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to speak that way; it's mainly because..."

"Enough, I don't want to hear your excuses. Just remember what happened today."

Lowering her body, Zheng Jinyu stared intently at the kneeling Zheng Jinxiu. "Remember this: if you speak ill of me, I'll track you down and confront you one by one. If you don't want to make a fool of yourself, stay away from me."

Zheng Jinxiu felt she had lost both dignity and face, especially in front of the man she loved. This humiliation surpassed even the act of kneeling and kowtowing.

With her head lowered and teeth clenched tightly, she vowed inwardly, Zheng Jinyu, you'll pay for this.

We can't coexist; one must fall for the other to rise. Our enmity will only end in death.

...

Zheng Jinyu and Zheng Jinxiu returned home together, still required to put on a facade of affectionate sisterhood before Lady Zheng.

Zheng Jinyu had grown accustomed to the act, but Zheng Jinxiu's recent confrontation with Xie Peiyu left her struggling to maintain her disguise. Her performance was visibly strained, and several times, her true emotions slipped, not escaping Lady Zheng's sharp eyes.

"Jinxiu, is something the matter? Are you upset?"

"No, not at all. I'm quite happy, actually. It's just that the opera we watched today was so emotionally stirring."

Lady Zheng wore a skeptical expression but didn't press the matter further.

Instead, she turned to Zheng Jinyu, "Since the Princess has taken a liking to you, you may interact more often in the future. Think of it as supporting your older sister."

Zheng Jinyu glanced at Zheng Jinxiu. If she had already fallen out with Xie Peiyu, why was she still pretending?

Very well, if you're not going to confess, then let's wait for the Imperial Princess to come personally and cancel the engagement, revealing the truth.

"Alright, Mother."

The next day, Zheng Jinyu received a kite, sent by Xie Peiyu.

Only then did she recall that she had forgotten to mention the matter of the clothes to him the day before.

What was with him constantly sending her gifts?

Just as she was pondering over the kite, Lady Zheng arrived.

"This kite..."

Zheng Jinyu hastily handed the kite to her mother. "Prince Chen sent it. It should be the one he mentioned in his last letter."

Lady Zheng felt a mix of emotions. Did their exchange of gifts count as a private affair between them?

This couldn't go on.

"Jinyu, it's not that Mother is being partial. I wish for both you and your sister to be well. If the Princess Consort of Prince Chen were to change from Jinxiu to you, what would outsiders think? Jinxiu would have no way of living with her reputation."

Without any evidence, they come to scold me. And you say you don't have favorites?

Zheng Jinyu pouted and huffed, "Mother, how can you say you're not biased? Without even asking, how could you accuse me of trying to snatch Prince Chen?"

Mrs. Zheng was taken aback. "Well..."

Zheng Jinyu tossed the kite onto the table and called out, "Chunmei, come here and take this kite back."

"Yes, Second Miss."

Chunmei entered the room, ready to retrieve the kite, but was stopped by Mrs. Zheng again.

"Leave."

Chunmei was sent away once more.

Mrs. Zheng sighed and said, "Jinyu, it's Mother's fault. I misunderstood you. It's that Prince Chen who's in the wrong. He has no propriety, sending you clothes and now a kite. This private exchange doesn't respect your reputation at all. I think he wants to break off his engagement with Jinxiu to marry you. What do you think about this?"

Zheng Jinyu shook her head. "No, he doesn't have feelings for me. He once said I was an uncouth country girl."

"Aah? When did that happen?"

Um...

"It was just yesterday. The County Princess invited us to watch a play, and we ran into Prince Chen. Your sister knows about this as well. You can ask her."

Upon hearing this, Lady Zheng no longer harbored any suspicions.

"That's good then. But this marriage... sigh!" Lady Zheng was deeply troubled and unsure how to proceed.

Curious, Zheng Jinyu inquired, "Mother, what if the Long Princess decides to call off the engagement? What will happen to Sister?"

Lady Zheng sighed at this very concern. "If the Long Princess wishes to end the engagement, there's little we can do. We'll have to console your sister as much as possible then."

In the original text, when the Long Princess wanted to break off the engagement, she considered the families' friendship and, for the sake of the Zheng family's dignity, fabricated a lie.

Internally, she had disdain for Zheng Jinxiu's lineage. Externally, she claimed that her family was relocating to the border region, and the Zheng family couldn't bear to part with Zheng Jinxiu. Moreover, Zheng Jinxiu was unwilling to leave her loved ones to endure hardship at the border. Thus, both families agreed to annul the marriage.

Sure, there was an impact, but it wasn't significant.

Now, however, Zheng Jinxiu had overstepped and deeply offended both Prince Chen and the Imperial Princess. It remained to be seen if they would still be willing to help her out of this mess.

...

With the Autumn Examination concluded, Zheng Hongqi and Zheng Hongxu returned from their studies, instantly bringing liveliness to the household.

During every meal in the dining hall, laughter and chatter could be heard through the screen between Zheng Jinxiu and her two elder brothers.

Old Master Zheng and Madam Zheng didn't intervene. Whatever happened to the rules of not speaking during meals or sleeping? Whenever Zheng Jinxiu opened her mouth, those principles seemed to vanish.

They appeared like a harmonious family of five, while Zheng Jinyu felt like an outsider who couldn't join in the conversation.

She knew that Zheng Jinxiu was doing this on purpose, deliberately staging these intimate sibling scenes in front of her every day. It was utterly tedious.

One day, classmates of Zheng Hongqi and Zheng Hongxu invited them to play polo, mentioning that sisters were welcome to join for an outing.

Without hesitation, the two brothers extended the invitation to Zheng Jinxiu, who happily accepted.

Despite Zheng Jinyu being right there, they deliberately didn't mention taking her along.

Worse still, Zheng Jinxiu whispered to the two men, "Can we bring one more sister? Jinyu has never seen a polo match before. Let's take Sister Jinyu with us."

Zheng Hongqi appeared hesitant, "Well..."

Zheng Hongxu scoffed, his tone laced with sarcasm, "We can only look after one sister. If she comes, we might not be able to manage. It's best not to."

Zheng Jinxiu looked troubled and said, "Is this really okay?"

Zheng Hongqi played the role of the stern one, "There's nothing wrong with it. Sister Jinyu, we'll take you next time."

With a worried expression, Zheng Jinxiu turned to Zheng Jinyu and said, "I'm sorry, Sister Jinyu. Second Brother and Third Brother have limited energy; they can only take care of me and won't have enough for you. We can't bring you along. Don't be angry with us, okay?"

Zheng Jinyu spoke coldly, "Have both of you had your fill of talking? Did I say I wanted to go with you?"

Upon hearing the frostiness in her tone, Zheng Hongqi and Zheng Hongxu's expressions changed.

Zheng Jinxiu pulled at Zheng Hongxu's sleeve with a pained face, "Sister Jinyu is upset. Maybe we should just take her, or else Father and Mother will find out and..."

Deliberately leaving her sentence unfinished, she hinted that she would complain to their parents.

"Third Brother, you'd better watch out, or you might end up kneeling in the ancestral hall again."

Needless to say, with her skill in goading, Zheng Hongxu exploded upon hearing this. He retorted fiercely, "Zheng Jinyu, dare you even think of tattling? Let me make it clear, we only have Jinxiu as our sister. We will never acknowledge a country bumpkin like you as our sibling, nor will we ever take you to watch a polo match. Just give up that notion."

Zheng Jinyu: "..."