Chapter 248: How Dare You Look at Me Sideways!

Chapter 248: How Dare You Look at Me Sideways!

At present, Li Xuefeng was the most favored, and after pleading with Meng Yunchang for a bit, saying she wanted to visit her aunt's house, Meng Yunchang readily agreed with a wave of his hand.

Li Xuefeng adorned herself with all the jewels that Meng Yunchang had bestowed upon her over the past few months, making her look like a walking jewelry stand.

In addition to bringing her personal maid, she also took along the two scullery maids from the courtyard, and set off in a grand, showy display to Nantuo Village.

Li Xuefeng's ostentatious procession attracted many villagers from Nantuo Village to watch.

With a coquettish smile, she held the hand of her maid and sashayed her way out of the carriage as soon as it entered the village entrance, making her way to her aunt Zhang Shi's house.

Naturally, this path would pass by the newly built large yard of the Yu family.

Li Xuefeng couldn't help but let her eyes drift towards the Yu family's gate.

The newly built gate was quite magnificent, painted with a bright red lacquer, and the door was adorned with a fierce beast-head ring.

As if on cue, the gate creaked open, and Shuangyun led Shuangyue, Shuangqing, Shuanglian, and Shuangxiu, each carrying a basin of clothes, on their way to wash them by the stream.

The five maids were dressed in identical clothes, all in blooming youth, and stepping out of the gate together, they were quite a sight to behold.

In comparison, the three maids following Li Xuefeng seemed rather dowdy.

After all, two of them were merely scullery maids from the courtyard.

Li Xuefeng felt a humiliating surge of anger rise from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

Shuangyun had some recollection of Li Xuefeng and gave her a blank stare but said nothing.

But Li Xuefeng, already embarrassed, found this lack of reaction even more infuriating!

Even a common servant girl no longer regarded her?!

"Stop!" Li Xuefeng shouted loudly.

The five double-named maids looked at Li Xuefeng in confusion.

"Country bumpkin maids, they don't even have basic manners, how dare you look at me sideways!" Li Xuefeng angrily exclaimed.

The five Shuang maids felt bewildered.

The villagers watching were also startled.

The county magistrate’s brother-in-law’s concubine sure was throwing her weight around!

Shuangyun found Li Xuefeng ridiculous.

"Let's go, don't bother with her, we have clothes to wash," Shuangyun said to the other four Shuang maids.

This attitude of disregard infuriated Li Xuefeng even more.

Li Xuefeng's face turned beet red with rage as she shouted to the three maids she brought, "What are you still standing there for? When someone is insulting your mistress, are you just going to stand by and do nothing?"

The two scullery maids were confused, unsure of what this Li concubine was trying to do.

But Li Xuefeng's personal maid, Lüzhu, having spent months with her, had already figured out Li Xuefeng's temperament. She wanted them to help her assert power and intimidate the others!

However, with five of them on the other side and only three of them here, and of mixed abilities, how could they possibly confront them?

Lüzhu pretended not to have heard anything.

At that moment, the gate creaked open again. Coincidentally, Yu Yonghuai came out leading his horse, about to head into the county town.

Yu Yonghuai had just finished his martial arts training with the old Taoist priest and realized that the elbows of his clothes were quite worn. He had come back to fetch a couple of spare garments.

Unexpectedly, he encountered Li Xuefeng once more at the gate.

He remembered Li Xuefeng—the girl who had been bitten by a snake and saved by Xingxing, only to turn around and accuse her falsely.

Yu Yonghuai frowned slightly and averted his gaze.

The five Shuang sisters greeted him, “Young Master.”

Yu Yonghuai asked curiously, “What are you all doing here? I thought you were going to wash clothes just now?”

Shuangyun replied, “We were about to. But this woman…”

Shuangyun paused, unsure of how to address Li Xuefeng—she wore her hair like a married woman, but her appearance was overly charming and didn’t seem like that of a proper lady from a respectable family.

So, she simply used “this woman” as a placeholder.

“This woman… kept blocking our way and starting arguments. First, she claimed we were being disrespectful and giving her side-eye, then accused us of bullying her. It’s really quite baffling.”

Yu Yonghuai averted his gaze and told the Shuang sisters, “You can go about your business.”

The Shuang sisters nodded in unison, not sparing Li Xuefeng a glance as they carried the basins and left.

Yu Yonghuai had no intention of paying Li Xuefeng any mind and, leading his horse, prepared to leave.

Li Xuefeng hadn’t expected that, despite her triumphant return, Yu Yonghuai still wouldn’t spare her a second glance.

With everything going so smoothly for the past few months, her temperament had become more arrogant. In a moment of impulsiveness, she recklessly grabbed Yu Yonghuai’s sleeve, shouting, “Stop!”

With Yu Yonghuai’s skills, there was no way she could have grabbed his sleeve so effortlessly.

He merely frowned and dodged, “Show some restraint.”

With that, he mounted his horse, clamped his legs around its sides, and galloped away.

Li Xuefeng watched Yu Yonghuai’s retreating figure, her heart filled with both infatuation and resentment.

After not seeing him for a few months, Yu Yonghuai had grown taller, his posture as straight and graceful as a towering bamboo, making him even more mesmerizing.

Lüzhu stepped forward and softly reminded her, “My lady…”

Li Xuefeng snapped out of her daze and noticed the people of Nantuo Village watching her with amused, almost mocking expressions, no longer with the previous admiration, as if they had seen through something.

Li Xuefeng’s face tightened, and she hurriedly made her way to her Aunt Zhang Shi’s house as if fleeing.

Not long after, in the afternoon, Li Xuefeng hastily left Nantuo Village in her carriage.

Back at the Meng family, Li Xuefeng holed up in her room and didn’t come out for a long time.

She didn’t notice that a figure quietly slipped out of her small courtyard and made their way to the main courtyard.

This figure was one of the low-ranking maids.

The maid kneeled in front of the mistress of the main courtyard and recounted in detail what had happened that day to Madam Meng.

Madam Meng sneered, "That little wretch has been getting away with this for too long; it's high time she got a taste of her own medicine!"

In the evening, Meng Yunchang returned to the main courtyard like he was punching the clock, intending to have dinner with Madam Meng.

However, Madam Meng spoke gently, "Husband, why don't you visit Li Xuefeng? It seems like she's in a bad mood today."

Meng Yunchang frowned, "Didn't we let her go back to her hometown to visit family today? Why would she be in a bad mood?"

Madam Meng looked troubled, "I'm not exactly sure. This afternoon when she came back, I saw her in the garden. She must not have noticed me. She had a sullen look on her face and was muttering something along the lines of 'How dare you ignore me,' then quickly went back to her own courtyard. She really looked like she was in a bad mood."

Madam Meng spoke gently, "I know Li Xuefeng didn't mean to upset anyone. She’s always been such a sweet and cheerful person. She must have been upset and didn’t even notice me. So, please go comfort her. She's still young; you need to pamper her a bit."

Meng Yunchang was immediately angered, "It must be those people from the countryside who upset Li Xuefeng!"

Pausing for a moment, Meng Yunchang then praised Madam Meng, "You're truly a woman of great virtue. Having a wife like you is truly my good fortune."

Without finishing his dinner, Meng Yunchang rose abruptly and headed to Li Xuefeng's courtyard.