Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist

Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 23

by Little Panda

Volume 2: The Captivating Splendor of Jingdu

Who is so lacking in virtue?

Ji Qingchi pushed Su Yi slowly to the front of the Marquis of Pingyang.

Seeing Su Yi’s face, everyone present was stunned by her beauty.

This illegitimate great-granddaughter’s appearance, it was feared, even the Marquis of Pingyang’s legitimate great-grandson could not compare to.

After seeing Su Yi’s wheelchair and her frail body, there was some pity. “What a pity,” they thought, “So sickly, I fear she won’t live long.”

Su Ban seeing her own illegitimate great-granddaughter, however, showed no expression.

The Su family had many beauties; she didn’t concern herself with these things. What she valued most was true talent and solid learning.

But this sickly illegitimate great-granddaughter, even raising a hand seemed to take great effort; she didn’t look like she possessed any ability.

Therefore, she remained seated coldly and indifferently in the main seat, looking down at Su Yi from her elevated position.

Su Yi coughed a few times, and had Yanshen unfurl the painting.

“Great-granddaughter Su Yi, presents this Painting of Green Pines to offer birthday wishes to Great-Grandmother.”

The maid at her side took the item, and Su Ban casually glanced at it, discovering that the painting’s skill was quite good, and moreover, one could see that the artist possessed a lofty and ambitious state of mind.

She furrowed her brows, and upon clearly seeing the seal beneath the pine tree, was startled, staring fixedly at Su Yi.

Su Wang, sitting at her lower hand, saw the unusual expression on her mother’s face, and so asked Su Yi on her behalf, “This painting is not bad, but it doesn’t seem like the work of a master painter. Who painted it?”

Su Yi thought for a moment, and fabricated, “This junior encountered a noble person while out and about. She gifted this painting to me.”

Su Ban examined her with hawk-like sharp eyes, and said gravely, “Oh? Why would she gift a painting to you?”

The person in question was right beside her, making it truly difficult to fabricate further. Su Yi was racking her brains when she heard Ji Qingchi whisper to her from behind, “Wife Master, you can say that it was due to fate with that person. You and she hit it off at first sight, and in her happiness, she gifted the painting to Wife Master.”

Being stared at by several hundred pairs of eyes, Su Yi could only harden her resolve and repeat what she was told.

After she finished speaking, Su Ban’s scrutinizing gaze became even sharper. After all, this reason was too simple; no one would believe it. “I heard that you only arrived in Jingdu a few days ago.”

In just a few short days, how could she have met the Ninth Princess? Wasn’t she still recuperating outside Jingdu?

“It was yesterday that I met this noble person on the street.” Ji Qingchi’s whereabouts were currently a mystery; she believed that even if her great-grandmother investigated, she wouldn’t find anything.

“Is that so?” Su Ban was very suspicious of this. How could the Ninth Princess give her own painting to an illegitimate granddaughter for no reason? Yet, the seal on the painting couldn’t be fake… After pondering for a moment, she nodded to Su Yi. “I quite like this gift of yours.”

She called to Su Wang, saying, “Go and clean out a few empty rooms. My great-granddaughter is frail and doesn’t look like she can endure the hardships of travel. Let her recuperate in the residence for a period of time before returning.”

This was the first time in over ten years that her mother had expressed liking a birthday gift from an illegitimate granddaughter.

Moreover, she even kept the gift-giving illegitimate granddaughter at the residence.

Upon hearing this, Su Wang felt a strong sense of crisis.

Although she was the heir apparent, she currently had no daughters, and her mother had always been indifferent towards her. She believed that if it weren’t for her status as the legitimate eldest daughter, at this very moment, the position of heir apparent would definitely not be hers.

But regardless of whether or not she was qualified to be the heir apparent, she had held the position for over ten years, and from now on, this position could only belong to her.

She looked at Su Yi, slowly clenched her hand, and lowered her head. “Yes.”

Su Ban lowered her head again, looking at Su Yi and asking, “Are you Su Jie’s granddaughter?”

“Yes.”

Su Ban had no impression of this illegitimate daughter, Su Jie, but she did have some impression of her daughter, Su Ming. The reason was none other than the fact that the entire Su family knew about Su Ming losing her husband and subsequently becoming infertile. Everyone used her as a negative example, so Su Ban had some impression of this granddaughter, and by association, had also heard some things about Su Yi.

“Have your grandmother and mother come here as well.”

Su Jie and Su Ming were summoned by a maid to the main hall, still unaware of what had transpired. Just now, there were too many people, and they were too far away, so they hadn’t heard the conversation between Su Yi and Su Ban.

Su Ming subconsciously assumed that her young daughter had offended her grandmother, so upon seeing Su Ban, she immediately knelt and cried, “Marquis, my little girl is young and ignorant. Please, for the sake of her young age, don’t hold it against her.”

As soon as she started crying, Su Jie keenly noticed her mother’s displeasure and immediately scolded her daughter, “Crying and carrying on, what sort of behavior is this?”

But then she thought, what if her granddaughter had truly offended her mother? So she also knelt and said, “Marquis, please don’t lower yourself to their level…”

The two of them were weeping and wailing, leaving Su Yi, watching from the side, unsure of what to say. Should she cry too, to show family unity?

Su Ban was nearly driven to laughter by the antics of these two unfilial daughters and granddaughters. Tapping her cane on the ground, she stopped their crying. “Alright, alright. When did I say that Su Yi had displeased me? I quite like the gift this child Su Yi gave me. We are also quite compatible. Let her stay at the residence for a while.”

Not only had her daughter/granddaughter not displeased the Marquis, but she was even asked to stay at the residence for a period of time.

Su Ming and Su Jie exchanged glances, both thinking they might be hallucinating.

Ignoring the shock of her daughter and granddaughter, Su Ban continued to explain her decision.

Considering that Su Ming had no residence in Jingdu, Su Jie suggested that she and Su Yi stay together at the Marquis’ residence. To Su Jie, she gave jewelry.

This time, the jewelry was considerably more than what she had given in the past ten-plus years.

Su Jie was very pleased. She knew she hadn’t misjudged this granddaughter, Su Yi.

Su Ming, however, was filled with worry. She didn’t know what her daughter had said to her grandmother to make the old woman change her usual behavior. Not only were the gifts more abundant, but she even allowed them to live in the Marquis’ residence.

After the birthday celebrations concluded, Su Yi and the others moved into the Marquis’ residence.

Although they were housed in a secluded garden, the Marquis’ residence was many times larger than her grandmother’s home, so living there didn’t feel as suffocating.

Su Yi assumed that after giving the painting, her great-grandmother would be eager to see her privately. However, after waiting for several days, no one came. She felt somewhat puzzled, but thinking that “ginger is still hotter when old” [姜还是老的辣 | jiāng háishì lǎo de là | older people are wiser/more experienced], she continued to wait patiently.

The special honor bestowed upon Su Jie’s family made the other illegitimate daughters extremely envious.

After a whole day of birthday celebrations and gift-giving, many people stealthily approached Su Yi to ask what she had given.

Su Yi simply claimed to have given an ordinary Painting of Green Pines. The others, of course, didn’t believe her. They, too, had been giving paintings for many years, so why didn’t they receive the same treatment as Su Yi?

Someone carefully analyzed the differences between Su Yi and them, and the only difference was in their faces.

Su Yi was simply too beautiful.

As everyone knew, the Su family were all face controlers [颜控 | yán kòng | face control, slang for someone obsessed with good looks]. As the beauty-obsessed ancestor, Su Ban must have also taken a liking to Su Yi’s face, which was why she treated her so well.

Beauty, after all, was natural; it couldn’t be forced.

Although the others were envious, they could only sigh in admiration.

This gossip spread from ten to a hundred, and within two days, everyone in Jingdu knew that Marquis Su Ban of Pingyang had an exceptionally beautiful illegitimate great-granddaughter.

The people of Jingdu loved elegance and refinement. Five days later, some busybody had copied Su Yi’s portrait and taken it to bookstores to be published and sold. Su Yi’s appearance spread throughout the entire aristocratic circle of Jingdu.

Unable to wait for her great-grandmother any longer, Su Yi couldn’t resist sneaking out with her attendants. Walking on the street, people would crowd around to see what she looked like.

This made Su Yi feel like a monkey in a zoo, which she greatly disliked. She had originally thought that since she had finally made the difficult trip to Jingdu, she could stroll around freely, but now that was impossible. She could only stay put in the Marquis’ residence, leaving her both disappointed and angry.

Just who was so lacking in virtue as to steal her portrait and sell it?

Facing the portrait Yanshen had bought from the bookstore on the table, Su Yi was so angry that she drank two extra bowls of tea. As she reached for another, her teacup was snatched away.

“Drinking too much tea harms the spleen and stomach. Wife Master’s health is delicate, so you shouldn’t drink too much.” Ji Qingchi said to her with a smile, her finger pointing at the portrait on the table. Teasing her in her heart, but with an innocent expression on her face, she “casually” remarked, “Oh my, what is this painting? Who drew this? How could they paint Wife Master so unattractively? If I were to paint you, Wife Master would certainly be even more beautiful than in the painting.”

Su Yi forced a smile, secretly making a note in her little book. If she ever saw the female protagonist’s true face, she would also have someone paint her portrait and then take it to the bookstores to sell.

Of course, she only dared to think about it. After all, Ji Qingchi was a princess; how could she have the guts to do such a thing?

Yanshen said angrily, “The person selling the paintings is going too far! Our Miss is a woman; how can they sell portraits of a woman like that!”

Moreover, those buying the paintings included both men and women. Not only were ordinary commoners curious and buying them, but even those who frequented brothels were also buying them.

She had overheard the maids who bought groceries for the Marquis’ residence gossiping behind their Miss’s back today, saying that she resembled a courtesan who served in a women’s quarters [女馆 | nǚ guǎn | often euphemism for brothels]. She was so furious that she got into an argument with them on the spot.

Remembering this, she felt wronged on Su Yi’s behalf. “Miss, we’ve been living in the Marquis’ residence for almost half a month, and the Marquis still hasn’t seen us. Those serving boys and maids are still gossiping about us behind our backs. Why don’t we talk to the head of the family and ask her to take us out of here?”

Although Su Ban had permitted Su Ming to reside in the Marquis’ residence, the security was tight, making it difficult to do anything. Su Ming felt at ease leaving her daughter at the residence, but because she wanted to do business in Jingdu and it was inconvenient to freely enter and exit the Marquis’ residence, she declined the Marquis’ kindness and bought a house on the outskirts of the city. Every day, she busily ran around inspecting popular businesses in Jingdu, planning to establish herself here and earn a fortune for her daughter, so that her daughter wouldn’t have to suffer in the remote Fengcheng in the future.

Su Ming was extremely busy, and Su Yi had ordered those around her mother to only report good news, not bad, so she was still unaware of this matter.

“Mother is so tired; there’s no need to bother her.”

Su Yi looked at the pile of distressing portraits and shook her head inwardly. Did this count as a violation of her portrait rights?

Yanshen said anxiously, “But Miss, your portraits are now circulating everywhere! Even those indecent places…”

Especially the bookstores near the brothels—Su Yi’s portraits were selling out there.

Many of those who bought the paintings, unaware of the truth, assumed Su Yi was a courtesan, the kind who didn’t refuse anyone. Yesterday, when they went out, a few ignorant and audacious people came to harass Su Yi.

Although the Yanxue Kingdom didn’t have the same emphasis on female chastity, a woman’s reputation was still highly valued. If her reputation was too poor, not only would it be difficult to become an official or do business, but even if she wanted to farm, the local government wouldn’t give her seeds.

The person spreading her portrait clearly intended to ruin her reputation.

Although she didn’t know who was trying to harm her, wanting to use her to make money wouldn’t be easy.

Su Yi smiled and picked up a roll of white paper, handing it to Ji Qingchi. “Fulang just said that you could paint even better than this, didn’t you?”

Ji Qingchi sensed that she was about to stir up trouble again. However, she wasn’t afraid of trouble; in fact, she particularly enjoyed watching others create a commotion.

She smiled and nodded. “This slave is confident I can paint even better.”

Su Yi said softly, “Then would fulang trouble yourself to paint some portraits for me? Alright?”

Ji Qingchi sent a flirtatious glance. “How could this slave refuse Wife Master’s request?”

Su Yi endured the sappiness. “Then thank you, fulang.”

Hmph, these people were using her portrait to make money. She would outdo them, using her own portraits to earn even more money!

No one should even think about profiting a single cent off her. If anyone was going to profit, it would be her!

Volume 2: The Captivating Splendor of Jingdu

0 Comments