The Double
Chapter 159 - 159 87 Mid-Autumn

159: Chapter 87 Mid-Autumn 159: Chapter 87 Mid-Autumn Just as the Marquis Ningyuan’s Mansion was deliberating over the handling of Jiang Yue, within the Jiang Residence, in the courtyard of the third branch, Lady Yang was also incessantly arguing with Jiang Yuanxing about Jiang Yue’s affair.

“Yuer is already with Zhou Yanbang, and she can only marry into the Marquis of Ningyuan’s household!” Lady Yang’s eyes widened, perhaps because of Jiang Yue’s affair.

She seemed to have lost weight overnight, her face more gaunt and thin, her cheekbones higher, appearing even more aggressive than usual.

“I will never allow my daughter to become a concubine!” Jiang Yuanxing, however, for the first time cast aside his usual timidity, arguing with Lady Yang until their faces were red and their necks thick.

He said, “To become a concubine in Marquis Ningyuan’s house would mean her sons would be just like me, only able to be illegitimate sons!”

This left even Lady Yang speechless.

She looked at her husband.

When she had married Jiang Yuanxing, she didn’t dislike him.

Although Jiang Yuanxing was merely a son of a concubine from the third branch, she herself was only the daughter of a concubine of an Official Sizhi.

It was impossible to marry into an even wealthier family.

Besides, Jiang Yuanxing had a delicate and gentle appearance, which she didn’t despise.

But living day to day involves dealing with the mundane essentials.

And hearts always tend to compare.

When compared with the wealth of the first and second branches, the modest means of the third branch infuriated Lady Yang.

Feeling discontent and blaming, Lady Yang would often argue with Jiang Yuanxing.

Jiang Yuanxing never retorted, silently bearing it all, which made Lady Yang realize that this man was not weak, but innately timid, destined to be nothing more than a scrivener for a lifetime.

Now, after years of marriage, this was the first time Jiang Yuanxing had argued with her.

Even saying something like “just like me, only able to be an illegitimate son” clearly showed that Jiang Yuanxing was at his wits’ end.

Jiang Yuanxing truly was at his wits’ end.

Only he knew how lowly it was to be an illegitimate son.

Although it seemed like he didn’t care about these things on regular days, in front of his two elder brothers, he always felt inferior and couldn’t hold his head high.

When he was younger, he had fantasized that if only his birth mother had been Madam Jiang the Elder, then he would have everything his elder brothers possessed and be respected wherever he went.

As he grew up, he realized that it was all destined, that the heavens had him born from the womb of a concubine, and his life was therefore doomed to be trampled under foot by his brothers.

His fate could not be changed, but his daughter’s could.

Jiang Yue might not have to walk this path.

She could choose not to marry Zhou Yanbang, and then her children wouldn’t have to suffer the miserable fate of being born illegitimate.

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Lady Yang suddenly calmed down.

She didn’t go on arguing incessantly with Jiang Yuanxing as before, but instead spoke in a tone almost of despair, “Given Yuer’s situation, she can only marry into the Marquis of Ningyuan’s household as a concubine.

Do you think they would marry Yuer as the principal wife?

Now, everyone in Yanjing City knows about Yuer and Zhou Yanbang.

No one will marry her.

Do you want her to stay in the residence for a lifetime as an old maid?

Or shall we just cut her hair and send her to the temple to live with ancient Buddhas for a lifetime?” Lady Yang murmured, “I did not educate my daughter properly, but if you were not a scrivener, and if the one in trouble were not Yuer but the daughter of the principal branch, the outcome would definitely not be the same.”

Jiang Yuanxing felt as if he had been struck by lightning, staggering back two steps.

At this moment, Jiang Yue ran in from outside, fell to her knees as soon as she entered, and cried out to Jiang Yuanxing, “Father, I don’t want to be a spinster, nor do I want to stay in the mansion forever.

It’s already come to this; if I don’t marry Zhou Yanbang, there will be no other path for me.

Father, do you want to drive your daughter to death?”

Seeing his wife and daughter like this, and considering his current status, Jiang Yuanxing turned pale with no power left to resist.

His lips quivered, and finally, after closing his eyes for a long while, he uttered one word, “Fine.”

With that, the dust settled.

…

Days slipped by at their own pace, neither hastening nor dragging.

Finally, the summer ended, and autumn arrived along with the fragrance of osmanthus from the distant skies.

The summer had been exceptionally long, and it seemed many remarkable events had occurred in Yanjing City.

Upon reflection, except for matters of life and death, they were all trivial.

Yet among these trivial affairs, there were those people relished discussing for months on end.

The romantic entanglement of Zhou Yanbang of the Marquis Ningyuan’s Mansion was one such matter.

In fact, since the banquet at the palace where the Princely Heir of Marquis Ningyuan tangled with two ladies in front of all the guests, men envied Zhou Yanbang being blessed with joy from two beauties, while women invariably sympathized with Zhou Yanbang’s original fiancée, Jiang Youyao.

It was indeed an unexpected disaster.

Miss Jiang the Third was to marry Zhou Yanbang after just one more year, but who would have expected such an incident to occur mid-way?

Without any fault of her own, her fiancé was snatched away.

There were also those jealous of Jiang Youyao who cheered at this outcome, claiming it was retribution.

They pointed out that Miss Jiang the Third’s engagement was not seized from Miss Jiang the Second?

It proves that what truly belongs to you cannot be taken away by force.