Chapter 11 Evading the Banquet
A few days later, the invitation for the spring banquet arrived on my desk.
This banquet was Shen Wanrong's moment to shine. It was also the start of my complete fall into the abyss.
She composed a magnificent poem at the banquet about a swan with broken wings, depressed and unfulfilled.
Everyone praised her clever conception and overflowing talent.
Then they pitied her background. They brought up again how I originally refused to yield Yaoguang Courtyard.
Then, everyone surrounded me. They attacked me verbally.
Naturally, I refused to accept it.
But my anger and rebuttals became proof that Shen Wanrong, residing in Loyal and Brave Marquis Mansion, was constrained in everything.
Everyone said she was the proud sun of the border, bright and arrogant. But because of me, she compromised, hesitant.
The more I defended fiercely, the more accusations I got.
Those sarcastic remarks filled my ears. They drove me completely mad.
When I came to my senses, screams surrounded me.
Somehow, I had pushed Shen Wanrong into the lotus pond.
Xie Yunting saw from afar. He rushed over and slapped me.
My betrothed cousin Wang Shaoheng jumped into the water without hesitation to save her.
Under everyone's eyes, I was deemed vicious, unable to tolerate the iron-blooded orphan.
After the spring banquet, my reputation was thoroughly ruined.
Loyal and Brave Marquis Xie Chengzong claimed family misfortune. He personally severed my hand tendons. He gained a name for justice without favoritism.
Xie Yunting forced me to kneel before Shen Wanrong. He said no rising until she forgave.
I knelt until my legs were ruined. Thereafter, every weather change felt like needles piercing bones, unbearable pain.
The Langya Wang family made a big show of coming to break the engagement.
Cousin Wang Shaoheng, who always said he'd wait to marry me when grown, spent lavishly. He had Changyin Pavilion compose a play mocking me. They performed it for three whole months.
...
What came after, I dared not recall.
This spring banquet, I absolutely couldn't go.
I deliberately blew in the wind all night. I wiped my body with cold water. Finally, I fell ill.
In my feverish daze, I heard Shen Wanrong's voice.
"Is she really sick?"
She muttered. "Really a pampered flower, weak and fragile at the slightest thing."
Beside her was Wang Shaoheng. "Yaohua has been frail since childhood. Indeed not as tough as Shen girl."
"Oh, you're mocking me as rough-skinned and thick-fleshed, not precious enough?"
He responded with appeasing words. "Shen Wanrong, if you say that, you're wronging me to death..."
Wang and Xie families betrothed us since childhood. He always looked down on other women, cold to them. Now he flirted with Shen Wanrong at my sickbed.
I lay groggily. Amid the discomfort, I felt a trace of relief.
Good thing I anticipated. Finally, I escaped that spring banquet.