Chapter 150 Twists and Turns
Pang Meir stayed in the Pang Mansion. She first went to see her parents and was severely criticized before returning to her room.
Her boudoir was well kept, almost exactly the same as it was before she left a year ago, and it was clean and had no strange smell.
If there was any difference, it was that the bedding on the bed was changed, and two pieces of rouge in her dressing box were missing.
Although she no longer needed rouge to paint her face, the two rouges were given to her by Bilian, and she felt unhappy when they disappeared for no reason.
Just as she was thinking about who to ask about why Yanzhi disappeared, a maid pushed the door open.
When the other party saw Pang Mei'er, his face was full of joy. He trotted in and said, "Miss Mei, it's really you. I thought those people were just talking nonsense."
"Lu'er, I haven't seen you for more than a year. How have you been recently?" Pang Mei'er took the initiative to go over and hold her hand, and asked, "Are you not experiencing anything unhappy?"
Hearing this, the maid's eyes suddenly turned red, then she sniffed and smiled, "It's okay, I just miss you a little bit."
Pang Meir was very good at observing people's expressions. Seeing this, she knew that Lu'er must have been wronged. In the past, she would have made a scene. But she had just returned, and if she stood up for Lu'er right away, it would seem too strong.
She had no choice but to write it down, then smiled and said, "It's okay, it will be fine in the future. Oh, by the way...where are the two boxes of rouge in the drawer? They are the two boxes that Bilian gave me."
"It was taken away by Master Chen's mistress." Lu'er blinked her eyes: "I didn't dare to stop it."
In fact, Lu'er tried to stop him, but was slapped in the face.
Pang Meir took a deep breath, took out her bag, took out a small box from it, and then took out a basket of fruit from the small box.
There were at least a dozen fairy fruits in the basket. She thought about it, removed half of them, and then nodded with satisfaction.
Lu Er saw this scene nearby and covered her mouth with her hands in shock, "Miss Mei, you really eloped with Master Lu just like they said."
As a native of the capital, Lu'er had of course heard of most of Lu Sen's deeds and abilities. Of course, she could tell that this small wooden box must be the 'Xu Jie Zi' made by Master Lu. The interior was mysterious and could store a large number of utensils.
Pang Mei'er blushed slightly. She pulled Lu'er's cheek and said angrily, "What do you mean by eloping? I'm still a virgin."
"You followed Master Lu after all, right?"
Pang Meir suddenly felt weak and had nothing to say.
Then she picked up the fruit basket and said, "Lu'er, come with me."
Then the two of them went out and walked towards the west courtyard.
Soon they arrived in front of a room. Pang Meier went forward and knocked on the door, and then heard someone inside ask, "Who is it?"
"Third brother, it's me, Mei'er."
Soon the door opened, and the young man in a long coat looked at Pang Mei'er strangely and asked, "It's almost time to go to bed, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"I'll give you some fruit, and ask Sister Lifen something."
When the young man saw the fruit basket in Pang Mei'er's hand, his eyes widened immediately: "Is it the fairy fruit from Master Lu's family?"
"Exactly."
"Then come in quickly, come in quickly." The young man took the fruit basket from Pang Mei'er and invited her and Lu'er into the room: "You can come to see me if you have anything to ask. It's really too polite of you to bring such a valuable souvenir."
Pang Mei'er's eyebrows twitched.
We are family, so there is no need to be formal. When the third brother saw the magical fruit, he even spoke nonsense.
The three of them entered the room, and the young man took the fruit basket and walked to the back room, saying, "I'll go get Lifen for you right away."
Pang Meir nodded.
After the young man's back disappeared, Lu'er covered her mouth and chuckled, but quickly held it back.
Pang Meir sat quietly, with no expression of joy or sadness.
Not long after, a young woman came out from behind the door curtain with an impatient look on her face, but when she came out, her expression changed quickly and she suddenly became extremely enthusiastic.
"Oh, Mei Mei, it's so late and you're still here to give me gifts. I guess you've run into some trouble. If you have any, just tell me and I'll take care of it for you."
Sister-in-law Lifen is qualified to say this. She is a county lady and her grandfather is Prince Xin, so her status is extremely noble.
Pang Meier stood up, bowed, and said with a smile: "I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I heard that you have two rare rouges, Bai Xue Xun Mei and Qing Feng Luo Hua Hong, and I want to borrow them."
Sister Lifen's expression suddenly turned ugly.
Pang Meier continued, "I like those two rouges very much, but they are very hard to find on the market, so please spare them. Of course, I don't want them for nothing. They are made of fairy nectar and rootless water. They are rare in the world. I am willing to exchange them for the two rouges in your hand."
Hearing this, Sister Lifen looked both ugly and helpless.
After a while, she said awkwardly, "Mei Mei'er, I have used up those two rouges."
Pang Meir's face turned a little ugly.
Generally speaking, rouge is used very slowly, because under normal circumstances, women in the Northern Song Dynasty would go out only once every five or six days on average, and would not apply this kind of thing most of the time at home.
Moreover, the two boxes of rouge contain a lot of quantity. Under normal circumstances, less than half of the quantity would be used up in two or three years.
The other party doesn't want to pay it back.
Sister Lifen saw the ugly look on Pang Meir's face and knew she had gone too far. However, when she saw the transparent liquid in the transparent glass in Pang Meir's hand, which had a mysterious and spiritual smell, and heard that it was made of high-end things such as fairy nectar and rootless water, she liked it even more and reached out to take it, saying, "Sister Mei wants to give such a rare thing to sister-in-law, sister-in-law really doesn't deserve it."
As he spoke, he was about to reach out and touch the glass bottle.
But at this time Pang Meir was faster. She shook her right hand and the glass bottle returned to her sleeve.
Sister Lifen's face also became indignant. She frowned and said, "Mei Mei, aren't you giving this to me?"
"I didn't say I wanted to give it to my sister-in-law, I just said we could exchange. After all, I only have this bottle of Rouge left. If I give it to my sister-in-law, then I will have something to use in the future."
As the granddaughter of the dignified Pang family, who is most beloved by Grand Tutor Pang, naturally would not be without rouge.
She said this to smear Sister Lifen, implying that the latter took things from her room without anyone's consent.
To be honest, if the money was taken away, Pang Meir wouldn't be so angry, but taking away the two boxes of rouge would have a completely different meaning.
She had only two friends, Jinhua and Bilian, and she liked everything they gave her.
Sister-in-law Lifen also heard the sarcasm in Pang Mei'er's words and said angrily, "Mei Mei, there is something else behind your words."
"Sister-in-law, you are overthinking." Pang Meir spoke softly without smiling.
Sister Lifen was already a little nervous, and when Pang Meir confronted her in person, she didn't dare to lose her temper. After all, she knew how much her master loved his youngest granddaughter.
But she had no way to vent her anger. She turned around and saw Lu'er standing beside her. She frowned and cursed, "It's you, a slut, gossiping behind me."
After saying that, he was about to slap him.
Lu'er's eyes were filled with panic. She closed her eyes tightly in fear and her body and neck subconsciously shrank.
But the slap from Sister Lifen was stopped by Pang Meir.
After all, Pang Meir has been learning "martial arts" for more than a year. Although her progress is not great, compared with ordinary girls from noble families, she is already very good.
She grabbed Sister Lifen's wrist and said coldly, "I am in charge of Lu'er. How can it be your turn to beat and scold her?"
Then she shook off Sister Lifen's hand and snorted.
Sister Lifen was almost knocked down by the force of the lead and her face turned pale with fright.
At this time, the third brother just came out from the back. He saw his wife leaning against the wall, looking aggrieved. Then he saw his younger sister with a frosty face. He felt that the atmosphere was not right, so he asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Nothing happened, it's just that sister-in-law wasn't careful when she walked and almost fell." Pang Mei'er turned around and said to the young man, "I have said everything I want to say to sister-in-law Lifen, so I won't disturb you to rest, brother. Please leave."
With that, Pang Meir took Luer away.
Sister Lifen watched Pang Meir leave, biting her lower lip with her pearly teeth, with a faint trace of blood flowing out.
By the afternoon of the next day, strange news began to spread in the capital.
"I heard that the little granddaughter of the Pang family is back. She was divorced by Master Lu."
"Without the three letters and six ceremonies, and without even going through the formalities of taking a concubine, the woman won't have an easy life in the man's family."
"Master Lu doesn't seem like that kind of person."
"Master Lu is not such a person, but the young lady from the Pang family may not be a good match. I heard that she has always been unruly and willful."
In modern society, the term "willful and capricious" is not very derogatory, and there is even a saying that it means "very individual".
But at this time in the Northern Song Dynasty, "willful and capricious" was a rather derogatory term, and it was extremely difficult for a woman with this label to get married.
"A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. This young lady from the Pang family is good in everything except that she reads too much."
"Hey, so the young lady from the Pang family should know where Master Lu lives?"
"Hey, it's hard to say. After all, he is a land immortal. Isn't it normal for him to drive away a mortal woman? If the latter wants to find her back, it depends on whether Master Lu will let her find the way!"
“That’s true.”
"Oh, the Pang family has three generations of Grand Masters, which is not to be underestimated, but they have a woman like this. It's really a disgrace to their family. Not only did she run away with someone, but she was also divorced. It's ridiculous."
In less than half a day, this rumor had spread throughout the streets and alleys.
In the Pang residence, Grand Tutor Pang gathered all the relatives and said angrily, "Now you all know how the outside world is framing our Pang family."
Everyone was so frightened that their faces turned pale, and they all lowered their heads and dared not even breathe.
"Except for Imperial Physician Zhang, no one knows that Mei'er has returned home." Grand Tutor Pang held the porcelain cup in his right hand, veins popping out on the back of his palm. "I've already informed Imperial Physician Zhang, and he definitely won't tell anyone in a short time. Someone in his family must have spread the news, and even exaggerated it."
When Pang Meir heard this, she subconsciously glanced at Sister-in-law Lifen who was not far away.
Master Pang also caught Pang Meir's little action, and then glanced at Zhao Lifen inconspicuously.
At this time, the eldest son cupped his hands and said, "Sir, could it be that when Master Lu came to our house, someone saw his true face?"
"It's unlikely. When Master Lu came to our house, it was dark and raining. There were few people on the road, so no one would notice him. Besides, if people knew that Master Lu had returned to Bianjing City, the whole city would be in an uproar. It would not be so quiet." Master Pang snorted, "And the subject of this rumor is not Master Lu, but Mei'er. In other words, this matter should have spread from my Pang family."
The eldest son nodded, thinking that his father's judgment made sense.
In fact, people also feel so. At the moment, almost everyone is wondering, who leaked the news?
Could it be a servant?
At this time, Master Pang asked, "Mei'er, did you discover anything?"
Pang Meir didn't say anything, but just looked quietly at Sister Lifen beside her.
At this time, everyone noticed Pang Meir's hint and they also turned their attention to Zhao Lifen.
Soon, they discovered that Zhao Lifen looked extremely nervous, and there was a hint of guilt and fear in her eyes.
Master Pang put his hands in his sleeves and sat upright, like a stone sculpture that would not move: "Lifen...Qiniang, do you have anything to say?"
Zhao Lifen forced a smile and said, "No, Master."
"That's good." Master Pang withdrew his gaze from Zhao Lifen, then looked at everyone and said, "Although I am not close to the Prince of Runan, I can still ask his restaurant and brothel to find out who those gossipers are working for.
As he spoke, Master Pang's expression became colder and colder: "If you come forward now, there is still room for tact. Wait until I find out myself, and don't blame me for being rude."
After all, he was Master Pang, who had fought in wars and killed people in the past and sat in a high position. When he spoke, there was a heavy pressure, which made everyone present feel uneasy and restless.
Especially Zhao Lifen.
Her expression was even more panicked. Cold sweat kept coming out on her forehead in big beads. She kept wiping it, but it seemed like she could never wipe it off.
At this moment, her actions were the most obvious among everyone in the field.
And after seeing this scene, everyone understood that it was really Zhao Lifen who was behind this. Even if it was not her, it must have a lot to do with her, otherwise she would not feel so guilty.
"Lifen, are you hot?" Master Pang said gently, "Or do you have something to say to us?"
Zhao Lifen raised her head and looked at the cold eyes of Master Pang, then at the surprised her. A string in her head snapped.
The more afraid she was, the more hysterical she would become when she exploded. She bared her teeth and roared, "Yes, so what if it's me? I just can't stand Pang Meir. I can't stand her since I entered the Pang family. Why does she love Pang Ai the most among all the women and children? She is just a money-giving girl who is about to be married off, like spilled water. Why should she suppress us daughters-in-law? Why? We daughters-in-law are members of the Pang family, and she will be an outsider in the future..."
"Snapped!"
Zhao Lifen was slapped in the face and her body tilted to one side. She fell on the table and almost fell to the ground.
Her left cheek swelled up at a very fast rate, and blood was flowing from the corner of her mouth.
Pang Meir was really going crazy. She had finally waited for Lu Sen to say that he wanted to propose marriage, but now the words circulating in the streets were so vicious that they directly ruined her reputation.
This made her wonder how she would face Lu Sen and her two good sisters in the future.
Being a concubine was already uncomfortable enough, and I thought that marrying into the family with a clear conscience would be an explanation to both myself and Lu Sen.
But all of this was ruined. How could she not be angry and upset?
