Jiang Chuyun took a deep breath, struggling to make herself clear: “You never said you were giving me a birthday gift—it was your nanny who made it up!”
Qiuyun was even more astonished: “Miss Chuyun, you were the one who first mentioned a birthday gift. If I were fabricating this, how could you possibly have a basis for it?”
Jiang Chuyu’s face turned cold: “Jiang Chuyun, have I ever been stingy with you before? A single birthday gift—do you really think I’d begrudge you that?”
After listening for a while, everyone understood the gist of it.
It was simply that Chuyun wanted Little Seven’s crown, but since it was a birthday gift from Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt to Little Seven, Little Seven couldn’t give it away and promised to make it up with another gift.
A few of them had also been pestered for things by this youngest sister, and Little Seven’s actions were beyond reproach—she had explained she couldn’t give it and offered to substitute something else instead, yet Chuyun still wouldn’t let it go. This time, Chuyun had truly gone too far.
Fourteen-year-old Jiang Linzhi, though young, had already learned not to easily show his true feelings, but at this moment he couldn’t hold back. He spoke with the innate authority of a daughter born into a prestigious family, but remained coldly aloof from the privilege.
“Jiang Chuyun, let’s say you borrowing or even taking tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff from us in the past could be overlooked. But that crown is worth a hundred and eighty million yuan. It’s a birthday gift from Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt for your Seventh Sister—how do you have the nerve to ask her for it?” Jiang Linzhi squinted coldly. “And what’s more, your Seventh Sister said she’d make it up to you with a new one later, and you still won’t let it go?”
Jiang Chuyun, now truly on the verge of tears, never expected that up until just now, everything she had said to Second Brother had been true. How did it turn into everyone thinking so stubbornly that it was still about the crown? How did her casual request somehow directly target a piece of jewelry that could send someone to jail?
“Fourth Brother, I-I really didn’t! I didn’t know the crown was that expensive! I just thought it was pretty and wanted to borrow it to try on—and she never said she’d give me a birthday gift! It was her nanny who said it!” Jiang Chuyun, now truly wronged, hurriedly defended herself. Look, I’m not trying to make excuses; I don’t even remember if she said anything—she probably said something pleasing out of habit back then without really meaning it. Qiuyun was careful with her words and never stated anything false, only ever spoke comforting words. Whether anyone took it seriously was entirely up to the listener. Look, the crown had long since left Little Seven’s hands. What did Jiang Chuyun even want from her going around now? Do you see the crown on her head? Then why is she stirring up a fuss
“To avoid conflict between the two young ladies, I did suggest this idea. But in the end, it was the young lady herself who agreed and promised to make up a birthday gift.” Qiuyun said meekly.
Thus, with this, Qiuyun transformed from the wrongdoer who had stirred discord between the two girls into a meritorious servant who had preserved their harmonious relationship!
“Enough!” With Eldest Brother not around, Jiang Linwen, as the second in line, had to step forward as the authority figure. “Chuyun, apologize to your Seventh Sister.”
“Second Brother! They were the ones who started lying!” Jiang Chuyun couldn’t believe it.
But with the prior incident as evidence, everyone was convinced that Jiang Chuyun was still pining after that crown.
“Chuyun!”
Their usually gentle Second Brother now wore a cold expression: “You didn’t go to the elders in the family, but instead came to us brothers and sisters to mediate. That in itself shows you know you’re not in the right here.”
Jiang Chuyun fell silent. Lifting her head to look at her brothers and sisters, who were now nearly as tall as the adults, her eyes instantly filled with tears.
“You… you’ve never really treated me as your own sister! You’re just like those wretched nannies and bodyguards, mocking me for being an outsider! For being a child without a mother!”
Jiang Chuyun ran away crying. Jiang Chuyu had barely let a gleeful smile cross her face when Qiuyun, under the pretense of handing her a drink, blocked it.
Qiuyun gave a subtle nod, and Jiang Chuyu immediately suppressed her grin, sighing, “Ah, it’s my fault too. Every time Cousin Chuyun asked me for something before, and I refused, she’d cry about her circumstances—how she didn’t have a mother. I felt sorry for her, so I gave her whatever she wanted. But this time, what she asked for was a token of my parents’ love for me—I truly couldn’t let her have it. Even promising to give her a new one instead wasn’t enough. I didn’t expect that, since I’d always given in before, she thought if she made enough of a fuss, I’d hand it over this time too.”
“You liked playing the generous fool, and now you’ve just whetted her appetite.” Jiang Chuyu, whose belongings had also been pestered for many times by Jiang Chuyun, said between the two younger girls with the closest age gap, Little Seven was bound to have more appealing things.
Jiang Chuzhi’s gaze was wistful as she sighed like a little adult, “I was too indulgent.”
Jiang Linzhi rubbed his sister’s head, “Good that you know now. From now on, if she wants anything, let her go to her own grandmother for it. Don’t volunteer to be a sucker. I’ve heard her mother’s been living quite comfortably outside—I bet most of the stuff you secretly gave her ended up with that woman.”
“Understood, Fourth Brother.” Jiang Chuzhi made her speech perfectly graceful: “I’ll be careful from now on and won’t encourage Cousin Chuyun’s bad habits!”
Ha ha!
Thanks to this incident, she could finally shake off Jiang Chuyun—that millstone—without being scolded by her father for not being a caring sister!
After the delay, the equestrian instructor had the stable hands lead out each young master and young lady’s horse. They started with two trips around the arena at a trot to warm up.
“Young lady, be careful.”
Qiuyun stepped forward, soothing the horse with one hand while helping the young lady mount.
Jiang Chuyu, unwilling to be outdone despite her small stature, had insisted on riding a full-sized horse like her older siblings since starting her riding lessons. This made mounting a bit awkward for her.
But this time, with Qiuyun there, it was as if she had prepared in advance—her movements were graceful and precise, as if she had done it countless times before.
Even the equestrian instructor couldn’t help asking, “Do you know how to ride?”
Qiuyun helped the young lady adjust her stirrups. “A little, just the basics.”
After all, when accompanying Madam on outings or tours of the estates, as her trusted aide, how could she not know how to ride? Still, it was merely beginner’s skill—far from refined.
Jiang Chuyu couldn’t help but glance at Sister Xiaoqiu.
“A little, just the basics” again.
The riding lesson began.
Those with more experience, like the second, third, and fourth, practiced controlling their horses and jumping hurdles in the advanced section. The younger ones—five, six, and seven—trotted around the track for a few rounds before the instructor corrected their posture.
Qiuyun stood to the side, listening without a word. For as long as the instructor corrected mistakes, she remained silent.
At the main building, Ge Furen (Mrs. Ge) was looking over the total manager’s first draft menu for the birthday banquet when her youngest granddaughter pelted in, eyes splotching red, crying,
“Grandma! All the brothers and sisters are bullying me; they hate me!”
Over at the main building, Ge Furen had her own study to deal with manor chores, except she had a weakness for simple, refined design, so the way her study was decorated stood in stark atmosphere with the luxurious fuss of the main building.
“What’s wrong?”
Ge Furen was forty-six years old, barely over thirty in appearance, mellow and dutiful, somehow tightening the whole air of being nobly born as she nestled in the light-drenched curving window seat—all overlaid against the lavish wilderness of the garden view.
“Grandma! I don’t like these brothers and sisters here! They’re all cruel to me and look down on me! I really don’t want to play with them anymore.” Crying and behaving childishly blanketed with clingy indulgence to mask her request in the tactics of a little girl—so careful, that specific demand barely putting down steps. Throwing himself into her grandmother’s arms.
Ge Furen set down the documents she was holding, her fingertips softly stroking along her granddaughter’s spine.
“Chuyun, your father is your grandfather’s youngest son, and you came to this family from outside. Even now, your grandfather hasn’t given the junior generation a ranking. No one across the estate may call you Eighth Miss inside or out.”
Ge Furen’s fingertips were gentle as they came to rest along Jiang Chuyun’s hairline, moving a stray strand: “When you grow up ahead, you and your father will survive along under the favor of all the remaining branches. Sweet girl—if you say such bitter words of your brothers and sisters, what about every day round the curve spells bleak for you?”
