The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort

Chapter 124 : Each One's Fated Marriage

The undercurrents in the palace were surging, but outside, all was peaceful. Even if some earth-shaking event occurred, it would only provide the common people with another topic of conversation. At the same time that Jiang Yeri's situation gave the people plenty of fodder for enthusiastic chatter, another situation was deemed insignificant.

In the Lord Mayor fu, previously a scene of happiness and harmonious living, the atmosphere was now rather sombre. The servants carried out their duties very carefully, as if extremely fearful of doing something that would call bad luck down on them. At one glance, it was clear that things were not the same as before.

Lord Mayor Dong appeared to be smooth and sophisticated but underneath the surface, he was actually very old-fashioned and inflexible. Fortunately, Dong Furen was gentle and moderate by nature, thus everyday life in the fu was generally devoid of vexing situations. However, the atmosphere had been somewhat strange over the past few days.

A maidservant offered a porcelain cup to Dong Furen, who was sitting in the courtyard, lost in contemplation. She said, "Furen, the kitchen has freshly prepared this bird's nest soup, do try some."

"How can I be in the mood to stomach this?" Dong Furen pushed the porcelain cup away, her face showing a trace of worry. "With such a situation occurring, the Dong family will have no face in front of the Chang family. Laoye is furious again, and I don't know what's gotten into that girl; Yinger is so stubborn and has done something like this, ai."

Dong Yinger and the Third Young Master of Salt Commissioner Chang's family, Chang An, had been promised to each other in marriage when they were young; the families were only waiting for them to come of age. Both children had been very affectionate towards one another from a young age, and the Dong and Chang families were long-time friends. While they were still young and unmarried, Dong Furen and Chang Furen had even exchanged handkerchiefs[1] to cement their friendship. With this marriage, their relationship would have become even deeper as they would be in-laws.

[1] 手帕交 (shou pa jiao) - lit. exchange handkerchiefs. There was apparently a practice of exchanging handkerchiefs as tokens of deep friendship and affection between female friends.

The Initial plan had been to arrange for the marriage to take place at the end of the year, but a few days ago, out of the blue and for some unknown reason, Dong Yinger had announced that she did not want to marry into the Chang family. At first, everyone had assumed that Dong Yinger was just bashful, having reached the age of understanding. Hence, they had not paid attention to her words, believing them to be nonsense spouted due to a momentary feeling of willfulness. However, Dong Yinger had seized the opportunity to speak to Chang An herself when he visited the fu, and had told him that she had someone else in her heart therefore asking his family to cancel the marriage.

Chang An, Third Young Master of the Chang family, was an honest and sincere man. When he heard Dong Yinger's words, he naturally refused to force her to marry him, and returned to his family to tell them that he no longer wanted to marry her. Now, the Chang family were not stupid. They found it strange that Chang An would suddenly ask to withdraw from the marriage without rhyme or reason. When finally they heard the whole story from him, they were so incensed that they immediately sent someone to the Lord Mayor fu.

When Dong daren heard what was going on he flew into a rage. Dong Furen, who loved her daughter dearly, apologised on her behalf, saying that she was a child who did not understand the situation and was speaking carelessly, whereupon she summoned Dong Yinger to apologise to the Chang family. Who could have imagined that Dong Yinger would openly declare that she already had a sweetheart in front of the Chang family. She spoke resolutely and decisively, such that there was no way to redeem the situation.