Chapter 274: Chapter 274: She Naturally Wants to Ruin Zhi Wan

The younger generation of the Wei Family was stunned.

Though they were born into wealth and privilege, they had never seen such a lavish birthday gift.

’It figures only Aunt and Uncle could pull off something like this.’

Zhi Wan was also deeply shocked by the sight.

She knew her aunt’s gift wouldn’t be simple, but she never imagined it would be such a precious Turtle Shell Birthday Screen.

The Turtle Shell Birthday Screen was the highest-class birthday gift of the time. Not only was it rare, but more importantly, its craftsmanship was exceedingly complex. It was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the screen alone likely required dozens of artisans, if not more.

Furthermore, after the screen was completed, it had to be sent to a temple to be consecrated and blessed.

"Hui’er, you’ve been so thoughtful." Mr. Wei was clearly taken aback by his daughter’s gift. When he came to his senses, the smile on his face deepened the wrinkles around his eyes.

He had originally intended to scold his daughter for being so extravagant, but as he looked at the birthday screen, the words of reprimand somehow wouldn’t come out.

Because he adored this gift.

He tried to restrain himself, but couldn’t help standing up to get a closer look at the birthday screen, running his hands over the carvings and patterns.

After circling the screen and admiring it for a long while, he finally remembered and quickly ordered people to move it, along with the Pine Crane Longevity Painting from Zhi Wan, to the front reception hall for display.

Seeing her elderly father so pleased with her gift, Lady Wei was also overjoyed.

Her grand gesture of commissioning this birthday screen for her father had not been in vain.

Afterwards, guests began to arrive one after another to wish Mr. Wei a happy birthday.

Lady Wei then took Zhi Wan to meet the other elders of the Wei Family.

Out of respect for Lady Wei, the other members of the Wei Family were polite enough on the surface and didn’t dare to give Zhi Wan a hard time. However, Old Madam Wei and the family’s first daughter-in-law, Lady Xu, spoke with a sarcastic, passive-aggressive tone.

"Minghui, this future daughter-in-law of yours is quite a character," Old Madam Wei said, still holding a grudge about the incident at the teahouse.

"Of course she’s a character. Why else would Jinzhi insist on marrying only her?" Lady Xu covered her mouth with a laugh. It sounded like teasing, but it was actually a veiled accusation that Zhi Wan had used unsavory tricks to seduce Jinzhi.

Hearing the two of them tag-teaming with such malice toward Zhi Wan, Lady Wei’s expression darkened. She said coolly, "Thank you, Mother, for your approval of Wan’er. She certainly is no fool. As for Jinzhi insisting on marrying Wan’er, it’s because he has impeccable taste and has chosen a fine wife for himself."

Hearing her defend Zhi Wan in every word, both Old Madam Wei and Lady Xu looked rather disgruntled.

After a long moment, Old Madam Wei managed to squeeze out, "Just don’t come to regret it in the future."

"Mother, you’ve never once regretted having such a capable and virtuous daughter-in-law like my sister-in-law. Why would I have any regrets? My Wan’er is so well-behaved and filial. I couldn’t be more satisfied!" Lady Wei replied unhurriedly.

Lady Xu was incensed upon hearing this.

’What does she mean, "a capable and virtuous daughter-in-law like her"? Wei Minghui is clearly mocking me.’

Lady Xu was furious but couldn’t say anything. After all, the woman hadn’t insulted her; she had even praised her for being capable.

Seeing Old Madam Wei and Lady Xu rendered speechless by her aunt’s retort, Zhi Wan lowered her head and smiled. Her aunt always had a sharp tongue, and few could get the better of her in a war of words.

’Still, I’m so lucky my aunt trusts and protects me unconditionally. Their attempts to sow discord were a complete failure.’

"Cousin-in-law Wan’er, it’s so boring in here. Let me take you for a walk in the garden?" Just then, Wei Jinxiu came to her side, tugged her sleeve, and whispered.

Zhi Wan hesitated.

Lady Wei, who happened to be standing beside her, overheard and said warmly, "Go on. Go for a walk with Jinxiu. Just come back when the banquet starts."

Hearing this, Zhi Wan nodded. "Alright, I’ll go then."

"Jinxiu, take good care of Wan’er," Lady Wei instructed.

"Don’t worry, Aunt. I’ll definitely take care of Cousin-in-law Wan’er. If anything happens, you can hold me responsible," Wei Jinxiu promised.

Lady Wei scolded her jokingly, "You silly girl, what could possibly happen here in the Wei Family residence?" Despite her words, her gaze swept over the other women of the Wei household.

Lady Xu saw this and frowned. She looked like she wanted to say something, but thinking of her formidable sister-in-law, she clamped her mouth shut.

Zhi Wan followed Wei Jinxiu to the garden.

"Cousin-in-law Wan’er, come look! These koi fish are so beautiful." Wei Jinxiu walked to the edge of the pond and waved at Zhi Wan, who was behind her.

Hearing the form of address, Zhi Wan felt a bit helpless. "Jinxiu, you should just call me ’sister’."

’I’m not married to her cousin yet. Calling me cousin-in-law is so embarrassing.’

"No way. I’d just have to change it again later," Wei Jinxiu said with a grin. She grabbed some fish food from a maid’s hand and gave some to Zhi Wan. "Sprinkle this in, and they’ll swim right over."

Zhi Wan did as she was told and sprinkled the fish food in her hand into the pond.

Sure enough, schools of koi immediately swam over, scrambling for the food.

The two were having a good time when, suddenly, Wei Jinyi approached with several male guests.

"You two are here as well? What a coincidence." Wei Jinyi greeted them as if nothing was wrong, as if she wasn’t the same person who had targeted Zhi Wan earlier in Mr. Wei’s Shoukang Residence.

Seeing that there were men among the guests she brought over, Wei Jinxiu frowned and said to Zhi Wan, "Let’s go have fun somewhere else."

Zhi Wan had no desire to be around a troublemaker like Wei Jinyi, so she readily agreed. "Okay."

"Ladies, why leave the moment you see us coming? Are you looking down on us?"

At that moment, a man reached out an arm to block their path, his eyes raking over Zhi Wan with obvious ill intent.

Wei Jinxiu was furious. "If you don’t get out of the way, I’ll scream for help."

"Go ahead and scream. Best if you bring everyone over to have a look. We’ll see who’s at a disadvantage then," the man said brazenly. The other two men with him also burst out laughing. "HAHAHA."

Seeing their obvious malice, Zhi Wan frowned and looked at Wei Jinyi.

Wei Jinyi’s expression changed; it seemed she hadn’t expected things to turn out this way either.

"Don’t you dare try anything foolish. One of them is a young lady of my Wei Family, and the other is the fiancée of the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. If anything happens to her, my cousin will not let you off."

"So she’s the fiancée of the Minister of the Ministry of Justice! Forgive our disrespect, truly." The men immediately grew apprehensive.

Seeing this, Wei Jinxiu felt relieved and immediately snapped, "Get out of here, now. We can pretend this never happened."

"Yes, yes, we’ll leave right now." The men bowed and scraped, then turned and walked toward the Moon Cave Gate.

Zhi Wan, however, did not let her guard down.

’There’s no way Wei Jinyi just happened to bring a few male guests over. It can’t be that simple.’

"It’s alright now, they’re gone," Wei Jinyi said with a sigh of relief.

"Fifth Sister, what’s wrong with you? Why did you bring male guests here?" Wei Jinxiu said, displeased.

Wei Jinyi said awkwardly, "They are guests. They said they wanted to tour the garden, so I brought them in since it was on the way. I didn’t expect to run into you. Luckily, I used my cousin’s name to scare them off."

Zhi Wan gave her a scrutinizing look. "Wei Jinyi, those men weren’t guests of the Wei Family, were they?"

"What do you mean by that? If they weren’t guests, what else could they be?" Wei Jinyi snapped.

"Those men had no manners at all. They were more like local thugs. The Wei Family doesn’t have friends or relatives like that, do they?" Zhi Wan stared at her with a sharp gaze. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Hearing this, Wei Jinxiu also looked at Wei Jinyi suspiciously. "Fifth Sister, did you bring those people into the residence? What are you trying to do?"

A flicker of light crossed Wei Jinyi’s eyes. ’What was she trying to do? She wanted to ruin Zhi Wan, of course.’

She suppressed the hatred in her heart and feigned anger. "How dare you suspect me like this? This is too much. Fine, I’m done with you." With that, she left with her companions.

"Cousin-in-law Wan’er, could it be that we misunderstood her?" Wei Jinxiu frowned.

"We’ll know in a moment whether we misunderstood her or not," Zhi Wan said.

"What?" Wei Jinxiu was confused.

Zhi Wan said no more, pulling her behind a nearby rockery to hide.

They had just gotten into hiding when they saw the three men from before return. They were standing by the pond, searching for something.

"Where are they? How did they disappear?"

"Could they have left already?"

"Impossible. We’ve been watching the garden entrance the whole time and didn’t see them leave. They must still be in the garden."

"Then hurry up and look."

The three men split up to search.

The men were not quiet, and the group hiding behind the rockery heard everything.

Wei Jinxiu gasped. The three men hadn’t left after all, and from the looks of it, they meant them harm.

Seeing one of the men heading toward the rockery, she nervously grabbed Zhi Wan’s sleeve. "Cousin-in-law, what do we do? Someone’s coming."

"Don’t be afraid, young ladies. This servant will go and lead them away in a moment," Shuang’er whispered after peeking out.

"No, your injuries haven’t healed yet," Zhi Wan objected. Those men were not to be trifled with. If Shuang’er fell into their hands, it would be disastrous. She couldn’t let Shuang’er take such a risk.

Besides, there wasn’t a single servant in the entire, vast garden. They had clearly been sent away in advance.

Musing on this, she looked around, picked up a rock, and whispered, "Only one of them is coming this way. If we all work together, we might be able to subdue him."