Absurd or not, crazy or not, these were just the words of one family.
The storyteller snapped his fan shut with a clear, ringing voice.
"This truly is a testament to the saying that good and evil will eventually be repaid, and good deeds always lead to a happy ending," he declared. "Miss Jun finally saw the error of her ways and followed the right path, securing for herself a good husband from a reputable family."
The audience in the teahouse did not know whether to express joy or sorrow, staring blankly at the storyteller on stage, their minds wandering back to that previous arrangement made by the Jinyiwei. They remembered that once, a young girl had even stood up to ask questions, livening up the atmosphere, helping everyone know how to react.
Why wasn't this time as thoroughly planned? What was the right reaction now?
A sharp clack startled everyone—it turned out to be the storyteller slapping his fan down on the table.
"But heroes have always existed for a long time, and Lady Wei's theories stand uniquely alone. If everyone can receive blessings for their good deeds, then what would be so extraordinary about that?" he said. "To call Miss Jun an extraordinary woman, we must start from even earlier days, and these various events—whether her infatuated love for the young master of the Ning Family, her feigned madness, her impolite and vulgar behavior, or finally marrying Noble Son Fang—it was all a plan devised by Miss Jun herself."
What did that mean?
The people in the teahouse were once again stunned.
"We must start with the origins of Miss Jun."
"Do you know who this Miss Jun is?"
"You only know her as the granddaughter of the Fang Family, her father a selfless and loyal official, but do you know that her family had been practicing medicine for generations, a heritage of a hundred years? Her grandfather, Jun Fengchun, was a renowned doctor from Runan."
"She is none other than the divine doctor from Runan, Miss Jun, hidden in seclusion, carrying on her family's true legacy."
The people in the teahouse were dumbfounded.
Divine Doctor?
Divine Doctor!
.............................
The few people in the Ning Family home were equally astonished, looking at the maidservant who was recounting the storyteller's tale.
"What nonsense is this!" Third Madam Ning was the first to snap out of it. "This fabrication is just too preposterous."
"And this divine doctor, they might as well say she's an immortal," added Fourth Madam Ning, laughing dismissively. "Is everyone who claims to be a divine doctor nowadays a divine doctor?"
Eldest Madam Ning said nothing, a faint sneer playing at the corner of her mouth.
"And then?" Eldest Master Ning seemed genuinely interested. "So why did her parents both die?"
At his words, Third Madam Ning and Fourth Madam Ning burst into laughter, the smile at Eldest Madam Ning's lips also spreading.
"We shouldn't talk like this; everyone has their predestined fate, and the divine doctor can't change that," she said softly and gently.
The laughter in the room didn't stop.
"Continue," Eldest Master Ning gestured with his hand.
.............................
"That Miss Jun, powerless to save her father and deeply anguished, devoted herself even more to studying medical skills. She had meant to return to Runan to reopen the Jiuling Hall, intending to decline the kind invitation from her maternal family. But when she heard about the tragic state of the Fang Family and learned that her maternal grandfather and her uncle had fallen victim to foul play, and that her cousin was not beyond saving but poisoned and at death's door,"
"Miss Jun was deeply moved by the suffering of her relatives and knowing the Fang Family faced grave dangers, decided to cure her cousin and support the Fang Family through their crisis. Thus, she set a plan into motion."
"From then on, she went to Yangcheng, where the quarrel over the Ning Family marriage became well-known, and naturally, she ended up marrying her cousin. It seemed like a desperate, unavoidable path for both the Fang Family and her—raising no suspicions, with the enemy smugly oblivious of her true intentions."
"With the status of a wife, Miss Jun was able to treat and detoxify Young Master Fang in secret. What you and I have witnessed, and all the laughter we've heard, were all part of the play she had arranged."
"Even going so far as to risk her life to lure out Head Shopkeeper Song's mastermind, Li Changhong,"
"Weak with illness, burdened with the old and sick, trekking back to Runan, confronting ambushes, breaking through traps, staggering across a battlefield."
"Only then was she able to completely uncover and expose the massive conspiracy of the past dozen years committed by Li Changhong, Wang Jiang, and the six government soldiers."
"This was all an act of feigning madness and stupidity, the elaborate ruse set by the Jun Family girl under the guise of marriage!"
"This is why, when the crafty girl did not return home overnight, Old Lady Fang didn't hesitate to turn the city upside down with an imperial decree!"
"That's because Miss Jun is a person of great merit to the Fang Family."
With a crisp snap, the storyteller closed his fan and stood upright to adjust his clothes.
The teahouse fell silent, only to erupt into thunderous applause moments later.
.............
The room of Eldest Madam Ning was also silent, her expression one of stunned surprise as she looked at the maidservant.
"Truly ingenious," Eldest Master Ning muttered, nodding his head, "One ring fits into another, one solution unveils another. It not only explains the Fang Family's covert preparations for revenge but also why an imperial decree had not been seen for so many years. Yet for a woman who merely failed to return overnight, they mobilize troops and raise such commotion. It's not absurd or laughable, it's not willful nonsense. Everything has a cause, a reason, repercussions, and recompense."
There was no laughter in Eldest Madam Ning and others now.
"Talking round and round, it's still just making up stories," Third Madam Ning said forcefully as she shook her fan, "Everyone knows how good and powerful they, the Fang Family, are. Still, they keep coming up with new stories, what's the point?"
"The point is," Ning Yunyan's voice rose again, "Miss Jun is not actually the Young Lady of the Fang Family; the marriage was a sham."
The room turned tense once again.
"So what if it was?" Eldest Madam Ning said with a stiff voice, clenching her fan tightly in her hand.
"It means that Zhenzhen has not been married yet, and she can still marry," Ning Yunyan clenched her fist, her eyes wide, "She can still come to pester brother."
With a snap, Eldest Madam Ning slammed her fan onto the table, breaking the handle.
"Who does she think she is!" she exclaimed, "What right does she have!"
This time, they could rely on the imperial decree.
The same thought emerged in everyone else's mind in the room.
Eldest Madam Ning had obviously thought of it too, her features rigid.
"Even an imperial decree cannot compel our Ning Family to marry a woman who belongs to someone else," she said, "Just because of that ridiculous claim of the 'divine doctor' curing the illness, they expect us to accept a woman who has already been wed and bed as if she were a pure and untouched maiden to be thrust upon us. It defies all reason and justice."
"Yes, it's simply too bullying," Third Madam Ning said indignantly, "Taking Ning Yunzhao as what?"
"There's no need to worry. If the Fang Family wants to tell tales to amuse the common folk, so be it, but I doubt they'd dare to actually come to our doorstep causing trouble," Fourth Madam Ning said, looking towards Eldest Master Ning, "Big brother, am I right?"
Eldest Master Ning was not as angry or tense as Eldest Madam Ning.
"Of course," he said with a smile.
The head of the household's assurance calmed the women, and the atmosphere relaxed considerably. After instructing the maidservant to keep watch on the Fang Family's movements in town, they gestured for her to leave.
"Then, should we still mention this in the letter to brother?" Ning Yunyan suddenly asked.
Eldest Madam Ning's just-relaxed demeanor flared up once again.
"Why would you tell your brother such things! What has it got to do with him!" she shouted.
Ning Yunyan shuddered at her mother's outburst, looking down with a wronged expression.
Ever since her engagement, her mother had not doted on her as before. Truly, a daughter married off is like water spilled—one's own family grows distant even before the marriage. Although nobody had said it explicitly, she had realized that her sudden engagement must be related to the events of March Third at Jin Yun Hall.
It was probably because of the matters she had fooled Lin Jin'er with that came to light.
That cheap slut Lin Jin'er had dragged her down even in death.
And if Lin Jin'er could drag her down, it was naturally because of that cheap slut Zhenzhen who harmed people.
Today, while she faced disgrace, Zhenzhen had instead become a remarkable woman.
Filled with grievance and resentment, Ning Yunyan lowered her head at her mother's scolding, but she did not get angry. Instead, it brought her a sense of relief.
Remarkable woman or not, she dared not aspire to have any relation with their family. In her mother and brother's eyes, she was still nothing more than an unattainable fantasy.
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（づ￣3￣）づ╭❤️～（This is a loving face.)