Chapter16: Restraining her thorns while swallowing her anger(2)
With Feng Yuewei"s gaze upon her, An Xi did not continue to speak.
"However, today is such an auspicious day. Since you are here, Yan-er, I"m sure you didn"t come empty handed. I wonder what beautiful gifts you have brought for our Jin-er and Qing-er."
Feng Yuewei"s words held a hint of curiosity as if she was looking forward to seeing what gifts An Yan was going to give.
An Jin and An Qing, who weren"t standing too far away, looked at each other; the normally lively An Jin appeared frightened. An Yan had sent her a wooden toy as a gift a few hours ago. She had thrown it away though, so where would the gifts come from?
An Qing, on the other hand, remained calm and unperturbed.
What good items can An Yan bring out? Even if it is something that originally was precious and rare, would it still be a treasure after being in her hands?
Therefore, there was nothing for her to worry about.
Being asked for gifts in such a manner caused An Yan"s heart to thump wildly.
What gifts could she have brought today? Even if she sold herself, she still wouldn"t t receive enough money to buy those expensive presents.
Moreover, she had already delivered a handmade jewelry box to each of her elder sisters.
Thinking of this, An Yan felt a twinge of pain in her chest. She had personally made these jewellery boxes that represented all her feelings, yet they were thrown out as trash. Now, at this place, she was still asked to bring out her gifts. What should she do?
An Yan wanted to be close to An Jin and An Qing because, within the entire Manor, they were both her sisters from the same parents.
The moment when she saw how they both disregarded her kind intentions, giving her gift to their ignorant servants, those feelings of wanting to be close had almost extinguished; only a trace of those emotions was left in her heart.
Now the situation was like this: if she had no gifts, she would become a joke. If she said that she had already given the gifts, her sisters would only pretend to not have received them. She would still be ridiculed and sneered upon by all those present here.
An Yan stopped moving and remained silent for a long time.
"Enough, Yan-er coming here is itself sufficient. Gifts and whatnot, Qin-er and Jin-er are not lacking in them. Yan-er, quickly finds some place to sit and eat some Jiu Cai." 1
Aunt Rong finally couldn"t keep watching and got up with the help of Nanny Fang. She walked down and quickly pacified the room.
Originally her aunt"s status was not as great as the first daughter-in-law of the prime minister"s Manor, let alone the fact that Feng Yuewei is the second princess, something a commoner could never compare to. But before Feng Yuewei had married into their household, Aunt Rong had held control over the household for fourteen years and her words still carried some weight.
She directed a smile full of her love and affection at An Yan.
Listening to this, An Yan"s thoughts became muddled. Although she knew what Aunt Rong said about the twins not lacking gifts was the truth, she herself had prepared gifts.
But the fact that she had Nanny Fang personally deliver her handmade gifts was something that Aunt Rong should have known about!
The matter here was not about the deficiency of gifts, it was whether she had prepared any gifts or not.
Since Aunt Rong had spoken, Feng Yuewei could not say anything else. Instead, she looked at An Shuo charmingly; it was unknown what her eyes were expressing.
An Shuo frowned and said,
"Yan meimei, feel free to find a place to sit. When father comes later, we will all stand."
An Yan"s heart thumped loudly in her chest; she already couldn"t remember when she had last stealthily seen her father. This would be the first time she would face him directly.

Chapter 17: Restraining her thorns while swallowing her anger(3)

Her heart began to beat loudly as An Yan recalled an unclear memory where she had stealthily seen her father for the first time. Now would be the first time she would actually come face-to-face with him.

After An Shuo finished speaking, he held Feng Yuewei"s hand and guided her so that she could sit with him at the host"s seating area. There weren"t many people there as only the direct descendants were seated. One position was left vacant for Prime Minister An.

In this situation, An Yan could only rely on Aunt Rong. She turned toward her aunt with a hopeful expression.

Aunt Rong, upon seeing that expression, nodded her head. She was just about to call out for An Yan to come and sit quietly in the empty place next to her when An Lian Er suddenly spoke out.

"Ma, Lian Er wants to sit here with her favorite sisters. Father will also come soon, sit down quickly. Yan meimei too; come find a place and sit down quickly!"

An Lian Er helped Aunt Rong sit down, a quiet smile on her beautiful face.

An Yan pursed her lips and looked around for a seat.

She really felt like a joke now, a big joke! The manor was so big, yet there was no place for her? That she had saved up some money to leave really felt like a well-thought out idea now.

She appeared very quick tempered and aggressive, but that was all just to protect herself from getting hurt. Now this aggressiveness was useless since n.o.body seemed to care about her one way or the other.

"Yan jiejie, quick, come beside Xi"er and sit. There is a place here. Hurry!"

An Xi had all along been out of sight behind An Yan. After seeing that all speaking had ceased, she took An Yan"s hand and led her to a place not too far off. On An Xi"s lovable, immature face was a pure smile with no ill intentions hidden behind it.

An Yan grimaced as she glanced at that seat. The seat was placed opposite of Aunt Lin who was sitting calmly as she directed a piercing look at An Yan. An Yan wanted to resist, but she ended up being pulled along by An Xi.

An Xi was very cheerful. Others talked about An Yan, but An Xi was behaving toward An Yan just as she had all along. This was because An Xi knew An Yan was a good person despite all the suffering she was undergoing.

"The prime minister has arrived…!"

An Yan sat beside An Xi. Because her seat was within the line of sight of Aunt Lin whose gaze revealed her disgust and dissatisfaction, An Yan felt uncomfortable. Just as she was about to get up and flee from there, a piercing yell came from outside. It was from a small errand boy whose words reverberated around the room.

Immediately, she felt faint. It was as if her heart had stopped beating—she was very nervous!

Everyone present became quiet and bowed as they waited for Prime Minister An to pa.s.s by.

Prime Minister An was the great Qi Country"s foremost minister. As such, he possessed a dignified bearing. He was a middle-aged man whose appearance had aged a lot over the past years. The initially few gray hairs on his temples had already spread all over his head.

In his youth, Prime Minister An was a reputed scholarly young lord in Jing City, with handsome looks. Thus, even with the pa.s.sage of time, he still appeared handsome and elegant; if not, how could he have attracted and married the first and second ranked beauties of Jing City in his heyday?
The people present were looking at Minister An with equal parts respect and fear. Seeing An Rufeng, a prince or n.o.bleman wouldn"t even try to be arrogant; as such, those here didn"t dare to whisper as he went by.

All except for the two darling daughters of Prime Minister An.

Everyone in Jing City knew that after Prime Minister An"s beloved wife, the first Madam of the manor, pa.s.sed away from the birth of her third daughter, he had shifted all of the love for his wife onto his first and second daughters. Whatever the eldest two Misses required, Prime Minister An would definitely get it for them.

They were truly indulged and pampered, causing others to envy them.

"Papa, how come you are only arriving now? I missed Papa a lot! Since today is such an important day, if Papa had not come then I certainly would have thrown a tantrum."

Chapter 18: A Mockery!(1)

"Papa, how come you are only arriving now? I was very much looking forward to having you here. Since today is such an important day, if Papa had not come then I certainly would have thrown a tantrum."

The lively An Jin had an uncontrollable temper. When she saw Minister An arrive, she stood up and lifted her skirt lightly so that she could run up to him affectionately. She lovingly pulled on Prime Minister An"s hand, behaving in a spoiled manner; her behavior was similar to a playful kitten biting to show its affection and willingness to play.

Prime Minister An, who appeared very stiff and solemn as he entered, visibly relaxed when he saw An Jin. He laughed with his head perked up. His entire appearance became more gentle than when he had entered the room.

"Child, you… Papa has said this so many times. You are the eldest daughter. You must not run out to Papa and pull on his hands like this; it will just leave a bad impression on those who see!"

Though Prime Minister An said so, he had no intention of withdrawing his hands from her grasp. Moreover, An Jin did not heed his words and just stuck out her tongue.

"Who will dare to say anything about me? Jin"er will just shut that person"s mouth!"

Prime Minister An gave a hearty laugh, one which echoed within the entire courtyard.

Father and daughter walked happily towards the host"s seat. An Qing, who was more versed in etiquette, greeted her father while happily saying, "Qing"er greets Papa."

Prime Minister An helped An Qing stand up

"Qing"er seems more dignified and magnanimous, unlike Jin"er. Jin"er is about to get married soon but she still acts like a spoiled child and clings to me."

Hearing this, An Jin once again stuck her tongue out cutely.

Everyone present on the scene could make out how dearly Prime Minister An loved these two daughters of his, especially the vivacious An Jin. They all knew that within the entire manor, only these young ladies could ease the stern and solemn countenance of the Prime Minister and cause him to laugh freely.

"This daughter-in-law greets father-in-law. May my husband"s father be safe and healthy."

Feng Yuewei, who stood beside An Shuo, took a step forward and gave a customary bow upon seeing Minister An. She didn"t put on any airs just because of her status as the second princess of the country.

Minister An was also very pleased with this daughter-in-law of his. He had originally a.s.sumed that due to her ident.i.ty as a princess she would be very arrogant; therefore he did not expect her to be so down-to-earth and competent. After having been married in for just a few months, she was already helping Rong Xiu manage the household and was also behaving very politely. Thus he considered her to be the perfect daughter-in-law.

"You are family, where is the need for such courtesies? Come, let us all sit down. Today is my Jin"er and Qing"er"s birthday. All of you need not be too polite!"

Minister An was in a very good mood today. He stood up to give a toast for the occasion and smiled at the room at large. His smart and scholarly features had a happiness to it that hadn"t been seen for a while.

Seeing that happy smile which she had been missing for a while on Minister An"s face, Aunt Rong"s expression changed a bit and shone more brightly. Fearing she would be noticed by Minister An, she quickly lowered her head and straightened her brows bringing a cup of tea close to her pursed lips.

Apart from her, no one had noticed the emotions revealed on her face.

Everyone seated below the host"s area, upon hearing Minister An"s words, stood up one by one and held out the winecups in their hands. Facing Minister An, they all respectfully offered up a toast.

An Yan, seeing this, was even more unable to deal with the nervousness she felt. She quickly got up on her feet and offered a toast. Beside her, An Xi was smiling contentedly.

"It really has been a long time since I saw Papa so happy. Papa truly loves Jin jiejie and Qing jiejie dearly; Xi"er really envies them. Does Yan jiejie also envy them?"

An Xi"s originally happy expression was replaced with an envious and admiring one when she said these words. She leaned closer to An Yan and asked in a low whisper.

An Yan, seeing the scene in front of her, pursed her lips—how could she not envy her sisters?

"I am not jealous." But what was the use of feeling envious? There was nothing in it for her. Inevitably, one day in the future, there would also be someone who would love and pamper her like her father did to her elder sisters.

An Xi stuck her tongue out, in a rather resentful manner. She thought, "It is no wonder I am most fond of Yan jiejie. She is really my worthy Yan jiejie."

"Ah! On the outside not envious, but on the inside very envious. Xi"er, get away from her and come closer to your mother." Aunt Lin mocked and sneered at An Yan. Her shrill and harsh voice grated against An Yan"s ears, startling her awake from her depressed and dejected mood.