Ouyang Zishi stormed into the rear courtyard, heading straight for Second Miss Yan’s quarters, like a man coming home from overtime to catch his wife in the act.
Even his face seemed to glow green with rage.
“Both parents agreed, so why doesn’t she? How dare she not agree?”
“Hah, I didn’t get it at first, but just now I heard about the Suzhou victory report, and it clicked, hah, it’s because that Zhu Ping’an’s gone and done it again!”
“Zhu Ping’an’s made another achievement, he’s up for another promotion and title, and now she’s getting restless, she can’t hold herself back! She’s looking down on me!”
“She’s still hung up on that bastard, isn’t she?”
“Zhu Ping’an, you damned scoundrel! A married man, yet you’re seducing a girl with a childhood betrothal, utterly shameless, morally bankrupt, a wretch who deserves a bad end! I’ll never let this go!”
Ouyang Zishi was like a man possessed.
Muttering, cursing, snarling, radiating green fury all the way, he looked like a moss-covered turtle.
And so—
Ouyang Zishi charged into Second Miss Yan’s courtyard, ranting and raving, barging in recklessly.
“Oh, Young Master Ouyang, you can’t just barge in!” The maids at the entrance shrieked, shouting to stop him as he stormed forward.
But a woman’s strength is no match for a man’s, especially an enraged Ouyang Zishi, who was like a rampaging boar, the maids barely surrounded him before he shoved them aside with a dark scowl, one little maid even stumbled and fell.
Pushing past the maids blocking the door, Ouyang Zishi stomped toward the main room, where Second Miss Yan lived and spent her days.
“Young Master Ouyang, sorry, you can’t go in now, the young miss just finished bathing and changing, she’s combing her hair, please wait outside, once she’s done, Young Master can go in, then you can enter.”
Second Miss Yan’s personal maid stepped out from behind the curtain just in time, spreading her arms to block Ouyang Zishi’s charge.
“Get out of my way! Don’t you know who I am? Lan-mei and I are childhood sweethearts, our parents have decreed it, soon the matchmaker will seal it, I’ll be your son-in-law, so what if Lan-mei’s combing her hair inside, can’t I go in while she’s combing? In the future, I’ll not only comb her hair, I’ll draw her eyebrows too!”
Ouyang Zishi snapped, shoving the maid aside and barrelling toward the room.
The personal maid staggered from the push, shouting repeatedly, “No, Young Master Ouyang, you can’t go in!”
Just as Ouyang Zishi was about to burst through, a maid darted out from behind the curtain, barely five feet tall, plain-looking, frail-seeming, but with a sword at her waist, she blocked him at the doorway, pushing him back several metres with a light shove.
This maid had surprising strength.
“You damned wench again!”
Ouyang Zishi stumbled back several steps, nearly falling on his backside when he missed a step, looking up at the sword-wielding maid, his anger flared, and he cursed aloud.
This wench had blocked him more than once!
“Sorry, Young Master Ouyang, without the young miss’s permission, you can’t enter her chambers,” the sword-wielding maid said expressionlessly.
“Believe me, once Lan-mei and I are married, I’ll sell you off to a brothel, you’ve got strength, huh? Fine, I’ll have them line up seven or eight clients a day for you, wear you out, let’s see if you’ve still got any strength then!”
Ouyang Zishi spat furiously.
“My contract’s in the young miss’s hands, only she can sell me, your words don’t count, they’re useless.”
The sword-wielding maid was unfazed, her contract belonged to Second Miss Yan, who’d promised her when she sold herself in desperation that she’d never be sold, and would be freed after five years.
“Once Lan-mei and I are married, what’s hers is mine, let alone a lowly wench like you, if I say you’re sold, you’re sold!”
Ouyang Zishi roared in frustration.
“That’s if you marry the young miss first, she hasn’t agreed to the marriage yet,” the sword-wielding maid glanced at him, saying coolly.
That set Ouyang Zishi off like a firecracker, as if someone had just pointed out his hat was green in public.
“Scram! A lowly wench like you dares meddle in the master’s affairs! Lan-mei and I marrying is set in stone, since ancient times, marriages are decided by parents and matchmakers, what child dares disobey? My father’s already settled it with Uncle, we’re just waiting for an auspicious day, the matchmaker’s visit is a formality.”
Ouyang Zishi cursed angrily.
“The master and madam promised the young miss long ago that her marriage would be her choice, that’s a parental decree too, per their promise, if she doesn’t agree, Young Master Ouyang, your marriage to her won’t happen,” the sword-wielding maid countered.
“Nonsense! What Uncle and Aunt said before was just a joke, marriage is a serious matter, how could a child decide? Today, Uncle explicitly agreed with my father, that’s the parental decree, how can she just say no and that’s that, even if she doesn’t agree, she has to! At home, obey the father, after marriage, obey the husband, that’s an unshakable truth since time immemorial.”
Ouyang Zishi gritted his teeth.
“Today, the young miss went to the madam, and the madam said there’d be no talk of her marriage before the year’s end, our master listens to the madam most, if she says no talk of it before the year’s end, then it won’t happen before then,” the sword-wielding maid reminded him.
“What? Aunt changed her tune too?” Ouyang Zishi was clearly shocked, “Impossible, absolutely impossible, I need to go in and ask Lan-mei.”
He tried to charge in again.
“No, the young miss is combing her hair and has said she won’t see you, men and women shouldn’t be so close, please leave, Young Master Ouyang,” the sword-wielding maid blocked him again, her face impassive, leaving no room for negotiation.
That finally pushed Ouyang Zishi over the edge, his rage boiling over into irrationality, his words turning reckless.
“Damn it, when she’s bathing, that bastard Zhu Ping’an can waltz in and see everything, but when it’s me, her rightful fiancé, I can’t even see her comb her hair! What kind of logic is that, where’s the justice, where’s the law!”
“Is it that if Zhu Ping’an showed up, you’d all be over the moon, rushing to let him in, huh?”
“Is it because Zhu Ping’an’s made another achievement that she looks down on me now?! I’m telling you, Yan Lan, forget it! Zhu Ping’an’s about to meet his downfall!”
Ouyang Zishi lost it, ranting like a shrew in the streets.
