The True Heiress Is a Jianghu Woman - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Honestly, I didn’t care about the Heir Apparent or apples or any of that. Saving my senior brother was what mattered most.

I quickly had my parents put up the silver to find a doctor for him.

Once the poison was cured, my senior brother wanted to leave.

He told me to stay.

Miserably, I said, “Senior Brother, do you not want me anymore?”

My senior brother snapped, “Chen Xiaowu, cut the act! Count for yourself how many marriages you’ve ruined for me! All the money I’ve saved up for a wife over the years has gone straight into feeding you!”

I grew even more miserable and sighed. “An eldest brother is like a father, you know. Senior Brother, I really can’t bear to part with you.”

My senior brother ruffled my hair and said, “Chen Xiaowu, don’t feel guilty. I know you want to stay in the capital and enjoy wealth and glory. Come on, it’s just us two. Stop acting.”

I immediately wiped away my tears, tossed him a pouch of silver, and said, “Senior Brother! Though the green mountains remain and the clear waters flow, this is where we part! From now on, I shall be the pampered legitimate second daughter of the Minister’s Mansion, dressed in silk and eating delicacies. Hurry up and leave. Don’t delay my life of luxury!”

After seeing my senior brother off, my mother comforted me. “Good child, sending your senior brother far away is also for your own good. People in the capital care most about family background and status. If you keep carrying that martial-world air about you, I’m afraid they’ll look down on you.”

My mother was also worried that I might get hotheaded and run off with my senior brother.

My father went even further and had the household attendants watch me day and night.

But the truth was, I had no intention of running at all!

What was so good about wandering the martial world, braving wind and sun and always getting stabbed?

My younger brother said wistfully, “Second Sister, the martial world sounds wonderful. Life in the capital is so boring.”

I glanced at him and said, “Do you know why I’m called Chen Xiaowu?”

My younger brother thought for a moment, then asked, “Were there four fellow disciples before you, Second Sister?”

I smiled faintly. “Yes. You’re very clever.”

He asked excitedly, “Where are they now? Will they come to the capital to visit you?”

I shook my head. “They’re all dead. Of course, the people who killed them were all killed by me and Senior Brother too.”

The bounty hunters of Mobei all lived with their heads tied to their belts.

Alive today, dead tomorrow.

That was why we ate meat by the mouthful and drank wine by the bowl, never saving money and never getting married.

It was carefree, but there was no future in it.

Now that I had found a powerful household to rely on, my senior brother was happy for me.

Because from now on, I could say goodbye to the grudges and blood feuds of the martial world.

Every person in the martial world dreamed of making it ashore.

Unfortunately, from the moment you stepped into it, you no longer had control over your own fate.

My younger brother was at a loss for words.

My mother kicked him in the backside and glared at him. “You’re not allowed to talk to your second sister about these things again!”

Then she took my hand and led me toward the inner courtyard. “Come try on the new clothes and jewelry Mother had made for you. In a little while, I’ll take you to a flower-viewing banquet, and you can meet the Heir Apparent then.”

My eldest sister insisted on giving the marriage to me.

After discussing it, my parents called the two of us before them.

They brought out the dowries they had prepared for us.

My eldest sister’s was a little larger than mine.

My mother said, “A’Yuan, don’t blame Mother for being biased. Your younger sister has suffered too much outside. If she truly takes a liking to the Heir Apparent and is willing to marry him, then this marriage should be given to her.”

My eldest sister immediately said, “Mother, I was never your biological daughter to begin with. To have the wealth and status I enjoy today is already more than enough. As for the marriage and the dowry, leave them both to Younger Sister. I don’t want them.”

Only then did I learn that my eldest sister was actually my aunt’s daughter.

Back then, when my mother was about to return to the capital with my father, my aunt passed away from illness.

My eldest sister was being abused at home. My mother couldn’t bear to see her suffer, so she acknowledged her as her own daughter and brought her to the capital to live.

I looked at my guilty parents, then at my heartbroken eldest sister.

Tsk. What a mess.

I had only come home, yet my marriage had somehow become a knot in everyone’s heart.

I pointed at the jade pendant on my eldest sister and asked, “Father, Mother, is there anyone else in the capital who has a jade pendant like this?”

My father thought for a moment and said, “The Heir Apparent’s cousin, His Highness Prince Kang, has one. Why do you ask?”

I thought back to the day we parted in Mobei.

The person I saved had once said, “If you come to the capital to find me, I will do anything to repay you.”

I was amused at the time. “Even offer yourself in marriage?”

In a voice as soft as a mosquito’s hum, he said, “I would.”

With a grand wave of my hand, I said boldly, “No need to give up the marriage. I’m going to be a princess consort.”