Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 258 - 10: Mysterious Self-Confidence

Upon coming out from the green gauze cabinet, Susu had already changed her clothes: a wide-sleeved tunic of sky blue silk with silver thread embroidered bat patterns at the collar and cuffs, fastened with a row of lotus seed-sized pink and white pearl buttons, and underneath was a long skirt of pale pink and silver weaving cloud patterns.

This time, Susu’s hairstyle was a Leaning Cloud Bun, tied with dark green hair ribbons, with two jade cloud long hairpins on the left side, simply adorned with three to five small pearl flowers the size of a fingernail made of pink and purple millet pearls gathered together.

A pair of jade waterdrop earrings hung from her ears, and a pair of lake green glassy jade happiness bracelets adorned her wrist.

On her left middle finger was a jade ring, and on her right middle finger was a silver holder inlaid with an oval jade ring face ring, and on her ring finger was a red gold holder embedded with a milky white small pearl.

This outfit, unlike the previous dignified and luxurious one, further highlighted Susu’s jade-carved, ice-sculpted, exquisite beauty.

In truth, Yang Fang wasn’t actually causing trouble, she was just seeking a sense of presence.

This girl was somewhat spoiled by her family, a bit naive and indulgent, with a tendency towards "vanity."

She’d heard her brother, Yang Xiaoshan, talk about how much dowry Susu had, how many noble people she knew, and how dignified and gracious her behavior was.

"I’ve heard that little sister-in-law grew up beside the Old Madam in the Shun’an Earl Mansion and learned proper manners and etiquette from a nanny who came out of the palace. If I could ask her to teach Sister Fang, even just a little, it would benefit me for a lifetime."

This girl had long been fascinated by the splendid scenery and opulence of the Capital City as described by her brother, and upon hearing the words "Bo Mansion" and "palace," was determined to see what true poise was.

If she could learn even a bit, she’d have something to show off among her girlfriends in the future.

When she later met Susu, she truly felt inferior and was even more determined to befriend Susu, but although Susu respected her grandmother, she didn’t show any particular favor towards her and her mother.

This made Yang Fang, who had heard Yang Xiaoshan boast, saying "I’ll have a word with little sister-in-law tomorrow, and for sure, she’ll grant you your wish," feel quite disappointed.

As mentioned earlier, this girl in her grandmother’s eyes seemed "silly and useless," and in her mother’s opinion, was naive and ignorant, to put it bluntly, a bit selfish.

She assumed Susu, having been entrusted by her brother, would surely regard her differently, but that wasn’t the case, and this "fragile-hearted" girl had a bit of difficulty accepting it!

However, she had been warned by her grandmother before coming, so she didn’t dare make a scene in front of others and used the excuse of needing a restroom when Susu went outside to change clothes to slip away.

At the time, she was filled with ambition. Her little brother and Hong Sheng were good brothers, and Hong Sheng had known her brother since he first came to the Northwest and often ate at their home. If that Grandma Hong refused to meet her, she’d just bring up her brother.

She also remembered hearing her mother lament a few times, "If only Fang and Hong Sheng weren’t so far apart in age, I would have considered it then. My daughter would now be a Fourth Rank Madam. Who would have thought that Hong Sheng married someone not much older, only a year older than Fang?"

Thinking this way made her feel bolder. However, once greeted with a smile and led inside, Yang Fang regretted it; she had a bit of cleverness, knowing it was merely self-deception.

Upon meeting Susu, all the well-thought-out words stuck in her throat, cowardly!

Susu had quite an impression of this "little girl," mostly because other young women, whether they liked it or not, externally showed respect to Susu, while this girl looked at her warmly, full of self-confidence.

If it weren’t for her mother discreetly pulling her back, this girl would’ve wanted to take Susu’s arm in a "sisterly" manner.

Susu didn’t know why this girl had such inexplicable self-confidence, especially seeing her demeanor. Susu thought perhaps it was another one of those wanting to emulate the "perfect pair" type.

Yet with Susu’s insight, she could tell this girl harbored no malice towards her—perhaps it was that kind of "expecting nothing but to be together" true love.

Susu sweated inwardly, deciding to stay away from such potential trouble. This led Yang Fang to think Susu wasn’t warm towards her, and impulsively sought her out.

Upon receiving word, though uncertain if this illogical behavior was contagious, Susu couldn’t refuse this visit due to Yang Xiaoshan and Old Mrs. Yang, so she had her brought in properly.

Once seated, Yang Fang, holding a "success or bust" mentality, blurted out a lot, mostly "my brother said this and that," "I want this and that!" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Only then did Susu realize it was a misunderstanding; the girl had no intentions towards Hong Sheng but was focused on her.

Though it was quite presumptuous, Susu had indeed heard Yang Xiaoshan speak of this sister, knowing she was a bit spoiled and a tad vain!

But to Susu, this wasn’t a big concern; she wasn’t her mother to teach her how to behave, teaching her manners and etiquette was sufficient—demanding more was too much!

So Susu smiled and said, "I was wondering what the matter was; there’s no need for your brother to intervene. As long as the Old Madam agrees, you can come once every three days. With your intelligence, you should be able to master it in no more than two months."

Yang Fang nodded proudly, believing in her inherent talent due to her peculiar self-confidence, but after all, she was young and couldn’t help but beam a big smile.

"Then I’ll call you master from now on!" Yang Fang wasn’t without merit; once she valued someone, she placed them in her heart, summing it up in a phrase: "Wish them to live if she loves them, wish them to die if she hates them."

In that regard, she was somewhat like Old Mrs. Yang, except the old lady wouldn’t admit it.

Susu thought this little girl was quite bold and daring in love and hate, and she rather envied her; only being cherished and pampered could nurture such a carefree temperament.

And for her, such carefree simplicity was a luxury she couldn’t afford in either of her lifetimes.

At this moment, Susu felt a bit more genuine warmth, smiled, and said, "Since you call me master, let’s start our first lesson today. A woman must first recognize her appearance and temperament and then learn to highlight her greatest strengths! Look at you, today..."

No need to say, Susu, on a whim, accepted a disciple and immediately served her a bowl of "there are no ugly women, only lazy ones" motivational soup, and soon Yang Fang became a devoted fan.

And over in the main hall, with Old Mrs. Yang and Mrs. Yang waiting anxiously, feeling uneasy, the others also had varied expressions.

As the saying goes: where there are people, there are intrigues; where there are women, there are struggles. However, with the maid from the Hong Mansion present and the uninhibited Old Mrs. Yang, no one dared to voice anything.

After nearly half an hour, close to when the banquet was to begin, Susu finally returned with Yang Fang.

The crowd was once again taken aback...