The midsummer cicadas buzzed with an irritating din. Jiang Wan sat bent over her desk, copying Buddhist scriptures as the scent of ink blended with the sweet, delicate fragrance of the jasmine on her desk. Lüluo hurriedly lifted the bamboo curtain, the silk flower on her temple askew beyond recognition. "Eldest Miss! The women in the front courtyard's kitchen are all spreading rumors... saying you've been illicitly consorting with a strange man!"
The tip of the brush bore down, letting a heavy blot of ink bleed across the paper. Jiang Wan's fingers, holding the wolf-hair brush, trembled slightly. She had long guarded against Jiang Rou and her mother playing dirty, but she had never expected them to resort to something so vile this time. "Do you know who started it?" Her voice was as cold as tempered ice.
"They say it was a third-class maid named Xiaotao. Yesterday, she suddenly started crying in the kitchen, claiming she saw you meeting a secret lover late at night," Lüluo said, stamping her foot in anger. "Yet the Eldest Miss hasn't even stepped outside the courtyard gates these past few days!"
Chapter 72