Anning quickly noticed Zhao Sanya.
She began to size up this world’s heroine.
Zhao Sanya was actually not considered very beautiful.
She wasn’t even as pretty as so of the maids in Qi Mansion, at most she could be described as delicate.
However, her temperant was not bad.
At least she didn’t hunch over or walk timidly like won from this era.
Zhao Sanya’s eyes were bright, filled with a love for life, and more importantly, she exuded confidence, possessing a unique charm.
Had Anning not known from her original self’s mories that Zhao Sanya was her natural enemy and not a good person, she might have actually admired her.
While Anning was observing Zhao Sanya, Zhao Sanya was also sizing up Anning.
If Qi Wenwei hadn’t called Anning mother, Zhao Sanya would have thought she was Qi Wenwei’s sister.
Anning looked particularly young, appearing to be in her twenties, and she was very beautiful, an indescribable, intellectual beauty.
It wasn’t that Anning’s features were particularly striking, but her aura was simply pleasing to the eye.
Her gaze was clear, she exuded an understanding of the world’s ways, a touch of vicissitude, and most importantly, when Anning sat there without moving, she resembled a painting, so elegant, beautiful, chaste, and demure.
Upon seeing Anning, Zhao Sanya truly understood what an ancient noble lady was like; the intrinsic elegance that perated from a scholarly atmosphere could not be emulated by others.
Faced with Anning, Zhao Sanya felt inferior for the first ti.
She had traveled to the ancient tis, possessing the Golden Finger, and thought of herself as superior to the ignorant ancients.
Yet, facing Anning, a native, she felt she couldn’t compare.
This feeling made Zhao Sanya very uncomfortable, and a subtle fear and inexplicable resentnt towards Anning began to grow in her heart.
"Who is this?"
Anning pointed at Zhao Sanya and asked with a smile.
Qi Wenwei quickly pulled Zhao Sanya to his side and whispered to her, "This is my mother, you should quickly greet her."
Zhao Sanya paused, then reluctantly made an awkward curtsy.
"I greet you."
Anning frowned: "Is that a proper curtsy... Never mind, first tell who she is."
Qi Wenwei’s face broke into a smile: "Mother, this is my life-saving benefactor. Last year, when I went hunting in the mountains..."
Qi Wenwei recounted how his horse had been spooked while he was hunting in the mountains, and how he had been thrown by the horse near the village where Zhao Sanya lived. He had fallen and hit his head, suffering serious injuries, and it was Zhao Sanya who picked him up, took careful care of him, summoned a doctor, and obtained dicine for him, ultimately saving his life.
However, he had lost his mory due to the fall and couldn’t rember who he was or where his ho was, so he stayed with the Zhao Family until recently when he had another fall, which restored his mory.
After rembering who he was, he imdiately brought Zhao Sanya back ho.
After listening to Qi Wenwei recount the entire incident, Anning smiled warmly at Zhao Sanya: "So you are the benefactor. In that case, we certainly can’t mistreat you."
Anning called out to Mrs. Hao: "Sister-in-law Hao, co here for a mont."
Mrs. Hao took a few steps forward.
Anning instructed, "Go to my room and fetch so silver notes, and also bring the deed to that manor I bought just recently."
Without questioning why, Mrs. Hao hurried off to get them.
"What are you doing, Mother?"
Qi Wenwei had an ominous feeling.
Zhao Sanya was also full of tension. She always felt that Anning bore ill intent towards her, and she felt particularly pressured in Anning’s presence. No matter what, she found Anning loathso and just wanted to stay as far away from her as possible.
After Mrs. Hao brought the silver notes and the deed, Anning called Zhao Sanya over, "Zhao Rong, right? I truly thank you for saving my son. I also know that he has been a trouble to your family lately and must have cost you quite a bit of Silver. Here is a silver note for one thousand taels, and this is the deed to a small manor of three hundred mu. Take them both as my thanks for saving my son’s life."
Anning handed over the items.
Zhao Sanya looked up at Anning, her eyes brimming with anger.
"What do you an by this?"
"It ans nothing."
Anning was still smiling, "This is a token of thanks, isn’t it right? Or are you, Miss Zhao, too noble to accept these things, pretending to extend kindness without expecting anything in return? If that’s truly the case, I must say I really do admire you."
Before Zhao Sanya could speak, Qi Wenwei grew angry.
"Mother."
His face darkened as he loudly rebuked Anning, "Is this how you treat my savior, to insult the person who saved your son to the extre?"
Anning snorted in amusent, "Insult? How is giving money and items considered an insult? If giving money is insulting, then countless people on the streets are begging for this kind of insult. What’s the matter, I have raised you, and you have spent I don’t know how much of my money; is all that an insult to you?"
"No, it’s not like that."
Zhao Sanya quickly took hold of Qi Wenwei, forcibly smiling as she explained to Anning, "You misunderstand. Wenwei is hot-tempered; he...he acted impulsively. He didn’t an it that way. It’s just... back when he lost his mory, we were together day and night, and over ti we grew fond of each other. Now, we are secretly engaged, so... that’s why he brought back."
"Secretly engaged?"
Anning looked from Zhao Sanya to Qi Wenwei, her smile full of amusent, "So you are secretly engaged."
She tapped on the table and asked Zhao Sanya, word by word, "Miss Zhao, before you secretly got engaged to him, did you ask if he was already married, who is in his family, or whether he had any prior engagents?"
"This..."
Zhao Sanya found it difficult to respond, and her resentnt towards Anning grew even deeper, "As you know, at that ti, he didn’t even rember who he was."
Anning laughed again, "I really do admire Miss Zhao. What on earth are you thinking? Is it only about love and affection? To the point that you’d entrust your life to soone who doesn’t even know who they are, aren’t you afraid that he might be a murderer, a fugitive wanted by the court, or, say, a rapist? If he turned out to be such a person, it wouldn’t just be bad for you; your family could also be implicated. Don’t you think?"
Zhao Sanya realized that Anning was exceptionally adept with words. Each one was like a knife, stabbing right into her heart.
And Anning’s reasoning was sound, leaving her unable to retort.
"Mother."
Qi Wenwei was frantically upset, "You can’t talk about Rong’er like that, she... she is a good girl."
"A good girl."
The corners of Anning’s eyes crinkled with a smile, her fingers carelessly fiddling with the teacup on the table, "A woman who secretly gets engaged to a man with an unknown identity, who may or may not have a wife, and then follows him without asking questions after he regains his mory—indeed, what a good girl she is. Oh, such a good girl. It seems as though there are no bad girls left in the world. Wenwei, I, as your mother, haven’t stopped you from talking to girls, and you have t many reputable ladies. What’s the matter, has your mind been dulled by pork fat, unable to discern good from bad anymore?"
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