The sky was dark, and in places without lantern light, it was pitch black. Shen Zilan only caught up to Chen Miaohe at the mansion gate, seeing her walking ahead while wiping tears with her sleeve.
He stepped forward, awkwardly saying, “It’s too late. Let me see you home.”
“No need.” Chen Miaohe sniffled, pouting slightly with a cold, hard look on her face.
Shen Zilan pursed his lips and explained, “I never expected my Younger Uncle would suddenly agree to call off our engagement.”
It had wounded her dignity as a young lady. Only a few days ago, his Younger Uncle had ordered him beaten for this very reason.
There was no one around the mansion gate except for Chen Miaohe, Shen Zilan, and their close maids and servants. Chen Miaohe turned around, red-eyed, staring at Shen Zilan.
“This is all because of you. Since you already had someone in your heart, why didn’t you speak up before the engagement? Why did you have to say all that nonsense after we were betrothed, calling it off? If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have thought up those crooked schemes and ended up in this mess today.”
Faced with Chen Miaohe’s accusations, Shen Zilan was speechless.
He explained quietly, “It’s not what you think. When I got engaged to you, I didn’t have someone in my heart.”
If he had, if he’d met Sister Peach Blossom earlier, he would never have agreed to the betrothal.
“Slap—”
The crisp sound of a slap echoed loudly through the silent night. Chen Miaohe fumed, “Then you’re even worse. You had a fiancée, yet you went and gave your heart to another girl. Shen Zilan, you’re a complete scoundrel.”
“…”
His face stung fiercely. Shen Zilan silently raised a hand to rub it and said nothing.
After a long moment, he said, “In the end, I wronged you. Vent however you like, and if it’s within my power, I’ll make it up to you.”
Chen Miaohe’s tears dripped down in streams.
In her seventeen years in the boudoir, she had never lost face like she did today at the Shen residence.
“This is all your fault. Now that my engagement is broken, my parents will punish me. Are you satisfied?” Chen Miaohe cried, shoving Shen Zilan so hard he stumbled back.
“Go cuddle and whisper sweet nothings to your sweetheart. If I’m beaten to death, I’ll haunt you forever, you bastard.”
Chen Miaohe wept bitterly.
Watching her little mouth open and close as she cursed him, Shen Zilan was stunned.
Ever since calling off the engagement, Chen Miaohe had repeatedly shattered his understanding of her.
Shen Zilan stayed silent and let her curse.
Once Chen Miaohe had vented enough, he said, “It’s too late, and the roads aren’t safe. Let me see you home.”
Chen Miaohe wiped away her tears. “Fine.”
Then she turned and climbed onto the carriage. Shen Zilan let out a long breath and followed her inside.
Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was heavy, broken only by Chen Miaohe’s dissatisfied sniffling. Shen Zilan hung his head, keeping silent.
“By the way, who is this sweetheart of yours?” Chen Miaohe asked.
“…”
Shen Zilan’s expression stiffened. “I told you, you wouldn’t know her. Don’t ask.”
Chen Miaohe glared. “I have to know who stole my fiancé, don’t I? Even if I get beaten, I deserve to know who’s responsible, right?”
Right under her nose, too, cozying up to her betrothed.
Hearing this, Shen Zilan was even less likely to tell her. He shook his head. “The girl doesn’t even know how I feel yet.”
“So you’re just nursing a one-sided flame,” Chen Miaohe said. “You haven’t even gotten a yes, and you dared to break off the engagement with me. Not afraid of coming up empty-handed?”
“…”
Shen Zilan truly admired the way her mind worked. “If I’d kept quiet while longing for someone else, wouldn’t you have cursed me even more for being a scoundrel?”
He wasn’t that kind of person either.
“As if you’re so virtuous. What kind of gentleman covets another woman while already betrothed?”
“…” Shen Zilan was left speechless.
Chen Miaohe was deeply upset—not because of the broken engagement, but because of the storm awaiting her at home.
The carriage stopped at the gate of the Chen residence. Chen Miaohe said, “If I get beaten, I’ll curse you. I’ll curse you to love without return and die alone.”
With that, she lifted the carriage curtain and jumped down.
The curtain swayed. Shen Zilan sat stiff-faced as he watched Chen Miaohe enter the estate.
Chen Miaohe lifted her skirts and crept along like a thief, barely daring to make a sound.
She walked along a secluded path. Just as her courtyard was in sight, a hand grabbed her shoulder, and she nearly screamed.
“It’s me.” The man’s voice was hoarse, and having stood in the cold wind for some time, he felt chilly.
“Big Brother.” Chen Miaohe sighed in relief.
Chen Jiuhe chuckled. “Coming back so late. Looks like you and Young Master Shen had a wonderful chat, huh?”
In the darkness, he couldn’t see Chen Miaohe’s red-rimmed eyes.
Chen Miaohe nodded vaguely.
She wouldn’t say anything until the Shen family showed up. Though it was the same whether she faced it now or later, putting it off was better—pain delayed was pain avoided.
Chen Jiuhe lingered briefly, as if there was something he wanted to ask but was too ashamed to bring up.
Chen Miaohe said, “Big Brother, are you asking about Eldest Miss Cui?”
“Has her marriage been arranged yet?”
Chen Miaohe nodded. “Lord Shen said she’ll be betrothed soon and invited us to the wedding feast.”
Chen Jiuhe’s face went ashen. “Didn’t you say they’d quarreled?”
Chen Miaohe nodded again, then shook her head and spread her hands. “They’re mutual feelings, so isn’t it only natural they’d make up sooner or later? Big Brother, some people you miss and that’s it. There’s no turning back. Don’t pine for her.”
Saying this, she picked up her steps and went into her courtyard.
Back at the Shen residence, Shen Zilan’s thoughts were still tangled up in Chen Miaohe’s tearful reproach, and he felt more and more that he had gone too far.
Shen Xiabai was waiting for him in the study.
He went in absentmindedly, bowed to Shen Xiabai, and couldn’t help asking, “Uncle, you never agreed to break off the engagement with Miss Chen before. Why did you suddenly allow it today?”
… Shen Xiabai was silent for a moment before saying, “Before, I was too overbearing and made you suffer.”
A fiancée setting her sights on her betrothed’s Younger Uncle—for any man, that was an insult. He must have been agonizing lately.
Shen Xiabai’s eyes showed guilt and concern. “Why didn’t you… say something sooner?”
If he had said the reason earlier, he would likely have agreed long ago.
Shen Zilan did not feel the expected relief but rather guilt toward Chen Miaohe. “Uncle, Miss Chen is a bit wild and likes to talk nonsense, but her character is absolutely sound. Don’t listen to her reckless words.”
At that, Shen Xiabai raised an eyebrow slightly. “You… what exactly do you mean?”
“If you think she’s good-natured, then why did you try to harm her life?”
This was the real source of Shen Xiabai’s guilt—he had nearly let his elder brother’s only son stray down the path of murder.
“I didn’t try to harm her life.” The conversation had circled back to the beginning. Shen Zilan explained helplessly, “I truly didn’t. Yu Feng misunderstood.”
Shen Xiabai didn’t want to argue the point further and reopen the wound. “Your engagement with Miss Chen is hereby dissolved. Tomorrow, I will send someone to the Chen residence to explain. Let your grandmother pick another suitable match for you.”
“Oh.” Shen Zilan responded dully, then said, “Then tell the people you send to watch their words. The Chen family places great importance on the alliance with the Shen family, so as not to involve Miss Chen.”
Shen Xiabai furrowed his brow slightly.
Given Chen Miaohe’s rebellious and treacherous intentions, one could say she deserved her fate—how could it be a matter of involving her?
