That address of "Prime Minister Cui" made his brow furrow tightly.
And what followed only darkened his expression further.
But regarding the matter of Cui Yunchu's mother, he still didn't mention a single word, as if bringing it up would soil his mouth, pin him down with a mark of shame, and he would never be free of it.
Prime Minister Cui's gaze was cold and deep. "You have only two paths. Either obediently marry, or go kneel in the ancestral hall until you're willing."
In other words, no matter what, this marriage was set in stone.
Cui Yunchu sneered coldly. With that, why even mention two paths? It was clearly arbitrary and overbearing.
It was almost a struggle for him, barely scraping together one path for her.
"Prime Minister Cui, do you still remember the reason you gave Yunfeng that little horse?"
Prime Minister Cui frowned slightly. His gaze fell on the brocade box beside his hand, but he said nothing.
Cui Yunchu gave a faint smile, her expression mocking. "Back when Yunfeng insisted on marrying Prince An, why didn't you say the same then?"
Why didn't you tell her to either obey or kneel until she died?
Even if she, Cui Yunchu, wasn't favored, she couldn't be bullied so blatantly.
Prime Minister Cui's face was stern. "I don't have time for your nonsense. Since that's the case, go kneel in the ancestral hall. Come out when you're willing to marry."
"..."
Cui Yunchu pressed her lips together. The ancestral hall was dreadfully cold at this time of year, with biting drafts swirling around. The scales in her heart began to weigh the pros and cons.
If she had to choose between freezing to death and marrying, she could pick marriage and then become a widow.
To cave, or not to cave?
Cui Yunchu bit her lip, starting to mull it over.
Prime Minister Cui had clearly run out of patience and began calling for Butler Liu.
Cui Yunchu decided not to cave for now. If she knelt before the fight even started, wouldn't that make her look utterly useless? Who knew if Prime Minister Cui would push his luck with other demands.
She didn't believe he would really let her freeze to death.
"...Well, maybe he would." The resolve Cui Yunchu had barely built up began to crumble again.
But since things had come to this point, she could only stiffen her neck and follow Butler Liu.
Prime Minister Cui frowned, watching her straight-backed figure leave. His brow was tightly knit.
The ups and downs of official life were treacherous and unpredictable. Qingwan was already caught in its depths. He didn't want another daughter of the Cui family to follow that path.
Once Cui Yunchu had left and the study door was closed again, his hand slowly stroked the brocade box beside him. After a long moment, he picked it up and casually tucked it into an inconspicuous corner.
It wasn't particularly cold inside the room, but once outside, the wind bit sharply, making it freezing.
He pulled open the window, and right on cue, he saw the figures of Cui Yunchu and Butler Liu whispering and walking away.
Cui Yunchu asked Butler Liu in a low voice, "I told you to go seek help from Grandmother. Did you go?"
Butler Liu's face twitched. "This old servant... hasn't gone yet."
Cui Yunchu frowned. "Truly, I don't know what use that Old Buzzard has for you if you can't even handle such a simple task."
"..."
But then again, she herself said the "Old Buzzard" was the one who kept him. Naturally, you toady to whoever pays your wages.
Butler Liu felt that the Eldest Miss was becoming more arrogant and overbearing than ever, even worse than before.
"Can I pass by Songhe Garden on the way to the ancestral hall to visit Grandmother?" Cui Yunchu asked.
Butler Liu replied, "Eldest Miss, the ancestral hall and Songhe Garden are at opposite ends—one south, one north. It's not on the way."
Besides, Butler Liu thought, the Old Madam was perfectly fine as she was. After a visit from the Eldest Miss, she might even fall ill.
No kidding—did Cui Yunchu not know it wasn't on the way?
Cui Yunchu sighed. She had no choice but to resign herself to following Butler Liu to the ancestral hall. This time, without any preparation, she was in for a real ordeal.
"Eldest Miss." The two young servants guarding the ancestral hall greeted her as usual, their expressions unchanged, as if this were nothing new.
Cui Yunchu's lips curled upward. "Haven't seen you in a while. You're both well, I hope?" Saying this, she strode in boldly, hands clasped behind her back like a minister inspecting his domain. The heavy door then slammed shut behind her.
Cui Yunchu turned her head to look at the door, her red lips pressed tightly together.
They sure were in a hurry!!!!
She pressed her face to the crack in the door, peering outside. "Why shut the door so fast? My maid hasn't come yet."
If Xing'er didn't come in, who would talk to her? Although she was used to it, it was still unnerving to be in the pitch-black darkness surrounded by so many ancestral tablets.
"Eldest Miss, the Prime Minister specifically instructed that you kneel alone. No one is to disturb you."
Cui Yunchu ground her teeth and let out a "tch."
"Then why don't you come in? You can keep an eye on me, in case I do something irreverent to the Cui family's ancestral tablets."
Butler Liu, "..."
No one responded for a long while. Cui Yunchu heard the sound of Butler Liu's footsteps retreating.
He really left? All alone again?
Cui Yunchu frowned. She crouched by the door for a while, then stood up and went deeper into the ancestral hall, where she could at least shield herself a little from the wind.
Lifting her skirt, she gathered all the prayer mats into a pile, muttering to herself as she worked, "Since no one's watching me, why should I kneel if I'm told to? Am I stupid? You old buzzard, if you like Lord Zhou so much, why don't you marry him yourself?"
She piled the prayer mats together, lay down her whole body, crossed her legs, and stared up at the rafters.
She began to ramble recklessly. "If you two got together, would I call you 'Father' or call him 'Father'? Who'd be the man and who'd be the woman?"
Crossing one leg over the other, after a while she switched legs and crossed them again.
"Can't die, just living to make people laugh." She closed her eyes, murmuring incoherently.
Time in the ancestral hall crawled by, unbearably slow. When Cui Yunchu grew tired of talking, she rolled over and stared at the sole window, the only source of light, waiting for nightfall.
She watched the sunlight gradually weaken, turn a hazy yellow, and then disappear into darkness.
Her eyes, fixed and unblinking, began to ache, and droplets of water seeped from the corners.
The ancestral hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Only her body, lying on her side on the prayer mats and occasionally heaving, showed that there was something alive here.
Lying there, Cui Yunchu began to feel drowsy, but she didn't dare fall asleep. The ancestral hall was bitterly cold, and if she slept like this, she would certainly catch a chill. Even if she died inside, no one outside would likely know.
When she got sleepy, she stood up and wandered aimlessly around the hall, chattering endlessly at whichever ancestral tablet caught her eye.
Old Master Cui's tablet suffered the most. Cui Yunchu crouched before it, complaining and grumbling for a long time, mostly about how he could have fathered a son like Cui Qingyuan.
"Cold-hearted, unfeeling, and utterly detestable. If your tablet weren't so narrow, I'd gather all the Cui ancestors' tablets and nail them into a windbreak. At least then I wouldn't be freezing like this." She curled up, hugging herself.
After running around for a while, she got tired and lay back down on the prayer mats.
To kneel in the ancestral hall at this time of year was pure torture—no food, no drink, and no sleep. It was a cruel punishment.
In previous years, when the cold was at its worst, Cui Yunchu would behave meekly for a few days, all to avoid the ancestral hall. She stared at the rafters and sighed for the thousandth time, "I miscalculated."
She never imagined disaster would strike so suddenly, without any warning at all.
By dawn the next day, Cui Yunchu's spirit had clearly waned. Her complexion was sallow. She was curled up in a ball, her lips purple from the cold, hungry and freezing.
She forced herself to sit up straight, but by dusk on the second day, she could barely hold on any longer. “Maybe I should just find someone to marry,” she thought.
She wanted to admit defeat—anything was better than freezing to death here. That old buzzard Cui Qingyuan, once she got out and married, she’d make sure he paid for this.
Cui Yunchu muttered curses under her breath, as if talking to herself. She knew that no one would come to save her but herself. Even Grandmother had remained silent, which likely meant Cui Qingyuan had kept the news from reaching Songhe Garden.
Apart from Grandmother’s pity, Cui Yunchu had always been alone. There would be no one, like in the romance novels, rushing in to hold her close and carry her out of here.
