“Miss Chen is even more gentle and charming in person than she is in the portrait.”
Chen Miaohe smiled awkwardly.
“Please rest assured, Miss. After we are married, I will devote myself wholeheartedly to you and never let you suffer the slightest grievance.”
Another perfunctory laugh escaped Chen Miaohe.
The two sat in silence for a while. The only sounds were the faint sips of tea. After another brief pause, the man spoke again.
“You know that Lord Shen arranged this marriage between us, don’t you?”
It took Chen Miaohe a long moment to manage a soft “Mm.”
“Lord Shen is a man of such stature, yet he actually took the trouble to arrange a match for people like us. When I heard about it, I was truly flattered.”
Chen Miaohe understood the implication behind his words. His courtesy toward her, and his satisfaction with this marriage, were largely due to Lord Shen’s influence.
She did not care. After all, her own parents were the same.
“Indeed… We owe Lord Shen our thanks.” Her voice was very soft, carrying a faint melancholy that was difficult to detect.
If not for her tangled relationship with Shen Zilan, Lord Shen likely would not have meddled in the matter at all.
“There is something I don’t know whether I ought to ask.” The man looked at Chen Miaohe tentatively.
If it was inappropriate to ask, he should not have brought it up in the first place. Since he had, it was clear that he knew the question would be unpleasant.
Chen Miaohe set down her teacup. “Go ahead.”
“Miss, were you once betrothed to the Young Master of the Shen family?”
Chen Miaohe froze.
Behind the screen, Cui Yunchu raised his brows as well. He shifted his crossed legs and continued gnawing on a chicken leg as he listened.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Shen Zilan, who looked as though his soul had left his body.
Shen Zilan neither moved nor spoke. His eyes were fixed on the two blurred figures reflected on the screen, his lips pressed tightly together.
“Mm.” Chen Miaohe finally managed to make a sound.
“Then why did you break off the engagement?” the man continued. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m just… a little curious. After all, with a family background like the Shens’…”
He gave an honest-looking smile, but a sharp glint flickered in the depths of his eyes.
Chen Miaohe gripped the tablecloth tightly and lowered her head slightly. “Our dispositions… were incompatible.”
The man said nothing. He stared at Chen Miaohe for a long while before suddenly laughing.
“What are you laughing at?”
“In a marriage arranged between families, whether the couple gets along is probably the least important consideration of all.”
He was not particularly pleased with his own marriage to the Chen family either. After all, she was a woman whose engagement had been broken off. If Lord Shen had not personally arranged the match, his parents would never have fawned over the Chens and accepted it.
He was laughing at Chen Miaohe’s naivety.
For the children of official families, marriage was no different from a transaction or a business deal.
“You don’t believe me?” Chen Miaohe asked.
The man did not answer, falling into a brief silence.
“Is there something else you’re trying to say?” Chen Miaohe asked again.
After a moment, the man spoke. “Everyone in the imperial court knows Lord Shen’s temperament. He is not the sort of person who meddles in other people’s affairs. You broke off your engagement with the Shen family, yet not only did you avoid falling out with them, Lord Shen even holds your family in such high regard. I can’t help being somewhat curious.”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m only asking casually.” Though he said this, his gaze remained fixed on Chen Miaohe, waiting for an answer.
Chen Miaohe was momentarily bewildered. She did not quite understand what he meant.
Seeing that she truly did not understand, the man spoke again. “Miss Chen, you and the Young Master Shen were engaged for quite some time, weren’t you?”
Chen Miaohe nodded. “A year.”
“Recently… I’ve heard quite a few rumors around the city. They say you were deeply devoted to the Young Master Shen, and that even after the engagement was broken off, you continued to see him often—eating and drinking together, sometimes not returning until dusk.”
A trace of embarrassment appeared on Chen Miaohe’s face.
No matter how foolish she was, she could still hear the implication in his words.
“What exactly are you trying to say? Just say it plainly. I’m a straightforward person; I don’t know how to beat around the bush.”
The man pressed his lips together and clasped his hands, as though he found the question difficult to voice.
Chen Miaohe looked at him as well. “It’s getting late. If you have nothing else to ask, I’m going home.”
The man waved for her to sit down. “Then I’ll be direct. Please don’t take offense. Whatever the answer may be, it will never affect our marriage.”
After all, Lord Shen himself had arranged the match. He merely wanted to know the truth so he could understand how to treat Chen Miaohe and this marriage in the future: whether she would be his beloved wife, treated with wholehearted devotion, or merely a bargaining chip in an exchange of family interests.
He considered his words before saying, “It is already unusual that the two families did not fall out when the engagement was broken. Yet Lord Shen still holds the Chen family in such high regard. Could it be that the relationship between the two families is… ‘far from ordinary’?”
He emphasized the final four words.
In an instant, Chen Miaohe understood everything.
She said nothing. A cold chill spread from the soles of her feet through her entire body, and she trembled faintly with anger. Her eyes reddened at once, filled with humiliation and hurt.
But her father had told her that this marriage had to succeed. Otherwise, within a year, the Chen family would certainly become a stepping stone for others to trample beneath their feet.
“You first pointed out that Shen Zilan and I were engaged for a long time, and now you’re saying this. Are you suggesting that you suspect something happened between Shen Zilan and me, and that Lord Shen is offering our family compensation for it?”
The man met Chen Miaohe’s icy gaze and froze. He clearly had not expected her to be so direct.
He gave an awkward smile. “I…”
“Your concern is not entirely without reason. After all, as you said, I often ate and drank with him and returned home at dusk.”
The man nodded, thinking that Chen Miaohe truly understood his concerns.
He could accept marrying a woman whose engagement had been broken off, especially with Lord Shen arranging the match. But if she had already lost her chastity, he refused to be made a fool of. He would have to receive sufficient compensation in return.
Chen Miaohe gritted her teeth and swallowed the sob rising in her throat.
“We broke off the engagement because he had someone else in his heart. He didn’t love me.”
For a young woman to say such words aloud was tantamount to publicly humiliating herself.
She clutched the tablecloth tightly, doing her best to keep her expression composed.
“I see.” The man looked enlightened. He cupped his hands toward Chen Miaohe and said, “I have offended you today, Miss Chen. Please rest assured. From now on, I will do everything in my power to treat you well and make up for my thoughtlessness today.”
Chen Miaohe was just about to swallow her humiliation and say that it was nothing when the screen beside them suddenly collapsed with a thunderous crash.
She instinctively turned her head. Her pupils contracted slightly.
At once, she felt mortified beyond words. She shot to her feet.
“Shen Zilan, what are you doing here?”
Shen Zilan glanced sideways at Cui Yunchu, who had kicked the screen down and was now continuing to lounge there with his legs crossed, gnawing on a chicken leg.
He said nothing. Step by step, he walked toward the man.
“Young Master Shen.” The man rose and awkwardly cupped his hands in greeting.
Shen Zilan suddenly raised his arm and swung a punch at him with all his strength.
Cui Yunchu immediately squeezed one eye shut and turned his head away, as though merely looking at it made his own face ache.
The man was stunned.
Chen Miaohe froze as well, then hurriedly grabbed Shen Zilan. “What are you doing?”
“He insulted you!”
