That sentence was like a knife, stabbing with pinpoint accuracy into the softest place in Shi Yuanzhi’s heart.
He stood in the courtyard, his face going pale, then green, then pale again. His lips trembled several times, but he could not force out a single word.
Shi Youlan stood to one side, looking from her father to her younger brother.
Though she could not understand what Shi Huai had said, judging by their father’s expression, it was clearly nothing pleasant.
“Father, Brother, you two talk. I’ll be going back first. The princess is waiting for my reply.”
After saying this, Shi Youlan lifted the hem of her skirt and hurried out of Shou’an Hall.
Her young maid scurried after her.
The courtyard was left with only Shi Huai and Shi Yuanzhi, along with an orange cat crouched on the stone table, licking its paws.
Shi Yuanzhi stood where he was, his robe snapping in the autumn wind. He looked at Shi Huai’s calm face and suddenly said, “Do you still hate me?”
“I used to. Later, I realized there was no point.”
Shi Huai’s voice was as indifferent as ever, light and emotionless.
When Shi Yuanzhi heard the words “I used to,” it felt as though someone had viciously wrung his heart by hand. The pain made his eyes sting.
He walked over and sat down on another stone stool. The two of them sat across from each other with a stone table between them, neither looking at the other.
Sparrows hopped about on the branches in the garden, chirping noisily as if discussing this strange father and son.
“I’ll have that woodshed torn down tomorrow.”
Shi Yuanzhi’s voice was so low it seemed squeezed out from the depths of his throat, heavy with suppression and guilt.
Shi Huai said nothing.
Shi Yuanzhi sat there for a while longer before rising to straighten his collar. He turned and walked out of Shou’an Hall.
After a few steps, he suddenly stopped. Without turning around, he said, “As for what happened to your mother, I’ll give you an explanation too.”
Mother?
Did he mean Madam Liu, his legal mother?
Or the woman who had nearly strangled him to death—his birth mother?
The woman who had been manipulated into willingly sacrificing herself?
Shi Huai lifted his eyes and watched Shi Yuanzhi’s back disappear behind the moon gate.
Shi Yuanzhi did not return to the main courtyard. Instead, he went straight to Qingzhi Court.
Madam Liu was reclining on a couch, discussing with her maid the design of a new outfit for Shi Youlan.
When she saw Shi Yuanzhi enter, the smile on her face had not yet faded when she noticed his livid expression. Her smile froze at the corners of her mouth.
“Marquis, what’s wrong? Who made you angry?”
Shi Yuanzhi sat down in a chair. His gaze settled on Madam Liu’s face, and only after staring at her for a long while did he speak.
“My lady, regarding those three madams coming to propose a marriage, you still refuse to tell me the truth?”
Madam Liu’s smile vanished completely. “Marquis, what are you talking about? I’ve told you everything I should. If you don’t believe me, what can I do?”
Shi Yuanzhi stared at her for a long moment before suddenly pulling a sheet of paper from his sleeve. He unfolded it and placed it on the table.
The paper was covered in dense writing—the results of Steward Zhao’s investigation.
Madam Liu’s eyes fell on the paper. Her face went deathly pale, her lips trembling as though all the strength had been drained from her body.
“Marquis, you... you had someone investigate me?”
Looking at the colorless face before him, Shi Yuanzhi felt the last trace of hope in his heart shatter completely.
“My lady, tell me. Why did you do this? How did Huai’er offend you?”
Tears began to fall from Madam Liu’s eyes.
Not because she felt wronged, but because she was afraid.
She had lived in the Marquis of Yongning’s residence for so many years, yet she had never been as frightened as she was now.
Shi Yuanzhi had never investigated her before. He had never looked at her with such an expression, nor spoken to her in such a tone.
“Marquis, I... I only wanted to find Youlan a good marriage. I had no other intention, truly.”
“To find Youlan a good marriage?” Shi Yuanzhi’s voice suddenly rose.
“So you colluded with those three madams and had them come here together to pressure Huai’er into marrying into another family? This is the ‘good marriage’ you meant?”
Madam Liu was rendered speechless. Her tears flowed even harder, making her look like a flower battered by wind and rain, on the verge of breaking.
Seeing her like that, Shi Yuanzhi suddenly felt exhausted.
He was so tired that he no longer had the strength even to be angry.
“My lady, I’ll ask you one more time. How exactly did you plan this? Who gave you the idea?”
Madam Liu’s lips trembled several times. At last, she forced out, “It... it was Lingyi.”
Shi Yuanzhi’s fingers suddenly tightened around the armrest of the chair, his knuckles turning an unnaturally bluish white.
“What did you say? Lingyi?”
Madam Liu nodded. Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped onto her collar, spreading into a dark stain.
“Lingyi said that if those three madams came to propose marriage together, you would surely find it suspicious and investigate.”
“Once you investigated, you would think Shi Huai was behind it all. Then you would be disappointed in him and stop protecting him.”
Shi Yuanzhi leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes, drawing a deep breath.
He remembered that day in the front hall.
Madam Liu had said, “It’s very possible that Shi Huai has the same idea—to marry into one of those families.”
He remembered the faint, almost imperceptible smile at the corners of her mouth when she said it.
He remembered her saying, “Marquis, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this before.”
So it turned out that all of this had been orchestrated behind the scenes by his beloved daughter, Shi Lingyi.
“Why did Lingyi do this? Does she hate Huai’er?”
Madam Liu shook her head, then nodded, her expression becoming incredibly complicated.
“She doesn’t hate Huai’er. She’s afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“She’s afraid Shi Huai will take away what belongs to her sister. Lingyi said the princess treats Shi Huai far too well. Sooner or later, His Majesty will issue an imperial decree betrothing them. By then, Shi Huai will become the princess’s consort, and Youlan will have nothing left.”
Shi Yuanzhi opened his eyes and looked at Madam Liu’s tear-streaked face. Suddenly, he found this woman both pitiful and hateful.
“So you wanted to force Huai’er out first—to drive him from the Marquis’s residence and force him to marry into another family.”
“That way, Youlan would be the only child in the household, and everything in the residence would belong to her in the future?”
Madam Liu said nothing, lowering her head to stare at her knees.
Shi Yuanzhi rose and paced across the room several times before stopping and turning to look at her.
“My lady, have you ever considered that even if Huai’er leaves, the title of Marquis still won’t go to Youlan?”
“His Majesty will never allow a woman to inherit a noble title. That is the rule. No one can change it.”
“She can marry a man into the family! We can find a son-in-law for Youlan. Then her children...” Madam Liu blurted out.
But before she could finish, she saw Shi Yuanzhi’s face turn livid.
