Shi Yuanzhi stood in the main hall of Qingzhi Courtyard, his face turning ashen.
Looking at Madam Liu’s tear-streaked face, he suddenly felt as though he had never truly known her—not in all his life.
Was the young woman who had smiled at him in the Liu family’s garden all those years ago really the same person as the woman before him, who had schemed her way through an entire lifetime?
“Have Youlan marry into the family? Have her take a husband?” Shi Yuanzhi forced the words out through his throat.
“Madam, do you even know what you’re saying? Youlan is a daughter. If she takes a husband, what surname will her children bear? Shi? Or Liu?”
Madam Liu wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and looked up at Shi Yuanzhi’s ashen countenance. Her lips trembled several times before she said, “Of course the child will bear the surname Shi. A child born to Youlan—what else could the child be called? Marquis, what are you talking about?”
Her words made Shi Yuanzhi’s head buzz. The veins at his temples throbbed violently.
He pointed at Madam Liu, his finger trembling slightly in the air.
“The surname Shi? That child will be an outsider! It won’t carry the Shi family’s blood!”
“I, Shi Yuanzhi, am still alive and well. I have a son. Why should I let a grandson born to my daughter inherit the family estate? Tell me why!”
Madam Liu was frightened by his appearance and took half a step back. Her heel struck the edge of the couch, and she fell onto it.
She looked up at Shi Yuanzhi’s bloodshot eyes, panic surging through her heart like a rising tide.
“Marquis, are you talking about Shi Huai? He’s only a son born to a concubine. What right does he have to inherit the marquisate?”
“What did you promise me back then? You said I would be the only woman in your life. You said all this when you swore yourself to me. Were those words all lies?”
Shi Yuanzhi’s face turned livid. His lips moved several times, but he could not force out a single word.
He remembered kneeling before his parents all those years ago and declaring that he would marry no one but Madam Liu.
He remembered his father smashing a set of imperial porcelain tea ware.
He remembered his mother crying until she fainted.
Back then, he had thought it was worth it. For this woman, offending the entire world would have been worth it.
But what about now?
This woman was standing before him, saying that his own son was unworthy of inheriting the family estate and that her daughter’s child should inherit it instead.
Even if that child was his grandson.
Shi Yuanzhi suddenly laughed.
His laughter was not loud, but it echoed throughout Qingzhi Courtyard, sending chills down Madam Liu’s back.
“I lied to you? Madam Liu, put your hand over your heart and tell me—who has been deceiving whom all these years?”
“You say Shi Huai is a concubine-born son and unworthy of inheriting the marquisate. Then tell me, what does the marquisate have left?”
“An empty shell!”
“Its reputation, its money, its connections—everything is gone!”
“Do you think having Youlan take a husband will preserve any of that?”
“Dream on!”
Madam Liu was so incensed by his words that she forgot to cry. Her eyes widened until they were round.
She rose from the couch and walked up to Shi Yuanzhi, lifting her chin to look at him.
They stood less than a foot apart.
Yet the invisible chasm between them was as impassable as a heavenly moat.
“Shi Yuanzhi, tell me the truth. Did you decide long ago to give the marquisate to that concubine-born son? Have you already forgotten what you promised me back then?”
“You said you would treat only me well for the rest of your life. You said everything in the marquisate belonged to me. But what about now?”
“You’re turning against me for the sake of a son born to another woman?”
Shi Yuanzhi lowered his head and looked at Madam Liu’s face, twisted with rage. He suddenly found it faintly ridiculous.
The greatest regret of his life was marrying this woman.
“Madam Liu, you accuse me of deceiving you. What about you? After marrying into the marquisate, do you want me to list every single thing you’ve done?”
“You sent people to investigate Shi Huai’s origins and spread rumors everywhere that he wasn’t of the marquisate’s blood. You poisoned his porridge. You colluded with those three madams and had them come here to pressure him into marrying into another family.”
“Which one of those things did I falsely accuse you of?”
Madam Liu’s face flushed, then paled. Her lips trembled.
She reached out and seized Shi Yuanzhi’s sleeve. “Who was I doing all this for? Wasn’t it for this family?”
“Youlan is your biological daughter, and Lingyi is your biological daughter too. They are the ones who carry the Shi family’s blood!”
“What is Shi Huai?”
“He’s a bastard of unknown origin. What right does he have to take what belongs to them?”
Shi Yuanzhi violently shook off her hand.
The force sent Madam Liu staggering several steps. She slammed into the pillar behind her before managing to steady herself.
Leaning against it, she gasped for breath, tears blurring her entire face.
“A bastard? Madam Liu, you still call him a bastard even now?”
“He is my son—the son I acknowledged with my own mouth!”
“If you call him a bastard, then you’re calling me the bastard’s father!”
“What does that make me?”
Madam Liu was bewildered by his twisted logic. For a moment, she could not find a single word with which to respond.
She leaned against the pillar, her chest heaving violently, but no sound came from her throat.
Seeing her disheveled state, Shi Yuanzhi’s fury burned even hotter.
He took two steps forward, closing the distance between them. His voice dropped so low that only the two of them could hear it.
“Madam Liu, do you think I, Shi Yuanzhi, have been completely under your thumb all these years?”
“Do you think I’ll believe anything you say and forgive anything you do?”
“Let me tell you this: from today onward, that ends.”
Madam Liu looked as though she had been struck by lightning. She stood frozen in place.
She raised her head and stared into Shi Yuanzhi’s eyes, which held not the slightest trace of warmth.
“Shi Yuanzhi, what do you mean? Are you going to divorce me?”
Her voice trembled. Her fingers trembled. Her entire body was shaking.
Shi Yuanzhi looked at the anger and disbelief written across her face, the corner of his mouth twitching faintly.
“Divorce you?”
“I wish I could have divorced you long ago. If not for Youlan and Lingyi, I would have done it already.”
“From today onward, stay here in Qingzhi Courtyard. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll arrange Youlan’s marriage myself.”
Madam Liu jerked her head up, her eyes widening.
“Shi Yuanzhi! You’re putting me under house arrest?”
“What have I done wrong? Which one of the things I did wasn’t for this family? What right do you have to confine me?”
Shi Yuanzhi showed no sign of softening. His voice was utterly calm.
“What right?”
“Because I am the Marquis of the Yongning Marquis’s Residence. Because I am your husband and lord. Because the things you’ve done are enough for me to divorce you ten times over.”
“Madam Liu, don’t push your luck.”
