"Look, you're already on the verge of tears before anything's even happened."
"I didn't want to cry."
She was just angry!
Why do perfectly normal people have to have a mouth?
"Alright, it's not time for you to charge into battle for me yet."
Wei Pingxi kissed the beauty's lips, a fleeting, light kiss, before his smile turned cold: "What do you think about making the eldest son of the Marquis's family a eunuch? Anyway, his thing isn't very useful."
Yu Zhi remained silent, burying her face in the crook of her neck.
The fourth young lady stroked her back as if petting a cat, and muttered to herself, "If the eldest son becomes a eunuch, wouldn't the Wei family's drama be even more interesting?"
"The old man loves watching plays so much, it's not too much for me to treat him to a big show, is it? He might even thank me."
"I won't accept his thanks. After all, he's getting old and won't live for many more years."
"Do you think my sister-in-law will still stay with my eldest brother after he's castrated? Will my second brother try to seize power? If my second brother does seize power, will someone like my eldest brother let it go?"
"Both are my flesh and blood, Father. How should I decide? If chaos breaks out in the manor, will there be bloodshed?"
She sighed deliberately, "I can't do anything that involves bloodshed. It would get my hands dirty, and it's not worth it. I need to think about it, I need to think about it carefully."
"..."
A chill ran down Yu Zhi's spine, a cold shiver running down her spine.
...
Leaves fall, autumn trees are covered in frost.
A month has passed since Wei Da's secret rendezvous with his mistress and Wei Er's fight with his wife. The old man has personally given the order, and no one in the family dares to cause trouble again.
In late autumn, a secret letter was delivered by fast horse to the Sun family in the capital.
At noon, a person hiding in the shadows drew a bow and shot an arrow, sending a secret message to the gate of the Sun residence. The gatekeeper came out, took the message, and his expression changed. He hurriedly handed it to the head of the household, who was serving as the Minister of Personnel in the imperial court.
Having achieved their goal, the martial arts practitioners who had come on orders departed gracefully.
At the Jingzhe Courtyard, Wei Pingxi held a brush in one hand and painted with great interest.
“The Sun family is my sister-in-law’s maternal family. Sun Qianye was promoted to Minister of Personnel half a month ago and is now very powerful. If they find out that their eldest daughter is only destined to have an affair and live alone in my Wei family, what do you think they will do?”
Jade pondered for a moment and said, "Minister Sun might not make an enemy of the Wei family for his daughter's sake, but Madam Sun might not be so."
Wei Pingxi, halfway through painting the portrait of a beauty, sighed and smiled, “You’re wrong. On the contrary, Madam Sun is a woman and understands the hardships women face best. She wouldn’t dare to make a scene for the sake of her daughter’s reputation.”
"And Minister Sun..."
"For the sake of the Sun family's reputation and for his hard-won position as Minister, he would never swallow this insult."
He would do everything in his power to make his sister-in-law divorce his brother and leave the Wei family, this dangerous, filthy, and treacherous place.
"He naturally thinks his daughter is good."
"A perfectly good daughter married into the Wei family, but she hasn't given birth to a single child over the years. It turns out it's not that the daughter is incompetent, but that the son-in-law is incompetent. Not only is the son-in-law incompetent, but he also keeps a mistress and allows the younger brother-in-law to seduce the elder sister-in-law..."
Minister Sun will surely be furious.
"For various reasons, he would rather offend the Wei family than let his daughter stay here any longer."
After finishing the last stroke, the Fourth Miss admired the beauty in the painting: "The Minister of Personnel holds a high position and wields great power. He cannot easily leave the capital. Tell me, who do you think he will send?"
"Of course it's Young Master Sun!"
“That’s right. Sun Jingming has practiced martial arts since childhood and has the best relationship with his elder sister. After such an incident, he has to rush to Lingnan Prefecture to find out the truth.”
...
"Outrageous! Outrageous! The Wei family has gone too far in bullying my son!" Minister Sun slammed his hand on the table, his face turning ashen.
Madam Sun clutched the thick, long letter with deep worry, completely distraught: "How could this be? Son-in-law, how could my son-in-law be such a person?"
"Whether he is or not, a single investigation will tell!"
"Master, you mustn't!" Madam Sun pleaded. "If our daughter goes, how will she cope?"
Minister Sun's hands were bulging with veins, as if he was enduring to the extreme. He spoke slowly and deliberately, "It is precisely for my daughter's sake, and for the reputation of my Sun family, that she cannot be in that place!"
"Have you considered that if what this letter says is true... our daughter is not respected or loved by her son-in-law, but instead has an affair with Wei Er? If word gets out, not only will she become a laughing stock, but our entire Sun family will become a laughing stock in the world!"
Madam Sun's face turned ashen.
"The best course of action now is to find out the truth. If this is true, divorce is the best way to get out of this mess—cut off all the evil sources that are ruining the reputation of my Sun family, and let the Wei family bear all the blame!"
"Inhuman? Inhuman? You come here to harm my daughter? Do you think I, Sun Qianye, am a coward?!"
The door was pushed open with a bang, and the eldest son of the Sun family, holding a long sword, exclaimed: "Father! I'm going to bring my sister back!"
...
"Has Qin Tanzhi arrived in Lingnan Prefecture?"
"We've arrived. We arrived yesterday."
"Alright!" Wei Pingxi tossed aside his pen. "I'll borrow his 'finger flicking skill' when the time comes. If it works out, he'll have repaid the favor he owes me!"
"Yes, I will tell Qin Xia Ke this word for word."
"Everything is ready, so let's just wait and see what happens." She crossed her legs, held a cup of fragrant tea, and used the lid to push aside the billowing steam: "What is she doing?"
"Aunt Yu went to the back garden to relax, with Jinshi, Yinding and Granny Wu following her."
"The back garden?" Wei Pingxi asked. "What about my eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, and their two concubines? What are they doing?"
Agate touched her nose: "Unfortunately, they also went to the back garden."
"There's something exciting to see?" Her eyes lit up, and she put down her teacup. "Let's go, let's go see it quickly, or we'll miss it!"
...
Yu Zhi was cornered in the southwest corner of the back garden, listening to the two ladies 'discuss the rules'.
They talked at length, buzzing and humming.
This isn't a coincidence; it's like they deliberately timed it and waited for her to come!
She was dressed in bright colors, wearing a hibiscus-embroidered gold skirt that was hard to buy even with money at the 'Lingluofang' store, and a pair of 'White Jade Light Bracelets' from the 'Yushige' store, which cost three thousand taels each. The lustrous bracelets made her slender wrists look porcelain white.
A golden hairpin adorns her hair, its shimmering light captivating her beauty.
The jade pendants on the skirt are exquisite.
She was just a concubine who couldn't be presented to the public, yet she had nothing wrong with her.
The lavish colors adorned the painting with extravagance, and the two ladies gritted their teeth, cursing the "vixen" countless times in their hearts.
"Without rules, there can be no order. You don't even kneel before us. Who taught you that?"
The first wife, Madam Sun, looked disdainful, while the second wife, unusually, chimed in: "In this family, a wife is a wife, and a concubine is a concubine. How can we really confuse the hierarchy?"
"We can't afford to offend the Fourth Miss, but we can afford to offend you. I'll say it right here: stop trying to seduce people! Do you really think you're a prostitute in a brothel, able to make men fall head over heels for you with a single move?"
As Yu Zhi listened to their barrage of insults, one after another, she secretly made a mental calculation:
Sun Shi probably took advantage of the power of the first wife and wanted to suppress the second wife. She let Li Shi say all the sharp and sarcastic things, while she herself acted like a dog that bites but doesn't bark, baring her teeth and showing off her power by the roadside, with her tail almost pointing to the sky.
She had heard countless insults, but sadly, the two of them combined were no match for the formidable fighting power of the old hag from Liushui Lane alone.
"I told you to kneel down. Don't you understand what I'm saying?"
Yu Zhi was timid.
After all, this is not the Jingzhe Courtyard.
But precisely because this wasn't the Jingzhe Courtyard, she couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the two ladies.
If she kneels, the two ladies might kick her a few more times. Granny Wu is right. Outside Jingzhe Courtyard, she represents the Fourth Miss's face. She doesn't need to be polite to anyone who disrespects the Fourth Miss!
She pretended to be stupid and stared blankly at a flower.
The flowers are chrysanthemums, blooming somewhat droopy. It's rare to see one so upright and vibrant in late autumn. As for their appearance... it's hard to say whether they resemble the Sun family more or the Li family more.
Yu Zhi thought that if it were the Fourth Miss here, given her sharp tongue, she would probably have already spoken up—
To be gentler, say something like, "Sister-in-law, your face looks just like this chrysanthemum." To be more direct, say something like, "Second sister-in-law, don't be angry. If you get angry, it will remind me of your pig-like face that I saw just last month."
As she thought about it, she chuckled.
The fourth young lady has a sharp tongue that can infuriate people, yet she has a beautiful face, looking like a fairy. She speaks gently, but when she gets angry, she can unleash a thunderous force. No matter how you look at it, she is difficult to please.
"What are you laughing at? You dare to laugh?"
Why can't I laugh?
Yu Zhi spoke softly and gently, her expression full of innocence. This innocence was not feigned, but rather a pure and kind nature that flowed from her very being.
The second wife was taken aback. Out of respect for the fourth young lady, she did not want to make a move against this concubine, but the concubine was so flamboyant that her very existence was the biggest mistake!
She was not like Madam Sun. When Madam Sun married into the Wei family, her father was not yet the Minister of Personnel, so it was considered a high-status marriage. After she married into the family, the eldest son doted on her for two days and then got tired of her.
The greatest tragedy of this woman is that despite bearing the title of the eldest wife of the Wei family, she is completely ignored and neglected.
She and her husband had shared a period of harmonious and tender times. No matter how absurd Wei Er was, he would never allow her to live as a widow while she was still alive.
Recalling the kindness Wei Er had shown her, the Second Madam sneered, "Slap her face until it's shattered, and see how she tries to seduce anyone then!"
Yu Zhi's face paled slightly, and she took a step back.
She knew better than anyone the usefulness of this face; if her face was ruined, the Fourth Miss would no longer want her.
With gold and silver ingots blocking the way to protect their master, Granny Wu stepped forward and said, "Why are you two ladies being so aggressive? Although this is the back garden, it is still part of the Wei family."
"Who gave you, a mere servant, the right to speak? If I want to hit her, try stopping me!"
"Second Madam!" Wu Mama said sternly, "Although I am a servant, I was given to Madam Wei by the Empress, and then given to the concubine by the Madam. They say you have to consider the owner before you beat a dog. You should think this through."
After being reminded by her, Madam Li began to back down. Madam Sun then coldly instigated, "I know you're precious. It's not like I'm the one who's being hit. Why are you in such a hurry? She's just a concubine. Or is it that the second wife of the Wei family isn't as valuable to you as a concubine?"
Her words struck Li to the core.
Li had always looked down on even her sister-in-law, Sun, considering her a lowly concubine, and thought she could be beaten without hesitation!
“Miss? This…” Jade said in a low voice, “Aren’t you going to show yourself if a fight breaks out?”
"What's the rush?" Wei Pingxi spat out the fruit pit and glanced lazily in that direction: "If Li really hit her, I'll chop off her hand. If Zhizhi just stands there obediently and takes the beating, I won't want her anymore."