They're so fierce, they must have borrowed courage from the heavens.
"Want to know why?" She loosened her belt as she walked towards Yu Zhi. It was only a few steps, but each step was graceful and made Yu Zhi's heart pound.
The fourth young lady placed both hands on the edge of the bathtub, smiling as she looked at the timid beauty who had retreated back into the water. Her phoenix eyes were both affectionate and ruthless: "Because you are a concubine, a concubine, nothing more than my plaything."
Yu Zhi's shyness shattered into dust, and her heart turned to ice.
It took her a long time to recover, and she smiled softly and affectionately, a smile that concealed too much grievance and bitterness. Wei Pingxi's face turned cold in an instant: "Stop smiling!"
Not knowing whether to laugh or not, Yu Zhi hugged her knees and said "Oh," no longer caring about how much of her body had been seen.
The expected teasing and ridicule, and the taking advantage of someone from a few steps away, did not happen. Instead, there was only silence and the sound of water being gently splashed.
Yuzhi was very sad.
The sad part is that she knows she is the fourth young lady's concubine, and at best, a pretty thing.
But she was sad about more than just that.
She couldn't explain it.
She would rather be teased, ridiculed, and taken advantage of by the fourth young lady than experience this silence.
The silence made her uneasy.
She timidly raised her eyes, tears welling up in her eyes, her two slender arms resting on the edge of the bathtub, the view of her chest quite impressive.
Her words were delicate and lacked any imposing manner.
"May I ask, what...what did I do to upset you?"
Wei Pingxi didn't even lift his eyelids: "Too seductive, like a vixen."
Yu Zhi cried, her face streaked with tears, and finally couldn't hold back her sobs. She was extremely aggrieved: "But you, but you didn't say that in bed last night."
"Oh? What did I say in bed?"
She seemed to have a bad memory, which made Yu Zhi so angry that she almost had a heart attack: "You said you liked me seducing you, and that I have a beautiful body, feel good when you touch me, and am fragrant and soft, and you never get tired of me."
She remembered every word they said during their pleasure last night. Wei Pingxi raised an eyebrow in surprise and finally looked at her properly: "You remember so clearly. It seems that I haven't tried hard enough."
Yu Zhi's voice trembled with embarrassment: "Anyway... I just remembered it..."
"You can't trust what a woman says in bed." Wei Pingxi leaned comfortably against the bathtub, his voice somewhat detached: "If she goes too far, she'll cross the line. You have to remember that."
The scent of mugwort wafted through the air, and Yu Zhi turned her back to secretly wipe away her tears.
Her jade-white back still bore the marks left by the Fourth Miss's passionate encounter last night, and even those marks trembled slightly now.
"Why are you crying? It was just a game, why did you take it seriously?"
"I...I didn't take it seriously!"
"Good, it's good that you didn't take it seriously..." Seeing her trembling and gasping for breath as she cried, Wei Pingxi frowned in annoyance.
The water splashed up and then fell back down.
The fourth young lady stepped into the bathtub where the favored concubine was. She hesitated for a long time, unsure of what to say to comfort her, and then said, "If you want to cry, save it for tonight, okay?"
Yu Zhi was hugged from behind, choking back tears: "I'm just a piece of trash..."
"..."
That's true, but why does it sound so jarring?
"I just wanted to see your fair skin, how did that go too far? I didn't seduce you..."
So it turns out I was just being presumptuous?
Wei Pingxi was furious.
No matter how angry she was, Yu Zhi couldn't see it. Yu Zhi was immersed in complex sadness: "If you can't do it, don't say those sweet words to me. You said them, I believed them, and then you turned around and said I was stupid. I am stupid..."
Things were spiraling out of control, and Wei Ping chuckled, "You want to teach me how to speak and act?"
"You have such a strange personality."
"It's strange."
Yu Zhi turned around, her eyes blurry with tears: "You just said a few days ago that you would be soft-hearted towards me."
"Okay, then I'll be soft-hearted this once."
Just once?
"One time isn't enough?"
For the fourth young lady, who has a bad temper and never backs down, it is already rare for her to lower herself and give someone a way out.
Seeing that things were going well, Yu Zhi snuggled into her arms, saying, "You scared me..."
Wei Pingxi gently stroked her smooth back: "You're just too timid."
No, that's not true.
It's because your personality is too strange.
Yu Zhi only dared to complain in her heart, and then bit the fourth young lady's collarbone in revenge.
...
After bathing, Wei Pingxi lay refreshed on a bamboo chair, while the beautiful woman beside her tirelessly massaged her legs, sometimes too lightly, sometimes too heavily—in short, she was difficult to please.
"Young Master Sun has quite the courage." She smiled and lifted her leg. Yu Zhi held a small wooden mallet and tapped her calf. After a while, she managed to control the force quite well.
It's quite difficult for the Fourth Miss to praise someone.
Yu Zhi asked, "Young Master Sun has caused a great disaster. Will the Wei family let him off the hook?"
"What if we let him go? What if we don't? My elder brother is destined to become a eunuch, so we can't make the young master of the Sun family a eunuch too."
“It is inevitable that the martial arts competition will end in defeat. The Wei family has absolute power in Lingnan Prefecture. Outside of Lingnan Prefecture, the world is vast and boundless. Sun Qianye is currently enjoying great favor.”
"Which family is more powerful, the Sun family or the Wei family?"
Wei Ping chuckled: "That's not how it works. In this world today, only His Majesty is the most powerful."
"The loss of my elder brother's manhood is merely a family matter between the Wei and Sun families. Anyone who tries to turn a family matter into a political affair is simply being disrespectful."
"Think about it again. Now that my elder brother has been castrated, he's a rootless man. Do you think the Wei family would still fight to the death for him against the Sun family, who are currently enjoying great favor? Detaining Sun Jingming is just for show. My sister-in-law can stay in the backyard."
Seeing Yu Zhi listening intently, she got up and took the wooden mallet from her hand: "Lie down. I'm taking pity on you today and will serve you."
Yu Zhixin was delighted and obediently lay down. Wei Pingxi's expression changed, and he reached into her trouser leg to play with her slender white calves. His free hand then held a small wooden mallet and tapped the sore spots on her legs.
She kept finding new ways to be a scoundrel, and Yuzhi blushed as she enjoyed it.
"If the old man and father don't seek justice for my elder brother, given his temperament, there's going to be a good show in this mansion."
She smiled dismissively: "When dogs fight, it's all just a bloody mess. The Wei family, which has been so quiet all along, should finally see some bloodshed."
...
The second wife, her face swollen, came to her husband to confront him and complain. After a few words of grumbling, Wei Er, contrary to his usual behavior, reprimanded her.
"Alright! This is never going to end. Have you no sense of proportion? Are you just fixated on this one slap? Don't you even know what time it is!"
He whispered, "My elder brother is ruined."
Li was still fuming from his scolding when she heard this and was taken aback. She looked around to make sure no one else was there, and asked, "Is he really crippled?"
Cut it off at the root.
After saying this, Wei Er put on a pained expression and nervously covered his lower body.
It's ruined.
It's completely useless.
The couple looked at each other, tacitly putting aside their grudges against Jingzhe Courtyard.
This is a good opportunity to seize power.
The eldest son is ruined, but the second son is still alive!
The eldest son's wife hasn't had a child in several years, but Li Shi has given birth to two children for Wei Er!
"Good riddance."
Both of them sighed at the same time.
...
In late autumn, the wind howls, and so do people.
The second son of the Wei family has become the most sought-after son in the household. Seeing that the eldest son could not be relied upon, the Marquis of Yiyang recently summoned his second son to his study to teach him.
From now on, the Wei family will have to rely on the second branch to support the family.
Circumstances are more powerful than people.
The eldest son of the Wei family was rarely seen, and the servants did not serve him attentively. He was a legitimate eldest son destined to be deposed, and was treated worse than a dog.
Although Young Master Sun was still locked up in the woodshed, the old man did not neglect his three meals a day.
Who would give a second glance to a worthless eldest son?
If it's ruined, then so be it.
The Wei family cannot afford to make enemies because of this.
Perhaps it's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge, but right now, Sun Qianye is doing a good job and is enjoying great favor, so the Wei family can only suffer in silence.
After Wei Da recovered from his injuries, he lost a lot of weight. His concubine cowered around him, and he mocked himself, "Why are you still here? I'm just a useless piece of trash now, I can't give you anything."
"I...I have nowhere to go..."
I am but a floating duckweed, rooted in my master's household. When the eldest son falls, I fall with him.
"Following me means you'll have no way to survive. Do you still want to live?"
"think……"
"Alright then." Young Master Wei smiled. "Go to the Opera Pavilion and ask the old master to take you in. You may not be as pretty as that concubine in the Jingzhe Courtyard, but you are sensible. Perhaps you can find a way to survive if you go to the Opera Pavilion."
"yes……"
The concubine also left.