After Xie Yan left, Zhao Xuanzhen returned to the room.
Su Huajin sat by the table with an expressionless face, while Su Wantang had already emerged from the inner room, dressed, her hair still dripping wet.
Xiaotao took the damp clothes, which were balled up, to wash them. Zhao Xuanzhen, remembering the unpleasantness before he left and seeing Su Wantang’s pathetic appearance—her face pale and her eyes red-rimmed—stepped forward helplessly.
“It’s over now. The assassin Cousin Xie was hunting is no small matter, so he was a bit aggressive.” He soothed her, “The Grand Tutor is of noble character and not one to bully others. He certainly did not intend to insult or degrade you earlier… He asked me to convey his apologies and is willing to offer compensation as a gesture of his regret.”
Su Wantang replied sullenly, “I wouldn’t dare accept.”
Su Huajin found the expression on Zhao Xuanzhen’s face when he spoke to Su Wantang to be an eyesore. She said indifferently, “If you hadn’t been bathing in the middle of the night, this wouldn’t have happened.”
After saying this, she cast a cold glare at Zhao Xuanzhen and rose to leave without another word.
From the moment Zhao Xuanzhen had taken Xie Yan aside to talk, Su Huajin had understood everything… And upon seeing the marks on Su Wantang’s body, she had nearly been unable to stop herself from wanting to press that base wench into the bathwater and drown her!
She hadn’t even fully recovered from her injuries, yet she was already being so shameless, seducing Zhao Xuanzhen into coming to the Cuiwei Pavilion to trifle with her… Being humiliated by Xie Yan as a suspect was exactly what she deserved!
However, since she was the one who had brought this person into the mansion, and knowing she was acting out of jealousy, Su Huajin found it difficult to vent further and had to endure it as she left.
Yet, even though she had obviously left in a huff, Zhao Xuanzhen did not pursue her immediately. Instead, he lingered at the Cuiwei Pavilion for quite a while before returning to the Minghui Courtyard.
Su Huajin sneered, “It’s so late, Heir. Why are you here instead of staying to properly comfort your sister?”
Zhao Xuanzhen knew Su Huajin’s anger was reasonable given his trip to the Cuiwei Pavilion, so he stepped forward to explain, “I only went to check on Wantang’s injuries…”
Su Huajin mocked, “And then you lost your soul the moment you saw her?”
The remark was truly biting. Zhao Xuanzhen frowned, “As I said before, it was all for the sake of an heir. You were the one who insisted on bringing her back; why do you keep arguing with me about her?”
Zhao Xuanzhen was never a man of mild temperament. Though he and Su Huajin usually lived in mutual respect, Su Huajin knew his true nature. She immediately regretted her words, realizing she had been the one to bring the woman here and that her repeated displays of jealousy were easy to find annoying. Seeing Zhao Xuanzhen’s flickering impatience, Su Huajin’s eyes reddened.
“It is this concubine’s fault… but I only worry that the Heir is being misled by her. Su Wantang’s birth mother was of base character. You are of such noble status, Heir; if your heart were to be clouded by such a lowly creature, would that not be my fault?”
Once Su Huajin softened her stance, Zhao Xuanzhen’s expression improved significantly. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “It is enough for you to focus on your health. Why expend energy on such insignificant people? In your heart, am I someone so easily bewitched?”
Su Huajin leaned against him submissively. “It is just that my care makes me prone to worry.”
Zhao Xuanzhen patted her. “Your focus should be on the mansion; do not fixate on the unimportant person in the Cuiwei Pavilion… Lady Xiao will not remain idle. You must stay vigilant. If she finds out you cannot conceive again, the mansion will never know peace.”
Su Huajin knew Zhao Xuanzhen spoke the truth. Considering her current predicament, she bit her lip, warning herself not to act as she had before. Until Su Wantang bore a child to stabilize her position, she could not afford to draw Zhao Xuanzhen’s ire.
Thus, Su Huajin replied softly, “This concubine understands.”
“I am glad you understand.” Zhao Xuanzhen patted her hand and rose. “I am returning to the study…”
“Heir.” Su Huajin grabbed his sleeve, shy and bashful. “I have been clean for several days now. Dr. Zhou said… it is possible.”
Zhao Xuanzhen paused briefly. He was not a man driven by extreme desire, nor was he intentionally abstinent. Even in the past, when he had no mood for it, he had always patiently humored his wife so as not to wound her face or heart. But now, looking at Su Huajin, he felt an impatience to comply. It must have been the mood dampened by the earlier argument.
Zhao Xuanzhen felt impatient inside, but his outward demeanor remained gentle and considerate toward his wife. “The entire mansion was stirred tonight; I must go to my father’s side. Otherwise, Lady Xiao and her son will surely say something before him.”
Su Huajin thought this reasonable, so she did not press him further and sent him off with tender devotion.
However, after leaving the Minghui Courtyard, Zhao Xuanzhen did not go to Prince Ding’s quarters. He knew Cousin Xie Yan would clarify the situation to his father, and he couldn’t be bothered to see the old man… By the time Zhao Xuanzhen snapped out of his trance, he realized he had been walking toward the Cuiwei Pavilion.
His footsteps faltered; he frowned, and then turned toward the study.
What he told Su Huajin was not entirely a lie… Su Wantang was a tool for bearing an heir; how could he look at her with anything more? She must be, as Huajin said, a concubine’s daughter who was too beautiful and prone to bewitching hearts. He was a normal man; a moment of indulgence was excusable… But to say he cared for her? That was simply ridiculous!
Back in the Cuiwei Pavilion, Su Wantang lay on the bed while Xiaotao meticulously dried her hair with a soft cloth. Su Wantang was drifting into sleep, feeling utterly drained. If she had known she would be risking so much tonight, she never should have been entangled with Zhao Xuanzhen earlier.
That night, Su Wantang slept soundly…
Because Su Huajin knew of Zhao Xuanzhen’s visit to the Cuiwei Pavilion for pleasure, Su Wantang had been prepared to be picked on. However, unexpectedly, Su Huajin did not come; someone else did instead.
It was the secondary consort of Prince Ding, Xiao Yuwan.
As the Su family’s concubine-born daughter visiting her sister at the Prince’s estate, Su Wantang had been taken to the main courtyard to pay her respects on her first day. However, Lady Xiao had been away on a pilgrimage with the Empress Dowager, so they had not met. Since then, Su Wantang had never gone toward the main courtyard again. The secondary consort had never inquired about her further, and Su Wantang knew it was because the secondary consort, born of the Duke of Yong’s family, looked down on her. Furthermore, as she was not Zhao Xuanzhen’s biological mother, she remained detached from the Minghui Courtyard, so this was not surprising.
But after the commotion in the mansion last night, Lady Xiao sent someone to summon her today…
Lady Xiao had previously heard her maids mention that the Heir’s concubine-born sister-in-law was exceptionally beautiful, but she had always been too indifferent to care. When she had the girl brought before her today, she was secretly stunned.
She was truly a great beauty.
Xiao Yuwan, born into the Duke of Yong’s household, had been raised in luxury and was accustomed to seeing famous beauties, yet the beauty of this concubine-born daughter, said to be of humble origin, still caused her a secret shock.
She was truly a temptress, a source of calamity… This made the fragments of information her spies had gathered last night much more credible.
Xie Yan’s sealing of the mansion the previous night had been a major event, and Xiao Yuwan would not be careless. She had carefully had her eyes and ears investigate, only to discover that the Xie family’s heir, Grand Tutor Xie Yan, had led men into the Cuiwei Pavilion—the residence of Zhao Xuanzhen’s sister-in-law.
Xie Yan’s mistaken intrusion into the Cuiwei Pavilion seemed to stem from seeing someone entering and leaving in the middle of the night… Later, when Zhao Xuanzhen and his wife went over, Xie Yan’s men had departed.
So, who else could it be that was entering and leaving the Cuiwei Pavilion in the dead of night?
Xiao Yuwan had already felt that Su Huajin’s condition after her miscarriage was somewhat strange… She had her pulse checked and medicine prescribed by the same physician every time, and that physician was one of Xie Yan’s men. Others had no way of knowing Su Huajin’s true physical state.
If it were just a miscarriage, why the need for such secrecy?
Now, she had brought such an exceptionally beautiful concubine-born sister into her back courtyard… So secretive, what exactly were they so afraid that people would find out?