At this moment, Mrs. Chen turned back, burning with the urge to tear Yin Weiyue’s mouth to pieces: “It’s not your place to pass judgment on me! Huo Anzong hasn’t divorced me yet, so I am still your Third Aunt! How dare you address me by my full name in public? You disobey your elders—you deserve a beating too!”
She was so utterly enraged by Yin Weiyue that her entire body shook.
“Disobeying my elders?” Yin Weiyue laughed. “I’ve been married into the Huo family for over two years. By right, you all should have investigated my background thoroughly by now. To say I merely disobey my elders is giving me far too much credit.”
With a turn of her thoughts, she began embellishing and reciting the original host’s “shocking deeds” from the book.
“When I was seven, I wanted to eat apricots from a tree. I told the servant boy to pick from the left branch, but he picked from the right instead. So, I had hot water poured into his ears—his ears were useless anyway, so ruining them was just right.
When I was eight, my father took a new concubine who was quite pretty, which displeased my mother. I burst into her room and slashed her face twice with a blade. Ah, the blood~ tsk tsk, it soaked her entire front.
And my Eldest Aunt—she suddenly caught an acute illness and could no longer speak. That was my doing too. Who told her to say I lacked the propriety of her daughter? Since that mouth was useless, she might as well lose it. There are many, many more things like this—I couldn’t finish telling them all in three days and three nights. But my father holds great power and dotes on me above all else; whenever something happened, he would just throw a servant out to take the blame, and no one dared to hold me accountable.”
As Yin Weiyue spoke, she wished she could slap the original host twice herself. Raised in such an utterly lawless and spoiled manner, her character could truly only be described as vicious to the extreme.
The faces of everyone present instantly turned pale. They only knew that Lady Yin was arrogant and domineering, constantly at odds with her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law since joining the family, but they never knew she had been so cruel since childhood.
Others might not have known, but how could Mrs. Feng fail to uncover any trace of it back then? It was only because everyone believed the two had consummated their relationship that they had no choice but to accept such a daughter-in-law. Now, she regretted it deeply.
Huo Wanying felt even more distressed for her Seventh Brother, feeling like a fine cabbage had been ruined by a pig.
The Old Lady sighed. When descendants lack moral integrity, it is a sign that Heaven intends to ruin the Huo family! At a critical junction like this, if she allowed the younger generation to act this way without distinguishing right from wrong, even if the day came when their name was cleared, the Huo family would likely not endure for long.
“Seventh’s Wife, no matter what evils you committed in the Yin family in the past, as long as you remain in the Huo family for a day, you are forbidden from committing such vicious acts ever again. You had better reform yourself completely as soon as possible, if only to accumulate merit for yourself.
Regardless of what grievances you have with the Third Branch, and regardless of your reasons or motives, since you brought up the matter of the plot against Seventh today, grandmother thanks you on behalf of the First Branch. Since His Majesty has granted you permission to obtain a divorce, why don’t you two make a clean break today? Consider it an escape from your current sea of suffering.”
Hearing his grandmother relent, Huo Jun finally exhaled the frustration trapped in his chest. Just as he was about to voice his agreement, his arm was tugged.
Turning around, who else could it be but Yin Weiyue!
She intimately pulled Huo Jun’s arm. “Grandmother, this granddaughter-in-law will not divorce. In the past, I was blind and mistook toadstones for pearls. From now on, no matter how difficult it gets, I will surely live a good life with Seventh Young Master.”
Huo Kai, who was kneeling on the ground, twitched his eyebrows. No one liked being implicitly mocked, especially a proud man like him.
Zhang Yulin, on the other hand, was quite pleased, secretly congratulating her Seventh Sister-in-law for coming to her senses in time. That way, she would lose an imaginary rival, and her future days would be more peaceful. Besides, Huo Kai was just a straightforward, impulsive man with really no virtues worth women fighting over.
Meanwhile, beside her, Huo Jun was nearly pulled over by Yin Weiyue again.
How could this woman be so strong? Frowning, he covertly glanced at their intertwined arms—this was their first physical contact. The man pulled his arm outward with all his strength, trying three or four times, but failed every time.
Noticing Huo Jun’s resistance, Yin Weiyue signaled him with her eyes, as if saying: *Give up struggling, weakling.*
The victorious smile blooming on the woman’s face appeared, in Huo Jun’s eyes, to be the exact image of a petty villain achieving success.
The Old Lady raised her eyes to look at Huo Jun.
For a lawfully wedded wife to harbor feelings for her husband’s cousin instead was a humiliation to any man.
She did not want her grandson to suffer grievances, but Lady Yin’s intention to repent was extremely evident. As the saying goes, one would rather destroy ten temples than break up a marriage; besides, isn’t every family’s daily life just about making do?
As the saying goes, making do is making blessings.
The Old Lady pondered for a moment before speaking again: “Lady Yin, the Huo family has been framed for the grave crime of treason. It might end in execution, and even if not, we do not know when this period of house arrest will end. Are you truly sure you will not divorce?”
“I will not divorce! My father-in-law and two elder brothers are loyal to the sovereign and the country; they would never commit treason. Our Huo family has been framed, and one day the truth will come to light. But if Heaven truly wills our Huo family to suffer this unjust grievance, even if it means execution, I want to be with Seventh Young Master. We will share the same blanket in life and the same grave in death.”
Yin Weiyue held onto Huo Jun’s arm tightly, speaking these words with resolute and forceful determination, moving even herself.
Yet these impassioned words failed to move Mrs. Feng. Who would believe that Lady Yin had fallen in love with her son in just one afternoon? She wanted the two to divorce more than anyone else. Hearing that the conversation was taking a wrong turn, she was about to speak up, but was stopped by the Old Lady.
At the mention of her son and grandsons who were still in the imperial prison, the Old Lady’s eyes turned red. She said to Yin Weiyue: “Very well. Since you insist on staying, you must clearly recognize your status. As long as you are in the Huo Manor for a day, you are Seventh’s wife. The most important thing for a married woman is to observe womanly virtues.
Treat the past as a big dream and let no one speak of it again. From now on, turn over a new leaf, start anew, and sever all thoughts you shouldn’t have. Though our Huo family is suffering misfortune right now, I believe Heaven always leaves a way out, and the Huo family will surely stand tall again. As for your Third Aunt, I will absolutely not show her leniency. Rest assured, all of you.”
The Old Lady was quite optimistic, but she wasn’t wrong either.
In the original book, only the First Branch suffered heavy casualties on the road to exile, while the other three branches suffered almost no losses—at least none of their people perished in the parts she had read.
“Grandmother speaks rightly. Weiyue has taken it to heart and will surely forget the past and live well with Seventh Young Master from now on. I only wonder how you plan to punish Third Aunt?” Yin Weiyue steered the topic back to Mrs. Chen once again.
The Old Lady glanced at her, then looked toward Mrs. Chen: “One hundred strikes with a cane. Sinuan, you shall execute it—”
“Grandmother, I’ll take over this rough work for Mother.” Yin Weiyue quickly volunteered and took the initiative. Before anyone else could react, she grabbed the walking cane.
If those hundred cane strikes were left to Mrs. Feng, it was uncertain whether she could even hit the target, and she might end up hurting herself instead. Among the remaining people present, apart from the Old Lady, everyone else belonged to the younger generation; they would inevitably be overly cautious and unable to strike heavily—after all, the poisoning occurred three years ago, and Huo Jun didn’t end up dying.
Although Yin Weiyue was also of the younger generation, she was not afraid. Not only was she not afraid, but her smile at this moment was also somewhat sinister. “Come on, Third Aunt. It’ll hurt less if you lie down yourself.”