Very soon, Shen Mo hurried to the lakeside from a distance and, without a moment’s hesitation, leapt into the water to rescue Ninth Miss.
Kneeling on the bank with her soaked body in his arms, he instinctively turned his head, intending to lash out at that lowly woman. Yet the instant his gaze swept over Tang Li, he froze.
Tang Li had only just pulled herself out of the lake by her own strength. Damp strands of hair clung messily to her face, her deer-like wet eyes brimmed with fear and grievance, and the slap mark on her cheek stood out starkly, edged red and swollen.
“…”
A jolt ran through Shen Mo’s heart. How had he, for a fleeting moment, thought this lowborn woman looked almost pitiful?
His arms unconsciously loosened around Ninth Miss. As though sensing it, she coughed up water and woke up.
“Brother Mo…”
With a face full of grievance, Ninth Miss clung to his arm, ready to accuse that wretched woman of her madness. Yet when she lifted her head, she found his expression dark and questioning.
“Why did you push her into the lake, and why did you strike her?”
“???”
“Brother Mo, I didn’t… it wasn’t me…”
At the windswept lakeside, Ninth Miss sat drenched and disheveled, glaring furiously at Tang Li.
“It was her… she jumped into the lake herself!”
Seeing the man’s dark expression and his silence, panic stirred in Ninth Miss’s heart. But she believed Shen Mo would, as always, defend her and punish that madwoman for her sake. Emboldened, she pressed even harder.
“That wretch must be jealous of me and deliberately tried to harm me!”
“And the slap mark on her face?” the man asked coldly.
“She slapped herself, of course… Brother Mo, do you not believe me?”
Ignoring Ninth Miss, Shen Mo turned his gaze toward Tang Li.
By the quiet lakeshore, Tang Li trembled from the cold. Droplets slid from the strands at her brow, and her fawn-like eyes were filled with fragility.
Shen Mo had to admit, this pitiful appearance stirred his protective instincts, sending ripples through his heart.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Miss in his arms still wore an arrogant smile, loudly mocking Tang Li.
“Wretch, kneel and kowtow to me now, and I may graciously spare you!”
Watching her overbearing expression, irritation rose inexplicably within him. His brows furrowed, displeasure flashing through his eyes.
He pushed Ninth Miss away, strode to Tang Li’s side, removed his outer robe without hesitation, and draped it over her shoulders.
“Do not be afraid, it’s all right now.”
His voice softened, but when he turned back to Ninth Miss, his gaze was icy.
“Mei’er, you’ve gone too far this time.”
“Brother Mo? You’re taking this wretch’s side?” Ninth Miss sounded close to tears.
“Insolence. I may have indulged your temper before, but this time you have truly gone beyond reason.”
“Brother Mo! She’s silent because she feels guilty! She bullied me first, why won’t you believe me?”
“Enough!” Shen Mo barked.
“I feared she would cause trouble at the family banquet, so yesterday I had mute medicine forced on her. She cannot even speak, how could she have provoked you on purpose?
I saw you push her from the grove. It seems I have spoiled you too much.”
“I didn’t! It truly wasn’t me!”
Now truly panicked, Ninth Miss grabbed at his robes to defend herself, only to be shaken off.
Shen Mo helped Tang Li away, leaving Ninth Miss alone by the lake, weeping in shock.
Afterward, Tang Li moved to a warm pavilion and changed into a clean lotus-colored ru skirt.
Behind a gauze curtain, she quietly listened as Shen Mo sat in the hall speaking on Ninth Miss’s behalf. She had known it, this man would still favor the heroine.
“Mei’er was merely drunk. I know her temperament.
She was only jealous, it was thoughtless, do not take it to heart…”
“…”
Tang Li did not need him to continue. She already knew he would scold her for lacking womanly virtue and call her a jealous shrew.
There was nothing to say to him.
So she turned to leave, ignoring his call behind her. She had no wish to look at filth.
But no sooner had she stepped out of the side hall than a pair of hands caught her and pinned her into a corner.
“Tang Li, what little temper are you throwing now? I wasn’t finished speaking and you’re already leaving…”
“Fine.”
“…?”
Shen Mo stared blankly.
Ordinarily, the butcher’s daughter would have refused to let a grievance go, seizing on Ninth Miss’s faults to complain tearfully to him.
He had heard that ever since Tang Mei drove her out, she had been wandering outside. At a moment like this, when he was offering her a way out, shouldn’t she have eagerly clung to him?
What was this today?
Suppressing his confusion, Shen Mo assumed she was still angry and, for the first time, tried coaxing her patiently.
“I know you’ve suffered wrongs, I…”
“Tang Li, we should break off our engagement.”
“What?”
She looked straight at him, enunciating each word.
“I said, I want to break our engagement.”
Shen Mo’s hand jerked, tea spilling over his sleeve, yet he seemed not to notice.
Shock flashed first, then anger surged through him. Rising abruptly, he swept aside the gauze curtain and strode toward her, faint fury in his voice.
“You know our engagement was never by choice, and because of that I have neglected you. If you are angry over Mei’er, then I can apologize for her. But breaking off the engagement is impossible.”
Tang Li pressed her lips together, but her tone remained resolute.
“My mind is made up. You and Tang Mei love each other. I am willing to step aside and fulfill your wishes, shouldn’t you be pleased?
If you came to accuse me of lacking propriety or virtue, spare me the lecture and sign the dissolution papers already, then you can hurry off and embrace your beauty.”
“You…”
The man’s face turned ugly.
Even Shen Mo did not understand why rage burned so fiercely inside him. He had always despised this lowborn fiancée.
He tried to breathe deeply, to quell the anger, but fury and unwillingness churned endlessly like a tide.
It had to be because…
Because she forgot her place and dared challenge him.
Only he could propose dissolving the engagement, she had no right to make demands.
Yes!
That had to be it.
At length, Shen Mo looked at the indifferent Tang Li and could bear no more.
“You say break the engagement and it breaks? Dream on!”
Fire filled his eyes.
“Tang Li, I heard you. You love me. Isn’t everything you’re doing merely to attract my attention and compete for affection?
Though I do not love you, for the sake of what we once had, I will not cast you off. The General’s Manor will still feed you.”
Veins bulged at his temples as he snapped, “But do not use breaking the engagement to provoke me!”
“You think I’m provoking you?”
Tang Li laughed as if hearing the greatest joke.
“Don’t flatter yourself.
A dog of a man like you, who wants both a good reputation and a lover on the side, is nothing I treasure. Marrying you was like being bitten by a dog.
If you do not sign the dissolution papers within seven days, I’ll take a complaint to Jingzhao Prefecture and expose every ugly thing you’ve done.”
With that, Tang Li stomped hard on Shen Mo’s foot. While he winced in pain, she shoved him away and ran out of the side hall.
As the sun sank westward, lazy golden light spilled over the monastery’s stone paths. Two female pilgrims stood gossiping by a wall.
Seeing Tang Li run out from the side hall, they began whispering, though loudly enough for others to hear.
“Just think, a butcher’s daughter born of a concubine somehow had the fortune to latch onto a man of the General’s status.”
“Exactly!”
One woman curled her lip in disdain, and the other eagerly continued.
“And she doesn’t even appreciate it. I heard when the General returned from war, he found her carrying a bastard child, and now she wants to break the engagement and elope with a lover.”
“Born with a cheap fate, unable to enjoy a shred of blessing.”
Suddenly, Tang Li, who had walked off, came back carrying a basin of water and flung it at them.
The water soaked them from head to toe like drowned rats. Both women jumped up cursing.
“You madwoman, what are you doing?”
Tang Li glared, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Some people really have too much time. What business is my engagement to you?”
Their faces faltered, though their mouths remained sharp.
“Oh, say a few words and you get angry. We’re only speaking the truth.”
Tang Li sneered.
“The truth? Do you crawl beneath the General’s bed daily to eavesdrop? Let me catch you spreading rumors about me again and I’ll send both of you to the authorities for tea.”
The two women were struck speechless, faces turning green and white by turns. Muttering a few words, they slunk away.
Tang Li snorted and tossed aside the copper basin she had picked up.
After walking quite a while, she realized she had reached the Forest of Pagodas. It was far from the side hall, and that scumbag male lead would not catch up for now.
So she sat down on a cool stone step to rest.
According to the original novel, Tang Li’s position as the General’s fiancée existed in name only, miserable and hollow. The overbearing heroine, Ninth Miss, humiliated this cannon fodder publicly time and again. Whenever the original host defended herself, she was framed instead, while the male lead blindly favored the heroine and punished the original host without asking why. The author had used all of this to write endless “sweet moments” for fans to swoon over.
It was absurdly inhuman.
Who wouldn’t turn dark in the original host’s place?
In front of the male lead, the heroine acted gentle and understanding. Toward cannon fodder, she was cruel and insulting. Thinking back, Tang Li had actually endured it all last time for the sake of family harmony.
She really had been too tolerant.
The System had revealed that because of the original host’s one-sided devotion, all her care and companionship for the male lead ended with her dying beneath that scumbag’s sword.
How laughable.
She had been a little impulsive just now. Seeing the chosen heroine already annoyed her, and she had let every thought in her heart spill out.
Would the male lead now be badmouthing her behind her back with the heroine?
Tang Li sighed inwardly.
Still too impulsive.
She should have cursed them even harder.
A whole bunch of lunatic paper people.