Barging into a young lady’s inner chamber at night—this isn’t proper, brother
Kexin stared dumbfounded at the jade thumb ring pushed before her. “This servant dares not…”
“There’s no daring or not daring, only wanting or not wanting.”
Yu Shuwan wanted to sit up, but her body still ached.
Kexin, disregarding everything else, quickly scrambled up and carefully helped Yu Shuwan rise. “Does the young lady wish to get up?”
“Not exactly, just tired of lying on my stomach.”
Yu Shuwan looked at her. “Can you help me with something?”
“Huh?”
“Just a small favor.”
Yu Shuwan blinked, whispering in her ear for a while before pitifully saying, “If I weren’t injured, it would be one thing, but unfortunately…”
“But won’t the old madam be displeased?”
“I’ll handle all that, don’t worry.”
Seeing her still hesitate, Yu Shuwan immediately let a few teardrops well up at the corners of her eyes. “I’ve only just returned, I didn’t mean to…”
“This servant will go, this servant will go right away.”
Kexin couldn’t bear to see her so pitiful and quickly agreed.
Only after watching Kexin leave did Yu Shuwan relax with a sigh and settle back down, feeling some regret.
If she was going to sever ties, why did she stubbornly insist on taking a beating first before doing so?
She had truly brought suffering upon herself.
Just as she was wallowing in regret, the door was pushed open.
Thinking it was Kexin returning, Yu Shuwan said casually,
“You’re back so… It’s you?”
Before she finished speaking, her eyes met Yu Jingzhou’s.
Almost instantly, her previously relaxed expression softened, her eyes transforming into an innocent, guileless gaze.
“Has brother come?”
Yu Shuwan smiled sweetly. “I’m injured, so I imagine brother won’t make me get up to pay respects, will you?”
Yu Jingzhou naturally noticed the change in her demeanor, his face darkening like the bottom of a pot.
“Yu Shuwan, are you pleased with yourself for causing Guiwan to end up like this?
I never imagined you could be such a heartless, unfeeling person!
I know everything now—don’t even think of denying it!”
“How heartless does brother think I am?”
Yu Shuwan looked up innocently, her eyes clear and frank.
“Is it not heartless only if I obediently stood there and let Yu Guiwan push me into the water?”
Yu Jingzhou was momentarily stumped by her words, then his anger flared even hotter.
He strode forward in two or three steps, wishing he could drag Yu Shuwan from the bed and haul her before Guiwan to atone for her sins!
“Don’t you know Guiwan nearly died, and here you are trying to frame her!”
He had returned to find Guiwan fallen into the water and wanted to settle accounts, but Guiwan tightly grasped his hand, pleading,
“Brother, younger sister has only just returned—everything here is unfamiliar to her.
She was afraid, that’s why she acted against me. I don’t blame her. Let’s… just let this matter go.”
Guiwan wept bitterly. No matter how indignant he felt, for her sake, he gave up pursuing the matter.
After changing clothes, he went to the front courtyard for the banquet. Midway, his father even called him aside to a secluded spot to specially admonish him.
He only said that Yu Shuwan had suffered greatly in the past and that he should treat her carefully.
Hearing his father describe how wretched Yu Shuwan had looked when he first saw her, he indeed felt a pang of compassion for the young girl.
But that evening, just as he returned to rest, he overheard people in the courtyard happen to mention Yu Guiwan’s attempted suicide by drowning. Without a second thought, he rushed over, intent on dragging this person who had harmed Guiwan before her to atone!
To hell with compassion!
A half-sister who appeared out of nowhere, without any emotional connection—how could she compare to Yu Guiwan, whom he had spent over a decade with?
“Even if you suffered greatly in the past, what does that have to do with Guiwan?”
Yu Jingzhou angrily retorted, “Just because you had a hard life, you want Guiwan to suffer too?”
“It’s not like she’s dead yet, is it?”
Yu Shuwan knew reasoning with him was futile, so she casually propped up her head, her pale lips curling into a mocking smile.
“Is this really worth you going through all the trouble to come here?”
“Yu Shuwan, how can you say such things!”
Furious, Yu Jingzhou stepped forward, intending to pull Yu Shuwan up.
But as he reached the bedside, he froze, his anger turning to shock. “You…”
Earlier, in his rage and with the hazy veil of the bed curtains, he hadn’t noticed the crisscrossing red scars covering Yu Shuwan’s bare back.
There were old wounds that had already scarred and fresh ones with torn, swollen flesh.
What had happened?
“I heard my brother was once well-versed in the teachings of the sages. How is it that now he doesn’t understand the boundaries between men and women?”
Yu Shuwan chuckled softly, tilting her head slightly. “Barging into a young woman’s inner chambers at night—this isn’t proper, brother.”
“Nonsense!”
Yu Jingzhou had never been so enraged that he lost his composure.
His face flushed red, and he quickly turned his back to Yu Shuwan. “How did you get those injuries on your body?”
Yu Shuwan was surprised he didn’t know how she had gotten her injuries.
But she didn’t answer. Instead, she asked:
“Does it matter how I got them?”
Truthfully, Yu Shuwan hadn’t intended to play the victim, but since Yu Jingzhou had seen them, what harm was there in asking a few questions?
Yu Jingzhou’s tone grew heavier. Even with his back turned, Yu Shuwan could feel his anger.
“Your injuries have nothing to do with me. Even if you died, it would be what you deserve!
Since you’ve returned, you should learn from Guiwan how to behave properly, instead of throwing tantrums and causing chaos in the Marquis Estate!
Mother dotes on Guiwan. If you don’t become more obedient, there will be no place for you in this estate!”
“So you’re saying that if I’m not obedient, you’ll send me away again?”
Yu Shuwan sounded as if she had heard something amusing. “Sending away your own flesh and blood while keeping an imposter by your side…
The members of Zhongyi Houfu are all master schemers. After using me to earn a good reputation, you just want to kick me aside?”
Her back injuries were no longer her concern. With icy eyes, Yu Shuwan sat up abruptly, haphazardly pulling on an outer robe and standing barefoot on the floor to face Yu Jingzhou.
“Do you take me, Yu Shuwan, for some stray cat or dog you can discard at will?
No matter whose intentions your words represent, you’re all mistaken.
I, Yu Shuwan, have never been someone you can take or discard as you please!”
“Are you saying you’ll keep causing trouble?”
Yu Shuwan sneered. “Send Yu Guiwan away, and I’ll stop.”
Rage flared up instantly. Yu Jingzhou turned and glared into her eyes.
“Yu Shuwan, if you were bullied and abused, you should reflect on yourself!
Maybe it’s because you’re not likable enough that your own mother and brother don’t care for you!
Guiwan has done nothing wrong, and I never intended to acknowledge you as my sister!”
“With me here, you will never become my sister!”
After saying these words, Yu Jingzhou himself was stunned.
He clearly felt pity for the frail girl before him, so why…
Had he spoken such words?
This was not his true intention at all.
Yu Shuwan lifted her chin, her eyes filled with icy mockery.
“You needn’t worry about that—I have no desire to become your sister either.
As for the matter between me and Yu Guiwan…
I’ll just say this: stay out of it. If you come, I’ll take on each and every one of you—one by one, or two by two!”
“How dare you!”
Yu Guiwan was the girl he had cherished since childhood—who would dare lay a hand on her?!
Yu Jingzhou, now losing his reason, only wanted to teach Yu Shuwan a proper lesson.
But Yu Shuwan tightly seized his wrist. “Brother, have you forgotten? You can’t hit me.”
With that, she unhesitatingly struck him with her other hand.
Slap!
After the crisp sound, Yu Jingzhou stared in disbelief. “You hit me?”