The conversation was incredibly brief. Yun Juan’s expression remained gentle throughout, as though she were patiently reasoning with him, appealing to his better nature.
Yun Xiu sneered in disdain, but gradually, she sensed that something was amiss.
Housekeeper Li’s face grew increasingly pale. Finally, as if making a desperate resolve, he broke into a wail and grabbed Yun Juan’s shoes.
“Third Young Lady! Third Young Lady, I was wrong! I was truly wrong! I shouldn’t have listened to the Second Young Lady’s tricks to make you leave fifteen minutes late! I had no choice! I didn’t dare disobey the Second Young Lady’s orders! Please forgive me—I beg you to forgive me!”
Inside Yun Xiu’s head, something exploded with a violent bang.
“You wretched scoundrel! What absolute nonsense are you spouting?!”
Her shrill, piercing shriek startled Xiao Mingyu. In his eyes, Yun Xiu had always been gentle, dignified, and demure. Who on earth was this snarling, wild-eyed creature standing before him now?
Yun Juan stood up and scanned the room, her gaze landing on Xiao Lanting, who had remained silent all this while.
She hesitated for a moment. “I really didn’t mean to swap the marriages.”
A faint, shifting light flickered in Xiao Lanting’s eyes. Meanwhile, Madame Qin and the others, who had been frozen in shock, finally snapped back to reality.
Madame Qin shrieked hysterically, “You two are colluding! If you’re going to make up a lie, at least make it believable! Yun Xiu and Mingyu are deeply in love; how could she possibly have swapped the brides? Clearly, it was you who wanted to climb the social ladder! I don’t care—since they haven’t performed the formal bows yet, she isn’t considered married into our family. Have the Yun family take their daughter back. Our Xiao family doesn’t want her!”
Madame Qin refused to believe this had nothing to do with Yun Juan. Even if it didn’t, she didn’t care. Her main goal was to humiliate Xiao Lanting! She wanted everyone to know that his new wife had shamelessly tried to claw her way onto her own son!
If this marriage was dissolved today, Xiao Lanting would become the laughingstock of the entire capital by tomorrow!
Two elderly maids stepped forward to seize Yun Juan’s arms, attempting to drag her out.
Just as Yun Juan was about to struggle, Xiao Lanting strode over and commanded in an unquestionable tone:
“Let go.”
“…” The two maids instantly released her, retreating several steps in sheer terror.
Yun Juan held her breath, looking up at Xiao Lanting as he suddenly closed the distance between them.
Xiao Lanting was much taller than her. His robust, towering frame cast her entirely in his shadow, radiating an overwhelming pressure.
He reached out and placed his hand on the back of her neck. The coldness of his palm sent a sharp shiver down her spine.
Xiao Lanting said, “She is the bride I personally escorted back. Even if we haven’t performed the bows, she is mine. What right do you have to send her away?”
With a gentle but firm grip, he pulled the stiffened Yun Juan into his embrace.
He drawled lazily, “And what do you mean by ‘climbing the social ladder’? A useless, idle playboy who can’t even earn his wife a noble title—since when does he count as some high branch to climb?”
“You—”
Madame Qin’s face flushed a deep, angry red. Xiao Mingyu merely scratched his head, looking entirely unbothered, while the Marquis of Yingchuan swept his gaze across the room and barked in a low, stern voice:
“Enough! Stop this at once!”
He glared at Madame Qin. “Apologize to your eldest son. What kind of nonsense are you uttering? They are brothers; what is all this talk of high and low branches!”
Madame Qin nearly ground her teeth to dust. Unable to withstand her husband’s piercing glare, she lowered her head and apologized to Xiao Lanting.
“Lanting, Mother was wrong. I spoke in haste and said the wrong things. But this girl is full of lies; she truly cannot stay!”
“Ah, so speaking up for her means lying?”
Xiao Lanting sneered mockingly. “Does it even matter whether you believe her or not? She is marrying me. It is enough that I believe her.”
Yun Juan’s heart jolted. She looked up at Xiao Lanting in disbelief.
He… believed her?
In her past life, no one had ever believed her. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to prove her innocence, but no one cared. Both the Marquis’s estate and the Yun family had simply demanded that she shut her mouth, forbidding her from ever mentioning the swap again to protect the reputations of both households. As a result, even after she built a successful business empire later in life, people still used the marriage swap to mock and stab her in the back.
Knowing that Xiao Lanting believed her sent a warm tide rushing through Yun Juan’s chest, spreading to her limbs and slowly easing the tension in her rigid body.
Not far away, Yun Xiu’s eyes burned with venomous rage.
Xiao Lanting was actually speaking up for Yun Juan!
Even though she had been reborn, seeing Xiao Lanting’s face still made Yun Xiu’s heart flutter involuntarily.
In her past life, she had spent an entire year trying to seduce him, desperately craving even the slightest reaction. Yet this man had acted as though he were castrated—his tongue was venomous, and he either insulted her to no end or treated her like thin air, refusing to touch her even on pain of death. Was she some kind of filth to him?!
Why was it that Yun Juan could easily get what she could never have? Even Xiao Mingyu, who had slept with her for over a decade in their past life, had turned around and abandoned her just to reconcile with Yun Juan.
Why?!
Yun Xiu stared at Xiao Lanting as if looking at a faithless lover, tears welling in her eyes.
Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Mingyu’s brow furrowed instantly. His gaze darted back and forth between Yun Xiu and Xiao Lanting, a seed of suspicion planting itself deep in his mind.
“Lanting…!”
“That is enough!” The Marquis of Yingchuan cut off Madame Qin, who was still trying to argue. He stood up and announced, “It is late. We will settle this tomorrow.”
“Lock this man in the woodshed. We will interrogate him thoroughly in the morning.”
Yun Xiu let out a subtle sigh of relief. Although she didn’t know what kind of tricks Yun Juan had played, given enough time, she would definitely find a way to make the housekeeper change his story.
The Marquis ordered, “Each of you, take your wives back to your quarters.”
After bowing with Xiao Lanting, Yun Juan followed him out of the warm pavilion.
The cold wind hitting her face brought a sharp clarity. Looking at the tall figure walking ahead of her, Yun Juan’s emotions were a tangled mess.
She had truly been reborn. And she had actually married her former brother-in-law.
Yun Xiu already had an ongoing affair with Xiao Mingyu, so swapping back wouldn’t pose any moral dilemma for her sister. Instead, she had dumped this massive, complicated mess right into Yun Juan’s lap.
Yun Juan let out a silent sigh, fidgeting with her fingertips as she decided to just let nature take its course.
“Young Master, Young Mistress.”
Xiao Lanting’s quarters were located in the eastern wing of the estate. Red silk hung elegantly under the eaves, and through the lattice window, she could see the dragon-and-phoenix nuptial candles still burning brightly.
A wave of complex emotions washed over Yun Juan, and only now did the nervousness and shyness of her wedding night finally catch up to her.
The two of them walked into the bridal chamber one after the other. Xiao Lanting said casually, “Go bathe first.”
Yun Juan paused as she closed the door, then turned around, forcing herself to appear calm.
“We haven’t performed our bows yet.”
Xiao Lanting raised an eyebrow. Yun Juan picked up the red bridal veil from the bed, draped it over her head, and felt her way back to his side.
From beneath the veil came her voice, soft and gentle as a little lamb: “Though today was filled with unpleasantness, our wedding ceremony happens only once in a lifetime. We shouldn’t leave any regrets, should we?”
As Yun Juan waited in tense anticipation, a low, magnetic chuckle vibrated from the man in front of her. He reached out and took her hand in his.
“First bow to Heaven and Earth.”
Yun Juan followed his lead and bowed.
“Second bow to the Ancestors.”
“Husband and wife bow to each other.”
Yun Juan’s heart finally settled. Witnessed by Heaven and Earth, even if she cast aside her past life, she was officially Xiao Lanting’s wife in this one.
With a bridal scale-beam, he gently lifted her veil. Looking into Xiao Lanting’s smiling eyes, Yun Juan’s breath hitched.
“Are you satisfied now, wife?”
His teasing tone left her utterly flustered. Snatching her hand back, she stammered, “I—I will go bathe now.”
The main chamber was spacious, and the bathhouse in the side room was separated from the inner bedroom by two walls. After mentally preparing herself, Yun Juan changed into her inner robes and returned to the bedroom, only to find Xiao Lanting nowhere in sight.
Outside, some servants were on night duty. Yun Juan opened the door to inquire.
An elderly maid looked at her with a face full of pity. “The Eldest Young Master has gone to the study. He said you should rest first.”