Xuan Wenyang thought Shen Fuyan had finally come around and chimed in agreement.
"Yes, Father. Chen'er is growing up now. If we don't let her in, the child will surely be heartbroken."
Shen Fuyan smiled faintly. "Xu Mengyu is the daughter of a disgraced official, and now she's fallen under the Emperor's suspicion. But she is Second Master's woman after all, and she's borne Chen'er. In my view, we should take her in as a Lowly Concubine."
Noble Concubine, Virtuous Concubine, Ordinary Concubine, Lowly Concubine—Xuan Wenyang had gone straight for the highest rank, as if she were already dead.
"What?" Xuan Wenyang's eyes flew wide. "Absolutely not! Mengyu and I are deeply in love, and she's never gotten in your way. I've also promised she won't trouble you. Why must you be so cruel and heartless?"
His refined mask fell away completely, his gaze turning savage.
"Shen Fuyan, you really are a venomous woman!"
"What do you think, Father and Mother?"
Shen Fuyan didn't spare the pair of adulterers so much as a glance.
The one who held real authority in this household was not Xuan Wenyang.
Chancellor Xuan was still mulling it over, but Old Madame's eyes gleamed with sharp light.
"Quite right. His Majesty is benevolent, so we can't very well do the thing of keeping the child and casting out the mother. But given Mengyu's status, and with Pei Yanwei's warning today, the position of Lowly Concubine suits her well."
Xu Mengyu nearly spat blood.
A Lowly Concubine was the most despicable of positions—unlike a Noble Concubine, she could never be elevated to legitimate wife.
She had schemed for years, and the chance to leap to the top was right before her eyes. How could she give it up for nothing?
This Xuan family was far too timid. Just one visit from that Pei fellow and they'd scared themselves half to death.
"Let's set this matter aside for now. I'll think it over and we'll discuss it tomorrow."
Fearing something might go wrong with today's affair, Chancellor Xuan deliberated at length before retreating into his study.
Xuan Wenyang clenched his fists.
He glanced at Xu Mengyu, whose eyes were rimmed red, and was about to speak when Shen Fuyan pulled several account ledgers from her sleeve.
"Mother, originally Eldest Sister-in-law was away accompanying Eldest Brother to his post, so I've been temporarily managing the household. But starting today, I need to tend to my health so I can soon bear children for the Xuan family. As luck would have it, Eldest Sister-in-law has returned now, so I should hand the household management back to her."
She tossed out the ledgers, and Madame Tian, the wife of the eldest branch, hurriedly tried to decline.
"Sister-in-law must be joking. I've only been back two months—I haven't even figured out the paths through this estate. How could I possibly manage the household?"
Xuan Wenyang said impatiently, "She's just using the household management to throw her weight around. Sister-in-law, take it over. Let's see how she can swagger and put on airs in this house once she loses that authority."
Madame Tian's smile was frozen stiff as she cursed this brother-in-law up and down in her heart.
Xuan Wenyang was a man—he had no idea how exhausting the trivial affairs of the inner quarters could be.
Old Madame's illness, the entertainment expenses of their front courtyard, and the younger sister's headdresses and clothing—everywhere were great mouths swallowing silver.
What's more, Xuan Wenyang fancied himself a man of refinement, constantly buying calligraphy and gifting paintings—all of it pure white silver!
Madame Tian had seen Shen Fuyan dip into her own dowry to subsidize household expenses on several occasions, and so she regarded household management like a flood or a beast—she'd never had the slightest ambition to seize that power.
"What is Second Brother saying? I know nothing of household management. I'm nowhere near as attentive as Sister-in-law…"
Madame Tian tried to decline again, but Shen Fuyan simply dropped the matter entirely.
"Sister-in-law needn't be modest. From now on, the inner quarters will rely on your care."
With that, she turned and left.
"Stop right there!" Old Madame called out, her triangular eyes narrowing. "Fuyan, are you still sulking? Three years without bearing a child—in any other family, you'd have been divorced by now. But the Chancellor's residence is merciful. We only had Wenyang take a kept mistress, and we even registered the child under your name as a form of security for you. And still, you refuse to be sensible."
She narrowed her eyes at this daughter-in-law. The woman had always been someone who could be molded and manipulated at will—why had she suddenly grown so unyielding today?
It seemed she would need to send someone to the Shen family.
"I am barely in my twenties, yet Mother has already determined that I will never bear children again?"
Shen Fuyan said calmly.
"To have me, a daughter-in-law who has been married for three years, raise a four-year-old child—I am absolutely unwilling."
Her tone was firm, and Old Madame's temper flared as well.
But she had her own calculations.
"Must we beat Xu Mengyu to death before you will be satisfied?"
Her gaze fell upon Xu Mengyu, and she weighed matters in her heart.
Shen Fuyan had brought a generous dowry. If they were to cast her aside in favor of a concubine whom the Emperor viewed with suspicion, that would indeed be unwise…
Even though Xu Mengyu had truly won the hearts of everyone in the Xiang household.
Xuan Wenyang sensed something was wrong the moment he saw his mother's expression.
He quickly spoke up to intervene: "Mother, you must not!"
"Why must I not? She is merely a Lowly Concubine!" Old Madame's gaze was sharp, displeased by her son's defiance.
Xuan Wenyang had difficulty speaking his mind.
He could hardly say that he had had a dream—a dream in which Xu Mengyu would lead the Xuan family to prosperity?
The thought of how, in that dream, Shen Fuyan had exhausted all her wealth to pave the way for the Xuan family, only to cough blood and die in the end, while Xu Mengyu thrived on all sides, elevating him to the position of Right Chancellor and sharing a harmonious life with him—Xuan Wenyang could not help but hold the person beside him even tighter.
"Mother, I have sworn before the Xuan family ancestors that I will never fail Mengyu in this life. This cannot be done."
"One oath here, another oath there—I wonder if the Xuan family ancestors are up in heaven knocking their foreheads raw for you."
Shen Fuyan wore a faint smile, watching him with cold eyes.
"I do not wish for Xu Mengyu to die, nor do I oppose the taking of a concubine. Mother need not speak of beating and killing. The matter of the household management is settled as such. I am feeling unwell, so I will return to rest first."
The moment she left, Xu Mengyu immediately threw herself prostrate before Old Madame, her expression stubborn.
"Mengyu knows herself to be as rootless as duckweed. I never imagined that one day I would enter the Xuan household to serve. Now that I have incurred the displeasure of those above, I have no face to enter the family. It is only that Chen-ge and I have depended on each other for years, and I fear wounding the child's heart."
As soon as she spoke, the boy beside her immediately began to cry: "Mother, I want Mother."
Xuan Wenyang's face was full of reluctance. He knelt at her side: "Mother, since Fuyan has already relented, and Father is already thinking of a way, why not wait until tomorrow?"
"Enough," Old Madame, having been stirred into turmoil, clutched at her chest and rose. "We will discuss it tomorrow. Propriety cannot be discarded. Since Xu Mengyu has not yet entered the household, she will stay in the servants' quarters tonight."
With that, she gave her son a stern look: "You are not to interfere. Do you understand?"
Xuan Wenyang trembled inwardly and nodded repeatedly.
"It is only one night. I have wronged you."
He gazed tenderly at the person in his arms. Xu Mengyu's eyes brimmed with tears as she endured the pain and went to the servants' quarters.
In Wenlan Court, Shen Fuyan sank into the bath and let out a soft sigh.
Lürong came over to massage her shoulders: "Miss, the Xuan family goes too far—they actually want you to raise the Kept Mistress's son!"
"Why are you crying?" Shen Fuyan tilted her head back and smiled faintly. "Tomorrow, bring my dowry ledger and take inventory of my belongings. I am going to seek a Mutual Divorce."
"Mutual Divorce?" Lürong's crying stopped at once. "Miss, this marriage was bestowed by His Majesty. If you seek a Mutual Divorce, would that not be… And there is the Master—the Master was always most worried about you."
As she spoke, tears welled up in both mistress and servant's eyes.
Shen Fuyan turned her head away, letting her tears fall into the bathwater.
Did she not know that a Mutual Divorce was as difficult as crossing a heavenly moat?
But Xuan Wenyang had already changed.
"When he took this step, there must have been a moment when he felt that this life could be lived without me."
Shen Fuyan murmured softly.
"That moment—I will never forgive it for as long as I live."
Lürong was just a young maid who knew nothing of love. She only felt that Shen Fuyan seemed about to shatter into pieces at this very moment.
"Better to cast aside a broken umbrella and walk on in the rain than to linger beneath it—I have made up my mind about the Mutual Divorce."
Shen Fuyan rose from the bathtub, her gaze filled with resolve.
"But Miss, the Shen family…"
Lürong's face showed difficulty.
When Shen Fuyan was young, she had been lost for a period of time, and only after two years was she found from a circus troupe.
By then, the second young miss had already been born. Madame Shen (Bai Shi) did not like Shen Fuyan and doted more on her younger daughter, Shen Ruoliu.
Ever since Lord Shen Yu gave his life for the country, Shen Fuyan had been as one without parents in the Shen household.
No one cared, no one cherished her.
Even this marriage to the Chancellor's household had been painstakingly secured for her by Lord Shen before his death.
Unfortunately, the Xuan family was equally aware that she was not valued by the Shen family—and that she came with a generous dowry.
Thus she escaped the dragon's pool only to fall into the tiger's den.
"Mother indeed will not agree to my Mutual Divorce," Shen Fuyan said faintly. "But it is not up to her to stop me. Tomorrow I will go directly to the palace to seek an audience with His Majesty."
She changed into her inner garments and lay on the bed feigning sleep. One worry after another drifted through her mind, but in the end they all settled upon a pair of deep, dark eyes.
Pei Yanwei—had he come today for her sake?