“No wonder when Zhao Shen had his accident and the two families were renegotiating the marriage, you refused to let the Zhao family change the groom no matter what. However, you couldn’t win against our aunt back then, and this time… her side won’t be easy to get past either.”
Listening to him rationalize it for her, Ji Yunshu didn’t explain that the original girl’s refusal to change the groom wasn’t because of any feelings for Zhao Shen. Rather, it was due to her high moral standards; she felt it was a matter of conscience and didn’t want to abandon her fiancé just because he had become a cripple.
Seeing that her brother was convinced, Ji Yunshu knew their conversation should end.
As she walked out, she said with a beaming smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell Aunt that I like him and won’t marry anyone else. Besides, we’ll consummate the marriage tonight and make it official. That way, Aunt won’t be able to tear us apart.”
Ji Yunlan followed her and gave her head a light rap. “Mind your tongue. Aunt has truly spoiled you, letting you say just about anything.”
“I only say these things in front of you, Brother…”
Their voices gradually faded into the distance. Behind a rockery, a man slowly emerged, pushing a wheelchair.
The man in the wheelchair indeed possessed an exceptionally handsome face, just as Ji Yunshu remembered.
His facial features were refined, with beautiful peach blossom eyes that tilted slightly upward at the corners. His eyelashes were long and thick, his nose bridge was high and straight, and his thin lips were pressed tightly together.
The red light from a nearby lantern fell into his pitch-black eyes, making the indifference and detachment within them seem even more profound.
After a long while, someone ran over in a hurry, panting as they said, “Shizi, I’ve finally found you. The Marquis is looking for you urgently.”
Zhao Shen nodded slightly. “I understand. Go tell the Marquis that I will return immediately.”
The servant acknowledged the command and hurried back.
Jingzhe pushed the wheelchair toward the Shizi’s Qionghua Courtyard. Halfway there, they encountered Dongzhi, who had been sent by the Marquis and was pretending to look for them.
Dongzhi asked in surprise, “Why has the Shizi returned so soon? Is he really going to clean up Second Master’s mess?”
They had known about the night’s fiasco from the start.
When they learned that the Ji family girl had made such a scene that she ended up wanting to marry the Shizi—and that the Marquis had agreed—they were all furious.
Dongzhi said indignantly, “The Ji family was so heartless to the Shizi back then. On what grounds do they expect him to marry her now? Do they think our Shizi is a collector of scraps? We should leave her hanging and see how she handles the fallout herself!”
Zhao Shen ignored him and had Jingzhe push him back into the room.
The Marquis was waiting inside. He had originally felt that he had finally done something good for his son, but facing Zhao Shen’s indifferent eyes, the words he wanted to say suddenly felt difficult to voice.
He remembered the year the Taiyi announced that his son’s legs would never be able to stand again. Madam Yao had said then that the Empress Dowager would certainly not let her most beloved niece marry such a useless man.
Later, word indeed came from the Empress Dowager’s side expressing a desire to break the engagement.
Madam Yao had consulted with the Ji family for a long time and managed to save the marriage alliance, but the person involved was changed to Heng Ge’er.
He still remembered his son’s indifferent expression when he heard the news, saying nonchalantly, “It’s for the best. With me like this, why should I drag a perfectly good girl down with me?”
Seeing the Marquis looking at him in a daze, as if lost in some memory and silent for a long time, Zhao Shen said coldly, “Has Father not already made the decision for me? What is there left to say?”
The Marquis snapped back to reality. “It seems you already know. What I wanted to say is that letting you marry Yunshu has nothing to do with Heng Ge’er’s business. Our family isn’t so desperate for face. I simply feel that she is a good girl.”
A mocking smile appeared on Zhao Shen’s cold face, mercilessly exposing the man’s selfishness. “And because she’s a good girl, she deserves to marry a cripple like me? With the Empress Dowager and the Marquis of Wu’an’s estate backing her, she would have no trouble finding another marriage even if this one was called off.”
He knew very well that the reason his father had agreed so readily to Ji Yunshu’s request was that once this foolish girl was gone, there wouldn’t be another noble lady of equal status willing to marry him.
The Marquis’s expression shifted, but he still said, “She is fully aware of your situation. It was her own choice to marry you.”
He stared intently at Zhao Shen, only to see that the tension on his son’s face remained mocked, as if asking: Do you even believe that yourself?
A girl discovers her husband-to-be fooling around with another woman on their wedding night; choosing someone else to marry was merely an act of desperation. What “willingness” was there to speak of?
Zhao Yun sighed. “I just don’t want you to grow old alone, without a single person by your side to care for you.”
Zhao Shen raised his emotionless eyes, his voice as cold as frost and snow. “Father has Madam Yao by his side. Do you find her caring?”
Stung by those words, the Marquis took a trembling step back.
He closed his eyes, and after a moment, said wearily, “It is my fault. If you are unwilling to go through with this marriage, then forget it.”
With that, he gave up hope on the matter and turned to walk out.
As he reached the door, a voice suddenly came from behind him: “Who said I was unwilling?”
Marquis Zhao turned back abruptly. Though his son’s expression was as cold as ever, he hadn’t spoken any words of rejection. Overjoyed, the Marquis sought confirmation: “You agree to this marriage?”
Zhao Shen turned his head to the side. “Otherwise? Should I wait for the Ji family to come beat down our doors? Can you win a fight against Uncle Ji?”
Hearing the underlying meaning in his son’s words, Zhao Yun hurriedly said, “You’re right. Your Uncle Ji is famously protective of his daughter. If he knew Yunshu had been wronged, he would certainly come to settle the score. Now that she wants to marry you and you are willing to take her, it’s a happy ending for everyone.”
Zhao Shen: “…”
Knowing that his son wasn’t as resistant to the marriage as he appeared, Zhao Yun gained confidence and pressed on. “Since you agree to this marriage, hurry to the bridal chamber. So much has happened tonight, Yunshu might be overthinking things all by herself. You should go and comfort her.”
Ji Yunshu bid farewell to her brother and returned to the bridal chamber, feeling famished and seeing stars.
There was no helping it; to ensure nothing went wrong during the wedding ceremony, the original owner hadn’t had a drop of water or a morsel of food since waking up that morning.
She sat at the dressing table and began removing the heavy phoenix crown from her head while instructing those around her, “Go cook a bowl of noodles for me.”
The maid, Lürü, acknowledged the order and went out.
Lanyin brought a cup of hot tea to Ji Yunshu, then took the hairpins from her hands to help her disassemble the hairpiece.
The nanny, Madam Li, said worriedly from the side, “It is only right that you are angry after the Second Master humilitated you by doting on a concubine on your wedding day. But was it really necessary to change the groom? Shizi Zhao is a…”
Before she could say the word “cripple,” Ji Yunshu interrupted her. “Nanny, from now on, the Shizi is my husband.”
Ji Yunshu knew that people of this era found it hard to understand why she would rather marry a cripple than accept a man with a concubine.
After all, even if the Shizi was a cripple, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t take concubines in the future.
She also had no way of explaining that Zhao Heng’s actions were not merely a matter of favoring a concubine over his wife.
Thinking of the tragic end she and her family met in the book, Ji Yunshu closed her eyes.
She would never let those things actually happen.
And marrying Zhao Shen was her first step in successfully overturning the plot.
She had brought many people with her as part of her dowry. In this room alone, there were four senior maids, a nanny, and a management mama bestowed by her aunt, the Empress Dowager.
If these people treated Zhao Shen with disrespect because of tonight’s events, it was absolutely not something she wanted to see.