Eunuch Cai and his team, having already moved the dowry earlier, initially watched the commotion quietly. However, the farm laborers were quite strong, and the General’s Residence servants were struggling to drive them out. Unable to stand by idly, Eunuch Cai ordered his palace servants to assist.
When the Xia clansmen were being expelled, they collapsed to the ground one after another, wailing and beating their thighs dramatically. Xia Yuruo tried to resist, but just as her hand was about to grab Xia Maoshan, Xia Jianxi—who had been nestled in Xia Madam’s embrace—suddenly seized her wrist.
In that moment, Xia Yuruo felt as though her hand might break. Dragged by Xia Jianxi, she was flung directly into the crowd. As she struggled to break free, Shi Wei and Ting Wan closed in, surrounding her until the clansmen were completely driven out.
Uncle Wang, the steward of the General’s Residence, stood imposingly at the entrance, hands on his hips, and declared, “The General’s Residence declines all outside guests! If any of you refuse to leave, don’t blame us for being impolite!”
Realizing they had thoroughly angered the General’s Residence, the Xia clansmen swarmed around Third Uncle, clamoring noisily. Many of them lived in the manor affiliated with the General’s Residence, and now that they had provoked its wrath, they feared they would soon be left homeless. Their panic grew by the minute.
“It’s all your fault!” Third Uncle suddenly snapped back to reality. Despite his sixty-plus years, he dashed with surprising agility toward Second Madam Xia, who was trying to slip away, and grabbed her hair, shouting, “You incited us to cause trouble! You must give us an explanation!”
“Yes, let’s find that Xia Mao Chuan! I want to see if he can just hide from the mess his wife and daughter stirred up!”
The neighboring compound lacked the heavy guard presence of the General’s Residence, and soon, the second branch’s gate was forced open. Xia Mao Chuan, who had been hiding inside, had no choice but to step out and face the crowd.
“Third Uncle, Third Uncle, please calm down!” Xia Mao Chuan urged, seeing the old man’s fury.
But Third Uncle, seething at the memory of being expelled from the General’s Residence, could no longer contain his rage. Though resentful of the Residence’s might, he had swallowed his anger earlier. Now, faced with Xia Mao Chuan’s evasiveness, he lost control and slapped him hard across the face.
The sharp smack echoed loudly in the tense silence.
Everyone froze.
After all, however mild-mannered Xia Mao Chuan might be, he was still a government official. Assaulting an official was a jail-worthy offense!
Third Uncle stared blankly at his own hand and at Xia Mao Chuan, whose head had been knocked aside by the blow, momentarily speechless.
In that instant, Second Madam Xia rushed forward like a madwoman. She shoved Third Uncle away and raged, “You vile commoner! My husband is a court-appointed official! How dare you raise your hand against him? It seems you have a death wish! The ones denying you housing are from the neighboring compound, but you cower before their power and authority, so you bully our family instead! What kind of elder are you?”
“You… you!” Third Uncle, having been pointed at and scolded by Second Madam Xia, felt suffocated with rage and finally roared, “You wretched daughter-in-law! If it weren’t for your sowing discord, how would we have offended Mao Shan? How would we have reached the point where even our residence is being reclaimed? If you don’t come up with a solution today, I swear I won’t let you off!”
“Me sowing discord? It was clearly your greed for wealth and status! Now you dare blame it on me? You—”
Slap! Another crisp sound rang out.
This time, everyone fell silent.
Second Madam Xia covered her cheek, staring in stunned disbelief at Xia Mao Chuan before her.
“Father!” Xia Yuruo rushed forward, supporting Second Madam Xia while looking at Xia Mao Chuan with incredulity. “How could you hit someone!”
Coming to her senses, Second Madam Xia could no longer contain her grievances. She lunged forward like a madwoman, clawing at Xia Mao Chuan’s collar: “You hit me? Xia Mao Chuan, you hit me! You coward, you spineless worm! You don’t dare confront them, so you turn around and hit me instead…”
In an instant, the second branch descended into utter chaos.
Xia Jianxi, who had followed them out, stood sideways behind the gate of the General’s Residence, coldly watching them beg and wail. Seeing them ultimately shift all their blame onto Second Madam Xia and Xia Yuruo, she found it utterly ridiculous.
“Are you satisfied with this performance, Miss Xia?” Yi Zichuan’s voice suddenly sounded from behind her, appearing at some unknown moment.
Startled, Xia Jianxi’s eyes widened sharply. Upon confirming it was Yi Zichuan, she relaxed slightly: “And what about you, Wang Ye? Did you enjoy this farce?”
Yi Zichuan studied Xia Jianxi’s back—she hadn’t turned around once—his eyes filled with scrutiny: “On the day I escorted you back to your residence, the Little Marquis of Marquis Yongchang Estate, He Lan Ci, sent someone to inquire about your whereabouts. After learning you had returned safely, they hastily departed. Do you have any insight into the reason for this, Miss Xia?”
Hearing Yi Zichuan’s words, Xia Jianxi showed no surprise but unconsciously clenched her hands.
Recalling her previous life, that day she had first been humiliatingly dismissed from her engagement by Princess Yong’an, then watched helplessly as Kang Muze handed the marriage certificate that should have been hers to Xia Yuruo.
At that time, she was like a discarded drowned rat, so desperate she nearly lost the will to live. It was precisely then that she fell into the venomous beautiful dream meticulously woven by He Lan Ci, plunging into eternal damnation!
“Miss Xia?”
“A marriage proposal!” Xia Jianxi turned to face Yi Zichuan, her lips curling in mockery. “He wanted to seize the moment when Yong’an Wang Shizi broke off the engagement and the General’s Residence was in chaos to come and propose!”
Yi Zichuan was momentarily taken aback by Xia Jianxi’s response.
That day, noticing the Marquis Yongchang Estate’s inexplicable arrival and silent departure, he had grown suspicious and sent people to investigate. It turned out exactly as Xia Jianxi said—He Lan Ci had come to propose.
Yi Zichuan narrowed his eyes dangerously at Xia Jianxi: “Miss Xia, your sources of information are alarmingly well-informed.”
After all, He Lan Ci was an extremely cautious man, and the traps he set were nearly flawless.
Even he had to expend some effort to uncover it—He Lan Ci had come with the intention of taking advantage of the chaos to propose marriage to Xia Jianxi. The information he had painstakingly obtained was now casually revealed by Xia Jianxi’s own words.
Either she had known all along, or she had some highly capable subordinates under her command.
But if she had such people by her side, she wouldn’t have fallen into this trap in the first place. Therefore, it could only be the former!
However, if she had known all along about He Lan Ci’s intentions, why would she foolishly walk right into the trap?
“I’ve already been framed once. If I still knew nothing, I’d be far too foolish!” Xia Jianxi naturally knew what Yi Zichuan was thinking. In her previous life, hadn’t she fallen step by step into their complete scheme because she trusted Xia Yuruo and He Lan Ci too much?
She instinctively glanced at her abdomen—where she had once carried her child for ten months. After a long moment, she smiled self-deprecatingly, “All these years, I’ve trusted Xia Yuruo too much. In truth, when you think about it, she was full of flaws everywhere. I was just blinded by so-called sisterly affection!”
Yi Zichuan watched Xia Jianxi coldly, thinking carefully.
In recent years, the Marquis Yongchang Estate had achieved almost nothing in the imperial court. As a marquis’ mansion, it had nearly fallen into decline. Meanwhile, Xia Maoshan had repeatedly accomplished remarkable feats and was a favored official of the new emperor. No matter what, the current Marquis Yongchang Estate could never hope to secure a marriage alliance with the Duke of Protectorate Manor.
But if, on that day, Xia Jianxi hadn’t risked her life to save Song Taifei—a disgraced, broken-off engagement only daughter of the General’s Residence—then the Marquis Yongchang Estate would naturally have been able to reach her.
“Miss Xia, when did you realize that the Marquis Yongchang Estate was the mastermind behind this grand scheme?” Yi Zichuan suddenly leaned close to Xia Jianxi.
Xia Jianxi looked into the pair of eyes suddenly before her, her breath catching sharply. She instinctively stepped back, “When I was kidnapped!”
Yi Zichuan said nothing, merely staring straight at her.
“At the time, they thought I had already passed out. They were planning to drag me to a ruined temple in the outskirts, where He Lan Ci was waiting to receive me!” Suppressing her unease, Xia Jianxi spoke the excuse she had rehearsed repeatedly in her mind, word by word, “If I hadn’t managed to escape that day, he would have ruined my virtue. By then, even if I knew it was a trap, I would have had no choice but to accept my fate!”
Yi Zichuan remained silent for a long time before slowly straightening up and stepping back, a knowing smile even curling at the corners of his lips, “So, saving my mother that day was your only chance to break the trap! Xia Jianxi, you were using me!”