The suona horns blared as a small, pink sedan chair was carried through a side gate into the Dingyuan Marquisate.
This was the eighteenth beautiful concubine Wen Lingyi had taken for her husband within a year of their marriage.
The affair was so sensational that everyone in the capital knew of it.
Changsong Courtyard.
The Old Mistress sat leaning against a couch, the jade bracelet on her wrist reflecting the light and making the fury in her eyes seem all the more sinister.
“Have you gone mad? Do you have any idea what they’re saying about Chen Wenli out there? My son has just inherited the title. Are you trying to ruin him?!”
“Wen Lingyi, do you know your fault?!”
A woman dressed in a moon-white beizi embroidered with a bamboo pattern stood before her, the hem of her skirt brushing the floor. A jade hairpin was tucked askew into her hair, and her lightly powdered face was clear and serene. When she raised her eyes, her gaze was bright and unflinching, showing not a hint of fear.
On the contrary, she spoke with self-assurance. “Mother-in-law, my husband did not return home last night. Your daughter-in-law heard that he had taken a fancy to Cai Xia from the Huā Lóu, so I had her brought back. This both prevents my husband from being criticized and saves a pitiful soul from a life in the dust. What fault has your daughter-in-law committed?”
“You—you shrew!”
This daughter-in-law was originally the one the Old Mistress had painstakingly chosen, one she had been exceedingly pleased with.
She had even resorted to scheming to get her.
Now, however, she was so enraged that her chest heaved violently. She snatched a teacup from the table and hurled it at her.
Wen Lingyi sidestepped the projectile, a faint smile still playing on her lips. “Father-in-law has only been dead for three months. Mother-in-law, don’t let your anger harm your health and send you to join him. Your daughter-in-law has no desire to bear the infamous name of a jinx.”
“You, you, you…” The Old Mistress’s eyes rolled back, and she nearly fainted from rage.
Chen Wanrou quickly rushed to her mother’s side to soothe her, her eyes red as she looked at Wen Lingyi. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Not only do you want to ruin my brother, but you also want to ruin the entire Dingyuan Marquisate!”
The late Marquis of Dingyuan had been a disappointment, leading to the Marquisate’s gradual decline.
The Mistress of Dingyuan had thus set her sights on the Prime Minister’s daughter, Wen Lingyi.
Unfortunately, Prime Minister Wen was at the height of his power and looked down on the Dingyuan Marquisate.
Fortunately, Chen Wanrou was Wen Lingyi’s only close friend.
At the Chunri Banquet a year ago, she had personally handed Wen Lingyi a cup of drugged wine, severing all ties of friendship between them…
Wen Lingyi’s eyes held a trace of mockery. “So what if I am? I told you on the day you drugged me that this was a marriage your Marquisate schemed for. You reap what you sow. You just have to bear it.”
“You… you don’t even care about your reputation anymore?”
Chen Wanrou still felt a pang of guilt.
She couldn’t forget the desperate, helpless, and pleading look in Wen Lingyi’s eyes as she lay beside her brother while Chen Wanrou removed her clothes for her.
But Chen Wanrou was not only Wen Lingyi’s good friend; she was also the pitiful illegitimate daughter of the Dingyuan Marquisate who had to live at the mercy of the Mistress.
If Wen Lingyi didn’t marry into the Dingyuan Marquisate, then she would have to become a concubine to the Old Prince!
Cheng Wang was nearly sixty, fat and slovenly. The sight of him was nauseating; how could she possibly pleasure him beneath his body?
Just the thought of it made Chen Wanrou want to vomit!
But her brother was a renowned noble young master in the capital.
He was gentle, refined, and handsome, and he was the heir of a Marquisate. How was he not worthy of Wen Lingyi?
So, not only did Chen Wanrou feed her the drugged wine, but she also personally led a crowd of noble ladies from the capital to witness the affair between Wen Lingyi, the foremost Noble Lady, and her own brother.
Wen Lingyi had even wanted to cut her hair and become a guzi, but thankfully, the Emperor, mindful of her grandfather’s merit in saving his life, granted an Imperial Edict of Bestowed Marriage.
Everyone in the Dingyuan Marquisate got what they wanted.
And Chen Wanrou didn’t have to become the Old Prince’s concubine.
It was a beautiful arrangement that served multiple purposes. Who would have thought that Wen Lingyi would start causing trouble the moment she married in, taking in a concubine for her brother on a monthly average? From Yangzhou Shouma and Qinglou Jizi to Jingfang Yatou, any woman, fragrant or foul, that her brother glanced at for more than a moment was immediately swept into the Dingyuan Marquisate.
At first, her mother had praised Wen Lingyi for being generous and virtuous. But after their father passed away three months ago, Wen Lingyi’s frequency of taking in concubines only increased.
What respectable young man had a courtyard full of concubines and bed-warmers right after getting married? Especially during a period of mourning.
Although no one outside had anything good to say about Wen Lingyi either, most of the scorn was directed at the Dingyuan Marquisate.
Chen Wanrou hadn’t even dared to leave the house in recent days.
“Reputation?” Wen Lingyi’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “Your Marquisate personally destroyed it, and now you ask me about my reputation?”
She stroked the somewhat crudely made camellia jade hairpin by her temple, her gaze sweeping over Chen Wanrou. “Mother-in-law, my father is ashamed of me and will never become Chen Wenli’s Dengyun Ti. It would be better to… find another way.”
“Although His Majesty is over fifty, he is still vigorous and hale. The harem has been empty for three years with no new additions. The Xuan Xiunü is to be held at the end of the month.”
In recent years, the border wars had been tense, and the Emperor had been consumed with worry day and night. It was true that he had not selected new concubines for a long time.
Now that the Young General of the Zhenguo Duke’s Mansion had repelled the Manzi and would soon return to the capital in triumph, the imperial palace needed some new color.
The Old Mistress stared at Wen Lingyi without speaking, but she couldn’t hide the strange gleam in her eyes.
Chen Wanrou saw it, and her face instantly turned deathly pale. “Wen Lingyi, don’t you dare try to harm me! Who wants to be given to an old—”
Smack—
Before she could finish, a harsh slap landed on her face.
The Old Mistress seemed to vent all her anger on Chen Wanrou.
Even knowing that Wen Lingyi was trying to sow discord, this fool Chen Wanrou still fell for it. Truly stupid!
How could she have ever believed this idiot’s claim that marrying Wen Lingyi would surely win the support of the Prime Minister’s mansion?
Pah!
Ever since the Chunri Banquet last year, that scoundrel Wen Bai had impeached the Marquis daily, causing him to fall into a deep depression from which he never recovered…
The Old Mistress wished she could tear Wen Lingyi limb from limb. “Get to the ancestral hall and copy Buddhist scriptures! If you dare to take another concubine for Chen Wenli, my Marquisate will divorce you, you venomous woman!”
Wen Lingyi’s calm eyes suddenly lit up. “For real?”
The Old Mistress was speechless.
She wanted to kill this scourge!
What daughter-in-law, after a year of marriage, didn’t even call her ‘Mother’? What wife desperately pushed her husband away?
What terrible luck had befallen the Marquisate to marry such a scourge who could neither be beaten nor scolded!
“Wen Lingyi, in life you are a person of the Dingyuan Marquisate, and in death you are its ghost. This is a marriage bestowed by His Majesty, so give up that idea. Get to the ancestral hall and reflect properly. My Marquisate can still treat you well. If you continue to be ungrateful… don’t blame me, your mother-in-law, for making things difficult.”
Wen Lingyi wasn’t afraid of difficulties, but at the mention of the ‘bestowed marriage’, the light in her eyes dimmed.
Her long lashes drooped like raven feathers, concealing all her emotions.
She turned to leave without another word.
As she reached the doorway, the Old Mistress’s voice rang out again. “Do not make any more excuses to miss the Gongyan in a few days. If you still use some pretext to avoid attending as the Mistress of the Marquisate, I will have no choice but to ask the Taihou to intervene.”
The eighth day of the eighth month was the Qinggong Banquet the Old Emperor was holding specifically for the Young General of the Zhenguo Duke’s Mansion. He would probably use this opportunity to reveal his identity as well…
Wen Lingyi’s steps faltered. Her heart felt as if it were stuffed with damp cotton—not heavy, but suffocating, leaving her breathless and unable to speak.
Stroking the long-faded camellia jade hairpin by her temple, she lifted her feet and walked away.
Behind her, the sound of Chen Wanrou’s crying could be heard.
That night, Wen Lingyi tossed and turned.
A voice repeatedly whispered in her ear: Eldest Miss, wait for me for three years. If you dare to marry someone else, I’ll make you a guafu!
Wen Lingyi laughed until she cried.
Crying, she eventually fell asleep.
She was startled awake by a heavy, drunken figure.