The Empress was the birth mother of the Second Prince, and Yu Qing had secretly pledged allegiance to him.
Using Wei Shuimei’s careless slip of the tongue, Shang Qingyan had the palace attendants beat her half to death. When this news reached the Second Prince’s ears, the Third Branch would inevitably fall out of his favor.
Yu Qing clearly understood this reasoning and was now as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, yet he dared not show the slightest hint of it.
Perhaps having achieved his goal, Shang Qingyan said little more before coughing and preparing to leave.
Yu Ange escorted him to the main gate. Before boarding his carriage, Shang Qingyan looked at Yu Ange and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear: “Cen Jiashu appears benevolent but is cruel at heart. He is truly unworthy of being a good match for the Second Young Lady of the Yu family.”
Yu Ange didn’t understand why he suddenly brought this up: “Your Highness speaks wisely. I intend to visit Cen Fu in the next couple of days to break off the engagement.”
Shang Qingyan fell silent for a moment before adding, “If the Second Young Lady of the Yu family is not in a hurry, the marriage matter could perhaps be postponed for a while.”
This remark was actually somewhat improper, but he calculated that Yu Ange was already seventeen this year, which in Shengjing was precisely the age for marriage.
Shang Qingyan thought to himself, he truly was vindictive after all. Just because someone had punched him once as a child, he now harbored the malicious thought of having her brother delay her marriage.
Yu Ange was utterly confused, not understanding why Shang Qingyan had suddenly brought up her marriage.
In this life, she disguised herself as a man—first for revenge, second to protect her family and country. She had no plans to marry at all.
However, Yu Ange was currently standing here in the identity of her elder brother, so she feigned anger and said, “Your Highness seems to be overstepping. What does my younger sister’s marriage have to do with you?”
Shang Qingyan fell silent again, unusually refraining from retorting: “This prince has been presumptuous. Young Master Yu need not take it to heart.”
With that, he entered the carriage. The curtain slowly descended. Yu Ange looked up and, in the final moment before the curtain fell completely, caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a trace of desolation on Shang Qingyan’s ethereally handsome, immortal-like face.
How utterly baffling…
Upon returning to Yu Fu, Yu Ange was once again summoned by Old Madame Yu.
Shouchuntang was even livelier than before. The two sons of the Third Branch—Yu Ange’s two cousins—stood on either side of Old Madame Yu, weeping and complaining.
“The physician says Mother’s pregnancy has been disturbed, and the baby brother in her womb may not be saved.”
“Grandmother, you didn’t see it. Mother’s face was beaten terribly and is now swollen beyond recognition.”
“Grandmother, you must seek justice for Mother.”
The moment Yu Ange stepped inside, she heard Yu Qing shout at her sternly, “How dare you not kneel!”
Yu Ange raised an eyebrow. Not only did she not kneel, she casually took a seat on a stool and poured herself a cup of tea: “Third Uncle, this makes no sense. What wrong have I done? I’ve just returned from a long journey to attend to Grandmother’s illness, haven’t even had a sip of hot tea, and now you want me to kneel publicly?”
Seeing that he hadn’t intimidated her, Yu Qing raised his voice even higher, his face fierce: “You still say you’ve done nothing wrong! Your Third Aunt merely made a careless mistake and was punished by Nanchuanwang. Not only did you not plead for her, you even let Nanchuanwang kick her! This is disrespect to your elders, defiance and unfilial behavior!”
Yu Ange was someone who had fought through bloody battles on the battlefield. How could she be frightened by Yu Qing’s outwardly fierce but inwardly weak demeanor?
She slammed the teacup in her hand heavily onto the ground. Water splattered everywhere, and porcelain shards scattered in all directions.
Yu Ange’s furious phoenix eyes swept over everyone present, an intangible aura of authority spreading through the room. Not only did the two sons of the third branch stop crying, but Yu Qing also instinctively took half a step back.
What was going on?
How could this good-for-nothing Yu Anhe flare up so terrifyingly?
That sharp, commanding gaze, completely unbefitting her age, was something Yu Qing had only ever seen in the Emperor’s eyes.
Yu Ange let out a cold laugh. “What a grand accusation—one I can hardly refuse to wear. After all, I’m someone with a mother who gave birth to me but didn’t raise me, so isn’t it only natural that I’d disrespect my elders and be unfilial?”
Yu Qing naturally knew what Wei Shuimei had said to deserve the beating. Now that Yu Ange had laid it bare, the anger in his heart, stifled by her sudden intimidation, choked in his throat, unable to find release. His face flushed red with frustration.
Seeing the situation turn sour, Yu Ying stepped in with a forced laugh. “Ah, what is all this! We’re all family here—we should be drawing closer, not smashing cups and bowls.”
Yu Ying’s words gave Yu Qing a way out, but the thought of being rendered speechless by a mere seventeen-year-old boy filled him with shame and rage. He wished he could skin Yu Ange alive.
As if he had suffered the greatest injustice, he turned to Old Madame Yu with reddened eyes. “Mother, you saw it too. As an elder, I merely scolded her for standing by coldly, and she showed me no mercy at all. It’s clear that after all these years apart, she’s grown distant from our family.”
Old Madame Yu had always despised Yu Ange and her brother. In the past, she had merely used the tactic of excessive praise to undermine them. Now, with her son voicing his grievances, she couldn’t even be bothered to maintain appearances.
“Yu Anhe! Are you trying to turn the world upside down? How dare you act so recklessly right in front of me!”
Yu Ange looked at Old Madame Yu, her face showing disappointment. “Now that Grandmother has two grandsons by her side, she no longer cares for me. Clearly, I’m the one who was wronged, yet Grandmother scolds me without even asking what happened.”
Old Madame Yu was caught off guard. If she admitted to this, it would expose her past “affection” for Yu Anhe as false, making it harder to deceive her in the future. Yet, if she denied it, she would be contradicting herself.
The hall fell silent for a long while before Yu Ying finally stepped forward again. “Enough now. We all share the same surname Yu. Anhe, you must understand that your fate is tied to the family’s—when the family prospers, you prosper; when it suffers, you suffer.”
His words were meant to mediate, yet each sentence subtly implied that Yu Ange was at fault.
Yu Ange shrugged. “Uncle, you should be saying that to Third Aunt. If she hadn’t spoken recklessly and disrespected Her Majesty the Empress, this wouldn’t have happened. Thankfully, Nanchuanwang is good-tempered and didn’t take it out on our entire Yu family, or else you would have suffered too.”
With that, Yu Ange patted her clothes and strode away. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now. I’ve been traveling for so long, and my stomach is growling. Farewell!”
Old Madame Yu was so enraged by her words that her chest ached. She pounded the table, demanding Yu Ange stop, but Yu Ange pretended not to hear and walked away with Yushu Yanbo in tow.
After all, she was now an unruly, reckless wastrel—naturally, she would do whatever it took to infuriate these people.
In Shouchuntang, Xiang Yi remained silent, while Yu Wanyun secretly chuckled to herself. In all her life, she had never seen her grandmother and third uncle so furious.
This cousin of hers truly had skill! But she wondered how he compared to her cousin sister?
Yu Qing was so furious he stomped his feet, pointing in the direction Yu Ange had left and saying, “Mother, look at her! Look at her! She’s deliberately trying to stir up trouble and make the whole family restless!”
Old Madame Yu was also greatly angered, and Nanny Qi had to help soothe her chest: “Ungrateful descendants! Ungrateful descendants!”
In the past, Yu Anhe had been simple-minded and foolish, easy to fool, but now Yu Anhe had changed drastically, even more infuriating than Yu Ange had been as a child.
Yu Qing said, “Mother! We can’t let her continue like this! She’s just returned and already made Shuimei suffer such a great loss—what will happen in the future?”
A sinister look appeared in Yu Ying’s eyes: “Of course we can’t let her continue like this, or our family will fall apart sooner or later.”
Yu Qing asked, “Second Brother, do you have any ideas?”
Yu Ying replied, “I’m not afraid of her being unruly—I’m afraid she won’t be. Don’t worry, I have my own ways to deal with this little brat and make her understand who truly has the final say in Yu Fu.”