Seeing that her mother had misunderstood, Li Mengxi shook her head.
She gave a wry smile and said, “Mother, the Heir has never consummated the marriage with me. How could there be children? Unless your daughter went out and took a lover.”
“What!” Madam Shen’s voice turned slightly shrill.
This news was even harder for her to bear than if the Heir were impotent!
Her daughter was outstanding in both appearance and talent!
Hearing Li Mengxi’s words, Madam Shen’s face instantly turned ugly. “It’s been three years, and the two of you still haven’t consummated the marriage?”
This was simply outrageous!
It certainly wasn’t because her daughter was unwilling, but rather because of the Heir…
Thinking of the gossip and ridicule her daughter had endured over these three years, Madam Shen’s eyes reddened, and her dissatisfaction with Su Fei grew even stronger. She embraced Li Mengxi and choked out, “You foolish girl, why did you only tell your mother about this now?”
If Li Mengxi had revealed that the two of them hadn’t consummated their marriage in three years, she would only have faced mockery.
Everyone would have laughed at her, laughed at her for being unable to win over her own husband.
And she hadn’t told her mother because she didn’t want her to worry as well.
Li Mengxi had originally believed that as long as she worked hard enough, Su Fei would come to see her worth.
Then the matter of heirs would naturally resolve itself.
If she had to blame anyone, she could only blame herself for misjudging the human heart.
A smile played at the corners of Li Mengxi’s lips as she took an embroidered handkerchief and gently wiped her mother’s tears. “Mother, don’t cry. Your daughter is doing just fine. What use would it have been to tell you this before? It would only have made you worry along with me.”
Madam Shen understood her daughter’s meaning.
Her daughter had already married into the Hou Mansion, and there was no way she could reach that far, into the private matters of her daughter’s bedchamber.
If the marriage remained unconsummated, the only options were to accept her fate or choose a consensual divorce.
This world was not kind to women who divorced.
Neither the Shen clan nor the Li clan would be willing to see her daughter divorced.
Madam Shen furrowed her brows.
Li Mengxi tested the waters with a question. “Mother, if one day your daughter can no longer live with the Heir…”
Madam Shen helplessly stroked her daughter’s hair and said earnestly, “Mengxi, the Heir cannot possibly go without an heir. One day he will consummate the marriage with you. You can also arrange for your maidservants to attend to the Heir, and their children can be raised under your name in the future. Of course, that last option is only for when all else fails.”
Li Mengxi had long known that her mother would never agree to her seeking a consensual divorce from Su Fei.
The smile at her lips faded.
But… if Su Fei himself proposed the consensual divorce, then no one could stop it.
Madam Shen asked with confusion, “The Heir is a man after all. Isn’t he far too restrained when it comes to women?”
“He doesn’t have a cut-sleeve passion, rest assured,” Li Mengxi explained with a faint expression. “It’s just that he already has someone he loves in his heart, so he doesn’t want to touch me.”
Madam Shen furrowed her brows.
Su Fei, so cold and aloof, actually had someone he loved.
“Who is the woman he likes? Why haven’t I seen him bring her into the Hou Mansion? Could it be that the woman can’t be shown in public?”
Li Mengxi let out a soft laugh and nodded. Indeed, she couldn’t be shown in public.
A wife’s younger sister and her brother-in-law, coming together without proper matchmaking.
Li Mengxi lowered her voice. “Mother, I actually suspect that the woman the Heir loves is Li Ya.”
She had no intention of hiding this from Madam Shen during this visit home.
In her previous life, her mother’s death must have had another cause.
Hearing her daughter’s speculation, Madam Shen’s first instinct was that it was impossible.
“Why do you suspect the Heir and Li Ya?”
When had those two ever had any contact?
Li Mengxi’s smile faded. “The Heir was willing to accompany your daughter back to the Li Residence today. Do you truly think it was for my sake? No, he came for Li Ya.”
Seeing that her mother still wore a skeptical expression, she smiled and said, “Mother, don’t doubt me. How about this—today, let’s find an opportunity to arrange a meeting between Li Ya and the Heir?”
“Fine! I’ll arrange that.” Madam Shen’s expression darkened as she remained half-convinced.
But her daughter wouldn’t joke about something like this.
If Li Ya truly had some shameful relationship with Su Fei…
She wouldn’t let Li Ya and her mother get off easy!
Madam Shen’s face turned grim as she let out a cold snort. “Your father mentioned something to me last night. He wants Li Ya and Li Xuan to be registered under my name.”
Li Ya and Li Xuan were both Concubine Ruan’s biological children.
They were born of a concubine.
In the past two years, the Ruan family had risen in prominence.
Vice Minister Li wanted Li Ya and the others to be registered under Madam Shen’s name, elevating them from concubine-born children to legitimate children.
This way, he could not only curry favor with the Ruan family, but also allow Li Ya to marry into a high-ranking household, and raise Li Xuan’s status as well.
This same matter had come up in her previous life too.
But neither Li Mengxi nor Madam Shen had agreed to Vice Minister Li’s proposal.
Did he really take them for fools!
Madam Shen sneered coldly and said dismissively, “Your father has certainly calculated this well. I will absolutely not agree to it.”
The legitimate children could only be her own son and daughter!
Especially now that she knew Li Ya might have an ambiguous relationship with Su Fei.
Madam Shen was even less willing to agree.
She also planned to arrange a marriage for Li Ya and get her married off as soon as possible!
Once a woman was married, how could she still come to snatch someone away?
No matter how devoted a man was, in the end, his inner quarters would be filled with wives and concubines.
Madam Shen called Nanny Huang in.
When Nanny Huang walked in, Madam Shen lowered her voice and gave her a few instructions.
It was to arrange for Li Ya and Su Fei to meet without leaving any trace.
This was the Li Residence, and as the current head of the household, Madam Shen’s orders would be obeyed by all the servants in the residence.
Nanny Huang was somewhat surprised, but she still followed the instructions to arrange the matter.
This matter was of great importance—the Heir must not have the slightest suspicion.
Just then, a maidservant walked into the room, bowed, and reported, “Madam, the Second Miss has arrived.”
Li Ya was back?
A flicker of displeasure passed through Madam Shen’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Li Mengxi sat with a faint smile, waiting.
Madam Shen said, “Nanny, go out personally and invite the Second Miss in.”
She wasn’t foolish enough to show Li Ya a cold face today.
Nanny Huang walked out of the room, greeted Li Ya with a smile, and bowed, “Second Miss, the Madam is waiting for you inside.”
Li Ya raised an eyebrow. Madam Shen had actually sent Nanny Huang out personally to receive her.
The corners of her lips curled up slightly.
As a mere concubine-born daughter, she never thought she’d receive such treatment one day.
Li Ya was still wearing her battle robes. She had just returned to the residence, and having heard that her father was entertaining the Heir, she could only come to pay her respects to Madam Shen first.
She had just stepped into the room.
She caught a faint fragrance in the air.
This scent made Li Ya’s mind waver for a moment.
It had been a long time since she had smelled this fragrance.
Thinking of how she had to face harsh conditions at the border every day.
While Li Mengxi and her mother enjoyed themselves in Jingcheng.
Li Ya felt somewhat unbalanced in her heart.
As the daughter of a Vice Minister, she shouldn’t have had to go to the border.
But she had gritted her teeth and gone, all to fight for a future for herself!
From now on, even Madam Shen wouldn’t dare to manipulate her at will in this household!
Nanny Huang lifted the curtain for Li Ya.
The moment Li Ya stepped into the room, the first thing she saw was Li Mengxi, whose entire bearing was exceptionally elegant.
Li Mengxi was wearing an emerald green dress today, which made her skin look even more luminous and fair.
Madam Shen had a special beauty regimen passed down only to the women of the Shen family.
Li Mengxi’s luminous, fair skin was the result of this regimen she had followed since childhood.
Li Ya had always coveted the recipe in Madam Shen’s hands—no woman could resist the temptation of becoming more beautiful.
However, she was only a concubine-born daughter; Madam Shen would never be kind enough to let her use such a regimen.
The slight discomfort in Li Ya’s heart lasted only a moment.
Now, in her eyes, Li Mengxi was like a bird raised in a cage.
While she, Li Ya, was an eagle soaring through the heavens and earth.
Even if Li Mengxi had luminous, fair skin, so what?
A woman who could only rely on her body to win over men would one day lose her beauty and fall out of favor.
Li Ya sneered in disdain.
Besides, her brother-in-law… had no interest in Li Mengxi.
Instead, he was interested in her…
At that thought, Li Ya lowered her eyes with a smile and paid her respects to Madam Shen, “Daughter pays respects to Mother.”
All children born of concubines had to address Madam Shen as Mother.
Though Madam Shen wore a smile on her face, her eyes were cold. She quickly told Li Ya to rise, “Look at you, you must be exhausted. You should go wash up first and get some good rest.”
Li Ya thanked Madam Shen.
She then looked at Li Mengxi, “Elder Sister.”
Li Mengxi held an embroidered handkerchief to her nose, as Li Ya carried a somewhat dusty, travel-worn smell.
She nodded faintly, “Second Sister, you look much darker than before, but you do seem full of energy. You’ve worked hard these past two years.”
Much darker than before?
What kind of compliment was that?
The smile at the corners of Li Ya’s lips stiffened slightly.
She pulled at her lips and smiled, “Elder Sister wouldn’t know—at the border, this younger sister has to get up every day to train under the sun, constantly preparing for battle. Naturally, my skin darkened. Elder Sister, living in Jingcheng, can’t understand such hardship.”