“I don’t believe it!”
“I don’t believe it!”
Though she said she didn’t believe it, Meng Jinrong’s heart had already accepted the truth.
She couldn’t understand why the person she loved most, the one she longed for but could never have, would fall for a lowly woman like Meng Jinyue.
Couldn’t Xie Yunye see that this wretched woman was putting on an act, trying to seduce him?
Or did he simply not care?
Meng Jinrong stood motionless in the courtyard, as if suddenly losing all support, sinking into a heavy silence.
Even when she was finally led away, Meng Jinrong remained in a daze.
“It seems the Second Young Miss is truly heartbroken. I’m so pleased.”
After years of the Second Young Miss bullying her own mistress, Qiu Ning wished she could suffer even more.
“So am I.”
Qiu Ning froze. “Young Miss, you actually said something like that?”
Her eyes widened in astonishment.
Meng Jinyue smiled at her. “Can’t I?”
Qiu Ning shook her head belatedly. “Of course you can. This is exactly how Young Miss should be. In the past, you were as soft-hearted as a Bodhisattva, so for a moment I thought I’d misheard.”
But Qiu Ning could understand. Madam Meng and the Second Young Miss’s methods were too despicable. Even someone as kind-hearted as her mistress had finally awakened.
“Young Miss must stay like this from now on.”
Meng Jinyue nodded.
But this wasn’t enough. It was only the beginning.
A few days later, news arrived in the mansion that the Xie family had conceded.
Xie Yunye had knelt in the ancestral hall for three days and three nights, and it was said he had even been subjected to family discipline.
“Congratulations, Young Miss!”
Qiu Ning’s tone was joyful. “I was worried the Xie family wouldn’t agree easily, but now it’s finally settled.”
This was the difference between having the will and not having it.
In this world, as long as one has the will, anything can be accomplished.
So in her past life, when Xie Yunye broke his promise and left her disappointed despite her hopes, it was simply because he hadn’t been willing to try.
She hadn’t been important enough, not worth Xie Yunye’s effort.
But in this life, he loved her and was willing to do anything for her.
While Meng Jinyue received the news, Meng Jinrong heard it too.
Since her last visit to Meng Jinyue, she hadn’t left her room, refusing to eat or drink.
It was said Madam Meng and Meng Jinhua had tried to persuade her many times.
“The Xie family actually agreed? How could they agree? Uncle Xie himself said he was satisfied with me?”
Duke Xie was a cold man, rarely pleased with anyone, yet he had expressed willingness to have her as his daughter-in-law.
She had thought the Xie family would never take a liking to Meng Jinyue. She was merely a concubine-born daughter—how could she be worthy of the Duke’s household?
“Xie Yunye gave up his position as heir.”
“Ahua, be quiet.”
Madam Meng rarely spoke to her eldest daughter in such a tone.
“Mother, I’m just telling the truth. If we don’t tell her, she’ll cling to her illusions forever.”
Meng Jinhua picked up a bronze mirror and placed it calmly in front of Meng Jinrong. “Look at yourself now. Where is the dignity of a noble young lady? Can’t you live without Xie Yunye?”
“I can’t live without him!”
Meng Jinrong shouted. “Unless you find me someone better than Xie Yunye. In the entire capital, only the Crown Prince is better than him. Give the Crown Prince to me!”
Meng Jinhua stared at her sister in disbelief. “What nonsense are you talking? With a mind like yours, how could you ever become the Crown Princess?”
“You know you wouldn’t agree! She didn’t steal the man you love, so of course you can act so calm!”
“Mother, Eldest Sister, please leave. I want to be alone.”
“Ah Rong.”
Madam Meng still wanted to say something, but seeing her daughter’s expression, she ultimately said nothing.
“Rest well. You are my daughter, and I will certainly make proper arrangements for you. I will find you another good match.”
Meng Jinrong remained silent.
After they left, she dismissed all the servants.
“Miss, Second Miss has attempted suicide!”
Qiu Ning gasped, having rushed back to inform Meng Jinyue as soon as she received the news.
“Miss, what should we do now? With Second Miss causing such a scene, might there be changes to the marriage arrangement?”
“She was saved and didn’t die, right?” Meng Jinyue asked.
Qiu Ning nodded: “She was saved. They say the servants discovered her in time.”
Qiu Ning realized belatedly, slapping her forehead: “Miss, did Second Miss do it on purpose?”
Meng Jinyue didn’t answer. She had long anticipated that Meng Jinrong would pull such a stunt. Someone as malicious as her valued her life too much to be willing to die.
She merely wanted to escalate the situation.
The next step would likely be to go to the palace and plead her case.
“Miss, a letter from the young master.”
Qiu Zhi suddenly jumped down from a tree, handing the letter to her.
Qiu Zhi had always been quiet. Apart from the few words she spoke when she saved her last time, she had remained silent these days, like a shadow, often making others forget her presence.
“Leave everything to me. Don’t worry.”
Meng Jinyue opened the letter, which contained only these few words.
Meng Jinyue wasn’t worried in the first place.
Xie Yunye probably hadn’t expected Meng Jinrong to attempt suicide, but he would surely take action.
She would simply wait.
Things unfolded much as Meng Jinyue had predicted.
Not long after Meng Jinrong’s attempted hanging, the Empress summoned her to the palace.
Madam Meng looked at her resolute daughter: “Why must you take things to this extreme?”
Madam Meng felt both angry and helpless.
Meng Jinhua also frowned at her younger sister, her eyes filled only with disappointment.
“I know that by doing this, Xie Yunye will expose what Mother and I have done. Don’t worry, Mother—I will take full responsibility and won’t implicate you or Elder Sister.”
Meng Jinhua sneered coldly: “Do you think saying you won’t implicate us means you won’t? We are sisters by blood. If you leave a malicious impression in front of His Majesty, how can I escape unscathed?”
Meng Jinrong’s expression remained blank: “My mind is made up.”
She would rather have Xie Yunye expose her deeds than give up without a fight.
His Majesty had always held her maternal grandfather in high regard, and she was her grandfather’s own granddaughter.
His Majesty had always shown some favor to her and her elder sister.
Now, with her threatening death, out of respect for her grandfather, His Majesty would most likely grant her heartfelt wish.
“If Elder Sister wants to blame someone, blame only me. What I want, I must have, whether it’s a husband or anything else.”
Meng Jinhua laughed coldly, her face frosty: “How dare I blame you? You are my own sister. Could I possibly demand your life?”
After Meng Jinrong entered the palace, it was said that Xie Yunye also went to the palace.
By the time Meng Jinrong returned from the palace, Xie Yunye had still not left.
“Surprised to see me?”
Meng Jinrong emerged from the palace in high spirits. As soon as she returned to the estate, without going anywhere else, she immediately sought out Meng Jinyue.
Compared to their last meeting, Meng Jinrong was no longer hysterical but instead calm and composed.
“You must be disappointed that I didn’t succeed in hanging myself. You’ll be even more disappointed in the future.”
Meng Jinrong stepped closer to Meng Jinyue, her eyes brimming with hatred.
“He will ultimately marry me, not you.”
“Once this matter is over, once the Crown Prince’s selection of a consort is settled, it will be your death day.”
“Let me think, how should I make you die best? And that mother of yours—I know you care about her most. Let me think… how about throwing both of you into a brothel? No, no, that’s still too lenient for you. Better to send you to Prince An’s residence, mother and daughter together.”
“Prince An loves fragile little sluts like you the most.”
“I imagine after you go, all the courtesans in Prince An’s residence will fall out of favor.”
“Oh, and sister, you must be careful in the future. Some women Prince An tires of are thrown into his military camp.”
“Don’t worry, as your sister, I’ll come visit you when you’re sent there.”
Meng Jinrong laughed as she spoke, her laughter tinged with madness and ferocity.
She seemed to have already foreseen that day.
Meng Jinyue gently tucked the stray hairs by her cheek, smiling softly. Her cherry lips were full and red, glowing white under the sunlight, captivating to the eye:
“Sister, I’ll be waiting.”
“Brother Xie Yunye told me not to worry about anything. He’ll handle it for me. I believe in Brother Xie Yunye.”
Hearing Meng Jinyue call Xie Yunye so affectionately, Meng Jinrong’s face twisted for a few seconds.
She was disgusted and enraged.
“You slut, how dare you call him that.”
“The Emperor has decreed that he marry me. Do you think Brother Xie would defy the imperial decree for you?”
Meng Jinyue blinked her moist eyes, smiling: “Sister, you never know.”
“After all, he was willing to die to save me!”
“You and I both know, Brother Xie Yunye is the best man in the world, a rare romantic. Once he falls for someone, he’ll commit to them.”
“He said he’d take responsibility for me, that he’d only marry me. So I’ll wait for him.”
Meng Jinrong left with a gloomy expression.
Xie Yunye was expelled from the palace.
Xie Yunye knelt outside the palace.
……
……
Although Meng Jinyue couldn’t leave, Qiu Ning went to gather news every day and kept bringing updates.
After Xie Yunye knelt outside the palace for two days, the Emperor finally summoned him back into the palace.
“Let’s go, we’re leaving the residence.”
Qiu Ning was stunned: “Miss, where are we going?”
“To wait for him outside the palace gates.”
When Meng Jinyue arrived, she noticed Meng Jinrong’s carriage was also outside the palace.
Seeing her, Meng Jinrong acted as if she had seen something filthy, bending over as if to vomit.
Meng Jinyue was amused.
Just as the corners of her lips curved upward, the Crown Prince’s carriage happened to pass by.
By the time she looked over, the carriage window had already been closed.
“Your Highness, Young Master Xie is willing to defy the imperial decree for her, yet at such a time, this woman can still smile. In contrast, Second Young Lady Meng appears visibly haggard.”
The eunuch bowed: “Clearly, Young Master Xie’s beloved does not care about him.”
The Crown Prince said nothing.
The eunuch felt uneasy—had he misjudged His Highness’s thoughts?
But His Highness clearly disliked this woman for hindering Young Master Xie’s future.
Meng Jinyue waited outside the palace for a full day. She had arrived in the morning, and by evening, Xie Yunye limped out of the palace.
There were traces of blood on him, as if he had been subjected to a beating.
“Brother Xie!” Meng Jinrong lifted her skirt and rushed toward Xie Yunye from her carriage.
“Second Young Lady Meng, please restrain yourself!”
Meng Jinrong’s face turned pale. “But His Majesty said you must marry me! I am to be your future wife!”
Xie Yunye spoke earnestly, “Miss Meng, please do not jest. When did His Majesty ever say such a thing? Can you produce an imperial edict?”
Meng Jinrong froze. “Brother Xie, what do you mean?”
“My meaning is clear. I have no relationship whatsoever with the Second Young Lady. In the future, the only one I will marry is your sister.”
“His Majesty has promised me that upon my return from the battlefield, he will bestow a marriage between me and your sister. I ask the Second Young Lady to cease this entanglement.”
After speaking, Xie Yunye no longer looked at Meng Jinrong, whose heart seemed to have turned to ashes.
“Yao Yao, I did it.”
Xie Yunye’s dark eyes shone with startling intensity. Though covered in bloodstains and his face deathly pale, even a blind person could see his joy.
His eyes were fixed entirely on her. If it were her from a past life, she would surely have been deeply moved.
But now, her heart had long since died.
No matter how much a man loved her in the moment, she would never again offer her true heart.
She would not become a woman like Meng Jinrong.
Men would only ever be her tools.
Meng Jinyue stepped forward and embraced him, her eyes reddening as tears streamed down her face.
“I was so worried about you. I was terrified.”
Xie Yunye reached out carefully to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“Yao Yao, don’t cry. My injuries aren’t actually serious; they’ll heal in a few days.”
“As long as I can marry you, what do these wounds matter?”
Xie Yunye spoke sincerely, but Meng Jinyue’s tears only fell harder.
For a moment, Xie Yunye was at a loss.
“Yao Yao…”
“You’re going back to the battlefield because of me, aren’t you? Will you be in danger?”
Xie Yunye shook his head. “Not because of you, Yao Yao, don’t think that way. I am a general. Whenever there is war at the border, it is my duty to go.”
It was just that this battle was perilous. The Xie family’s third generation now consisted only of him and his infant brother, barely a year old.
It need not have been a Xie who went; the Xie family had already sacrificed enough.
But he wanted to marry Meng Jinyue, and his grandfather and the others were unwilling to help him.
So he had to find a way himself.
He had made a military pledge before His Majesty: if he won this war,
His Majesty would allow him to be with Meng Jinyue and bestow their marriage.
Not to take her as a concubine, nor to make her an equal wife alongside Meng Jinrong,
But to be his one and only properly wedded wife.
“Yao Yao, this time, it was thanks to His Highness’s intercession. Let me take you to see His Highness so we can thank him.”
Xie Yunye had thought it through well. The Crown Prince was his closest brother, the person he trusted most besides his family and Meng Jinyue.
The two had faced life and death together on the battlefield, entrusting their backs to one another.
And Meng Jinyue would be his wife in the future.
Naturally, he wanted to formally introduce her to the Crown Prince.
“Lord Xie, His Highness says he will not see her, nor is she permitted to board the carriage. Only you may go up, Lord Xie.”
Xie Yunye was stunned. He had not expected the Crown Prince to dislike Meng Jinyue so much that he would publicly humiliate her.
“Why would His Highness act this way?”