"Divorce me?"
Marquis Zhenbei remained silent, but Lin Wanrou was both furious and anxious, her aggrieved voice tinged with sweetness and coquettishness: "Meng Nanzhi. And here I believed you were truly Nanzhi. If you were Nanzhi, how could you possibly say such words to me, using the word 'divorce' to insult me so?"
Meng Nanzhi let out a cold snort, her eyes icy. "If I weren't Meng Nanzhi, today wouldn't be as simple as just divorcing you."
Lin Wanrou took a deep breath to suppress her surging emotions and calmed herself. "Very well, then tell me which of the Seven Grounds for Divorce I have violated."
She leaned forward slightly, the tremor at the end of her words delicate, as if she had suffered a grave injustice. "I know you resent me for marrying Houye, but I entered the mansion by the Empress Dowager's own handwritten decree. Could it be that you want me to face the consequences of defying an imperial order—execution and the extermination of my entire family? Tell me, how could I possibly refuse the decree? How dare I defy the imperial will?"
"Moreover."
At this point, Lin Wanrou picked up her sleeve to wipe the tears at the corner of her eyes, her voice softening to an extreme. "For the past ten years, to ensure your safe return, I have burned incense and prayed before the Buddha every day, maintaining a vegetarian diet for a full decade. I have tirelessly served Houye, treated Xiu'er and his siblings as my own children, staying up late to sew cotton clothes when it turned cold, personally overseeing the preparation of ice basins during the summer heat. In every aspect of their daily lives—clothing, food, shelter, and travel—I have been even more attentive than I would be to my own biological daughter."
Marquis Zhenbei, Shen Qingzhi, looked at Lin Wanrou, who was crying with such sincerity. This was the woman he had glimpsed in his youth and remembered for many years. Later, she married another man, but her husband died in battle. She was despised by her husband's family for failing to produce a male heir and lived each day with caution and fear, raising her young daughter alone.
Now, she had finally entered his marquis's mansion, escaping her suffering.
As soon as Meng Nanzhi returned, she wanted to push her back into misery.
How could he bear it?
He turned to Meng Nanzhi and said, "Indeed, Nanzhi, Wanrou married me as a ping wife by the Empress Dowager's decree, but her feelings for me are genuine. Over the years, while we couldn't find you, the Marquis's Mansion could not be without a mistress to manage affairs, and Xiu'er and the others could not be without a mother figure to guide them. As a woman, how could she refuse?"
The eldest son, Shen Yanxiu, stepped forward and tugged at Meng Nanzhi's sleeve, lowering his voice. "Mother, Aunt Wan has never coveted the position of principal wife. Everyone in the capital praises her."
No one was happier than him that his mother had returned safely.
But if Aunt Wan were to be divorced just like this, his mother's reputation would likely be drowned in a sea of gossip.
Shen Yanxiu did not want his mother to be the subject of pointing fingers.
The young man looked at Meng Nanzhi with eyes full of reverence and affection.
Meng Nanzhi glanced at her eldest son, Shen Yanxiu, understanding his concerns. Then, she turned her cold gaze to Marquis Zhenbei and said, "The Empress Dowager's decree? Shen Qingzhi, how that decree came about—others may not know, but how could you, Marquis Zhenbei, not know?"
Shen Qingzhi's eyes darkened slightly. That decree was something he had secretly requested from the Empress Dowager to preserve his reputation. The matter had been handled with extreme discretion, and in principle, no one should have known about it.
But feeling somewhat guilty, Shen Qingzhi softened his tone and whispered to Meng Nanzhi, "Nanzhi, the Empress Dowager's decree is something even the Marquis's Mansion cannot defy. Who can truly oppose it?"
Meng Nanzhi lightly closed her eyes, her long eyelashes casting faint shadows beneath them, concealing all emotion in her gaze, leaving only a profound silence.
Seeing Meng Nanzhi remain silent, Lin Wanrou assumed she had no further arguments and hurriedly offered comfort: "Nanzhi, I know this news must be hard for you to accept. But the fact is that we both now serve Houye, so from now on, let us address each other as sisters in the mansion, shall I? You will always be the rightful Hou Furen, and naturally, all matters in the mansion will still be under your charge."
She lowered her head slightly, her voice trembling as if weeping: "If you truly cannot bear it, I will stay within my own courtyard from now on and never interfere with your time with Houye. I will not compete for Houye's affection; I only hope to have a place in the mansion to raise Zheng'er to adulthood. That is all I ask."
At this point, she suddenly looked up, tears streaming down her face like broken threads. "If even this you cannot tolerate… then I have no choice but to atone with my death."
Lin Wanrou turned to Marquis Zhenbei and Shen Yanxiu, her voice quivering. "I only beg Houye and Shizi, for the sake of our past affection, to take good care of Zheng'er for me…"
Before she could finish, she abruptly turned and rushed toward a pillar in the hall.
"Wanrou."
Marquis Zhenbei swiftly stepped forward and held her tightly in his arms, shouting to Imperial Physician Hong: "Imperial Physician Hong, Imperial Physician Hong, come quickly and save her!"
Imperial Physician Hong silently approached, looking at Lin Wanrou's forehead, which wasn't even swollen: Is this considered an injury?
Marquis Zhenbei, however, tenderly touched her forehead, his voice filled with pity. "Wanrou, why must you do this? You were only following the imperial decree."
He turned to look at Meng Nanzhi, his eyes now tinged with clear disappointment and reproach. "Nanzhi, Wanrou has already conceded so much. You have always addressed each other as sisters; even if she becomes my ping wife, why must you press her so relentlessly?"
Meng Nanzhi crouched down, coldly gazing at the tearful Lin Wanrou. "Lin Wanrou, know your place. The sixth year of Jinghe, Zhenbeihou Mansion, Qinghe Garden. You and Marquis Zhenbei know full well what you did. For the sake of our past affection, do not force me to slap you."
On the Giant Screen, three years after her death, Lin Wanrou personally fed wine to Marquis Zhenbei, after which the two lay together on her bed in the courtyard…
Closing her eyes briefly, she ignored Lin Wanrou's sudden pallor.
Meng Nanzhi then looked at Marquis Zhenbei, whose expression was equally awkward, her voice gentle yet resolute: "Since Marquis Zhenbei is unwilling to divorce her, then let us divorce."
Her seven years were, after all, no match for her seven years.
Shen Yanxiu: "Mother!"
Meng Nanzhi glanced at her eldest son and said to Concubine Hu, who had been standing all along: "Concubine Hu, take Xiu'er out to rest."
Concubine Hu nodded.
Shen Yanxiu was unwilling but, under his mother's authoritative gaze, obediently followed Concubine Hu out.
Imperial Physician Hong, having finished applying medicine to Lin Wanrou, also quietly slipped out, crouching low.
Enough watching, enough watching. If I keep watching, my life might be at risk.
The hall returned to silence. Marquis Zhenbei Shen Qingzhi looked at Meng Nanzhi before him, his gaze resting on her slightly raised chin. For a moment, it seemed to overlap with the image of her when they first met.
Back then, she too had bright, clear eyes, carrying a candidness he had never seen before. Even the confidence and boldness in her bones seemed to gleam with light, captivating him so he couldn't look away.
But at that time, he was still a concubine-born son of the Shen family, hiding in the shadows every day.
Gazing at such a vibrant her, what lingered in his heart was never the pure admiration of youth, let alone any protective instinct—only calculation.
How could such a person be brought into his fold, turned into a ladder for his own ascent, made into something that belonged to him alone?
Now, as the powerful Marquis Zhenbei, the entire Shen family looked to him for direction.
The Marquis’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he suppressed the surging thoughts in his mind, his voice low and gentle: “Nanzhi, you’ve just returned, and your health hasn’t fully recovered yet. Come back to the Marquis’s Mansion with me first. I’ll seek out the best physicians in the capital and have them carefully tend to you.”
Meng Nanzhi pursed her lips, her eyes unyielding. “Shen Qingzhi, since you’ve already betrayed me, why bother with such hypocritical gestures?”
Shen Qingzhi hadn’t expected her to be so resolute. His gaze flickered as he said, “Nanzhi, you’re unwell. Let’s discuss this matter slowly once you’re in better spirits.”
Divorcing her was out of the question, and a mutual separation was even more impossible. He couldn’t let the reputation he had built over the years be easily destroyed.
With that, he gave Meng Nanzhi no chance to argue back, leading Lin Wanrou away from the Meng Residence.
Meng Nanzhi watched their retreating figures walking side by side, her eyes filled with nothing but icy coldness.