The Old Madam quickly intervened, her tone anxious and affectionate.
“Shuwen, where are you going? How can you stay at an inn when you have family here? Even if you hadn’t saved Qingyu today, you’re still kin. You should live here in comfort. Let your uncle take you around, introduce you to people.”
Ye Shuwen hesitated. “But if I stay, I fear my cousin will be displeased. Perhaps I should leave.”
Marquis Ye shot Ye Qingyu a glare, full of disdain. “Hmph, don’t mind her. This household is not hers to command.”
At last, Ye Shuwen reluctantly agreed to stay.
Marquis Ye turned on Ye Qingyu, voice sharp. “Ye Qingyu, how dare you sit there? Kneel!”
Ye Qingyu’s expression remained calm. She obeyed and knelt.
“Do you admit your fault?”
“I spoke the truth. I don’t know what Father believes I did wrong,” she replied evenly.
Marquis Ye’s fury boiled over. “Your manners are worthless! You still refuse to acknowledge Shuwen’s saving grace. Must I summon the driver to testify?”
The Old Madam’s face was stern, her voice heavy with shame. “Qingyu, I taught you from childhood to repay kindness. Your behavior today disgraces us all. If word spreads, our family will be mocked. Do you want me, an old woman, to be ridiculed until death?” She looked at Qingyu as though she had committed a crime.
“Qingyu, think carefully. Wasn’t it this young man who saved you?” Madam Wu asked gently, worried.
Madam Zhou added coldly, “Yes, you should reconsider.”
Ye Qingya, frustrated, spoke up. “She already said it wasn’t him. Why force her?”
“Silence!” the Old Madam snapped.
Marquis Ye glared at Ye Qingyu. “So you refuse to admit it?”
Ye Qingyu laughed coldly. “If I admitted it, that would be the greatest disrespect to my true savior.”
“Fine! Bring in the driver!” Marquis Ye roared.
The servant Sun Er entered and bowed. “Greetings, Marquis, Old Madam.”
“Sun Er, tell us—was it this young man who saved you?”
Sun Er looked at Ye Shuwen, then fell to his knees, weeping. “Young Master Ye, thank you for saving my lady and me. Without you, she would have been taken, and I would have been killed. You are a living Bodhisattva. I kowtow to you!”
Marquis Ye sneered at Qingyu. “What do you say now?”
The room’s eyes turned on her, judgmental.
Sun Er cried, “Miss, how can you deny your benefactor? You abandoned me, knocked me from the carriage. Without him, we’d both be dead!”
Marquis Ye thundered, “Wretched girl! You dared abandon a servant to save yourself? Who taught you such cruelty!”
Ye Qingyu’s voice was cool. “If I escaped on my own, then the debt is yours, not mine.”
Sun Er faltered, caught in his own contradiction. “Miss, you’re wrong. Without him defeating the bandits, how could you escape?”
Ye Qingyu arched a brow. “Defeated them? Then bring those bandits here for questioning.”
Ye Shuwen lowered his gaze nervously. “They all escaped.”
Ye Qingyu sneered. “How convenient.”
“Father, this is only Sun Er’s word. My maid Nian Chun was with me too. She is also a witness.”
Marquis Ye stiffened, realizing he had forgotten about Nian Chun.
Sun Er grew flustered. “Miss, your maid will say whatever you tell her.”
Marquis Ye snapped, “Hmph! You’re less grateful than a servant!”
Ye Qingya interjected, “Since Nian Chun was there, we should hear her too. With Grandmother and Uncle present, she won’t dare lie.”
The Old Madam glared. “Enough! Qingyu, if you still refuse to admit it, then kneel in the ancestral hall. Stay there until you come to your senses!”
Suddenly, the hall doors slammed open. A beautiful woman in purple robes strode in, her voice sharp. “You call yourselves family, yet you force Qingyu to acknowledge a false benefactor? What vile intentions!”
At the sound of her voice, Ye Qingyu’s composure broke. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the woman. “Third Aunt…”
It was her third aunt, alive and vibrant—not the lifeless body she remembered from her past life.
At that moment, Ye Qingyu truly felt the reality of her rebirth. “Third Aunt…” She threw herself into the woman’s arms, sobbing bitterly.