“Yes, Zhao Mingyan, that shameless wretch, on the very first day she entered the Jiaofang Bureau, she rushed to serve clients. All of us, the Zhao family women, starved ourselves to preserve chastity, but she—she couldn’t wait! You didn’t see how eager she was, clinging to an old man nearly old enough to be her father on the very first night!”
Zhao Jiahan’s face twisted with satisfaction as she spoke.
Chen Xingwei’s expression darkened instantly. His sharp eyes swept toward Zhao Mingyan, who had already turned her back, quietly trying to leave.
“Zhao Mingyan! Where do you think you’re going!” He spat the words through clenched teeth.
He was furious. After all, Zhao Mingyan was still his fiancée in name. And yet his fiancée had gone to serve clients—how could the Marquis Xuanping’s household hold its head high? How could *he* hold his head high?
Zhao Mingyan ignored him, continuing to walk away in silence. But Zhao Jiahan would not let such a chance to curry favor slip by. She grabbed Zhao Mingyan’s arm tightly, refusing to let her go, shouting loudly: “Heir Chen, she’s running off to climb higher! She’s already clinging to that old man, and he’s going to redeem her as his concubine!”
Zhao Mingyan winced from the pain of her grip, and hearing those words, her anger flared. “Let go!”
“What, so eager to run to your old man, to serve him well in bed?” Zhao Jiahan sneered, her crooked smile like a mocking stork.
Zhao Mingyan was truly enraged now. She tried to push her away, but behind her came a furious rebuke: “Zhao Mingyan! Where is your shame! A daughter of the Zhao Minister’s household—this is how your family teaches you propriety, virtue, and chastity?”
Chen Xingwei glared at her, furious. For the first time, he looked at her directly.
In her past life, until the day Zhao Mingyan died, Chen Xingwei had never once looked her in the eye.
“Heir Chen, this is not the Zhao family’s way. Just look at my second sister-in-law—she has already sacrificed herself to preserve chastity.” Zhao Jiahan continued to fan the flames. “But Zhao Mingyan—perhaps it’s in her blood. Her mother was the same. Like mother, like daughter—born without virtue.”
Chen Xingwei glanced at the cold corpse of the second madam nearby, then turned back to Zhao Mingyan with even greater fury.
Yes, their household had deliberately delayed until the seventh day to come rescue them, certain that the Zhao women would preserve their chastity.
It was their family that first proclaimed that women must obey the Three Obediences and that chastity was worth more than life. Surely the Zhao daughters would guard their purity until rescue arrived.
And those seven days of torment had their purpose. If they truly wanted to save them, they could have come on the first day. But no—they wanted Zhao Mingyan to suffer those seven days, to grind down her spirit, to crush any lingering dream that she might still become the wife of the heir to the Marquis Xuanping.
At that time, if they gave her the status of a concubine, it would already be enough to make her grateful. And to the outside world, it would look like the Marquis Xuanping’s household was compassionate and loyal—rescuing even a fiancée who had fallen into the Pleasure Bureau, keeping her in the rear courtyard.
But Zhao Mingyan had originally preserved her chastity; she was still a virgin. In that case, they would gain both inside and out, without losing anything.
Now, however—Zhao Mingyan had lost her purity!
Worse still, it was said that on the very first day she entered the Pleasure Bureau, she eagerly served clients. If such news spread, how could the Marquis Xuanping’s household hold its face? Zhao Mingyan was practically courting death!
“Zhao Mingyan, my mother once chose you at a glance, saying you were gentle and virtuous, born of the Zhao family, surely a chaste and loyal girl. Our household bore immense pressure to rescue you, only to find we were saving such filth!” Chen Xingwei was furious beyond measure.
“My mother must have been blind—she saw your looks, asked about your family, but never asked about your birth mother. Our family nearly married into disgrace. No wonder! You’re just like your mother—lowborn and shameless!”
At the mention of her mother, Zhao Mingyan suddenly lifted her head. She could endure no more. She did not avoid or shrink back, but met Chen Xingwei’s gaze directly.
“Chen Xingwei, tell me—what am I to you?” Her eyes were so bright that Chen Xingwei was momentarily stunned, even forgetting that she had just called him by his full name.
For the first time, he truly saw her face. And only then did he realize—Zhao Mingyan’s beauty was no less than her second sister, Zhao Mingzhu’s. In fact, she was even more striking. But she had always dressed plainly, never standing out among the Zhao daughters. He was dazzled for a moment, then recovered, and forced out the words: “You and I have a marriage contract. You are my fiancée.”
Hearing this, Zhao Mingyan let out a cold laugh. “So Heir Chen still remembers I am your fiancée?”
“Why are you speaking so bitterly? As my fiancée, you failed to preserve chastity. What face do you have left?”
“And you, as my fiancé—why did you watch me fall into the Pleasure Bureau, and wait a full seven days before coming to rescue me?”
With that single sentence, Chen Xingwei was struck speechless. Yes—the Marquis Xuanping’s household had calculated too well. As long as Zhao Mingyan preserved her chastity, they would profit both inside and out, and everyone would praise them.
But anyone who thought about it for even a moment could see the deep calculation behind it.
If the Marquis Xuanping’s household truly valued loyalty and righteousness, why didn’t they rescue Zhao Mingyan on the very first day she entered the Pleasure Bureau? Why did they wait seven whole days?
Letting their future daughter-in-law suffer torment in such a place—did they really see Zhao Mingyan as their future mistress of the household?
It was obvious: they didn’t want her, but they still wanted to preserve appearances.
Chen Xingwei was left speechless.
“Why is Heir Chen suddenly at a loss for words?” Zhao Mingyan looked at him and gave a cold laugh. “If the Marquis Xuanping’s household truly valued our engagement, if they truly intended for me to become the young madam and even the mistress of the household, shouldn’t they have rescued me on the very first day?”
“Household mistress? You really dare to dream!” Chen Xingwei sneered.
Zhao Mingyan laughed again. “Yes, I don’t deserve it. Our Zhao family has fallen, and the whole clan has been confiscated. As the daughter of a disgraced minister, how could I still have the right to marry into the Marquis’s household as the young madam? So the day I entered the Pleasure Bureau, our engagement was automatically void. I knew it, Heir Chen and the Marquis’s household knew it, and everyone outside knew it too.”
“Since it’s something everyone already understands, how can Heir Chen demand that I preserve chastity for you, speaking of marrying into the Marquis’s household? Isn’t it that the Marquis’s household pretends at righteousness, knowing I am a weak woman, yet wanting me to die guarding chastity just to uphold your family’s reputation?”