Ji Hanyi’s heart tightened, her expression filled with sorrow. She looked at her aunt and said in a low voice, “Aunt, please trust me. I will give you an answer tomorrow morning.”
However, the woman shook her head anxiously. “It’s already been several days; you still want to delay? Can your cousin even survive that kind of torture?”
“If you can’t get a word in, then take me to see Xie Yuheng. I will personally kneel before him and beg for his mercy.”
Ji Hanyi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Aunt, Xie Yuheng will not help us. It is useless to ask him.”
The woman’s eyes widened as she stared at Ji Hanyi. “What kind of talk is that? You are Xie Yuheng’s wife. Why wouldn’t he help you? Or is it that you simply don’t want to help your cousin?”
“This is just a matter of saying a single word. How could he not help?”
Ji Hanyi looked at her aunt bitterly. “Does Aunt think the matter of Cousin hiding forbidden books is a small one?”
“Furthermore, Cousin is still in the Northern Imperial Prison. As long as Commander Shen or Lu Yuan of the Northern Imperial Prison is willing to release him, it truly is just a matter of Xie Yuheng saying a single word to his brother-in-law.”
“When this happened, Cousin Xun surely mentioned his relationship to me. Lu Yuan would have definitely sent someone to ask Xie Yuheng about it. Lu Yuan’s actions are a direct reflection of Xie Yuheng’s intentions.”
“It has been so long and they haven’t released him. Don’t you understand, Aunt? It’s because Xie Yuheng refuses to help. He might have even told Lu Yuan to handle the matter strictly instead of Lu Yuan holding onto him out of his own volition.”
Ji Hanyi had actually realized all of this long ago.
She had understood it that night when she intended to discuss the Divorce Agreement with Xie Yuheng, only for him to say he already knew what she wanted to talk about.
She had received her grandmother’s letter that night, and Xie Yuheng must have learned the news then as well. Lu Yuan had certainly come to ask him.
He had said he wouldn’t help her, which meant Xie Yuheng had not told Lu Yuan to release the prisoner.
Thus, she knew all along that begging Xie Yuheng for help would be nothing more than self-inflicted humiliation.
The woman’s face paled with shock as she looked at Ji Hanyi, unable to believe what she had just heard.
She stood dazed, her eyes fixed on Ji Hanyi. “You are Xie Yuheng’s wife. Why is he unwilling to help you?”
“Are you making this up?”
Ji Hanyi gave a bitter smile. “Aunt, why would I want to watch my own cousin stay in prison?”
“I ask that Aunt wait for me one more day. I will certainly have a solution for you tomorrow morning.”
The woman stared blankly at Ji Hanyi, her eyes saturated with disappointment. “You have been married into the Xie family for three years, yet you are this useless.”
“What can I even count on you for?”
“You can’t even win over your own husband. What kind of solution could you possibly have?”
With that, the woman scrambled down from the Luohan daybed, her gaze gradually turning into one of fury. “If you knew how to handle the people of the Xie family, why would Xun’er have to suffer so much!”
“How laughable. To think a husband and wife would end up like you two.”
“Married for three years, yet they never let you manage the household, and even your husband is at odds with you. You are incompetent!”
The woman snatched the box of silver she had previously pressed into Ji Hanyi’s hands, took a few steps back, turned, and stormed out.
Rong Chun stood behind Ji Hanyi and heard everything the woman said. She looked down at Ji Hanyi’s expression with heartache.
To be spoken to like that by a close relative—the Young Madam must be so hurt.
Over the years, the Young Madam had done well enough. Even as fastidious as the First Madam was, she couldn’t find a single fault in the Young Madam, aside from the issue of an heir.
The Eldest Young Master had someone else in his heart from the beginning and could not see the Young Madam’s virtues. How could they blame her?
She leaned over, wanting to offer words of comfort, but found herself too upset to speak.
Ji Hanyi’s face was slightly pale, her fingertips gripping the corner of the small table. The two cups of tea before her remained untouched, the rising steam drifting between them. That word—”useless”—had sliced open a wound in her heart.
It was as if her entire life existed only to please her husband. If her husband did not love her and she could not win him over, then she was deemed useless.
Ji Hanyi pushed herself up from the table. Looking up and meeting Rong Chun’s pained gaze, she said softly, “It’s alright.”
“It will be over soon.”
Having composed her emotions, Ji Hanyi headed outside.
Rong Chun hurried after her. “Where is the Young Madam going?”
Ji Hanyi pursed her lips. Upon reaching the courtyard gate and seeing the direction her aunt had gone, she understood.
Her aunt had surely gone to find her mother-in-law.
Her heart skipped a beat as she hurried to follow. Unfortunately, her words earlier hadn’t been enough to stop her. Everyone in the Xie family was cold. If Xie Yuheng wouldn’t help, the First Madam certainly wouldn’t either.
But she was a step too late after all.
Before she could even set foot in the main hall, she heard the First Madam’s characteristically stern voice: “Is Second Madam Gu using this money to insult the Xie family’s clean reputation?”
“Has our Xie family truly fallen so low that we must rely on perverting the law to survive?”
“My husband is the Prefect of Xuanzhou. It is not as if our house is without influence or that he was demoted to the provinces. We will not tolerate this kind of insult!”
At that moment, Ji Hanyi looked up at the bare branches reaching over the eaves. The cold air was biting, and the sky was a leaden gray.
She closed her eyes. Only she knew that begging the Xie family was an exercise in self-humiliation.
Lin Shi wouldn’t even let her touch the account books, guarding against her taking a single cent from the Xie family. How could she possibly be willing to help Hanyi’s maternal family?
After closing her eyes to steady her emotions, Ji Hanyi had someone announce her arrival.
When she entered the main hall, her aunt was sitting below Lin Shi, her face full of panic. In the silent room, all eyes fell on Ji Hanyi.
Seeing Ji Hanyi enter, Lin Shi looked as though she were trembling with rage. she slammed her hand down on the small table beside her with a loud *thwack*.
She pointed at Ji Hanyi and shouted, “The matters of your maternal family have actually been brought to my doorstep! It’s bad enough that you haven’t provided Yuheng with a child, but now you’re causing me trouble every single day.”
“If I had known that Yuheng marrying you would bring in a pile of trouble, I would have rather played the villain and broken the engagement back then!”
Standing behind Lin Shi, Xie Jin also frowned at Ji Hanyi. “Hanyi, this is your maternal family’s business. It has nothing to do with the Xie family. Aren’t you just causing Mother distress by doing this?”
“I made a special trip here today specifically to find you. My husband cannot help you with your cousin’s matter. Moreover, since you have married into the Xie family, you are a woman of the Xie family. You should focus entirely on the Xie family instead of turning your thoughts toward outsiders.”
Xie Jin was the Eldest Young Miss of the household, married to Lu Yuan, the Commander of the Northern Imperial Prison.
She had married well, wedded to the powerful Lu Yuan. Every time she returned to her parental home, she arrived with great fanfare, and everyone had to flatter her.
However, Xie Jin’s only interest was lecturing Ji Hanyi, instructing her on how to properly serve Lin Shi and Xie Yuheng.
In her eyes, Ji Hanyi marrying Xie Yuheng was a stroke of immense good fortune, and since she was Xie Yuheng’s elder sister, Ji Hanyi should obey her completely.