Persistent Entanglement.
Madam Yan prided herself on being a noblewoman, possessing considerable composure. Having experienced many events over the years, she had always managed to remain unflappable even in the face of a collapsing mountain.
But today, she was truly provoked into repeated fits of laughter by Yan Chiyun, unable to comprehend what kind of bewitching potion the Pu Family’s daughter had poured into him?
Even the act of committing adultery, being caught red-handed in bed with another man, was something he could endure, and he still declared with such firm conviction that he absolutely would not divorce.
No wonder he had been so successful all these years. If he could tolerate something like this, what else could possibly unsettle him?
But if she were to voice this thought, it would be far too vulgar. Madam Yan could not bring herself to say it. After a long pause, she finally managed, “You—”
Before she could finish the four words, “Have you been possessed?” General Yan once again interrupted her, “Chiyun’s actions must have their own considerations. Let’s just listen to him.”
“As his father, instead of persuading him to mend his ways, you’re helping him wear the cuckold’s horns?”
So many people witnessed it that day! Even if they dared not gossip or spread rumors for fear of offending the Yan Family, everyone was waiting to see how the Yan Family would respond. If they didn’t divorce, she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.
Madam Yan was truly so angry that she spoke without thinking. General Yan frowned, his expression turning grim. Her personal old nanny quickly called out, “Madam,” using her eyes to soothe her and calm her anger.
Madam Yan sat down in a huff, but seeing Yan Chiyun only fueled her anger. This was her most outstanding son, who had never made a single misstep before. Lately, she didn’t know what had come over him.
Faced with a woman who had betrayed him, he chose to stay and forgive her. Oh, not just that—he even reflected on himself, taking the blame upon his own shoulders.
That Pu Family girl’s appearance and temperament had indeed been beyond reproach before, and she had liked her very much. But ever since this incident, Madam Yan saw her as two-faced and utterly repulsive.
To have such a person as her daughter-in-law, and to bring her in and out, socializing with noble families—Madam Yan could not accept it.
“You may go back first. I will persuade your mother.”
General Yan said that investigating the case had been tiring for him. Since His Majesty had granted two days of official leave, he should take proper rest.
“Thank you, Father.” Yan Chiyun bowed with clasped hands.
General Yan waved him off.
Yan Chiyun withdrew from the courtyard and walked silently back along the covered corridor. His subordinate was reporting Pu Jinyu’s activities for the day.
She had been very quiet, just as before—eating, reading, seldom moving about or speaking.
“What books did she read?”
Originally, his study was off-limits to others. The moment Pu Wange entered that day, someone immediately reported it to him.
He thought for a moment and did not order anyone to stop her.
“The young madam mostly looked at topographic territorial maps.”
Topographic maps?
Yan Chiyun’s brow furrowed slightly. “Where did her gaze linger the most?”
“Jingcheng,” the subordinate replied, quickly adding, “The young madam seemed to be searching for some place.”
“What place?” Yan Chiyun asked again.
“This humble officer could not discern it.” It was merely a feeling.
“Tomorrow, mark all the books she read and the places where her gaze lingered, then bring them to me.”
He wanted to know what places she was curious about.
“Yes.”
Approaching the courtyard and looking toward the bright, tranquil room, Yan Chiyun realized that his heart held a trace of nervousness.
Mother was right—most of the fault in this matter lay with the Pu family. It should have been her feeling guilty, her avoiding, her being nervous, her not daring to face it.
How did it end up reversed instead?
After standing silently at the door for a while, Yan Chiyun walked in with a dossier in hand, and his subordinate closed the door behind him.
He glanced around and saw her leaning against the round table reading a book. Hearing the movement, she looked over, her gaze as serene and piercing as ever.
Yan Chiyun met her eyes, and their gazes intertwined in the air, lingering on each other for a long time.
The injuries on her face had healed, and she wore her usual delicate makeup. Even if she wasn’t going out to meet anyone, she still applied powder and rouge, dressed in a goose-yellow gown that made her appear dignified yet inexplicably playful.
Yan Chiyun walked forward and placed the dossier on the table.
Pu Jinyu’s gaze fell on the dossier, her eyes showing confusion, but she had no intention of speaking up or talking to him.
Yan Chiyun frowned coldly and pushed the dossier toward her. “Take a look?”
“Once you’ve finished, we’ll talk in a moment.”
With that, he didn’t wait for her response but went straight to fetch clean clothes and headed toward the adjacent bathing room.
Pu Jinyu’s gaze followed the man’s retreating figure. Through the hazy screen, she watched him step into the bathtub before finally withdrawing her gaze and turning to the dossier beside her.
When Yan Chiyun emerged from his bath, he saw that the dossier had been opened. His heart settled slightly, but upon noticing that her expression remained unchanged, his brow furrowed once more.
He walked to the round table and sat down, right across from her.
Feigning ignorance, he asked, “Did you read it?”
Pu Jinyu remained silent, simply staring at the handsome, refined face of the man before her, watching him frown coldly.
“How long do you plan to stay silent?”
Was this her true nature? Taciturn and indifferent? All the words she had spoken at home before were likely just necessary responses cloaked in the mask of virtue, weren’t they?
He had endured it again and again, but he could bear it no longer. He directly took the dossier, pulled out the letters inside, and pointed to the information uncovered, bluntly stating that these were the past deeds of her so-called “good lover.”
“In Lanling, he was already philandering and toying with affections, stringing along noble ladies on one side and the only daughters of merchants on the other, all to extract benefits from them and help himself climb the social ladder!”
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. He truly couldn’t understand how a clever and sharp young lady from a prominent family like her could be so bewitched by such a despicable man. Could it be that the man was exceptionally skilled at sweet-talking her in private?
The facts proved exactly that. After discovering her affair with Cheng Wenque, his men searched both residences. While no traces were found on Cheng Wenque’s side—likely destroyed by that man surnamed Cheng—on her side, they uncovered numerous letters exchanged between the two. That man had also sent her plenty of cosmetics, jewelry, and hairpins. Upon seeing these, he had ordered his subordinates to discard and burn them all.
Now, everything she used was new, and what remained were the items he had given her.
During this time, she must have noticed that those things were missing, yet she hadn’t come to ask him for them. Perhaps she knew she was in the wrong and didn’t dare to approach him or bring it up.
Thinking of this, he calmed his emotions slightly, and his tone softened from its earlier severity.
“The way he deceived those women back then is the same way he’s sweet-talking you now. So you should understand why he sought you out in the first place.”
He had never analyzed the pros and cons with anyone like this before, especially not in a situation where evidence was already laid out before their eyes.
Pu Jinyu looked at the man’s face, now clouded with anger. What was he telling her all this for? Did he think she was stupid, that she didn’t understand? If it was to humiliate her, why was he so furious?
He seemed truly angry. After so many days had passed, could he still not let it go? This didn’t seem like Yan Chiyun’s temperament.
“Oh.” After a long pause, she finally uttered that single word.
Yan Chiyun, “?”
Was she really so indifferent? Knowing Cheng Wenque’s true nature, wasn’t she angry or upset?
“You—”
Before he could finish, the young woman impatiently cut him off. “When are we getting divorced?”
Yan Chiyun froze, his eyes fixed on her face. “What did you say?”
Pu Jinyu sensed the gradually rising hostility in the man. When she looked at him, she saw his expression darkening slowly. Yet she remained utterly fearless, meeting his gaze as she repeated what she had just said, asking him when they would divorce.
Divorce? Was she really that eager to divorce him?
Why exactly couldn’t she bear to stay with him anymore? He had already conceded so much, patiently explaining all this to her, clearly indicating he wouldn’t hold her betrayal against her. Why did she still want a divorce?
Once again, he was so enraged he almost laughed, but he forced himself to remain calm as he asked, “What will you do after the divorce? Live together with him, bear children?”
“That’s none of your business,” she actually tossed back at him, turning her back as if she couldn’t even bear to look at him.
“None of my business?” Yan Chiyun repeated the words, his anger turning into bitter laughter.
Had she forgotten that he was still her husband?
After nearly four years of being together, was he really inferior to a man who had been in the Yan Family for less than four months?
Staring at the young woman’s delicate and dignified face, he suddenly stood up, his long arm reaching out to lift her up. The dossiers and letters on the table clattered to the floor, but no one paid them any mind. He forced her to look at him.
“Pu Wange, what kind of spell has he cast on you that you insist on following him?”
She remained silent, her quiet demeanor only provoking and angering him further.
The calmness, solemnity, and patience he had maintained over the past few days vanished the moment he saw her stubborn, unyielding expression—like a bull that wouldn’t turn back even when it hit a wall. His blood boiled uncontrollably with fury.
“Do you think he’ll want you after you divorce me?” he gritted his teeth. “Your Pu Family may still be considered a prominent household, but compared to the Yan Family, it falls far short.”
“His closeness to you was only to leverage the influence of my Yan Family, using you to climb through my connections so he could establish himself in Jingcheng. You foolish woman!”
“If you divorce me, do you believe he’ll abandon you immediately? Do you know what he said about you when I sent someone to interrogate him?”
“He said you used your position as the Yan Family’s mistress to force him to comply, that he had no choice but to feign cooperation under your authority. He even claimed he never had any genuine feelings for you, that everything he said and did was to protect himself and placate you! Do you understand any of this!?”
Why wasn’t she afraid?
Her own birth mother had almost killed her. If she divorced him, did she really think she could go back? What was she even thinking?
“Has Lord Yan finished speaking?” she still spoke in that indifferent tone. “If you’re done, let me go.”
He didn’t release her, his cold gaze fixed on her as if trying to see through her thoughts.
Finally, she began to move, struggling to free herself from his restraint, but Yan Chiyun held her shoulders firmly, unwilling to let go.
Her struggles grew more forceful, and her expression finally shifted—but it was one of loathing, something he never wanted to see.
She actually loathed him?
What had he done to displease her so much that she would look at him with such hatred?
“If you divorce me, Cheng Wenque won’t want you, and the Pu Family will certainly have no place for you either.”
Had she not witnessed Madam Pu’s ferocity that day? Her lips had been split open, and if he hadn’t shielded her, she might have been beaten half to death.
He continued to ramble on, but Pu Jinyu only felt disgusted.
She couldn’t understand why, after everything that had happened, Yan Chiyun still refused to divorce her, instead bringing up Cheng Wenque’s past and spouting a bunch of nonsense.
He called her foolish, but who was truly foolish? Look at him now—eyes wide with rage, aggressive and overbearing, utterly repulsive.
Could it be that he loved her Legal Mother’s daughter and was unwilling to let go? Unfortunately, she was not that daughter.
She was determined to destroy the identity of her Legal Mother’s daughter, ensuring that even if that daughter couldn’t make it with the man outside, she could never switch back to her original status, condemned to face the scorn and criticism of Jingcheng.
She had lived a lifetime for her, endured all these years, and she would no longer be the fool.
Unfortunately, the Yan Family’s influence was simply too vast, almost omnipotent. Rumors hadn’t spread openly in Jingcheng, but it didn’t matter—many noblewomen had witnessed her committing adultery that day. The Pu and Yan families had already become private laughingstocks, with people whispering and pointing fingers.
Her power was still too weak. She couldn’t destroy the Pu and Yan families—perhaps it was fate. But at this point, whether it was fate or not, whether she lived or died, it no longer mattered to her.
Nothing lasts forever, not even the prosperity of a family. Would the Yan Family always remain untroubled? When they eventually faced difficulties, there would be plenty of people eager to add fuel to the fire. This world lacks many things, but never lacks those who kick others when they’re down.
She had thought she would be killed by her Legal Mother or Madam Yan that day, but unexpectedly, she had survived until now. Logically, Madam Yan couldn’t tolerate her and would surely pressure Yan Chiyun to divorce her.
So why hadn’t he divorced her? She wanted a divorce—she absolutely had to divorce him!
She refused to stay in this place that devoured people without leaving a trace, only to die a miserable death from exhaustion and despair.
“Let go of me!” she cried out in resistance.
Not only did Yan Chiyun not release her, he even pulled her into his embrace. He lifted her chin, gazing at the loathing evident between her brows.
Somehow, without thinking, he lowered his head and kissed her.
He sealed her lips, silencing all her talk of divorce—he didn’t want to hear any of it.
But this time, she was utterly unyielding, no longer affectionate with him. She dodged his kiss, kicking and punching him.
Yan Chiyun gripped her wrists, clasped her waist, and pinned her against the round table. Then, remembering the table was made of sandalwood and fearing it might bruise her soft waist, he simply lifted her and placed her entirely on the table, intending to lower his head and kiss her again.
But unexpectedly, she raised her hand and struck him.
Slap!
A sharp, resounding slap—with such force that it nearly matched the strength Madam Pu had used that day.
The man’s handsome face was jerked to the side by the blow, and all his movements froze in that instant.
Clearly not expecting her to suddenly take action, what surprised him even more was when she looked at him coldly and said,
“Yan Chiyun, the way you keep pestering me is so despicable it makes me sick!”
[Author’s Note]
Here we go! Super busy today, fell short by 2,000 words. I’ll make it up tomorrow!
Randomly dropping a Luck-piecing red envelope in this chapter [rainbow fart]