After a moment’s stunned silence, Gu Jinghuai could no longer hold back his anger. He hated this inexplicable feeling of being out of control.
He took two steps after her, heedless of the servants in the courtyard, and called after her slender figure:
“Yun Shuyao, you’re forcing me to humiliate you!
“Fine, make a scene if you want! I’m leaving right now. Let’s see how you explain this to the elders!
“But remember one thing: don’t drag Yuyan into this! Don’t make me grow to detest you!”
Yun Shuyao heard every word. He wanted her to be the one to raise the cancellation of the wedding with their elders, and take all the blame?
Gu Jinghuai was as irresponsible as ever.
Yun Shuyao drew a deep breath, but still couldn’t shake the suffocating tightness in her chest. She truly felt sorry for herself.
Gu Jinghuai probably still didn’t know that the Marquis’s Residence had long since become an empty shell.
The only reason they could still spend money so freely was the income from her few shops.
It seemed that unless she made him live in poverty again, neither he nor the people of the Marquis’s Residence would come to their senses!
Yun Shuyao returned alone. When the elders asked her what had happened, she said little.
Just as Gu Jinghuai had expected, if she were to call off the engagement unilaterally today, everyone would think her childish, inconsiderate of the dignity of both families, and willful.
Yun Shuyao sat in a chair, quickly weighing how she might persuade her father.
A young servant ran in with a message from Gu Jinghuai.
“The heir says there are still matters at the residence he needs to handle, so he has returned first.
“The marriage is entirely for the elders to decide. He has only one request: that it take place as soon as possible.”
The two families exchanged glances and smiled, then happily resumed discussing the wedding.
Yun Shuyao seethed inwardly. Gu Jinghuai really did want to be forced to drink the bitter cup!
They did not leave until after the meal, when Marquis Gu and the Marchioness took their leave.
As Father Yun and Mother Yun finished seeing their guests off, Yun Shuyao stopped them.
“Father, I only refrained from calling off the engagement in front of everyone today out of consideration for the dignity of both families.
“Now that they’ve left, I want to tell you and Mother plainly: Gu Jinghuai and I cannot marry. He has no feelings for me, and I don’t want to force him.
“Please consider how best to tell Marquis Gu.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp slap landed hard across Yun Shuyao’s face.
“Outrageous! I’ve clearly spoiled you rotten!
“Go kneel in the ancestral hall. You may come out when you’ve come to your senses!”
Yun Shuyao wasn’t surprised. She pressed a hand to her burning cheek and looked at her father without a word.
A moment later, she turned and walked toward the ancestral hall, her expression resolute.
Madam Qin watched her furious husband, shrinking back and not daring to speak.
She wanted to say something in her daughter’s defense, and she wanted to urge her husband to calm down.
But this was how she had always been: she deferred to her husband in everything and never dared disobey his orders.
Yun Chongshan, however, was clearly still angry. He turned abruptly toward Mother Yun and scolded her with irritation:
“After all, you’re merchant-born. You don’t even know how to raise a daughter. Look at the state she’s in!
“She throws a tantrum at the slightest thing. Is marriage a child’s game?”
Madam Qin’s face went as white as paper, and her eyes reddened, but she endured it silently and made no reply.
She had been too presumptuous back then, thinking Yun Chongshan had welcomed her into his residence because he truly wished to repay her for saving his life all those years ago.
Who could have known that though her husband had married her and the Duke Zhenguo’s Residence had gained a reputation for benevolence, Yun Chongshan had always despised her origins?
The servants in the residence were used to this. Everyone simply went about their duties as usual.
It was as if there were nothing unusual about the mistress of the household being berated like this.
Seeing Madam Qin’s wounded expression only made Yun Chongshan’s face darken further. His voice was cold as he said,
“I’ll be staying at Concubine Feng’s residence for the time being, to help Young Master Yun with his studies.
“Even a concubine knows how to raise children better than you. Just look at the son and daughter you gave birth to…
“What am I even supposed to say to you?”
The Duke Zhenguo’s face showed utter disdain. With a flick of his sleeve, he turned and walked away, his expression dark.
After Yun Chongshan left, Mother Yun thought it over and decided she should go try to persuade her daughter.
The ancestral hall.
Madam Qin pushed open the heavy doors and saw Yun Shuyao kneeling with her back perfectly straight.
Judging by her posture, she didn’t look the least bit repentant.
Madam Qin sighed softly, then turned to Nanny Liu, who had followed her.
“Bring Miss a brazier. The ancestral hall is cold and damp. If she kneels too long, she’ll make herself ill.”
“Mother.”
At the sound of her voice, Yun Shuyao turned and saw her mother approaching, her face full of worry.
“Shuyao…”
“Mother, you don’t need to persuade me.”
Madam Qin had barely begun when Yun Shuyao cut her off. It wasn’t hard to guess why her mother had come.
She would tell Yun Shuyao to think of the bigger picture and not be willful.
In her previous life, she had listened to her mother’s advice and curbed her nature, devoting all her energy to managing the Marquis’s household and serving her husband and parents-in-law.
But what had it got her?
“You’re such a willful child. How could you make a scene over such a good marriage?”
Did everyone think she was making a scene?
Su Yuyan had only just arrived in the capital, and she and Gu Jinghuai hadn’t yet had any real involvement. Of course her father wouldn’t believe her.
“Mother,” Yun Shuyao said tentatively, “I did hear that Gu Jinghuai and his cousin are in love with each other in secret. Could I possibly marry a man like that?”
“Is that true?”
At the solemn look on her daughter’s face, Madam Qin’s expression darkened too.
“Why would I lie to you?”
Seeing her mother ask this, Yun Shuyao thought she might get her support in breaking off the engagement.
Surely any woman would find such a thing difficult to accept.
Yun Shuyao was right. To Mother Yun, Gu Jinghuai’s entanglement with his cousin was indeed repulsive.
Though her husband had five concubines, no matter how many years passed, seeing them still stuck in her throat.
Like today: the Duke Zhenguo had deliberately brought up Concubine Feng. After thirty years of marriage, he knew better than anyone how to hurt her most.
But after a moment’s thought, Madam Qin still sighed and urged her in a hoarse voice:
“Men having three wives and four concubines is commonplace. As long as you secure your position as mistress of the household…”
“Mother, has your position as mistress of the household brought you any happiness?”
Madam Qin was cut off, and couldn’t go on.
She simply stared at her daughter, her expression numb, and said nothing for a long while.
“Mother, I’m not trying to upset you. I’m only stating a fact.”
“But… don’t all women… live this way?”
Yun Shuyao shook her head firmly.
“Only married women do.”
In her previous life, she had met Shen Reniang, a divorced woman who was a master of medicine and poison and wielded a fine sword. She lived with a freedom Yun Shuyao could hardly imagine.
Though she couldn’t experience that life herself, she couldn’t suppress her longing for it.
Sadly, even until the day she died, she hadn’t been able to lay down the responsibilities she carried. The beautiful vows she had heard as a young woman had deceived her for an entire lifetime!
“You’re becoming more and more absurd.”
Madam Qin’s words broke into her thoughts.
“Calling off your engagement today was already outrageous enough. Do you mean to say you want never to marry at all?”
“Must a woman depend on a man to survive?”
Under Madam Qin’s astonished gaze, Yun Shuyao continued:
“Women are people too. Why can’t we choose the lives we want?
“Why are we taught women’s virtue and women’s precepts, sewing and embroidery, household management and bookkeeping from the moment we’re born, as if we were nothing more than tools for serving men?
“We have to pour our hearts and souls into managing our husbands’ households, then watch them keep other women in their arms and endure their brazen betrayals!”
By the time Yun Shuyao reached this point, her voice had grown sharp.
“I don’t want to live that way for even one day!”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“Mother, I’m not throwing a fit on impulse. I’ve thought this through and made up my mind.
“I will never marry Gu Jinghuai in this life, and I will never accept a husband with a harem of concubines. If I can’t find a man who will remain faithful to me, I would rather never marry!”
Mother Yun came out of her stunned silence, and anger began to show on her face. She rose to her feet and, unusually, spoke with a stern expression.
“You’ve been spoiled so badly that you’re becoming more and more impossible. How long are you going to keep acting like a child?
“You will marry him, whether you want to or not!”
Madam Qin thought Yun Shuyao was simply being petulant and would get over it before long.
There was no need to make such a fuss, much less listen to her wild, nonsensical talk.
As soon as Madam Qin left the ancestral hall, she ran into a maid from Concubine Feng’s household.
Mother Yun’s heart sank. She silently cursed herself for failing to notice the maid; she must have overheard what they had just said.