Soon, the carriage drove toward the Ying Mansion. Ying Xu’s sudden return home caused a sensation throughout the entire mansion; in an instant, all the servants in the mansion began bustling about to ensure that the young lady returning home had the most comfortable environment.
In fact, the Ying Mansion had already been well prepared.
Most of the servants in the Ying Mansion had been saved by Ying Xu’s father, and with such a sense of gratitude, naturally there was no sign of laziness or shirking. Even now, with no master present in the mansion, everything was still managed in an orderly and clean manner.
Any additional preparations now were merely to accommodate Ying Xu’s personal preferences.
And Ying Xu naturally would not tell the servants to stop being busy; she only said that since she was returning for one day, everything could be simplified. Even though it was already late, Ying Xu liked the feeling of being the center of attention, with everyone dizzyingly focused on her.
The beautiful girl, with delicate features, lifted her brows and said proudly, “I knew my people at home were more sensible than those useless trash in the palace.”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen, following behind her, immediately said, “I’ll replace all those people later.”
Hearing him say this, Ying Xu gave him a look that said, “Now that’s more like it,” then gestured for him to follow and walked toward the room she had lived in before marriage.
Returning to the boudoir she had lived in for over ten years, Ying Xu, now only one year married, naturally had no extra sadness in her heart; after all, even after her marriage, she had not completely stayed away from home.
Before the real fallout with the emperor, the emperor had treated her quite well, or one could even say, very well.
Upon entering her room, Ying Xu directly pointed at a nearby chest and said to him, “Xie Jingchen, go find something for me.”
Ying Xu was too lazy to search the boxes herself but also didn’t like strangers rummaging through her things. Having Xie Jingchen, her best servant who could obey her, accompany her home was convenient.
Helping her find things was just right.
Hearing Ying Xu’s order, Xie Jingchen immediately went over without complaint, good-naturedly asking her where to look.
Ying Xu herself sat by the table; the table in her room had already been prepared with hot tea by the mansion servants. She lazily tapped the teapot with her nails while casually gesturing toward another direction, “Look at those boxes?”
From her tone, which carried a rhetorical sense, it was clear that she had completely forgotten where she had put the thing she wanted.
Listening to the little girl’s whimsical yet self-righteous tone, Xie Jingchen could not help but smile helplessly, then systematically began checking the boxes one by one for Ying Xu.
He did not ask what exactly Ying Xu wanted. Because Xie Jingchen knew that from her angle, if he found the item, she could see it herself, so there was no need to ask. He just needed to work quietly.
It was only after Xie Jingchen had checked every single box in the room that he finally found what Ying Xu wanted.
The item was far too obvious. Even if Ying Xu did not speak, at the first moment he saw it, Xie Jingchen knew in his heart that this was what she wanted.
—It was a bright yellow scroll.
—It was the scroll the emperor used exclusively for writing imperial edicts.
Xie Jingchen picked it up, walked to the bored Ying Xu drinking tea, and placed the item in front of her, saying, “This is…?”
Out of respect for Ying Xu, he did not open the imperial edict himself, but he was indeed curious about it, so he asked her.
Hearing this, Ying Xu raised her hand to take it and replied, “This is the imperial edict the late emperor left for me.”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen did not feel anything strange. Considering the late emperor’s favor toward Ying Xu, it was natural he could leave her such an edict.
Moreover, only if it was the late emperor’s edict could it explain why Ying Xu went out of her way to return to the Ying Mansion on a snowy day to find it. The current emperor? Simply stating a fact: he was not worthy.
Then Ying Xu placed the edict that Xie Jingchen had found on the table and opened it with her slender fingers, spreading it flat.
Xie Jingchen looked on with curiosity; after just one glance, the handsome young man was stunned.
Then Ying Xu’s clear voice slowly said, “This was given to me by the late emperor. After he promised me to Xie Liu, he secretly gave me this edict. If he treated me poorly, I could divorce him.”
The late emperor truly cherished her; he could even do something that, if spoken, people would only call it “absurd.”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen, whose mind could only think of her wanting to sever ties with the emperor and nothing else, looked at the edict on the table and said somewhat foolishly, “Then… such an important thing, why didn’t Ah Xu bring it to the palace?”
In fact, when he said this, Xie Jingchen didn’t even know what he was saying.
Hearing this, Ying Xu could not help but raise her eyes and look at him as if looking at a fool.
In a clear, pleasant voice, she scolded him, “Xie Jingchen, are you trying to be dumb to death?”
Such a thing… if it hadn’t been for what Xie Liu did against her, she would not have carried it around casually.
The beautiful girl puffed her cheeks in exasperation at the idiocy, muttering, “Which girl carries a divorce edict with her when she gets married?”
“I am dumb, huh.” Xie Jingchen immediately followed the little girl’s words, not arguing, then coyly said, “Ah Xu, pity me a little, don’t despise this fool in front of you, okay?”
Hearing this, a trace of disdain appeared in Ying Xu’s beautiful phoenix eyes.
She thought the Northwestern frontier must be full of demons and monsters; Xie Jingchen stayed there for four years, and not only did his once-acceptable face become rough, but his already not-so-bright mind also became even dumber. How could such a fool continue serving her?
Ying Xu furrowed her beautiful brows, suddenly thinking this fool’s future was rather worrisome.
But it was only a moment, because she soon refocused her attention on another matter she had mentioned earlier.
The beautiful girl began giving orders again, “Xie Jingchen, go bring me the ink and brushes from the shelf!”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen, almost reflexively, went to get the stationery set on the shelf.
The Xuan paper was spread on the table, weighed down, then the ink block was ground in the inkstone. After everything was prepared, he dipped the brush and handed it to Ying Xu, movements practiced and skilled, clearly done many times before.
Ying Xu naturally took the brush, raised her fair wrist, and without thinking, wrote the characters “Divorce Edict.” After that, she wrote smoothly, “Ying Xu divorces Xie—”
Until writing the character “Xie,” her white, fine wrist, like top-quality mutton-fat jade, suddenly stopped.
As if forcibly stopped.
Xie Jingchen was watching her write the divorce edict seriously; seeing her suddenly stop, he blinked, confused.
He didn’t understand why Ying Xu suddenly stopped.
Just as the thought arose, he saw Ying Xu lift her beautiful phoenix eyes and, sweetly, ask him, “Xie Jingchen, what is his name?”
Almost immediately, she said, “Forget it, you write it for me, complete his name.”
With that, she roughly shoved the brush in her hand into Xie Jingchen’s hand.
Feeling the warm touch in his palm, Xie Jingchen came to his senses. Thinking of what Ying Xu had just said, he blinked, looking at her, lightly saying, “Ah Xu, you… even his name…”
“I don’t remember!” she said righteously, “The late emperor had so many sons and daughters. How could I remember each one? Besides, the late emperor didn’t like them anyway.”
A bunch of nobody kids; why should she remember them? She could remember just their rank and it would already be polite enough.
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen’s voice softened, “But Ah Xu has always called me by name…”
Suddenly realizing Ying Xu didn’t even remember the emperor’s name, yet always called him by name, the pitiful little dog eyes glowed with uncontrollable delight, and his lips couldn’t help but curl upward.
His words made Ying Xu inexplicably annoyed; she rolled her beautiful eyes and continued scolding, “I spent at least half the year with you every year, year after year. If you can’t even remember my name, Xie Jingchen—” Her voice suddenly rose two tones, the light in her phoenix eyes slightly dangerous, her voice soft but firm, “Are you treating me like a fool?”
Xie Jingchen didn’t dare admit it, shaking his head, indicating he had no such intention.
Then he immediately said, “It’s me who is the fool.”
“Hmph!” Hearing his quick admission, Ying Xu snorted, lifted her hand, and threw the cute fur ball hairpin Xie Jingchen had reinserted after getting off the carriage at him again.
Seeing the poor fur ball falling toward the freshly ground ink, Xie Jingchen quickly caught it before it became a “coal ball” in the ink.
The handsome young man exhaled lightly, “Luckily it didn’t get dirty.”
He had some memory of this fur ball. Years ago, General Ying went hunting with the late emperor and met a rare white fox. He made a pair of ornaments from the softest fur and gave it to the then-young Ying Xu.
The white fox, though rare, was not a unique treasure, but now the fur ball had a special significance for Ying Xu.
…General Ying was no longer here.
Seeing the fur ball nearly fall into the dark ink, Ying Xu felt a slight relief.
But that didn’t stop her from attacking Xie Jingchen again, widening her beautiful eyes, and scolding him, “If it got dirty falling in, wouldn’t you clean it?”
Then she grabbed the fur ball, stuck it in her hair, and imperiously commanded him to complete the unfinished divorce edict.
Xie Jingchen was naturally happy to do so, happily picking up the brush and writing the name of the current emperor who had rebelled and usurped the throne. After finishing, he displayed the divorce edict to Ying Xu, his eyes bright, waiting for praise.
Seeing Xie Jingchen bring the edict in front of her, Ying Xu disdainfully waved her hand, pushing him, indicating he should hold it further away.
After Xie Jingchen rolled the late emperor’s edict together with the divorce edict containing their handwriting, Ying Xu said, “Later, give this to Xie Liu, tell him I’ve divorced him. From now on, we go separate ways, follow our own fates. On the Yellow Springs path, he can be with whoever he wants. As for me, Ying Xu, I am done with him. Don’t haunt me as a ghost.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, right,” she suddenly remembered something and added fiercely, “Don’t let him die in a dignified way!”
“Okay.”
“And that little palace maid who cuckolded me with him, she also must not die in a dignified way!”
“Okay.” Xie Jingchen responded gently to each of Ying Xu’s words, “They will all die horribly.”
Everyone who had ever bullied her or made her unhappy, he would not spare a single one.