The moment she had just impatiently pushed Xie Jingchen away to go handle the trash, the next moment Ying Xu waved for Qu Luoya to hurry up and get in.
As soon as the girl, whose hair was disheveled and clothes wrinkled from the street fight, got into the carriage, Ying Xu immediately told the driver to start moving, then closed the door and turned to the girl beside her, saying, “Speak. What exactly happened?”
Outside the Cheng’en Marquis House, watching the carriage roll away, Xie Jingchen—who had just been pushed down by his beloved—naturally was in a bad mood. The handsome young man remained silent, then turned his gaze toward the one who had caused him to be pushed down.
The obedient and gentle expression he usually wore in front of Ying Xu was completely gone. His normally wet, pitiful, dog-like eyes were now full of gloom and menace, pitch-black and unfathomable.
Xie Jingchen’s eyes were also long, narrow phoenix eyes. Normally, he always held a faint mockery and teasing for everyone else, and deep within, endless coldness—caring for nothing, commanding authority without anger. Only in front of Ying Xu did he become that dog looking at its master with imploring, sparkling, obedient eyes.
But this wasn’t an intentional disguise or fear that Ying Xu would distance herself if she saw his true face. It was simply how he was in front of her.
After all, if we’re talking numbers, Ying Xu had seen him in front of others countless times. She knew everything.
Thump—
“Y-Your Highness…” Being stared at with such a terrifying gaze by Xie Jingchen, the heir of the Cheng’en Marquis House couldn’t help himself, his legs went weak, and he fell straight to his knees, his voice trembling, teeth chattering.
“Heh.”
Xie Jingchen let out a light laugh, though his face betrayed no amusement—it only made him more frightening.
He said calmly, “Since you’ve heard of me, there’s no need for me to send someone to summon you. Go to the Dali Temple yourself. Tell them I brought you in.”
Hearing this, the Marquis House heir’s pupils contracted, and he crawled two steps forward on his knees, urgently saying, “Your Highness, give me a chance to explain, I—”
Xie Jingchen merely flicked off nonexistent dust on his clothes, saying coldly, “The history of your Cheng’en Marquis House is long, isn’t it?”
Hearing this, the heir of the Cheng’en Marquis House acted as if frightened and quickly withdrew his hand that had been reaching toward Xie Jingchen.
“This Jinling City has never been a place of reason.”
With these words, Xie Jingchen no longer cared and simply turned to leave.
He had already given his warning. If this man insisted on refusing the advice and insisting on punishment, there was nothing he could do.
He would just have the preparations made to search the fallen, long-removed-from-power Cheng’en Marquis House.
Among the noble families of Jinling City, who didn’t have some unspeakable secrets? It was just that the royal family always turned a blind eye.
Some things were mutually understood as untouchable—just because no one investigated or punished them didn’t mean they were approved.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Ying Xu listened as Qu Luoya recounted how she had been shouting in the street earlier, not caring about her image at all.
This whole matter had started from her unreliable husband taking concubines. As everyone knew, Ying Xu had high standards and could not tolerate her husband taking another woman.
So, back then, those who could get along with her had a certain pride and couldn’t tolerate someone else sleeping on their bed.
Qu Luoya naturally was like this too. But her status didn’t compare to Ying Xu’s—she couldn’t boldly tell the emperor he couldn’t have a concubine, nor could she assert herself among nobles of equal rank. After all, how many aristocratic men in this world didn’t take concubines? Her argument didn’t hold ground.
After all, not everyone was Ying Xu. The person with the crown prince’s status had begged her to marry him, humbling themselves.
But Qu Luoya didn’t want to share a husband, so she came up with a rather naive plan. Among families of equal status, she couldn’t make demands—but if the other’s family was lower in status than hers? In the end, after considering many, she chose the heir of the Cheng’en Marquis House—the one Ying Xu had just seen.
His house was noble, but long fallen, which seemed just right—a noble name without substance, so she wouldn’t feel embarrassed.
However, though Qu Luoya married him while he still looked decent, the good times didn’t last. By the third year of their marriage, trouble appeared.
Before marrying, she had made it clear—he could not take concubines, even if she could not bear children to extend the family line, the Marquis would spend his life only with her.
The Marquis promised, but in the third year of marriage, he suddenly changed his mind, wanting a concubine—after all, women have inconvenient days, and at those times, he argued he needed a good concubine.
Qu Luoya naturally refused. She had married this fallen house to avoid such issues. If she could accept a concubine, she could have had anyone in Jinling City outside the royal family.
She berated her husband and the entire household, and the matter seemed resolved.
But she didn’t realize, the calm was only superficial. At first, she had used her family’s influence to stop him, but after a few months of restraint, old desires returned. Meanwhile, her family also had problems—her mother died, and her father remarried.
As the saying goes, with a stepmother comes a stepfather. Without her real mother, no one in her family truly looked out for her, and the new matriarch controlled the household. Naturally, if any problem arose in her marital home, her family wouldn’t support her, and outsiders couldn’t blame her stepmother—after all, a daughter married out is like water spilled.
So, after her father remarried and her family paid less attention to her, the Cheng’en Marquis House felt resentment, thinking she had been too arrogant, giving no respect to elders. Moreover, after three years of marriage, she showed no sign of pregnancy.
Even the Marquis secretly keeping a concubine outside, who happened to be his cousin from her maternal family, was a hidden matter connected to their household.
When she discovered this, the woman was already pregnant.
This showed how unusual the Marquis’ relationship with her was—how often must they sleep together in a month for this to happen?
Qu Luoya, though not as strong as Ying Xu, had been pampered growing up, so when she learned this, she couldn’t bear it and went to confront him. That’s when Ying Xu encountered the scene.
They were fighting in the street—though no one else was around, Ying Xu’s carriage happened to pass by. The sudden confrontation spooked the horses, causing her to lose balance, almost falling.
“So, you married into a fallen, insignificant family, and after marrying down, you let yourself get bullied like a dog?”
Hearing her former companion recount her situation, Ying Xu gave her final assessment.
“Who’s being bullied like a dog?” Qu Luoya retorted indignantly, trying to mask her embarrassment, “Isn’t it because no one supports me? My father now obeys my stepmother completely, acting as if his daughter is dead. What can I do?”
She covered her face and began sobbing uncontrollably. Her emotions snapped, she could no longer restrain herself.
Ying Xu looked at her fragile, useless form, rolled her eyes, and said coolly:
“Take the energy you just used on me—can’t you still handle him?”
Hearing this, Qu Luoya, who had been crying, quieted instantly. The adrenaline from the fight with her husband had worn off, and recalling what she had just done, she felt guilty.
She had actually been harsh to Ying Xu…
The one she had always bossed around, never the other way around, the most important person in Jinling—Ying Xu.
Seeing her silently wipe her tears with her hands, Ying Xu tossed her a soft handkerchief. “Here, wipe up. You look ridiculous like this.”
The tiny bit of sentiment Qu Luoya had just felt was immediately crushed by these words.
Still, she took the handkerchief, lowering her eyes, and remarked, “Cangzhou’s fine cotton, at its peak it sold for a fortune. Using it as a handkerchief, you’re as extravagant as ever.”
She then vigorously wiped her face with it, a decisive air of wealth and disdain.
Ying Xu paid no mind. “It’s just hype. In terms of quality, it’s no match for Yun brocade.”
She then asked, “What do you plan to do next?”
“I don’t know…” Qu Luoya said gloomily, “I never considered the consequences. But now, I definitely can’t go back to the Cheng’en Marquis House. My family… my father probably won’t take me in either. Suddenly, one day, I’m alone. And…”
Her gaze became distant and confused. “If the Marquis House reports me to the authorities, I, a married daughter, will be forcibly brought back… I might not even have freedom of movement… what should I do, Ying Xu?”
Her voice trembled with despair and reluctance.
“Heh.”
Seeing Qu Luoya’s panicked state, Ying Xu didn’t comfort her but sneered.
She coldly looked at her, mercilessly mocking:
“Qu Luoya, are you a punching bag? Or just naturally stupid, without brains?”