The moment Chu Mochen finished his shift, he was met by a messenger sent from the Marquis’s Manor. The main purpose was to warn him that Eldest Princess Changning and Prince Consort Lin were still waiting at the manor.
Upon hearing this news, the relaxed mood Chu Mochen had been enjoying instantly vanished without a trace. If it were up to him, he would have preferred not to return to the manor at all.
However, he knew all too well that avoiding them was not an option. If he wanted to take a concubine, he would have to face the Eldest Princess sooner or later.
Having steeled his resolve, Chu Mochen rode his horse back to the manor at full speed, feeling as miserable as if his own father had just passed away.
As soon as he entered Lin Yanran’s main courtyard, he saw the Eldest Princess and Prince Consort Lin already seated at the head of the room, waiting for him.
Pretending as if nothing was wrong, Chu Mochen stepped forward to pay his respects. “Why have Father and Mother come?”
“This Palace heard that the Marquis of Wenxuan has been living quite a merry life, surrounded by women on both sides. This Palace came to see if you are still the same person who swore a solemn oath before me all those years ago never to take a concubine.”
Although the Eldest Princess said this with a smile, Chu Mochen felt a sudden, icy chill run down his spine.
Left with no choice, Chu Mochen cast a pleading look toward Lin Yanran, who was sitting nearby.
In Chu Mochen’s subconscious mind, his wife would always speak up for him in situations like this. Thus, he instinctively looked to Lin Yanran for help.
Lin Yanran, however, assumed Chu Mochen was glaring at her, questioning whether she was the one who had informed her parents about the mistress he kept outside.
Since she wasn’t the one who had personally told the Eldest Princess and Prince Consort Lin, Lin Yanran did not feel guilty at all: “Why are you looking at me? It wasn’t me who told Father and Mother about your mistress.
You weren’t careful enough when visiting her. Now that the entire city of Cangming knows about it, how could my parents possibly remain in the dark?”
Chu Mochen was speechless.
Observing the cold expressions of the Eldest Princess and Prince Consort Lin above him, Chu Mochen’s survival instincts kicked in: “Father, Mother, I simply failed to resist temptation for a brief moment. Please rest assured, I only have Ran’er in my heart. Yesterday, I already divided my personal treasury between Xuan’er and Heng’er.
Today, I have already submitted a memorial to the Emperor requesting to officially name Xuan’er as the Heir Apparent.
No matter who enters my inner courtyard in the future, it will never affect the interests of Ran’er and her two sons.”
The Eldest Princess stared intently into Chu Mochen’s eyes. “You know very well that this is not enough!”
Back then, if Chu Mochen—even with his military achievements—had not married her daughter, it was highly uncertain whose hands the title of the Marquis of Wenxuan would have fallen into.
A few years ago, Chu Mochen’s second brother had suffered a major defeat in battle, resulting in his demotion by the Emperor and a cold reception at court. This scoundrel Chu Mochen must have felt his position was completely secure, which is why he began to act so recklessly.
Thinking of this, there was no way the Eldest Princess could swallow her anger.
Prince Consort Lin eagerly handed the whip resting beside him to the Eldest Princess. He was not of high enough status to beat a Marquis, but Her Highness certainly was.
The Eldest Princess had no desire to waste words with Chu Mochen. She immediately lunged forward, her whip raining down on him.
Seeing this, Prince Consort Lin expertly grabbed his daughter by her sleeve, signaling her to retreat with him.
As he pulled his daughter back, Prince Consort Lin muttered under his breath, “I just said you had gotten smarter, yet you are still as lacking in situational awareness as ever. Sitting there like a blockhead only gets in your mother’s way.”
Although Chu Mochen was mentally prepared to be beaten, it was only when the Eldest Princess actually whipped him that he realized how excruciating the pain was.
Yet, he could only kneel there obediently and endure it. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel resentment.
But the moment Chu Mochen remembered his mother-in-law’s status—the biological sister of the Emperor, born of the same mother—his resentment seemed like a joke, vanishing before it could even take shape.
The Eldest Princess swung the whip twenty times in a row before reluctantly stopping. She had been cultivating her mind in recent years and had not had such a satisfying session of beating someone in a very long time.
On the floor, Chu Mochen knelt in a pool of his own blood, his back torn open and bleeding profusely. He could barely even keep himself upright.
Prince Consort Lin, showing great tact, stepped forward to take the bloody whip from the Eldest Princess’s hand.
The Eldest Princess looked down at her son-in-law, who was now slumped on the floor. “Aside from the Emperor, no one can break their word to this Palace without paying a price.”
Having said this, she gave her daughter a reassuring, affectionate look. With a sweep of her sleeves, she departed with the Prince Consort and their entourage of servants.
Looking at Chu Mochen, who had been beaten half to death by her mother, Lin Yanran could not have been happier.
However, when Chu Mochen struggled to turn his head to look at her, she quickly suppressed her smile. She put on a show of concern, ordering the servants to carry Chu Mochen back to the front courtyard and sending someone to the palace with the Marquis’s card to summon an imperial physician.
After all, they still had to live under the same roof in the future; she had to play her part.
Once the servants carried Chu Mochen to the front courtyard, the manor’s physician began treating his wounds. Hearing the news, the Dowager Marchioness rushed over with her own servants.
Seeing Lin Yanran standing off to the side, the Dowager Marchioness felt extremely displeased. “Your husband is injured to this extent, yet you are still in the mood to drink tea?”
“This Princess is not an imperial physician. If I do not drink tea, what else am I supposed to do?”
The Dowager Marchioness felt she could find a mountain of faults in her eldest daughter-in-law, yet this woman actually dared to talk back to her: “When the Eldest Princess was beating your husband, didn’t you know to stop her?”
“When your son was keeping a mistress outside, why didn’t you stop him, Mother? Who wouldn’t be furious upon hearing that their son-in-law kept a mistress? He even fathered two children with her!
If the Marquis had simply told this Princess honestly that he was tired of me and wanted to find some young and beautiful women, could I have actually forbidden him from taking concubines?”
Although Lin Yanran knew in her heart that the original owner would indeed have refused to let Chu Mochen take concubines, she was not the original owner, so she felt no guilt whatsoever in saying this.
“You…” Old Lady Xie pointed a finger at Lin Yanran, nearly fainting from anger once again.
In the end, the Dowager Marchioness chose to weep sorrowfully beside her son. As for scolding her daughter-in-law, she did not dare do so openly.
If word of it reached the Eldest Princess’s ears, she would only be causing more trouble.
Chu Mochen had to endure the agonizing pain of the physician treating his wounds, and with his mother weeping incessantly beside him, he finally snapped with controlled anger: “Can you be quiet for a moment?”
The Dowager Marchioness wiped her tears in astonishment. “Then you rest first, Chen’er. Mother won’t disturb you further and will come to see you tomorrow morning.”
Even as she left weeping, she did not forget to glare at Lin Yanran with resentment.
Lin Yanran did not care in the slightest. She even flashed a smile at her mother-in-law, which angered the Dowager Marchioness so much that she left without stopping for a single second.
While the physician treated Chu Mochen’s wounds in the inner room, Lin Yanran did not try to get close to him. She simply sat in the outer room, drinking tea and lost in thought.
To the servants, however, her dazed appearance made it seem as though she was deeply worried about the Marquis.
By the time the imperial physician arrived, the manor’s physician had already finished dressing the wounds, and Chu Mochen had drifted off to sleep.
The imperial physician briefly examined the wounds, felt his pulse, carefully gave some instructions on what to watch out for, and then left in a hurry.
Seeing the imperial physician depart, Lin Yanran gave a few instructions to the servants in Chu Mochen’s courtyard before returning to the main courtyard to rest.