Chapter 1

Chapter 1

By the time I bribed the jailers, every member of the Xie family had already been imprisoned for half a month.

The cells were cold and damp, the air thick with moisture. Children cried, and the elderly sighed in despair.

Hearing my footsteps and the faint chime of my pearl pendants, Madam Xie raised her voice, tense yet hopeful. “Is that Wanyue?”

Lin Wanyue.

The legitimate daughter of the Lin family. Graceful and composed, skilled at the qin. Her family background was somewhat weaker, unable to compare with my Wang family.

Only after Xie Huaiyu broke off our engagement did I learn that the daughter-in-law Madam Xie had wanted all along was Lin Wanyue.

I coughed lightly. “No. I am Wang Weige. I have come to visit you, Madam.”

After a stretch of awkward silence, Madam Xie murmured in a daze, “How thoughtful of you.”

I knew that at this moment, not only the Xie family, but even the jailers outside must have thought I was desperately in love with Xie Huaiyu.

To refuse the marriage, he had gone so far as to enter religious cultivation.

Such cold, decisive rejection had left everyone watching the spectacle guessing just how hideous I must be, or what hidden illness I might have, for Xie Huaiyu to be so unwilling that he would rather become a monk than ally himself by marriage with the flourishing Wang family.

Xie Huaiyu had truly ruined my reputation.

And yet now, my bearing was quiet and gentle as I calmly had my servants deliver the winter clothes, food, and silver ingots I had prepared for the Xie family’s young and old.

There was no sign at all that I had come to gloat or take revenge.

Madam Xie thanked me softly, then asked with hesitation, “Would you like to see the Fifth Young Master?”

The female prisoners and male prisoners were not held together.

I had meant to refuse, but then I suddenly remembered I happened to have an important matter to discuss with the Eldest Young Master Xie, Xie Pingzhi.

So I could only nod.

Madam Xie gave a bitter smile.

She shook her head. “Very well. Now that the Xie family has fallen, you are the only one still willing to come see us. You are a good child. I misjudged you.”

I did not dare accept those words.

I bowed and left.

Inside the men’s prison.

“Am I seeing things? Is that the Wang Family’s Youngest Sister?”

Some spoke in low astonishment, others were full of wariness, but no matter who they were, their gazes all tacitly gathered in the corner of the cell.

The Buddhist Heir, who cultivated without having shaved his head, wore plain robes and sat with his back against the corner, silently reciting scripture.

He heard the commotion, but acted as though he had not, avoiding it as if it were the plague.

His eyes remained shut, and the motion of his fingers turning the prayer beads did not pause in the slightest. If anything, it grew faster.

The cell was cold and gloomy.

Yet Xie Huaiyu’s back was ramrod straight, his face filled with an air of compassion, while the space between his brows was cold as a blade. It was as though nothing had ever moved him.

Except power.

Three years ago, this Buddhist Heir, cool by nature, had appeared at a flower-viewing banquet in embroidered robes and jade ornaments, handsome and carefree.

He pondered for seven steps and composed five poems in succession, taking first place.

Then, when no one was watching, he secretly handed me the winning peony.

After that, under the pretext of paying respects to my elder brother, he came to the Wang residence again and again to see me.

We all thought he was tender and sincere, that he had fallen for me at first sight.

Who knew he had merely borrowed an excuse to deceive my guileless elder brother? By making it seem as though he shared a close private friendship with the Wang family, he paved the way for his own cousin.

Then, with a single seven-character quatrain at a banquet, he astonished my uncle, the Minister of Rites, who recommended him for an official post at court.

Once he gained power, that ambiguous entanglement of sweet words came to an abrupt end.

And now he avoided me even more desperately.

I cast a casual glance at Xie Huaiyu, then bowed to the others. “May I ask if the Eldest Young Master Xie is here? I have an important matter to discuss with him.”

My voice was clear and steady.

There was no possibility that anyone had misheard.

In an instant, everyone looked at me, unable to hide the strange look in their eyes.

“Wang Family’s Youngest Sister, you are asking for the Eldest Young Master Xie, not the Fifth Young Master?”

“That is correct. The Eldest Young Master Xie, Xie Pingzhi.” I emphasized each word.

The faint sound of scripture recitation suddenly halted. Two words of the sutra were missed before the chanting began again.

Xie Pingzhi walked to the front of the cell with a face full of confusion, even glancing awkwardly at Xie Huaiyu.

“Young Master Xie, your father has been wronged because he is upright and outspoken. He offended His Majesty with his frank counsel, and was then privately schemed against and provoked by petty men. That is what brought disaster upon the Xie family. This matter can be minor, or it can be grave. The key lies in His Majesty’s will,” I said in a low voice.

Xie Pingzhi’s expression changed at once.

He immediately understood that I intended to help the Xie family.

“Why would you…” His face stirred with emotion.

But I shook my head. “This is not the time for polite words. Your father is a rare loyal minister of our dynasty. Affairs of state come first. I will visit my aunt and ask her to plead before His Majesty. If Young Master Xie has any message you wish conveyed, give it to me as well. Also, the prison is cold and harsh, and you seem to be showing signs of illness.”

Hearing the last sentence, Xie Pingzhi instinctively asked, “What signs of illness?”

Then he reacted, sudden realization dawning. “Yes, yes, I have been chilled and feverish lately. I fear I may pass away before the execution.”

I smiled and handed him a food box. “In that case, take the pills in this box every day, and they will ‘strengthen your body’ and ‘cure the illness at once.'”

Xie Pingzhi accepted the box, his expression complicated.

“I never imagined the Wang Family’s Youngest Sister possessed such strategy.”

His face carried guilt. “In the end, it was my family who wronged you. If your plea fails, do not persist. In this world as it is now, protecting yourself is the best policy. If you damage yourself for the sake of the Xie family, then even if I reach the Yellow Springs, my conscience will know no peace.”

A wave of feeling rose in my heart.

I had not expected that brothers born of the same blood could be so different. One was cold and hypocritical, while the other knew gratitude and repayment.

Yet Xie Pingzhi opened his mouth again, as if making up his mind, then turned and called out, “Xie Huaiyu, come here and thank the Wang Family’s Youngest Sister.”