Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I woke in Lu Qi’s arms.

Bright sunlight shone across the head of the bed, and Lu Qi’s arm lay across my waist.

“What time is it?”

“Nearly noon.” Lu Qi toyed with a lock of my hair.

“They’ve already started raising hell outside.”

Right. Today was supposed to be my hairpin ceremony.

With the person of honor missing, of course there would be hell to pay.

I was brought back by the clan guards through a side path.

Though the Yin Clan did everything it could to suppress the news, it still failed to escape the eyes of the crowd.

Rumors spread like wildfire.

“Some precious young lady she is. She really crawled out of a strange man’s bed!”

“Exactly. Three important guests were still sitting around waiting at her house, and the bride-to-be went and slept with some penniless soldier first!”

“I heard it was all for half a coarse-grain bun. Hahaha! A hundred years of the Yin family’s reputation, and it was worth half a bun!”

“Well, that’s that. Damaged goods now. Let’s see how her father sells her for a good price after this!”

I was first escorted to the woodshed and locked inside for two days.

Not a drop of water or a grain of rice passed my lips.

My maid, Yue Qiong, tried to bring me something to eat, but the guards stopped her outside the door.

All I heard were the guards whispering in the middle of the night, saying the advisers sent by the three parties refused to leave no matter what. From the looks of it, they were determined to make the master give them a clear answer.

At daybreak on the third day, I was so weak my vision went dark. Two rough old serving women held me up and dragged me into the ancestral hall.

The wooden doors stood wide open, and the room was packed with people.

Father knelt before the ancestral tablets. The back he had bent all his life now looked truly stooped.

Three people sat on the right, representatives of Luo Xiang, Han Yan, and Zhou Sui.

I was forced to my knees. My kneecaps struck the ground with a thud, and I could not help crying out in pain.

“Wicked girl!” Father turned and raised his hand. A rattan cane lashed viciously across my body.

“Do you know what day it was three days ago? Do you know how long these three honored guests have been waiting here?”

“The Yin Clan’s century-old good name has been destroyed by you today!”

He clutched his chest and struck me again and again.

“I taught you the classics, history, rites, and principles. I raised you no differently than a son. And this is how you repay me? By fornicating with a man without matchmaker or marriage?”

Father lifted his hand again, but Mother rushed forward and clung tightly to his arm.

“Boheng, stop hitting her! Ah Fei already knows she was wrong.”

“Ah Fei, hurry and apologize to your father. Hurry and say you know you were wrong.”

Father’s arm was held fast by Mother, his eyes bloodshot as he stared fixedly at me.

I licked the cracked corner of my mouth and suddenly laughed.

“Father, has there ever been a single day when you truly saw me as your daughter?”

“In your eyes, I am nothing but merchandise waiting to be sold. Whoever offers the highest price, whoever promises the greatest future-you sell me to them.”

“How dare you!” the clan chief barked.

I acted as if I had not heard him. I only watched Father’s face grow paler and more livid by the moment.

“You had me eat and sleep with the concubine-born daughter from Luoyang, using me as a decoy here in Xianyang. Yet the boys you truly valued were placed in Mingli Study and carefully nurtured!”

“You put me on the scale, weighing me this way and that, but when did you ever ask me even once whether I was willing?”

“Shut your mouth! Wicked girl!” Father clutched his chest. His body swayed, and a mouthful of bright red blood sprayed out.

“Father!” Ah He rushed over to support him, then turned back and cried at me.

“Eldest Sister! How can you speak of Father that way? Father treasured you like a pearl, taught you everything he knew, and never slighted you in the least!”

“Though Father and Mother have shown me a little affection, I have never once dared to be disrespectful toward you, Eldest Sister!”