Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Mm! Mm!”

Xu Yaoyao, who had been staring at me with a face full of venom, eagerly waiting to see me suffer, froze at the sight.

Her eyes went wide, but she couldn’t utter a single word.

All she could do was watch as the so-called reinforcements she had summoned clutched his hand and dropped to his knees.

Her muffled cries grew louder.

As if she were saying, How dare you?

If injuring her meant I looked down on her, then Ye Rongfeng was my elder brother-and, more than that, an official with a post in court.

So how did I dare?

Holding my little sister by the hand, I said coldly, “Ye Rongfeng, we haven’t seen each other in three years. Have I given you so much face that even you have forgotten why I left to recuperate in the first place-and how you came by that official position of yours?”

When I returned from the estate, I had never imagined this would be the scene waiting for me.

The grand entrance of Shangshu Mansion was cold and deserted. Only my little sister stood outside the gates, supported by a maid.

She had grown terribly thin. The instant she saw me, her eyes reddened.

“Sister!”

Then she threw herself into my arms, tears streaming down her face as she choked on sobs.

“You’re finally back. I missed you so much.”

This girl had always been the liveliest of us all. When had she ever cried like this?

A bad feeling rose in my heart. I quickly wrapped my arms around her and asked, “What happened? Did someone bully you? Where are Father, Mother, and our brother?”

At the very least, there was still Xie Jingwen.

Three years ago, I took an arrow for the Empress and had no choice but to go to a royal estate to recuperate.

Thanks to that act of loyalty, my closest kin and my future husband’s family all rose steadily in status.

I was happy to hear it.

When Xie Jingwen and I parted, I had even specially reminded him, “My little sister has a lively, impulsive nature. If you truly feel grateful to me, then while I’m away, please look after her for me.”

He nodded with a smile. “Since Rongshu has entrusted it to me, I would see it done even if the heavens struck me down.”

His words were so solemn that my parents and elder brother all laughed.

“You are so overbearing. Aren’t you afraid of scaring Jingwen away?”

Of course not. We were childhood sweethearts, and we had been betrothed since we were children.

He once said that when I returned, he would marry me.

But now, the letter announcing my return had been sent long ago.

And the only person who came to receive me was my little sister, standing there all alone.

At my question, her quiet sobbing abruptly stopped.

Then, in an instant, it turned into heart-wrenching wails.

“They won’t come, they won’t come! Today is that calamity’s birthday. Father and Mother didn’t want to spoil her mood, and Brother even performed a sword dance for her. Even Brother-in-law, from thousands of miles away, sent her a birthday gift.”

“Sister, none of them want me anymore. And they don’t want you anymore either!”