Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“A marquisate token is an official credential granted by the court. Lending it out in private is tantamount to abusing official authority. Those who cause harm with it may, at best, be convicted and stripped of rank. At worst, they lose their heads.”

“And as the instigator, you bear even greater blame.”

“You speak of fairness and the law. Now that it is your turn, what should be done?”

Xiang Tunan froze on the spot.

All her arrogance vanished. She could no longer act so high and mighty.

“I was only trying to help people. I was protecting the common people’s property. I… I…”

Then she saw Xie Huaiyu, still in his official robes, hurrying over.

Her eyes lit up at once.

“Xie Huaiyu, your feudal relic of a wife is bullying me with her status.”

Xie Huaiyu walked over slowly and gathered Xie Yan into his arms.

The Jade Bone Umbrella tilted over them, sheltering Xie Yan’s entire body beneath it.

He turned and strode toward the gate, half his body soaked through by the wind and rain.

“Ah Heng, Xie Yan’s health matters most. As for the rest, we can discuss it another day.”

I did not move. I stared straight at his retreating back.

“There will be no other day.”

“Nanny Li went to report this to the authorities on my orders. The carriages and horses were stolen, and everything is in ruins. I deserve an explanation.”

Xie Yan lifted his head from Xie Huaiyu’s arms as well, his eyes brimming with tears.

“I can endure it, but I must seek justice for my treasured horses.”

“Grandfather could not even bear to lash them once, yet tonight, someone flaunted their power and ruined them like this. I cannot swallow this insult.”

Xie Huaiyu’s brows were so dark they seemed about to drip water, yet he forced himself to coax me patiently.

“However much silver it costs, I will compensate you double. She is, after all, my business partner. We run many ventures together.”

“If this keeps escalating, both the Xie Family and the Ning Family will lose face.”

Looking at that face, so familiar yet so utterly strange, I actually let out a scornful laugh.

“You give her money to open shops, lend her your status to rally support, and ask others to smooth everything over for her at every turn. If that counts as partnership, then Marquis, do show some kindness and partner more with the disaster victims outside the city. They cannot even fill their stomachs and are in great need of a savior with such a merciful heart.”

“Besides, helping an outsider muddy the waters and standing against your own wife is what makes you, Xie Huaiyu, lose face. I, Ning Heng, am demanding justice. I would rather break than bend. Where is the shame in that?”

“Once we go to the authorities, there will be a conclusion as to how my son suddenly developed such a strange high fever, and how someone just so happened to steal the carriages and horses at exactly that moment.”

Xiang Tunan swayed.

Instinctively, she clutched the cuff of her sleeve tight.

Slap!

In the next instant, I reacted swiftly and struck her across the face.

As Xiang Tunan screamed and reached up to cover her cheek, I seized the chance and yanked away the small pouch hidden in her sleeve.

When she lunged over in panic to snatch it back, I turned and handed it to the female physician behind me.

“Take it to the authorities and have them examine what it is. See whether it matches the poison in the Young Lord’s body.”

But in the very next moment-

Xie Huaiyu snatched the powder away, raised his hand, and scattered it all into the pouring rain.

“Enough!”

His jaw was taut, his eyes cold as frost.

Yet he turned to Xiang Tunan.

“Apologize!”

Xiang Tunan’s breath caught. Disbelief filled her face.

“You want me to apologize? Xie Huaiyu, you…”

“Apologize!”

Xie Huaiyu’s sharp rebuke startled Xiang Tunan so badly that she trembled.

Only then did she finally understand from Xie Huaiyu’s expression that, if they wanted to put this matter to rest, an apology was the easiest shortcut.

Biting back her resentment, she said to me unwillingly, “Fine, I’ll apologize to you. Happy now?”

Slap!

Furious, I slapped Xie Huaiyu across the face.

Xiang Tunan suddenly shrieked.

“Are you insane? I already apologized to you. What right do you have to hit someone? You are completely unreasonable, a shrew. No wonder Xie Huaiyu only pretends to get along with you while his heart is elsewhere. You-”

She could not continue.

Because I had gripped her jaw, and as Xie Huaiyu’s pupils abruptly widened, I viciously poured the packet of medicine I had switched out into Xiang Tunan’s mouth.

“If the Marquis moves even an inch, I will make sure she suffers every punishment the authorities can administer today. I mean what I say.”

Xiang Tunan had stolen his token first and destroyed imperial-bestowed carriages and horses afterward.

Behind her, she had no great clan to vouch for her, nor wealth and power to shield her.

Once we went to the authorities, if the Ning Family insisted on pursuing the matter to the end, she might not walk away unscathed.

Under Xie Huaiyu’s cold, furious face, which dared not speak out, I gave a cold laugh and hurled Xiang Tunan, who was clawing at her throat and retching nonstop, into the icy rainwater.

Only when she was utterly broken, crawling through the dirty water and begging everywhere for help, did I brush off my sleeves.

Alone, I held up the Jade Bone Umbrella and walked step by step out of the Buddhist temple.

“Since the Marquis is paying double compensation for you today, I will, for the sake of the years we were husband and wife, spare you this once.”

“Next time, if we are not beneath the Buddha’s watchful eyes, I will draw blood.”

Making a grand show of doing business and earning silver?

In the blink of an eye, it all landed in my pocket.