Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Thus, while my father was out with Xidai, I led my people to Lady Qin’s small courtyard.

I had been here once before-on the day my mother passed away from her illness.

Back then, the servants had blocked me at all costs, refusing to let me in.

Now, however, my marriage was settled and she was the one who had fallen ill; the servants no longer dared to stop me by force.

My wet nurse successfully dragged the woman off her couch.

“Hold her down!” my nurse commanded, her voice thick with a murderous hatred.

They began to force poison wine down her throat.

Through the translucent window curtains, her voice rose in a shrill scream. “Let me go! Let me go!”

“Li Yutao, I am your father’s concubine, your elder! You cannot kill me!”

Of course I could.

I was the only legitimate daughter of the Li Family.

The marriage alliance between the Li and Wang families had already been proclaimed to the world.

Even if I killed her today, my father could do nothing to me.

Besides, there was still Xidai.

For Xidai’s sake, he would have to cover for me.

“My Lady, go wait to the side. Don’t let this filth reach your ears,” my nurse urged me.

I shook my head in refusal.

I wanted to watch her take her last breath with my own eyes.

I wanted to offer it as an account to my mother.

But in the end, it was not to be.

The door was slammed open with a loud crash.

My father rushed into the room and gathered her into his arms.

Lady Qin wept with lingering fear. “My Lord, save me! I don’t know how I have offended the Young Lady, but she actually wants to kill me!”

I was one step too late after all.

Disappointed and frustrated, I turned my head away.

My eyes met Wang Jie’s.

Standing under the blue-tiled eaves, he was watching me.

“She doesn’t have long to live anyway,” Wang Jie said. “Why go through the unnecessary trouble of staining your own reputation?”

Pink flower petals fluttered and swayed as he spoke.

They drifted down in a flurry, covering him.

They also covered the person behind him.

Xidai was peeking out cautiously, showing only half her face, her slender fingers clutching his blue sleeve.

He was the protector she had invited.

I couldn’t help but think that if we were to marry, this is likely how it would be.

For her sake, he would disregard my grief and speak words to me that were entirely out of place.

Looking at it this way, it would be best not to marry at all.

I declined Wang Jie’s request for an audience.

He sent someone to bring me a message, saying that no matter what, I would always be his primary wife.

“Even if my words that day were unpleasant to your ears, they were for your own good.”

“Ah Tao, why must you make things difficult for her?”

My father had said similar things to my mother.

She is just a flower from the outside; why must you insist on treading on her? It only makes you look petty.

Mother could never win those arguments; she only ended up hurting herself.

I did not want to suffer in silence.

I had someone send back a reply: “This is a matter of the inner chambers, and a private affair of the Li Family.”

“There is no need for Young Master Wang to trouble himself.”

Wang Jie did not come again.

Preparations for the wedding continued in the manor, bustling and festive.

Yet I could no longer blend into the joy.

Melancholy took hold of me, and I could not sleep soundly at night.

It truly felt as if I were following in my mother’s footsteps.

As for Lady Qin’s side, news began to spread that she was recovering.

She had been critically ill and then suddenly recovered, as if she had been blessed by heaven with longevity.

Only my wet nurse was frantic with indignation. “She did this on purpose! She set a trap! she faked her illness to trick the Master into bringing her daughter into the house.”

“Now that she knows the deed is done, she’s stopped pretending.”

I said, “I heard it was Wang Jie who requested the physician.”

My nurse looked as if she had been struck by lightning.

“What are we to do then?”

I was also wondering what to do.

I was being pressed at every turn by them. Even before the wedding, I already had nowhere left to go.

Should I marry? The road ahead was gray and blurred.

Break the engagement? That was not for me to decide.

My nurse used to always say that Wang Jie would not be like my father.

By now, even she had changed her tune, saying this was a poor match.

A prestigious clan was good, of course, but it was all just a hollow facade.

Like my mother-outsiders all said she was born into wealth and enjoyed a life of glory.

They said her husband’s only flaw was a minor one.

Besides, those children born to his mistresses were never recorded in the family genealogy.

Later, when my mother fell ill, my father even disposed of those people.

What more could she have wanted?

They said she was simply never satisfied.