Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was tired of hearing this.

I cut her off.

“He wouldn’t have been able to become an official anyway.”

“What did you say? How can you say such a thing?”

“Madam Lu, don’t lie to yourself. The first thing every general does upon returning from war is hand over their military power. As for his military merit, he did use it to ask for my hand in marriage, but I also gave up my Princess Title for him. I owe him nothing. If I were still a princess, would this business with Meiniang have ever happened?”

If I were still a princess, Lu Jinghuai would be the Prince Consort.

No matter how spineless I was, I wouldn’t be scolded to this extent by my mother-in-law, nor would I allow a Prince Consort to indulge in such debauchery.

My mother-in-law was dumbfounded.

It was as if she were seeing me for the first time.

A flicker of satisfaction rose in my heart.

My mother-in-law wasn’t actually that difficult to deal with.

Then what did those two years of drinking medicinal decoctions count for?

Did it count as incompetence?

There was a term in the stories Sixth Sister wrote called ‘love-brain’: it described protagonists who only had brains for falling in love, where everything revolved around romance.

I used to think I wasn’t like that, but looking back now, I clearly was.

Those two years of medicine were probably meant to cure my love-brain.

Now, I was finally healed.

Suddenly, a cold voice rang out. “Qinxin, how can you speak to Mother like that?”

I looked up and saw Lu Jinghuai entering from outside.

I didn’t know how long he had been there, or if he had heard everything.

His tone was icy, laced with disappointment.

“Qinxin, apologize to Mother. Be good.”

I looked at him, feeling a sense of estrangement.

He had urged me to apologize to his mother before, but back then, he would do it with a smile, a plea, or a sigh. He had never been as stern as he was today.

Why?

Probably because he truly felt that sending Meiniang and her son to the manor was an act of favor and grace toward me.

Since when did I start living such a lowly existence?

I wasn’t even worthy of being asked if I was sad.

I lifted my chin and said coldly, “Lu Jinghuai, I want a divorce!”

Lu Jinghuai froze for a moment, then his face flushed red with disbelief.

He took a step forward and gripped my wrist tightly.

“Say that again? Luo Qinxin, how dare you say that?”

His grip was so tight it hurt. Tears welled up uncontrollably, but I gritted my teeth and forced them back.

I told myself: Winning the argument comes first. After it’s over, I can reward myself with a secret cry.

I tried to empty my mind and channeled Sixth Sister’s manner, speaking with absolute certainty.

“I want a divorce. I am divorcing you!”

Lu Jinghuai didn’t move. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was livid; he looked like a furious lion.

Ah Fu rushed over, her tiny fists pounding against Lu Jinghuai.

“Let go of my mommy! Let go, let go!”

My mother-in-law reached out and picked Ah Fu up.

“Come with Grandma. Your mother has done something wrong, and your father needs to teach her a lesson. Come to Grandma’s room, and I’ll give you some candied fruit.”

“I don’t want candied fruit! I want Mommy! Mommy!”

She cried so hard my heart ached.

I thrashed against Lu Jinghuai.

“Let go! Let me go, Lu Jinghuai! Let go of me!”

A sense of powerlessness spread through my heart.

I thought back to when I was a child.

The Second Prince was always malicious toward Sixth Sister. He clearly wanted to steal her things, but he always did it in my name.

He claimed he was only taking them because I liked them.

The Crown Prince would also tell Sixth Sister to give her things to me.

In the end, Sixth Sister would stubbornly smash the items so that no one could have them.

Back then, I felt a sense of powerlessness.

As a child, I didn’t understand where that feeling came from.

As I grew up, I gradually realized it was because I didn’t dare to refuse or resist. I was afraid that if I exposed the truth, they would ignore me.

One was the Crown Prince and the other was a Prince; both were existences that I, an adopted daughter, could not defy. My entire family’s future even depended on them.

So, I remained silent as an accomplice, and I remained silent as they used me as a target.

That was a mental powerlessness.

But today, it was a physical powerlessness.

I was weak and useless. My attempts to hit him were like mere scratches, and I couldn’t even protect my own daughter.

In that moment, Lu Jinghuai’s face overlapped startlingly with the faces of the Crown Prince and the Second Prince.

My hatred for him reached its peak.

“Lu Jinghuai, I hate you!!!”