Chapter 2

I had not understood why Qi Wenkai would resort to such schemes just to take Shen Rou as a concubine.

It had brought such humiliation upon the household.

But viewed another way, Mother, Shen Rou, and I had been humiliated. Qi Wenkai himself had lost nothing.

Not only had he lost nothing, his life had grown more comfortable.

I had married beneath my station and soon given him his eldest son, Qi Jing.

There was no reasonable excuse for him to take a concubine.

Yet after he took Shen Rou, I had bought him a beautiful freeborn concubine of my own accord, simply to compete with her.

Without Shen Rou, I would never have offered to do such a thing.

And then there was Mother. She was not Qi Wenkai’s birth mother, but his father’s principal wife and thus his legal mother.

She had raised him to adulthood, planned tirelessly for his future, and secured him a marriage into a family as influential as mine.

Naturally, I had held her in the highest esteem when I joined the household.

Once Shen Rou became a concubine, however, I began to suspect Mother. All that remained between us was a show of civility; our affection never returned.

With the two of us at odds, Mother’s life was no longer as comfortable either.

Taking Shen Rou had forced me to provide him with another concubine, weakened Mother’s authority, and left Shen Rou dependent on his favor for her very existence.

Perhaps that had been Qi Wenkai’s purpose all along?

When a mother and her daughter-in-law quarreled, the son became important.

When a wife and concubine quarreled, their husband’s favor became important.

He had used Shen Rou’s marriage to turn the three women of the household against one another, each looking out only for herself.

I looked at Shen Rou.

The fifteen-year-old girl knew nothing of it. She was still eagerly comparing the faces in the portraits.

She had no idea that someone had already woven a net of misfortune and was waiting for her to step into it.

Pity stirred in my heart.

The woman I had hated for an entire lifetime had been a pawn even more pitiable than I was.

Qi Wenkai had manipulated me, but I had still emerged the winner, thanks to my status as his principal wife, my family’s influence, and children who made something of themselves.

But Shen Rou?

Qi Wenkai kept rising through the ranks, just as my son placed first in the imperial examinations and my daughter married into an illustrious family.

At such a moment, rumors that a man of the Qi family favored his concubine at his wife’s expense would have been distinctly inconvenient.

Qi Wenkai promptly became a “reformed man,” and Shen Rou fell catastrophically out of favor.

I drew a deep breath. Everything else could wait.

For now, I had to ruin Qi Wenkai’s plans for today and keep Shen Rou from being dragged into them again.

In this life, I would find her a good husband. It would at least make some amends for having wronged her before.

I had originally planned to invite Shen Rou to the heated pavilion to taste some fine new tea.

But Qi Wenkai had tampered with the incense burner there. So I kept discussing the young men’s families and backgrounds, doing everything I could to draw out the conversation.

Only when dusk was near and tea was out of the question did I take my leave of Mother.

Back in my room, I found Qi Wenkai sitting with a book in his hand, staring into space.

He might have been holding a book, but he looked distracted and restless.

At my return, he raised his eyes and asked irritably,

“Didn’t you say you were going to taste the new tea with Rou today? You even had the heated pavilion in the garden made ready. Why didn’t you use it?”