Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Ji Hanyi did not look back. She lowered her head and slipped properly into the robe draped around her shoulders, her movements as quiet and composed as ever. Once she had tied the sash and raised her head, she found herself looking into Xie Yuheng’s reproachful, disappointed eyes.
His gaze also held undisguised displeasure and astonishment.
In truth, although there had never been any affection between Ji Hanyi and Xie Yuheng as husband and wife, they had never quarreled either.
Xie Yuheng was not one to argue, but the look in his eyes was more chilling than any angry words could have been.
She took a deep breath. At that moment, she finally understood: once you had grown tired of someone, you could not even be bothered to quarrel with them.
She could not summon the desire to argue with him about the cold treatment, grievances, and misunderstandings she had endured all these years.
Perhaps Xie Yuheng had once felt the same way.
There was no point in arguing. Xie Yuheng would always stand aloof and treat his own assumptions as the truth. He would always be partial.
If she tried to reason with him, she would only be presenting her wounds to him once more so that he could tear them open again.
What was there left to say now?
Should she tell him that Li Mingrou had been the one who knocked over that cup of tea? That his mother had often made things difficult for her, though she had never once complained to him? Or that she had never actually targeted Li Mingrou? Would he believe her?
He would not.
Then there was no reason to say any of it.
He had once had nothing to say to her. Now, she had nothing to say to him either.
They had reached the point where no words remained between them. All they could do was await the inevitable conclusion and bring this marriage to the most dignified end possible.
Ji Hanyi took a step back and accepted the cloak Rongchun brought her. Meeting Xie Yuheng’s eyes, she remained perfectly calm, without the slightest ripple of emotion. She merely said softly, “I’m not making a scene. All I ask for is a divorce.”
“Tomorrow, I will send a newly written Divorce Agreement to your study. I only ask that Eldest Master grant my request.”
Xie Yuheng suddenly scoffed. “I understand now. I finally understand why you suddenly started making such a fuss.”
“You’re trying to use this to force me to help your cousin, aren’t you?”
The disappointment in his eyes deepened as if he had seen straight through her. “Hanyi, I serve at the Court of Judicial Review. Impartiality is paramount. Your cousin knowingly broke the law. I have no reason to plead for him.”
“You had better abandon the idea. I will not help him. Making a scene like this will not change anything.”
Ji Hanyi lowered her eyes. She had never placed any hope in him to begin with.
Her cousin had not committed any serious crime, yet Xie Yuheng would not say even a single word on his behalf. Back then, however, he had used his connections for Li Mingrou’s relatives when they came causing trouble over the division of family property.
Xie Yuheng had always known perfectly well who mattered more to him.
That was fine. She had never intended to ask him for help in the first place.
Ji Hanyi did not wish to argue. She simply looked him in the eye. “I know you won’t help me. That’s why I have never once mentioned my cousin’s situation to you.”
“I have nothing else to say. All I ask is that we part on good terms. It will be better for everyone.”
“You may think whatever you like.”
With that, Ji Hanyi walked past Xie Yuheng. She pulled up her hood and stepped into the night with her head lowered, braving the flurries of snow swirling through the bitter cold.
Xie Yuheng stared blankly at the figure receding across the courtyard. She carried a lantern alone, its dim light wavering and casting her shadow first near, then far away.
Part on good terms. It would be better for everyone.
Xie Yuheng could hardly believe those words had come from Ji Hanyi, who had always been gentle and sweetly submissive.
She had always been soft and pliant, almost as if she had no temper at all — except when it came to Mingrou.
He reached out, his hand hovering in midair as he was suddenly struck by the illusion that she had slipped beyond his grasp forever.
But the instant that feeling arose, Xie Yuheng thought, How could that be?
Ji Hanyi could never leave him.
Who would be willing to marry a divorced woman?
He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes at Ji Hanyi’s retreating back. If she wanted to make a scene, then let her.
If she insisted on going out in the middle of the night to suffer, he would let her. He would not indulge her again.
Once she realized he would no longer give way, she would understand that a great household could not tolerate such willful behavior.
Rongchun had overheard what Ji Hanyi said. Even after helping her all the way to the rear gallery, she had yet to recover from her shock.
The charcoal fire in the study had long since gone out, and a wave of cold greeted them as soon as they stepped inside. Rongchun hurried to rekindle it.
When she carried the brazier over and placed it at the feet of Ji Hanyi, who was reclining on the chaise longue, she could no longer hold back her question. “Young Madam, are you truly going to divorce Eldest Master?”
Ji Hanyi looked down at Rongchun and asked in complete seriousness, “Rongchun, do you also think I’m throwing a tantrum?”
Rongchun froze, then shook her head. “Young Madam has never thrown a tantrum.”
Yes. Rongchun understood her.
She knew Ji Hanyi had never been prone to tantrums.
Ji Hanyi understood that only one’s closest loved ones would indulge such petulance.
She knew perfectly well that Xie Yuheng would never tolerate her acting willfully.
In the end, Xie Yuheng had never understood her at all.
If she were the sort to throw tantrums, she would have done so long ago, when Xie Yuheng sided with Li Mingrou time and again because of Li Mingrou’s provocations. She would not have waited until now to ask for a divorce.
She pulled Rongchun down to sit beside her, then glanced around at the study’s sparse furnishings. Having come here at this hour, she did not even have a proper place to sleep.
There was a bamboo couch, but it had no bedding. Sleeping on it in weather this cold would be miserable.
It was not that Ji Hanyi was determined to come here and suffer. She had simply realized that, in this entire estate, the only place she could truly call her own seemed to be this tiny study.
Every furnishing in the study had been chosen and arranged by her own hand. None of it belonged to the Xie Residence, and her mother-in-law would never have allowed household funds to be allocated for such purchases. She had paid for everything with her own silver.
Besides, she could no longer bring herself to share a bed with Xie Yuheng.
Once, she had desperately longed for a child with him, hoping the child’s arrival might make Xie Yuheng care for her a little more.
She was not cold by nature. She, too, wanted to be protected and cherished.
But now, she only felt fortunate.
Fortunately, that child had never come. He would have been innocent. He should not have been brought into this world only to have a father who did not love him.
Ji Hanyi looked around the room, then took a key from a box on the writing desk and gave it to Rongchun, asking her to fetch two sets of bedding from the storeroom where her dowry was kept.
Ji Hanyi had not brought much with her when she married. Apart from the two sets of head jewelry and a shop prepared by her maternal grandmother, there had been little else.
The wives of her two maternal uncles had contributed two trunks of bedding to her dowry. The Xie Residence had never needed anything from her dowry, but the bedding had finally come in handy.
Rongchun soon returned with it. Together, they made up the bamboo couch and the chaise longue, and there was just enough for both.
When Ji Hanyi lay down on the freshly made chaise longue, her brow relaxed. Half the crushing weight on her heart seemed to lift, and she let out a long sigh.
Rongchun crouched beside her and looked at Ji Hanyi, who was bundled up like a dumpling. As she slipped a hot-water bottle beneath the covers, she whispered, “I think Young Madam looks happier now than she did before.”
Ji Hanyi paused, then turned to Rongchun with a smile. “Perhaps it’s because my heart feels lighter.”
“It truly does feel lighter.”
Rongchun’s eyes reddened as she said through her tears, “If Young Madam will be happier after the divorce, then I also hope Young Madam can get one.”
Ji Hanyi tightened her grip on Rongchun’s hand, though a trace of unease remained in her heart.
At first, it had never even occurred to her that Xie Yuheng might refuse to divorce her. She knew exactly how much he loved Li Mingrou. Yet his failure to agree immediately had planted a seed of uncertainty in her mind.
She only wanted to leave as soon as possible.
She looked at Rongchun again and nodded gently.
Meanwhile, at the Shen Residence, Shen Si sat behind a red sandalwood desk. He silently studied the letter in his hand for a long while before setting it down, his slender fingertips tapping the tabletop.
When he closed his eyes, he saw Ji Hanyi’s face, slightly flushed from the wind and snow. Her delicate features were soft and alluring, her figure charmingly petite.
As he had passed her, he had also heard the faint sound of her delicate cough.
In the stillness, Shen Si’s expression gradually darkened. He recoiled from that momentary lapse, from the realization that his thoughts were still being drawn to that woman.
Taking a deep breath, Shen Si leaned back in his chair and tipped his head up. Yet another image surfaced before his eyes — the creamy, jade-smooth skin he had once seen, the snowy curves rising and falling, crowned by fragrant rosy peaks.
Shen Si drew another deep breath and opened his eyes. Veins stood out on the back of the hand resting on the armrest.
Just then, someone outside requested an audience. His hand tightened around the armrest, and the desire lingering on his face gradually faded into cold composure. He rose and stood before the window with his hands clasped behind his back, then ordered the person outside to enter.
The waiting attendant quickly came in. With his head bowed, he stopped three paces behind Shen Si’s tall, slender figure before speaking softly. “This subordinate made inquiries. The Northern Pacification Office did indeed arrest Gu Xun several days ago.”
“After leaving the Imperial Academy that day, Gu Xun went to Huguo Temple on the outskirts of the capital. There, he discussed the Qimen Dunjia Art with an old beggar Daoist. An official holding the title of Operations Commandant happened to see them. A book was then found on Gu Xun, so he was arrested.”
“Gu Xun is only a frail scholar, but he somehow endured the Northern Pacification Office’s interrogation and torture without confessing to anything. He insisted that he had merely found the book and did not know what it contained. He likely understood that if he admitted the charge, the case would be sent to the Ministry of Punishments for sentencing. Once he was convicted, there would be no room left to maneuver.”
The attendant paused, then lowered his voice further. “But according to the information I gathered, Second Madam of the Gu Family also gave a considerable amount of silver to the two officials holding the rank of Banner Officer who were responsible for torturing him. That may also be part of the reason; otherwise, Gu Xun could not possibly have held out for so long.”
“Still, plenty of people privately collect books on the Qimen Dunjia Art. Although doing so technically violates the statutes, it’s a minor offense and is usually overlooked. Yet those officials holding the title of Operations Commandant used it as grounds to make an arrest, all for the sake of claiming credit and earning a promotion. They seize upon the slightest pretext and refuse to let their target go. Indiscriminate arrests are hardly uncommon.”
The attendant’s report was extremely detailed. He believed Shen Si intended to discipline the officials holding the rank of Banner Officer within the Northern Pacification Office for using the considerable power granted by their low-ranking posts to accept bribes. He therefore went on to recount every detail of how Second Madam Gu had bribed them.
Shen Si remained motionless until the attendant finished, then waved a hand and dismissed him.
He gazed out the window, turning the thumb ring on his thumb with his fingertips.
Why had Ji Hanyi come to him?
Xie Yuheng’s brother-in-law was the Pacification Commissioner. As long as Gu Xun remained in the Northern Pacification Office, securing his release over such a minor matter should not be difficult.
Shen Si had initially assumed that the Ministry of Punishments had intervened or that the case involved some other complication. If so, it would indeed have been rather troublesome.
Why had she not gone directly to Xie Yuheng? Why had she come to him instead?
For such a trivial matter, had she truly needed to beg for his help?