Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Ji Hanyi’s heart clenched, and pain filled her expression. She looked at Madam Liu and said softly, “Aunt, trust me on this. I’ll have an answer for you first thing tomorrow morning.”
Madam Liu shook her head anxiously. “It’s already been several days, and you still want to delay? How can your cousin endure that kind of torture?”
“If you can’t persuade him, take me to Yuheng. I’ll kneel before him myself and beg him to intercede.”
Ji Hanyi closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. “Aunt, Xie Yuheng won’t help us. Begging him is useless.”
Madam Liu stared at Ji Hanyi with wide eyes. “What are you saying? You’re Xie Yuheng’s wife. Why wouldn’t he help you? Or are you the one who doesn’t want to help your cousin?”
“All it would take is a single word from him. Why wouldn’t he help?”
Ji Hanyi gave Madam Liu a bitter look. “Aunt, do you think Cousin Xun secretly keeping a heretical book is a serious matter?”
“Besides, Cousin Xun is still being held at the Northern Pacification Office. As long as Pacification Commissioner Lu Yuan is willing to release him, it truly would take nothing more than one word from Xie Yuheng to his brother-in-law.”
“After Cousin Xun was arrested, he must have mentioned his connection to me. Lu Yuan would certainly have sent someone to ask Xie Yuheng about it, and Lu Yuan would act according to Xie Yuheng’s wishes.”
“Cousin Xun still hasn’t been released after all this time. Don’t you understand, Aunt? It isn’t that Lu Yuan refuses to let him go. Xie Yuheng is the one unwilling to help. He may even have told Lu Yuan to handle the case impartially.”
Ji Hanyi had actually figured all this out long ago.
That night, when Ji Hanyi had intended to speak to Xie Yuheng about a divorce, he had told her he already knew what she wanted to say. That was when everything became clear to her.
She had received her maternal grandmother’s letter that same night. Xie Yuheng must also have learned the news then, which meant Lu Yuan had certainly consulted him.
Xie Yuheng had told her he would not help her. That meant he had never instructed Lu Yuan to release Cousin Xun.
She had known all along that begging Xie Yuheng for help would only invite humiliation.
Madam Liu stared at Ji Hanyi in shock, hardly able to believe what she had just heard.
She stood there in a daze, her eyes fixed on Ji Hanyi. “You’re Xie Yuheng’s wife. Why would he refuse to help you?”
“Are you making this up?”
Ji Hanyi smiled bitterly. “Aunt, why would I stand by and watch my cousin be imprisoned?”
“Please give me one more day. I promise I’ll have a solution for you first thing tomorrow morning.”
Madam Liu stared blankly at Ji Hanyi, her eyes steeped in disappointment. “You’ve been married into the Xie Family for three years, yet you’re still this useless.”
“What can I possibly expect from you?”
“You can’t even win over your own husband. What solution could you possibly have?”
With that, Madam Liu abruptly rose from the daybed, the disappointment in her eyes gradually turning to anger. “If you’d known how to win over the Xie Family, why would Xun’er have had to suffer so much?”
“What a joke. How could you let your marriage come to this?”
“You’ve been married for three years, yet they still haven’t let you manage the household. Even your husband’s heart isn’t with you. You’re useless!”
Madam Liu snatched back the box of silver she had shoved into Ji Hanyi’s hands earlier, retreated several steps, then turned and strode out.
Rongchun stood behind Ji Hanyi and had heard every word Madam Liu said. She lowered her gaze to Ji Hanyi, her heart aching for her.
How painful it must be for Young Madam to hear such words from her own family.
Young Madam had already done more than enough over the years. First Madam Xie was so exacting, yet aside from making things difficult for Young Madam over the lack of an heir, she had never been able to find the slightest fault with her.
Eldest Master had always had someone else in his heart. He could not see how good Young Madam was, so how could any of this be blamed on her?
She bent down, wanting to offer a few words of comfort, only to find herself too heartsick to speak.
Ji Hanyi’s face had gone slightly pale. Her fingers tightened around one corner of the low table. Neither of the two cups of tea before her had been touched, their steam curling through the air. That single word — useless — tore open a wound in her heart.
It was as if the sole purpose of her life was to please her husband. Even if he did not love her, if she failed to please him, then she was useless.
Bracing herself against the low table, Ji Hanyi rose to her feet. She looked up and met the sorrow in Rongchun’s eyes, then said softly, “It’s all right.”
“It will pass soon.”
With that, Ji Hanyi gathered her composure and headed outside again.
Rongchun hurried after her. “Young Madam, where are you going?”
Ji Hanyi pressed her lips together. When she reached the courtyard gate and saw which direction her maternal aunt had gone, she immediately understood.
Her maternal aunt must have gone to see her mother-in-law.
Ji Hanyi’s heart lurched, and she rushed after her. Unfortunately, her earlier words had still failed to dissuade her aunt. Everyone in the Xie Family was cold and indifferent. Xie Yuheng would not intervene, and First Madam was even less likely to help.
But in the end, she was still one step too late.
Before she could even set foot inside the main hall, she heard First Madam Xie’s unmistakably stern voice.
“Second Madam Gu, are you trying to insult the Xie Family’s good name with this money?”
“Has the Xie Family fallen so far that we must now rely on perverting the law for personal gain just to survive?”
“The Master of our household serves as Prefect in Xuanzhou. It is not as if there is no one left in this family, nor was he demoted and sent away to the provinces. I will not allow you to humiliate us like this!”
At that moment, Ji Hanyi raised her head and looked at the bare branches jutting over the eaves. The cold was biting, and the sky was a gloomy gray.
She closed her eyes. Only she knew that anyone who came to the Xie Family for help was merely inviting humiliation upon themselves.
Madam Lin would not even let her concern herself with the household accounts or its stewards. She was constantly on guard against Ji Hanyi taking so much as a single coin from the Xie Family. How could she possibly be willing to lift a finger for Ji Hanyi’s maternal family?
Ji Hanyi kept her eyes closed for a moment and composed herself before sending someone inside to announce her arrival.
When she entered the main hall, her maternal aunt was seated below Madam Lin, her face filled with panic. The room was utterly silent, and every gaze turned toward Ji Hanyi.
At the sight of her, Madam Lin appeared furious. She raised a hand and slammed it down on the low table beside her with a loud crack.
Pointing at Ji Hanyi, she snapped, “The affairs of your maternal family have actually been brought all the way to me! Never mind that you have yet to bear Yuheng even a single son or daughter — you spend all your time creating trouble for me!”
“If I had known that letting Yuheng marry you meant bringing an entire heap of trouble into this family, I would rather have played the villain and broken off the engagement in the first place!”
Standing behind Madam Lin, Xie Jin also frowned at Ji Hanyi. “Hanyi, this is your maternal family’s business. It has nothing to do with the Xie Family. By doing this, aren’t you simply making things difficult for Mother?”
“I made a special trip here today because I intended to speak with you as well. My husband cannot help with your cousin’s situation. Besides, now that you have married into the Xie Family, you are a woman of the Xie Family. You should devote yourself wholeheartedly to this family instead of wasting your thoughts on outsiders.”
Xie Jin was the household’s Eldest Young Lady. She had married Lu Yuan, the Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Pacification Office.
She had married exceedingly well. As the wife of the powerful Lu Yuan, she naturally returned to her maiden home with great pomp on every visit, and everyone had to flatter and curry favor with her.
Yet Xie Jin especially enjoyed lecturing Ji Hanyi, instructing her on how she ought to serve Madam Lin and how she ought to attend to Xie Yuheng.
In Xie Jin’s eyes, Ji Hanyi had earned an unimaginably great blessing by marrying Xie Yuheng. And since Xie Jin was Xie Yuheng’s elder sister, Ji Hanyi ought to obey her in absolutely everything.