Chapter 86
Chapter 86
That night, Ji Hanyi had just finished bathing and washing up. She wore a white, cross-collared underrobe, and her freshly dried hair spilled over one shoulder. With a thick blanket wrapped around her and a pleasantly warm hand warmer cradled in her arms, she sat on the daybed, leaning over the small table as she painted with intense concentration.
The last time Ji Hanyi had seen Shen Si at Baoshan Tower, Mr. Zhang had been standing outside when she left. She had taken the opportunity to ask whether she could send over a few more paintings in the coming days.
It had only been a tentative question. If it was inconvenient, she would have let the matter drop.
After all, Baoshan Tower already received plenty of paintings, and she did not want to trouble Mr. Zhang.
She planned to leave the capital after divorcing Xie Yuheng. For one thing, it was always best to save as much silver as possible before she left. For another, she feared she might never have another chance to send her paintings here once she was gone.
But Mr. Zhang had assured her that she could send as many as she liked, so she had put her mind at ease.
Even so, each painting took her at least ten days to complete, forcing her to work day and night.
Rongchun brought over a charcoal brazier and set it beside Ji Hanyi. Watching her mistress lower her head and carefully guide the brush across the paper, she hesitated for a long while before finally blurting out, “It’s still bitterly cold. First Madam arranged for you to stay in Yichun Courtyard and assigned you a maid, but she didn’t even send us any charcoal. Second Master Gu had someone deliver some yesterday, but we’re almost out again today. What are we supposed to do tomorrow?”
“Madam may be living in the Gu Residence too, but you used to cover most of the cost of her medicine. The gifts you sent over during the holidays were valuable as well. It isn’t as though we’ll be staying here forever, so why are they treating you with such neglect?”
Ji Hanyi remained serene as she listened to Rongchun’s complaints, her gaze still resting on the painting.
She was living under another family’s roof. She could not quibble over every little thing. At the very least, she had been given a place to stay, and to her, that alone was an enormous kindness.
The gauze lantern on the small table cast a hazy glow. Several little dishes sat beside it, each filled with a different pigment. Ji Hanyi dipped her brush into the malachite green. The light fell across one side of her lovely face, scattering specks of warm gold through her misty eyes and lending an added softness to her fine, straight nose. Turning to Rongchun, she said quietly, “Don’t say such things again. The Gu Family is having a difficult time as well. It’s only charcoal. They probably forgot to make arrangements. Once it runs out, we can simply buy some ourselves.”
Ji Hanyi tugged the blanket more snugly around herself and smiled. “I can still afford charcoal. Just pretend we’ve already gone to Jinling and must pay for everything ourselves. Doesn’t that make you feel a little better?”
Rongchun froze. Now that her mistress put it that way, she did feel a little better. She simply could not help feeling hurt on Ji Hanyi’s behalf…
While the two of them were speaking in low voices, a servant from the front gate came with a message. Xie Yuheng still had not left, and more people from the Xie Family had arrived. They were all gathered at the front gate. Even First Madam Xie had come and was causing a commotion there, alarming every branch of the Gu Residence.
Ji Hanyi had assumed that even if Xie Yuheng remained standing outside, a man like him had never possessed much patience when it came to her affairs. He was merely putting on a show. Surely he would leave before long.
He had always been impatient. He disliked hearing about any of the household’s trivial affairs and refused to involve himself in any of them. The only matters he ever kept in mind were those concerning Li Mingrou.
Ji Hanyi had witnessed it all over the past three years. Xie Yuheng had cared for Li Mingrou with painstaking devotion.
Old Madam Xie claimed Xie Yuheng had yet to understand his own heart, but Ji Hanyi saw the truth clearly. He had understood it long ago. Instinctive reactions and unconscious gestures could not deceive the eyes of others.
She could have endured all of that. But now that they had reached this point, the one thing Xie Yuheng had no right to do was refuse to let her go.
It made her find him despicable and shameless.
Ji Hanyi set down her brush and told Rongchun to fetch her outer robe.
Rongchun also knew there was no time to waste and hurried away.
By the time Ji Hanyi finished dressing and stepped outside, she found Gu Yan waiting at the gate to her courtyard.
Gu Yan stood tall and straight in the darkness. There was no telling how long he had been waiting outside.
When he saw Ji Hanyi emerge, he took in the cloak gathered around her and the single silver hairpin adorning her otherwise simply arranged hair. Her pink robes looked both understated and striking in the night. Beneath the lantern light, the subtle silver fretwork patterns shimmered like rippling water. A delicate fragrance drifted around her, drawing the eye without a sound.
At the sight of Ji Hanyi, Gu Yan hurriedly stepped forward and blocked her path. “Cousin Yi, you don’t need to go. I’m here.”
Hearing this, Ji Hanyi raised her eyes to him. Gu Yan had lowered his head to look at her, yet his dark eyes seemed to avoid meeting her gaze. She said softly, “I’m afraid the Xie Family is making such a scene at the gate that they’ve disturbed Grandmother and my aunts.”
“I failed to handle this matter properly. I’ll go out and make everything clear to them now so they won’t continue disturbing everyone’s peace tonight.”
Gu Yan pressed his lips together and looked at Ji Hanyi with a trace of urgency. “I don’t feel disturbed.”
His hand clenched tightly. He stared down at the woman before him, his racing heart choking off his words even as he desperately wished he could explain every thought in his mind.
He had waited here because he did not want Ji Hanyi to go out and see that man again.
That man was not worthy of her at all.
Or perhaps what Gu Yan feared even more was that if Ji Hanyi saw Xie Yuheng humble himself and apologize, her heart might soften.
She might still hold the faintest shred of hope for Xie Yuheng.
Just then, another servant rushed over from behind them. The moment he saw Gu Yan, he hurriedly reported, “Second Master, First Madam is urgently looking for you.”
“The people from the Xie Family claim we’ve hidden someone away. They say that if we refuse to let them see the young cousin, they’ll report us to the Shuntian Prefectural Office. They also said that officers from the Patrol Inspection Office will be here shortly, and then everyone can go to the authorities and settle the matter there.”
Gu Yan froze. He had not expected the Xie Family to be so shameless.
Without the Divorce Agreement in hand, Ji Hanyi was indeed still the Xie Family’s daughter-in-law, and the Xie Family was far more powerful than the Gu Family.
The Xie Family’s Second Master was the Assistant Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. If this matter truly went before the Shuntian Prefectural Office, the Gu Family would have no chance of winning, and Ji Hanyi would undoubtedly be forced to return with the Xie Family.
Gu Yan clenched his fist. He told the messenger to go on ahead, then turned to Ji Hanyi. “Cousin Yi, you needn’t concern yourself with any of this. I won’t let them take you back to the Xie Family.”
By now, Ji Hanyi understood that matters had reached the point where they had to be resolved.
If they were truly going to court, it could not be at the Shuntian Prefectural Office.
Ji Hanyi said quietly to Gu Yan, “Don’t worry, Cousin Yan. I know what I’m doing. If this truly goes before the Shuntian Prefectural Office, it won’t end well for the Gu Family. But trying to stop them by force isn’t the answer either.”
“Let’s go see what the situation is first, then decide what to do.”
Gu Yan paused and looked at Ji Hanyi. She understood everything.
At that moment, a wave of humiliating shame rose in his heart. He wanted to protect her, but he simply did not have the power to do so.
After Ji Hanyi finished speaking, she walked past him.
Gu Yan watched her retreating figure for a moment before following behind her.
When they reached the front entrance, they saw a grim-faced First Madam Gu hurrying that way as well, muttering irritably, “Trouble again, this late at night! There hasn’t been a moment’s peace since she came to stay here. Now even the Old Madam has been disturbed.”
“The Xie Family is willing to take her back, and theirs is as prestigious a household as anyone could ask for, yet she refuses to go. She insists on making an endless fuss and has even dragged the Gu Family into it.”
“Everyone in the Xie Family holds a position at court. If Young Master Yan gets implicated in this, what are we supposed to do? Now they’re even threatening to report the matter to the Shuntian Prefectural Office. She truly is a jinx!”
First Madam Gu’s voice was neither loud nor soft, but it carried with particular clarity through the deathly still night.
Ji Hanyi stopped in her tracks.
Madam Zhang was so busy rushing forward that she did not notice Ji Hanyi coming up behind her. Still muttering, she hurriedly ordered someone to open the gates.
When Gu Yan heard his mother’s words, he quickly looked at Ji Hanyi. Stepping from behind her to her side, he explained, “My mother was only speaking thoughtlessly. Cousin, please don’t take her words to heart.”
Ji Hanyi looked up at the trace of anxiety on Gu Yan’s face and smiled. “Don’t worry, Cousin Yan. It is true that I’ve caused trouble. I don’t blame Aunt for saying those things.”
Gu Yan’s heart tightened. He was about to speak again when Ji Hanyi continued, “I’ll go out first. They’re here for me, so I’ll make things clear to them.”
As soon as Ji Hanyi stepped outside, she saw her eldest aunt standing before Madam Lin. A large group of maidservants and attendants stood behind Madam Lin, each holding a lantern and illuminating the entire area around them.
Madam Lin was dressed in lavish finery. Her back was ramrod straight, and her hands were tucked into her sleeves, every inch the mistress of a great clan. With her chin slightly raised and her eyes lowered, she regarded the First Madam of the Gu Family with contemptuous arrogance.
Madam Lin’s voice rang out forcefully, tinged with haughtiness. “It isn’t as though the Xie Family is unreasonable. But since you refuse to let my daughter-in-law come out, we have no choice but to summon officials from the Shuntian Prefectural Office. Then we can all go before the authorities and have them pass judgment.”
“What family’s daughter-in-law abandons her husband’s household and runs away? What wife doesn’t remain by her husband’s side to tend him when he’s injured?”
She arched a brow and gave a cold snort. “We never should have taken pity on her in the first place. Now she has left my son in this state, yet she refuses to see him and shuts him out in the middle of the night! I would certainly like someone to judge what sort of rules these are!”
Madam Lin’s voice was powerful and imposing. Although Madam Zhang was also in charge of the Gu Family’s household, the difference in their families’ status was simply too great, leaving her at a natural disadvantage.
Seeing Madam Lin’s arrogant expression and how certain she was that the right was on her side, Madam Zhang’s confidence dwindled further. She unconsciously took the weaker position and said carefully, “Hanyi was indeed in the wrong here, but the two of them are currently discussing a divorce, so it is understandable that she came home. Why don’t we go inside and talk everything through? This is all just a misunderstanding. There’s no need to take it before the authorities.”
Madam Lin’s gaze turned icy at those words, and she gave a cold snort. “My son brought so many gifts earlier to pay his respects to Old Madam Gu and visit his mother-in-law. How did the Gu Family treat him?”
“In weather this bitterly cold, you wouldn’t even let him through the gates. If anything happens to Yuheng, can you bear the consequences?”
“And now you want us to come in and talk things through? First Madam Gu, I’m afraid it’s too late for that. We can settle this before the authorities. In any case, it isn’t my reputation at stake. I would like to see who would dare take such a daughter-in-law in the future!”
“She actually shut her own husband out. The Xie Family would not dare keep such a daughter-in-law either.”
Standing beside Madam Lin, Xie Yuheng frowned at his mother’s words and said quietly, “Mother, I only want to see Hanyi and explain everything to her. Don’t say such things.”
Madam Lin turned to Xie Yuheng with an exasperated look. “If I hadn’t said those things, would she have agreed to see you? If I hadn’t said them, would the Gu Family’s gates be open now? If I hadn’t said them, would you be able to take her away tonight?”
“The Gu Family is nothing more than a clan in decline. What do they amount to in the eyes of the Xie Family? You are the Eldest Grandson of the Xie Family. The Xie Family will be placed in your hands one day, yet you allow a ruined household like this to act so arrogantly toward you?”