Chapter 5
On the day my son set out in high spirits, I found Yuying waiting anxiously at the West Market outside our residence.
When she saw the carriage approaching, she quickly straightened her clothes and pretended to examine the goods on a stall.
The carriage stopped. I lifted the curtain, and the delight on her face instantly became fright.
“A-Aunt…” Yuying forced a smile that looked worse than tears.
“Get in,” I said calmly.
She climbed aboard, trembling. Yun Xiu, already seated inside, gave her a sly smile. “Why do you look so dreadful, Cousin? Are you unwell, or do you simply not want to see us?”
With that sharp tongue, she really was beginning to resemble a villainous supporting character.
I tugged her sleeve. She closed her mouth, though the amusement in her eyes only deepened.
Yuying once again looked ready to cry, as though we had wronged her yet again.
The carriage traveled farther and farther. When no one paid her any attention, her injured look gradually became fear.
“Aunt, where are we going?”
“To stay at the estate outside the city for a while,” I said evenly.
She grew more frightened. “Is Cousin Yun Jing going too?”
I looked at her coldly. “That is not your concern.”
“Aunt, I feel unwell. I don’t want to go to the estate. I want to go back.”
“There is a doctor there. He can examine you when we arrive.”
Tears suddenly streamed down Yuying’s face. “I don’t want to go to the estate! I want to go back!”
My expression grew colder. “Since you cannot behave in my dowry house, you will live on the estate with your nurse from now on. There is a large market nearby, and the scenery is pleasant. Apart from being unable to happen upon Yun Jing, you will have everything you had here and more.”
Her face filled with resentment. “Why can’t you let Cousin and me be together?”
I sneered. “I never restricted Jing’s freedom before he left. He didn’t mention you once. What togetherness am I supposed to permit? Must I grant every foolish wish you have?”
“You refuse to raise me, and you refuse to let us be together. You see me trapped in the mud and only push me farther down. Why rescue me in the first place? How can you face my mother?”
I laughed coldly. “Of everyone in my life, your mother is the person I have least cause to feel guilty toward!”
“I protected her from childhood and shared every good thing with her. I even begged my mother to arrange a fine marriage for her—to my cousin, who came from a distinguished family and had passed the provincial examination. Yet your shameless mother tried to seduce my fiancé! It seems you and she are very much alike!”
“I rescued you from the Bureau, saved your life, and made sure you lacked neither food nor clothes. Yet you remain greedy, try to entice my son, and resent me. Since you don’t want to go to the estate, we need have nothing more to do with each other.”
“Your registration at the Bureau is still in place. You can go back there.”
Yuying’s resentment turned to terror. The red characters above her head dimmed a little too.
She knocked her forehead down again and again. “Aunt, I’ll go to the estate! I don’t want to go back to the Bureau!”
Disgusted, I ordered her out of the carriage. “If you live quietly on the estate, I will provide for you. If you refuse, leave as you please. We will pretend I never rescued you. Our affection ends today. If we meet again, do not call me Aunt.”
I sent the dazed Yuying out. Her nurse was already waiting in the carriage behind ours with all the belongings I had bought her over the past days.
The wheels rumbled out of the capital toward the estate beneath Cuiyun Mountain.
The marquis’s household had two estates granted by the crown. The one I had chosen was more remote, with no other crown estates nearby. That would save her from happening upon another person of rank and dreaming of attaching herself to the powerful again.
Steward Li and his wife were my trusted people. I had told them to provide Cui Yuying with food and clothing and not restrict her movements within the estate. If she began scheming again, they were to turn her out at once!
Loud sobbing came from the carriage behind us.
I thought I heard her cry, “Aunt, I won’t dare do it again! Please let me go back!”
After our paths divided, her cries gradually faded from hearing.
Whether she regretted it or not, it was too late. Once someone proved untrustworthy, I would never use her again.
If she admitted her mistake, was I obliged to forgive her?
A sensible person does not stand beneath a crumbling wall. I had to keep her away from both my children!
I had saved her life and paid for her food and clothing. Did I also have to endure her moods and schemes?
I was the one footing the bill. If I still had to put up with this, all my years of experience would have counted for nothing!
If she insisted on bringing trouble to my door, she could get as far away from me as possible!