Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 69
Chapter 69 - Xie Jingyu is Unworthy
Yunchu waited in the side parlor for a brief moment.
Seeing a figure slowly approaching, she stood up and offered a formal greeting: "Your Lordship."
Her peripheral vision swept backward for a glance, but she did not see Xie Jingyu.
"Is Madam Xie waiting for Lord Xie?" Qin Mingheng sat down in a chair. "Then I must offer my apologies, for Lord Xie actually left quite some time ago."
Yunchu furrowed her brow.
Since Xie Jingyu had departed long ago, why had the Marquis's servant gone out of his way to lead her to this place?
She turned her head, only to discover that the maidservants and old attendants who had been waiting at the entrance of the side parlor moments ago had now all withdrawn.
Qin Mingheng looked toward Tingshuang, who stood behind her: "You, step outside first."
Tingshuang stood her ground without moving.
Yunchu spoke in a cool tone: "For a lone man and a married woman to be cooped up in a single room violates ritual law. This is my trusted personal maid; Your Lordship may speak freely of whatever is on your mind."
Qin Mingheng raised his eyes to look at her: "Xie Jingyu abandons Madam Xie alone in the Marquis's Mansion, yet Madam Xie continues to preserve her chastity for such a husband—does that not strike you as utterly laughable?"
"For Your Lordship to meet alone with a married woman strikes this subject's wife as equally absurd," Yunchu lifted her gaze. "The outside world claims the Marquis of Wu is utterly devoted and steadfast toward the Marchioness. Is that truly the case in reality?"
A man who deeply loved his wife would never lure a married woman to such a place under false pretenses.
Even if a matter of monumental importance had arisen, he should have dispatched a maidservant or attendant to relay the message, or sought out an appropriate public setting to hold a conversation.
Had Lady Luo happened to witness the two of them here, the Marquis of Wu might well have managed to extricate himself unscathed, whereas her own reputation as Yunchu would have been utterly ruined.
At this thought, Yunchu turned around and began to walk away.
The reason she maintained a respectful attitude toward the Marquis of Wu was merely because she was the dependent relative of a fifth-rank official.
The reason she possessed the backbone to turn around and walk away right then was because she was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Yun family.
In the past, she had always been reluctant to lean upon the power of the Yun family; looking back now, she was a true member of the Yun clan by birth. With such a formidable backing left unused, on what grounds should she suffer unmerited grievances?
The moment she took a single step forward, Qin Mingheng's irritated voice rang out from behind her: "Halt."
Yunchu's pace paused for a fraction of a second, but she continued walking outward.
"Madam Xie, when you recently reinterred your prematurely deceased child, are you truly so certain that those two sets of remains belonged to your own children?"
Yunchu bit her lips tight.
The man behind her had managed to pinpoint her absolute soft spot with terrifying precision.
She could be certain that the Marquis of Wu must have had his eyes on her for a long time—just what on earth was he plotting?
Drawing a deep breath, she wheeled around, raised her eyes, and demanded coldly, "What on earth is Your Lordship trying to say? Speak plainly."
"The status of Madam Xie is truly unworthy of you. How can someone as brilliant as you fail to ponder why Xie Jingyu left you behind alone?" Qin Mingheng stepped closer to her. "If he had no fear of leaving you alone in the Marquis's Mansion to cuckold him, why are you afraid of sharing a room with me?"
Yunchu retreated a step, dodging out of the range of his approach.
She felt that this man was rambling incoherently without a single word touching upon the crucial point, yet every single syllable struck directly against her heart and mind.
She felt as though she had understood his implication, but upon deeper reflection, nothing remained clear.
"Yunchu."
Qin Mingheng addressed her directly by her given name.
Yunchu's brows knitted tightly together. A surge of revulsion rose within her, and she retreated once more.
Clearly, she ought to have departed immediately, yet her feet refused to carry her away. She harbored a persistent intuition that the Marquis of Wu seemed to be privy to certain matters concerning her—some exceedingly vital secrets.
"Divorce him. Xie Jingyu is utterly unworthy of you." One of Qin Mingheng's hands braced against the doorframe behind Yunchu, while the other planted flat against the wall, trapping her within a tiny enclosed space.
Tingshuang was so frightened she lost her voice, scrambling forward in a desperate attempt to shield Yunchu from behind.
With a shove of his hand, Qin Mingheng pushed Tingshuang directly out of the way.
He lowered his upper body, leaning close to Yunchu's ear: "If you divorce, I will likewise divorce immediately. I can marry you..."
"Slap!"
A crisp, resounding blow landed squarely across Qin Mingheng's face.
This was only the second time in her life that Yunchu had struck someone.
Even she herself had never imagined that she would actually dare to slap the Marquis of Wu across the face.
"Marquis of Wu, please conduct yourself with dignity!" Yunchu forced aside the arm he was using to brace the doorframe and strode across the threshold. Turning her body sideways, her gaze flashed with an icy glare. "You truly ought to get a divorce, for you are utterly unworthy of your wife."
With those words, she turned and strode away. Tingshuang hurried forward to support her, and mistress and servant alike ignored Qin Mingheng's ashen countenance, walking directly out of the Marquis's Mansion.
The carriage in which they had arrived earlier was conspicuously absent.
Yunchu's face turned icy cold to the extreme.
Instead of returning to the Xie estate, she headed straight for the ice shop that was soon to open for business.
Chen Defu had purchased a massive courtyard, utilizing the front portion as a storefront and the rear as a warehouse. Run by a distant nephew of Chen Defu as the manager, it was officially named the Chen Family Ice Shop.
Its grand opening was scheduled for mid-May. Because only wealthy households could afford blocks of ice, the pricing was set relatively high—two silver liang per jin—and as soon as the scorching heat of peak summer arrived in July, these prices would experience another upward surge.
She offered Chen Defu a few of her own suggestions, fine-tuning the pricing trajectory, before finally taking her leave of the ice shop.
At this point, the hour was still quite early, and having consumed virtually no lunch at all, Yunchu sought out a tavern where she and her maid Tingshuang enjoyed a hearty, satisfying meal together.
After finishing their meal, they lingered over a slow cup of tea until twilight gradually settled over the city.
Yunchu felt no particular urgency to return, so she took Tingshuang along to wander through the bustling capital night market.
As the lanterns flickered to life, numerous minor vendors pushed their carts out onto the streets to sell various trinkets and playthings. Ever since her marriage, Yunchu had never once come out to stroll through the night markets.
Catching sight of a kite vendor, she thought to herself that Yuge'er would surely love flying kites, and hoped there might be an opportunity to fly them together in the future.
Spotting a sugar-figurine vendor, she thought that Changsheng would definitely enjoy eating the sweets, as she always loved the sight of Changsheng's sweet smiles.
Seeing a clay-figurine vendor, she mused that if the two children were here as well, she would definitely have to craft three clay figurines that looked identical to them...
Before she knew it, Yunchu had purchased a massive pile of items.
By the time the sky had turned pitch black, Yunchu and Tingshuang boarded the carriage arranged by Chen Defu and returned to the Xie residence.
No sooner had she stepped foot inside the gates of Sheng Residence than Xie Jingyu arrived right on her heels.
Seated at her table, Yunchu cast a frigid, detached gaze upon him: "Why didn't Husband wait for me so we could return together?"
Xie Jingyu inspected her from the crown of her hair down to the soles of her feet; she looked identical to the way she had when she departed that morning, yet something about her seemed subtly different.
His probing gaze caused Yunchu's heart to grow cold, bit by bitter bit.
So this was the kind of man he was—for the sake of the Xie family, he could actually hand over a living, breathing wife of his own accord to another man on a silver platter.
Had she not caught onto the anomaly ahead of time and avoided swallowing that cup of tea, she shuddered to imagine what horrors might have transpired.
It turned out that Xie Jingyu had already begun scheming against her from this very period.
Back when the Yun family was still at the height of its power and prosperity, he had actually dared to harbor such vicious, crooked designs against her—where on earth had he found the sheer audacity?
"How is it that Madam has returned at such a late hour..."
Xie Jingyu asked in a slow, measured voice.
He was desperate to ascertain whether that incident had actually taken place or not.
What he wished to know even more was whether she was aware that he had orchestrated such a vile plot.
"Why did I return so late? Why doesn't Husband ask yourself?" Yunchu stared him down. "The carriage brought you back to the estate yet failed to return to the Marquis's Mansion to pick me up. I had to walk all the way back on foot, which naturally consumed a fair amount of time."
Noticing only a very slight emotional fluctuation in her demeanor, Xie Jingyu surmised that she must have been rendered unconscious by the drug just as she had been on their wedding night years ago, remaining entirely oblivious to what had transpired.
Therefore, she remained completely ignorant of his baseness.
He heaved a sigh of relief, offering an expression overflowing with apology: "It was my fault; I should not have allowed official business to cause me to neglect Madam."
"There is no need for the two of us as husband and wife to exchange such pleasantries." Acting as though she cared not a whit about the matter, Yunchu inquired with a hint of worry, "Did the Marquis of Wu accept the Xie family's penance?"
Xie Jingyu nodded: "The Marquis stated he will no longer pursue this matter."
He had abandoned his son and offered up his wife; if Qin Mingheng still refused to let the matter rest and continued pressing the issue, it would simply be pushing bullying far beyond all acceptable limits.
Yunchu let out a faint, mocking laugh.
The Marquis of Wu had taken a slap across the face from her; there was simply no way that fellow would let this matter rest so easily.