“Host, the male lead Xiao Zhen is right nearby.”
The system suddenly appeared to remind Xie Yushu.
Xie Yushu’s hand paused on the fan.
Nearby?
Is Xiao Zhen spying on her again?
Does the male lead have some sneaky little habit?
And at this timing, of all times.
She didn’t have time to fish for Xiao Zhen right now.
Looking at the Lady Marquis Yong’an, Meng Min, who was practically fuming from all seven orifices, Xie Yushu sincerely tried to persuade her: “There’s really no need for you to lecture me. Wasn’t it my father who, from the very beginning, thought I looked like Jia Ning’s elder sister and brought me back to the manor to serve Old Madam?”
“Back then, it was you all who made me wear Jia Ning’s clothes, imitate Jia Ning’s appearance to comfort Old Madam’s illness. Now that Old Madam has passed away, you all cast me aside like a worn-out shoe, marrying me off to just anyone, not caring if I live or die, and you won’t even let me use my own face. Don’t you think that’s heartless?”
Meng Min, being the legitimate daughter of a prince’s residence, could hardly argue back.
She could only stand up in a rage and say, “What do you mean just marrying you off randomly? Is the Pei Family not good enough for a daughter born out of wedlock like you?”
“Nowhere is good enough.”
Xie Yushu replied unhurriedly, “Mother, don’t forget, to use me, you already had me registered under your name. Now I’m also Yong’an Marquis’s Daughter—how could a mere top scholar from the Pei Family be worthy of our Yong’an Marquis Manor?”
What a face, clinging to the powerful!
Meng Min wondered why she’d never realized Xie Yushu could be so sharp-tongued and unashamed about her ambitions!
“Don’t call me mother! I have only one daughter, Jia Ning!”
Meng Min was so angry she couldn’t catch her breath, pressing her hand to her chest, her head spinning.
Xie Yushu reached out to steady her, but Meng Min brushed her off forcefully.
Watching Meng Min slump onto the stone bench, her eyes rimmed red at the mention of Jia Ning, Xie Yushu couldn’t help but sigh softly.
She was a pitiful mother too, after all.
“I am not your enemy.”
Xie Yushu stood up and poured a cup of tea, “I understand that seeing me reminds you of losing Jia Ning’s elder sister, but I wasn’t the one who harmed her, and I never bore you any ill will.”
She pushed the tea toward Meng Min, “When you were gravely ill and I cared for you, I truly wished for your recovery.”
“Would you really be that kind?”
Meng Min looked up at her, meeting those eyes so much like Jia Ning’s—she felt both angry and sorrowful.
She had only one daughter, raised lovingly in her palm, and yet she disappeared without warning…
Jia Ning had only been missing for half a year, and her husband used Old Madam’s illness to pressure her, forcing her to agree to bring this illegitimate daughter back, to replace Jia Ning.
How could she not hate it?
How could she not resent it?
“You’re just waiting for me to die, so your mother can marry in, aren’t you?”
Meng Min brushed away the tea.
Tea splashed onto Xie Yushu’s sleeve.
She wasn’t angry, just sat down and poured another cup for Meng Min.
“Even if you died, it wouldn’t be my mother who’d marry into Yong’an Marquis Manor.”
Meng Min hadn’t expected her to say such a thing.
She’d thought Xie Yushu and her mother schemed day and night to enter as concubines.
But Xie Yushu just gave a mocking little smile and said quietly, “Do you think the dignified Marquis Yong’an has only my mother as a mistress?”
Meng Min was stunned, her eyes widening, “You—what do you mean?”
“I said, neither my mother nor I are your enemies.”
Xie Yushu’s voice was soft, “Your true enemy is your husband. No matter how much you guard against the women in the manor, if he wants to fool around, where can’t he find a woman?”
“You’re talking nonsense!”
Meng Min’s face turned pale, frowning in disbelief, “You must be mad, to dare slander even your own father…”
Xie Yushu smiled, refusing to argue, “If he were a faithful man, would I even exist?”
Meng Min’s throat was suddenly blocked.
“Father has always wanted a son to inherit his title, you know that.”
Xie Yushu recalled that in the original story, Meng Min’s health was always poor, and after giving birth to Xie Jianing, it only worsened.
But because Yong’an Marquis Xie Zhi’an wanted a son, Meng Min drank fertility medicines trying to conceive again, but never managed to get pregnant.
“What you really need to guard against is the day Father brings home a son and forces you to acknowledge him.”
Xie Yushu’s voice was low as she gently stroked Meng Min’s back, “Mother, I’ve always believed Jia Ning’s elder sister will be found, she’ll definitely return safely. All the family property of Yong’an Marquis Manor should belong to Jia Ning’s elder sister.”
Meng Min looked up at her in a daze, unable to believe she’d say such things.
Whether she meant them or not, Meng Min was shocked.
—All the family property should belong to Jia Ning.
Even Meng Min herself had never thought this.
Jia Ning was a daughter and would marry out eventually; how could the marquisate ever go to her?
But…if Xie Zhi’an really brought back an illegitimate son and wanted to hand over the title and estate to him, how could she ever accept that?
Take a concubine?
See.
Back then, she, a dignified county princess, married the illegitimate son Xie Zhi’an only because of his genuine devotion, his bold vow in front of his parents that he’d never take a concubine.
That’s why she’d given her heart, fought for his succession as Yong’an Marquis—she’d die before accepting him having an illegitimate son!
“He wouldn’t dare.”
Meng Min said, though all these years, aside from that one drunken night with Xie Yushu’s mother, her husband had always behaved himself…
“Have you ever tried the dried fruit from Madam Liu’s shop on Yuye Street?”
Xie Yushu suddenly asked, out of nowhere.
Meng Min looked at her, puzzled.
Xie Yushu was about to say something else when suddenly, from not far away, came a muffled groan and the sound of a branch snapping.
A few steps away, one of the attending mamas cried out in fright, “Oh my! Someone just fell from the tree!”
“Who’s there!”
Meng Min jumped too, hurrying to question the mama, but was hit by a wave of dizziness.
Xie Yushu’s hand steadily supported her, speaking in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid, Mother. Let the mamas help you rest in the side hall. I’ll go check.”
She didn’t know why, but those words—
“Don’t be afraid, Mother”—struck a chord deep in Meng Min’s heart, as if in her dizziness she’d heard Jia Ning’s voice, making her instinctively reach out to grab Xie Yushu and tell her to be careful.
Xiao Dao.
But as soon as she opened her mouth, Meng Min came to her senses again.
That was Xie Yushu, not her Ningning.
“Host, congratulations, you’ve gained 1 point of Heartthrob Value.”
The system suddenly chimed in, “From Lady Marquis Yong’an, Meng Min.”
So Meng Min could also grant Heartthrob Value.
When she’d gotten Heartthrob Value from the second female lead, Zhang Youwei, she’d wondered if Meng Min would work too.
And now, Lady Marquis Yong’an, Meng Min, had come to her herself, and a few words had actually earned her a point.
Unfortunately, she had no time to worry about Meng Min now, because under the chaotic tree, she seemed to have spotted a familiar face…
Xie Yushu immediately walked out of the pavilion, and before she even reached the big tree, she was sure she hadn’t seen wrong—among those who’d fallen from the tree was
Xiao Dao, what guts!
He’d actually sneaked into the Duke of England’s Residence!
Fortunately, Meng Min had brought her to this remote west garden just to scold her, so the only people alarmed were Meng Min’s personal mamas and maids.
“Silence.”
Xie Yushu stepped forward and barked at the mamas, her face cold, “What are you screaming for? Do you want to alert everyone in the Duke of England’s Residence? If word of today’s conversation between me and my mother gets out, none of you will escape!”
She gave them no time to react, ordering directly: “Mother is overheated. Help her back to the side hall to rest. I’ll handle things here.”
She swept her gaze over them, her voice icy, “Keep your mouths shut.”
The mamas instinctively looked to their mistress, Meng Min.
Meng Min, leaning on her closest maid, nodded to them, signaling them to listen to Xie Yushu.
Only then did they all answer in unison and quickly help Meng Min back to the side hall along the path.
Once everyone’s figures disappeared from the west garden, Xie Yushu finally let out a breath and walked over to Xiao Dao.
Before she could ask, Xiao Dao spoke first: “This man was eavesdropping on your conversation.”
In the dense shade beneath the trees, Xiao Dao had pinned a tall, slender man in luxurious robes face-down on the grass, one arm twisted behind his back.
Xie Yushu stopped two steps away, completely stunned.
Though she couldn’t see the man’s face, his fine clothes and the jade crown and hairpin in his hair were not those of a commoner.
And just now, the system had told her that the male lead, Xiao Zhen, was nearby, spying on her.
So this must be Xiao Zhen.
She had 11 points of Heartthrob Value, and she’d actually run into the male lead like this…
Her feelings were complicated. If this really was Xiao Zhen, wouldn’t Xiao Dao be doomed for offending the Fourth Prince?
As Xiao Dao’s mistress, what good could she expect?
She couldn’t even explain how Xiao Dao had trespassed into the Duke of England’s Residence!
But then she realized—wasn’t it even more disgraceful for the Fourth Prince to be caught eavesdropping from a tree?
She couldn’t explain Xiao Dao’s trespass, but surely the Fourth Prince would be even more desperate to keep people from knowing he, a dignified imperial prince, had been caught spying?
Otherwise, when Xiao Dao caught him, he should have shouted his identity and ordered Xiao Dao to let go.
Looking down at the man in luxurious robes, his head bowed, Xie Yushu was suddenly no longer afraid.
He didn’t even dare lift his face—he must be more panicked than she was, right?
In that case, she might as well pretend not to know who he was.
“Who dares to spy on the ladies in the Duke of England’s Residence?”
Xie Yushu asked coldly.
The man in fine robes kept his head down, kneeling on one knee in the grass.
“I was just passing by and didn’t know there were ladies here. But you, madam, how dare you have your people trespass into the Duke of England’s Residence?”
His voice was gentle.
“If you have your man release me, I’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”
Still trying to take the initiative at a time like this—just like the male lead in the original, who could play the fool and manipulate Song Rou to eliminate the emperor and seize the throne.
In the original story, the supporting female Xie Yushu had truly fallen for Xiao Zhen, thinking he was the only man in the world who treated her sincerely.
But after he’d used her, he’d shown no mercy, saying: “How could you naively believe someone like me would ever look at someone as low as you?”
Such a wicked man, and now he’d fallen into her hands.
If she let him off easily, wouldn’t that be letting down her 11 Heartthrob Value points?
A wicked idea grew bold in Xie Yushu’s heart.
“Passing by? I say you’re a thief sneaking into the Duke of England’s Residence.”
She bent down and pulled the jade hairpin from his bun.
With the jade crown gone, his long black hair tumbled to the ground like satin.
He gasped in shock, instinctively wanting to look up.
But Xie Yushu stepped forward and pinned his flowing hair under her foot.
The pain forced him to lower his head again, staring at her embroidered shoe tips, his brows furrowing—was she humiliating him?
“This hairpin is stolen too, isn’t it?”
Xie Yushu toyed with the jade hairpin in her hand, looking down at the man kneeling at her feet.
“I’d say those fine robes are stolen as well.”
What did she mean by that?
Before he could react, she said lightly, “Xiao Dao, strip him of his stolen robes.”
How dare she!
Xiao Zhen was so shocked he thought he’d misheard.
Even if he really were a thief, no woman would dare strip a man like this.
Yet the person holding him answered, “Yes.”
He actually grabbed his collar and started pulling off his outer robe.
Xiao Zhen immediately struggled, “Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t care who you are.”
Xie Yushu replied without thinking, “If you dare sneak into the Duke of England’s Residence to steal, stripping your clothes is already letting you off easy. Do it, Xiao Dao.”
“Xie Yushu!”
Xiao Zhen shouted her name in fury, trying to shake off her foot, but Xiao Dao’s strength was overwhelming.
His inner and outer robes were yanked down to his waist in one go, as if he’d been skinned.
The hot wind blew across his bare skin, and he could clearly feel his chest pressed naked against the grass.
Shame and rage flushed his entire face bright red, but then he heard Xie Yushu laugh and say, “Not bad, such tender flesh.”
How could a woman say such things?
Was this really the submissive Xie Yushu?
He was so shocked his mind went blank, his whole body burning.
He shook off Xie Yushu’s foot and reached to grab his clothes.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded from afar.
Someone was coming.