But he couldn’t tolerate Pei Shilin’s insolence.
How could Xie Yushu forgive such a coward and want to live peacefully with him?
Pei Shilin had nothing—no wealth, no power, not even a shred of manly pride.
How could he accept losing to such a weakling?
Raindrops soaked his shoes; the cold wind made him want to cough.
His fingers fiddled with the belt in his palm as he smirked at Pei Shilin.
“Is that so? If she swore she’d never see me again, what about you?”
Pei Shilin froze.
Song Jie laughed coldly and waved his fingers.
Two black-clad guards grabbed Pei Shilin’s arms and forced him to kneel.
Pei Shilin’s arms, just recovered from a previous injury, seemed to be twisted again.
He knelt down, screaming in pain.
“Let go! Let go!”
Li Huixian panicked, falling to her knees and begging Song Jie.
“Prime Minister, please spare Shilin! He’s the Emperor’s chosen Tan Hua, about to enter the Hanlin Academy. If you seriously injure him, everyone in court will know! Your affair with Xie Yushu will no longer be hidden!”
“Indeed.” Song Jie looked at her like a grasshopper and smiled, “Then everyone will know that Pei Shilin of the Yongyi Marquis’s household bribed me with his wife to save his murderous brother. I’ll lose face. I wonder if he’ll even be able to enter the Hanlin Academy?”
Li Huixian’s face turned pale; her lips trembled as she fell silent.
“No need to plead for him!”
Pei Shilin gritted his teeth and shouted through the pain, “I seriously underestimated the Prime Minister’s obsession with a fake. If you don’t kill me tonight, we’ll see each other at the Imperial Court tomorrow! I’d rather risk my life than endure this humiliation!”
“Good.”
Song Jie leaned back in his chair, smiling coldly.
“Cang Shu, bring Xie Yushu out here. I want to ask her face to face whether what she told Pei Shilin is true—whether she’d rather die than see me again.”
Before Cang Shu could respond, Pei Shilin roared, “She’s at Yong’an Marquis Manor now. If you have the guts, go get her there!”
Li Huixian hurriedly silenced him, crying and begging, “Prime Minister, Xie Yushu really did go to Yong’an Marquis Manor and hasn’t returned! It’s not that we refuse to hand her over. If she were here, we’d let her see you…”
“Mother!”
Pei Shilin snapped at Li Huixian through clenched teeth, “Isn’t the humiliation I’ve suffered for you and Shilin enough?”
Song Jie was bored with their mother and son bickering and ordered again, “Cang Shu, go inside and find her.”
Unexpectedly, before he finished, they heard Xie Yushu’s voice.
“Heavens! What’s going on? Why are Mother-in-law and Husband both kneeling on the ground?”
Only Xie Yushu could speak in such a sarcastic tone!
Song Jie looked over to see Xie Yushu in a coral red dress, supported by her little maid, accompanied by a limping nanny and a lame servant, stepping out from behind the gate, her surprised expression utterly fake.
Far inferior to when she played Jia Ning.
He couldn’t help but laugh.
She rarely wore such bright colors, but on this rainy night, it suited her especially well—especially when she pretended to glare at him with a fake scowl, while her eyes betrayed the delight underneath.
“What’s your meaning, Prime Minister?” she demanded.
Didn’t she know?
He’d been very clear when he took his deposit of ten thousand taels last night.
Song Jie didn’t want to expose her, so he smiled and played along.
“So Madam Pei is here after all. It seems your husband is full of lies. Then I want to ask you—did you really swear you’d never see me again, even if it meant death?”
Xie Yushu glanced at Pei Shilin on the ground, who looked like a desperate dog eagerly awaiting her answer.
Then she looked at Song Jie, like a mad dog ready to attack if displeased.
Of course, she had to add fuel to the fire.
Under the paper umbrella, she gave a bitter smile, as if forced, and answered, “Yes, I did swear to my husband that I will never see you again, and that if I break that oath, I shall die an ill fate.”
Her eyes flickered with sorrow as she looked at Song Jie.
“I was already a married woman—I should never have secretly met with you from the start.”
Beneath the umbrella, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Song Jie stared into her eyes, feeling the light amusement of a bystander vanish, replaced by a heavy, icy weight.
Was Pei Shilin forcing her to swear such a cruel oath?
What reconciliation?
It was merely Pei Shilin exercising his husband’s rights to force her.
Married and under her husband’s control, no matter how clever she was, she was still forced to serve at the Prime Minister’s residence.
Now that Pei Shilin no longer needed her, of course he had the right to demand she uphold the duties of a faithful wife and swear such a cruel vow—after all, she was his legitimate wife.
The system’s voice sounded again.
“Congratulations, host. You have gained 1 Green Hat Value point.”
Xie Yushu was afraid she’d laugh out loud.
Yes, it was just increasing like that.
“Die an ill fate?”
Song Jie repeated those words, his gaze never leaving her.
Pei Shilin was not only a coward but vicious like a rabid dog.
“I didn’t expect Madam Pei to really believe in the oath.”
He slowly stood, coughing as the cold wind blew.
Lowering his face to cover his mouth, he asked, “What if your husband forces you to break the oath?”
Before Pei Shilin could react, Song Jie’s men dragged him to his feet and forced him to the ground at Song Jie’s feet.
Pei Shilin painfully raised his eyes to meet Song Jie’s venomous gaze.
Song Jie’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Pei Shilin, if your wife doesn’t come with me tonight, my men will kill you.”
“You dare!”
Pei Shilin shouted but was kicked to the ground by a guard.
“Shilin!”
Li Huixian screamed in terror.
Two guards beat Pei Shilin in the rain until he vomited blood.
“Stop! Stop! If you keep hitting him, he’ll die! He’s the descendant of the Yongyi Marquis and a future Hanlin Academy candidate!”
She rushed to plead with Song Jie but was stopped by Cang Shu.
Song Jie showed disgust and covered his mouth, coughing lightly.
“If the Yongyi Marquis were alive, he’d be ashamed of his worthless grandson. Except for Pei Heng, no one in the Pei family has any talent.”
Pei Shilin lay soaked and screaming.
Li Huixian had no other choice and knelt before Xie Yushu, begging, “Yushu, please save Shilin. It was my fault—we pressured him to send you to the Prime Minister’s residence. If you blame anyone, blame me. Shilin likes you!”
She was crying, her face streaked with tears and rain.
Xie Yushu looked down at her without a flicker of emotion.
Li Huixian was both stupid and malicious, a bully who preyed on the weak.
Xie Yushu had tried so hard to please this mother-in-law, yet Li Huixian never wanted to let her go.
“If the Prime Minister wants to kill him, what can I do?”
Xie Yushu asked coldly.
“Mother-in-law, what do you want me to do?”
Without hesitation, Li Huixian said, “Go with the Prime Minister! Doesn’t he just want you to accompany him to his mansion? If you go, he’ll spare Shilin!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Xie Yushu’s face immediately hardened.
“I swore to my husband never to see the Prime Minister again. Breaking an oath will bring a terrible fate.”
“I’ll suffer a terrible fate! I deserve it!”
Li Huixian cried, trying to grab Xie Yushu’s sleeve but was pushed away by Yin Ya.
She continued begging, “We Peis are begging you—don’t keep your oath! Yushu, think of your past with Shilin and go with the Prime Minister! You can’t watch Shilin get beaten to death!”
Xie Yushu stood coldly, looking at the battered Pei Shilin.
“Your Pei family is ridiculous. This morning, my husband demanded I uphold the duties of a faithful wife; tonight, Mother-in-law begs me to accompany another man. You have no pride and no courage.”
Her scorn was clear on her face.
“I intend to keep my vow and live well with my husband. Mother-in-law, don’t drag me down.”
Li Huixian was too ashamed to speak.
She slapped herself and cried, “It’s all my fault. I looked down on your status as an illegitimate daughter and persuaded Shilin to send you to the Prime Minister, thinking to use you and then divorce you… Yushu, it’s us, the Pei family, who have wronged you.”
Xie Yushu lowered her eyes and heard the system’s voice.
“Host, the female supporting role’s main mission is 11% complete.”
Pei Shilin was beaten speechless.
Xie Yushu said faintly, “I truly feel sorry for the late Pei Marquis. He was granted the title ‘Yongyi’ but probably never dreamed it would be trampled into the dirt by you…”
Before she finished, Xiao Dao grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.
“Careful!”
She only heard the sound of a strong wind breaking through the rain and Cang Shu’s shouted order, “Protect the Prime Minister!”
She didn’t see what happened next.
Holding onto Xiao Dao’s arm, she steadied herself and looked up to see Cang Shu clutching a crossbow bolt, shielding Song Jie, who was still slumped in the chair with another bolt lodged in his shoulder.
The black-clad guards immediately formed a circle around him while another group charged toward the arrow’s direction.
Xie Yushu was shocked.
Her first thought was that the crossbow shooter was the shadowy figure who had attacked her and wounded Xiao Dao before.
Because that time, when she was dealing with Pei Shilin and his mother, the shadowy figure outside the courtyard had saved them by injuring her attacker.
This time, the shooter used a crossbow to try to kill Song Jie, who was humiliating the Peis.
Both times, the goal was the same: to save Pei Shilin and his mother.
Who could it be?
Xie Yushu thought carefully.
Only one person fit—
Pei Heng, Pei Shilin’s younger uncle who had gone missing on the battlefield.
Who else but him would risk everything to protect the Pei family?
But Pei Heng shouldn’t have returned at this time. In the original story, he was the one who found the female lead Xie Jia Ning and returned with her on a secret mission.
A chill ran down her spine.
If the shadowy figure was really Pei Heng, he had been watching the Pei family and her all along.
Then, in Pei Heng’s eyes, she must be an unfilial and poisonous woman.
Though she didn’t care what men thought of her, Pei Heng had been a great general in the original story, honored by the Emperor, who later eliminated the treacherous Song Jie and helped Xiao Zhen ascend the throne, gaining immense power.
She might have just made herself a powerful late-stage enemy.
Before she could think further, Cang Shu, protecting the wounded Song Jie, called out, “Madam, the Prime Minister needs the arrow removed immediately. May we use your room?”