Chapter 44: A Marriage Torn Apart

They soon tied up Madam Lu again. Lu Yi met the same fate, except that, acting on Madam Guo’s orders, the old servantess pressed hard on his wounds as she bound him.

Pus and blood streamed down his arm, and the pain made him shriek uncontrollably.

“Be gentler! Be gentler!”

Madam Lu was frantic at his side, wishing she could rush forward and kick those vicious old women away. Just as the women were struggling with them, the steward suddenly called out,

“Master has arrived!”

At once, the strength went out of the servantesses’ hands, and they all dropped to their knees.

Madam Lu wrenched herself free from one of them and hurried to her son’s side. Supporting him, she wept bitterly with anguish. A head could be mended with no more than a scar the size of a bowl, yet they had tormented him as though they wanted him dead.

When Lord Chi, who had come to “settle the matter,” arrived, she shouted furiously at him.

“If you have the courage, then kill the two of us! Otherwise, you will surely pay for what you have done today!”

Her words made Chi Yunjing’s heart jolt.

If this matter could not be settled peacefully today, they might fail to become in-laws and instead invite a whole host of troubles. Thus, he suppressed his thoughts, put on a grave expression, and, as Madam Guo stepped forward to greet him, struck her across the face with all his strength.

Blood burst from Madam Guo’s mouth. She fell to the ground, completely unable to understand why she had been struck.

“You madwoman! While I have been too occupied these past few days to attend to household affairs, you took matters into your own hands and committed such a vicious deed. Do you think the marriage between these two is a sham?”

The atmosphere changed in an instant. Not only Madam Guo—even the servantesses in the courtyard were stunned.

Could Master’s meaning be that he still intended to make this man his second son-in-law?

Had they not thoroughly offended him, then?

One by one, they stood as silent as cicadas in winter, lowering their heads as far as they could. They feared that, in a fit of anger, Master might have them all sold off. That would truly be the end of them.

“Master, why did you hit me? Lu Yi ruined our Second Miss. Do you mean to make her marry him and suffer further humiliation?”

“Not marry him? Then tell me—whom does she wish to marry? Or is it you who wishes to decide whom she marries?”

“I…”

Of course, the Qiao family!

Not far away, He Lingyi watched the scene with icy detachment, answering Madam Guo in her heart. She had deliberately passed by this place today for the sole purpose of enjoying this spectacle.

She had waited for so many years. At last, the day had come.

So she indulged herself in releasing the resentment pent up in her chest, savoring the spectacle of Chi Yunjing and Madam Guo turning on each other like dogs fighting over a bone.

“Even if Second Miss remains unmarried for the rest of her life, she must not marry this rapist! The Lu family are monsters. If she married into that household, would she even survive?”

Clutching her swollen cheek, Madam Guo cried out.

Her voice was filled with both her love for her daughter and her disappointment in her husband. Though she did not possess much confidence, she no longer feared anything when it came to protecting her daughter.

She rose from the ground and glared at him furiously.

Chi Yunjing’s tailbone had not yet fully healed. The servants had carried him over on a stretcher, and only when he was nearly there had the steward taken over supporting him. Naturally, he no longer possessed the imposing presence he once had. Thus, when Madam Guo stepped forward, the determination in her eyes made him frown slightly.

She truly was no longer the woman she had once been.

Then Madam Guo revealed a look of utter contempt and said,

“It is truly easy for you to play the role of a father. Whenever you need your daughter to resolve your troubles, you force her into a marriage whether she wishes it or not. Yet now that something like this has happened, you still want to use her as a stepping-stone. You even joined hands with that lowly concubine Zhao—pretending to relinquish authority when in truth you merely want me to take the blame for you. Do not think that staging this little performance will make the Lu family mother and son grateful to you. Bah! Chi Yunjing, for the sake of climbing higher, you would even pave your road with our Second Miss’s life. I hope you meet a miserable end as well!”

As she spoke, she suddenly lunged at him.

Madam Guo was very strong, while Chi Yunjing was injured and utterly unable to resist.

She had chosen her position carefully. A rockery stood directly behind him. Even if the impact did not kill him, it would certainly leave him crippled. Her eyes were filled with hatred.

Chi Yunjing could not dodge in time. Believing that this was the day he would die, his mind descended into chaos, and his unsteady legs could no longer move.

At that critical moment, Concubine Zhao seized her opportunity and dashed forward with all her strength. With a resounding crash, she knocked Madam Guo aside.

The steward was supporting Chi Yunjing. He had merely twisted his waist again, but Madam Guo fared far worse: her head struck the rockery, and blood immediately began pouring from the wound.

“Ah! Ah! Concubine Zhao has killed someone!”

One of the servantesses was terrified out of her wits and cried out at once.

Concubine Zhao might have been scheming by nature, but she had never intended to kill anyone. Staring in horror at Madam Guo, who lay unconscious on the ground, she stammered,

“Master, I… I did not do it on purpose. It was Madam… I was afraid she would hurt you, so I… Wuwuwu, I did not mean to! I did not kill anyone!”

Concubine Zhao wept bitterly, and everyone present had been frightened by the sudden turn of events.

Chi Yunjing’s waist was in unbearable pain, yet his eyes were filled with tenderness and pity for Concubine Zhao, who had rushed to save his life. He angrily shouted,

“Who says Concubine Zhao was trying to kill someone? It was clearly Madam Guo who tried to kill me. Concubine Zhao risked her life to save me. Are you all blind?”

“Yes, yes. I was supporting Master and saw everything most clearly. Madam truly intended to hurl herself against him, only to suffer the consequences of her own actions.”

The steward’s words did not implicate Concubine Zhao in the slightest. She gave him a grateful glance. All of them had spent decades surviving in the inner household—how could any of them fail to understand the situation now?

At once, one of the servantesses came forward trembling and said, “Madam struck herself. We all saw it.”

The others hurriedly followed her example. It was true that they were Madam Guo’s trusted attendants, but in the end, this Vice Minister’s residence belonged to Master. Having committed such a grave mistake, they naturally had to tread carefully.

The servantess who had spoken first was now terrified. Having offended both Master and Concubine Zhao, what hope did she have of surviving? Cold sweat poured down her body. Then she heard the master of the house issue his command.

“Madam Guo’s madness has flared up again. Arrange for someone to come and examine her. As for Madam Lu and Young Master Lu, they merely happened to take a liking to this residence and stayed here for a few extra days. If I hear anyone say anything that differs from my words today, then that person will be deemed the culprit who caused Madam’s illness. Plotting against an official’s wife is no trivial matter. At the least, the offender will be convicted and beheaded; at worst, the entire family will be implicated. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Master.”

Wherever Chi Yunjing’s gaze fell, everyone bowed in submission.

Madam Lu, who had initially been unwilling to let the matter rest, was restrained by her son, Lu Yi. He weakly shook his head, signaling his mother not to make trouble.

If they continued to cause a scene, they might truly never be allowed to leave.

This was best for now. Each side held leverage over the other, and his own misdeeds could therefore be quietly brushed aside.