Ziyi and Zilan lifted the beaded curtain, their faces flushed as they looked at her and called softly, “Miss.”
Liu Xuan stood there, her beautiful little face full of embarrassment. “My husband, he…”
The moment she spoke, Ziyi and Zilan’s faces turned even redder. Ziyi hurried forward to help her sit down and said, blushing, “It’s all right, Miss. We servants will get used to it.”
Hearing this, Liu Xuan gave a low murmur of assent and said, “Then, tell me about the situation in the estate. I have only just arrived, and I have only met the Marquis and Madam.”
“You should call them Father and Mother now.”
Zilan said, “Now that you have returned to the estate, you are the eldest young lady of the Marquis’s household, so you ought to change how you address them. Before you came, Madam said that in a few days, a banquet would be held to introduce you to the people of the capital. If, when the time comes, you still call them the Marquis and Madam, wouldn’t that make Master and Madam lose face?”
Though her words were a reminder, they sounded somewhat like a reprimand. Liu Xuan lowered her eyes, her expression unchanged, and said timidly, “I… will remember.”
Seeing this, Ziyi’s heart immediately softened, and she quickly said, “Miss, don’t worry. Zilan was only reminding you. There are still a few days before the banquet, so there is no hurry. You can take your time.”
Hearing this, Zilan rolled her eyes. In any case, this so-called eldest young lady, who had no sense of shame, was blind, so she was not afraid of being seen.
Ziyi glared at her, then turned her gaze back to Liu Xuan and said gently, “Miss, you just said you wished to know about the estate? This servant will tell you slowly.”
In truth, Liu Xuan understood better than anyone what kind of situation the Yongyu Marquis’s household was in, but she still gave a sound of assent and listened obediently.
The old Marquis and the old Madam had passed away before the Yongyu Marquis had even married. The Marquis’s household had suddenly lost its pillar, while the second and third branches had accomplished little, causing the household to decline at once.
The Yongyu Marquis originally had a childhood sweetheart, a younger female cousin. The two had already been discussing marriage, but after the old Marquis and old Madam passed away, for the sake of the Marquis’s household, he sought to marry the legitimate daughter of Minister Yin of the Ministry of Personnel.
Lady Yin was not only Minister Yin’s daughter born to him in his old age, she was also the Yin family’s only daughter. She had been doted on since childhood, and her temperament was rather willful and spoiled.
Of course, Ziyi would not speak of these earlier matters. What she spoke of were the events that followed.
Not long after Lady Yin married into the Marquis’s household, she became pregnant and gave birth to the eldest son, Chu Yu. Because her body was damaged, Lady Yin had no more children after that.
Although he had married Lady Yin for the sake of the Marquis’s household, the Yongyu Marquis was still a man who valued sentiment and loyalty. It was only five years later that he took two concubines, who gave birth to two daughters. Now, aside from the Yongyu Marquis, who held the fourth-rank post of Right Commissioner of the Office of Transmission at court, the rest of the household held only minor offices of no more than the sixth rank, so there was naturally no need to go into detail.
The second and third branches, however, were flourishing in numbers. Among Liu Xuan’s generation, there were more than ten people altogether, but they all depended on the Yongyu Marquis and his wife for their livelihood, so she could acknowledge them if she wished, and ignore them if she did not.
After listening, Liu Xuan said timidly, “So, the one I need to pay attention to is Eldest Brother Chu Yu, is that right?”
Hearing this, Zilan gave a soft scoff. “Although the other two young ladies are young and are concubine-born, they grew up in the Marquis’s household. They are proper young ladies.”
Liu Xuan was startled when she heard this. She nodded and answered softly, “Mm, I understand.”
Ziyi frowned and glared at Zilan, then turned to Liu Xuan and said, “Miss, please sit for a while. This servant will go fetch some tea and snacks for you.”
Seeing Liu Xuan nod, Ziyi gave Zilan a look and tugged her sleeve, pulling her out the door.
Once they left, Liu Xuan yawned, looked around in boredom, and incidentally listened to the two of them whispering outside.
Ziyi glanced toward the room, lowered her voice, and said, “What is wrong with you? Why are all your words so barbed? No matter what the Eldest Miss’s identity was in the past, from now on she is the eldest young lady of the Marquis’s household, and she is our mistress!”
Zilan gave a light snort, her face full of disdain. “What eldest young lady? She’s nothing but a hunter’s daughter from some mountain ditch, and who knows whether that’s even true! Tell me, whose real eldest young lady would fool around so shamelessly with a man before marriage? She has no sense of shame! Isn’t she just relying on that pretty face of hers?”
“That is also a skill! Master and Madam haven’t said anything, so what right do you and I have to comment?”
Seeing that Zilan still looked unconvinced, Ziyi said in a low voice, “Besides, if we serve her well, our futures won’t be bad either. That is the Young Duke. If she truly enters the Duke’s estate in the future, you and I will be her dowry maids!”
She did not say the rest, but Zilan understood what she meant. She glanced at her and said somewhat impatiently, “Fine, I know.”
After listening to their conversation, Liu Xuan smiled lightly and shook her head.
She had yet to scheme against them, but these two had already started scheming on her behalf. How truly interesting.
When Li Heng walked out of the Marquis’s estate, he saw Qinglei waiting outside.
He gave a soft scoff and said, “It seems our Crown Prince truly is anxious, to have sent even you.”
Qinglei did not respond to his mockery. He merely bowed and said, “Young Duke, please.”
Li Heng glanced at him, gave a light snort, and got into the carriage.
As the carriage traveled along the road, Li Heng felt the sticky dampness beneath him and closed his eyes in vexation.
He truly had gone mad!
Inside the study of the Crown Prince’s residence.
All the servants had been driven out. Li Ying sat in a chair, his handsome face dark with storm clouds.
Li Heng pushed open the study door and glanced at the memorials scattered across the floor. Calmly, he bent down, picked them up one by one, and placed them back on the desk. Then he said indifferently, “If you do not want Mother Empress’s people to know, you had best restrain yourself.”
Hearing this, Li Ying looked at him and sneered. His voice was colder than it had ever been. “And you? What exactly are you trying to do?!”
If it had been before, Li Heng could still have spoken with righteous confidence, saying that he was doing it for Li Ying’s good, that Liu Xuan clearly did not look like any hunter’s daughter, much less someone innocent and kind.
But after what had happened today, he no longer had that former confidence or clear conscience.
He was silent for a long while before he said, “Today was my fault.”
Hearing this, Li Ying sneered. “Your fault?”
He suddenly rose to his feet, seized Li Heng by the collar, and roared in a low voice, “With one light sentence of ‘your fault,’ you think you can just let it pass?! What do you take Xuan’er for? And what do you take me for?!”
Li Heng looked at him and said coldly, “Then what about you, Imperial Elder Brother? What do you take me for? Before you acted, when you were indulging in Liu Xuan’s tender charms, did you ever consider my feelings, even the slightest bit?!”
Hearing this, Li Ying instantly fell silent. He looked at Li Heng in silence for a long time, then slowly released his hand.
Li Heng also remained silent. He only lowered his eyes and stood to the side.
After a long while, Li Ying finally spoke in a hoarse voice. “You and I have always shared the same heart. It was so before, it is so now, and it will surely be so in the future. I cannot help my feelings for Xuan’er, and you… I imagine it is the same for you. This time, I will not take issue with you. But from now on, you are not to see her again, and you are certainly not to do anything so outrageous again!”