Chapter 154 Sister, I was wrong

Qiu Fu cried out these words, and the room fell into an eerie silence.

The three Qiu sisters were all dumbfounded, looking incredulous.

The old lady dropped the pastry in her hand and subconsciously looked at Qiuheng.

Qiu Heng sat quietly, but her heart was far from as calm as it appeared.

Having already glimpsed the fate of the Qiu sisters from old documents, she seemed to see an irreversible torrent, ruthlessly sweeping away young and vibrant lives, rolling in.

"Grandmother, please save Fu'er! Fu'er would rather die than be someone's concubine!" Qiu Fu clung to the old lady's leg as if she were a drowning person clinging to a piece of driftwood.

The old lady was trembling uncontrollably, a mixture of anger and pain.

She knew better than anyone that the one who truly wanted to send Qiu Fu to be a concubine was the head of the Earl's mansion—the Earl of Yongqing.

"Fu'er, don't cry. When did your parents tell you this?"

"Just now..." Qiu Fu wiped away her tears, but couldn't stop them.

A noise came from the doorway, and the girl, still shaken, turned around abruptly. She saw her mother, Madam Zhao, walking in quickly and instinctively hugged the old lady tightly.

"Madam," Zhao greeted her, glancing at her daughter, "Is Fu'er disturbing you?"

Facing Zhao, the old lady's face was colder than ice: "Tell me first, why did Fu'er come to bother me?"

Zhao glanced at Qiu Xuan and the others.

The old lady sneered: "There's nothing you can't say to others."

Madam Zhao chuckled awkwardly, "Xuan'er and the others are still young girls; it's not appropriate for them to listen to these discussions about marriage—"

"What marriage proposal? They clearly want me to be their concubine!" Qiu Fu, never one to back down, immediately retorted.

"I've spoiled you too much, and you've become so lawless!" Zhao felt extremely embarrassed to be contradicted by her daughter in front of her illegitimate daughters and nieces.

The old lady slammed her hand on the table: "I'm not dead yet, and you're already arguing like this in front of me! Zhao, do you even respect me as your mother-in-law?!"

Madam Zhao had to suppress her anger: "My daughter-in-law acted rashly in the moment, please don't blame me, Madam."

The old lady snorted coldly.

Footsteps sounded, and Master Qiu entered.

He came with the Earl of Yongqing.

The couple exchanged a glance, and Zhao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As a daughter-in-law, she couldn't say too much in front of her mother-in-law, so it was good that the old man came.

Qiu Xuan and the others should have greeted Lord Yongqing and Master Qiu, but they all remained silent.

The Earl of Yongqing looked around and finally settled his gaze on the old lady.

The old lady looked at the Earl of Yongqing, whom she hadn't seen for several days, her eyes filled with icy coldness.

“I made the decision about Fu’er, so don’t make things difficult for the eldest son’s wife,” said Uncle Yongqing.

Qiu Fu stared straight at Yongqing Bo, her face deathly pale.

"Don't you think about the child?" The old lady suddenly pulled Qiu Fu up and pushed her forward. "Look at her, a child as beautiful as a flower, how can you, as her grandfather, bear to push her into a pit of fire?"

Ignoring his granddaughter's pale face, the Earl of Yongqing frowned and said, "What are you saying? That's the Prime Minister's residence. Countless people would kill to get in. How could it be a pit of fire?"

“If it were a proper marriage with eight sedan chair bearers, it wouldn’t be a disaster. But is it now? My lord, this is the most important event in Fu’er’s life!”

The Earl of Yongqing said coldly, “I didn’t want to say much in front of the children. Fu’er was specifically requested by Prime Minister Fang. What is our Earl’s family? Do we have the right to refuse? Once we offend Prime Minister Fang, our Qiu family might be destroyed one day. Don’t you think about your three sons? Don’t you think about your many grandchildren?”

The old lady's lips trembled, unable to speak.

The Earl of Yongqing softened his tone: "Fu'er is a little wronged, but once she enters the Prime Minister's mansion, she will surely be rich and worry-free. The Third Young Master Fang's wife, Jin, is not favored and has no children. She may not even be able to have children. Once Fu'er has a child, Jin will have no choice but to stand aside."

"No, no, I don't want to—" Qiu Fu cried, shaking her head repeatedly.

She looked at her grandfather, then at her grandmother, then at Master Qiu and Madam Zhao, Qiu Xuan, Qiu Yun, Qiu Ying, Qiu Heng...

I looked at everyone, but couldn't find any hope of saving her.

"Fu'er, think about your family too, just listen to your grandfather. Do you really want to offend the Prime Minister's Mansion and cause trouble for our Earl's Mansion?!" Master Qiu's coaxing turned into fear as he watched Qiu Fu crash into the wall, forgetting to react.

A scream rang out; it was unclear who made it.

Qiu Fu, resigned to her fate, opened her eyes to find the cold wall just inches away.

She turned her head abruptly and saw Qiu Heng's solemn face.

"Let me go, let me go!" Qiu Fu struggled, but felt that the hands holding her waist were like vines, suffocating her.

She refused to be a concubine, and no one saved her. Was she even forbidden from dying?

Hatred overwhelmed her reason, and Qiu Fu lowered her head and bit the arm.

Qiu Heng winced in pain and frowned: "Fourth Sister, calm down."

The old lady's voice rang out: "Fu'er, don't be impulsive!"

"Guards, hold down Fourth Sister!" The Earl of Yongqing's face turned ashen, his mask of benevolence completely shattered.

Two old women came in and pinned Qiu Fu down on either side.

Qiu Heng then released her grip on Qiu Fu and took a step back.

The Earl of Yongqing stared coldly at Qiu Fu: "You were raised in luxury by the Earl's family, and you're trying to repay them by dying? You worthless thing!"

Qiu Fu stared wide-eyed at Yongqing Bo, her whole body trembling violently.

Demons... My mother is a demon, my father is a demon, my grandfather is a demon, this house is a demon's den, a purgatory!

Tears streamed down her face.

"Send Fourth Miss to the back room, and the two of you stay there and guard her. If anything happens to Fourth Miss, we will not let you off lightly!" Marquis Yongqing said sternly.

The two old women hurriedly pushed Qiu Fu out.

Qiu Fu turned her head and shouted loudly, "I hate you all, I hate you all!"

She hated her profit-driven grandfather and parents, her powerless grandmother, her sixth sister who made her wish for death, her second sister, third sister, and fifth sister, and everyone in the Earl's Mansion!

As she was being dragged away, Qiu Fu closed her eyes in despair, and for some reason, the face of her elder sister Qiu He flashed through her mind.

Not the silent and aloof elder sister who was rarely seen after entering the palace, but the elder sister who took her and her sisters to fly kites many years ago that spring.

She still remembers when the kite string broke and the kite fell to the treetop. Amidst the sighs of regret, Brother Lin came over, jumped up the tree to retrieve the kite, and then jumped down amidst excited shouts, handing the kite to his elder sister.

Holding the swallow-shaped paper kite, the eldest sister smiled, her smile more beautiful than the blooming spring flowers.

Later, when her elder sister entered the palace, she saw her sister struggling, crying, and feeling resentful. As a young girl, she thought to herself, "My sister is so sad and pitiful."

Now, many years later, she has grown to the same age her sister had been, and found herself in the same situation. Only now does she finally understand what her sister felt back then.

How sad, how pathetic. Such a light and fleeting feeling, how ignorant, ridiculous, and indifferent.

Sister, I was wrong.

(End of this chapter)