Xiao Yunchen tried hard to control his emotions and questioned in a deep voice, "Now you and I have become the laughing stock of the capital. You are the heir of a marquisate, but all you do is get drunk here all day. In your eyes, the reputation of the marquisate and the honor of our family are of no importance at all?"
Xiao Yunyu swallowed a mouthful of the spicy wine and said with a mocking tone, "What does it have to do with me? Hasn't your mother always been unwilling to see me inherit the throne? How about I give it to you?"
"Ridiculous! How can such a big thing be treated as a joke!" Xiao Yunchen was so angry at his nonchalant attitude that he raised his voice.
Xiao Yunyu tilted his head, raised his tipsy eyes and asked, "Your wife is gone too, why aren't you sad at all? You're so heartless..."
Xiao Yunchen took a deep breath, a bitter feeling welling up from the bottom of his heart and spreading to his throat, which he swallowed back with difficulty. "Do you think everyone is as reckless as you? Doing whatever you want without considering your family or the family honor?"
After saying that, he snatched the wine jug from Xiao Yunyu's hand and started drinking it.
The spicy wine spread from his mouth to his throat and then into his stomach, burning the emotions he had been suppressing.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!" The overly pungent smell made him cough, and the whites of his eyes were stained with red blood, and he choked so hard that tears came out.
But I couldn't help but take one sip after another.
Xiao Yunyu glanced at him sideways as he took sip after sip, as if he was drunk.
He sneered, then leaned over to get another pot of wine and continued drinking.
Home? He never had a home. In the eyes of those people, they wished he had never existed, and it would have been best if he had died with his mother.
Xiao Yunchen was not good at drinking to begin with, and now he was getting drunk. Before he even finished the bottle of wine, he was already staggering and sat down on the ground.
He clung to the wooden couch with both hands, his red eyes filled with tears, and looked at Xiao Yunyu pitifully: "Brother~" He was obviously very drunk.
He asked confusedly and helplessly: "Do you know why my wife committed suicide for love? Could it be that she loved my sister-in-law? We are husband and wife, how could she abandon me to live and die with my sister-in-law..."
As he was speaking, Xiao Yunchen suddenly burst into tears, as if his suppressed emotions were suddenly pierced and poured out all at once.
The wine jug in Xiao Yunyu's hand fell to the ground with a thud and rolled several times. His brain was dulled by the smell of alcohol and he was dazed.
He had long felt that it was strange that his brother's wife died suddenly shortly after his wife's death.
My sister-in-law is as strong as an ox, how could she die just like that?
unless……
Thinking about how his wife had hooked up with so many young men, but finally chose only him, could it be because his sister-in-law also wanted to marry into the Xiao family?
Xiao Yunyu lowered his eyes and glanced at the crying Xiao Yunchen, then kicked him aside in annoyance.
A cold mockery arose in his heart. It was a pity that these two brothers came from aristocratic families, but they couldn't even protect their wives because of a country girl. They were so useless!
Xiao Yunyu reached out and took another pot of wine from the side.
Maybe it's because I've been drinking too much lately. The spicy wine tastes as bland as water in my mouth, and the only real feeling is the churning stomach discomfort.
In the moonlit night sky with sparse stars, the evening breeze blows the clouds into thousands of shapes.
The singing and dancing in Furong Pavilion gradually stopped, and the girls who needed to rest rested, and those who needed to sleep slept.
The world became completely quiet.
It was the first time in their lives that the two brothers slept in the same room.
Everything was quiet. A ray of light from the east cautiously dyed the light blue sky, awakening the sleeping people.
A wisp of morning breeze accompanied by golden light rushed in from the half-open door.
Xiao Yunchen sat up from the ground with a frown on his face, his fingers lightly pressing on his sore temples, his calm eyes confused for a moment.
"Now that you're sober, leave quickly. This is not the place for you," Xiao Yunyu's cold voice sounded.
Memories of last night gradually returned. Xiao Yunchen hid in a corner where the morning light couldn't reach him. His eyes were cold and calm in the darkness. "Brother, come home with me. The dead are gone. Don't let the people who care about you feel disappointed."
"Someone who cares about me?" Xiao Yunyu was blinded by the bright morning light. He glanced sideways, his lips curled up in a cold and arrogant arc: "Who are you referring to? My father, whose heart and eyes are filled with only his childhood sweetheart and his darling wife? Or my stepmother, who sees me as a thorn in her side?"
Thinking of his wife who only had him in her heart and eyes, the wife who said she only loved him, Xiao Yunyu suddenly laughed bitterly, picked up the wine jug at his feet, and drank the remaining wine.
"Ugh~~"
He hadn't eaten anything in the past few days, and coupled with the constant vomiting for several days, his stomach was empty except for alcohol.
The room, already reeking of alcohol, was once again filled with the pungent and unpleasant smell of alcohol fermented in the stomach.
Xiao Yunyu kept replaying Li Nian's dying expression in his mind. His wife passed away peacefully and said she had no regrets.
But he regretted it and he was unwilling to accept it!
His wife was still so young, and they should have had a very long life to go. He wanted to grow old with his wife and stay together for the rest of his life.
He and his wife had agreed to go to Nanjiang to see their master, to feel the sound of flowing water in the mountains, to enjoy the warm hot springs, and to see the flowers that still bloomed in winter...
All the unfulfilled wishes have now become permanent regrets. They are like impenetrable nets, enveloping him in circles and suffocating him.
Seeing that he had just finished vomiting and was about to get another glass of wine, Xiao Yunchen hurried forward to stop him, and said in a hoarse voice: "Enough! Cheer up! Sister-in-law is dead, but the murderer who killed her is not dead yet!"
Xiao Yunyu paused, looking up in confusion: "What do you mean? Wen Luoxin has been convicted of poisoning the Crown Prince's Consort."
"But Qi He bailed her out yesterday." Xiao Yunchen's eyes darkened. "Based on Qi He's achievements and His Majesty's appreciation of Wen Luoxin, if Grand Tutor Wen intervened again, Wen Luoxin would most likely be acquitted."
Xiao Yunchen peered through the crack in the door, gazing at the morning sun filling the courtyard, and said slowly, "The current situation in the imperial court is like a loose chess game, and the Marquis's Mansion is just one of the pieces. I know you dislike the treacherous and deceitful officialdom, but since you are the heir of the Marquis's Mansion, you cannot withdraw peacefully."
"Unless... you are truly willing to abandon everything, let go of all grudges, and leave the capital forever." Xiao Yunchen's eyes suddenly turned cold. "If Wen Luoxin is acquitted, then what rumors will others spread about the cause of my sister-in-law's death?"
Xiao Yunyu listened silently, understanding the deeper meaning behind his words. His cold eyes flashed with dangerous ruthlessness: "We are all chess pieces. No matter who we are, we must be cautious at every step. If we make a wrong move, we will dig our own grave."
"Since Qi He wants to save her, then help him and let him marry Wen Luoxin."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yunchen looked at his elder brother in surprise, who never asked about court affairs.
Taifu Wen is a member of the Crown Prince's party, and the General of the Cavalry's Mansion is a member of the Third Prince's party. By doing this, Xiao Yunyu can predict what the future of Wen Luoxin and Qi He will be like after their marriage.
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