Chapter 132 The Scholar Who Favored His Concubine Over His Wife (Twenty-Four): Pursuing Pure Love...
Lin Xitang and Lin Xiyue exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes. The reason was simple: Song Ce was now the lord of Qizhou, and while the guards in his residence weren't strict, not just anyone could trespass.
Lin Xitang stood up and said softly, "Brother, please sit here for a moment. I'll go out and take a look."
"Moon, your brother will go with you."
As soon as the brother and sister opened the door, they saw several old women dragging a mentally unstable, ragged woman. The woman was clutching a silver hairpin tightly in her hand, struggling and her face was flushed red.
The moment the woman saw Lin Xiyue emerge, she went berserk, pointing her silver hairpin in Lin Xiyue's direction and shrieking, "Liu Wanyao! You shameless, despicable servant! If it weren't for you... if it weren't for your seductive words and interference, I would be the mistress of Qizhou today! Why don't you die? Die!"
Lin Xitang frowned upon hearing this, coldly looked at the raving madwoman, and asked in a deep voice, "Yue'er, who is this?"
Lin Xiyue's face paled slightly, and she whispered, "Brother, this...this is the eldest daughter of the Liu family."
As they were talking, Song Ce, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, turned cold and instinctively stepped forward to protect Lin Xiyue behind him before glancing at Liu Xinhui, who appeared to be insane.
"Song Ce! Back then, when you came to ask for my hand in marriage, it was indeed my arrangement for a marriage exchange. But when you married that widow... Liu Wanyao, my Liu family did not mistreat you in the slightest! Now I have been pushed into a pit of fire by my parents. Please, for the sake of my past as your fiancée, save me! I beg you!" Liu Xinhui cried out in a shrill voice as she knelt on the ground.
Lin Xiyue felt a chill run down her spine as she looked at Liu Xinhui's disheveled appearance. She found it hard to reconcile this erratic woman with the elegant and beautiful eldest daughter of the Liu family she once knew.
Looking at the incoherent Liu Xinhui, Song Ce said coldly, "Miss Liu, your matter from back then has long been settled. What kind of behavior is this now?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Xinhui abruptly raised her head. She looked at Song Ce's indifferent face, as if she were merely a stranger to him. Stunned, she burst into a shrill, piercing laugh.
"End it? Song Ce, you make it sound so easy! It's not that easy to end it! My life, Liu Xinhui's life, has been ruined by you! Ruined!" After saying that, she turned to look at Lin Xiyue, her eyes filled with resentment and venom: "You vile servant! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, you vixen, stealing Song Ce away, how could I have ended up like this!"
"What a twisted and distorted questioning you've given me." Lin Xiyue stepped forward, grasped Song Ce's hand tightly, and said calmly, "If you hadn't married someone else and abandoned your husband when you were still a nobody, how could you have ended up like this?"
"You!" Liu Xinhui scrambled to her feet, the old women failing to hold her back, and she broke free. She lunged at Lin Xiyue like a madwoman, cursing, "You wretched servant! Now that you've risen to prominence, you dare to act all high and mighty, lecturing me! You stole everything from me! I'll kill you!"
Song Ce, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and pulled Lin Xiyue into his arms. Liu Xinhui missed her target and fell heavily to the ground.
"Enough! You madwoman! What do you think this place is?" Song Ce, holding Lin Xiyue, took a few steps back and coldly shouted at the guards beside him, "What are you all standing there for? Get her out of here right now!"
Upon seeing this, the well-trained guards of the Song family rushed forward and pinned Liu Xinhui to the spot, rendering her unable to move.
As Liu Xinhui was dragged out of the mansion, she was still crying out in a hoarse voice, "Song Ce! You can't do this to me! I am the one who should be your lawfully wedded wife! You can't marry someone else, you should marry me! Marry me!"
Lin Xiyue watched Liu Xinhui's retreating figure, her heart filled with mixed emotions. The once high and mighty Miss Liu had fallen to such a state; it was truly heartbreaking.
"Moon, are you alright?" Lin Xitang asked with concern, her eyes filled with worry.
Lin Xiyue forced a smile and whispered, "I'm fine, brother. I just didn't expect to see her here, and... she even..."
Song Ce turned around, looked at Lin Xiyue with tender eyes, and smiled, "My wife, don't be afraid. With me here, I won't let anyone hurt you."
Lin Xiyue felt a warmth in her heart and nodded gently, "Husband, of course I believe you."
"My wife..."
Standing aside watching the two of them so affectionately, Lin Xitang said, "...Ahem, brother-in-law, tell me, what exactly did Miss Liu go through to become so crazy?"
“I don’t know the reason why. After the Liu family arranged for my wife to marry in place of another, I never heard from her again,” Song Ce said.
Lin Xitang stepped forward, looked at Lin Xiyue beside him, and said with a furrowed brow, "Yue'er, you didn't tell your brother in detail about the Liu family making you marry in their place back then. I can see that Miss Liu clearly harbors resentment towards you, and the two of you..."
Lin Xiyue bit her lip, glanced at Song Ce beside her, and slowly said, "Brother, this is a long story. The Song family and the Liu family have been friends for generations, and my husband's engagement to Miss Liu was arranged since childhood. However, on the eve of the wedding, Miss Liu got involved with Young Master Wang and felt that her husband was not good enough for her, so she insisted on breaking off the engagement and marrying someone else."
"Then... what happened next?" Lin Xitang asked with a deep gaze.
"Later..." Song Ce smiled faintly and continued, "With no other choice, Madam Liu bought the lady and adopted her as her goddaughter, so that she could marry into my Song family in place of Miss Liu. On their wedding night, the lady told us everything, and my husband and I also expressed our feelings for each other at that time."
Lin Xitang's face grew even darker after hearing this. He looked at the couple standing beside him and said, "So, this Miss Liu has clearly reaped what she sowed. What face does she have to come to your mansion and cause trouble now?"
Song Ce nodded and turned his gaze to the several terrified old women in front of him. One of the women in charge stepped forward and apologized, "Mr. Song, I'm sorry. That madwoman claimed to be the lady's sister. We... dared not offend her, and before we knew it, she had forced her way in."
Seeing the beads of sweat on the stewardess's forehead, Song Ce calmly said, "From now on, any female relatives entering the manor must be strictly checked. Alright, you can all go about your business."
"Yes, yes, Mr. Song." The head maid responded repeatedly and led the servants away in a hurry.
That night, Lin Xiyue lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The events of the day kept replaying in her mind, and Liu Xinhui's shrill curses seemed to still echo in her ears. She got up, put on her coat, walked to the window, and stared blankly at the moonlight outside.
Just then, the door was gently pushed open. Song Ce walked in, carrying a bowl of sweet soup.
“My wife, when I came out of the study just now, I saw that the candles in our room were still lit, so I knew you must not have gone to bed yet.” Song Ce smiled and stepped forward, saying gently, “You didn’t eat much for dinner, have a bowl of sweet soup to warm yourself up.”
“Husband…” Lin Xiyue took the soup, a warm feeling welling up in her heart, “Thank you.”
"We're husband and wife, there's no need for thanks," Song Ce said, pulling Lin Xiyue into the room and sitting down at the table with her. Lin Xiyue took a sip of soup and immediately felt much warmer.
"Please don't take today's events to heart, my lady," Song Ce said earnestly, looking at Lin Xiyue. "Her current state is entirely of her own making; she's simply reaping the consequences of her own actions. It has nothing to do with you, my lady. I've already sent someone to inquire about her situation; we'll have news tomorrow."
Lin Xiyue's eyes reddened slightly, and she sighed, "I know it has nothing to do with me, but... I just feel that she shouldn't have done this."
Song Ce smiled slightly, pulled Lin Xiyue into his arms, gently stroked her soft, long hair, and said gently, "No matter what she went through, it was her own choice. Now, the most important thing is for us to live our own lives well."
"Yes, my husband..."
The next morning, the sky was overcast, as if it might rain at any moment. Song Ce and his siblings had just finished breakfast when the guards who had gone to gather information the day before found out everything that had happened to Liu Xinhui in recent years.
Inside the study of the Song residence.
The head of the guards stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Sir, Miss Liu has had a truly miserable few years. Ever since she offended Lord Wang at the Chaoli Poetry Gathering, Master Liu, fearing that he would be implicated, arranged for her to be 'married off' to the Tong family overnight."
"The Tong family? Tong Shimi?" Song Ce asked, frowning.
"Sir, you have a good memory. Master Tong is nearly fifty years old and has only this one son, but he is an idiot who enjoys abusing his servants. Everyone in Qizhou City knows his character, and even daughters from ordinary families are unwilling to marry into the Tong family. After the Morning Pear Poetry Gathering, Master Liu, seeking the protection of Governor Chen, decided to marry his eldest daughter, Miss Liu, to Tong Shimi," said the captain of the guards.
Lin Xiyue, who was holding a teacup, suddenly trembled, spilling warm tea onto her fingertips.
"And what about Miss Liu after she gets married?" Her voice trembled.
"After marrying into the family, she was locked up in the inner quarters of the Tong mansion, where she bore Tong Shimi a son and a daughter. Both children inherited Tong Shimi's congenital intellectual disability from birth. Over the years, Miss Liu suffered greatly, repeatedly trying to escape the Tong mansion, but each time she was caught and brought back. It wasn't until her master established his own state in Qizhou that she managed to escape amidst the chaos, secretly hiding at the docks washing clothes for a living." The captain of the guards swallowed hard and continued, "The Tong family lost face, so naturally they blamed everything on Master Liu. Half a year later, the Liu family fell into ruin, and Master Liu forcibly pawned Madam Liu, raising some money. With this money, Master Liu found Miss Liu hiding at the docks."
"And then?" Song Ce asked again.
"Later, after Miss Liu learned that Master Liu had sold Madam Liu, she severed her father-daughter relationship with him. That Master Liu was a heartless man, and he secretly sent a message to the Tong family. Naturally, the Tong family sent strong men to capture Miss Liu and take her back. When Governor Chen fled with his valuables, no one in the Tong family cared about Miss Liu anymore. When she ran away again, she was in her current crazy state."
Lin Xiyue's hand holding the teacup trembled slightly, the tea swirling gently in the cup, reflecting her complex expression. She never imagined that the once high-and-mighty, pampered Miss Liu would fall to such a state.
Song Ce reached out and took Lin Xiyue's hand, patting it gently to comfort her: "Life is unpredictable, my wife. There's always a reason why someone is pitiful."
"Hmm..." Lin Xiyue put down her teacup, gently rubbed her temples, and said in a low voice, "I just didn't expect that Master Liu would be so heartless as to treat his own daughter like this."
Song Ce was silent for a while before saying, "In this world, not all parents love their children."
After he finished speaking, the study fell silent. Outside the window, a light drizzle had begun to fall.
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Author's Note: A little something extra for you all after the holidays! Authentic Hebei and Anhui beef noodles are just so delicious (chewing) [droopy-eared rabbit head]
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