Chapter 9 Why can't she live?
Contraceptive decoction...
Su Muying had actually guessed it, but when Xie Linyuan uttered those words, she was still shocked for a very long time.
Shocked by his coldness and cruelty, she realized that he truly loathed her. After humiliating her in front of Xie Lin'an at the funeral hall, he even forced her to drink a contraceptive soup.
Her heart sank instantly.
Contraceptive decoction...
Despite her best efforts, she underestimated Xie Linyuan's disgust and hatred towards her. She never expected that Xie Linyuan would make her drink a contraceptive soup.
If she drinks the contraceptive soup, how can she give birth to a child of the Xie family?
If Xie's mother finds out that she cannot bear a son for the Xie family, she probably won't keep her.
How can she leave the Xie mansion alive...?
Even though Su Muying was calm by nature, she looked somewhat flustered.
She was stunned for a long time before she found her voice and stammered, "Why do I have to drink contraceptive soup?"
But Su Muying regretted asking the question as soon as she did.
She brought this upon herself.
The answer is already quite obvious.
Her question only gave him another opportunity to humiliate her.
Sure enough, after hearing her ask that question, Xie Linyuan stopped leaning back on the bed with both hands. He turned his head to look at her, a smile playing on his lips.
He had an extremely handsome appearance. Springtime was just beginning to shine through, and a few rays of sunlight fell on him. His face was bathed in the vibrant spring sunshine, and his peach blossom eyes were even more mesmerizing and dreamy, making his appearance even more exquisite. However, the words he spoke were as cold as ice.
"Why?" He chuckled, his posture relaxed and carefree, his tone smiling as if he were talking about something insignificant, but every word he uttered was sharp as a blade.
"Because you don't deserve it."
"You are not worthy to bear my child."
"You used this face to seduce my brother, causing him to die taking a knife for you. And just two days after his death, you turned around and seduced me, climbing into my bed and begging for my mercy..."
"Ha, sister-in-law..."
What part of your body do you have that's worthy of you?
"Su Muying, do you want me to be more explicit?"
Xie Linyuan finished speaking with almost coldness, leaving the room in complete silence. Between her and him, there was only the slow, intertwined breath.
Her gentle fragrance and his icy coldness.
One is like water, the other like solid ice.
Su Muying looked at him calmly, her tea-colored eyes filled with a thin mist that made them difficult to see clearly, yet also made people want to explore and find out what kind of emotions were in her eyes.
What makes her so calm...?
Why should I be like this... I don't care.
Xie Linyuan stared at the woman in front of him. His flirtatious eyes, which had been raised just moments before, suddenly lost their smile. His dark eyes were unfathomable, filled with a desire to tear her apart.
While Su Muying remained calm after hearing what he said, Xie Linyuan was burning with rage.
He himself didn't even know what caused this inner fire to rise.
Perhaps it was because he loathed her, loathed the woman's calmness, which made her seem like a dead person.
But in front of his brother, he was a completely different person, smiling with his eyes crinkling up, so charming that they could drip water.
The man's peach blossom eyes were tinged with a terrifying, vivid red. He suddenly pressed one knee against the edge of the bed, his tall, powerful back bending down, and a terrifying shadow instantly enveloped the delicate woman.
Su Muying's hand, which was supporting her on the brocade quilt, trembled slightly. Her five fingers gripped the quilt tightly, but her face remained as still as a lake deep in the forest, without the slightest ripple.
She didn't know why Xie Linyuan was angry again, so she could only remain calm.
She didn't want to confront the enraged beast head-on.
But Xie Linyuan truly wanted to tear her apart.
I want to abuse her.
He wanted to pin her down on the bed, chain her up, listen to her pitiful and helpless pleas, and see her seductive and wanton appearance with her eyes full of spring waves.
Anything is better than this dead-looking state.
"Stop pretending to be pitiful, stop pretending to be innocent, huh?"
“I’m not a soft-hearted older brother, don’t think I’ll show you any pity…”
His long eyelashes were slightly closed, his thin lips parted slightly, and he approached her little by little: "Don't try to seduce me."
“I am not my brother.”
"I wouldn't be foolish enough to die for you."
How do you value yourself?
Their breaths mingled completely, falling on each other's lips. As the girl's lips gradually turned red, she silently responded, obediently saying, "Ying'er understands." Then, she picked up the bowl of contraceptive soup that had been placed aside, tilted her head back, and drank it down.
She obediently finished the bowl of contraceptive soup.
After drinking, the bowl was put back, leaving only some medicine residue at the bottom.
The girl wiped the remaining medicine from her lips, knelt down, lowered her eyelashes, and remained silent.
In this cramped space, from Xie Linyuan's angle, he could see her reddened eyes, trembling eyelashes, and her jade-colored face still radiant with the beauty of last night. The brocade quilt had slipped down to her shoulders, revealing a section of her neck covered in red marks. Her skin was as white as fresh snow, which made the red marks even more striking, yet they also had a strange allure.
The man's peach blossom eyes were slightly closed.
"I told you, don't try to seduce me like that." Xie Linyuan suddenly grabbed her neck, his well-defined knuckles easily gripping her entire neck.
Her neck was slender and delicate, as fragile as white porcelain.
It breaks easily.
As a suffocating feeling gradually rose in her neck, Su Muying's calm gaze finally changed. A tear uncontrollably streamed down her cheek, and her eyes revealed a bewildered look.
seduce?
What did she do?
Su Muying coughed a few times, and just as she was about to speak to Xie Linyuan to stop, Xie Linyuan suddenly froze, as if waking from a dream, and let go of her hand.
Su Muying opened her mouth and coughed violently.
Xie Linyuan said nothing and turned to leave.
Su Muying coughed until her face turned red, and looking at his back, her doubts deepened.
He was truly capricious, completely different from Lin'an.
Lin'an...
Whenever she thought of Xie Lin'an, the events of last night would uncontrollably resurface in her mind.
Funeral hall, memorial tablets, candlelight, moonlight...
She actually...
Lin'an saw it, he saw it...
Her sense of shame and dignity were gone.
The moonlight was tainted.
A tear suddenly fell and landed on her hand.
Tears blurred her vision.
——
Xie Linyuan fed her a bowl of contraceptive soup and then disappeared.
When Xiao Rong, who was waiting outside, saw Xie Linyuan leave the courtyard, she immediately went into the room to check on her young mistress.
"Miss!"
The room was empty. Xiao Rong rushed in, and when she saw her young lady, she froze on the spot.
Su Muying lay helplessly on the bed, her body turned to the side with her hands behind her head. Her eyes were open and staring blankly ahead, unblinking, tears streaming down her face, devoid of any life.
She was only wearing a light gauze dress, and her long, flowing hair cascaded down to her waist, but it couldn't conceal the messy and horrifying marks on her body.
She had never seen a lady like this before.
She grew up with her mistress since childhood. In Anzhou, her mistress was a pampered young lady, a well-bred lady who was cherished by her master and mistress. Later, war broke out and the Su family was massacred. Under the protection of her master and mistress, she and her mistress escaped.
Their relatives in Anzhou all avoided them, and their cousin was not there either. They had no choice but to travel north to the capital and take the marriage contract to the Xie family.
Although life in the Xie family was not as good as in Anzhou, the young lady was gentle and never argued with others. They also did embroidery to save money, and with the eldest son protecting them, they were able to make a living.
But now... we've been humiliated to this extent.
My body was covered in red marks, so many of them.
It looked like bite marks, or perhaps pinch marks, and the handprint on the waist was like a branding iron, looking extremely terrifying, as if it were about to break a person in two.
Although her young lady did not cry out, but silently shed tears, her eyes were empty and lifeless, and her face was deathly pale, indicating that she was extremely heartbroken.
Moreover, she also heard that last night...
How could the Second Young Master do such an insulting thing!
What do you take her young lady for!
Xiao Rong couldn't hold back any longer and started crying too.
Hearing Xiao Rong's cries, Su Muying seemed to wake from a dream. After she saw that it was Xiao Rong in front of her, she smiled and wiped away her tears.
"I'm fine, don't cry." She often said this to her, but she was clearly crying herself.
Su Muying forced herself to sit up, the despair and sorrow on her face returning to a calm as still as a lake. She gathered her long hair, casually securing it with a jade hairpin, and instructed, "Xiao Rong, go fetch some water. I need to bathe; I still have to pay my respects to Madam later."
Xiao Rong wiped away her tears and hurried off.
Su Muying dragged her body, covered in marks, to take a bath. After washing up, she went to Chunhui Hall to pay her respects to Mother Xie.
On her way to Chunhui Hall, she kept hearing hushed whispers.
She looked over, and the people dispersed again.
She heard what they were saying.
It's nothing more than saying she's shameless, that she's naturally lewd and seductive, that she's heartless and ungrateful, and that she did such a filthy thing in the eldest son's mourning hall.
In the end, it's just the same thing Xie Linyuan said.
She has already heard a lot.
Upon entering Chunhui Hall, after she paid her respects, Xie's mother didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the matter of yesterday, quite angry: "Yesterday, yesterday... you were actually at the mourning hall in Lin'an..."
Xie's mother stopped mid-sentence, seemingly overcome with grief, and let out a long sigh: "You're making him uneasy down there too."
Su Muying stood gracefully before Xie's mother, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, but she calmly replied, "It is the Second Young Master."
Second Young Master.
She never believed that he and she were husband and wife.
No, she was just his concubine.
It's just a toy.
Su Muying knew very well.
When Xie's mother heard Su Muying's answer, her long, wailing cries suddenly stopped, and even a hint of fear appeared on her face.
Even Xie's mother wouldn't dare to interfere with Xie Linyuan.
From childhood to adulthood, her second son was... different from ordinary people.
She was born neither crying nor laughing, and had a violent and willful nature. At a young age, her husband took her to the military camp to toughen her up.
But after several years in the military, he didn't become more composed; instead, his murderous aura and violent tendencies grew stronger.
She was worlds apart from her eldest son.
However, the two brothers had always had a very good relationship; otherwise, Lin'an would not have entrusted the woman to him.
Now that Xie Lin'an is dead, she only has Xie Linyuan as her son.
Mother Xie coughed a few times, straightened her posture, and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. I heard that Lin Yuan asked the kitchen to make you a bowl of contraceptive soup. Is that true?"
Su Muying lowered her eyes and replied, "That is indeed true."
Mother Xie looked heartbroken and said sternly, "Lin'an died because of you. He was the eldest son of the Xie family and an important official in the court. Your life is as worthless as grass. You should be arranged for a ghost marriage so that you can go down to accompany him. If you are unwilling, you should be beaten to death with sticks."
Their lives were worthless, yet they were forced into a ghost marriage and beaten to death.
How easily these words are spoken.
A faint, pleasant sandalwood fragrance wafted from the incense burner inside the room. Every piece of furniture in the room was exquisite and of high value.
People from noble families always regard the lives of commoners as worthless as ants. Su Muying suddenly remembered the look in Xie Linyuan's eyes and the words he spoke that night.
He looked down at her and asked why she was the only one who survived.
But why... can't she live?
Why can't she live?
Her parents died for her, and Lin'an died for her too. No matter what, she had to live on.
She must survive.
She wants to go back to Anzhou.
Su Muying appeared to be standing obediently and politely in front of Xie's mother, looking meek and submissive as she listened to her reprimand. However, beneath her sleeves, her clasped hands dug into the flesh, causing more blood to flow.
"I'm only letting you live here because I value your looks. Lin Yuan has never married or even considered a woman. I can't let the Xie family line die out. You have this seductive face that caused Lin An to die for you. If you could use your beauty to conceive Lin Yuan's child and continue the Xie family line, I might have taken pity on you and spared your life. But now Lin Yuan despises you so much, I'm afraid..."
Upon hearing this, Su Muying immediately knelt down, her usually gentle and helpless voice now sounding like shattered jade.
"Please rest assured, Madam, Ying'er will definitely conceive a child for the Xie family, continue the Xie family line, and leave the Xie mansion."
Mother Xie was taken aback for a moment, then glanced at the woman kneeling on the ground, pleased with her understanding and sensible nature, but also disdainful of her behavior.
They really are afraid of death.
Lin'an lost his life because of such a woman...
Looking at Su Muying, Xie's mother was reminded of her deceased son. Overwhelmed with grief, she gestured to Granny Zhou outside, and someone came forward to lead Su Muying out of Chunhui Hall.
After leaving Chunhui Hall, Su Muying politely thanked the nanny and then gestured for Xiao Rong to step forward and give her some money.
"Miss, you mustn't do that, you mustn't do that."
Granny Zhou hurriedly refused, but Su Muying pushed her back. Her voice was gentle and soft, like flowing water caressing one's ears, making it very pleasant to listen to.
It was quite incongruous with her overly beautiful appearance.
"Ying'er is an orphan with no one to rely on in the manor. It is because of my pitiful state that the nanny has taken care of me. This is a small token of my appreciation. I hope that the nanny will speak well of me to the madam in the future. If there is anything convenient, please let Ying'er know. I will be eternally grateful."
Upon hearing these words, Granny Zhou no longer refused. Her gaze towards Su Muying softened with affection, and she sighed heavily once more.
This Granny Zhou was Xie's mother's dowry maid. She had been by Xie's mother's side for many years and had often taken care of Su Muying. She also knew about what had happened these days.
This Miss Su is truly a pitiful person.
The eldest son died saving her, and although she survived by chance, life in the Xie family was truly difficult.
Yesterday, the second young master dragged her to do such an absurd thing in the mourning hall. Given his personality, anyone with eyes could see that he must have forced her to do it, but no one dared to say anything against him, not even the madam. So they all vented their anger and pressure on the girl in front of them. Sigh...
She was such a lovely person, a delicate flower in the past. When the young master was around, although she was cautious, she often had a smile on her face. She was so radiant that anyone who saw her would think that even the most beautiful flower could not compare to her. But now, after experiencing so many things, she has become noticeably thinner these past few days. She looks like a flower about to wither, and it's really pitiful to see.
Granny Zhou sighed again and said, "Miss, you are too kind. If there is anything I can do to help you in the future, please let me know. I will also let you know if there is anything else."
"This Xie residence is truly unbearable for you, young lady. This old servant also hopes that you can leave here as soon as possible..."
Su Muying's eyes reddened. She thanked Granny Zhou again and left with Xiao Rong.
She walked through the corridors towards the west courtyard where Xie Linyuan's bedroom was located.
Since yesterday, that place has become her residence.
But just as they were about to arrive, Su Muying suddenly stopped.
"Girl, what's wrong?" Xiao Rong asked worriedly, her eyebrows furrowed into an inverted V shape.
Su Muying stood still for a moment, then turned around and looked at Xiao Rong.
Her fair face inexplicably flushed slightly, and she asked in a low voice, "Xiao Rong, do you know where I can buy aphrodisiacs?"
A note from the author:
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