Chapter 66 Selfishness How could there be such a selfish and self-centered woman? ...
It didn't surprise her that Mrs. Cui came to her door looking for someone.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Li Yunru had guessed that this day would come. She was mentally prepared and calmly asked Shu Yun to invite everyone to sit down. She also poured her a cup of tea that she had brewed herself.
Looking at the clear tea soup, Cui felt even more displeased. She said in a harsh tone, "Ha, the county magistrate is really quite leisurely. She has made her husband lose his mind and caused chaos in both families, yet she can still sit here drinking tea as if nothing happened."
Li Yunru curled her lips into a smile, though the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Otherwise, what does Madam want me to do? Cry? Run to your Cui family or cry in front of my husband?"
Cui Shi did not acknowledge her as her daughter-in-law, and Li Yunru no longer called her mother-in-law. The two spoke with polite but unfamiliar terms of address.
"Will crying make you tolerate me, or will it bring you any benefit from the lady?"
Madam Cui was speechless, but such indifference was too heartless. It was a waste of her child's life, who had suffered so much for her, bearing such a bad reputation and enduring such torment!
Li Yunru fiddled with the teacup, but her eyes never left Cui Shi, observing her reaction. Cui Shi's expression shifted slightly, her face remained cold and stern, and her dark eyes darted around. Li Yunru couldn't tell exactly what Cui Shi was thinking, but she could roughly guess seven or eight parts of it.
The man took a sip of tea slowly and said, "Madam, are you calling me heartless? What a coincidence! You said no, someone else said the same thing to me before. Madam knows who that person is."
Li Yunru chuckled and said, "Doesn't Madam find it funny? You started this whole mess, going to great lengths to separate me from my husband, and in the end, things got out of control. Yet you still maintain your self-righteousness and condescendingly criticize me, arguing about right and wrong, saying that I caused chaos in both our families. Where is the logic in that?"
"Actually, the root of this matter lies with your Yan family and Cui family. If your two families have such a solid and inseparable relationship, and need this marriage to come to fruition, then you should not have accepted the benefits offered by the royal family and betrothed me as your wife in the first place."
"You are greedy. You married me for military power, but after you gained the benefits, you look down on me, thinking me vulgar and rude. Without my status as a princess, my social standing is not worthy of your Yan family, so you've caused one trouble after another..."
Cui remained silent.
After a long pause, she changed the subject and said, "Does the county magistrate have the heart to let the eldest prince continue like this, with his reputation ruined in an instant and condemned by the world?"
"Since you can't find a rebuttal to me, Madam is resorting to emotional appeals?"
"you!"
Cui knew her temperament well; when she spoke, her words were sharp and went straight to the heart, showing no mercy. Even so, Cui was still angered by her and almost lost all her dignity.
She said, “The county magistrate and I have a contract, but she has broken it and is still entangled with the eldest son. That’s fine, I said that the county magistrate can stay with the Yan family, but the eldest son of the Yan family needs a high-ranking wife who can help him. The county magistrate could have taken a step back and everyone would have been happy. But the county magistrate broke the contract and is still stubborn. She is unwilling to bow her head and take a step back, which has made my good-for-nothing child lose his mind, forget etiquette and upbringing, and do such a thing.”
As Cui spoke, a few tears welled up in her eyes. She turned away, covered her face, wiped them, and after a while, turned back and said, "Your Highness may not know, but Changjun and Awan had already gotten married when they went to the capital. It was only because of your sake that he hesitated to speak up. But how important is a woman's reputation? He did this to fulfill his duty to Your Highness, but what about Awan? How can he himself live with peace of mind?"
We've finally gotten to this point.
From the moment she entered the house, someone had been subtly hinting at this matter to her, and now it was finally being said directly.
This made her feel much more relaxed, and her tense heart was completely at ease.
Li Yunru replied casually, "I know."
Clearly, Cui was unaware that someone had leaked this information to her. The moment Li Yunru said "I know," a hint of shock flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by indifference.
She said, "Since the county magistrate is aware of this, she shouldn't be holding onto the title of 'elder brother' all by herself. He is also another woman's husband and needs to be responsible to others."
Li Yunru did not answer her question. Instead, she put down her tea, looked up at Cui Shi, stared at her for a moment, and then asked, "Does Madam really think so? Does Madam believe that the child she has raised and nurtured from childhood would be a lecherous rogue who would casually ruin a young lady's reputation and then be irresponsible?"
Cui was stuck.
"you……"
Seeing her like this, Li Yunru laughed again, "Let me speak for Madam."
She stood up and walked around the room casually, saying with certainty, "Whether Madam knows it or not, it's no longer that important to your Yan family. All you want is a reason to make this marriage go smoothly."
Cui was taken aback by the unexpected trust Li Yunru placed in her son.
She couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you ever doubt that this was true?"
How could there not be?
When she first heard those maids talk about it, she was so angry that she wanted to kill them. Later, she vented her anger by talking about Uncle Cui, but she was still resentful.
She didn't even dare to ask Yan Ning whether the matter was true or false that day.
She was terrified of that answer; she was afraid it was true, and she didn't know how to face it.
Li Yunru even considered that if she didn't say anything, and just pretended not to know anything, and lived her life in a daze, that would be fine too.
But they were in too much of a hurry.
Before she could even catch her breath, the marriage was announced.
At the banquet, she didn't make her presence felt, partly to play the role of a docile and charming daughter-in-law, and partly to observe Yan Ning's reaction.
He seemed more shocked than she was by this.
This means that the Cui and Yan families had not informed him beforehand, and he was unaware that this Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was actually a trap.
But he refused.
He rejected the marriage proposal in front of many relatives and friends.
Yan Ning was a magnanimous and filial young man. Even if the banquet was attended mostly by relatives related to him, he would not so casually embarrass others in front of others.
This can be seen as a sign of her importance.
Secondly, it is also open and honest.
If he really had an affair with Cui Wan, he could have easily accepted it as a way to back down. Even if he wanted to refuse afterwards, he could find a way to make amends and lie to her with a perfectly legitimate reason.
However, he refused so decisively, without the slightest hesitation.
She then knew the answer to the question in her heart.
"Does it matter?" she asked.
Cui lowered her eyes, a hint of helplessness in her voice. She said, “Since you understand Changjun so well, why don’t you take a step back and persuade him to marry Awan? You won’t have to be a concubine; you can be a regular wife. Nothing will change, and you’ll be carefree.”
Oh.
It's always like this.
He promised her as a concubine then, and now he's offering her as a secondary wife, both with an air of superiority and condescension.
The arrogance of this aristocratic family has never changed.
Li Yunru said, "I do not have the magnanimity and tolerance of my wife, who can share my husband with others."
Once she takes a step back, there will be a second step, a third step... and eventually the situation will no longer be under her control.
But Cui didn't understand these things, or more accurately, she didn't want to understand them.
All she knew was that this person in front of her, despite her repeated attempts to yield and give her chances to make things right, was only thinking of her own desires and rejected her once again.
That's so selfish!
How could there be such a self-centered and selfish woman?
She truly cannot fulfill the responsibilities of a mistress!
Seeing that she couldn't reason with him, Cui abruptly rose from her seat and left in a huff.
Shortly after she left, Yan Sheng followed her into the house.
"Sister-in-law."
The person seemed a little awkward, standing at the doorway, hesitant to go in.
"You've come here to persuade me too?"
“I don’t know,” she said, leaning against the doorframe.
"Come in and speak."
Li Yunru spoke first, and then she took small steps in and sat down in the seat that Cui Shi had just occupied. She said softly, "I don't know if I should advise you, but... I know I don't want to see my brother like this."
Yan Sheng's voice choked with sobs, "My brother achieved fame at a young age and has always been the pride of the family. He has never been so humiliated, never been spoken to or insulted like this before..."
“I just went to see my brother. He was still kneeling, and his knees were covered in blood…”
Yan Sheng couldn't continue, only emphasizing that she had never seen a brother like this before, and asked, "Sister-in-law, he has done so much for you, can you really bear to let him suffer like this?"
Madam Cui made him kneel down to reflect on his actions, but he refused to admit his mistake. Old Master Cui was so angry that he almost died. Now, everyone in the Cui family avoids them like the plague, and they have a lot of complaints about Yan Ning. But Yan Ning doesn't care. He says that Old Master Cui was angered by him, and he admits his mistake. He changes his kneeling spot and goes to Yan Ning's courtyard to apologize.
He pleaded guilty again, but he still refused to admit the marriage.
Li Yunru felt bad after hearing her description, but she knew even more clearly that she could not be soft-hearted at this moment.
She said to Yan Sheng, "Because he is insisting, I cannot give in first, otherwise everything he has done will be meaningless."
The man held Yan Sheng's hand, looked at her earnestly, and said helplessly, "Ah Sheng, you are still young and have never experienced love. You are not at the point where you have to make a choice. So I won't ask you to understand me or stand with me. I just want to ask you not to force me like they do."
"I'm not forcing you, but this stalemate won't end well."
Yan Sheng raised her head and met her gaze. Her bright eyes were filled with an emotion that was hard to describe. She bit her lip, as if she had been struggling with it for a long time, before finally speaking and asking, "Sister-in-law, have you ever thought about what if? What if Grandfather really couldn't get over this and died? Then my brother would carry the infamy of causing Grandfather's death and being disloyal and unfilial for the rest of his life. With a life between you, can you really be together in peace?"
“I secretly checked my maternal grandfather’s pulse, and he really was very weak…”
She wrote a letter to ask her master for help, but her master was a wanderer, and she herself could hardly see him more than a few times a year, let alone others. Who could guarantee that the letter would be received?
Actually, she admired her brother and sister-in-law for daring to defy both families so resolutely. She herself wouldn't have dared to do that. When she refused the marriage proposal, she only dared to say a few words: "Anyway, I won't marry!"
Even so, it was considered a huge breach of discipline in the Yan family, and she was punished by being confined to her quarters. If it weren't for her brother, perhaps her mother would have urged her a few more times and she would have given in.
She simply couldn't do that!
While I admire her, it's a tragedy that someone's life was lost, especially one of her own family members...
Li Yunru lowered her eyes and fell silent as well.
This was the original plan of the Cui and Yan families.
While Old Master Cui was seriously ill, they took the opportunity to set a wedding date. Yan Ning was filial and would not refuse, even if she had her own thoughts, she would still have some reservations.
Previously, the Cui and Yan families had sent Cui Wan to Jiankang to cultivate their relationship. Their purpose was quite clear, but Yan Ning had not taken the bait, which is why things had been delayed. Further discussion would only lead to the same result as before, so they decided to act first and inform her later.
That's what they're betting on, but it's also the most irresistible aspect, making people hesitate even if they know the purpose...
"Actually, perhaps we could apologize first, and discuss the rest later. There's no need to make things so tense, especially since my brother and Sister Wan are still..."
Yan Sheng felt embarrassed after saying those words and lowered her head, not daring to look at Li Yunru. Everyone knew how much she cared about this matter. Unlike other noble ladies, she couldn't tolerate any nonsense.
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Author's Note: Unbelievable, I did it! I'll add an extra chapter tomorrow! Ah! I have another new idea I want to write about. I really want to turn into an octopus and write 100,000 words a day to turn all my ideas into reality! Waaaaaaah!
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