While Hongli remained silent, Yuying's heart was pounding in her throat; she was even prepared to be driven away by him. To her surprise, Hongli didn't refuse, but he didn't agree either; he simply remained silent in his rebuttal.
So does this mean they've tacitly agreed to let her stay?
When they were in the manor, Hongli would only visit Lanzhao Courtyard twice a month, and she would not visit him unless there was something to do. Occasionally, she would use the excuse of delivering soup to go to his study.
The two met only a handful of times, and aside from family matters, they had nothing to say to each other.
Previously, Hongli had treated her with respect, but after this incident, she first stopped him from entering the palace, and then obeyed Consort Xi's order to visit him, which made Hongli extremely annoyed with her. So much so that when the palace servants were not around, he would not even give her a kind look.
Yu Ying felt more and more wronged as she thought about it. "Fourth Master, I know you don't want to see me. I was forced to come here. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to stay here and get in your way."
However, in Hongli's view, if she really didn't want to enter the palace, she had plenty of ways to make excuses: "You can just make up a pretext that you are sick and unable to serve me."
Yu Ying always behaved properly. In her mind, the royal decree was inviolable. "I am your wife. You are seriously injured. Even if I am sick, I must come to serve you. If I refuse, Consort Xi will definitely think that I do not know the rules."
She had her concerns. Hongli and she didn't see eye to eye, so he didn't bother to say more. "Since you know what I'm thinking, then say less. I've been in a bad mood lately and I'm too lazy to even pretend. I've already given you face, so you'd better not bother me."
Her forbearance did not earn him understanding; he still vented his anger on her. Yu Ying felt hurt, but dared not show it, and could only lower her head and agree, "Yes, I understand."
During the day, the two didn't speak much and things were relatively peaceful. But that night, they were forced to lie together.
Hongli was injured and did not need to force himself to be intimate with her, so he simply turned his back to her.
Remembering Consort Xi's instructions, Yu Ying hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to take the initiative to talk to him. "When I went to pay my respects to Consort Xi today, she said some things to me."
She paused halfway through her sentence, knowing she wanted him to continue, but he couldn't even be bothered to ask a question.
"Speak your mind directly, there's no need to beat around the bush or keep us in suspense."
His tone was still unfriendly, but Yu Ying didn't dare to argue and continued, "From what Mother said, it seems that it's because you often defend Sister Su and have repeatedly refuted Mother's face for her sake that she took her anger out on Sister Su."
Hongli scoffed inwardly at his mother's ability to twist the truth. "If Mother hadn't deliberately caused trouble for Yushan, plotted against her, divorced her, and tried every means to break us up, how could I have had a conflict with her?"
"Mother's behavior is indeed a bit extreme, but it is understandable. Fourth Master, imagine how you would feel if your son disobeyed you for a woman?"
Yu Ying tried to resolve the conflict between mother and son, hoping he would put himself in his parents' shoes and see things from their perspective, but Hongli coldly snorted:
"How many women my son has in the future, whether he prefers a wife or a concubine, is his own business, and I will never interfere!"
"But what if he risks his life for that woman?"
Yu Ying's words were loaded with meaning; she clearly felt that he had hurt his parents' feelings by shielding Su Yushan from the attack, and he didn't want to waste his energy listening to such clichés.
“Su Yushan is my woman. It’s only right that I save her. Am I supposed to just stand by and watch her get hurt without doing anything?”
"If I had been the one accompanying you at the time, would you have risked everything to save me, Fourth Master?" Yu Ying herself found the question ridiculous, because the answer was obvious.
Hongli was already annoyed, and hearing her ask these irrelevant questions only made him more irritable. "Hypothetical questions are meaningless."
It was indeed meaningless, but he wouldn't even tell her a lie to coax her. With a bitter smile, Yu Ying didn't wait for his answer any longer and continued:
"If Fourth Master is unwilling to answer, I will answer for you. If it were me, Fourth Master would probably give me a warning and tell me to be careful, but he wouldn't rush over directly. Only Sister Su is worth risking your life to protect."
"It is precisely because you favor her to the point of disregarding your own safety that Consort Xi sees her as a thorn in her side, believing that her existence threatens your life and future."
His fever hadn't subsided, and his head throbbed with a dull ache, like a tight headband tightening and loosening, causing him great discomfort. Yet she was there, spouting some profound wisdom, constantly fueling his inner turmoil.
An impatient Hongli raised his voice in retort.
"What exactly do you want to say? A messenger sent by Mother? If you're here to lecture me, there's no need. Even Mother can't control me, do you think I'll listen to you?"
Yu Ying, her face flushed red from the teasing, suppressed her hurt feelings and feigned calmness, saying:
"Fourth Prince, you misunderstand. I didn't mean that. I just wanted to tell you that all mothers in the world are selfless in their devotion to their children, but they are also prone to jealousy. You pay too much attention to Sister Su, and Consort Xi will inevitably feel jealous. Fourth Prince, please don't confront her directly. You can try to coax her. Perhaps if she is happy, she won't make things difficult for Sister Su."
"You think I can't think of what you can think of? You have no idea how many outrageous things your mother has done. You think she's really wronged just because of her side of the story?"
Hongli had also tried to appease his mother before. When she poisoned Su Yushan, he suppressed the matter and didn't make it public. He spoke kindly and sincerely to his mother, thinking she would let go of those grudges and stop hating Yushan. But to his surprise, this time his mother was still relentless.
“I’ve tried everything, both hard and soft approaches, but she’s prejudiced and finds fault with everything. If I try to please her, she’ll only become more aggressive!”
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