Cui Yunxiu gritted her teeth.
"How will Huiyin maintain her standing among the noble ladies of Fengjing in the future? Won't she be ridiculed to death? And..."
Thinking of the two prestigious marriages she had just arranged for her daughter, her voice trembled with tears, filled with resentment and panic.
"I wonder if the Duke of Guan's mansion and the Duke of Yun's mansion will be affected now."
My poor son! To suffer such torment…
Cui Yunxiu covered her face and sobbed, her shoulders shaking violently.
Zheng Bingjun watched his wife's hysterical reaction in silence, a barely perceptible coldness flashing deep in his eyes.
He reached out again, this time with an irresistible force, and grasped Cui Yunxiu's hand, which was twisting a handkerchief.
It feels cool to the touch, and... sticky to the touch.
Startled by the sudden grip, Cui Yunxiu stopped crying and instinctively looked down to see her husband's broad hand enveloping hers.
On the spot where his palm was pressed against the back of his hand, a small, glaring patch of not-yet-dry crimson blood had clearly seeped out.
"Husband! What...what's wrong with you?"
Cui Yunxiu was terrified, her voice trembling. She jerked her hand back, staring in horror at the smear of blood.
"You're injured? Who injured you?"
"It's nothing." Zheng Bingjun slowly put his blood-stained hand behind his back, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about a trivial matter.
But the slightly taut jawline betrayed his restraint. "A little accident."
He abruptly changed the subject, his gaze fixed intently on his wife's still-shaken face. "Yunxiu, regarding Huiyin's matter... Father has already made a decision."
Cui Yunxiu's heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition gripped her instantly.
Looking at her husband's unusually solemn expression, her voice trembled: "Father... what did Father say?"
Zheng Bingjun uttered each word clearly and deliberately, revealing a decision that would send Cui Yunxiu to hell:
"My father said that I should marry a scholar who has just passed the imperial examination."
"Wh...what?!"
Cui Yunxiu felt as if she had been struck directly on the top of her head by a thunderbolt from the heavens!
She suddenly sprang up from the chair, swayed a few times, and felt dizzy, almost unable to stand.
His mouth was open, and he made a "hoarse" sound in his throat, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Only boundless fear and a sense of absurdity overwhelmed her like an icy tide.
Marrying a poor, uneducated scholar? She was the eldest daughter of a noble family, raised with great care and privilege.
This is a thousand times, ten thousand times more shameful than not being on the list at all.
This is going to trample her daughter, her reputation, and even the reputation of the entire Cui family into the mud!
"How can this be? Absolutely not!"
Cui Yunxiu finally found her voice and screamed shrilly, her voice filled with desperate sobs.
Just then, Zheng Bingjun's voice rang out again like a ghost, carrying a strange allure:
“Yunxiu, listen to me, now... there might be another way.”
"A solution?" Cui Yunxiu, like a drowning man grasping at the last piece of driftwood, lunged at Zheng Bingjun.
Her red, tear-filled eyes stared intently at him, burning with a last, desperate hope.
"Husband, do you have a way? Tell me quickly, I'm willing to do anything to save Huiyin!"
Zheng Bingjun gazed into his wife's eyes, which were filled with dependence and pleading, and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air before finally speaking.
The sound was deep and clear, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake.
"The only solution now is to separate the family. We will take Huiyin and Qingyan and leave the Duke's Mansion."
"Separate...separate the family?" Upon hearing this, Cui Yunxiu was completely dumbfounded.
“Yes.” Zheng Bingjun explained further, his tone carrying a resolute determination, as if he had already decided to burn his bridges.
“I will immediately write to the court and request to be transferred to a post outside the capital, away from this place of trouble.”
Our family of four moved far away from home to start anew in a new place.
The glimmer of light that rekindled in his eyes revealed the most crucial, and also the most cruel, condition:
"However, the division of the family comes at a price, and the title of Duke of the State will be inherited by my third brother, Bingrui."
“This…” Cui Yunxiu was completely stunned and stood there, as if she had been frozen in place.
Divide the family property? Give up the hereditary title of Duke of Zheng? Give it to that illegitimate third brother?
This is even more painful than tearing her heart out!
She was born into the Cui family of Linhai, one of the four great families of Cui.
What they valued most was the inheritance of their family lineage; giving up their titles was tantamount to cutting themselves off from the elite circle of nobles.
Her husband was supposed to inherit the title of Duke, which would then be passed on to her son.
How could Cui Yunxiu's daughter, once the eldest daughter of a duke's family, have fallen to the status of an ordinary official's daughter?
"this……"
Her lips trembled, her eyes flickered violently, and she instinctively began to retreat and run away.
“My lord, this matter… this matter is far too important, it involves the entire family.”
Should we take this time to consider? Perhaps I should write a letter home and ask my father, brothers, and elders for their opinions.
They are knowledgeable and experienced; perhaps they have a better solution.
As if she had found a lifeline, Cui Yunxiu spoke faster and faster, with a panicked eagerness to escape reality.
"Don't worry, my husband. The Cui family will not stand idly by. My father and brothers will definitely find a way to protect Huiyin."
There must be other ways, without having to resort to dividing the family property and relinquishing the title.
As he spoke, he suddenly turned around and staggered towards the desk.
"I'll write the letter right now, I'll write it right now!"
She picked up the pen, but her hand was trembling violently.
Ink dripped onto the snow-white Xuan paper, spreading into a smudge.
Zheng Bingjun stood still and did not stop him.
He watched his wife's almost panicked back, her shoulders trembling slightly with fear, and her futile struggle to grasp at the Cui family as her "lifeline."
The deep affection, regret, and helplessness in his eyes when he was facing his wife just now receded as quickly as the tide.
He slowly narrowed his eyes, his long, narrow pupils filled with an unfathomable chill and a kind of... profound mystery.
In the shadows of the pillars outside the door, the maidservant who had been sent to inquire about the news in Zheng Huiyin's room was already terrified.
She covered her mouth tightly, forcing back her sobs, her nails digging deep into the soft flesh of her palms.
Those wide-open eyes were filled with immense fear and disbelief.
Hearing the room quiet down, she dared not linger for even a second, turning around abruptly like a startled rabbit.
Lifting her skirt, she ran frantically towards the edge of the courtyard...
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