Chapter 58 – Something’s Not Right?

Tang Wenzong grew anxious when Tang Liuzhao stopped halfway through her sentence.

“Hurry up and tell me, what exactly did A-Yi do when he stood by Mu Nanjin’s bedside?”

Tang Liuzhao’s expression was filled with resentment. “I saw A-Yi tuck her blanket properly and then… kiss her forehead.”

“Beast!”

Tang Wenzong slammed the table furiously. “How could he do something so disgraceful to his own niece!”

Jiang Zhenru, however, was far more composed. “Five years ago, Mu Nanjin was merely a ten-year-old child. Perhaps A-Yi’s kiss was simply an elder’s affection toward a younger generation. It’s improper by etiquette, yes, but still understandable emotionally.”

She said this because she was a mother herself. Before her sons turned ten, she had also kissed their foreheads out of motherly love. So in her eyes, Liuzhao was likely overthinking it.

Tang Liuzhao spoke in a low voice. “At first, I thought so too. I even believed A-Yi was just a man who couldn’t express his emotions, which is why he always treated me so coldly. But when I saw him kiss Mu Nanjin so gently, I realized that he could be tender… just never toward me. He’s never even held my hand affectionately. That image of him kissing her has haunted me ever since. I tried to be close to him, but he always rejected me coldly.”

“I used to naïvely think he just didn’t like being intimate outside the bedchamber. But after years of doubt festering in my heart, I started to notice things, odd things that didn’t feel right.”

Tang Wenzong leaned forward urgently. “What did you find?”

Tang Liuzhao’s face showed unease, but since she had already begun, she forced herself to continue.

“I discovered that every time before we were together… he would make me look into his eyes first. I didn’t think much of it at the beginning, but later, after overhearing my sister-in-law and her younger sister chatting about such matters, I realized something was off.”

At that point, Tang Wenzong could hardly bear to listen. As a grown man, hearing his younger sister discuss such things face-to-face already took immense courage from her.

Jiang Zhenru remembered something, four years ago, when her newly married sister came to visit, she had shyly confided that her husband was very vigorous every night, leaving her sore all over by morning.

Tang Liuzhao had asked curiously, “So you always feel sore and weak afterward? Even walking is difficult?”

Her little sister had confirmed it and even discussed other such private matters.

Tang Liuzhao had turned pale after hearing that.

Jiang Zhenru had thought she was just unwell and had someone escort her back to rest, even summoning a physician to check on her.

Now Jiang Zhenru asked softly, “So what exactly was wrong?”

Tang Liuzhao bit her lip. “I realized that A-Yi’s eyes can bewitch people. When I looked into them, I would fall into an illusion, into something unreal. That means our nights together might have been… fake. Everything was just in my imagination.”

Both Jiang Zhenru and Tang Wenzong gasped sharply.

“Ah-Zhao,” Jiang Zhenru said, “you can’t just jump to conclusions based on what my sister said. Everyone’s situation is different. Why do you think it was all an illusion?”

“I thought I was overthinking too,” Liuzhao whispered bitterly. “But afterward, I never felt anything, and doctors said both of us were perfectly healthy. Yet I could never get pregnant. That made me more certain something was wrong. Later, I heard that madams at brothels could tell whether a girl was still a virgin by feeling her pulse, so I spent a large sum hiring one. The result was…”

Her eyes reddened again. “She said I was still a virgin. After more than ten years of marriage to A-Yi, I’m still a virgin. How am I supposed to accept that? I could have had a child, our child, but instead, I’m told to love someone else’s child as my own. How can I possibly do that?”

“How, how could that be?”

Tang Wenzong stared in disbelief, while Jiang Zhenru was equally stunned.

Tang Wenzong’s face twisted in fury. “If he never wanted to touch you, why did he marry you in the first place? I never forced him! He could’ve just asked for some silver and left. But to treat you this way after marrying you, it’s outrageous!”

Tang Liuzhao stayed silent.

Tang Wenzong realized she must know more than she was saying.

“Ah-Zhao, tell me everything. I promise you, your elder brother will make him pay for all the pain you’ve suffered.”

After a long silence, Tang Liuzhao finally said, “Brother, do you remember what Father and Mother said about A-Yi’s appearance?”

Tang Wenzong frowned. “I think they mentioned something, yes.”

“They said A-Yi looked exactly like his father as a child. But when he grew up, he didn’t resemble him at all. I never thought much of it until my suspicions began. Then I spent a lot of silver to have someone investigate A-Yi and Mu Nanjin’s backgrounds, and I learned that the real Mu family died fifteen years ago of illness.”

“What? The entire Mu family died?”

Tang Wenzong and Jiang Zhenru looked at her in shock. “Then who are Mu Qinyi and Mu Nanjin? And how do they have the Tang family’s token?”

Back then, the Tang family was poor. The Mu family had generously provided a large sum to help Tang Wenzong travel to the capital for the Imperial Examinations. Out of gratitude, the two families arranged a betrothal and exchanged a token for future recognition.

Tang Wenzong had been fortunate; he passed the exam and became an official, changing the Tang family’s fate forever.

That was why, in his heart, the Mu family was their benefactor.

Even when Mu Qinyi later fell into hard times, the Tang family still accepted him and even allowed him to live in their rear courtyard after marrying Liuzhao. But now to learn he wasn’t truly a Mu…

If the Tang family hadn’t long lost contact with their hometown, he would’ve written home immediately to confirm it.

“I don’t know who they really are,” Tang Liuzhao said miserably, “and I don’t dare to ask. I’m terrified that once their true identities are revealed, A-Yi will leave me.”

Everyone in the Tang family knew she loved Mu Qinyi deeply. Asking her to part from him would be no different from asking her to die.

Tang Wenzong softened. “Even if he isn’t truly from the Mu family, he’s still your husband, bound to you by vows before the ancestors. That’s a fact he can’t deny. You don’t need to live in fear every day.”

“But I’m still afraid,” she whispered. “Afraid that every time he leaves, he’ll never come back.”

Tang Wenzong frowned. “If you care for him so much, why hire assassins to kill Mu Nanjin? Don’t you see that’ll only drive him further from you, and make you his enemy?”

“I was jealous. So jealous of Mu Nanjin.”

At the mention of Mu Nanjin, Liuzhao’s face twisted with hatred.

“A-Yi isn’t just gentle with her; she’s the only one who can make him smile. I’ve never seen that expression on him, not once. Even the gifts he brings from his assignments show it. He buys me jewelry and trinkets, pretty, but meaningless. He’s never understood what I truly need. But for Mu Nanjin, he chooses her gifts carefully. That horse he brought back this time, no amount of jewels could replace it. He bought it because he couldn’t bear seeing her walk to duty every day. He believes Mu Nanjin deserves the best, her food, her clothes, everything.”

Tang Wenzong and Jiang Zhenru exchanged a stunned look.

Indeed, it was true.

Although Mu Qinyi never showered Mu Nanjin with luxuries, she always wore finer fabrics than anyone else. Even her monthly stipend exceeded that of Tang Wenzong, a fifth-rank official.

“Tell me,” Liuzhao asked bitterly, “shouldn’t I be jealous? Jealous enough to go mad? I wanted to kill Mu Nanjin; only then would A-Yi finally look at me.”

Jiang Zhenru cautiously asked, “Ah-Zhao, are you jealous because you think A-Yi… has feelings for Mu Nanjin?”

Tang Liuzhao fell silent, her silence was an answer.

“Ridiculous!” Tang Wenzong shot to his feet. “Mu Nanjin is his niece! How could he possibly harbor such thoughts?”

Tang Liuzhao sneered. “Who’s to say they’re truly related by blood?”

Tang Wenzong was speechless.

Jiang Zhenru thought carefully. “Ah-Zhao, I think you’re mistaken. If A-Yi really loved Mu Nanjin, with his personality, he wouldn’t let her chase after Jingrui so persistently, nor allow the woman he loves to fancy another man. He’d keep her close, never letting anyone touch her.”

Tang Liuzhao froze. That… made sense.

Tang Wenzong sighed in relief.

At least Mu Qinyi didn’t actually love Mu Nanjin.

“Ah-Zhao,” he said firmly, “stop hiring assassins to harm Mu Nanjin. You’re only pushing A-Yi further away.”

Liuzhao’s eyes dimmed. “I just… have this feeling that when A-Yi returns next time, it’ll be the day we part. Every time he leaves, it’s for Mu Nanjin. Maybe if she were gone, he’d finally stay.”

Tang Wenzong frowned deeply. “Isn’t he away on official duty? What do you mean, for Mu Nanjin?”

“Official duty?” Liuzhao laughed bitterly. “Once, I saw some yamen runners who were supposed to be traveling with him. I thought he’d returned and followed them, wanting to surprise him. But I overheard them say A-Yi always extends his assignments on purpose, and their captain never questions it.”

“Did you ask where he goes?”

“I didn’t. But from their words, it seems they don’t know either.”

Tang Wenzong pressed, “Then did you ask him yourself?”

“I did,” Liuzhao said sadly, shaking her head. “But I can’t even remember what he said. I didn’t want him to think I was being bothersome, so I never asked again.”

Tang Wenzong sighed heavily.

Jiang Zhenru’s heart ached for her. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner? If you had, we might’ve stopped you before things went too far.”

“I wanted to,” Liuzhao whispered. “But I didn’t know how to begin. There are so many things… I can’t even speak of.”

She dabbed her tears with a silk handkerchief.

Tang Wenzong’s chest tightened. He turned to Jiang Zhenru. “Stay here with her. I need to take care of something.”