Chapter 75

When Cheng Qingyao learned that Xue Qi—the man who had always silently adored her and sworn to protect her for the rest of his life—had actually defected, she nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. In a blind rage, she violently smashed every piece of porcelain within reach onto the ground, her eyes churning with pure, unadulterated hatred.

“Cheng Ruyi… Cheng Ruyi!”

Qiu Lan kept her head buried low, not daring to look at her mistress’s frenzied expression. Her mistress was becoming more and more terrifying by the day.

“Miss, perhaps Master Xue Qi has some sort of unavoidable predicament…”

Even Qiu Lan didn’t believe her own words.

And Cheng Qingyao believed it even less.

She shot Qiu Lan a freezing, razor-sharp glare: “Do not call that ungrateful, treacherous wretch ‘Master.’ He doesn’t deserve it!”

Qiu Lan’s face turned stark white, and she immediately shut her mouth, not daring to utter another syllable.

The mere thought that Xue Qi—who had always been completely subservient to her every whim—had actually thrown himself into Cheng Ruyi’s camp made Cheng Qingyao want to literally tear Cheng Ruyi apart and drink her blood.

“Qiu Lan, tomorrow you are going to help me draw away those old matrons who are monitoring me. I am leaving this manor.” Even as hatred consumed her, Cheng Qingyao refused to accept defeat. She wanted to look Xue Qi dead in the eye and demand to know exactly why he had betrayed her.

“Miss, you… you’re going to look for Xue Qi?” Qiu Lan was thoroughly startled.

Cheng Qingyao gritted her teeth maliciously: “Finding him is just a side matter. I have other critical business to attend to.”

Among all her high-society admirers, every single one of them had abandoned her the exact moment her reputation lay ruined in the dirt. Even Xue Qi, who had been unflinchingly loyal, had defected. The only exception was that absolute fool, Chu Yuan’en.

From what she gathered, when the Consort of Prince Wei had unilaterally broken off their marriage alliance, Chu Yuan’en had vehemently disagreed. He had been placed under house arrest by Prince Wei, and by the time he was finally let out, the situation was already a done deal.

At a time like this, Chu Yuan’en was the only person left who was truly worth relying on.

Even if she didn’t harbor a single shred of actual affection for him.

The Second Prince and the Seventh Prince were both men she had desperately wanted to hitch her wagon to, but they were ruthlessly calculating characters who refused to scatter their bait unless the rabbit was firmly secured.

She recalled how she had leaked a substantial amount of future intelligence to them, yet they still maintained a cold, non-committal distance from her. Did they honestly take her for a fool who couldn’t see through their games?

The moment she lost her utility, wouldn’t they instantly kick her to the curb?

For this escape from the manor, Cheng Qingyao was determined to seek out Chu Yuan’en.

Ever since she had been banished out here, the hidden network of assets she had painstakingly cultivated hadn’t initiated contact with her for nearly half a month. This was particularly true after the onset of winter; all communication had completely dried up.

Qiu Lan had only managed to extract a vague scrap of information from their informants indicating that the operatives were currently expending their maximum effort to harvest and store ice blocks.

Cheng Qingyao couldn’t help but harbor an underlying, ominous premonition in her heart.

Inside Prince Rong’s Estate

Braving the drifting snowflakes, Cheng Ruyi—wrapped snugly inside a striking, gold-accented crimson feather-satin cloak—watched with a beaming, joyful smile as cart after cart of fresh river fish was delivered into the estate.

She turned to her husband, thoroughly delighted: “Mo, I never would have guessed that cutting ice blocks could yield such an incredible bounty of fish! This is fantastic—we won’t have to worry about a scarcity of fish for the entirety of next year!”

Draped in a majestic black wool mantle, Rong Mo offered a tender smile, extending his hand to gently brush away a stray snowflake that had settled against her forehead: “Indeed.”

“Oh, by the way, Mo, what do you say I make a trip out to the mountain ranges on the outskirts of the capital to do some hunting? Going on a winter hunt sounds like an absolute blast,” Cheng Ruyi suggested with immense enthusiasm.

Rong Mo chuckled softly, shaking his head to decline the proposal: “Let’s skip it. Our meat reserves are already more than sufficient.”

During the grand autumn hunt, the estate guards had successfully brought back a massive quantity of game, all of which was safely preserved within their underground ice cellars.

His little wife was simply too powerful. He had intentionally barred her from participating during the autumn hunt precisely to prevent her from systematically wiping out every living creature across the entire mountain range.

Seeing that Rong Mo wasn’t on board, Cheng Ruyi didn’t push the matter any further.

Just then, Rong Ting and Cheng Yu returned in high spirits, a small contingent of estate guards trailing behind them.

“Brother, Sister-in-law! Little Fishy and I caught a ton of fish!” Rong Ting and Cheng Yu worked together to haul a massive wooden barrel down from the carriage. Rong Ting looked a trace bashful, yet he couldn’t hide the distinctly proud, boasting smile on his face.

“Brother-in-law, Big Sister, this entire barrel of fish was caught by the two of us!” Cheng Yu chimed in with absolute exuberance. The tip of his nose was flushed bright crimson from the biting cold, yet his entire being radiated pure, unadulterated joy.

The massive wooden tub was entirely crammed with fish of all sizes. The creatures were exceptionally lively and energetic, thrashing and leaping about, occasionally sending sprays of water splashing over the rim.

Cheng Ruyi gave them both a resounding thumbs-up.

The corners of Rong Mo’s mouth curved upward, offering a warm word of praise: “Splendid job, both of you. You’ve done exceptionally well.”

Hearing this, the smiles on the two boys’ faces grew even more radiant.

“Oh, right, Big Sister, Brother-in-law—on our way back, we crossed paths with one of the concubines from the Marquis of Huaiyang’s estate. She said some completely bizarre, nonsensical things to Brother Rong Ting,” Cheng Yu noted suddenly once his initial excitement cooled down.

“Oh? What exactly did she say?” Cheng Ruyi’s ears practically perked up, her face instantly melting into an expression of pure, gossip-loving intrigue.

Rong Mo’s brows knitted slightly, a sudden jolt striking his chest. A concubine from the Marquis of Huaiyang’s estate… could it be that Auntie Sun?

When his father, Prince Rong, had officially transferred his intelligence networks into his hands, he had explicitly requested his assistance in helping Master Huiyuan locate his long-lost biological son. This Auntie Sun was precisely the woman with whom Master Huiyuan had broken his monastic vows of celibacy all those years ago.

The two had ultimately produced a son, who was subsequently stolen away by the fraudulent Consort Rong.

Looking at him closely now, Rong Ting’s facial features did indeed bear a subtle, passing resemblance to Master Huiyuan—though it was admittedly only a slight likeness.

If the person who blocked their path truly was Auntie Sun, how exactly had she managed to spot the connection?

“That woman’s expression looked incredibly strange at the time. She barred Brother Rong Ting’s path and demanded to know who his biological parents were. The moment she learned that Brother Rong Ting was an orphan with no parents, she looked entirely beside herself, like she’d lost her soul, and just drifted away. It was incredibly weird.”

Cheng Yu curled his lip in distaste.

Standing off to the side, Rong Ting anxiously and frantically scrambled to explain himself: “Brother, Sister-in-law, I swear I don’t know her at all! She was just a completely unhinged, inexplicable woman.”

Rong Mo clapped a reassuring hand onto his shoulder, his eyes narrowing imperceptibly: “I will have this matter thoroughly investigated. Do not be anxious. Regardless of what the underlying truth turns out to be, you are my brother—always.”

Only then did the heavy weight lift from Rong Ting’s chest, a deeply reliant, trusting smile breaking across his features.

Ever since he discovered that he wasn’t of the Rong bloodline but was instead an abandoned orphan, he had harbored an underlying sense of insecurity. Now that a completely random woman had suddenly materialized out of nowhere to interrogate him about his parentage, it was impossible not to overthink things.

To speak the absolute truth, having his older brother was more than enough for him. He didn’t harbor the slightest desire to suddenly acquire a pair of completely unknown biological parents.

Rong Ting—whose core psyche remained firmly anchored at the age of twelve—thought to himself rather huffily.

Investigating Rong Ting’s encounter proved to be an incredibly straightforward affair. The individual who had blocked their path was indeed Auntie Sun. Recently, the capital had been entirely saturated with ice-harvesting teams, and the Marquis of Huaiyang’s estate was naturally among them. As the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Auntie Sun had utilized this rare, chaotic window of opportunity to make a personal visit back to her maiden home. Who could have foreseen that she would happen to cross paths with Rong Ting as he was returning to the estate alongside Cheng Yu?

In his past life, Xue Qi had operated strictly as a shadow assassin, never once appearing under the bright light of day.

Consequently, Auntie Sun had never possessed a single opportunity to lay eyes upon his countenance.

The current Rong Ting was entirely different. He had completely shed the memories of his days as a killer, his mental age was firmly locked at twelve years old, and he thoroughly enjoyed spending his time playing outdoors with Cheng Yu. As the pampered young master of the Marquis of Changle’s estate, Cheng Yu was naturally one of the most heavily scrutinized figures by the capital’s populace.

With Rong Ting constantly by his side, it wasn’t surprising that they drew a substantial amount of attention.

It was simply an unexpected twist of fate that they had managed to provoke Auntie Sun’s personal notice.

“Mo, do you suppose Rong Ting could actually be that Auntie Sun’s biological child?” Cheng Ruyi’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, her face full of sheer, unadulterated disbelief.

“There is roughly a ninety percent probability that he is.”

Rong Mo massaged the space between his brows, letting out a soft sigh. Following an in-depth probe into the matter, he finally comprehended exactly why Auntie Sun had suddenly behaved so abruptly upon laying eyes on Rong Ting’s face.

It was because Rong Ting looked almost completely identical to Auntie Sun’s tragically short-lived elder brother—it was practically a carbon copy from the exact same mold.

That particular brother of Auntie Sun’s had passed away a full two years before Rong Ting was even born, so it was physically impossible for Rong Ting to be his son. That left Auntie Sun herself as the only logical link.

Auntie Sun was currently established as a concubine within the Marquis of Huaiyang’s estate; presumably, she wouldn’t dare openly initiate a public reunion with Rong Ting.

The absolute worst-case scenario would be if this Auntie Sun—in a desperate bid to permanently bury the scandalous, unseemly details of her past—decided to deploy assassins to silence Rong Ting once and for all.

The moment Cheng Ruyi realized that Rong Ting was actually half-siblings with that incredibly arrogant, unhinged lunatic of a woman from the Huaiyang estate, her countenance turned distinctly sour.

“Mo, now that Rong Ting’s true parentage has been exposed to us, should we dispatch someone to drop a hint to the grand monk, Master Huiyuan?”

Rong Mo hesitated slightly. If it were anyone else, he would have notified Master Huiyuan without a single moment’s delay. But this was Rong Ting—this was his younger brother. His heart couldn’t help but feel profoundly conflicted.

“Let’s bide our time for a little while longer. For now, do not speak a word of this to Rong Ting.”

Cheng Ruyi didn’t harbor any objections to the decision.

To be perfectly frank, she wasn’t particularly eager to see Rong Ting reunite with the grand monk Master Huiyuan just yet anyway.

She had fully expected that the very first person to hunt down Rong Ting would be Cheng Qingyao; who could have anticipated that an Auntie Sun would pop out of the woodwork instead, inadvertently unearthing Rong Ting’s true lineage? It could certainly be considered an unexpected, chaotic surprise.

However, Cheng Qingyao was definitely not the type of character to throw in the towel easily.

According to the reports delivered by their surveillance operatives, she had already successfully infiltrated the capital and taken up residence within a modest little residential courtyard. Following a swift investigation, it turned out that the hidden property was actually registered directly under her personal name. Cheng Ruyi couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement; Cheng Qingyao truly lived up to her status as the female lead—to think she had secretly purchased a private courtyard right under everyone’s noses inside the capital without a single soul finding out.

Cheng Ruyi couldn’t resist murmuring critically to herself.

The fractured bones Cheng Qingyao suffered must have healed incredibly fast, haven’t they? It’s barely been half a month. Could that veteran physician stationed at the Marquis of Jian’an’s estate genuinely possess such miraculous medical skills?

Furthermore, it appeared Cheng Qingyao had already dispatched a courier to deliver a private letter directly to the Prince Wei Estate.

“Mo, it looks like Cheng Qingyao doesn’t actually value Rong Ting all that much after all. Do you suppose she’s scheming to rekindle her old flame with the Heir Apparent of Prince Wei?” Cheng Ruyi inquired out of pure curiosity.

Rong Mo tilted his brow: “It’s highly probable. Cheng Qingyao is no fool. Given the absolute ruin of her current reputation, the statistical probability of her marrying into the core imperial family is practically non-existent. The Heir Apparent of Prince Wei is entirely different; his affections for her are deeply rooted. If she simply ceases her relentless pursuit of self-destruction and focuses on living a stable life with him, she might actually secure a modicum of happiness. The only danger is if her ambitions remain higher than the heavens themselves.”

“What deeply rooted affections? It’s all a massive sham. The Heir Apparent of Prince Wei already keeps a whole flock of concubines and bedwarmers in his inner quarters,” Cheng Ruyi scoffed, curling her lip. In the original text of the novel, Chu Yuan’en was definitely not written as a fiercely loyal, monogamous sidekick; regardless of how much he claimed to adore Cheng Qingyao, he would never cease collecting other women.

Consequently, Cheng Qingyao fundamentally looked down on him.

Her decision to dispatch a letter to him this time around was, in all likelihood, an opening gambit to manipulate him for her own ends.

Early the following morning, Cheng Ruyi and Rong Mo received an urgent dispatch: Cheng Qingyao was currently lying in wait along the thoroughfare leading toward the grand river system outside the capital, clearly targeting Rong Ting. It appeared she still hadn’t completely given up on her plans for him.

As it happened, Rong Mo’s schedule was exceptionally clear today, so he personally accompanied his little wife to go enjoy the upcoming spectacle.

By the time they arrived at the coordinates, they were greeted by the exact sight of Cheng Qingyao—flanked by a small handful of personal servants—effectively barring the path of Rong Ting and his entourage.

At this particular hour, the thoroughfare was completely barren of any civilian foot traffic or passing carriages. The location itself was exceptionally secluded and out of the way; Cheng Qingyao had specifically deployed financial bribes to corrupt the carriage driver, instructing him to deliberately steer the party into this precise dead zone.

Little did she comprehend that this entire sequence of events had been explicitly orchestrated under Rong Mo’s direct orders. Otherwise, how could a trusted carriage driver from Prince Rong’s estate ever be so effortlessly bought off by an outsider?

The trap had been laid precisely to rapidly and cleanly sever any lingering threads linking Rong Ting to Cheng Qingyao.

On this particular day, Cheng Qingyao was attired in an elegant, pale purple cross-collar long coat crafted from soft silk and adorned with delicate, scattered floral dot patterns. Her hair was styled simply, secured by a singular, exquisite jade hairpin. Her features were strikingly elegant, her eyes brilliant and expressive, and the sparse, drifting snowflakes settling gently against her dark tresses only served to heighten her naturally delicate, alluring charm.

She directed a profoundly soft, melting gaze toward Rong Ting, her large eyes heavily brimming with unshed tears, a trace of deeply felt grievance clouding her pretty countenance.

“Ah-Qi… I’ve spent so many agonizing days waiting for you, yet you never once returned to my side.”

Cheng Yu watched the display with a trace of underlying tension, shooting a nervous look toward his brother Rong Ting.

Rong Ting’s brows knitted tightly into a harsh frown, his gaze sliding over the face of this completely bizarre, unhinged stranger with distinct impatience.

“I don’t know you. You’ve targeted the wrong person.”

Cheng Qingyao stared back at Xue Qi in absolute, staggering disbelief, her vision instantly swimming with black spots. She had mentally calculated a thousand different potential scenarios, yet she had never once anticipated that Xue Qi would actually dare to feign complete ignorance of her existence—the look flashing through his eyes was entirely, genuinely blank.

This isn’t right… This can’t be happening! I must be suffering from auditory hallucinations!

“Ah-Qi, it’s me—I am Qingyao! I am the one who explicitly saved your literal life, have you completely forgotten everything?”

Qingyao… That name sounded incredibly familiar. Could she actually be the black-hearted woman his sister-in-law had warned him about?

“Xiao Yu, is she that Cheng Qingyao woman?” Rong Ting’s frown deepened, rapidly turning his head toward Cheng Yu to seek confirmation.

Cheng Yu nodded emphatically, chiming in without a moment’s delay: “Mhm! She is indeed Cheng Qingyao—an incredibly wicked, malicious woman! Brother, whatever you do, you absolutely cannot allow yourself to be deceived by her lies!”

So she really is that wicked woman Cheng Qingyao my sister-in-law explicitly warned me about.

A wave of intense wariness and deep disgust flashed through Rong Ting’s eyes.

“My name is not Ah-Qi, and I don’t possess a single connection to you. Stop trying to manufacture random relationships out of thin air.”

His sister-in-law had explicitly detailed that Cheng Qingyao was a woman whose entire stomach was stuffed full of wicked schemes, and that a person could effortlessly fall into her traps if they weren’t careful.

Under no circumstances was he to believe a single syllable that tumbled out of her mouth.

Rong Ting was an exceptionally good, obedient boy; he had taken every single piece of his sister-in-law’s advice completely to heart, committing the words so thoroughly to memory that he could recite them backwards.

“Ah-Qi, you…”

This time around, Cheng Qingyao truly felt as though she were about to cough up a physical torrent of blood. The Xue Qi of the past had always looked at her with eyes swirling with deep, unspoken devotion; the Xue Qi standing before her now looked back with a gaze where absolute unfamiliarity was laced with naked disgust.

How could a human being undergo such a massive, total transformation in such a short span of time?

It appeared Xue Qi had genuinely allowed his soul to be entirely blinded by the intoxicating allure of raw power, status, and luxury.

Cheng Qingyao gritted her teeth so violently her jaw ached with pure hatred. Men truly are fundamentally incapable of being anything good.

This Xue Qi was absolutely no exception to the rule.

Dammit!

Just as the venomous thoughts consumed her, a crisp, bell-like voice laced with immense, mocking amusement suddenly echoed from right behind her back.

“Cousin Qingyao, it certainly has been quite a long time since we last crossed paths.”

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