The heavy atmosphere surrounding Xi Lanyin’s future did not disappear imdiately.
Even after Su Yueqing’s thoughts had quieted, the won seated around the table remained distracted.
So were still thinking about Zhao Mingyuan.
Others were thinking about the Pri Minister’s son.
And a few were silently wondering just how many more disasters were hidden in the future that they had yet to discover.
anwhile, the person responsible for all of this remained completely unaware.
Su Yueqing calmly finished the last of her breakfast before setting her chopsticks down.
After swallowing the final mouthful, she reached for her tea and took a small sip.
Then she stood up.
"Grandmother. Mother. Aunts."
She gave a polite nod.
"If there is nothing else, I will excuse myself first."
To Su Yueqing, breakfast was over.
Therefore, her mission here was complete.
Unfortunately for her, everyone else had other plans.
Before she could take more than a single step, Lin iyun spoke.
"Wait."
Su Yueqing paused.
The Duchess glanced toward one of the maids standing nearby.
"Escort Young Madam back later."
The maid imdiately bowed.
"Yes, Duchess."
Lin iyun continued calmly.
"After that, gather all the servants and maids serving in Wenzhe’s residence."
Su Yueqing blinked.
Then blinked again.
The words slowly registered inside her head.
Gather all the servants?
At Xi Wenzhe’s residence?
Why?
Her confusion imdiately appeared on her face.
"Why would they need to gather?"
Lin iyun looked at her.
"Because you will be eting them."
Su Yueqing stared.
"...eting them?"
"Yes."
The Duchess nodded.
"You are now the Young Madam of that residence."
Su Yueqing imdiately felt sothing was wrong.
A dangerous feeling began rising inside her chest.
Then Lin iyun delivered the final blow.
"You will be living there from now on."
Silence.
Su Yueqing simply stood there.
Not moving.
Not blinking.
Not breathing.
The entire breakfast table watched her.
Then—
The color slowly drained from her face.
Old Madam Xi imdiately lowered her teacup.
Xi Ronghua pressed her lips together.
Gu Yue looked away.
Xi Qianqian suddenly beca very interested in a flower nearby.
Because everyone knew exactly what was about to happen.
Inside Su Yueqing’s mind—
[...What?]
A brief pause followed.
Then—
[WHAT?!]
The scream nearly exploded inside everyone’s heads.
Several people almost flinched.
[No.]
[No no no no no.]
[Absolutely not.]
[Who made this decision?]
[When was this discussed?]
[Why was I not inford?]
[Is this legal?]
Gu Yue imdiately lowered her head to hide her smile.
Xi Anran’s shoulders trembled.
Even Old Madam Xi had to cough into her sleeve.
anwhile, Su Yueqing was rapidly descending into panic.
[Living there?]
[Living with Xi Wenzhe?]
[Every day?]
[Every morning?]
[Every evening?]
[In the sa residence?]
[Under the sa roof?]
[Breathing the sa air?]
The more she thought about it, the paler she beca.
Lin iyun maintained a perfectly calm expression.
Unfortunately, that calm expression only made Su Yueqing panic more.
Inside her mind, countless thoughts exploded one after another.
[No.]
[This is bad.]
[This is very bad.]
[This is disaster-level bad.]
[This is "pack your belongings and run away during the night" bad.]
Xi Ronghua nearly laughed.
Gu Zhen imdiately nudged her under the table.
"Control yourself."
"I’m trying."
"You are failing."
"I know."
anwhile, Su Yueqing’s panic continued escalating.
[What if he suddenly appears every day?]
[What if he keeps asking strange questions?]
[What if he decides to investigate again?]
[What if he starts acting weird like yesterday?]
The mory of the bathing chamber imdiately resurfaced.
Her face darkened.
[That shaless man.]
[Who walks into a bathing chamber and announces he wants to bathe with his wife?]
[Is that normal?]
[Has anyone checked?]
Several won imdiately looked away.
Xi Qianqian bit her lip so hard it almost hurt.
Gu Yue buried her face against the table.
Old Madam Xi suddenly found her tea extrely interesting.
anwhile, Su Yueqing continued spiraling.
[No.]
[I refuse.]
[I object.]
[I protest.]
[I appeal.]
[I demand a retrial.]
Lin iyun finally spoke.
"It has already been decided."
The words landed like a thunderbolt.
Su Yueqing froze.
"...Already decided?"
"Yes."
"Without asking ?"
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
The courtyard fell silent.
Inside her mind, however, chaos erupted once more.
[This family is unbelievable.]
[First they accuse of arson.]
[Then they almost burn alive.]
[Now they move into the villain’s residence.]
[What kind of treatnt is this?]
Old Madam Xi quietly looked away.
Technically...
She had approved the arrangent.
Lin iyun calmly continued.
"You are husband and wife."
The mont those words were spoken, Su Yueqing looked even more horrified.
[Exactly!]
[That’s the problem!]
The younger girls nearly collapsed.
Even Xi Ronghua failed to hold back a laugh this ti.
"Fourth Aunt!"
Xi Lanyin quickly protested.
But Xi Ronghua simply waved her hand.
"I rembered sothing funny."
Nobody believed her.
anwhile, Su Yueqing stood there looking as though the sky had collapsed.
The maid beside her lowered her head respectfully.
"Young Madam, this servant will prepare everything."
Su Yueqing slowly turned toward the maid.
Her expression looked almost pitiful.
The maid imdiately felt guilty for no reason.
Inside her mind, another miserable thought appeared.
[Maybe if I fake my death...]
[No.]
[They already survived one fire.]
[That probably won’t work.]
At that mont, everyone present suddenly realized sothing.
Out of all the terrifying future disasters Su Yueqing had revealed...
Nothing seed capable of frightening her more than the prospect of living with Xi Wenzhe.
And sohow, that made the entire situation even more amusing.
...
For the remainder of breakfast, Su Yueqing remained unusually quiet.
Or at least, she appeared quiet on the outside.
Inside her mind, however, complete chaos continued raging.
Every few steps she took away from the breakfast table, a new terrifying possibility seed to appear.
The image of herself being forced to live under the sa roof as Xi Wenzhe refused to leave her mind.
By the ti she reached the edge of the courtyard, she looked as though she had just received news of her own funeral.
The maid assigned to escort her followed respectfully behind while pretending not to notice her increasingly tragic expression.
Finally, after offering one last polite farewell to the elders, Su Yueqing disappeared beyond the courtyard entrance.
Only after her figure completely vanished from sight did the atmosphere around the table change.
The smiles disappeared and everyone’s expressions beca serious.
Xi Qianqian was the first to react.
She imdiately stood from her seat and turned toward the servants nearby.
"All of you may leave."
The maids blinked.
"Miss?"
Xi Qianqian’s expression remained calm.
"We have family matters to discuss."
Understanding imdiately dawned on several faces.
The servants quickly bowed.
"Yes."
One by one, the maids withdrew from the courtyard.
Even the attendants standing nearby were dismissed.
Within monts, only mbers of the Xi family remained.
No one spoke imdiately.
Because there was simply too much to think about.
The first person to break the silence was Xi Ronghua.
"This..."
She paused.
Then rubbed her forehead.
"This is becoming more ridiculous every day."
Nobody argued.
Even Old Madam Xi remained silent.
Lin iyun looked toward her daughter.
Xi Lanyin’s face was still pale.
The young woman sat quietly with her hands clasped together, clearly unable to recover from everything she had just heard.
The sight made Lin iyun’s heart ache.
"Lanyin."
Xi Lanyin slowly looked up.
Her eyes were slightly red.
"Mother..."
Lin iyun reached across the table and held her hand.
"Tell honestly."
The Duchess’s voice was gentler than usual.
"How far has this relationship with Zhao Mingyuan progressed?"
The mont the question was asked, Xi Lanyin’s face imdiately turned white.
She lowered her head.
For several seconds, she couldn’t bring herself to answer.
Old Madam Xi’s expression darkened.
That reaction alone told them enough.
Finally, Xi Lanyin spoke quietly.
"We’ve exchanged letters."
Xi Ronghua nearly jumped from her chair.
"Letters?!"
Xi Lanyin flinched.
"We only wrote occasionally."
"Occasionally?"
Xi Ronghua looked ready to faint.
"You hid a man from your entire family and you call that occasional?"
"Fourth Aunt..."
Xi Lanyin looked miserable.
anwhile, Old Madam Xi tapped her cane against the ground.
The sharp sound imdiately silenced everyone.
"Enough."
The old matriarch’s gaze rested on her granddaughter.
"Do you like him?"
The question hung heavily in the air.
Xi Lanyin lowered her head.
Her silence was answer enough.
Old Madam Xi slowly closed her eyes.
Lin iyun’s expression beca even more complicated.
For a long mont, nobody spoke.
Then Gu Yue finally broke the silence.
"But... what if Sister-in-Law is wrong?"
The question made everyone look toward her.
Gu Yue imdiately shrank slightly.
"I an..."
She hesitated.
"What if Zhao Mingyuan isn’t that kind of person?"
The courtyard beca quiet again.
The possibility existed.
After all, none of the things Su Yueqing had ntioned had happened yet.
Then Xi Anran shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked toward the little girl.
"Every single thing Sister-in-Law has said so far has proven true."
Nobody could deny that.
Li i.
The fire.
The Chancellor’s wife.
Every single warning had been correct.
Lin iyun slowly nodded.
"We cannot ignore this."
Old Madam Xi agreed.
"Nor can we allow Lanyin to continue eting him privately."
Xi Lanyin’s face paled again.
"But Grandmother—"
"No."
The old woman’s voice was firm.
"This matter ends here."
For the first ti, Xi Lanyin realized just how serious the situation had beco.
anwhile, Xi Ronghua was already thinking several steps ahead.
"What about the Pri Minister’s son?"
Imdiately, everyone’s attention shifted.
Even Xi Lanyin froze.
Old Madam Xi frowned thoughtfully.
Lin iyun looked equally surprised.
The revelation still felt unbelievable.
The Pri Minister’s son liking Xi Lanyin?
Nobody had expected that.
Not even Xi Lanyin herself.
"I still find it difficult to believe," Lin iyun admitted.
"So do I," Xi Ronghua said.
"But after everything we’ve heard this morning, I don’t know what to believe anymore."
Old Madam Xi felt a sense of uncertainty.
Eventually, she sighed heavily.
"From now on, soone must keep an eye on Lanyin."
"Grandmother!"
Xi Lanyin imdiately protested.
Old Madam Xi ignored her.
"And soone investigate Zhao Mingyuan."
The breakfast they had expected to be peaceful had sohow turned into another revelation-filled gathering.
Gu Zhen slowly placed his teacup down and rubbed his forehead.
The usually calm man looked genuinely tired.
After a long mont of silence, he finally spoke.
"Worst breakfast ever."
User Comments
0 comments from readers