Chapter 33

Shizi Fei served tea to the new Princess Consort. She was gentle and respectful, filial towards her parents, while the Princess Consort was amiable. Although she wasn’t Shizi Fei’s biological Mother-in-law, she didn’t neglect teaching her. If things only ended there, this would be a picture of filial piety between a kind mother-in-law and the filial daughter-in-law, and that would be the end of it.

But what followed surprised everyone in the room. The Princess Consort seemed fine, but when she received the tea from Shizi Fei, her hand unexpectedly shook and the entire cup of tea spilled on Shizi Fei. It was important to note that this was freshly brewed hot tea. If it spilled onto someone, it’d be a catastrophe.

Lin Wei Xi saw a smile practically flash through Gao Ran’s eyes.

Ah, stepmother. This ‘step’ was the Original Sin. If she properly took care of the child left behind by her predecessor, others would criticize and say that she was cunningly two-faced, harming the child by excessively praising them. If she tried to avoid suspicion and ended up estranged from the children, she’d still be criticized for being harsh. They summed up every woman in a sentence, calling all of them cruel. And if a woman was both a mother-in-law and a stepmother, this would probably naturally be the main topic surrounding her. Even if she did nothing, she’d still be stared at with guarded eyes. And if she were to pour a cup of hot tea at the first wife’s daughter-in-law in public, she’d be slandered to death by the masses once this spread.

Fortunately, Lin Wei Xi had dealt with Gao Ran for more than ten years. When she was young, she suffered from many avoidable and unavoidable losses. And when she grew up, her heart became more guarded than normal women. Lin Wei Xi was secretly cautious when she received the tea. And sure enough, when she reached out for it, she saw Gao Ran’s fingers move. Her wrist looked stiff, like it was ready to exert force.

Lin Wei Xi inwardly let out an “Oh”. She didn’t bat an eyelid, but turned her outstretched hand slightly to ensure that Gu Hui Yan could clearly see the movement of her hand. As expected, she’d barely touched the saucer and hadn’t even felt the weight of it, before the entire cup of hot tea suddenly tilted and spilled onto Gao Ran.

From the back, it seemed like Lin Wei Xi had deliberately thrown the cup at Gao Ran.

Cries of alarm echoed in the hall and Gu Hui Yan’s eyes immediately sharpened. Gu Cheng Yao was kneeling next to Gao Ran and reacted the fastest. He pulled her away, and she closely avoided the most dangerous splash of hot water. But despite this, her arms and hands couldn’t avoid getting soaked with tea. Gao Ran hissed painfully and furrowed her eyebrows. It seemed like she’d been scalded by hot water but was forcing herself to endure it.

Lin Wei Xi merely raised an eyebrow at this and then retracted her hand like nothing had happened. The maids and Grannies were so scared that they cried as they gathered around Gao Ran, inquiring about the injury while feeling sorry for her. Gu Cheng Yao was also extremely angry, his brow shrouded in anxiety as he raised his head to look at Lin Wei Xi.

But when he saw her expression, he couldn’t help but freeze. He thought he’d see an insincere expression on her face. Shouldn’t she be pretending to be a little concerned and guilty? But no, Lin Wei Xi sat there, unconcerned and aloof with no guilt or pride on her face. There was even a cold smile in her eyes, as if she’d expected this to happen.

Gu Cheng Yao frowned. He was incredibly uncomfortable with Lin Wei Xi’s expression that seemed to suggest that she was uninvolved. Gu Hui Yan looked at the mess in front of him. His voice unconsciously deepened and a powerful pressure hit everyone, “quiet.”

In a flash, the hall became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Even Gao Ran, who was cradling her arm, suppressed the sound of her breathing as she endured the pain. Afterwards, Gu Hui Yan’s emotionless voice sounded, “Call the imperial doctor.”

It wasn’t a trivial matter for the Prince Yan Shizi Fei to burn her arm with hot tea. The imperial doctor came immediately. Because the Shizi Fei had been accidentally injured, the tea ceremony and the meeting of the new in-laws naturally couldn’t continue. Lin Wei Xi stood in the next room and listened as the imperial doctor treated Gao Ran on the other side of the folding screen.

The imperial doctor gave many instructions and the maids inside responded one by one. Even Gu Cheng Yao listened attentively. Finally, he sent the imperial doctor out and as he rounded the folding screen, he saw Lin Wei Xi and nodded coldly, “Mother.”

The imperial doctor hurriedly greeted her, “Prince Yan Consort.”

“Imperial doctor, no need to be courteous.” Lin Wei Xi pretended to support the imperial doctor. He hurriedly declined and stood up straight. Of course, Lin Wei Xi was only acting. She was now the Prince Yan Consort. Even her father and brother could no longer touch her as they wished, not to mention other men. She politely smiled as she asked, “How is Shizi Fei’s injury?”

“The tea was freshly brewed when it was poured directly onto her arm. Mother, what do you think is going to happen?” Before the imperial doctor could reply, Gu Cheng Yao stared at Lin Wei Xi and asked in a harsh tone.

She didn’t seem to care about Gu Cheng Yao’s outage and continued to smile politely. Sweat dripped down the imperial doctor’s forehead. He’d heard a long time ago that Prince Yan was going to marry a new bride. The wedding reception the day before had caused a sensation in the capital. But why did the Shizi and the new Princess Consort not seem to get along with each other?

The imperial doctor didn’t know what to say, and it was at this moment that Gu Hui Yan walked in. This was where his son and his daughter-in-law lived and it was inappropriate for him to enter the inner room. So while Gu Cheng Yao and Lin Wei Xi accompanied the doctor to watch after Gao Ran inside, he stood in the hall outside. But no one knew what happened to cause Gu Hui Yan to walk through the partition. His gaze fell on Gu Cheng Yao first before he looked at the imperial doctor, and he said in a light tone, “What’s wrong?”

Despite regularly visiting the back courtyard of high-ranking officials, the imperial doctor couldn’t stand it right now. Prince Yan had high status and great power, with numerous departments under his command. He’d long since passed the age of showing off his abilities, and as his status rose, he became more reserved and unfathomable. But this didn’t mean that the thorns around him were no longer there. On the contrary, the thorns were more deadly because they were invisible.

The imperial doctor was in a kind of intangible but deadly vortex. Shizi had thrown a few words at the Princess Consort and immediately after, Prince Yan came in without concealing his displeasure… he had an inkling of what was going on, but instead of thinking about it, he lowered his head and explained in detail, “The Shizi Fei’s wounds look terrible, but as long as it’s carefully taken care of, it won’t be a problem. This humble official has already left medicine for her, and her dietary constraints for the next few days were also clearly explained to the maids just now. Princess Consort and Shizi, please rest assured.”

Gu Hui Yan didn’t state his opinion on this, but instructed the people behind him, “Thank you for the trouble, imperial doctor Zhou. Send him out.”

Imperial doctor Zhou instantly declined. The doctor and the little servant boy exchanged greetings and walked away, leaving only Lin Wei Xi, Gu Cheng Yao and Gu Hui Yan in the room.

Only then did Gu Hui Yan look at Gu Cheng Yao, his gaze silent, “are you going to talk to her like this?”

“My Prince…” Lin Wei Xi had barely said a word before she was interrupted by Gu Hui Yan. His voice was thunderous, “let him answer.”

However, this time, she didn’t comply as usual. Instead, she walked to him and clung to his arm, “My Prince.”

Gu Hui Yan glanced down at her, but she held her ground and looked back at him. The two of them locked gazes with each other for a while and he seemed to sigh softly.

Gu Cheng Yao looked at him, flabbergasted. His father had actually acquiesced? He’d never seen his father revoke an order his entire life, let alone compromise with someone else.

Lin Wei Xi continued speaking, “Shizi only spoke to me like that because he felt that I’d deliberately splashed hot tea onto Shizi Fei. After all, the tea was spilled from that direction, so it could’ve only been me. Shizi, isn’t that how it is?”

Gu Cheng Yao turned his head away, but clearly tacitly agreed. That was indeed what he thought. Lin Wei Xi didn’t know whether to smile sarcastically or to grieve. Separated by life and death, she’d changed her identity, but he still refused to believe her. In the past, Gao Xi would’ve argued. But now, Lin Wei Xi didn’t even have the energy to defend herself. Wasn’t she their mother? As the mother, wasn’t she supposed to be tolerant of children who were wrong?

So she merely smiled magnanimously and didn’t go into too much detail of what happened, “I don’t know when Shizi started having such deep seated prejudice against me. If there’s anything I don’t like, I can just say it. Can you even disobey me? Why would I act as a villainess and stupidly let everyone see me targeting Shizi Fei by spilling tea on her?”

Gu Cheng Yao originally wanted to refute, but he opened his mouth and realized that he couldn’t say a word. Although her reasoning was twisted, it was truly undisputable.

Gu Hui Yan was originally angry, but when he heard Lin Wei Xi’s words, he wanted to laugh despite his anger.

“Do you know what you’re talking about?”

“It’s true!” she shot a glance at him, disgruntled. Her eyes were soft like flowing water, sharp with intelligence and glowing with vigour. The arrogance on her face as it should be, “Shizi, don’t you agree?”

Gu Cheng Yao seriously thought through Lin Wei Xi’s reasoning and found himself speechless. His mind, which seemed to have been deceived by a demonic spirit, gradually cleared up. That’s right, why would she need to do something so obvious and stupid? In the past, she was the person with the least support in the residence. Was she crazy enough to pour hot tea on her daughter-in-law in public? Furthermore, this wasn’t good to hear, but if Lin Wei Xi really wanted to pour tea on someone, it would definitely be aimed at him. Gao Ran was nothing more than collateral damage. Gu Cheng Yao clearly knew what kind of person Lin Wei Xi was. But when this happened, why didn’t he think that it might be an accident, but instead went straight to suspecting her?

Gu Cheng Yao was alarmed and shocked. What was wrong with him? Why did he seem to have been captured by something just now, which was very unlike himself?

Lin Wei Xi laid out her fantastic logic, and strangely enough, he actually believed it. Gu Hui Yan watched the two people in front of him and for the first time felt preposterous. He could let it go if Lin Wei Xi was dumb. But what was the matter with his son, the heir that he’d nurtured with utmost care?

As the three of them talked in the adjacent room, there was no movement at all in the bedroom behind the folding screen. The situation had now turned around, and the footsteps in the room suddenly seemed louder. The old servant inside seemed to share Gao Ran’s pain.

Lin Wei Xi was dangerously close to rolling her eyes. Look at this dirty trick! What an insult to the Duke Ying Residence’s name! It was a dereliction of one’s duty if a woman who grew up in the high walls of the back courtyard didn’t understand how these shameful secrets worked. But even if you wanted to use it, at least look at the situation and who you were facing, right?

Gu Cheng Yao had been criticizing Lin Wei Xi earlier, but he now felt embarrassed, especially with her disdain clearly written on her face. Gu Hui Yan’s eyes moved and his gaze darkened.

Actually, Gu Hui Yan had seen it then. He clearly saw Lin Wei Xi’s hand reach halfway and her palm suddenly turn in his direction as her fingertips touched the bottom of the cup. Her hand obviously didn’t have any strength behind it, but the tea splashed in Gao Ran’s direction. Lin Wei Xi naturally didn’t have the strength to do it given her posture. There was something fishy about Gao Ran spilling her tea, but Lin Wei Xi’s movements were also very meaningful.

Perhaps this wasn’t a feud between young girls like he’d thought.

Gu Hui Yan’s heart suddenly lifted, but he didn’t say anything in the end. Lin Wei Xi had barely entered the household as his wife and it was his responsibility to protect her. On the other hand, Gao Ran was his daughter-in-law. What was most important was that Gu Cheng Yao loved her.

Even if this woman might not be a good person, this was his only son’s personal affairs. As long as Gao Ran wholeheartedly loved Gu Cheng Yao, Gu Hui Yan could tolerate these dirty tricks.

These thoughts flashed through his mind. His expression remained the same and he said indifferently, “I saw it during the tea ceremony. The Princess Consort didn’t flip the cup.”

It was like a sudden clap of thunder had sounded. The inner and outer rooms immediately turned quiet and the atmosphere inside clearly grew tense. Gao Ran’s heart almost jumped out of her throat. If it wasn’t the Princess Consort, then who was it?

Without letting anyone speculate for too long, Gu Hui Yan continued speaking, “it’s most likely just an accident. Shizi Fei and the Princess Consort don’t really know each other, so the cup slipped.”

Lin Wei Xi sighed a little when she heard this, but she wasn’t surprised. As the head of the family, Prince Yan couldn’t publicly pick on his daughter-in-law. His words proved that her actions weren’t in vain. He’d seen it.

This was enough. Lin Wei Xi also didn’t expect Gao Ran’s true colours to be revealed after just one incident. In fact, the first step was the most difficult. Gu Hui Yan was now wary of Gao Ran, so she wouldn’t really need to do much moving forward. He’d discover everything himself step by step. If Gao Ran wanted to continue stirring up trouble, Lin Wei Xi could only wish her the best. After all, no one knew where Prince Yan’s bottom line was.

Lin Wei Xi was in a good mood and she was filled with the joy of becoming a mother. Her happiness showed on her face and it was only when Gu Hui Yan shot her a glance that she reluctantly held it back.

It was just the two of them, so why wasn’t the teacup properly received? Then why didn’t the teacup fall vertically, but splash in Gao Ran’s direction? Not mentioning Gu Cheng Yao, even the other servants in the room didn’t believe it. But Prince Yan said it was an accident, so it was an accident. Gu Cheng Yao knew better than anyone that his father would never lie, not even in court. So Lin Wei Xi undoubtedly  hadn’t pushed the teacup.

Gu Cheng Yao suddenly didn’t want to think about it further. Since it wasn’t Lin Wei Xi, then who was his father covering up for?

The criticism had originally been directed at the Princess Consort, but the situation suddenly took an abrupt turn. In the end, Prince Yan testified that this matter had nothing to do with her. The situation had developed to this point and no one in the room dared to breathe. Amidst the silence, the hustle and bustle of the inner room stood out. A maid accidentally knocked over a tray, and the Granny next to Gao Ran promptly scolded in a forced whisper, “how clumsy. Can’t you see that Shizi Fei is sick?”

“Granny… ” Gao Ran’s voice sounded, somewhat strained and a weird silence then came from the other side of the screen. It seemed like she was indicating to the other side of the screen.

Since standing there was uncomfortable, Gu Hui Yan didn’t feel like staying any longer. He ordered a “serve them well” and turned around to leave first. Gu Cheng Yao only paused for a moment before following after Gu Hui Yan.

Lin Wei Xi watched the two of them leave one after the other. When Gu Cheng Yao passed by, his eyes lingered for a moment for no apparent reason. She glanced at him, her impatience obvious.

Whatever for?

He looked away and quickly chased after Gu Hui Yan.

Those who had no other duties to attend to retreated one after another, and Gao Ran’s servants visibly relaxed. Lin Wei Xi wore an indescribable smile as she rounded the screen and walked toward Gao Ran.

Gao Ran had been frightened earlier, and it wasn’t until Prince Yan left that she felt relieved. It seemed that he hadn’t discovered the truth. He must’ve defended Lin Wei Xi for the Princess Consort’s face.

Gao Ran saw Lin Wei Xi enter uninvited and stop in front of her bed. She was uncomfortable but she still squeezed out a smile and said softly, “Mother, why are you here? I’m sorry that I’ve troubled all of you to come just now. My injury isn’t serious. Mother doesn’t need to worry about it.”

“Since you call me Mother, how could I not be concerned about you?” Lin Wei Xi smiled and glanced at Gao Ran’s arm, that had ointment applied on it, out of the corner of her eyes, “I came to see how badly Shizi Fei had injured herself.”