Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Bastard Xie Yunting dragged Cui Zeyu to Fan Tower and poured out his grievances. "That old man from the Qin family says his third daughter already has a marriage arrangement, just short of the formal betrothal gifts. But then the Emperor suddenly issued a marriage decree, wanting me to marry their concubine-born fourth daughter instead. He says this way, everyone gets what they want." "Bullshit!" Xie Yunting slammed his cup down hard. "Does he take me for a fool? The Emperor didn't just issue the decree without asking anything. That day, the Emperor summoned him and me together, and personally asked him whether there were any eligible daughters of marriageable age in his household. He himself said there was a legitimate third daughter and a concubine-born fourth daughter. If the third daughter's marriage was nearly settled, he could have simply not mentioned her and only brought up the fourth." Cui Zeyu understood. "He was afraid that if he only mentioned the concubine-born fourth daughter, the Emperor would think she wasn't good enough for you, and the marriage would fall through." "Exactly. The Qin family has shit for brains. They look down on me, don't want to marry their legitimate daughter to me, yet still want to form a marriage alliance with me." Xie Yunting was a crude man and spoke crudely. "Now they come to me with this—do they think I'm a lump of dough they can knead however they please?" Xie Yunting had smashed his teacup on the spot. He had never had a good reputation in Bianjing, and the Qin family's disdain was practically dripping off them. He certainly wasn't about to show them any kindness. Cui Zeyu asked, "So in the end? Is it the third daughter marrying you, or the fourth?" Xie Yunting raised one eyebrow, a glint of amusement flashing in his eyes. "Their third daughter isn't willing to marry me, and I don't want their fourth daughter either. I said, in that case, I'll go to the Emperor and have him cancel the marriage." "The Qin family definitely wouldn't want that," Cui Zeyu said. "If it gets dragged before the Emperor, their actions would be no different from toying with you, and there's even the suspicion of deceiving the sovereign." "Yes. That old man Qin nearly got on his knees for me, saying we'd all be family from now on and asking me to be understanding." Xie Yunting downed another cup of wine but still felt unsatisfied. He boldly grabbed the wine jug and drank it all in one go. "The Qin family dares to scheme against me, so of course I won't let them off easy. I won't give them a definite answer either. Since they brought it up, I'll let them sweat over it. I'm Xie Yunting, a reckless brute—if I'm not happy, I'll make sure both of the Qin family's daughters never marry!" The nobles and officials of Bianjing, especially the scholarly families, all looked down on a rough man like Xie Yunting. But Xie Yunting was currently in the Emperor's good graces, and the Qin family wanted to bask in his reflected glory—that was why they'd cooked up this scheme of swapping brides. Still, the Qin family knew Xie Yunting had a temper not to be trifled with. They didn't dare simply swap the daughters outright and had the sense to consult him first. That was the only reason Xie Yunting hadn't stormed into the palace. Now the Qin family was caught in a bind because of Xie Yunting. The fourth daughter couldn't marry him anymore, and as for the third daughter... if she'd been willing to marry him in the first place, none of this would have happened. One could only imagine how chaotic things were at the Qin household right now. After venting, Xie Yunting felt much better. He slung an arm around Cui Zeyu. "Good brother, when you seek a marriage in the future, you must keep your eyes wide open. Don't pick a family with messy affairs and endless trouble. I must have pissed on the Old Man of the Moon in my past life for him to rope me into such a match!" As he spoke, he couldn't help but think of Cui Zeyu's adopted sister. "If everyone were as beautiful and virtuous as Sister Cui, why would I be worrying about finding a good wife?" To this day, he hadn't even laid eyes on either of the Qin sisters—didn't know if they were fat or thin, ugly or pretty. If he'd known, he would have refused on the spot and avoided all this nonsense. At the mention of his sister, Cui Zeyu said, "My sister is so wonderful—there's no second one like her in the whole world." "True enough. She doesn't look down on people." Xie Yunting downed another half jug of wine and began to get drunk, loudly cursing the Qin family. He had a loud voice and didn't care whether anyone overheard. Cui Zeyu could see how upset Xie Yunting was, and knowing the Qin family looked down on him, he didn't stop him. Instead, he drank along with him. Song Shulan happened to pass by and stopped when he heard Cui Zeyu and Xie Yunting's voices. Gao Jingzhi craned his neck, leaning his head toward the door. "Shulan, the one cursing inside sounds like Xie Yunting. Seems like he's cursing the Qin family?" Xie Yunting's curses were slurred and unclear—Song Shulan and Gao Jingzhi couldn't make out the specifics, but they could tell he was calling Minister Qin shit-brained and a lowlife old turtle bastard. "Haha, this Xie Yunting is truly crude beyond measure. If Minister Qin heard this, wouldn't he be furious enough to faint?" Gao Jingzhi spoke in the tone of someone enjoying the spectacle, until another voice started badmouthing Song Shulan, and his expression stiffened. Cui Zeyu, hearing Xie Yunting curse, joined in. "What's Minister Qin compared to that? My brother-in-law, that Song Shulan—you know him, right? He's the one with shit coiled in his brain when it comes to scheming. Wants to have it both ways, acting like a wh—" The rest was lost to Song Shulan and Gao Jingzhi, because Cui Zeyu had lowered his voice. Gao Jingzhi said awkwardly, "Shulan, is that your brother-in-law?" Song Shulan said it wasn't, and kicked the door open. "Who's there?" Xie Yunting looked over in annoyance. Cui Zeyu's gaze followed, and when he saw Song Shulan standing at the door with a face black as thunder, his drunkenness instantly evaporated. The thought of what he had just said weighed on his mind, but Cui Zeyu showed no fear. Instead, he asked with a smile, "Has Marquis Song had too much to drink? Kicking the door down with such fury—we won't be paying for that." "Cui Zeyu, is this how your sister taught you?" Song Shulan gritted his teeth. He was an elder, after all—if not respect, at least they shouldn't be insulting him behind his back. "Of course not." Cui Zeyu had long harbored resentment toward Song Shulan, enduring it all for his sister's sake. But now that things had come to this, there was no point in smoothing things over. Cui Zeyu offered no explanation, merely fixing his gaze steadily on Song Shulan. Just then, Xie Yunting suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh, isn't this the Song Shulan who relies on your sister's support while secretly taking an Equal Wife?" Xie Yunting was dead drunk and couldn't care less about what should or shouldn't be said. At the mention of "support," Song Shulan's face darkened further, and he turned to leave. Gao Jingzhi didn't quite understand what was happening. He wanted to chase after Song Shulan, but then heard Xie Yunting sneer, "Not a shred of ability—completely dependent on a woman. Brother Cui, our sister really met the wrong man. How did she end up marrying such a spineless freeloader!" When Gao Jingzhi went after Song Shulan, he took an extra look at Cui Zeyu. The man had fine features, but there was something oddly familiar about his face... Gao Jingzhi had no time to dwell on it. By the time he ran downstairs, Song Shulan was nowhere to be found. Having lost face—and in front of his closest friend, no less—Song Shulan stormed back to the marquis's residence in a rage. He intended to confront Cui Lingrong, but was summoned away by Old Madame's people first. Old Madame Song immediately lodged her complaint upon seeing her son. "That Lady Cui has become quite something now. She threatened me into handing over six thousand seven hundred taels of silver, then turned around and gave it to Cui Zeyu. Tell me—she's married into the marquis's household, yet her heart is with an adopted brother, and not even a blood relative at that. What is the meaning of this?" Princess Rongjia added quietly from the side, "Sister Cui's treatment of Cui Zeyu is indeed out of the ordinary—even better than how she treats her own family." The implication was clear: Cui Lingrong treated Cui Zeyu with exceptional favor. "The Commandery Princess is right. Before the new year, the gifts Lady Cui prepared for the Cui family were utterly ordinary. Now she's rushing to send money to Cui Zeyu. What kind of relationship must they have for her to treat him so well?" Old Madame Song's heart ached at the thought of her money ending up in Cui Zeyu's hands. Song Shulan was already furious, and hearing this only fanned the flames. He stormed into Qiushuang Zhai, where Cui Lingrong and Nanny Qiu were chatting and laughing together. He strode over and hurled a teacup to the ground. "I'm asking you—why did you make Mother give you money? And why did you send money to Cui Zeyu? What exactly is your relationship?" At this point, Song Shulan hadn't entertained thoughts of an illicit affair, because he instinctively believed Cui Lingrong would never betray him. He was simply angry that Cui Lingrong valued Cui Zeyu so highly! Cui Lingrong was stunned for a moment. Nanny Qiu and the others quickly cleaned up the broken porcelain and retreated to the doorway. "The money was for Zhizhi and me. Old Madame insisted on repaying it on Zhizhi's behalf. It was my money to begin with—is it wrong for me to keep it?" Cui Lingrong rose to her feet. She looked straight at Song Shulan. "As for giving it to Zeyu, it's because the cloth shop caught fire and lost several thousand taels. That's my shop too—I didn't give the money to Zeyu for his personal use, but to keep the business running." "Fire? When did this happen?" "A few days ago. If the Marquis doesn't believe me, you can go see for yourself—the burned warehouse hasn't even been cleared yet." Hearing this, Song Shulan felt somewhat better, thinking Cui Lingrong had used the money for business. But then he remembered Cui Zeyu cursing him at Fanlou, and his face darkened again. "Hmph, do you know what your precious little brother says about me out there?" "He said I have shit for brains! And he told Xie Yunting, that reckless fool, all the affairs of this household!" Recalling Cui Zeyu's provocative expression, Song Shulan declared, "That ungrateful bastard—he's forbidden from setting foot in this residence from now on. As for you, you'd best cut ties with him entirely. The cloth shop can run without him. I can send someone to take over!" Cui Lingrong's eyes widened in disbelief. Then she took a deep breath and said, word by word, "And what if I refuse?"