Favoring a Hidden Mistress? Engagement Broken-Chapter 110 - 94: Part 3

Some raised their eyebrows slightly, looking as if they were watching a show.

Some covered their mouths and laughed secretly, appearing to be stifling laughter.

Others propped their chins, openly staring at Xie Wanqing, who was being publicly reprimanded by her elders.

The person in question stood straight, her posture steady, but only Lu Ziyuan beside her could see that her hands in the sleeves were already trembling slightly.

Old Madam Lu continued to speak.

"The Xie family is a century-old marquis family, a family of scholars and culture. The daughters they raise should not be ignorant of rules. You ignored the rules of the Lu Mansion and recklessly intruded into the front yard where the men work. Do you realize your mistake?"

Xie Wanqing’s face turned completely pale, her lips quivered slightly, but she said nothing.

To be questioned like this in front of everyone was already a great humiliation.

No one spoke a word in her defense, and Madam Lu, who always claimed to treat her like her own daughter, remained silent.

Lu Xiyao, who had reconciled with her, watched with interest, her eyes full of unabashed malice.

Liu Manrou covered her lips with a handkerchief and feigned a laugh, saying, "Don’t be angry, Grandmother. Perhaps Sister couldn’t hold back as she hadn’t seen her husband for too long. It’s understandable."

"You’re still speaking for her," Old Madam Lu said calmly, "She entered the mansion before you. Now Pei’er is nearly a year old, yet she hasn’t borne a child."

Xie Wanqing had been married into the Lu family for nearly two years and still had no children, which many of the Lu family’s ladies had already criticized.

This time they caught her mistake and wanted to suppress her a bit.

No matter her noble origins, having no offspring was a grave fault for a woman.

But the Xie family’s status was there, and Xie Wanqing’s father and brothers were quite influential in court. Not everyone dared to make a joke of the Xie family’s daughter.

Old Madam Lu wanted to discipline her daughter-in-law in person, but the other branch family ladies dared not continue watching.

They all began to bid farewell.

Xie Wanqing stood in the autumn chill in the courtyard for two hours, and only returned to Shaoguang Courtyard after serving Old Madam Lu lunch.

That night, she developed a fever, remained groggy and burning for three days, showing no signs of recovery.

Lu Ziyuan stayed by her bedside; in his ghostly state, he didn’t even need sleep, watching the girl on the bed without blinking.

The house doctor had checked and administered one prescription after another, and she finally awoke on the morning of the fourth day.

The first thing she did upon waking was to remove the jade bracelet from her wrist.

She forced herself to get up, personally wrote a letter, and had Erqing deliver it to Xie Yanyu.

Erqing, grinding ink nearby, saw the contents of the letter and burst into tears.

Xie Wanqing dried the ink, saw her appearance, and smiled faintly, "Don’t cry. It’s my lack of filial piety that causes my family to worry about me after marriage."

"It’s also good not having children," she said after a weak cough, then continued, "Imagine if I had a daughter, who for a man, ended up like me. It truly would break someone’s heart."

Beside her, Lu Ziyuan’s eyes were bloodshot, staring fixedly at the words "divorce" on the letter, seemingly about to shed blood tears.

But hearing her words, his reddened eyes twitched slightly.

Indeed, if they had a daughter who, after marriage, suffered such torment...

Lu Ziyuan deeply hated his own powerlessness and loathed everything about this world.

Had she also dreamed like this?

Or was it all her personal experience?

Thus, she no longer wanted him.

She wanted to divorce this world’s him and wouldn’t repeat the same mistake even if it all started anew.

The letter was returned by Erqing untouched.

A few days ago, Xie Yanyu was dispatched by the Emperor to South City to investigate a case, leaving in a hurry and not sending anyone to inform his sister at the Wuyuan Marquis Mansion. Most likely, he wouldn’t return until the end of the year.

Xie Wanqing took the letter and burned it in the candle flame, no longer writing another to her parents.

Compared to her aging parents, she preferred to first discuss it with her brother.

Her brother was mature and understanding, loved and protected her, and would find a way for her.

It was already late autumn, and the new year wasn’t far.

She had endured two years; what difference would a few more days make?

She thought that once her brother returned to the Capital, everything would get better.

But she fell sick.

Though it was just a common cold, she couldn’t seem to fully recover, lacking energy, bedridden daily with constant coughing.

The house doctor visited several times, and though the tonics initially showed improvement, her condition relapsed after stopping the medication.

She secretly coughed up some blood a few times, scaring Lu Ziyuan beside her nearly to the point of losing his spirit.

Yet, he was powerless to prevent anything.

The scene shifted to the day of Liu Manrou’s eldest son’s first birthday.

Worried that her mistress’s health hadn’t improved, Erqing seized the opportunity amidst the bustling crowd in the front yard to secretly invite a doctor into the mansion for a consultation.

The diagnosis was "emotional distress leading to organ dysfunction, there’s little hope for recovery," and despair engulfed more than just Erqing alone.