The first time Lin Yan felt the candlelight at home was too bright was the day the Princess's estate people smashed his wife Lady Su's embroidery frame. On the frame was Niannian's favorite twin lotus flowers, the silk threads still retaining Lady Su's body warmth before it was savagely thrown to the ground. The lead mammy shrilled, "Master Lin is soon to become the Prince Consort, yet this lowly woman still keeps these crude chores to offend our eyes?"
Lady Su did not cry; she merely shielded Niannian behind her, her nails digging into her palms. That evening, as she warmed wine for Lin Yan, her fingertips were still trembling. "A-Yan, let's go back to the countryside. You can teach, I'll weave, and Niannian..."
"I will not divorce my wife," Lin Yan interrupted, his voice as heavy as a millstone. He was the newly appointed Top Scholar, and when he entered the palace by imperial decree to express his gratitude, the willful Princess Zhaoyang had taken one fancy to him. Three days later, the imperial decree bestowing the marriage arrived outside their gates; even through the vermilion doors, the arrogant laughter of the Princess's attendants could be heard.
Chapter 126