The thought had just crossed her mind when the door was kicked open with a loud thud. Marquis Fu stood in the doorway, sweeping his gaze around the room before pointing straight at Jiang Yue. "You, come here!"
Jiang Yue’s heart skipped a beat, feeling half cold. Mother Su grabbed and shoved her out, forcing her to kneel on the floor.
Lifting her gaze, she saw Marquis Fu pacing back and forth along the corridor, evidently beside himself with anger. Faint sounds of Fu Rong crying could still be heard from inside the room. Jiang Yue guessed that their secret must have been exposed, and her heart began to hammer against her ribs.
"Let me ask you, does Xiao Yunsheng sleep in your young mistress's room every single night? And are their marital relations harmonious?"
Jiang Yue looked up, bewildered. Before she had entered the Marquis Manor, she had often seen commoner brides returning to their natal homes; in every family, the daughter would embrace her parents and weep together with them, after which she would be carefully questioned about whether she had suffered any grievances and whether her in-laws treated her with respect.
Since when did anyone burst in and interrogate people about their marital intimacy?
Before she could even react, Marquis Fu widened his eyes in fury and bellowed, "Speak! If you dare to conceal anything, I'll sell you to a brothel immediately!"
Suppressing her confusion and unable to guess his true intent, Jiang Yue could only nod in a panic. "Everyone in the Xiao family knows the General stays with the Young Mistress every night until late... If the Marquis doesn't believe me, you can casually grab any servant from the Xiao Mansion and ask them..."
Having received a definitive answer, Marquis Fu's expression softened slightly. He glared at Fu Rong and let out a cold snort. "Consider yourself sensible."
Fu Rong slowly relaxed her handkerchief, which she had been on the verge of tearing apart. She withdrew her glare from Jiang Yue, covered her face, and trembled as she wiped away aggrieved tears. "Father! I told you, that gift list was entirely handled by Xiao Yunsheng himself without letting me ask any questions. How could I possibly know he would return those gifts that the Second Prince added to my dowry!"
As a rising pillar of the imperial court, the Xiao family held sway over the vast majority of military power in the entire Capital. Countless factions in the court had their eyes fixed on them, and it was only by staking his reputation as a veteran minister who had served two emperors that Marquis Fu had managed to secure this marriage. Even when Fu Rong had made a scene and wept, refusing to marry, he had stubbornly insisted on going through with it.
His goal was to ensure that in the future succession struggle, the Xiao family and his Fu family would stand united.
Today, having those gifts returned was a clear message to him: while Xiao Yunsheng wanted her as his wife, he would not allow anyone to touch the rest of the Marquis Manor's ambitions.
After pondering for a moment, Marquis Fu sneered. "Drawing a clear line with him, Xiao Yunsheng? It won't be that easy. Sooner or later, he will obediently beg to get on the same boat with me."
The moment Marquis Fu left, Fu Rong wiped the corners of her eyes and instantly discarded her pitiful appearance. Only then did Jiang Yue realize there were no tears on her face at all—she had just been faking it.
Madam Fu gestured for Jiang Yue to get up. "Thanks to this clever maid of yours, go brew a bowl of hangover soup and have your young mistress take it to her husband."
"Yes."
Jiang Yue was about to go when Fu Rong shrieked, "You are not allowed to go!"
Without concealing her disgust, Fu Rong flung her handkerchief onto the table. "He is the one who made me lose face and get scolded by Father! If he isn't coming to coax me, he expects me to go looking for him? If you ask me, it would be best if Father regretted this marriage entirely, annulled it, and let us part ways peacefully!"
She had always been willful, and Madam Fu was well used to it. Just as she was about to persuade her again, a timid voice rang out.
"This servant will go."
Seeing both of them staring at her, Jiang Yue belatedly realized how abrupt her words were and hurriedly lowered her head. She had simply panicked when she heard Fu Rong mention an annulment; if a rift formed between them, or if they truly divorced, everything she had done before would vanish like soap bubbles, and no one would look after Xingxing anymore.
She would never allow it... nor could she bear to watch such a thing happen.
Biting her lip, Jiang Yue explained softly, "This servant will tell him that the Young Mistress sent me."
Madam Fu grew interested. "What if the husband asks why your young mistress didn't come herself?"
After a brief thought, Jiang Yue replied softly, "The Young Mistress just finished crying, and her eyes are red; she doesn't want the courtyard servants to bump into her, yet she is worried about him, so she sent this servant instead."
Seeing that Madam Fu was not entirely satisfied, she hesitated and added, "The Young Mistress asked this servant to tell him to set his heart at ease, because she and her husband share the same heart and mind."
Madam Fu could not help taking another look at her. After being stunned for a moment, she nodded in praise. "Very good. Just go as you said."
Jiang Yue lowered her gaze and backed out of the room.
Fu Rong leaned into Madam Fu's arms and grew dissatisfied upon seeing her stare fixedly at Jiang Yue's retreating back. "Mother, I've finally come home. Why are you staring in a daze at a mere maid?"
"Back then, although she only served in the outer courtyard, her figure was the most similar to yours, and she had a delicate frame with a simple and clean background. Today, I realized that if you really compare them, this girl's looks do not lose to yours, and her mind isn't as dull as I once thought. Mother is only afraid that... as time passes, she might harbor other thoughts."
Fu Rong rolled her eyes and looked out as well. Even from a gradually receding profile, one could discern the charm of autumn-clear eyes and a willow-slender waist. A flicker of jealousy instantly flashed through her eyes.
"No matter how good-looking she is, she's still just a lowly slave. If she disobeys, she can be beaten to death; she wouldn't dare do anything else."
Madam Fu pinched Fu Rong's chin and instructed her with a serious expression, "If you beat her to death, will you be able to share a bed with Xiao Yunsheng? Don't forget why we found someone to take your place in the first place. If any other mistakes happen, Mother won't be able to help you either. What you need to do right now is take good care of your health and firmly capture Xiao Yunsheng's heart."
Fu Rong cared little for either Xiao Yunsheng or Jiang Yue. Recalling how Jiang Yue had been bullied by her and still cowered cautiously at her feet begging for mercy, she could not help sneering, "Mother, rest assured, she wouldn't dare harbor any crooked thoughts. She's still counting on me to ask the imperial physicians in the palace to treat her sister. As if she's worthy!"
Madam Fu pushed her hand away with a helpless sigh and pulled her back to redo her makeup. "Training subordinates to fear you is the worst strategy; making them feel overwhelmingly grateful to you is the middle strategy. By combining benevolence and severity, you truly grasp their lifeline firmly in your hands—that is the superior strategy. Therefore, not only must you save her sister, but once you save her, you must keep her life tightly in your own hands."
***
Holding the bowl of hangover soup, Jiang Yue asked several people, but none of them had seen Xiao Yunsheng.
Having been exhausted from working day and night, her entire body was already aching. After searching the courtyard for a while, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and leaned against a rockery, fanning herself with her hand to rest for a moment.
Suddenly, she heard rustling sounds from inside and curiously stretched her neck to peer in. Before she could clearly see what it was, something struck her forehead neither too lightly nor too heavy.
A perfectly round peanut rolled far away from her feet, only stopping after it bumped against someone.
Xiao Yunsheng was glaring at her coldly. In the corner sat a plate of dust-covered peanuts—presumably some lazy servant had hidden snacks there and forgotten about them, turning them into a "hidden weapon" in his hand.
Jiang Yue cast a suspicious glance, wanting to figure out what he was hiding here to do, only to find that for some reason, Xiao Yunsheng's robes were half-open, revealing a solid and powerful waist and abdomen beneath the lapels.
Her face instantly flushed beet red, and all sorts of images uncontrollably surged into her mind.
She hurriedly used what she was holding to block her eyes. "This servant is only here to deliver something."
With that, she turned to retreat.
"Wait."
Jiang Yue's heart pounded uncontrollably. She was already despised by the man before her, and she was even more afraid of stumbling upon some secret of his and being silenced on the spot.
Called to a halt now, she didn't even dare to raise her head. The reasoning she had carefully prepared vanished to the ends of the earth. Bending her body down low, she treated the object in her hands like a life-saving talisman and pushed it forward to present it. "General, the Young Mistress asked this servant to bring this to you."
Xiao Yunsheng did not tell her to get up. His gaze dropped downward, landing on the soup bowl in her hands, and he could not help frowning.
He said indifferently, "You're holding it much steadier this time."
Perhaps because he had been drinking, or because the sound echoed within the confines of the rockery, Xiao Yunsheng's voice carried a hint of languidness. As those words fell into her ears, whether it was Jiang Yue's imagination or not, they inexplicably held a mocking tone.
Mindful of the purpose of her trip, Jiang Yue trembled and pushed the soup bowl a bit higher.
Only when her arms began to shake uncontrollably did she hear him speak again. "Put it down."
Jiang Yue felt an immense sense of relief. Her eyes swept to the side and landed precisely beside the plate of peanuts.
Seeing that he had no intention of continuing to make things difficult for her, Jiang Yue involuntarily let out a breath, forgetting how narrow the rockery was. That single breath echoed clearly between the two of them, sounding exceptionally loud and harsh.
A wave of heat rushed swiftly from the back of her neck to her face, burning her cheeks even redder.
The next instant, Xiao Yunsheng walked up to her, narrowed his eyes, and asked in a tone that made it impossible to tell whether he was pleased or angry, "Are you afraid of me?"