Yuchen felt that she was also responsible for Qiu Yanfu’s climbing into Han Jianye’s bed, so she immediately told Yuxi what she did and the consequences.

The matter was actually quite simple. That was, the Eldest Young Master Wang had been ordered by someone to screw Qiu Lilong. So he acted like he was impressed with Qiu Lilong and invited him to do business. Qiu Lilong was a bit of a womaniser, but he was not a fool. Otherwise, his father would not have sent him to the capital. But the Eldest Young Master Wang was so skilled that he managed to fool Qiu Lilong and made Qiu Lilong hold him in high esteem. When Qiu Lilong saw that Eldest Young Master Wang loved beauty and thinking that his sister was also a beauty, he wanted to get closer with Eldest Young Master Wang to exchange for more benefits.

Yuxi pretended to look as if she had a sudden realisation. “So that’s how it is. San Jie thinks that because of you, Qiu Yanfu became desperate and had no choice but to use this method in the end?” For Yuchen, it was so simple! But was Yuchen really that simple? The answer was clearly, no. She was not that simple, and she deliberately told her about this matter to test her attitude.

Yuchen nodded a little, “Yes.”

Yuxi laughed. “San Jie, you are overthinking on this matter. Even without you, Qiu Yanfu would still be calculating on Er Ge all the same. She’s unwilling to go back to Hebei.”

Yuchen looked at Yuxi seriously for a moment and asked the doubt that she had in her heart, “Why are you not worried at all?”

Yuxi laughed. “Worried about what? Worried that Er Ge has lost his innocence?” She was ridiculing Qiu Yanfu with these words. When a woman slept with a man, he would be thought of having a lot of good fortune in love affairs in the eyes of outsiders, so there was no such thing as him losing his innocence.

Seeing this kind of attitude coming from Yuxi, Yuchen was confused about what Yuxi was thinking. “What if the Lu family withdraws from the marriage because of this matter?”

Yuxi chuckled, “San Jie, you are so smart. There’s no way you will not know that the Lu family won’t back out of the marriage. Alright, San Jie, you don’t need to go round the curves and skirt the corners. You can just ask me directly if there is anything you want to know.”

Yuchen didn’t expect Yuxi to ask her straightforwardly, so she stopped being polite and asked, “As far as I know, you should have known that Qiu Yanfu was going to scheme against your Er Ge, so why didn’t you stop it?”

Yuxi smiled and said, “I do know, but why should I stop it?” After saying that, Yuxi asked rhetorically, “If I’m right, San Jie should have noticed it too, so why didn’t San Jie stop it?”

Yuchen couldn’t say anything. There was no way she could answer back. Should she say, I thought you would stop it, so I just stood by and watched? Only for Yuxi to act in a way she hadn’t expected by not even bothering to stop it. If these words came out, the Third House would lose its face.

This time, Zisu brought in drinks. She gave a cup of Biluochun to Yuchen and a cup of freshly extracted fruit juice to Yuxi.

Yuxi turned towards Zisu and instructed, “You should withdraw. Don’t come in without me telling you to do so.”

Yuchen looked at Yuxi and asked, “Si Mei, what exactly are you thinking? Will our reputation be better when Qiu Yanfu loses her face, which at the same time makes Mother lose her face?”

Yuxi looked at Yuchen silently and said, “San Jie, you’re thinking about this too much. What does Qiu Yanfu have to do with us?” As for Wu Shi’s face, it was Wu Shi’s business, and it had nothing to do with her.

When Yuchen looked at Yuxi acting like this, she was furious. “Yuxi, I told you that you are also a part of the Third House. If something happens to the Third House, you won’t be able to escape.” Qiu Yanfu’s matter was a small matter, but Yuxi’s attitude was a big issue.

Now that things had come to this point, Yuxi was no longer playing dumb and said with a sneer, “Then what does San Jie think I should do to make things right? No matter what I did or said in the past two years, I was always wrong, and I was either beaten or reprimanded by Father. Even when I was only asking my Dage some questions, he would take the opportunity to reprimand me, and that was not all. He even said that men and women are different, and even if my Dage and I are paternal cousins, we have to avoid suspicion. What a joke. Dage is my blood brother. We share the same blood. What’s there to avoid suspicion?” Even if he was her Tangge, he was still her paternal blood relative. In this case, not to mention that it would make people laugh once they knew about it, even Yuxi felt it was ridiculous.

Yuchen’s face went white. She didn’t know that Father would say such things to Yuxi.

Yuxi’s face was as frosty as ice as she continued, “Whatever I do or say is wrong anyway, so why should I bother meddling? San Jie says I am a member of the Third House? Then let me ask San Jie, who do you think takes me seriously in the Third House? I know. I know that many people think that I am attached to the Main House and clinging to my Eldest Aunt and Dage’s thighs to the death. Perhaps in San Jie’s heart, San Jie is thinking the same thing.” After a pause, Yuxi added, “San Jie, I’m not like you. You have the love from Grandmother and Father, with powerful outside relatives backing you up. You have never had to worry about anything since you were born, and even if something happens, someone will help you out. If it weren’t for my aunt’s shelter, I would have frozen to death, starved to death or even died of disease. Without my Eldest Aunt, I would have turned into a pile of yellow earth.” It meant that she was hugging Qiu Shi’s thighs for a reason, too.

The meaning of Yuxi’s words was unmistakable. She was currying favour with the Main House for a reason and not because Qiu Shi was the current State Residence Mistress, or Han Jianming was the shizi.

Yuchen couldn’t say a word at this time. What could she say? She couldn’t say anything. It was because what Yuxi had been saying was the truth.

Yuxi spat out all the bad feelings she had in her heart, then she slowly said, “San Jie, there are some things we just need to understand in our hearts, no need to pick it out. Trying to poke through that layer of window paper won’t do anyone any good.”

Yuchen asked with difficulty, “Si Mei, do you hate Grandmother and Father?”

Yuxi shook her head and replied, “I don’t hate them. I really don’t hate them at all. Without Father, there would be no me.” As for the Old Lady, except for the incident when she had smallpox and when the Old Lady had not been kind to her all these years, she had not been treating her that bad either.

Yuchen understood what Yuxi meant by this statement. Han Jingyan was her father, and she would do what his children should do, and no more.

Yuxi looked at Yuchen’s expression and stated, “San Jie, I am sorry for not being able to meet your expectations.” Over the years, Yuchen had been very kind to her, and she was grateful for that. But she also knew that Yuchen had been kind to her not because they were sisters but because she was as outstanding as her. If she were still a puddle of mud like she was before, Yuchen would not even look at her. Otherwise, she would not have ended up in such a miserable situation in her previous life if only Yuchen the Empress, favoured by the Emperor, cared even a bit about her.

Of course, Yuxi did not blame Yuchen. She only had herself to blame for being so useless. But it was also her experience that made her realise that Yuchen was the same as the Old Lady and Han Jingyan at heart. That was, Yuchen would look at those who were useful to her, but she would not look at those who were no use to her. Because of this, she never got close with Yuchen.

Yuchen shook her head and said, “It was me who had insisted on it. Alright, I’m going back. Read well!” Yuxi was rereading a medical book, and Yuchen still wondered what was good for Yuxi to read it.

After sending Yuchen away, Yuxi stood in the doorway for a while before returning to her study. Holding her medical book in her hand, Yuxi said to herself, “In fact, there’s no one that I can rely on. The only one I can rely on is myself.” It was impossible to rely on others for the rest of her life. There was no one she could depend on for life, and she did not want to depend on others forever.

When they arrived at Tingyun Pavilion, Momo Gui asked, “Miss, what did Fourth Miss say?” Just now, she, like Zisu, had been standing outside and waited.

Yuchen answered, “Si Meimei said that she deliberately did not want to be concerned about it.” She did not believe this at all. If it was a matter of the Third House, Yuxi might not care, but how could she not care about the affairs of the Main House? Especially Er Tangge’s affairs? Only she did not know what exactly Yuxi was planning.

Momo Gui asked, “Did Fourth Miss say why she didn’t stop it?”

Yuchen laughed bitterly, “She did. She said it was not like Er Tangge had anything to lose. Even if she let Qiu Yanfu have her way, the Lu family will not withdraw from the marriage. Since Er Tangge had nothing to lose, she washed her hands off the matter.”

Momo Gui also had to admit that Yuxi’s reason seemed very reasonable, but she still believed it was all superficial. She thought the Fourth Miss just wanted to take this opportunity to punish Wu Shi, so she would not hesitate to let the Third House lose its reputation.

Yuchen knew what Momo Gui was thinking, but she shook her head and said, “Momo Gui, this matter is not that simple. I think Yuxi has other plans, and as to what they are, I can’t guess yet.” There was no telling what Dage had taught Yuxi that made it difficult to guess Yuxi’s mind.

Momo Gui thought for a moment but shook her head and said, “I also can’t imagine what the Fourth Miss is planning. Although the Lu family will not withdraw from the marriage after such an incident, there will certainly be a lump in their hearts. No one will gain anything good out of what has happened.” It was equivalent to saying that everyone was a loser and there were no winners.

Naturally, Yuchen could have thought of these things. It was also because she did not understand that she went to Taoran House to seek Yuxi out, wanting her to tell her the reason herself. Unfortunately, Yuxi did not trust her and almost wound her up instead.

Thinking of this, Yuchen asked Momo Gui, “Yuxi said that the last time Father sought her out, he forbade her to go over to Dage’s side to avoid suspicion. What do you think? How true is that?” Yuchen couldn’t ask Han Jingyan himself, but deep down, Yuchen hoped that Yuxi was lying to her.

When Momo Gui heard this, she froze for two seconds, then spoke, “The Fourth Miss is already a big girl, and it is indeed not proper for her to always be in Master Shizi’s study and to even stay there for an hour or two at a time.”

Yuchen gave a bitter smile and said nothing more. Although it was said that men and women were different, it wasn’t so taboo when it came to brothers and sisters, not to mention that Father said the words himself. How hurtful those words had been. Yuxi originally had a deep knot in her heart towards Father, and these words from him only added insult to injury.

Momo Gui guessed what was on Yuchen’s mind and immediately said, “Miss, pardon me for what I’m going to say. It is not wrong for Miss wanting to ease the relationship between the Fourth Miss and the Lord, but neither the Lord nor the Fourth Miss has this intention, so it is useless for Miss to do more.” The Third Lord did not think he was wrong to treat the Fourth Miss this way, and the Fourth Miss had long ceased to expect anything from her biological father. Under such circumstances, Yuchen would just die of exhaustion, and there was no way she could make the two of them ease and rejoice in their relationship.

Yuchen’s face was bitter. “I know, and I won’t be bothered with this matter anymore in the future.” Today, it was already apparent from Yuxi’s attitude. If Yuchen persuaded this issue any further, she would only be bringing contempt upon herself.