Chapter 281 : The Matter Settled Down (3)

As Chen Ran went out, he looked up at a dark, starry sky before lowering his head. As for what was going on in his mind, no one knew.

Han Jianming took Chen Ran back to his study and said, “Second Master Chen, my Si Mei was greatly frightened by the incident at the wangfu earlier. She has been panicking these days and having nightmares after nightmares. Now that she was poisoned, it has affected her health, and the succession of events has caused her to be somewhat emotionally unstable. So please don’t take today’s words to heart.”

Chen Ran used to think that Yuxi was very capable of enduring, but today, looking at her hysterical appearance like she was a female ghost, he doubted his judgement of her in his mind. “I won’t take it to heart.” Although he was also innocent in this matter, there was no denying that what that person had just said was right. The two times Han Yuxi had suffered had been brought on by him.

When he returned to the Marquis’ residence, Chen Ran went to see Marquis Taining.

Looking at his son like this, Marquis Taining knew that his son had not been able to negotiate with Yuxi. Of course, this result was as he had expected. “The Han girl has refused?” Since the two families had come to this point, it was normal for the Han girl to refuse, but it would be strange if she didn’t!

Chen Ran hesitated for a moment and stated the conditions that Yuxi had proposed. “I didn’t agree to it.” There was no way he could say yes to that promise.

Marquis Taining laughed a little. “Why didn’t you just say yes? You don’t have confidence in your own plan?”

Chen Ran shook his head. “No, I am very confident in my plan. It’s just that making such a promise would be too costly for me to bear if I couldn’t deliver.” If Han Yuxi had only asked him not to remarry, he would have agreed. But asking him not to have another woman was not something he could do. If something happened to Han Yuxi, would he have to die alone, with no one to take care of him after his death?

Marquis Taining said: “This girl deliberately put forward a condition that you could not agree to, in order to make you back down. This girl is brilliant. It’s just a pity……” It was just a pity that she was a girl, not a boy. Otherwise, Han Jianming would not have to worry about reviving his family reputation if he had such an intelligent helper.

No matter how smart Han Yuxi was, Marquis Taining did not put much thought into it, for Han Yuxi was a mere daughter. Even if she were smart, she would not be able to do anything. In the future, if she married, she would only stay in the inner chamber and take care of her turf in the backyard.

Chen Ran also put the matter aside. As the marriage was already a foregone conclusion, it was useless to talk about it any longer. So, at that moment, he told Marquis Taining about his method and what he could do to foolproof his plan in dissuading Qinxin Gongzhu from recruiting him as her fuma.

The betrothal gifts had gone into Yuxi’s Taoran House, and since the Han family had withdrawn from the marriage, the people of the Taoran House were picking things out to send back. How could they hide such a big thing from the Old Lady with this big commotion?

The Old Lady’s face was livid as she looked at Qiu Shi and questioned, “You say you want to withdraw from the marriage with the Chen family? Have you lost your mind?” The wedding was just a few days away, and to back out at this juncture had to be an insane move.

When Qiu Shi heard this, a flash of embarrassment flashed across her face. However, she suppressed the anger in her heart and said, “Mother, if we don’t withdraw the marriage, Yuxi will die. She has twice gotten away with it, but who knows if she can escape next time?”

The Old Lady already knew that the two assassination attempts on Yuxi had been the work of Song Guifei, “We can’t break off the engagement. What would our Han family be now if you proceed with this?”

Qiu Shi didn’t inform the Old Lady that they had already made a deal with the Chen family and that the Chen family had also agreed with it. She only said, “Mother, whether you agree or not, I must break this engagement. I can’t just stand by and watch Yuxi die.” One could say that this was the first time that Qiu Shi had refuted the Old Lady’s words right to her face.

The Old Lady became even more livid as she said, “What did you say? You try to say that again?” This daughter-in-law of hers had truly rebelled against her.

Qiu Shi had long known that the Old Lady had an iron mind and a stone heart. She had no hope that the Old Lady would agree to her idea, but hearing these words coming from the Old Lady’s mouth still sent a chill down her spine. Qiu Shi strained her neck and said, “I will absolutely break the engagement with the Chen family’s marriage. I won’t let Yuxi die in vain.”

The Old Lady pointed at Qiu Shi and said, “You’re good. You are very good……” Before she could continue her sentence, she had already passed out. The Old Lady had fainted from being too angry.

No matter how angry the Old Lady was, the Han family returned the betrothal gifts three days later to the Chen family. The official matchmaker also sent Yuxi and Chen Ran’s gengtie back to both families. At this point, they had officially withdrawn from the marriage.

Qiu Shi sighed as she held up Yuxi’s gengtie while saying, “How can this child be so plagued with disasters?” This child has never had a day of peace where she had to face one thing after another. She sighed. She didn’t know when it would finally end.

Yuxi’s withdrawal from her marriage caused quite a stir in the capital. Many of her friends and family had received wedding invitations before, but how could they not be shocked when they received the news that she had broken her own betrothal?

The Han family told the public that Yuxi had an old illness that would take a year to recover. Thus, to not delay the Second Master Chen family’s life, they took the initiative to withdraw from the marriage.

When the people who did not know the truth heard this, they thought that the Fourth Miss Han was unlucky. She suddenly had an attack of an old illness at this juncture. What else could be said about it other than she had a stroke of bad luck. However, those who were alert knew that Yuxi’s old illness had come at a strange time. Those who had their own sources would immediately ask for information on it. At the same time, those who didn’t will go straight to the door to ask. This was the case with Yuru as she returned with her daughter, who had just turned one year old.

Qiu Shi didn’t hide anything from Yuru as she explained, “Your Si Mei is not suffering from an old illness. She has been poisoned and needs to be treated for a while to recover.” Since they had already announced that it would take a year for Yuxi to get well, they could not talk about her marriage for a year.

Yuru had guessed that there was something else happening behind the scene. Yuxi had never gotten sick except for the time when she had smallpox. Hence, how could she suddenly have an old illness? But she never thought that Yuxi would be poisoned instead. “Mother, who poisoned Si Mei?”

Qiu Shi answered with a bitter smile, “It was Song Guifei who poisoned her. Qinxin Gongzhu had fallen in love with Chen Ran and wanted him to be her fuma, so Yuxi had become a stumbling block for her.”

Yuru thought that this luck of Yuxi was truly unmatched where she could even come across such an incident. “Mother, I will go and see my Si Mei.” In the past, when she was in her mother’s house, Yuru always felt that Qiu Shi had not been good enough for her. But after she married and came into contact with her stepmother-in-law, she realised how lucky she was and what kind and generous her formal mother had been. Although Yuru rarely came back in the past few years, she never stopped paying her filial respects during New Year’s and other festivals. She would occasionally send Qiu Shi some clothes and shoes that she had made herself. The things were not worth much, but the thought was still very much appreciated by Qiu Shi. Qiu Shi was the kind of person who would treat you better if you treated her well. Therefore, with Qiu Shi’s support, Yuru was now able to get even with her stepmother-in-law in the Zeng family, and her life had sailed quite smoothly.

Yuxi was sitting at the table reading a book, mainly because other people basically didn’t come to her place, so there was no need to lie in bed. When Yuxi heard that Yuru had come to see her, she was startled. “Dajie is here?” Since she had fallen ill, Ye Shi, Lu Xiu and Yurong had all come to see her, but Yuru was the first visitor from outside the residence.

Zisu urged, “Miss, hurry up and lie down on the bed!” If Miss didn’t get into bed, Miss would be exposed. Zisu knew the next day that Yuxi wasn’t truly poisoned. She didn’t blame Yuxi for hiding it from her. She was just sad that Yuxi had to abuse her body to make it more realistic.

When Yuru entered the house, she saw Yuxi lying in bed but looking much better than she expected.

When Yuxi saw that Yuru was still holding the baby in her hand, a flash of surprise passed through her eyes, and she was busy saying, “Dajie, don’t bring Niu Niu near me. I will pass the sickness to her.” Niu Niu was the little girl’s nickname. Because Yuxi was not on good terms with Yuru, when this child had her first bath after three days of being born, the gift she sent was neither too thin nor too thick. It was just the kind that one could get by with.

Yuru said, “Si Mei, Mother has already told me about your situation. So, don’t say anything to me about your being sick.” It wasn’t like Yuxi was actually sick. She was just being poisoned.

Momo Quan came over and advised, “Da Gunainai, the child should still be carried out! The smell of medicine is too strong here. It’s not good for the child.”

Only then did Yuru ask the nursemaid to carry the child out.

Yuxi asked with a wry smile, “Dajie, you know all about it?” Yuxi was not surprised that Qiu Shi would tell Yuru about this. Qiu Shi was a person who could not hide it in her heart. It was already very good that she could hide from Yuru the fact that she had pretended to be poisoned.

Yuru nodded a little and said, “Since things are already like this, you shouldn’t overthink it. The most important thing now is to take good care of your health. For the rest, we’ll talk about it when you get well.”

Yuxi did not expect that Yuru would come to her door at this time to comfort her. At that moment, she smiled and said, “Thank you, Dajie.” This was the first time she had sincerely thanked Yuru.

Yuru sighed and said, “We are sisters. It is a little bit too much for you to thank me. Moreover, Dajie has not helped you in any way, so Dajie doesn’t even deserve these ‘thank you’ words.” What else could one do but admit it was one’s bad luck when encountering something like this. With the case of Song Guifei and the Gongzhu, there was nothing that the State Residence could do to counter it.

Yuxi smiled a little, “I’m happy that Dajie can come to see me.”

Yuru kept Yuxi company for a while. Before she went back, she left some nutritional medicine for Yuxi. After Yuru left, Yuxi just lay on the bed, without saying another word for quite a while.

Zijin looked at Yuxi in a depressed mood and couldn’t help but ask, “Miss, what’s wrong with you?” Miss had been in a good mood for the past two days. Why would she abruptly be in a bad mood after meeting Eldest Miss?

Yuxi sighed quietly. “When Dajie was at home, she was not on good terms with me. Yet at this time, she was able to visit me……” While Zhou Shiya, who was so close to her, did not even come to her door. She didn’t ask Zhou Shiya to come to see her in person, but she could still ask her maid to come to visit or just write her a letter. There would always be a way that she could do it! Unfortunately, after waiting for several days, Yuxi did not even get a visit from Zhou Shiya herself or even her maid.

The last time Momo Quan had told her about Zhou Shiya’s problems, she had been able to use the excuse that Second Lady Zhou was too strict in her control. But now, she no longer wanted to lie to herself. As Momo Quan said, Zhou Shiya was not worthy of her friendship. One had to admit that ginger would get spicier as it got older. Compared to Momo Quan, her eye for people was in dire need of improvement.

When Zijin looked at Yuxi’s grim expression, she remembered what Zisu had told her earlier about Zhou Shiya not coming to see Miss, so she shared with her words of wisdom that she had once heard, “Miss, it will be my luck if I get it. But if I lost it, then that is also my fate.”

Yuxi couldn’t help laughing as she asked, “Zijin, where did you hear that?” She hadn’t taught Zijin these kinds of words.

Zijin answered, “This is a saying that Master Yang once said.” She thought it made sense, so she wrote it down.

Yuxi was silent. From these words, she could see that Master Yang must have gone through many hardships before. Otherwise, he would not have said such words. “Zijin, this is not the way to use those words. Hmm, just forget it. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Remember you once told me that you and Yu Si Ge had also hunted rabbits in the mountains? Can you tell me more about that?” It was better to hear and think less of bad things and hear and think more of happy things.

When Zijin saw that Yuxi was interested, she told Yuxi in detail when Yu Si took her hunting in the mountains. Zijin was not as eloquent as Zisu, but Yuxi still listened to her with great interest.