Chapter 037
Chapter 37: Friends Fall Out
Duan Yi Chen’s hand hung in the air. Cold wind slipped through his fingers. He pulled back, heart unwilling, and said: “The Ping An Marquis kept the silver in the Capital. Marshal Huo knows. That’s all I can say.”
The wind lifted the loose strands at Xia Meng Yan’s temples, chilling her cheeks. She said, voice flat: “One vague line, and everything is wiped away?”
She had been ready to forgive him. But hearing that, she found it laughable. He was coaxing her like a child.
Seeing the mockery and disappointment in her eyes, Duan Yi Chen scuffed his hair in frustration, then kicked a stone pillar, angry as he said: “You don’t believe me? After all these years of friendship, would I sell you out on purpose?”
Xia Meng Yan did not answer. She only stared at him.
Her gaze pierced him like a thousand arrows. A touch of hurt rose in his eyes. He said, stubborn yet shaken: “I didn’t wrong you. I kept some things from you to protect you.”
She stepped back, and back again, as if looking at a stranger. She could not understand what truth was so heavy that he would hide it even from her. Then she laughed at herself. After coming back to life, the one person she trusted with all her heart had stabbed her the deepest.
“Don’t be like this, Meng Yan. I’m afraid,” he said. “When this is over—no—one year from now, I will tell you the truth.”
Xia Meng Yan’s voice was calm. The wave of hurt had already steamed away: “Duan Yi Chen, let’s not contact each other anymore.”
She turned and left without giving him any chance. A truth told a year later meant nothing to her. She only wanted a reason she could accept. Even if he said that, between Emperor Xuan Ming and her, he gave in to pressure and chose Emperor Xuan Ming, it would be better than “It’s for your own good.” [“For your own good” is nonsense. It is just weighing pros and cons.]
Duan Yi Chen watched her back, furious and heartsick. He vaulted over the railing, dropped to the ground, and raced back to the Marquis Xuan Ping Manor.
He burst into the study and shouted at the man in the seat of honor: “You already guessed that Meng Yan would cut me off after she learned the truth, so you locked me up first, didn’t you?”
Marquis Xuan Ping acted like he hadn’t heard a thing and kept his eyes on his book.
Duan Yi Chen strode to the desk and roared: “Everyone is a piece in your plan, even your own son. Is this what you call doing what’s best for me?”
Marquis Xuan Ping slowly lifted his eyes. His gaze was calm and unreadable, as if the one in the wrong was his son: “Without our planning, could you live so freely? Without our planning, could you walk sideways in the Capital? Duan Yi Chen, you were born in a noble house. You must sacrifice for the family. Your sisters can marry for the family’s interests. Why can’t you?”
Blood rushed to Duan Yi Chen’s head. He shouted: “So you watched my sister live like a widow day after day and still would not allow her to separate. You brainwashed her with family duty and forced her to stay in that wolf den, living a life worse than death.”
“Insolent.” Marquis Xuan Ping slammed the desk and glared. “We spoiled you all these years. This is how you repay us.”
Duan Yi Chen let out a cold laugh, eyes full of scorn: “Spoil me? Are you sure you didn’t just fatten the lamb to sell it?”
Smack. The crisp crack of a slap rang sharp in the quiet study.
Duan Yi Chen’s head tilted to the side. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth. He smiled, tongue brushing the cut, and looked at his father without fear: “Now that feels honest. Playing loving father and filial son is boring. I respect you more with the mask off. Today I’ll be clear too: either Xia Meng Yan becomes the Heir Apparent Consort, or I die.”
Marquis Xuan Ping stared at his hand. He had never struck his son before. A thread of guilt rose, but hearing those words, his face grew even darker: “I will be clear as well. The Heir Apparent Consort must be chosen by us. As for that Xia Meng Yan, we can give her the title of honored concubine. That is our greatest concession.”
Duan Yi Chen wiped the blood from his mouth, stepped back a few paces, and burst out in open defiance: “If we don’t agree, there is nothing to discuss. I’m going to find Big Sister and ask if she still wants to be your puppet.”
He moved to leave.
“Unfilial son, stop.” Marquis Xuan Ping rounded the desk in a stride and blocked him. “This matter has nothing to do with them…”
“You’re going to coax me again?” Duan Yi Chen cut him off, mouth tilting in a wild smile. “I suppose both brothers-in-law have long been your people. They dared to bully my sisters because they were working for you. If I tell my sisters the truth, will they hate you?”
Only now did he figure out why his father let his sisters suffer at their in-laws’. Most likely both brothers-in-law were already serving his father and, during certain tasks, learned things they shouldn’t. Otherwise how would they dare offend the Marquis Xuan Ping Manor? Thinking it through, Duan Yi Chen’s heart fell into a pit. Who would think that a father’s love for his children was all calculation? He could accept being used himself. But he would never let them use Meng Yan.
Marquis Xuan Ping frowned: “This concerns the lives of the entire Duan Family. Do you still intend to go?”
“That old trick won’t bind me anymore.” Duan Yi Chen turned to leave, but before he had taken two steps, darkness swallowed his vision and he collapsed.
Hands behind his back, Marquis Xuan Ping said coolly: “Take him away and keep a close watch.”
“Yes.” A guard hefted Duan Yi Chen and carried him out.
Marquis Xuan Ping lifted a hand. A figure dropped inside the room. “Marquis.”
“Send a message to that person. Tell them…” A flicker of hesitation crossed the marquis’s deep eyes. Then he said, “Tell them I agree.”
The Shadow Guard answered and, seeing there were no further orders, vanished.
Xia Meng Yan did not know Duan Yi Chen had been locked up again. She drifted back to her manor like a ghost, fell face-first onto her bed, and didn’t say a word.
Seeing her pale face, Nanny Song pulled Chun Yue aside to ask questions. Chun Yue told her what happened at the Bright Moon Pavilion, especially that Duan Yi Chen was there too.
“You mean Big Miss saw Heir Apparent Duan and then turned like this?” Nanny Song asked.
Chun Yue nodded: “They seemed to argue. Heir Apparent Duan didn’t see Big Miss downstairs. He went straight back to the Marquis Xuan Ping Manor.”
The more Nanny Song listened, the more worried she grew. Usually the Heir Apparent and Big Miss were as close as the same person. They might bicker, but he had never cold-shouldered her. It seemed this time was not simple.
“Don’t pull our watchers back from the Marquis Xuan Ping Manor yet. Wait a bit longer,” Nanny Song said.
Chun Yue nodded. She had been too far away and didn’t know what truly happened.
Xia Meng Yan heard them talking but didn’t move. On the way back, she had tried and tried to figure it out, but she still could not. What could make Duan Yi Chen so torn that he needed a whole year? She tied it to things from her last life and still found no clue. [If I can’t figure it out, I still have Father and Mother.]
Her sadness was real, but her doubt was stronger. She sat up and asked Nanny Song: “Has Father gone to bed?”
Nanny Song glanced at the window: “By his usual habits, Master should be in the study.”
“Let’s go to the study.” Xia Meng Yan changed out of men’s clothes into a proper dress and hurried out. On the way, she told Chun Yue to check on her mother and bring her if she wasn’t asleep.
“What is it, Yan’er? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?” Madam Lin was older and slept late. She had just lain down when she heard her daughter call her to the front study and thought something was wrong with the baby.
Xia Meng Yan supported Madam Lin and soothed her softly as she said: “Mother, I’m fine. The child is fine.” She glanced at Nanny Song, who stepped out and closed the door.
Madam Lin and Xia Ping Yuan looked at each other, knowing their daughter had something serious to say, and both sat up straight.