Chapter 002

Chapter 2: You Really Are Calculating

It was true that Du Zi Heng had not married of his own will, but she had not either. If he did not want the marriage, he should have fought it before the wedding. Now that they were married, he wanted to shame her, which was absolutely not going to happen.

This had happened in the last life too, except the one who faced the mess back then was Yu Jiao Jiao. Yu Jiao Jiao never forgot the humiliation on her wedding night. After she learned what You Bing Yue had done, she did everything she could to stop Chancellor’s Manor from stepping in. In the end, You Bing Yue was taken away, but not fully punished.

You Bing Yue had many male confidants, and one of them was Prince Xiao Yao. Prince Xiao Yao not only came forward to protect her, he also took revenge for her and punished Marquis Wu’an Manor hard. Even after that, Prince Xiao Yao was still angry. When Yu Jiao Jiao went out one time, he had people break the wheel of her carriage on purpose. She made a fool of herself in the street, and her arm broke. It took her half a year to heal.

You Bing Yue received no punishment. Instead, this stirred up Du Zi Heng’s fighting spirit. Three years later, during the Imperial Examinations, he took first place as the top scholar. Using the honor granted by the Emperor, he asked for a residence and moved out with You Bing Yue. In the new residence, Yu Jiao Jiao’s position fell sharply. She was still the principal wife, and she had Minister’s Manor and the chancellor and his wife behind her, yet she was pushed down again and again. Meanwhile, You Bing Yue was well protected by Du Zi Heng. Because he kept moving up, even the chancellor and his wife began to see her good side, and they loosened their attitude toward her a lot.

That afternoon, Marchioness Wu’an’s visiting card arrived, just as expected. At that moment, Madam Chancellor, Madam Yao, still did not know about You Bing Yue beating someone. She only felt puzzled and said: “Why would Marchioness Wu’an come at a time like this?”

She and Marchioness Wu’an were not close. They were only polite acquaintances.

By chance, Chancellor Du returned from outside. As he lifted the curtain and entered, he heard Madam Yao’s words. A trace of anger crossed his serious face as he said: “Is this not trouble stirred up by that unfilial son!”

Madam Yao did not understand and said: “What about Zi Heng? He has not caused any trouble these two days, has he?” The only terrible thing he had done lately was humiliating his new wife on their wedding night. But that was not something Marquis Wu’an Manor should be handling.

Chancellor Du, frustrated, told her about You Bing Yue beating someone. He had just learned of it himself. As soon as he heard, he went straight to Marquis Wu’an Manor, but they refused to see him. He had no choice but to come home to settle accounts with his unfilial son. Before he could even call the boy over, trouble came knocking on their door.

He ordered: “Someone, go call that unfilial son and that woman here. The mess they made, they will clean up themselves.”

Madam Yao hurried to stop him and said: “Master, no. If we handle this poorly, it will affect Zi Heng’s Imperial Examinations this year.” These days, the Imperial Examinations looked not only at grades and connections but also at character. If you were truly wicked, then no matter how good your scores were, the Imperial Court would not hire you. Du Zi Heng was the chancellor’s son and a hot candidate for the exams. Many eyes were on him. If this blew up and reached the Emperor’s ears, it would certainly hurt his future.

Chancellor Du fell silent. The steward felt prickles along his back and a lump in his throat. Seeing that neither of them spoke, he finally said: “Master, madam, the person Marchioness Wu’an asked to see is the young madam.”

“What?”

The chancellor and his wife were stunned.

After a moment, Chancellor Du said: “Go summon the young madam.”

Madam Yao said: “We should go meet her ourselves.” She paused, then changed her mind and said: “No, let Zi Heng go meet her.”

Yu Zhi Yi finished counting the property she could openly claim as hers. She was the adopted daughter of Yu Manor. Although her foster father held the post of Minister of Revenue, and although her dowry had looked large when she married, with one hundred and twenty trunks, most of it was hollow. There was not much of real value. She had only six hundred taels in cash, and all the other odds and ends did not add up to even a thousand taels.

Before the wedding, Madam Yu gave her two shops, but they were not big shops in busy streets. They sat in a small alley near Sparrow Temple. They were so poorly placed that they could hardly be used for business, and even renting them out as living space would be hard.

Yu Zhi Yi did not mind, because the money she made herself was much more than that.

Zi Yuan, unhappy, said: “Master and madam are too biased. I heard that Second Miss’s hair ornaments alone are worth ten thousand taels. Madam gave her another ten thousand taels in silver. The five young masters each gave her one thousand taels. That’s not even counting how the eldest young master gave her several large shops and the second young master gave her a hundred qing of good farmland.”

Yu Zhi Yi did not care much and said: “She is the legitimate daughter of Minister’s Manor. Even if they emptied Minister’s Manor to make her dowry, no outsider could say anything.”

Zi Yuan was still upset and said: “But before Second Miss came back, master, madam, and the five young masters clearly treated you very well.”

More than ten years ago, Madam Yu unexpectedly gave birth while away from home. Another woman at the inn had just given birth to a daughter too. That woman, seeing Madam Yu’s grand retinue and knowing she belonged to a powerful house, grew bold and evil and swapped the babies. Ten years later, the truth came out. The guilty woman, terrified, took her own life.

Yu Zhi Yi’s status became awkward at once. Official Yu and his wife could not bear to send away an orphan with no parents, so they kept her as the eldest miss of Yu Manor. Even so, her rank and treatment fell to the bottom. Seven years passed. The couple and her five brothers felt less and less for her until, at last, only coldness remained. Even at her wedding, they hardly showed anything.

The extra gift from Madam Yu was only a plain gold hairpin worth less than a hundred taels. The five brothers, as if they had agreed, each gave her one simple piece of jewelry of modest value. The six hundred taels in cash were what Yu Zhi Yi had saved before age ten. After she turned ten, her monthly allowance was only three taels, which, after daily expenses, left almost nothing. Yet a first-class maid in Minister’s Manor received three taels a month.

Was she sad? Was she hurt? Of course. But a person cannot live forever in sadness. You cannot keep walking forward by clinging to the memories of better days.

Yu Zhi Yi did not answer Zi Yuan. She glanced at the bright sunlight outside and said: “Serve tea. A guest has arrived.”

Zi Yuan looked at the empty doorway, but she did not ask why her miss said so. She went to prepare the tea.

Before long, Du Zi Heng appeared with a dark face outside Windward Pavilion. He carried the bookish air of a scholar. He wore a loose yet well-fitted blue-and-white jacket. As he walked, the outer robe moved with the wind. He looked quite dashing. His features were handsome too. His lips were red, his teeth bright, and his nose high without being sharp. His long eyelashes were like butterfly wings. It was the kind of beauty that could make a girl fall at first sight.

No wonder, in the last life, Yu Jiao Jiao had been bewitched by him. Even knowing there was no room for her in his heart, she still chased after him.

Yu Zhi Yi withdrew her gaze. Following the rules of hosting, her pale, slender fingers lifted the teapot and she poured the tea herself. She said: “Young master, since you are here, why are you not coming in?”