Chapter 63

Chapter 63: He Didn’t Believe a Word of It

“How could I despise you!” Qi Shu Xian said at once.

He only found it hard to accept. He would never divorce.

Sheng Zhi Wan was his wife, and she could only be his wife for the rest of his life.

“Qi Shi zi is truly devoted and righteous. A real man!” praises rose from the crowd.

Sheng Zhi Wan listened and only felt mockery.

Qi Shu Xian had probably even fooled himself.

Madam Cui hurriedly said, “Enough, Zhi Wan. Since you do not wish to mention last night’s matter again, we will not mention it. You only need to follow Madam Dong and endure a chastity punishment once, and we will treat it as if it never happened!”

At this moment, Shu Xian could not divorce Sheng Zhi Wan. If Qi Shu Xian divorced her, Sheng Zhi Wan could take her dowry away. So Sheng Zhi Wan had to be kept.

“Follow Madam Dong how?” Sheng Zhi Wan looked at Madam Cui. “Endure a chastity punishment? Or hand my dowry to my husband’s family?”

Sheng Zhi Wan had not expected Madam Cui to even drag out someone from the previous dynasty, all for the sake of Sheng Zhi Wan’s dowry.

Follow Madam Dong? Madam Cui really had the nerve to say it.

Madam Dong and Dong Qi had originally been an ordinary farming couple. Later, Dong Qi joined the military and built up merit. Though he came from a peasant family, he was extremely good-looking and fiercely brave in battle, so he quickly caught the eye of the Right Chancellor’s daughter.

The Right Chancellor personally proposed a marriage to Dong Qi, but Dong Qi refused without even thinking.

After Dong Qi received an estate, the first thing Dong Qi did was bring Madam Dong to live with him. Later, when others tried to make things hard for Madam Dong again and again, Dong Qi protected her every time.

When Madam Dong was kidnapped, Dong Qi fought alone and rescued his wife from the bandits’ hands.

After that, the Right Chancellor submitted a memorial to the Emperor, claiming Madam Dong was no longer chaste and asking for an imperial edict to cast her out of the household. When Dong Qi learned of it, Dong Qi had no choice but to discuss it with Madam Dong. Together, they came up with the idea of a chastity punishment, just to silence the gossiping mouths.

As for Madam Dong’s so-called dowry, she had been a peasant woman. What dowry could she have had? At most, a piece of pork and two feet of coarse cloth.

Madam Cui telling Sheng Zhi Wan to follow Madam Dong was not about chastity at all. The real goal was the dowry.

“What do you mean by that?” Madam Cui’s eyes flickered after her thoughts were exposed, yet she still wore a grief-stricken expression. “Mother is doing this for your own good. How can you misunderstand me like this?”

“The ‘good’ Mother speaks of is making me agree to Heir Apparent taking concubines, making me put Heir Apparent’s child with another woman under my name, and having me hand over my dowry with my own hands.” Sheng Zhi Wan did not back down at all. “That kind of good is truly hard to endure!”

“What? Qi Shi zi already has a child?”

“Didn’t people say Old Duke Qi left family rules that men of Duke Qi Residence must respect their wives? The Duchess even said herself that she would not take concubines for Shi Zi An just because there were no children. She rejected a noble lady who offered herself right in public.”

Because of that incident, Duke Qi Residence and Madam Cui had always had a good reputation.

Meanwhile, Sheng Zhi Wan had never spoken about how she used her own silver to support the Duke Residence, because she did not want others to look down on Qi Shu Xian.

“Could it be Lady Meng?”

“Registering the child under Princess Qing Ning’s name means making Princess Qing Ning raise Heir Apparent’s child with another woman?”

On both sides of Duke Qi Residence, many officials’ estates stood. They could not openly come to watch, but their servants were mixed into the crowd. When those servants heard this, the way they looked at the people of Duke Qi Residence turned strange.

Making a Princess raise a farm girl’s child? And if the child truly went under Princess Qing Ning’s name, then the child would take both legitimacy and the position of eldest. Did they think Princess Qing Ning was so easy to bully?

Under countless probing gazes, Qi Shu Xian felt deeply humiliated.

Qi Shu Xian stepped forward. “Enough. Do you still think we haven’t been laughed at enough?” Qi Shu Xian reached out, about to grab Sheng Zhi Wan.

“Oh!” Just then, a drawn-out, carefree young voice came from behind the crowd. “Looks like we really came at the perfect time.”

Ye Rong and the others had not expected Shang Xing Yu to be right. Duke Qi Residence really dared to make things difficult for Princess Qing Ning.

They had heard everything clearly just now. That Duchess had actually wanted Princess Qing Ning to follow Madam Dong.

Qi Shu Xian’s eyes turned cold when Qi Shu Xian saw the five of them. “Yesterday, my wife saved you. I did not ask you to rush forward and fight the mountain bandits, but at the very least you should have come back to report it, so the Duke Residence could rescue her. Yet you did nothing. Do you not feel guilty?”

“Who said Young Master did nothing?” Ye Rong immediately bristled. “Didn’t Qi Shi zi go up the mountain? Didn’t Qi Shi zi see the mountain bandits we killed?”

Those mountain bandits had been their accomplishment!

Qi Shu Xian frowned and said coldly, “Young Master Ye being useless is one thing, but do you even know what crime it is to claim military merit that isn’t yours?”

“What do you mean, claiming merit?” Ye Rong puffed out his chest. “It was us. If you don’t believe it, ask them!”

Behind Ye Rong, Pei Yu An and the others immediately nodded along.

“Ha.” Qi Shu Xian sneered. “How could that be possible? If Zhi Wan had not offered herself as a hostage, you would have been taken away with the mountain bandits. How could you be standing here in one piece?”

A bunch of spoiled playboys like them could never have been a match for those mountain bandits.

Qi Shu Xian did not believe a single word of it.