Chapter 44: Chapter
Xi Wenzhe did not waste another second. He turned and walked rapidly toward the lotus pond, his long, dark robes cutting through the air with furious speed. Gu Xiang, Xi Yunchen, and Ding Li followed close behind him, all of them completely stunned by what they had just heard.
By the time the young masters arrived at the pond, the scene was absolute chaos.
Duchess Lin Meiyun, Xi Ronghua, and Madame Zi had just reached the edge of the walkway alongside the rest of the older noblewomen. Madame Pei ran past everyone, rushing straight toward her daughter, who was currently being dragged out of the freezing water by two wet servants.
"My poor daughter! My beautiful girl!" Madame Pei shrieked, pulling a shivering, mud-soaked Lady Pei into her arms.
Lady Pei looked like a drowned rat. Thick clumps of green river grass hung from her head, and foul-smelling dark mud dripped from her expensive silk robes onto the clean stone floor. She was crying so hard her makeup was completely ruined, leaving black streaks down her pale face.
The moment Lady Pei saw the Duchess and her mother, she pointed a trembling, muddy finger directly at Su Yueqing.
"Mother! Duchess Lin! You have to punish her!" Lady Pei wailed, her teeth chattering loudly. "I was only trying to be nice and welcome her to the family! But she... she insulted me, and then she shoved me over the railing with all her might! She tried to kill me!"
The entire crowd of noblewomen gasped, turning their heads to glare at the culprit.
Su Yueqing was standing exactly where she had been before. Her arms were folded neatly inside her beautiful plum-colored sleeves, and her expression was totally blank, looking completely unbothered by the screams and angry stares.
[Ding!]
Nine’s robotic voice rang out inside her head.
[Host, congratulations! You have successfully shocked the entire gathering of noble families. The script is officially ruined, but your bad behavior was top tier. Villain Points +50!]
[Hmph. Worth every single point,]
Su Yueqing answered proudly in her own mind.
[She wanted to say I pushed her anyway, so why should I take the blame for free? At least now she actually has a reason to cry. My only regret is that the mud wasn’t deeper.]
Standing just a few feet away, Lin Meiyun, Xi Ronghua, Gu Yue, Xi Qianqian, and Xi Lanyin all froze. Their eyes widened as Su Yueqing’s inner thoughts echoed clearly in their minds.
The Duchess let out a slow breath, her heart twisting. So it was true. Lady Pei had planned to frame her daughter-in-law from the very beginning, but Su Yueqing was simply too impatient to let the girl finish her act and decided to do the pushing herself.
Madame Pei stood up, her face red with pure rage as she confronted the Duchess. "Duchess Lin! Your family must give my Pei family a proper explanation today! This wild woman must be dragged to the ancestral hall and beaten! Look at what she did to my daughter!"
Before Lin Meiyun could say a single word to calm the crowd, a deep, frozen voice broke through the noise.
"What is going on here?"
The crowd parted instantly as Xi Wenzhe stepped onto the stone walkway. His sharp eyes scanned the muddy mess, moving from the crying Lady Pei straight to his silent, unbothered wife.
Lady Pei’s eyes lit up with desperate hope the moment she saw him. She tried to step forward, dripping mud everywhere. "Master Wenzhe... Master Wenzhe, you have to help me! Your wife is a monster! She threw me into the pond because she hates me!"
Wenzhe did not even look at Lady Pei. His cold gaze remained fixed entirely on Su Yueqing. He walked over until he was standing right in front of her, his tall figure casting a dark shadow over her.
"Did you do this?" Wenzhe demanded, his voice dangerously low.
Su Yueqing tilted her head up, looking directly into her husband’s furious eyes without a single hint of fear. "Yes, I did. She was annoying me, so I gave her a bath."
[Wow, look at him acting all tall and dramatic,]
Su Yueqing thought with a massive internal sigh, staring at Wenzhe’s handsome but angry face.
[Go ahead and yell at me, dear husband. I already know you hate me and think I’m a plague. Just hurry up so I can go back to my room and sleep.]
Wenzhe’s hand clenched tightly inside his sleeve. He could hear her clear, lazy thoughts perfectly, and it made his chest tighten with a strange, frustrating anger.
Xi Wenzhe stared down at her, his eyes locked onto her unbothered, blank face. Hearing her lazy internal voice practically begging him to yell at her so she could go back to sleep made something snap inside him. It wasn’t hatred, it was pure, stubborn frustration.
"So this is your plan," Wenzhe said, his voice dangerously low, meant only for her to hear. "You want everyone to hate you. Especially me. Who in the world would actually want to be hated? I definitely won’t let your plan work this time."
Su Yueqing blinked her large eyes, completely confused by his words.
[Wait, what is this man talking about?]
She thought, her brow twitching slightly as she stared back at him.
[What plan? I didn’t have a plan, I just lost my temper because that girl has a big mouth. Why is he looking at me like I’m playing some deep psychological chess game? Just divorce me already!]
Before Wenzhe could process her internal rant, Madame Pei rushed forward. She completely ignored the mud dripping from her daughter and grabbed tightly onto Wenzhe’s long silk sleeve, her face distorted with rage.
"Master Wenzhe! You heard her confess it yourself!" Madame Pei shrieked, pointing at Su Yueqing. "She admits to hurting my daughter! This uncultured woman has no shame! You must punish your wife immediately to show the capital that the Xi family does not tolerate such vicious behavior! Break her legs, drag her to the guards, do something!"
The entire garden went dead silent. All the noblewomen, including the crying Lady Pei, waited eagerly for Wenzhe to unleash his legendary cold anger on his new bride. Everyone knew he disliked her. Everyone expected him to cast her aside.
Lin Meiyun, Xi Ronghua, and the girls held their breath, their eyes darting between Wenzhe and the oblivious Su Yueqing.
Wenzhe slowly, deliberately pulled his sleeve out of Madame Pei’s grip. His expression did not soften, but he stepped sideways, deliberately positioning his tall, broad frame directly in front of Su Yueqing, shielding her from the angry glares of the crowd.
"No one is going to touch Su Yueqing," Wenzhe stated flatly. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a heavy, undeniable power that echoed across the lotus pond.
The entire crowd gasped. Madame Pei’s jaw dropped so low it looked like it might unhinge.
"M-Master Wenzhe?!" Lady Pei wailed from the floor, her voice cracking in pure heartbreak and shock. "She pushed me! You saw it! How can you defend her?!"
Wenzhe turned his cold, indifferent gaze toward the mud-soaked girl. "My wife has a straightforward personality. If she pushed you, Lady Pei, then you must have said something entirely unacceptable to provoke her. Furthermore, this is the Duke’s estate. The internal matters of the Xi family are not for outsiders to manage or punish."
Su Yueqing stood behind his back, her mouth slightly open in absolute shock.
[System... hold on a minute..]
Su Yueqing screamed furiously inside her mind, her jaw practically hitting the floor.
[Nine! What is wrong with the male lead?! Is his brain damaged from reading too many books in his study?! He is supposed to order the guards to lock me up! Why is he defending me?! My villain points! He’s ruining everything!]
