"Zi Mu overheard his little sister's thoughts and happened upon Great-Grandmother's plan to frame the Fifth Princess by making her fall into the water. I told a servant to push that wet nurse into the water, then found a way to have Yinliu carry my little brother outside..."
Xie Zi Mu's face was full of remorse, but his eyes were dark and solemn.
He had wanted to help his mother.
At the full-month banquet, while his mother was away, he had secretly heard his little sister cursing about something. After piecing things together afterward, he had come to understand what was happening.
If Father touched the Fifth Princess, Mother would lose all standing in the inner household, while Xie Huaishan could rise to an even higher position.
That was why he had done those things. Since he did not live in the inner courtyard, his actions were difficult for anyone to notice.
He had never expected his mother to find out.
Liu Wan was astonished. Was she not the only one who could hear Wanwan's thoughts?
"You helped me, Zi Mu." Liu Wan did not pull him to his feet. Instead, she continued, "The reason I'm angry isn't that you helped me."
"You are the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis's Residence, and a student raised under my own guidance. Your mother hopes you will grow into an upright gentleman. A true man stands tall between heaven and earth. You should advance toward the wider world ahead, turning your blade outward to protect those behind you.
"And behind you is your mother. Let me handle the affairs of the inner household. If you intend to enter official service, you must not dirty your hands with such things."
His little mouth had been tightly pressed shut, his expression solemn, but Liu Wan's words made Xie Zi Mu cry.
When Liu Wan stepped outside, a servant told her, "Madam, you have been summoned to the palace."
Liu Wan returned to her room to change before entering the palace, only to find Xie Zi Xing arguing with little Wanwan.
Xie Zi Xing's eyes were red. A pile of paper lay scattered across the table, all bearing "Xie Ri Mian Ri Mian."
Xie Zi Xing hugged Liu Wan and complained, "Mother, Little Sister thinks my writing is ugly. Somehow, the more I wrote, the uglier it got. Waaaah!"
Little Wanwan was still sitting there sucking her thumb, her round eyes looking up at Liu Wan.
"Yiya, yiya, yi..."
[Oh, oh, Brother Zi Xing's writing is so ugly! I don't want him writing my name. I can't even talk yet. How could I have said anything to him?]
Liu Wan pressed a hand to her forehead with a wry smile, then picked up Xie Zi Xing's earliest writing and compared it with what he had just written.
It really had grown uglier and uglier.
At that moment, she could not help remembering what little Wanwan had just been thinking about words becoming prophecy!
Then she remembered Zi Mu saying that he could hear his little sister's thoughts.
Could Zi Xing hear them too?
A flicker of astonishment and uncertainty crossed Liu Wan's eyes. Just how many surprises did her daughter still have in store for her?
Liu Wan pried Xie Zi Xing away from her leg, which he was still hugging as he cried, and picked up little Wanwan. "Wanwan, say something nice, and Brother Zi Xing won't cry anymore."
"Yiya, yi, waaaah..."
[I want to comfort him too, but I can't speak! Waaaah!]
She did not want to stay in this baby's body a moment longer.
She had once been the Metaphysics Ancestress, summoning wind and rain, capturing ghosts and subduing gods. When had she ever suffered such indignities?
Seeing Liu Wan watching her steadily, little Wanwan lowered her head and blushed.
[Brother Zi Xing's writing is so pwetty.]
Xie Zi Xing looked up blankly. "Huh?"
"Heehee..." Little Wanwan grinned, showing her gums.
"Zi Xing, write it again for Mother," Liu Wan said.
Xie Zi Xing stopped sobbing, wiped his tears with his sleeve, and picked up his brush to write again. As he wrote, the strokes flowed much more smoothly.
At last, he managed to make the three characters of Xie Wanwan's name look lovely-so lovely that Xie Zi Xing forgot to cry.
Liu Wan was overjoyed.
She sucked a kiss onto her daughter's soft, fair cheek, pulling out a little mound of flesh before it sprang back with a pop!
"Wanwan really is Mother's little immortal. Pan Chun, get Wanwan ready. We'll take her into the palace with us."
[Yay, yay! The palace has the best dragon qi. Mother, let's hurry to the palace!]
Little Wanwan giggled merrily, waving her little hands and grabbing at the air.
Once she entered the palace, she simply had to absorb some spiritual energy and cultivate!
Hachoo, hachoo~
Just then, after saying goodbye to his mother, Xie Zi Xing ran outside with his papers. His little body tripped over the threshold, but he sprang straight back up, tossing Liu Wan's instructions to the back of his mind.
He headed toward the courtyard where his tutor lived.
Outside the gate.
The old madam had already climbed into the carriage, deeply uneasy.
Liu Wan arrived carrying little Wanwan, but Xie Jin'an was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is the heir?"
The old madam reproached her. "He's still at Charity Hall. He'll be here shortly. Honestly, why don't you keep track of where your own husband goes?"
"He was in your courtyard. Why didn't you keep track of him?" Liu Wan retorted.
"You..."
The old madam was furious.
Liu Wan had always been dutiful toward her parents-in-law and had never talked back.
Now that the Marquis's Residence needed her help, her wings had grown strong. A few words of reprimand, and she dared to answer back.
Very well. Let her act tough for a day or two.
[Here comes my father! He's so weak he even has to hold on to the wall to walk.]
The little one's thoughts rang in Liu Wan's ears. Turning to look, she saw Xie Jin'an approaching with trembling legs, supporting himself against the wall.
"Are you injured, my lord?"
Liu Wan noticed the red marks concealed beneath his collar. Her expression remained cool, but her heart ached a little.
He and Xu Rourou must have spent a long time tumbling about together.
"No, no, I'm fine. I was hurrying here and tripped just now. My legs are a little numb. Let's get into the carriage."
Xie Jin'an smiled as he spoke.
He climbed into the carriage and reached out to help Liu Wan up, but she avoided his hand.
She instructed the servants to bring her a separate carriage.
[Hmph! Mother, Father reeks of that mistress's milk. Mother smells lovely instead. He must have worn himself out fooling around.]
Inside the carriage, Liu Wan was so startled that she covered little Wanwan's mouth.
Little Wanwan widened her eyes and looked at Liu Wan in bewilderment.
She-she could not talk!
Liu Wan slowly lowered the hand covering her daughter's mouth and improvised an explanation. "Don't be sad, Wanwan. Mother is here with you."
[Mother is so nice. I don't want to share a carriage with that stinky father either.]
[That mistress got together with Father when she was twelve. When Father wasn't around, she played house with lots of other people too.]
[I wonder if Father is blind. He leaves Mother, pure as ice and spotless as jade, to chase a mistress. He really doesn't know what's good for him.]
Besides, her mother was countless times prettier than that mistress, even from the unflattering angle she saw every day when she looked up at her.
Mother was still beautiful.
Liu Wan's hand stiffened, and her eyes suddenly widened. She felt as though a massive boulder had pressed down on her chest, leaving her unable to breathe.
When Xie Jin'an was sixteen, he had stood outside the Liu Minister's Residence holding winter plum blossoms and asking for her hand, invoking again and again the debt Minister Liu owed Marquis Jing'an for saving his life.
To spare her father a difficult choice and repay that kindness, she had brought the Death-Exemption Token her aunt had left her and married into the family, saving the entire Jing'an Marquis Manor.
Because of that, Marquis Jing'an had also gained a chance to prove his innocence and petitioned to lead troops into battle.
Though Xie Jin'an was somewhat cowardly, she had believed that with her managing the household and her birth family supporting him, her husband would surely carve out a place for himself at court.
If she had married him and remained childless, and Xie Jin'an had only then sought another woman, she might have felt a little better.
But now she knew that before she had even married him, Xie Jin'an had already had a childhood sweetheart.
She felt as though her lifetime of happiness was a joke.
Everyone in the Marquis's Residence had been deceiving her! Using her!
Liu Wan fought to suppress the emotions in her heart, but a tear still fell. She turned her head away so her child would not see.
She no longer wanted to help them!
The carriage soon arrived at the palace.
The old madam and Xie Jin'an hurried into the imperial study and dropped to their knees with a thud to beg forgiveness.
The Fifth Princess was also present.
When the Fifth Princess saw Liu Wan arrive, she immediately pulled her aside, her eyes fixed brightly on the little baby in Liu Wan's arms.
Kneeling on the floor, the old madam tearfully explained that the Jade Bead Strand had been lent to the baby to strengthen his health. She also said that the baby was a blood descendant of the Marquis's Residence who could not be acknowledged publicly.
But perhaps she sounded too aggrieved as she spoke, as though she were blaming the emperor for acting wrongly and misunderstanding her.
The emperor flew into a thunderous rage and flung the memorials in his hand at the two of them.
Xie Jin'an picked them up to read, and his face went white.
Some accused the Marquis's Residence of favoring boys over girls. Others accused him of plotting to lay hands on the Fifth Princess.
How could this be? The accusations nearly crushed the breath out of him. His legs were already weak, and now his entire body sagged, drained of all vitality.
"What is it? What's wrong, Jin'an?" Noticing that Xie Jin'an had suddenly stopped begging for mercy, the old madam picked up a memorial in confusion and read it.
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