For my brother, for the Chu family, I will marry… I am willing to marry!

By the time Old Madam Wei arrived, Chu Yufu had already been crying in Yunxi Hall for a long while.

She was dressed all in white, curled up in the carved sandalwood chair, sobbing softly. Her delicate shoulders trembled slightly, stray strands of hair dampened by tears clung to her porcelain-white cheeks, her face paler than her clothes, with only the rims of her eyes flushed red—like a white camellia battered by wind and rain.

Madam Wu’s face was flushed with anger. Clutching a handkerchief, she paced back and forth in the hall. “What a disgrace! That Third Master Li has no sense at all! Playing around before, I could tolerate, but now he’s gone and had a child!”

Her chest ached with fury. This engagement had been arranged by her personally, and his reckless actions were a slap in her face. To have a concubine and a child while the engagement was already set—outrageous!

Moreover, if the Second Miss’s marriage fell through, wouldn’t her son’s position at the Imperial Academy be ruined?

Chu’s father, sitting at the main seat, was equally pale with anger. He had taken a rare day off, practicing calligraphy in his study, when suddenly summoned by his wife to hear such shocking news. Veins bulging at his temples, he could barely speak.

Seeing his second daughter crying upset him, yet witnessing her frail and wronged appearance, he could not scold her. Slamming the tea cup heavily onto the table, he bellowed: “The Li family! Do they think our Chu family is made of mud?” Then he turned his gaze to Madam Wu. “You insisted on pursuing this match, and now—look at the ridicule it’s brought!”

Madam Wu’s throat tightened. She wanted to say, Don’t you know what kind of man Third Master Li really is?

Wasn’t agreeing to Third Master Li’s engagement her own doing? And wasn’t it because she worried that Princess Wang had been watching him closely these past two years, and he might get caught if he spent money or took shortcuts? Now that trouble had arisen, it was suddenly Second Miss Chu’s fault for picking a “good” family?

But these things could not be spoken aloud. Even if she didn’t care for the Second Miss, she could not openly contradict her husband in front of the younger generation. Sighing heavily, she returned to her chair, turning to the crying Second Miss with a scolding tone: “Enough! Will crying solve anything?”

“Yes…” Second Miss Chu’s voice was barely louder than a cat’s meow.

“What else can a young girl do in such a situation besides cry?” Old Madam Wei, who had been listening at the doorway, entered. Accompanying her was Lu Jia’an. After she greeted her uncle and aunt with a bow, she quickly walked to Chu Yufu’s side and took her hand.

“Why did you alarm Mother?” Chu’s father and Madam Wu stood and bowed to Old Madam Wei, making way for her to sit in the main seat.

Chu Yufu also stood, dabbing her eyes with a silk handkerchief. She placed the pale blue embroidered pouch from her bosom on the table and spoke softly: “Today, I went to the temple just to request these few peace talismans, praying to the immortal to bless Grandmother, my eldest sister, and my cousin with health and safety. But who could have expected—”

“Third Master Li… he’s gone too far,” she bit her lip, tears silently crawling over her face.

Lu Jia’an gently stroked her back, sighing inwardly. Truly, good people receive no reward, yet the Second Miss encountered this kind of person and situation.

Old Madam Wei’s face was as calm as water. She already knew what kind of man Third Master Li was—Yang Mama had told her yesterday—but she hadn’t yet figured out how to deal with it.

Even if she didn’t like Madam Wu, she still cared a little for her third son. The Chu family had few men; he was the only boy, and his future had to be considered. If Third Master Li were merely flirtatious, marriage could still be arranged. After all, which man hasn’t dabbled in romance? But now, with this scandal, Chu Yufu’s marriage could no longer proceed!

“The matter has caused such a stir. I know because Fuer cried all the way back,” Old Madam Wei said.

“If Third Master Li were just flirtatious, I would have said nothing. But Fuer has only just been engaged to him, and he already has a child? The Li family clearly doesn’t respect the Chu family at all. If she married in, there would be no mutual respect or love, not even basic courtesy. She must never marry him!”

“Mother is right,” Chu’s father nodded.

According to Second Miss’s account, the Li family valued the child in Princess Wang’s belly too highly to terminate the pregnancy. But if the child were kept, the Chu family would become a laughingstock in the capital. How could Chu Changru maintain face? How would his colleagues view him?

Hearing their conversation, Madam Wu’s face darkened further. Her hidden fists clenched in her sleeves. All the schemes she had carefully planned these days—were they all for nothing?

“Mother…” She curtsied slightly, gold hairpins at her temples swaying, “Though Third Master Li is reckless, which wealthy gentleman doesn’t have three or four wives? If Fuyalu married him, at least she would have our Chu family backing—”

“Backing?” Old Madam Wei suddenly sneered, striking her cane on the green brick floor, her gaze sharp. “If this had happened to He’er, would you have let her be a cheap concubine for someone else?”

Madam Wu was speechless.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside. Behind the Su embroidery screen came a panicked voice:

“Mother! Mother! What’s going on? Is Second Sister not marrying—?”

Chu Junze, wearing a blue cloud-patterned robe, turned past the screen and saw not only his mother, but father, grandmother, Second Sister, and cousin all present. He had boasted to his friends just a few days ago that he was guaranteed entry into the Imperial Academy, but now, hearing that Second Sister’s marriage might be in jeopardy, he panicked. Ignoring caution, he stood by the screen and continued:

“That won’t do! If Second Sister doesn’t marry, how can I enter the Imperial Academy?!”

Everyone in the room froze, including Chu Yufu herself.

She paused wiping her tears and looked at Chu Junze.

What exactly is wrong with this boy? Does he have nothing but mush in his brain? Everyone in the room knows exactly what’s going on, yet he hasn’t said a word. And now, he comes out with this, not even caring about his face!

Her eyes flashed. After all, they had been siblings under the same roof for over a decade. If you don’t act like a human being, don’t blame me for going too far!

Chu’s father was stunned by his son’s sudden words, feeling as if a loud buzzing had erupted in his head. He turned to his wife, his cheeks turning liver-colored with anger. Always proud of his own scholarly dignity, never openly expressing any schemes, he never imagined that the son he raised had become such a fool. He couldn’t help but roar:

“Bastard!”

At the same time, Chu Yufu suddenly freed her hand from Lu Jia’an’s grasp, her frail figure thudding to her knees before him, the white skirt trailing on the floor, tears streaming down her face like pear blossoms in rain. “It’s… it’s all my fault, I’ve delayed my brother’s future…”

“If there’s truly no other way, for my brother, for the Chu family, I will marry… I am willing to marry!”

The angle of her lifted chin revealed the fragile curve of her neck. A single tear fell from her pointed chin onto her skirt, leaving a dark, wet stain—broken, fragile.

Everyone present felt a tremor in their hearts.

Chu Junze’s words had been reckless, and though Second Miss Chu could have argued or scolded, the reasoning was hers—but she never expected that she would kneel first!

The contrast between them was stark and immediate.

Seeing her tears soaking the skirt, a burning fury ignited in Chu’s father.

The sister, wronged and yet still aware of the greater good, sacrificing herself for her brother’s future. The brother, spoiled and pampered, reckless and selfish—gaining more and more without restraint! Such a fool, even entering officialdom, what could he accomplish? How could he be expected to succeed? Chu Changru had not died yet, and his son’s studies should not threaten the family’s future!

He reached out, lifting his daughter to sit back in the chair, then turned to his son and kicked forcefully. “What did you just say? Come on, say it again! Did I raise you like this? Or was it your mother? You don’t work for your own future, expecting your sister to fight for you! Do you think the knowledge you cram will do you any good?”

“Look at your Second Sister, now look at you! If you fail to become an official, will you die? But if your sister had married, she might have been tormented to death! And what about ambition? Couldn’t you study on your own?”

The kick was with full force. Chu Junze yelped in pain and fell backward, nearly toppling the screen. Lady Wu cried out, rushing in front of her son: “Master! Sir! What are you doing! Speak properly—the child is still young!”

“Young? A few years from now he should be marrying and having children, and you call him young? It’s all your spoiling! Can’t study, can’t behave properly!”

Chu’s father grabbed the teacup from the table and slammed it at the mother and son’s feet. Tea and porcelain shards splashed over them from head to toe.

“Madam! Third Master Li!”

“Sir, please calm down!”

“Father, it’s all my fault—”

The entire Yunxi Hall became chaotic, a complete mess, until Old Madam Wei’s decisive voice rang out: “Tomorrow, you will go to the Li residence and cancel the marriage!”

At the hour of Xu (戌), the east wing of Cishou Hall was brightly lit.

Chu Yufu sat on the couch, pant legs rolled up, revealing tender, soft calves. Lu Jia’an bent over, carefully applying medicinal ointment to the two bruised areas on her knees, muttering: “Why did you kneel so hard? I can see the bruises, and it hurts just looking at them!”

“I’ve never met anyone as kind as you in my whole life. Who is worth sacrificing your own life for? Even if it’s a brother by birth, that’s not enough! Knowing danger is there and rushing into it anyway? A living saint, burning yourself to light others? My good sister, please don’t be so foolish again! With those people, who will remember your kindness?”

“Also,” Lu Jia’an paused in her movements, her voice softening, “a blessed girl should not enter a house of misfortune. That you discovered this today is heaven’s mercy, sparing you from suffering in the Li household. Rest assured, in the future there will be a suitable husband waiting for you.”

Chu Yufu felt warmth in her heart.

In her previous life, after reaching adulthood she lived alone, busy earning a living, free but lonely. For a long time, no one had genuinely cared about her.

Now, at just over twenty, having inexplicably come to a strange world, she had to constantly maneuver for survival, weary and wronged. Today, at last, the situation had been resolved, the heavy stone in her heart lifted. With Lu Jia’an’s care, her nose tingled and two real tears fell—a rare outpouring of genuine emotion.

“Hey! You!”

Lu Jia’an didn’t understand the twists and turns in her heart, only seeing that after he spoke barely a few words, she was crying again. He hurriedly called Sanglu to fetch a clean handkerchief to wipe her face, muttering inwardly: “Second cousin is perfect in every way, except she cries too much!”