allonlinenovel Chapter 3: Does nobody care about my innocence?
Chapter 3: Does nobody care about my innocence?
Ye Gengxin turned around and couldn't help but feel ashamed, "Nephew..."
Although Wei Guangzheng is only a fourth-rank Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and his son Wei Yonghuai has not yet achieved any official rank, Wei's wife and his deceased wife were sworn sisters. The Wei and Ye families have known each other for many years and know each other well. Even if their daughter marries into the Wei family, she will certainly not be mistreated.
Moreover, he greatly admired Wei Yonghuai. Not only was he handsome, but he was also well-read and talented. If nothing unexpected happened, he would surely pass the imperial examination and enter officialdom in the future. With the support of the Wei and Ye families, his meteoric rise to power was just around the corner.
With such a promising man as a husband, how could he be inferior to a crippled and disfigured prince?
Looking at Wei Yonghuai's furious face, Ye Shishu remained calm. Although her eyes were fixed on Wei Yonghuai, they met his angry gaze without any ripples. She coldly said, "Young Master Wei, not only you saw what happened today, but all the guests who came to my General's Mansion saw it. I had intimate relations with His Highness Prince Cheng. Even if Prince Cheng is unwilling to take responsibility for me, I cannot marry you."
She was still clinging to Prince Cheng and holding him as she said these words.
Wei Yonghuai was clearly provoked. He grabbed her arm and pulled her off Prince Cheng, then held her shoulders and glared at her with heartache, demanding, "Shu'er, do you know what you're saying? We grew up together since childhood, childhood sweethearts, innocent and pure. Do you know how precious this affection is? Not only that, our engagement was arranged by your mother and my mother when they were alive. If we cancel the engagement, how can your mother rest in peace in the afterlife? Even if you don't care about all of that, what about my true feelings for you? Are you going to turn a blind eye to that too?"
To outsiders, his excitement was a display of genuine emotion; from his perspective, no one could accept such a turn of events.
But Ye Shishu was not moved at all. Instead, after hearing his strong question, her heart and eyes were filled with coldness.
The man before me was so sincere, so affectionate, so wounded...
But in her previous life, he fed her bowl after bowl of slow-acting poison with his own hands—it was so cruel, so vicious, so merciless!
Two years...
Two whole years...
From their wedding night until his death, he poisoned her every single day without fail...
How cruel must one be to commit such a heinous act?!
Did Heaven take pity on her and give her a second chance at life, or was it to make her repeat the same mistakes?
She glanced back at her father, whose face was filled with shame because she wanted to break off the engagement, and felt as if a huge boulder was pressing on her heart, making it hard to breathe.
How could she convince her father that Wei Yonghuai had been having an affair with his adopted sister and that they were secretly pregnant?
How could she convince her father that Wei Yonghuai married her in order to inherit her mother's generous dowry and gain the full support of the Ye family?
She knew that, given the current situation, it was impossible for her father to believe that Wei Yonghuai was a hypocritical, cunning, and inhuman beast. The only thing she could do now was to use Prince Cheng to extricate herself from the marriage contract...
She pulled Wei Yonghuai's hands off her shoulders, walked up to Ye Gengxin, and said with red eyes, "Father, your body has already been held and touched by Prince Cheng. If you and the Wei family feel that this matter will not affect your reputation, then I have nothing to say and will let you arrange it. However, I have no face to see the world again. After fulfilling my mother's last wish, I will go to the Yellow Springs to accompany her."
If Ye Gengxin had previously tried to persuade his daughter to continue the marriage agreement, he was suddenly horrified when he heard her last words. He quickly grabbed his daughter's arm and said, "Shu'er, let's talk this out. Everything can be discussed. Don't do anything foolish!"
Seeing that he was indeed unwilling to take his own life, Ye Shi felt relieved and confident.
However, before she could even feel secretly pleased, Wei Yonghuai's parents, Wei Guangzheng and Madam Ge, walked in. The couple both had sullen faces and were clearly suppressing their anger when they looked at the father and daughter.
They went straight to the bedside, first bowing to Prince Cheng, then turning to Ye Gengxin. Madam Ge spoke first, “General, we all witnessed what happened today. Shu’er jumped into the water to save Prince Cheng because she was desperate to save him. Not only Shu’er, but everyone in the manor couldn’t ignore it. As long as Prince Cheng is safe, even if it costs him his life, it’s a blessing. Our Wei family isn’t unreasonable; we won’t despise Shu’er just because she saved Prince Cheng. On the contrary, Shu’er selflessly protected Prince Cheng; such kindness and righteousness make marrying her an honor for our Wei family.”
Hearing his mother's words, Wei Yonghuai instantly regained his fighting spirit and quickly stepped forward to Ye Gengxin, saying firmly, "General, what my mother said is exactly what I wanted to say. No matter what others say about this matter, Shu'er's selfless character deserves the respect of our Wei family! I, Wei Yonghuai, swear that I will love Shu'er even more in this life, and if I show the slightest contempt, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!"
Ye Shishu kept her head down, and no one saw how ashen-faced she was.
It's true that Ge was her mother's close friend, but only she, who had died once, knew what Ge was really thinking!
Her mother was born into a wealthy merchant family, and her dowry when she got married was so large that it stretched for miles. What was the purpose of the sworn brotherhood between Ge and her mother?
Based on the fact that Ge visited her only a handful of times during the two years she was poisoned after marrying into the Wei family in her previous life, it is clear that Ge's sisterly affection for her mother was entirely hypocritical!
Perhaps it was because her mother had said that she would leave her dowry to her that Ge was in such a hurry!
All that family was after was the dowry her mother left her!
Following the same path as in her previous life, although she did not consummate her marriage with Wei Yonghuai, Luo Lixian's child was adopted into her name, becoming her true heir. Everything she left behind after her death would not return to the Ye family; it would all be inherited by the illegitimate child born to Luo Lixian and Wei Yonghuai!
"Shu'er." Madam Ge grasped her hand, expressing herself sincerely and urgently, "Don't worry, our Wei family will not let you suffer any injustice. Trust Aunt Ge, okay? Your marriage with Huai'er is not a game. It is a testament to the sisterly bond between your mother and me, and it is also the expectation of our two families for many years. Just marry Huai'er properly, and you don't need to worry about anything else. No matter who speaks ill of you behind your back, I will fight tooth and nail to tear their mouths apart!"
Wei Guangzheng also assured Ye Gengxin, "Brother Ye, with our two families having a friendship of over twenty years, don't you trust us? Today, I swear by the ancestors of the Wei family, once Shu'er marries into our Wei family, anyone who dares to show the slightest disrespect to her is disrespecting our Wei family. Even if Huai'er dares to cause Shu'er the slightest grievance, I will not hesitate to expel him from the family!"
Groups of guests stood outside the door, and although no one peeked inside, they were all listening intently to what was happening inside.
It was precisely because the Wei family dared to express their stance in front of the court officials that Ye Gengxin gave up the idea of announcing the engagement.
Seeing that he was about to be persuaded by the Wei family, Ye Shishu felt utterly disheartened.
If even her self-orchestrated 'loss of innocence' act cannot dissolve her engagement with Wei Yonghuai, then what is the point of her being reborn?
Do not!
She refuses to accept her fate!
She would rather end her own life than ever set foot in the Wei family again!
If her father insists that she marry Wei Yonghuai, she can simply run away from home!
"cough!"
Just as Wei Guangzheng and Ge Shi finished expressing their stance and were waiting for Ye Gengxin's reply, a low cough came from the bedside.
Everyone looked at him simultaneously.
Hulu brushed aside Prince Cheng's ugly and frightening face. Prince Cheng's dark eyes glared at them with extreme displeasure, and a cold voice escaped from his two hard, thin lips, "Does no one care about my innocence? I was touched by Miss Ye San, shouldn't Miss Ye San give me an explanation?"