Lin Shi once again took all the blame. With regard to Yu Miao Qi, she is worth being called a loving mother. No matter how big a mistake she made, she can forgive and even bear it all.
But for Yu Pin Yan, she does not bother to ask or to listen, as if she had never given birth to this child. Yu Xiang could imagine how much her elder brother longed for Lin Shi’s warmth and maternal love when he huddled in a dark corner of the prison that very year, suffering from fear of killing someone and the torment of high fever. Yet what had she done? It was fine that she didn’t come to see him but she went as far as bluntly said that elder brother was not worthy of being her child.
These words were equivalent to stabbing a knife in elder brother’s heart with her own hands! The more she defended Yu Miao Qi now, the more disgusted Yu Xiang was with her as she sneered, “Mother doesn’t have to cover up for her. In the past half year, Yu Miao Qi was the only one seen running around on sinister errands, eagerly showing her belly full of talents for others to see yet forgotten to appraise how much she weighs …”
Not waiting for her to finish, Yu Miao Qi suddenly uttered her contempt, “Yu Xiang, you shut up! Everyone is qualified to rebuke me, but not you! What is your relationship with the Yu family? Freeloading for fifteen years, the Yu family has long been magnanimous to you. Is it possible that you still want to get your hands on Yu family business for you to fluster so hastily? Are you even worthy of it?!”
Yu Xiang was choked as a lump of grievance in her chest could not be vented out. She had long known that Yu Miao Qi would use these words to oppress her once her origin was disclosed, which made her very unhappy. As she drank a cup of tea, she pulled her elder brother’s large hand over to her under the cover of the quilt and wrote stroke by stroke on his palm; How am I not worthy? I am the future wife of the Marquis! Your silver is my silver, she embezzled our silver and still forbade me to say it, what kind of reasoning is this!?
Yu Pin Yan carefully identified the strokes and almost drowned by the surge of wild joy in his heart when he realized what she had said. He pulled his younger sister into his arms abruptly and hung his head to kiss her slightly flush cheek.
With a loud and clear ‘smack’ sound, not only was Yu Xiang petrified, Old Madam and Yu Si Yu were stunned, even the panicked and anxious Lin Shi and Yu Miao Qi were momentarily speechless too.
Yu Pin Yan did not back down after kissing her but continued to kiss his younger sister’s hair on the temple then said in a dumb voice, “Sorry, I suddenly remembered the time when Xiang’er blocked the knife for me that I felt emotional and couldn’t restrain myself. Without Xiang’er, there will not be the current me. Who dares to say she is unworthy?” Perceiving that the kitten in his arms was about to flare up, he kneaded the back of her neck soothingly.
Old Madam was immediately brought into the memory of the past by him and nodded her head, “Yan’er is right. Xiang’er is a member of my Yu family. Anyone who rambles another word again in the future will get out for me! Yu Miao Qi, you still have the nerve to rebuke Xiang’er. Take a look at messes what you’ve done! Using the public fund to fill your own private property, there is not a more immorally shameful noble lady in the entire Capital than you!”
Old Madam banged the table in anger, scaring Yu Miao Qi into silence.
Yu Xiang breathed a sigh of relief and muttered inwardly that it was a close call. She buried her face in her elder brother’s arms and bit his chest muscle to vent her pent-up anger causing him to tremble. The lower abdomen of Yu Pin Yan was unbearably hot and restless yet he could not unleash it. So, he just smiled bitterly and smoothed the kitten’s hair.
Lin Shi knew she had no way out anymore. Kneeling at Old Madam’s feet, she cried and said, “Mother, don’t scold Qi’er. All these were done by me. She’s just a child and does not have the guts …”
Angry but also found it laughable that Old Madam said, “Lin Shi, don’t take me for a fool. I would believe you don’t have the guts but I nevertheless won’t believe Yu Miao Qi does not have the guts. Would she have dogmatically barged into the post station to deliver medicine for the Crown Prince without the guts? Or break the Shen family’s golden Buddha and glued it back causing the ruin of the Shen family? With no guts, could she steal Shen’s life-saving money to sneak out looking for relatives by herself or bribed the mother and son of the Fang family to tarnish Si Yu’s reputation? If she does not have the guts, could she have spread rumors to ruin Lord Shen’s official career? Her guts are even more enormous than the sky!”
So bout with anger that Old Madam actually brought up many unknown past events which not only Yu Miao Qi could not lift up her head with her condemnation but even Yu Xiang widened her eyes to stare.
Although Yu Pin Yan only told her that her surname should be Shen, her parents are both dead and she only has one elder brother. However, she instantly connected all the clues into a tragic story of a broken family after integrating the crown’s hairpin that Shen Yuan Qi previously gifted and Old Madam’s tirade while the culprit of all this was precisely Yu Miao Qi.
Although she has little affection for the Shen family, she still has the blood of the Shen family flowing in her body. At the very least even an unrelated outsider would feel indignant too at the injustice of things that Yu Miao Qi had done.
She withdrew from her elder brother’s arms, picked the tea cup at hand and smashed it at Yu Miao Qi like a furious lion, “Good for you Yu Miao Qi! You still said I snatched your venerated position and splendor, why didn’t you tell you caused the death of both my parents? Why didn’t you tell me that you almost ruined my Di elder brother’s standing and reputation? You snake-hearted woman, how can you still have the face to live! They at least raised you for more than ten years!”
Yu Miao Qi had long expected her to be furious and quickly hid behind Lin Shi when she launched her attack. She was determined to resolve but realized she could say nothing in reply when she opened her mouth.
Yu Pin Yan embraced his younger sister hard. His large palm stroked along her back over and over again, trying to calm her down. Realizing she had made improper remarks, Old Madam hurriedly leaned over too and whispered, “Xiang’er, don’t be angry. All is in the past. You still have this Old Ancestor, Elder Brother, also Elder Sister and a family that love you dearly. Don’t be angry, it’s all over.”
Lin Shi hugged Yu Miao Qi and cried, “Please don’t disparage Qi’er, at least give her a way out! Won’t it do that I leave? I’ll go back and pack my things now!” She has already resigned herself to her fate and only hopes that her daughter can stay safely in Marquis manor and eventually find a good home.
Yu Xiang originally had no feelings for the Shen couple and her indignation at their tragic death was not as intense as her anger of Shen Yuan Qi being vilified by the rumors. After she calmed down, she only felt sad for them.