She knew she was attractive—otherwise, she wouldn’t have been forced to leave Xie Family Village.

But how difficult this journey of sleeping outdoors had been, how difficult competing with beggars for food had been, how difficult being bullied as an orphan and widow had been…

She understood she must find another man to rely on; she also understood that only a man like him could become her support.

She didn’t ask for much—as long as she could eat her fill, as long as her son could enter the clan school to study, never mind being his concubine, even being a maidservant, being a beast of burden, she would be willing.

For several days in a row, he made no move.

Just when she thought the matter had fallen through, a small sedan chair stopped before her dwelling.

She was overjoyed. She changed into the new clothes handed to her by a servant, entered the sedan chair, and was carried all the way into the main courtyard.

He waited in the room.

She walked forward and silently knelt, saying sincerely, “I will certainly know my place and serve the master well.”

He said nothing. His hand reached toward her neck, his finger hooked, and he unfastened the frog closure…

Between men and women, it was just that one matter.

She had pondered it thoroughly on the way here.

He was cold, so she must be warm; he was aloof, so she must be proactive; he spoke little, so she must link one sentence to another…

“Mother!”

Hearing this, Xie Daozhi couldn’t help but cry out in shock, his heart in turmoil. “You, you actually…”

“Son.”

The old lady knew what he wanted to say. “This world gives women few paths to walk. At home, obey your father; going out, obey your husband; when your husband dies, obey your son. But you were still too young then. I had no other choice.”

“But…”

“But why hide it from you?”

The old lady’s tears fell.

“What mother in this world would willingly let her own child look down on her? If you knew that I shamelessly schemed against him, you would never be able to hold your head up in front of Yan Xing for the rest of your life.”

“Ha!”

An ill-timed cold laugh rang out. No need to guess—it came from Yan Sanhe.

If this had been a quarter-hour earlier, Xie Daozhi would definitely have pounded the table. But at this moment, he gritted his teeth and endured it.

“Miss Yan, this old woman has made a laughingstock of herself before you.”

“I won’t laugh at anyone.”

The next sentence, Yan Sanhe didn’t speak aloud.

If not for wanting to resolve Grandfather’s heart demon, do you think I’d willingly sit here listening to these infuriating old matters?

Clearly, you schemed against him, yet in the end you made your son misunderstand that my grandfather forced himself on you. Your son can hold his head up now—but what about my grandfather?

What about his reputation?!

“Old lady, please continue.”

As Yan Sanhe said this, a different light glowed in her dark, somber eyes.

Xie Zhifei saw it very clearly. This light had just ignited after hearing the old lady’s words.

This personality…

Quite unyielding!

Old Lady Xie stared at Yan Sanhe, her gaze reluctant to move away even half an inch.

This face bore no resemblance to him, but this temperament was truly alike!

“After becoming his person, even without name or status, our mother and son’s position in the Yan household rose with the tide.”

“What about the marriage compatibility document?” Xie Zhifei asked.

The old lady’s expression changed several times before she couldn’t conceal her sadness.

As his bedside companion, even without name or status, mother and son’s position in the Yan household was different now.

They changed courtyards, added servants, added clothing, added jewelry…

She became Madam Yang, and her son became a young master.

The Yan estate had gained a young master—moreover, one with a somewhat arrogant manner and from another family. Among the entire household, high and low, how many could call him sincerely? Those who gossiped, those who secretly tripped him up, those who openly bullied him—these things happened before her eyes every day.

She dared not mention it before him. At night, after he fell asleep, she would turn away and secretly wipe her tears alone.

After he noticed and asked what was wrong, she stubbornly clenched her teeth and said nothing.

A woman’s tears are the best weapon against men, especially men as noble-minded as him.

Sure enough, a few days later, he ordered her son to change his surname to Yan.

When this news came out, the entire Yan estate was shaken.

Xie was an outsider; Yan was family. If this child were a girl, at most she would receive a dowry later. But he was precisely a boy—one who would compete with the Yan family for the family property.

Everyone in the Yan estate feared him and dared not gossip before him, but his first wife’s family wasn’t willing. Several brothers-in-law came to the door to question him.

He said nothing at all, coldly throwing out that marriage compatibility document that even she didn’t know existed.

With the compatibility document, she was the legitimate second wife, the rightful Madam Yan. The several brothers-in-law, seeing this, very tacitly closed their mouths.

Their silence had reasons.

After his first wife died, he had lived alone for five years without even a bed-warming maid.

The woman he remarried was merely carried through the door in a small sedan chair—not even a single banquet table was set.

That woman was a servant with no support from her natal family.

What could a woman without capability or favor use to help her stepson compete for the family property?

And her?

Before him, she didn’t even have the courage to raise her head—she only wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

“Since you’ve slept in my bed, you are my person. I can bully my own people, but others cannot.”

His voice was both cold and proud.

“This compatibility document isn’t for you—it’s for your son. He has some talent in studies. To enter the Yan family clan school, he must change his surname to Yan.”

She suddenly raised her head and stared at him fixedly.

“It’s just that his temperament is too rigid. Excessive rigidity leads to breaking. He needs to be tempered a thousand times over to become talented. A doting mother often ruins her son. In the future, I won’t give him a pleasant face. As for you…”

A cold smile floated at the corner of his mouth.

“Couples who meet midway aren’t of one heart to begin with. Whether you scheme against me or use me—none of it matters. Just don’t be too deep in your calculations—too deep and you lose your humanity. And don’t be too false—it only invites disgust.”

She finally understood what the people of the Yan household truly feared about him.

Not his coldness, not his arrogance, not even his strange temperament, but that he was too intelligent, too perceptive.

Your little schemes and small movements couldn’t escape his eyes at all. You used conspiracy; he returned with open strategy. You used calculation; he returned with disdain.

She was utterly mortified, crawling toward him on hands and feet, burying her face against his black boots.

“Master, from now on I will never scheme against you again, never!”

Speaking to this point, Old Lady Xie suddenly remembered something and came back to herself.

“Your entry into the Yan family clan school—he had already decided this long ago. The reason I had to kneel was first to kneel for you to see, and second to kneel for the Yan family people to see.”

Xie Daozhi looked at her, his expression dazed.

“You were resentful about changing your surname, angry at him but not daring to speak. He saw all of this. He said hatred could stimulate a person’s drive to succeed. With this energy, you could go further and climb higher. As for the Yan family…”

Old Lady Xie sighed.

“I went from a maidservant to his bedside companion in such a short time. No matter how unwilling the several Yan children were, on the surface they still had to call me Mother.

“You were already unwilling about changing your surname to Yan. I had taken their birth mother’s position—could they willingly let you enter the clan school to study? The more miserable I was, the more satisfied they would be, the more they could tolerate you.”

Xie Daozhi’s face could no longer be described as deathly pale.

He was like a soulless corpse, just kneeling there rigidly.

“Old Ancestress, how were you later driven out of the Yan household? And why did you tear up that divorce letter?”