When news reached the Zhu family, forget Mother and Eldest Sister being dumbfounded—even Zhu Weijin was stunned.

How could this be possible?

Failing the examination only meant a three-year delay, with a chance to return triumphantly three years later.

Cheating?

All prospects would be completely ruined.

Wrong.

Not just prospects ruined—given the Geng family’s rules and teachings, they might even expel him.

How could Geng Songsheng do something so brainless?

Yan Sanhe interrupted her: “So, what did you discover?”

Zhu Weijin shook her head: “What could I discover? Geng Songsheng knelt before Mother and admitted it with his own mouth.”

During that period, the Zhu family was in complete chaos.

Mother fell ill from rage.

Eldest Sister washed her face with tears every day.

First Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother took turns confronting Geng Songsheng.

She and Youngest Sister barely dared leave their courtyard, fearing collateral damage.

The only normal person in the entire family was Father, who calmly went to and from the yamen, returning home to comfort Mother and persuade Elder Sister with earnest words.

Third Master Zhu, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke: “Zhu Weijin, don’t be suspicious. Father has always been this kind of person.”

“You’re right—Father has always been this kind of person.”

She hadn’t been suspicious at all, nor could she possibly be suspicious.

She just couldn’t understand how Geng Songsheng could be so foolish.

She had carefully observed Geng Songsheng at the dinner table—he had a scholar’s intelligence without a scholar’s pedantic air.

On the contrary, this man had a heroic spirit, speaking and acting openly and straightforwardly.

When Mother once tested him about his plans after passing the examination, he laughed and replied with five words—”Travel the world with my sword.”

Not hiding anything at all, saying whatever was in his heart, which made Mother’s eyes roll in frustration.

“What happened next?” Yan Sanhe asked.

Zhu Weijin: “Later, Mother completely abandoned this marriage arrangement. After that, they eloped.”

Yan Sanhe: “You were the one who informed on them?”

Zhu Weijin: “That’s right.”

Yan Sanhe looked directly at her: “Why did you inform?”

“Very simple, Miss Yan.”

Zhu Weijin: “What good would it do Eldest Sister to follow such a man? If word got out, what would happen to the Zhu family’s reputation?”

“No, you’re not telling the truth.”

Yan Sanhe mercilessly exposed her.

“If you truly cared for Zhu Weixi’s good or the Zhu family’s reputation, she would never have had the chance to leave the Zhu residence.”

Zhu Weijin froze. “Miss Yan, why are you contradicting me? Didn’t you say you believe everything I tell you?”

“I believe all the truths you tell.”

Yan Sanhe met her gaze: “The lies you tell, especially lies at this juncture—I shouldn’t believe them and cannot believe them.”

Zhu Weijin looked at her silently for a long while. “Then you tell me—why did I inform?”

Yan Sanhe paced a few steps and stopped before Zhu Weijin. “You wanted her to be humiliated, wanted her to be despised by Father and Mother. Best of all… you wanted her reputation completely destroyed!”

By this point, Zhu Weijin’s face had already changed color.

“The ravine left in a childhood heart takes a lifetime to fill, yet can never be filled. Your ravine is your parents’ favoritism, and its source is Zhu Weixi.”

Yan Sanhe: “And the reason I must contradict you is because every word you say now is critically important to Zhu Xuanjiu’s heart demon.”

She paused, then added another sentence:

“Zhu Weijin, don’t spend your whole life trapped in your ravine. You must find a way to climb out. Otherwise, your whole world will only contain one Zhu Weixi.”

Zhu Weijin was stunned. Cold sweat poured from her palms, leaving her hands sticky.

“Yes!”

After a long while, she finally admitted it.

“I did want her reputation destroyed, wanted her to become the Zhu family’s laughingstock. Then Father and Mother would be disappointed in her, and best of all, never acknowledge this daughter again.”

That way, she would become the Zhu family’s most precious young lady, and Father and Mother’s attention would be on her.

Yan Sanhe was right.

This was the ravine of her lifetime—no matter how she tried to fill it, it could never be filled, even after all these years.

“Things went as you wished. After Zhu Weixi was captured and brought back, she was locked in the woodshed, and Geng Songsheng was expelled from the Zhu family.”

Yan Sanhe didn’t give her much time to reflect on her own matters. “What did you discover after that?”

What did she discover?

Mother changed from someone who schemed to bring the two together into someone who schemed to tear them apart.

Father fell ill—because of Zhu Weixi.

Yet even in his illness, he worried about his most beloved eldest daughter.

Zhu Weixi felt remorse and guilt, and her attitude gradually softened.

But remorse and guilt didn’t mean her feelings had disappeared. Quite the opposite—her feelings grew stronger. Every day she couldn’t drink tea or eat, growing thinner day by day.

Zhu Weijin knew she was waiting for the Geng family’s marriage proposal.

The Geng family was an aristocratic house with a thousand years of accumulated prestige. If the Geng parents could come to propose marriage, there would still be a glimmer of hope.

Unexpectedly, after waiting three months, what arrived was a pregnant woman…

As an observer watching this, Zhu Weijin was completely exhausted.

What more was there to see?

Obviously, the chess player had left, and the pieces on the board were useless.

More importantly, Father and Mother hadn’t shifted their attention to her.

In fact, Mother now looked at her with disgust.

What Yan Sanhe could figure out, Mother could figure out too. If she had spoken earlier, things wouldn’t have gotten this serious.

In Mother’s heart, she had become a scheming ingrate.

Father’s gaze toward her hadn’t really changed much—still indifferent—but Zhu Weijin knew Father actually didn’t even want to speak half a sentence more to her.

First Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother had never been close to her to begin with.

Youngest Sister was a fence-sitter, blowing whichever way the wind blew.

In the Zhu family, she had become truly alone and isolated.

“I found it boring to stay in the residence, so I wrote to Third Cousin asking her to come get me to stay for a month or two.”

Zhu Weijin feared Yan Sanhe didn’t know: “Third Cousin is my uncle’s youngest daughter. She married into Tianjin Wei. We were quite close when we were young.”

“Continue.”

“Father and Mother didn’t stop me. They only had the head steward assign five or six more guards to accompany me and loaded half a cart of things to bring along.”

Zhu Weijin: “At an official relay station near Tianjin Wei, I encountered someone.”

Yan Sanhe: “Who?”

“Geng Songsheng!”

Those three words made everyone’s hearts seize.

Especially Zhu Weixi.

The setting sun slanted through the window onto her face, making her look like a female ghost from the underworld—everything white except for a pair of eyes frighteningly dark.

Yan Sanhe shot Li Buyan a glance.

Li Buyan immediately moved two braziers from the corner and placed them behind Zhu Weixi.

Yan Sanhe asked: “Why did Geng Songsheng appear there?”

Zhu Weijin: “I don’t know.”

Yan Sanhe: “Was he alone?”

Zhu Weijin: “One person, one servant, a pile of wine jugs.”

Yan Sanhe: “Was he drunk?”

“Yes, lying motionless on the table.”

Zhu Weijin cast a meaningful glance at Zhu Weixi.

“If not for his servant, I would never have recognized that this dead-drunk man was Geng Songsheng.”