Yang Jingyuan wanted to cover his ears, but her crying still pierced them like demonic sounds.
He laughed coldly: “What are you crying for? I’m only speaking the truth. You didn’t want to marry… who forced you? Was it for weaving this year’s champion brocade? Without marriage, you wouldn’t help the Yang family weave the brocade to reclaim the title. Ji Yingying, do you take me for a three-year-old child?”
Ji Yingying raised her face and cried out: “You just walked away! Three years! Do you know what three years mean? It means Zhao Xiuyuan has three years to deal with my family! If I didn’t marry, would the Yang family protect the Ji family? Zhao’s family would dare to harm Ji Yingying, but not the Yang family’s Third Madam.”
What about him? What did he count for in her eyes? Couldn’t she have come to Santai to find him? Santai wasn’t a big city like Yizhou, she knew about Master Shu and knew he was in the military camp. In Santai, she would have been beyond Zhao Xiuyuan’s reach.
“Hmm. So these were the benefits Madam promised you. The status of the Yang family’s Third Madam, the Yang family’s wealth, and the Yang family’s power. I see now.”
“Why would Madam promise me such benefits? Isn’t it all for the day when you’d reconcile with her, for the family to reunite? I remember now. Madam never wanted you dead, it was Chen Mama acting on her own. Only now do I understand what she did…”
Her words were cut off by Yang Jingyuan’s laughter. He looked at her contemptuously: “Ji Yingying, you’ve spent just one night in this mansion and you’re already speaking up for her. How could I forget, that Madam is such a formidable person? Chen Mama would risk her life for her without even being ordered.”
He had received a pigeon message from Yizhou. He had run over three hundred li to return. For one day’s leave, he had willingly taken sixty military lashes.
And what was it all for? To hear her speak well of Yang Shi?
Yang Jingyuan laughed loudly: “The one who married you was the Yang family’s Third Young Master. Not me. Ji Yingying, I told you before. I’m no longer the Yang family’s Third Young Master.”
He turned to leave after speaking.
“Stop right there!” Ji Yingying got up from the ground, her eyes red as she said, “What young lady would choose to marry during mourning? What young lady wouldn’t want a grand wedding? What young lady would want a wedding without a groom? Yang Jingyuan, you won’t listen to my explanations, you can’t see my grievances…”
A shadow flickered, and Yang Jingyuan vanished from the doorway.
“Yang Jingyuan!” Ji Yingying ran out the door. Yuefeng Court was dead silent, not even a ghost in sight. She stamped her foot and shouted: “Come back here!”
No one answered her. Ji Yingying gritted her teeth and shouted: “Fine, I’ll hang myself right where Concubine Liu did! I’ll die for you to see!”
She whirled back into the room like a tornado, pushed open the window, moved the round stool over, and stood on it. She untied the sash at her waist, threw it forcefully over the beam, quickly tied a knot, and placed her neck in it.
“I dare you!”
Ji Yingying stared out the window, her neck in the sash, sticking out her tongue and letting her arms hang. One breath, two breaths, three breaths… he left. Ji Yingying was just about to give up when her leg suddenly hurt, and she reflexively kicked away the stool.
…
What misery!
She was being strangled, her eyes rolling back, feet kicking wildly, hands flailing trying to untie the sash around her neck.
Yang Jingyuan’s dagger flew over.
The sash was cut, and Ji Yingying fell heavily to the ground. She clutched her throat, coughing violently, and looked up to see Yang Jingyuan standing by the window.
Before she could speak, Yang Jingyuan spoke coldly: “Ji Yingying, you’re quite the actress. Crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide – you’ve used all three tricks tonight. Unfortunately, if you had kicked over the stool yourself, I might have believed you one last time. I won’t come back again, and even if you die, I won’t look back.”
His figure drifted away. Looking out the window, she could see a light shadow flying like a bird over the wall. Ji Yingying sat on the ground hugging her knees, crying pitifully: “Yang Jingyuan, you brute! Why did you throw a stone at my knee? Don’t you know you almost strangled me? It hurts so much!”
It wasn’t her knee and neck that hurt. It was that he left. Just like last time when he stood on the rooftop and saw Sheng Fengze with her. No matter how much her twisted ankle hurt, no matter how heartbrokenly she cried. He left without a sound.
“No, what he said can’t be true. Madam wouldn’t want to beat him to death. It was Chen Mama. Why won’t he believe that?”
“Why didn’t I tell him? When I went to Mount Qingcheng to find him, if it weren’t for Sheng Fengze, Zhao Xiuyuan would have made me wish I were dead.”
“On my wedding day, Zhao Xiuyuan came again. His eyes looked like he wanted to devour me alive.”
“Mother did the right thing. I did marry! And I didn’t marry someone else. Why do you still resent and hate me?”
Madam Yang’s words echoed in her ears again.
“You must do everything possible to make him stay. Otherwise, you’ll end up like me, only able to find solace in flowers, birds, insects, and fish to pass the long days.”
“I raised him for eighteen years, I understand him better than anyone. If he’s willing to stay, he’ll live happily. If he’s unwilling to stay, he definitely won’t accept you as his wife.”
Crying, making a scene, threatening suicide – she had used all three tricks tonight… She had groveled at his feet, begging him like that. Yet he said he would never return. Even if she died, he wouldn’t look back.
There was moonlight tonight too, white light shining through the open window, falling on the reed mat, a cold patch. Ji Yingying touched the mat, feeling its chill under her fingers.
Ji Yingying lay down. The spring cold was bitter, the night wind so cold it made her heart tremble.
Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, sliding past her ears. Ji Yingying raised her hand, her wide sleeve covering her face.
A crowd had gathered at the entrance to Yuefeng Court. When Xianger, who was on night duty, woke from her daze and saw the dragon and phoenix candles lit and Ji Yingying missing, she raised an alarm. Not only did it disturb Madam Yang, but the Young Madam also put on clothes and came out.
“This servant indeed heard sounds from Yuefeng Court, it seemed like Third Madam was calling Third Young Master’s name,” the night watch maid said tremblingly.
Madam Yang commanded: “Open the courtyard gate!”
No one lived in Yuefeng Court. The courtyard maid had simply locked the gate and gone off to drink. Young Madam was extremely anxious and turned to berate: “Throw water on that woman to wake her up and bring her here!”
Madam Yang was anxious inside and impatiently scolded: “What’s the use of scolding people now? You manage the household, you should usually discipline these lazy servants properly. Someone, break the lock!”
Young Madam lowered her head in grievance.
Mama Ji heard this and picked up a stone from the base of the wall: “Madam, please step aside.”
She stepped forward and raised the stone, bringing it down hard, breaking the door bolt after a few strikes. Under the surprised gazes of the surrounding servants, Mama Ji pushed open the courtyard gate and called out loudly: “Young Miss, are you in there? Mama Ji has come to find you!”
“Madam, the window of the western wing room is open,” someone with sharp eyes noticed the open window.
The group hurried toward the western wing.