The moment Ziqing said this, it was even more resolute than anything Madam Gu had said, leaving absolutely no room for negotiation. And that line—”does not accept live-in sons-in-law”—was a direct slap to Gu Meiting’s face, and to the faces of the Gu couple as well!

It was undeniably a mockery of the fact that the Gu couple had already tacitly accepted Jiang Yuan’s live-in-son-in-law arrangement!

A surge of fury rose in the Gu family head’s chest, and he could no longer hold it back. As the dignified head of a household, how could he tolerate such rudeness, such public mockery from Ziqing? Overcome with anger, he blurted out, “Han Ziqing, you’re the Princess Consort of Great Zhou in name only—how can you speak so rudely! You’ve barely set foot in my Gu household and already thrown everything into chaos!”

Ziqing wasn’t surprised by the Gu family head’s rudeness. A man who had sat as head of the Gu family, leading it for so many years, could hardly be a fool—how could he not see through his own family’s affairs clearly? Wasn’t he just the same as Madam Gu, endlessly indulging his daughter, unable to discipline her, more concerned with saving face and maintaining the family’s reputation, insisting on “harmony above all,” unwilling to make his own daughter suffer even the slightest inconvenience, while expecting everyone else to endure and swallow their grievances just as he did?

Perhaps the world was full of people like this. But Han Ziqing, on this particular point, was simply too proud—she was not someone who could tolerate the slightest injustice, not even a little.

Don’t speak to her of seniority, of filial piety, of propriety—she recognized none of it. She knew only one principle: no matter who a person was, their age or status didn’t matter. Even if it were a beggar, if they reasoned with her, she would reason back. If they came at her with hostility, then even if it were the Emperor of Heaven himself, she would meet hostility with hostility!

She scoffed coldly and shot back, “As the dignified head of a household, you let your daughter and son-in-law move into your own main residence—if word of this got out, would you even have any face left to show?”

“You!” The Gu family head immediately raised a hand to strike her. Ziqing thrust her face forward without hesitation, glaring back fiercely, utterly unafraid, and continued, “Family Head Gu, I’ve made myself perfectly clear. Since you believe I’ve come here to cause trouble, since you won’t allow Beiyue and me to stay, then we have no choice but to leave!”

With that, she sidestepped and moved past the Gu family head at once.

“Stop right there!” Madam Gu’s voice rang out sharply, though it softened as she continued. “Ziqing, must you really take things this far? We’re family, all of us, closest kin. Why quarrel over status and position so much within a family? Wouldn’t it be so much better if we all got along? Ziqing, listen to me—let’s all just calm down, all right? We can discuss this properly tomorrow, can’t we?”

“No,” Ziqing said flatly, without even turning around. She would have preferred Madam Gu turn hostile toward her, even come to blows with her—perhaps then she wouldn’t find her quite so distasteful.

Things had already come to this, and yet Madam Gu still wanted to “reason” with her, putting on this helpless, conciliatory, peace-making act—which was really just playing the victim. Anyone who didn’t know better would think Ziqing was the one forcing her hand!

It looked like reasonableness, but in truth, she was being the most unreasonable one of all!

Seeing Ziqing speak so harshly even to his wife, the Gu family head’s patience finally snapped. “Han Ziqing, it was Meiting who wronged you—are you now going to pick a fight with the two of us as well? Whatever else, my wife is still your elder. She’s shown you nothing but concern, wanting to nourish your health the moment you arrived, and you show not a shred of courtesy!”

Ziqing couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Family Head Gu, perhaps discipline your daughter properly before you go criticizing this princess consort!”

“You!” The Gu family head choked with anger. Seeing Ziqing about to step through the doorway, he nearly reached out to stop her—but Madam Gu darted forward first, grabbing hold of Ziqing, her eyes swollen and red from crying, looking utterly wretched and heartbroken. “Ziqing, people must be reasonable. You’re still young—starting out in life, you mustn’t speak in such absolutes, mustn’t push things to such extremes!”

Ziqing stopped, finally turning to look at Madam Gu, forced to admit that the old woman truly did look, right now, like a pitiful victim of bullying—anyone unaware of the truth would feel for her!

“Madam Gu, you want to be reasonable? Fine, let’s be reasonable then. And while we’re at it, let’s discuss ethics too!” With that, Ziqing suddenly flung her hand out. Madam Gu staggered back a step, and the Gu family head rushed forward to steady her.

Gu Meiting, off to the side, hadn’t moved at all. She was desperately hoping the conflict would shift entirely onto her parents and Han Ziqing, hoping her parents would grow thoroughly disillusioned with Ziqing. She wanted to watch the show unfold and, for now, stay out of it.

Gu Suying, meanwhile, held Jiang Yuan, continuously soothing him as though he were her own son, only occasionally glancing over, no longer joining in the argument.

Reason. Ethics.

It wasn’t that Madam Gu and the Gu family head didn’t understand these concepts—they understood them far better than Ziqing did. Hearing these two words, the Gu family head couldn’t help but curl his lip, his anger giving way to irritation.

He knew perfectly well who was right and who was wrong. But he would never render a fair judgment—because the moment he did, Gu Meiting would surely threaten to end her life, cut ties with him, and make sure the whole of Liuxian Island heard of it. That was a loss of face the Gu family could not afford. So he had no choice but to wrong Han Ziqing instead, to simply keep stalling with this girl as long as possible.

Madam Gu understood all this too, yet she kept up her helpless act, saying anxiously, “Ziqing, consider it me begging you—can we all just calm down first, please?”

“Madam Gu, don’t beg. Weren’t we supposed to be reasoning things out? What’s there to beg for!” Ziqing scoffed coldly, turning around to point directly at Gu Meiting, who had been hoping to stay out of it. She said icily, “Gu couple, your eldest daughter and your second daughter offended me first. This argument has gone on for so long now, and the only apology offered has been one extremely reluctant word from your second daughter. Has your eldest daughter shown any intention of apologizing at all? And the two of you—aside from lecturing me about proper manners, aside from repeatedly making excuses for your daughters, have you shown any awareness that an apology might be owed?”

Ziqing continued, laughing coldly, “Or perhaps you don’t think you owe anyone an apology at all—since you’re so fond of ‘reasoning.'”

Those words struck the Gu couple dumb. Only now did it dawn on them—it was true. Ever since this had started, all they’d done was try to smooth things over and shield their daughters, never once considering that an apology might be in order.

“Gu couple!” Ziqing raised her voice. “From the very first moment I met you, you kept calling me ‘young mistress,’ kept saying you treated Beiyue as your own son. So let me ask you this—on Liuxian Island, across the entire Longyuan continent, from ancient times to the present, has there ever been a rule allowing a married daughter and her husband to live under the same roof as her younger brother and his wife—and in the family’s own designated main residence, no less! Has there ever been a case of a married daughter, with a son already six years old, still living with her husband at her parents’ home? Do you even understand basic family ethics?”

Ziqing’s two words—”reason” and “ethics”—struck the Gu couple right where it hurt. Humiliated and furious, they found themselves unable to respond. Gu Meiting, hearing this, could no longer restrain herself, and seeing her parents fall silent, lunged forward—though still too afraid of Ziqing to get too close—and roared, “Han Ziqing, you have no right to lecture my parents on reason and ethics! This is Gu family business, it’s not your place as an outsider to run your mouth about it! Who do you think you are! You don’t even have a proper title in Great Zhou, you haven’t even been formally married into the Prince Yao estate. Here on Liuxian Island, Jun Beiyue hasn’t even woken up, hasn’t even been recognized by his ancestral clan—who do you think you are! You shameless woman!”

Ziqing didn’t even glance at Gu Meiting, instead looking at the Gu couple with disdain, laughing coldly. “So this is what your so-called moral upbringing has produced—the eldest young lady of the Gu family. No reason, no ethics, just insults!”

With that, Ziqing strode straight through the doorway. Madam Gu hurried in after her. The Gu family head turned furiously on Gu Meiting. “That’s enough out of you! One more word and I won’t be gentle!”

With that, he raised his hand to strike. Gu Meiting, having decided today was the day to burn every bridge, didn’t back down. “Go on, hit me! You’ve always played favorites, always favored your son! And you always claimed sons and daughters were treated the same—you and Mother were always lying!”

The Gu family head’s palm stopped just short of Gu Meiting’s cheek—blood, in the end, could not be so easily struck.

He flung his hand aside instead. “If you don’t calm yourself down, you’ll be the death of your mother!”

“Then why don’t you tell her to calm down? You saw with your own eyes that she struck Yuan’er, and she called me a live-in wife’s family—Jiang Chen is not someone she gets to insult freely! I’m settling this score with her today, no matter what!”

With that, Gu Meiting stormed furiously back through the door!

The Gu family head hurried after her, only to find Ziqing already packing her things, while Madam Gu had collapsed to her knees before Jun Beiyue’s bed.

“My dear!” the Gu family head cried out in anguish, rushing forward to help her up. “What are you doing!”

“I’m begging Beiyue, begging my son, begging him to wake up soon, to wake up and set things right! We’re old, we’re useless, we can’t control them anymore!”

Madam Gu wailed, her cries growing more anguished. The Gu family head could do nothing to console her, standing beside her helplessly, drained of all strength.

Ziqing remained unmoved. Crying? Grieving? She herself had endured so much, had survived a hurricane at sea, all just to see Jun Beiyue—and yet now that he was right beside her, she hadn’t even had the chance to properly look at him, to hold his hand, to grieve!

No one knew how much restraint it had taken her not to simply throw herself into his arms!

And now Madam Gu wanted to play the victim in front of her?

Having finished packing, Ziqing finally walked over to the bed—only for Madam Gu to suddenly seize her by the legs, pleading over and over, “Ziqing, please, I’m begging you, let me apologize on behalf of my two daughters. Forgive their rudeness, forgive us for failing as parents, won’t you? Please don’t leave. Let’s talk this through properly. I won’t let Ting’er stay in the main residence anymore. We can work everything out. Please calm down, just give me a little time, please.”

This old woman had actually taken all the blame onto herself, while still shielding her daughter—could she truly not see that Gu Meiting was all bark and no bite? Was she really so unwilling to let anything happen to Gu Meiting?

Hearing this, Ziqing finally grew truly angry. She was about to speak when Gu Meiting suddenly shouted furiously, “Mother, why are you begging her? Throw that shameless woman out! Is the Gu family really afraid of her? If she wants to take Beiyue away, she doesn’t even know her own worth!”

“Shut your mouth!” Madam Gu snapped, and this time her fury was genuine, boiling over completely.

“Mother!” Gu Meiting shouted back angrily.

“Shut up!” Madam Gu’s voice was even fiercer than her daughter’s.

Gu Meiting scoffed coldly. “Unless my parents drive me out themselves, I will absolutely not leave!”

Madam Gu ignored her, still clinging to Ziqing. “Qing’er, calm your anger, please. I won’t let her stay in the main residence anymore. We can work everything out, can’t we?”