When Song Chuyi received the letter, she remained stunned for a long time. She had always known that romantic relationships between men and women were unreliable. Just as she had figured out in her previous life, emotion was something that not everyone was fated to have. Even if one truly had the fate to encounter it, it wouldn’t last many years—it was like the moon reflected in water or flowers seen in a mirror. It looked beautiful and attractive, but shattered with the lightest touch.

Yet she hadn’t expected Cui Huaying’s romance to shatter so quickly—barely half a month after marriage, Wang Ziying was already out indulging in wine and debauchery, behaving outrageously. And the Wang family, despite being long-time family friends of the Cui clan and having marital ties with them, could actually do something like placing their daughter-in-law under house arrest and forbidding her from sending messages home.

Song Yan had written very clearly in his letter. He had gone to the Wang residence more than once. The Wang family maintained all proper courtesies but simply wouldn’t let him see Cui Huaying—they didn’t restrain their own son, but instead guarded against their daughter-in-law leaking information. Song Chuyi thought back to how just recently she had been sighing over how the Wang family’s magnanimity in not minding that the groom was poisoned at the Cui family on their wedding night showed their broad-mindedness. A trace of disgust and contempt rose in her heart—the Wang family probably understood their son’s temperament quite well and knew trouble would likely erupt later, so they first put on a show of magnanimity to set the Cui family’s minds at ease.

Recalling how this cousin-in-law had shown all sorts of attentive courtesies toward Cui Huaying when he came to Jinzhong, Song Chuyi couldn’t help but smile coldly. The men of this world truly couldn’t be trusted. What they said sounded better than singing, and their performances were even harder to distinguish from reality than actors on stage.

Cui Hualuan happened to come see her. Seeing her reading a letter, she couldn’t help asking: “Did A’Yan send another letter? Did he say anything about how Huaying is doing?”

Such matters couldn’t be concealed. Moreover, given the Cui family’s temperament, they weren’t the type who would watch their own daughter suffer insult and grievance yet still feel she must endure humiliation and seek compromise. After thinking briefly, Song Chuyi told Cui Hualuan truthfully, while also having someone go invite Yu Shi.

Cui Hualuan reached out to take the letter. After scanning through it quickly, her face had already flushed red with anger. She slapped the letter down on the table with one hand: “How preposterous! The Wang family is simply going too far in bullying others!”

When Yu Shi arrived, it was already evening. Her journey hadn’t been going smoothly—ever since boarding the boat, her health hadn’t been good. She’d been suffering from a persistent cold that hadn’t fully recovered. Seeing that Song Chuyi had sent Nanny Xu to invite her, she brought Cui Huayi out of the cabin, her complexion still somewhat pale.

After reading through the letter that had filled both Cui Hualuan and Song Chuyi with righteous indignation, Yu Shi’s face had already turned from pale to livid. She stared wide-eyed at the letter with a ferocious expression for a long while before she couldn’t help but stagger to her feet: “I just received a family letter from Huaying, instructing me to take care of myself throughout the journey, saying everything was very good there and that her husband treated her well…” As she spoke, tears were already streaming down her face. She couldn’t help but reach out to crumple the letter into a ball: “Looking at it now, this letter probably wasn’t even written by Huaying herself…”

Cui Huaying had a gentle and harmonious temperament, but she wasn’t someone to be bullied. Moreover, she had the capital for pride and had never been one to swallow her grievances silently. With her in-laws being so excessive, she absolutely wouldn’t demean herself by speaking only good words about them. Yet the Wang family had acted so outrageously, while she hadn’t revealed a single word. Yu Shi closed her eyes to think about it and felt her heart breaking.

She didn’t grieve for long. Since the Wang family was being so excessive, she wasn’t someone who would remain indifferent while watching her daughter being bullied. She immediately ordered people to disembark at the next stop and have letters sent back to the Cui family clan.

If this life couldn’t be lived, then it wouldn’t be lived. One Cui Zhanmei had already broken Old Madam Cui’s heart. The Cui family wasn’t the type to swallow their grievances for the sake of reputation and sit idly by while their daughter suffered insult.

Cui Hualuan was, after all, a girl of marriageable age who harbored beautiful hopes for love. Suddenly encountering such an incident happening right beside her, she couldn’t help feeling somewhat melancholy: “In the past, it seemed this young master of the Wang family wasn’t that kind of person.”

Cui Huayi was already gnashing her teeth in hatred on behalf of her sister. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but sneer coldly: “One may know a person’s face but not their heart! When he first came to Jinzhong, he clearly seemed decent and proper. In front of Mother, he was so bashful he could barely speak… At that time, I also couldn’t tell he was this sort of person.”

Song Chuyi’s brows twitched. How could a person fake it so well? This young master of the Wang family had stayed in Jinzhong for a full three or four months. During those three or four months, he performed extremely well and was quite liked by the Cui family. How could it be that as soon as he returned to Jinling, he seemed to have become a completely different person?

She felt somewhat confused, vaguely sensing something was wrong, yet couldn’t articulate exactly where the problem lay. She could only write a letter back to Song Yan, telling him to wait for the Cui family’s people.

The Cui family’s wedding escort fleet was probably still on the road returning to Jinzhong, yet who knew they would have to turn back.

Song Chuyi felt somewhat melancholic. That evening, she had no appetite even for dinner. Sitting by the window holding a book, she stared blankly into space. In the family letter Old Madam Song had sent, it said that Her Majesty the Empress had already probed the Song family about their plans for her marriage.

This could be considered a good thing. She had originally felt that Zhou Weizhao should be the person worth accompanying through life. Yet she always felt something was missing. She asked herself—what was missing?

She had never quite understood, but now she finally did. What was missing was a bit of trust. This trust didn’t come from doubting Zhou Weizhao’s character—at that critical moment of life and death, he had been willing to disregard his own injuries to help her. How much more so in the future when they would share weal and woe?

What she worried about was emotion. What she didn’t trust was herself—whether she could commit emotionally again, whether she could wholeheartedly trust another person.

When two people came together, it couldn’t be entirely for the sake of interests. Otherwise, what would happen when interests suddenly no longer aligned? There still had to be some affection that could sustain the relationship. But emotion was the most illusory and intangible thing—impossible to grasp or fathom…

Without realizing it, she let out a deep sigh, and then heard Zhou Weizhao’s voice sound from outside: “What are you sighing about?”

She jumped in fright. Sticking her head out to look, she saw Zhou Weizhao clinging to the side of the boat like a gecko. She couldn’t help feeling both anxious and angry: “How is Your Highness here?”

She stepped back slightly. Zhou Weizhao took advantage of the opportunity to swiftly enter the cabin. Patting his hands, he smiled: “I received Cuiting’s letter and knew you must be unhappy in your heart, so I came to chat with you.”

He already understood her to this extent. Song Chuyi’s heart trembled slightly. She sat back down at the table by the window, looking at Zhou Weizhao and gently shaking her head: “Your Highness knows me in such detail, yet regrettably, I seem to know nothing about Your Highness.”

She only had a superficial understanding of him, just as in her previous life she had foolishly believed that Shen Qingrang must have loved her. The most frightening thing in all matters was that hearts were separated by flesh and could not be seen.