When Yan Sanhe stepped out, the main hall was filled with people.

The five Zhu siblings sat in an arrangement that was quite telling.

Two rows of grand armchairs faced each other, three chairs in each row. On the left sat Zhu the Eldest, Zhu the Second, and Zhu Weixi in succession.

On the right sat Zhu the Third and Zhu Weijin, with an empty seat between them.

Clearly, none of the three Zhu brothers liked this Second Miss.

Yan Sanhe took her seat in the main position and coughed lightly. “The three young masters should step out first…”

“No need!”

Zhu Weijin’s expression was cold as ice. “Let Eldest Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother all listen too. It would be best to call Little Sister as well.”

What was Zhu Weijin planning with such a grand mobilization?

Yan Sanhe looked at her questioningly, then glanced at Zhu Weixi beside her. “Zhu Weixi, what’s your opinion?”

Zhu Weixi: “We’re all siblings in one family. There’s nothing that needs to be hidden or concealed.”

Yan Sanhe: “Buyan.”

Li Buyan walked outside and spoke a few words with the old steward, who immediately sent someone to summon the others.

Shortly after, a young girl without any makeup walked in. After looking around, she curtsied to Yan Sanhe with a bow and sat down nervously beside Zhu Weixi.

Li Buyan took the opportunity to close the main door, then leaned against it and raised her chin toward Yan Sanhe.

Yan Sanhe took a sip of tea. “Zhu Weijin, everyone’s here. Can you honestly answer my questions now?”

Zhu Weijin raised her head proudly. “Ask.”

Seeing her imposing manner, Yan Sanhe suddenly changed the subject. “Who is your husband? What’s his background?”

Zhu Weijin’s expression froze.

She hadn’t expected Yan Sanhe to suddenly ask this.

“My husband’s surname is Xiang, given name Yanrui. The Xiang family’s ancestors were woodworkers, and they still do woodworking.”

Zhu the Third cursed “damn girl” in his heart and hurriedly explained to Yan Sanhe.

“The Xiang family isn’t ordinary woodworkers. They hold a position at the Ministry of Works, sixth rank. The imperial palace was built under the supervision of the Xiang family.”

Young Master Pei couldn’t help but interject, “Our family’s mansion and Third Master’s mansion were both built by the Xiang family. Without connections, you couldn’t even hire them.”

Looking at it this way, Zhu Weijin had married quite well.

In famine years, craftsmen never starve. Though the Xiang family didn’t hold high office or great wealth, they had established themselves in the capital through real skill.

The Xiang family’s craftsmanship and the Zhu family’s fortune-telling and feng shui were quite well-matched.

But from Zhu Weijin’s tone, she looked down on them.

So Yan Sanhe asked, “Who approved this match?”

Zhu Weijin: “Father and Mother.”

Yan Sanhe: “Are you satisfied?”

Zhu Weijin’s tone was very bland. “Marriage is a major matter, decided by parents’ command and matchmakers’ words. It’s not my place to say whether I’m satisfied or not.”

So she wasn’t satisfied.

“Zhu Weijin, I’m giving you a chance to clarify, not a chance to argue with me. In my presence, you can say anything—you can say you’re satisfied, or you can say you’re not satisfied.”

Yan Sanhe looked at her. “Let me be absolutely clear: if this heart demon cannot be resolved, everyone in the Zhu family will die, and you won’t be an exception. Dead people have no chance to speak again.

Dead people only get dressed in burial clothes, laid in coffins, and buried in the earth. Once the earth is covered and the tombstone erected, descendants only see three characters: ‘Xiang-Zhu-shi.’

What this person was like when alive, what suffering they experienced, who they loved, who they hated, why they didn’t visit their natal family… no one will know.”

Zhu Weijin’s hand clutching her handkerchief trembled violently, and various feelings surged up in her heart. For a moment, she was stunned.

Yan Sanhe’s gaze shifted. “Zhu Yuanmo, how was this match arranged?”

Though Zhu Yuanmo felt these questions were all wasting time, since Yan Sanhe asked, he answered.

“Mother selected several young masters from prominent families. Father calculated everyone’s birth charts, and Brother-in-law Xiang’s chart was the best match with Weijin’s.”

Yan Sanhe: “What kind of person is Brother-in-law Xiang?”

Zhu Yuanmo hesitated. “He’s a good person, just a bit dull. He only knows how to focus on his craft and doesn’t really understand social niceties.”

“However poor at social niceties, when his father-in-law is dying and he lives so close by…”

Yan Sanhe: “Shouldn’t he at least come to visit?”

“It was I who told him not to come.”

As Zhu Weijin spoke these words, Yan Sanhe was staring right at her. The faint winter sun of the afternoon fell lightly on her body, and her originally attractive features suddenly filled with malevolence.

A thought arose in Yan Sanhe’s mind: “Do you hate your father?”

Zhu Weijin hesitated without speaking.

Yan Sanhe: “Do you hate that your father favored Zhu Weixi, doted on her to the heavens, and ignored you?”

“Ignored?”

A trace of desolation appeared in Zhu Weijin’s eyes. “Miss Yan, if only it were mere neglect. In his eyes, he simply never had me as a daughter.”

“Zhu Weijin.”

At this point, Zhu Yuanmo could listen no longer.

“Don’t be so heartless. Father was good to you too. He never treated you poorly in any way. You had one hundred and twenty-eight trunks of dowry when you married, all full to bursting, not one less than Zhu Weixi had.”

These words were like a lit firecracker, instantly exploding the anger, unwillingness, pain, and resentment that Zhu Weijin had hidden in her heart for twenty-one years.

“Eldest Brother?”

She trembled with agitation, her lips shaking constantly. “Is this what I’m concerned about?”

Anger showed in Zhu Yuanmo’s eyes. “Then what are you concerned about?”

Zhu Weijin stood up abruptly, pointing at Zhu Weixi, screaming hysterically like a madwoman:

“What I’m concerned about is her! As long as she’s there, Father can’t see me—can’t see anything, nothing at all!”

She was three years younger than Zhu Weixi.

Since she could remember, she understood one thing: Third Brother was Mother’s precious darling, and Eldest Sister was Father’s precious darling.

And she, this second daughter, was nothing.

She grew up with her wet nurse from childhood. As an infant, the wet nurse held her while sleeping; when she grew older, she held the wet nurse while sleeping.

She never slept even once in her parents’ arms, but Zhu Weixi was held and raised in Father’s embrace.

Every time she wanted Mother to hold her, Mother would hug her, kiss her forehead, and then say:

“Second Sister, you must be good and obedient. Mother is busy. Go play with your sister.”

Where was her sister?

Sister would only be with Father.

Whenever Father returned to the mansion, he liked to call Sister over, hold her in his arms, and ask what she’d done that day. How many characters had she learned? What flowers had she embroidered?

Three-year-old Zhu Weijin was extremely envious.

Once, she broke free from the wet nurse’s hand and ran excitedly to Father, spreading her arms wide with her head raised, full of longing.

“Father, hold me, hold me.”

Father gently patted her head, then raised his eyes, his expression turning cold. “Wet nurse, take the Second Miss away.”

“I don’t want the wet nurse to hold me! I want Father to hold me! Father hold me, I want Father to hold me…”

The wet nurse rushed up, scooped her up in her arms, covered her mouth, and ran away as if fleeing for her life.

Three-year-old Zhu Weijin cried with tears streaming down her face. She didn’t understand why Father wouldn’t hold her.

Picking her up would be so simple.

She wasn’t heavy at all—very light.

Back in her room, she asked the wet nurse. The wet nurse looked at her with some pity. “Second Miss, the master is busy.”

“Father isn’t busy! He’s playing with Sister! Why won’t Father play with me?”

“You must remember that you and the Eldest Miss are different.”

How were they different?

Tears of grievance fell from her eyes. “She’s the Eldest Miss, I’m the Second Miss. We’re both misses.”

“Foolish child.”

The wet nurse sighed and said something three-year-old Zhu Weijin couldn’t understand at all.

“You’re both misses, but you have different fates. When there are too many of something, it becomes worthless.”