A game piece has no autonomy of its own.

Advance and retreat are all within others’ calculations, unable to escape the fate of being manipulated.

How could I be a game piece?

Zhu Weixi’s face grew increasingly pale. Both hands gripped the armrests on either side desperately to keep herself from going soft.

“Zhu Weixi, at the hot spring villa back then, did you really think Mother knew nothing when you and Geng Songsheng went out in the middle of the night?”

Zhu Weijin sneered. “That set of mud-stained dirty clothes and those soaked sheepskin shoes were hidden by Mother to help you.”

“How is that possible?”

Zhu Weixi: “I clearly had Chuntao…”

“Chuntao was someone Mother gave you. No matter how loyal she is to you, she wouldn’t dare gamble with the Eldest Miss of the Zhu family’s lifelong reputation.”

Zhu Weijin: “She feared being sold off by Mother, so before dawn broke, she took the clothes and shoes to Mother to beg forgiveness.”

Zhu Weixi felt the world spinning.

That day when she returned, she lied to Chuntao, saying she couldn’t sleep at night, got up to play in the snow, and fell in the snow. She thought she could keep it hidden, but who knew…

“Zhu Weijin, how did you discover this?” Yan Sanhe asked.

“What family brings an outsider along to a hot spring villa?”

Zhu Weijin sneered. “Without even thinking, I knew it was Mother making her chess move. So I used an extra bit of caution. Oh, not just caution—I had my maid help me keep watch too.”

Yan Sanhe was about to speak when her peripheral vision caught Young Master Pei’s eyes suddenly widen, his mouth hanging slightly open, just short of saying:

Modern women are truly terrifying, each one more formidable than the last!

This pause allowed Zhu Weijin to turn her gaze to Zhu Yuanmo.

“Eldest Brother was at the hot spring villa too. Why don’t you recall how we returned?”

Did Zhu Yuanmo need to recall?

The plan was to stay several more days, but the next day, Father caught a chill while walking along a field ridge and came down with a cold. On the third day, they returned to the capital.

“So Father’s illness was deliberate?” he asked.

“Whether deliberate or not, I don’t know. But we did return in any case.”

Zhu Weijin laughed mockingly.

“As soon as we returned, Geng Songsheng went back to the Imperial Academy, and our family’s Eldest Miss was shut back inside the mansion gates—they couldn’t see each other anymore!”

The Eldest Miss Zhu’s face turned even paler than before. “Miss Li.”

“Speak.”

“Chuntao is just outside the courtyard. Could you…”

“Wait.”

Without letting Zhu Weixi finish, Li Buyan opened the door and walked out.

In just a moment, she returned and nodded to Zhu Weixi.

Zhu Weixi’s hands could no longer support her. She leaned back against the chair, her whole body going soft.

Seeing her like this, Zhu Weijin felt unspeakable satisfaction.

Can’t take it anymore?

The exciting part is still to come!

This chess move at the hot spring villa—Mother played it right. From then on, feelings secretly blossomed between Zhu Weixi and Geng Songsheng.

When someone likes another person, the eyes cannot hide it.

When their eyes met, one would smile looking up, the other would press lips together looking down—simply three hundred taels of silver buried here with no silver at all.

During that period, Mother was in an excellent mood—smiling wherever she went, her steps light as the wind.

Father, however, showed no reaction. His speech and actions remained as usual.

Until one day when Zhu Weixi wore a wooden hairpin on her head. The material was excellent, but the carving was crude. She guessed it was most likely hand-carved by Geng Songsheng himself.

That day, Father still showed no reaction. He ate the rice in his bowl without hurry, then after finishing, took the three sons to the study. Throughout, he didn’t glance once at his eldest daughter.

That day, Zhu Weijin secretly rejoiced, thinking Father must have completely lost hope in Eldest Sister and couldn’t be bothered to mind her business anymore.

“Eldest Sister, do you know? I told Mother about your situation actually wanting to help you two establish a clear path. Of course, I had my own selfish motives too.”

Zhu Weijin didn’t hide her selfishness one bit.

“My selfish motive was for you to hurry up and marry—leave the Zhu family, marry into Luoyang Prefecture, marry far away. Best if you never returned to the capital in this lifetime.”

Zhu Weixi covered her heart with her right hand, looking at her coldly, as if looking at a monster.

Zhu Weijin paid no mind. “Mother’s anger actually wasn’t directed at you, Eldest Sister. It was directed at me.”

“Because Geng Songsheng hadn’t yet become a presented scholar. If he had become one, everything would have fallen into place naturally.”

Yan Sanhe: “And you pierced through that window paper prematurely, ruining her plans.”

“Miss Yan is truly clever.”

Zhu Weijin: “She couldn’t very well vent her anger on me, so she could only pretend to beat Zhu Weixi. But I didn’t expect Father would intervene.”

This intervention made her completely understand—Father hadn’t lost hope in Zhu Weixi. Rather, he’d compromised, acknowledged it, accepted it.

That made sense too. The person Father doted on most in this lifetime was Eldest Sister. How could he come to detest even Eldest Sister because of a Geng Songsheng?

What happened next fell into place naturally.

Geng Songsheng couldn’t let Zhu Weixi bear it alone, so he came to the house to propose marriage. Mother took the opportunity to bring up passing the examinations. Geng Songsheng agreed readily, and Father didn’t object.

The matter thus became clear and open. When the Geng family received the news, they also strongly approved of this match.

During that period, Mother and the Geng family exchanged letters very frequently. Both families had begun discussing the Six Rites.

Everything just waited for Geng Songsheng’s name to appear on the golden list.

“Eldest Sister still remembers that during that time I fell ill? Actually, I was feigning illness.”

Zhu Weijin sighed softly.

“Originally, it was an exciting game of chess, but halfway through, someone abandoned their pieces and conceded. I found it very uninteresting, too uninteresting.

There was another reason—I suddenly felt Geng Songsheng was truly a good person. Not only intelligent but also very responsible.”

Zhu Weijun glared fiercely at Zhu Weijin. “I knew you liked him.”

“Little Sister.”

Zhu Weijin curled her lips, revealing mockery. “I’m not like you, developing feelings for every good-looking man I see.”

“You…” Zhu Weijun’s face flushed red.

Zhu Weijin: “I just felt he was sincere.”

The Geng family’s background was actually much better than the Zhu family’s. With such an extensive clan, children and grandchildren had long scattered everywhere.

What silver couldn’t the Geng family give Geng Songsheng, a legitimate grandson? What kind of fine things couldn’t he obtain?

Yet he used a piece of the finest wood to personally carve the crudest wooden hairpin for Zhu Weixi.

Deep affection…

All contained within!

Whether a person was sincere or not could also be seen from their words and actions.

After the matter became clear and open, Geng Songsheng stopped running around and focused wholeheartedly on preparing for the spring examinations.

He no longer came to the Zhu household often either—what had been three times a month became once a month. Coming hastily and leaving hastily, he was never again seen at the Zhu family’s dinner table.

That year on the fifteenth of the first month, Mother specially took Eldest Sister on a trip to Mount Wutai in Shanxi to pray for blessings.

Mount Wutai was the sacred ground of Manjushri Bodhisattva. Manjushri Bodhisattva represented wisdom and intelligence—praying there for academic and examination success was most efficacious.

Mother also had a master seek a talisman, which she sent to Geng Songsheng upon returning, telling him to keep it on his person at all times.

Geng Songsheng’s grades at the Imperial Academy had always been outstanding. With the additional blessing of Manjushri Bodhisattva, Zhu Weijin thought at the time: how could this match not succeed?

Who would have thought…

Tsk tsk, who would have thought…