“What did someone take from you?”

Geng Songsheng glanced at Yan Sanhe and sank into memory.

After the hairpin incident was reported, Geng Songsheng feared Zhu Weixi would be scolded by her parents, so he simply went to propose marriage.

Geng Songsheng considered himself a scoundrel, but having ruined the young lady’s reputation, if he didn’t marry her, he wouldn’t be fit to be called human.

Moreover, Zhu Weixi was someone he truly liked.

That girl appeared proper and rule-abiding, but in her bones she was quite brave. Whatever she did, whatever she said, she wasn’t the least bit timid.

Geng Songsheng lived in a family clan that had been passed down for countless generations.

This clan looked glorious and magnificent on the outside, with deep heritage that everyone admired and worshipped—but inside?

Geng Songsheng’s several uncles—those who kept opera singers kept opera singers, those who gambled gambled, those who used drugs used drugs. Their scholarship was individually excellent, but their personal lives were individually rotten.

When men don’t strive, the women in the family suffer.

The young ladies of the Geng family had been trained by etiquette governesses from childhood and studied music, chess, calligraphy, and painting with various masters, all so they could marry into good families in the future and use their husband’s family’s power to help their natal family.

Geng Songsheng’s mother was a woman who rarely even smiled. His several sisters were trained by her to be exactly the same—stiff in speech and action in every way.

“Son, you must strive!”

“Son, you must bring glory to your ancestors!”

“Son, you mustn’t disgrace the Geng family!”

These were the words his mother said to him most often, but when his father threw her a glance, she would be too frightened to make a sound, her face full of reverence.

Geng Songsheng had decided from childhood that he would never marry a woman who didn’t even dare speak to him.

He wanted a good girl who knew him, understood him, and could talk about anything with him.

For precisely this reason, Zhu Weixi particularly suited his temperament.

Hearing this, Yan Sanhe discovered the fundamental reason why Geng Songsheng liked to travel and explore—

The Geng family, this thousand-year-old clan, was like a thousand-year-old well: dark, deep, oppressive, making him unable to breathe.

“Zhu Weixi.”

Through the smoke, Geng Songsheng’s gaze turned toward her.

“At that time, my feelings were genuine, and I truly wanted to marry you. There was no pretense.”

Zhu Weixi looked up at him, her gaze openly and secretly filled with undeniable pain.

“So when your aunt pressured me to place in the top three, I agreed without even thinking.”

A young man in the first bloom of love, with such exceptional talent—once his heart was moved and he wanted to give the good girl a commitment, there was no need to think, only to work hard with single-minded focus.

“Actually…”

He paused. “I detested becoming an official.”

Zhu Weixi’s voice trembled. “What, what are you saying?”

“I detested becoming an official.”

Because it was too false.

False faces, false smiles, false words, false feelings, false benevolence, false intentions. In public, they spoke endlessly of family and nation; in private, they were full of thievery and debauchery.

Truly capable and honest officials couldn’t get ahead. Those who climbed up were all sycophants and shameless hypocrites.

“Because I detested it, I never studied with much dedication. I used maybe sixty or seventy percent of my full effort!”

Only sixty or seventy percent?

Just sixty or seventy percent?

Everyone was shocked by these words.

“So I knew very clearly that if I used my full ten-tenths effort, placing in the top three would be like taking something from my pocket—a sure thing.”

Zhu Yuanzhao interjected, “But I came to your residence to see you several times and saw you studying diligently.”

“That’s correct.”

At this point, Geng Songsheng took a puff of his pipe.

As the white smoke came out, he continued, “Because I suddenly discovered that I was reading with great difficulty, memorizing with great difficulty, writing essays with great difficulty.”

How to describe it?

It was like a martial arts master who could normally kill an enemy with one move, but now after three moves, five moves, even ten moves, the enemy was still alive and well.

“I didn’t know what was happening. I just felt that my mind was becoming more muddled day by day, yet the spring examinations were drawing closer day by day.”

Even after all these years, when Geng Songsheng recalled that period, his eyes were still full of pain.

Yan Sanhe even noticed with her sharp eyes that the corners of his mouth were twitching slightly, though the bushy beard concealed all emotions.

“Not only was my mind muddled in my studies, but I was also confused in my actions and speech. What I clearly thought in my heart was one sentence, but what came out of my mouth was another. It was as if this body was mine, but the soul inside wasn’t mine.”

Geng Songsheng looked at Zhu Weixi. “Do you remember those months when I stopped visiting your home?”

Zhu Weixi nodded.

“I was afraid to see your mother, afraid to see your father, afraid they would ask me how confident I was. But what I feared most was seeing you.”

The young lady’s face was fair and round, with moisture in her eyes. In that moisture was a hint of charm and also earnest expectation.

He used to love such a gaze, but now it was like a sharp knife, slowly slicing him apart piece by piece.

Zhu Weixi’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

Those months were actually difficult for her too. The first thing she did upon opening and closing her eyes was to pray to the Bodhisattva, praying that her beloved could achieve his heart’s desire.

Young Master Pei spoke up. “Could it really have been a problem with the talisman?”

Geng Songsheng: “I threw that talisman away long ago.”

“He doesn’t believe in gods, doesn’t believe in ghosts—only believes in himself.”

Zhu Yuanzhao: “Once I asked Father to draw a talisman for him, and he returned it directly to me.”

Young Master Pei said urgently, “Then what was the reason? What exactly was taken from you?”

“Don’t be impatient, Magistrate Pei.”

Geng Songsheng: “Let me tell the story slowly.”

Young Master Pei thought to himself: I’m so anxious I need to piss.

“When you’ve studied books to a certain level, you know in your heart whether you can pass the examinations. With my condition, I simply couldn’t pass. But I had already made my promise, and moreover, this matter involved Zhu Weixi…”

He suddenly shook his head, and his speech slowed.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I began to lose my senses and developed wicked thoughts.”

It shouldn’t be this simple.

A person’s thoughts and intentions always have causes. For example, liking someone—why? Hating someone—why?

No matter how confused Geng Songsheng was, he should have known that cheating was something that, once caught, meant complete ruin.

“You were driven to a dead end, weren’t you?”

Yan Sanhe: “Otherwise, with the Geng family’s upbringing, how could you have used such a method?”

“Yes!”

Through the smoke, Geng Songsheng closed his eyes, then slowly opened them, his gaze still on Zhu Weixi.

“Your father came to see me.”

Zhu Weixi was no longer surprised by anything she heard now.

“What did my father say?”

He said words of comfort.

Telling him to relax, not to have too much pressure. Even if there was a mishap, the Geng family’s standing was worthy of the Zhu family.

He also said that Madam Mao had a sharp tongue but a soft heart—she had actually long ago considered him her son-in-law.

Finally, he said that Weixi was the child he valued most. From childhood to now, she had never suffered any hardship or grievance.

Though he was reluctant to see her marry far away, if it was to Geng Songsheng, he could be at ease.

If not for Zhu Weijin’s words laying the groundwork beforehand, even someone as clever as Yan Sanhe wouldn’t be able to discern what was improper in these words. She would only hear an old father’s love for his daughter.

But now she instantly understood—

These weren’t words of comfort but a form of disguised pressure, especially when Geng Songsheng had discovered he couldn’t pass the examinations.

“Madam Mao considers you her son-in-law—don’t disappoint her. Zhu Weixi is a precious young lady—don’t let her suffer hardship.”

She smiled slightly. “So Old Master Zhu’s words led you to ultimately choose to stake everything on one throw and burn your bridges.”

“Yes.”

Geng Songsheng: “Especially when he laid out Zhu Weixi’s dowry list, sheet by sheet, before me.”