Song Yin fell ill without any warning.

She kept running a fever. In her dazed and confused state, someone held her in their arms.

She opened her eyes and saw Xie Shi’an lying beside her.

She instantly became more than half awake and pushed Xie Shi’an away with force.

Xie Shi’an hadn’t expected her to suddenly wake up. With only half his body on the bed, he was pushed and rolled onto the floor.

He didn’t care at all. Getting up, he picked up a bowl of medicine from the bedside: “Since you’re awake, drink the medicine. Your body will recover faster.”

“Get out.” Song Yin closed her eyes. “I want to rest quietly alone. Please leave.”

“Yinyin, how long are you going to keep making trouble!” Xie Shi’an’s face was full of dejection. “I’ve done everything I can. What more do you want me to do?”

Song Yin didn’t know what she wanted either.

She deeply loved Xie Shi’an, and she could feel that Xie Shi’an’s heart was full of her.

They had four children and lived a happy, fulfilling life.

Such a good life made all the women in the capital envious. Yes, what was she making trouble about?

She couldn’t understand herself.

But she knew she didn’t want to see Xie Shi’an.

“Please leave first.”

She coldly issued an order to leave.

Xie Shi’an pressed his lips together, placed the medicine bowl on the table, then took out several preserved fruits and placed them beside it before walking out.

Just as he reached outside, a maid from the courtyard came forward to inquire: “Young Master, the Young Madam hasn’t eaten for several days now. This cannot continue.”

Xie Shi’an paused and said: “I’ll go make her some food.”

When he was young and times were hard, he often cooked. Although he hadn’t done it in many years, he still remembered some things.

Moreover, he was intelligent with strong comprehension. After the little maid explained once, he remembered everything and earnestly began preparing food.

The next morning, Song Yin felt her spirits had improved somewhat. She got up to go sunbathe in the courtyard, but discovered that each of the servants in the courtyard had strange expressions.

She called over her personal maid: “What has happened?”

The maid’s eyes shifted evasively: “Nothing… nothing…”

“The First Young Madam will find out sooner or later, why hide it?” Another maid said through gritted teeth. “It’s the Young Master. Last night, he was schemed against and got close to a rough kitchen maid…”

Song Yin was completely stunned: “What did you say?”

“The Young Master was only careless for a moment and fell into a trap. However, the Young Master has already summoned a servant broker to the manor, preparing to sell that maid away.”

While they were speaking, Gao Shi entered, saying loudly: “Elder Sister-in-law, hurry and go look! That maid heard that Elder Brother wants to sell her away and is about to jump into the well. If this matter spreads, our Xie family’s reputation will be ruined! Elder Sister-in-law, please be magnanimous and let Elder Brother take a concubine. Look at Elder Brother—these past days he’s become so haggard, alas!”

Song Yin stood up with the maid’s support and hurried to the back courtyard.

Many servants were gathered there. In the center, a maid stood at the well’s edge, about to jump down.

Beside her, Xie Shi’an stood with a completely cold expression, his voice icy to the extreme: “You have only two choices. First, jump down. Second, be sold away. Choose as you wish.”

The maid cried desperately. She deeply regretted scheming against the Young Master last night, but there was no medicine for regret in this world.

For a maid like her who schemed against her master, being sold away would lead to a fate more terrible than death.

She closed her eyes, preparing to jump down.

“Wait.” Song Yin’s voice rang out. “Husband, what are you doing? Can our Xie family not even support one concubine?”

She looked at the maid. “Come down. Clean yourself up properly and come offer me a cup of tea. From now on, you’ll be a concubine at the Young Master’s side.”

“Hey, what are you still standing there for!” Gao Shi quickly said. “Hurry and kowtow in thanks to the First Young Madam!”

The maid seemed to awaken from a dream. She came down from the well and fell to her knees before Song Yin with a thud.

Song Yin helped her up: “You can live in the eastern side room of my courtyard.”

From the moment she entered this courtyard and spoke her first words, she knew Xie Shi’an had been watching her the entire time.

She knew that by doing this, the couple’s hearts would completely separate.

But if she didn’t do this, this maid before her, only in her teens, would perish.

“Good, very good.” Xie Shi’an said through gritted teeth. “If this is what you wish to see, then as you wish.”

Over the next few months, the Xie family’s main household gained four more concubines.

The First Young Madam of the Xie family had no household management authority and wasn’t respected by her husband. Her days in the manor gradually became difficult.

At year’s end, the Court of Judicial Review found evidence to confirm Prince Pingxi’s crime of treason. Prince Pingxi was demoted to commoner status, and along with his son and daughter, was imprisoned for life in the prince’s manor.

The following autumn, the Crown Prince accidentally injured the Emperor at the hunting grounds. The Crown Prince was executed on the spot.

The Emperor also fell ill because of this, lingered in bed for several months, and passed away during the first winter snow. Prince Gongxi inherited the throne.

Xie Shi’an was already a First Rank Chief Minister. Because of his merit in supporting the dragon, he also became Minister of Revenue, truly holding heavy power as a high-ranking minister. Everyone avoided his sharp edge.

Following this, the case of Minister He’s household embezzlement from years ago was re-investigated. It was discovered that Minister He had been framed and took the blame, leading to all the family’s men being beheaded and the elderly, weak, women and children being sent back to their ancestral home.

The current Chief Minister was a descendant of the He family. His mother, to overturn the family’s case, had hidden her identity and cultivated her child, all to give the family justice. Now the injustice was finally cleared, and his mother could be said to have weathered the storm to see the moonlight.

Soon, the Xie family held a grand wedding.

The legitimate daughter of the He family from years past married Xie Jingyu, drawing countless people from the capital to watch.

The Xie family welcomed a new mistress of the household.

He Shi entered the family… no, she had now restored her original name and was called He Lingying.

On He Lingying’s first day entering the family, she was supposed to go to the ancestral hall to offer tea to the previous mistress. She directly canceled this step and ordered people to throw Yun Chu’s memorial tablet into the storage room.

A dead person who hadn’t borne even one son or daughter for the Xie family didn’t deserve to drink her tea.

On He Lingying’s second day in the family, Concubine Jiang, who had long been bedridden with illness, suddenly died. When the news reached the Ge family, Xie Xian also passed away…

Concubine Yu was sent by He Lingying to find Xie Shiyun. Halfway there, an incident occurred, and she too was gone…

The concubines in the Xie family deeply felt the new mistress’s威势, each shrinking their heads and acting like quails. The Xie family’s rear courtyard became extremely quiet.

No matter how He Lingying looked at Song Yin, she was dissatisfied. Back then, she hadn’t agreed to this marriage arrangement. It was because An’geer requested it and Yun Chu nodded her head that the marriage took place.

After Song Yin entered the family and bore four children for An’geer, she gradually began to view Song Yin more favorably.

But ever since Yun Chu died, Song Yin seemed to have become a different person, constantly giving An’geer attitude. An’geer was a First Rank minister—was it Song Yin’s place, the daughter of a mere scholar, to be so arrogant?

He Lingying ordered people to summon Song Yin.

Song Yin had been continuously ill. Forcing her sick body, she came forward: “Paying respects to Mother.”

He Lingying drank her tea, saying indifferently: “I hear that every time Shi’an enters your room, you drive him out. Since you have no intention of serving your own husband, why not yield this position?”

Song Yin raised her head: “Is this Mother’s intention, or Husband’s intention?”

Although the marital affection between her and Xie Shi’an was completely gone, she still had four children. For the children’s sake, she had to maintain her position as the legitimate wife.

“Naturally it’s Shi’an’s intention.” He Lingying lowered her eyes. “You’ve borne four children for the Xie family, so we’ll give you some dignity. Take the divorce papers and leave.”