Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The Xinbo Marquis Mansion was located in the most prosperous part of the Capital. When my younger brother and I arrived, Cui Zishu was standing outside the main gates.

During her days of glory, Zishu had visited the mansion for banquets. Back then, a red carpet would stretch from the street to the mansion’s entrance, with maidservants and attendants lining both sides. The Marquis and his wife would stand at the door with beaming smiles to welcome her, and the Marchioness herself would personally assist her out of the carriage.

That spectacle had been the talk of the Capital, a celebrated tale that even I had heard of as far away as Gusu.

But now, Cui Zishu stood on the wet roadside, reflecting the damp, biting chill. She hadn’t even made it up the steps of the mansion’s main gate before being blocked by guards.

Cui Zishu, who had always been high and mighty, was panicking. She never expected that she wouldn’t even get to see the Heir.

“I am the Heir’s fiancée! Did you fail to give him the sachet? Once he knows it’s me, he will definitely come to see me!”

A guard snorted and burst into laughter. “Fiancée? The Heir doesn’t have a low-class fiancée like you!”

They had received a reply long ago, but they deliberately withheld it, waiting for Cui Zishu to come and invite her own humiliation.

The commotion attracted passersby, and someone recognized her.

“Isn’t that Miss Cui? Fallen to such a state, yet she still wants to put on airs?”

But I knew this wasn’t about putting on airs. This was the last shred of hope Cui Zishu clung to-the deep affection she believed they shared.

How could she not know what this treatment signified? Like a beast fallen into a trap, this was her final, mournful cry.

“I am the legitimate daughter of the Cui Clan! The Chen Clan of Qinghe, a Noble Family! You cannot treat me like this!”

She was hysterical; this identity had weighed on her for far too long.

“Let me tell you, it was precisely after seeing your sachet that the Heir told you to get lost. If it weren’t for the Cui Family, the Marquis Mansion wouldn’t have been implicated and reprimanded by the Emperor. You still have the face to come here? Today is the joyous day of the Heir’s engagement to Miss Xie. Stop being a burden to him!”

And yet, it was the Xinbo Marquis Mansion that had originally sought out the Cui Family, sending carriage after carriage of gifts. Now, they claimed to be victims of the Cui Family’s downfall.

The guard threw out a blackened object-it was the sachet, charred from being burned.

My brother looked at me urgently, his eyes filled with confusion. “Sister, they’re bullying Sister Zishu!”

I gripped his hand. “Wait. It’s not enough.”

It wasn’t enough to make her give up completely.

Words cannot teach a person, but reality can teach them in a single stroke.

When I was five years old, I was ignorant. Everyone said Master Chen was my father, but Mother said Master Chen would never acknowledge me. I didn’t believe her and threw a tantrum, calling Mother mean for not letting me find my father. Later, when Mother wasn’t looking, I blocked Master Chen’s path as he returned to the manor.

It was summer, amidst the drone of cicadas. Master Chen kicked me aside, muttering about his bad luck. I was then tied up in the courtyard by the servants and left in the sun for an entire day. By the time Mother rescued me, I had only a breath of life left.

From then on, I never uttered the word “Father” again.

Seeing that she wouldn’t leave even after receiving the sachet, the guard gave her a violent shove. In front of everyone, Cui Zishu fell into the muddy water. The guards did it on purpose, looking at the crowd with smug satisfaction.

When one has power, they are submissive; when one falls from grace, they seek to reclaim their dignity a thousand times over through cruelty.

I let go of my brother’s hand, and he rushed forward.

“Stop bullying my sister!”

My brother and I had been beaten since we were young. As he grew up, he became quite strong. Those who tried to bully us only behaved after tasting my brother’s fists.

He shoved one guard, and both tumbled to the ground. As another guard rushed over, something unexpected happened: Cui Zishu fiercely threw away the sachet and lunged forward, sinking her teeth into the guard’s arm.

It took both my brother and me pulling her away before she finally let go.

The steward came out, bringing a new message from the Heir. He said that as long as Cui Zishu stopped pestering them, he would not pursue the matter of her causing a scene at the mansion gates today.

Cui Zishu said nothing. She simply stared at the guard who was now slumped on the ground, her eyes frighteningly bloodshot. “Don’t you dare bully my brother!”