Chapter 5

You wouldn’t bring such filth as a gift even when visiting relatives in an ordinary market town, let alone in a household of merit with all its formalities.

“Wretch!” Wei Jing was so furious the veins stood out on his forehead. “That Liu—what a despicable woman! How dare she try to deceive me with this trash? Guards! Bring her here!”

5.

That night, Liu Yingying was summoned to the main courtyard.

Wei Jing was still seething. The moment he saw her, he slapped her several times, each blow loud enough for the entire courtyard to hear.

The next morning, Liu Yingying was sent to a remote country estate under the pretext of “recuperating.” In truth, she was under house arrest.

Because of the bird’s nest incident, she had angered Minister Zhang of War and exposed all of Wei Jing’s painstaking schemes involving waterway transport.

Minister Zhang submitted an impeachment memorial, detailing Wei Jing’s embezzlement.

The memorial reached the imperial court, and the emperor flew into a rage.

If not for the late Marquis Wei’s past service in suppressing border rebellions and defending the realm, Wei Jing would have lost his title and been exiled to some distant place.

Even so, he was stripped of his title as Marquis Mingyuan. All he retained was the hollow, powerless rank of Court Gentleman for Attendance.

From then on, Wei Jing never recovered. He spent his days drowning himself in taverns. The handsome, aloof young lord he had once been became a laughingstock on the streets of Bianjing.

Although Liu Yingying had been demoted to the country estate, she refused to accept her fate.

She secretly bribed street thugs to spread rumors that Wei Jing and I had been married for a long time but had never consummated the marriage—that I was nothing but a wife in name.

The story was embellished and vivid, and it soon spread through every alley and lane of Bianjing.

Even my parents hurried over and asked anxiously, “Mingzhu, those rumors out there… are they true?”

Of course they were.

On my wedding day, when I saw Wei Jing’s true nature, my heart had already gone cold.

Whenever he came to my room, I made excuses about feeling unwell and turned him away. Eventually, he lost interest and stopped coming. Every night, he went to Liu’s room instead.

At first, I didn’t care. I was even relieved.

But now, I had changed my mind.

I quietly arranged for the rumors to reach the Wei matriarch’s ears.

That very afternoon, she angrily summoned me to the main courtyard.

I obediently served her tea. She looked at me and sighed.

“Mingzhu, you’ve suffered a great deal.”

That night, she forced Wei Jing to spend the night in my room.

He looked displeased, but he didn’t dare disobey his mother.

Yet before he had even managed to take off all his clothes, he nodded off into a deep sleep.

At dawn, he rubbed his temples and praised me with a smile. “My wife, that calming incense you burned last night was wonderful.”

I pressed my lips together and smiled. Calming incense?

It was no incense at all. It was a powder I had prepared myself, made with seven parts strangling-herb and datura pollen, left to smolder for forty-nine days. It would quietly render him incapable of fathering a child.

Wei Jing was already useless. I might as well cut off his line completely.

A man who lived only for wine, women, and indulgence was unfit to bear the title of marquis.

If he could not carry the burden, then I would carry it in his place.

After breathing in the powder, Wei Jing grew even weaker, all bluster on the outside and emptiness within.

A few days later, every time I saw him, I felt only disgust.

In bed, I was nothing like Liu, who knew a hundred ways to flatter him. He found me dull, went through the motions, and rolled over to sleep.

Later, even a frown or an unintentional sigh from me was enough to wound his fragile male pride.

So he stopped coming to my room altogether.

Thinking of Liu’s many bedroom tricks, Wei Jing hurriedly brought her back from the country estate.

Liu took it as a reward from Heaven and spoke smugly whenever she could.

“The marquis spent the night with me again. He even praised how gentle and attentive I am. Unlike certain people—stiff as salted fish.”

I lowered my eyes and leisurely worked the abacus. Wei Jing’s state came to mind, bluster on the outside and emptiness within, and I couldn’t help sighing.

She was so skilled at indulging him in bed, while he put on airs afterward. I almost felt sorry for her.