General’s Mansion, eastern courtyard.
Xiao Cheng Ce listened as the maid from Goose Water Courtyard came to report that Chu Chu had invited Bai Xinyi for tea. The two had argued, and in the end, the other woman had shoved her to the ground in a fit of rage, scraping a large patch off her knee.
Although the physician had been summoned, he found several fragments embedded quite deeply and had to pick them out first. Chu Chu, who had never endured such pain, was now hurting so badly that she was on the verge of fainting.
After hearing this, Xiao Cheng Ce surged with anger and smashed the cup beside him: it was Bai Xinyi again, always her.
Ever since he returned, this woman had not stopped stirring up trouble. Either she was jealous and petty, or she ran to Chu Chu to cause problems. She would not rest until she turned the inner residence upside down!
He truly regretted it more and more.
Perhaps he never should have softened his heart back then and kept her around. If he had cut ties cleanly from the start, things would not have escalated to this unrest now.
Only at that moment did Xiao Cheng Ce realize that his patience for her seemed utterly exhausted.
His patience for Bai Xinyi had burned to the very end.
Chu Chu had a naive personality and was ignorant of worldly affairs, so naturally, she did not understand the vicious schemes of women cloistered in the inner residence. Since he had taken Chu Chu as his concubine, he had to protect her from harm by others.
He could not bear to see the woman he liked constantly embroiled in such filth.
Perhaps Xiao Cheng Ce’s expression was simply too frightening, chilling enough to drip water.
The servant boy attending him nearby could only hunch his body, not daring to make a sound, while inwardly fretting and sighing, praying that the troublemaking former wife would find her own blessings.
However, before they could rush over to check on Chu Chu, that chief culprit came knocking of her own accord, saying she had words to speak with him face-to-face.
Xiao Cheng Ce sneered coldly upon hearing this and gnashed his teeth. “She still has the face to come here? Always stirring up disgraceful matters—she truly doesn’t know death.”
The servant boy saw his master so enraged and thought he surely would not see Bai Xinyi again. Unexpectedly, after heaving with anger for a moment, Xiao Cheng Ce closed his eyes as if resigned to his fate, clenched his jaw, and waved for the woman outside to enter.
The door creaked open.
Then, a pair of Spotted Bamboo-colored embroidered shoes stepped in, hidden beneath a dark purple woven-gold skirt. She moved with graceful steps, swaying elegantly.
Each time he saw Bai Xinyi’s face, the servant boy vaguely understood a little: why, despite her venomous nature, his general always ended up softening toward her.
The lap of luxury was a hero’s downfall—who could resist?
He even felt that from the instant his general laid eyes on the woman before him, half his anger had already dissipated.
A few sniffling soft words from her, and the matter would probably be brushed aside.
Who knew that the woman’s small face was icy cold, her tone equally frigid.
Like a stunning Tanhua flower beyond compare, or verdant bamboo that would never easily bend. “Please, General, send me out of the mansion. I do not wish to stay here any longer.”
Xiao Cheng Ce was stunned, anger nearly propelling him up from his chair. “You…”
He smashed the jade ruyi in his hand at her feet. “You injured Chu Chu, and I have not even come to settle accounts with you, yet you dare come here spewing nonsense!!”
“Isn’t that perfect? I am right here. Whatever trouble the General wishes to find, hurry up and do it.”
Her eyes blazed with rich color, a mocking smile at her lips. “Otherwise, once this concubine leaves, the General will have no chance to find any.”
Seeing her like this, Xiao Cheng Ce’s voice also turned icy. “You insist on being so unrepentant?”
He felt he held the moral high ground and could criticize her from head to toe. “Was it not you who argued with Chu Chu and pushed her down, causing her to bleed and get injured? You won’t even apologize now—Bai Xinyi, you are far too disappointing!”
“This concubine only learned today that after making one mistake, one becomes unable to defend oneself no matter what.”
With that, those seductive yet aloof eyes turned toward him. “Because no matter what happens afterward, in the General’s heart, I remain that venomous woman.”
Xiao Cheng Ce caught the implication beyond her words and furrowed his brows. “What do you mean? You claim innocence in today’s incident?”
He recalled the maid’s report earlier and assumed she would quibble to shift blame, his tone deepening. “So many servants in the pavilion saw it—you were the one who pushed Chu Chu. Do you plan to deny it?”
Xin Yi laughed, thinly and coolly asking him, “Since the evidence and witnesses are all there, would it help if this concubine denied it?”
She was frank, anyway. She had already shouldered the blame once; doing it again was familiar territory.
Xiao Cheng Ce’s brows furrowed even deeper.
Xin Yi continued, mixing truth and falsehood in a way hard to discern. “When this concubine first heard the General had won a great victory and was returning triumphant, my heart leaped with joy. I was so excited I could not sleep all night, yet I still rose early the next day to dress up, intending to welcome the General at the mansion gates…”
At this point, her expression paused, as if recalling some painful memory. “Then I saw the General holding a stunning Miao Frontier girl in his arms—your cherished beloved concubine.”
“But what am I? If you have already pledged yourself to another woman, then what of these two years I spent alone in the General’s Mansion, waiting eagerly in vain?”
“This concubine admits that jealousy once led me to do wrong and hurt Miss Chu Chu. But that was also because I admired the General too deeply, making me all the more afraid of being abandoned.”
Xiao Cheng Ce listened to her words, seemingly resentful accusations but actually confessions of affection, and his heart softened somewhat.
He thought, Bai Xinyi truly loved him after all.
Since ancient times, women in the inner residence had turned hatred from love, jealousy twisting their features—not a few such cases. Though her methods were wrong, they were not entirely unforgivable.
Thus, his tone eased a little as he interrupted her. “That matter is in the past—why bring it up again? And no one held it against you, did they? You just need to stay quietly in the General’s Mansion and behave. Why provoke Chu Chu again today?”
Tears welled in Xin Yi’s eyes, hovering without falling. “This concubine did not provoke her. It was Miss Chu Chu who sent a maid to summon me, saying she wished to invite me for tea and a heart-to-heart.”
“Moreover, this concubine knows my precarious position in the mansion—barely better than a servant. Of course, I had no choice to refuse and could only nod in agreement.”
She was usually venomous and willful, but now, crying, she revealed a fragile stubbornness that inexplicably stirred pity.
Especially since Xiao Cheng Ce had always been helpless against her.
The Melodramatic Transmigration System praised her acting skills profusely nearby. “Host, you’re amazing—you’ve nearly turned Xiao Cheng Ce into a tear fetishist. Keep crying a bit more, and he’ll have an irregular heartbeat.”
“But still, know when to stop. Don’t overdo it and make it seem fake.”
Xin Yi, of course, did not hold back and even intensified it.
Her crow-black lashes trembled slightly, and teardrops tumbled down her cheeks. “Who knew it would be nothing but self-humiliation? She said the General might tolerate me today, but not necessarily in the future.”
She laughed then, though the smile carried a touch of pathos. “But has the General ever truly tolerated me? If so, why did he so easily divorce me back then?”
Who could resist the woman who captivated him, weeping before him like pear blossoms in rain, pouring out her affections?
She was indeed wicked and foolish, but she was beautiful.
And from the start, it was he who had been heartless, betraying his original wife.
Sure enough, Xiao Cheng Ce watched her for a long time, unable to hold back as he rubbed his brow and sighed deeply.
He walked over, pulled the tear-streaked woman into his arms, and helplessly, indulgently wiped her tears. “Your temperament is too extreme, unyielding at every turn. You must change it in the future.”
Xin Yi sobbed softly in his embrace and looked up.
Pretending to be sensible for once. “Then… could Shi Bi take me to see her too? After all, for today’s matter, I should apologize to Miss Chu Chu.”
Seeing her like this, Xiao Cheng Ce could not help but want to smile.
His heart eased: so this woman who always infuriated him, blowing his beard and glaring, would show weakness and submit if patiently soothed. In the end, all her actions stemmed from caring too much for him.
“You really mean to apologize?”
Xin Yi stopped crying at his words, seeming a bit angry at his doubt. She pushed him away with a full face of displeasure.
But in the end, he huffed coldly. “Yes, really to apologize.”
Goose Water Courtyard.
The attending physician finished cleaning the wound for the woman on the couch, then bandaged it with clean silk cloth.
He carefully instructed the personal maid that her lady should avoid water for the next few days, watch her diet, take the medicinal soup as prescribed, and it would heal in time.
After the physician left, Chu Chu asked the little maid, “Did we send someone to the separate courtyard to inform the General? Why hasn’t he come yet?”
The wound cleaning had hurt too much earlier; cold sweat had dampened the hair at her temples.
Yun Zhi nodded upon hearing this. “We did. Perhaps the master had some urgent matter and was delayed on the way.”