The mistress who remarried has returned.

Qin Huai received no response from his mother. The little boy in his heart was frantically begging his mother to talk to him. He smiled faintly. His mother still firmly believed that he had pushed Qin Jun into the lake and drowned Qin Jun. He didn't need to explain anything anymore. He left the table, feeling rather embarrassed and lonely.

Madam Qin glanced at Consort Shu, then her gaze swept over Xue Wenying from head to toe, and she asked Consort Shu, "Your Highness, what do you think of Wenying's appearance and manner of speaking?"

Consort Shu looked at Xue Wenying's face and body, pondered for a long time, and then said, "This child is very good, I think it's acceptable."

Xue Wenying's heart was pounding with anxiety. She had no idea what the two masters were talking about. She quickly handed the vase to Madam Qin, said a few words, and then left the table, feeling extremely uneasy.

***

After expressing deep remorse and apology to Zhou Qiu, Su Yuanzhou searched everywhere for Su Yunxi. He finally found her at the bottom of the corridor and strode over to her unhappily. "You unfilial daughter! Look what you've done! General Qin and the Second Prince, there are only two of them, and you've managed to offend both of them. What are you doing, flaunting your status as Young Master Qin in front of Miss Xue? And why did you throw water in the Second Prince's face? My promising future as an official has been ruined by you!"

Su Yunxi let her father vent his anger. Once he was done, he lost interest and left. She was just a young girl; how could she possibly hinder her father's future? She hadn't even blamed him for treating her like a commodity to be valued and used for his own advancement.

"I'm clumsy with words and always offend people, Father, you don't need to have any expectations of me in the future. Why don't you bring Xin Xin out to help you manage your official career? Xin Xin has been trained by Madam Wang to be very eloquent."

"Xin Xin is a decent girl. Why would I bring her out?" Su Yuanzhou said quickly, but that was really what he thought. He had no intention of bringing Xin Xin out in public.

Su Yunxi felt a sudden, sharp pain in her body. It was clear her father was wary of the Wang family, hence his higher regard for Su Xinxin. She said in a low voice, "Indeed, I haven't had a good father to support me, and I've become increasingly disreputable. But Father, you don't need to be so ungrateful. Didn't you reap the rewards of my improper flirting with Qin Huai all those years ago?"

Su Yuanzhou realized that he had hurt Xixi's self-esteem with his words, but he didn't care.

Xixi didn't need to be coaxed; she was carefree and would be fine on her own in a little while. He said angrily, "Useless thing, why did you splash water on the Second Prince's face just now? It was really inexplicable, catching me off guard and making me lose face in front of those nobles. Only my daughter is so impolite."

As he spoke, he raised his hand as if to slap Su Yunxi in the face.

Su Yunxi understood that her father had figured out that Qin Huai disliked her, so he stopped indulging and being wary of her and began to beat and scold her at will.

"My father is the only one who likes to sell his daughters. I see other fathers who rely on themselves, unlike you, who rose to power entirely through your wife and daughters!"

"Shut up!" Su Yuanzhou originally only wanted to raise his hand to scare her, but now he was really going to hit her.

Seeing her father's slap about to land, Su Yunxi quickly retreated to dodge it. There was no need to foolishly wait to be hit. She dodged too quickly, her foot slipped, and she stumbled down several steps.

Staggering, I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Luckily, there was snow on the ground, so the fall wasn't too painful. My hand landed on the flower bed, and the blister on it burst immediately.

Seeing his daughter's disheveled state, her hands bloodied and mangled, and surrounded by high-ranking officials, Su Yuanzhou didn't continue to argue with her to avoid further embarrassment. He simply said, "Go to the garden and find Lin Enxiao. Go to Lin Enxiao's house and don't come back to the Su residence. We won't be angry if we don't see you! This family is only complete without you!"

Su Yunxi heard every word her father said clearly. She realized that her father had kicked her out of the house and she was now homeless. She silently glanced at her father.

Su Yuanzhou was so provoked by his daughter's cold gaze that he took a step back. Her attitude of not crying, making a fuss, or begging for mercy made Su Yuanzhou very wary. But what trouble could she possibly cause? Could the Crown Prince's palace possibly rise again? She had no chance of becoming the Empress in the future.

Su Yunxi silently withdrew her gaze, slowly sat up from the ground, her upper body upright, her legs slightly angled. She lowered her hand to pat the snow off her skirt, neither arguing nor complaining, nor seeking the fatherly love she could not obtain.

It's just that I'm in a bad situation and have no way to fight back. I can only endure it for now and survive in the cracks.

After arranging things for Xue Wenying, Qin Huai hurried back. When he reached the corridor, he saw Su Yunxi had fallen on the snow outside. She was silently sitting up, the blisters on her hand had burst. It was because she had been distracted while arranging concubines for him that she had injured her hand, and he was heartbroken.

Su Yunxi felt a lot of pain in her hand, but it was overshadowed by the pain in her heart. She couldn't tell if it was because of her father's inappropriate remark or because Qin Huai was talking about important life matters with Miss Xue at Qin's mother's place. Without crying or making a sound, she covered the skin on her hand and pressed the handkerchief hard against the flesh, squeezing out the fluid from the blister.

He tried to hurt the wound on his palm to suppress the pain in his heart.

However, with pain in both places at the same time, the situation became even worse. She dared not hope for a pair of arms to hold her and give her some warmth.

She picked up the purse from her waist, held it to her nose, and inhaled the sweet scent of cypress wood shavings inside, which gradually calmed her down.

She thought she should go and find Lin Enxiao immediately, and find a reason for Lin Enxiao to bring Zhou Yuan to the garden for a meeting.

But at that moment, her heart pain flared up so badly that it felt like her pulse was locked, and she couldn't move at all.

Her mind was filled with imagining the scene of Qin Huai taking Xue Wenying to meet his mother, and she felt jealous because she had no right to be jealous.

So she hugged her knees, quietly resting her chin on them, enduring the heartache until it subsided.

Qin Huai was about to step down the stone steps to pull her into his arms when he suddenly remembered that Zhou Qiu was staring at him like a dog, waiting to find something to use against him. In the end, it was not convenient to approach Xixi at this time.

Liu Shun said to Qin Huaiyan, "General, she's taken ninety-nine steps towards you, disregarding her lifelong happiness, just to see you at Yingtian Pavilion. For you to remain unmoved is too cold-hearted. I can't bear to see her silently enduring like this. What if she truly has her reasons, or what if she really keeps your bracelet? Let her heart turn cold; you might regret it. I think it was your recklessness back then that drove away your perfectly good wife!"

"You don't need to provoke me with your words," Qin Huai said.

Liu Shun snorted, "When you bought clothes for someone, didn't you secretly feel that you might have wronged them, and were you regretting it?"