Your Highness, your wife has had her virginity mark applied and married someone else.

"No, no!"

Upon receiving the verdict, Wei Yuan finally shed tears. He looked at Shen Mingshu pleadingly, "Mingshu, please give me another chance, please, don't abandon me. I can't live without you."

Shen Mingshu raised her hand, crying, and wiped away the tears on Wei Yuan's cheeks.

Wei Yuan immediately grasped her hand, pressed his cheek against hers, and pleaded with Shen Mingshu for mercy in anguish.

But Shen Mingshu only said, "A-Yuan, I once believed you would have a bright future and achieve great success, and you still don't—"

"I don't want to!"

Wei Yuan held her hand tightly, unwilling to loosen his grip even slightly: "I don't want fame or fortune, I only want you!"

"I won't be a concubine anymore, okay? I'll marry you. I'll make the arrangements right now. If the Wei family doesn't agree, we'll leave the capital."

"I don't want fame or fortune anymore. We won't take the exams. We'll just go back to Yuncheng and continue our simple life as before—"

"A-Yuan!" Shen Mingshu was almost cruelly lucid. "You know, we can't go back."

"Why!" Wei Yuan's eyes were bloodshot, still unwilling to accept it: "Do you think I'm unclean? Or have you fallen in love with Lu Yanzhi?"

"What he gave you, I'll give you double, no! Triple! Ming Shu, everything I have is yours, don't abandon me—"

Shen Mingshu couldn't bear to look at Wei Yuan's obsession, and with a resolute force, she pulled her hand away: "I haven't fallen in love with anyone, nor have I looked down on you, but if we're not compatible, we're not compatible. Without me, you'll only have a better life."

Wei Yuan's hands fell limply to his sides, his gaze landing on Shen Mingshu's stomach. His voice was hoarse: "What about the child, Grandmother? What are you going to do?"

Shen Mingshu lowered her eyes: "Could you... please not say anything for now? I'll think of something."

"What method?" Wei Yuan slowly raised his eyes, his dull, lifeless gaze filled with despair. "Do you want to get pregnant with Wei Ziye?"

Shen Mingshu frowned: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Whether I'm lying or you've already found someone else, you know the answer yourself.

Wei Yuan's voice carried a hint of indifference.

He knew Shen Mingshu well; she would never act so decisively without a backup plan.

This backup plan either lies with Wei Ziye or with Lu Yanzhi.

Wei Yuan slowly got up from the ground, casually patted the dust off his robes, and when he looked at Shen Mingshu again, his eyes flashed with a strange light that terrified Shen Mingshu.

"Ming Shu, it was Lu Yanzhi who seduced you, wasn't he?"

Shen Mingshu nervously got up and moved away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about. If you don't want to leave, I... I'll go out first—ah!"

Shen Mingshu had only taken one step outside when Wei Yuan tightly gripped her wrist.

She screamed in fright, and Wei Yuan, staring at her, suddenly laughed.

The laughter sent a chill down Shen Mingshu's spine. She struggled to pull her hand back, but Wei Yuan's strength was ridiculously great.

"Ming Shu, you're actually afraid of me?" After laughing, Wei Yuan's face showed a hint of aggrieved helplessness: "In this world, the person I'd least want to hurt is you, how can you be afraid of me?"

Wei Yuan pulled Shen Mingshu into his arms, his voice filled with affection but tinged with illness.

"Ming Shu, don't be afraid of me, okay? You're all I have left. Don't leave me. If you keep making a scene, I really might do something irrational. Please, be good, okay?"

Shen Mingshu had never realized that Wei Yuan was sick. At this moment, Wei Yuan was so unfamiliar that it terrified her.

She didn't know why Wei Yuan had become like this, but she seemed to have sensed it long ago.

For example, after Wei Yuan agreed to the Wei family's request, he chose to deceive himself and cover up the truth, but when he noticed her silence, that moment of silence contained countless changes.

It is so subtle that it is almost imperceptible, yet it is terrifying upon closer examination.

If she hadn't finally agreed to become a concubine and resolved that conflict, the Magnolia Mansion that Wei Yuan bought would have been her prison!

For example, when Wei Yuan went out in the morning and returned from grocery shopping, he chose to deceive himself and cover up the truth when faced with the reality.

The morbid escapism and morbid repression all erupted at this moment.

Suppressing her panic, Shen Mingshu nodded, "Okay, A-Yuan, let me go first. I'm hungry, let's eat first, okay?"

Wei Yuan stared at the crab meat pastry on the dining table.

A single tear, a testament to profound sorrow, rolled down her cheeks.

"Okay, the crab roe pastry won't taste good if it gets cold." Wei Yuan wiped away his tears, pulled Shen Mingshu to sit on his lap, took the crab roe pastry, and fed it to Shen Mingshu.

"Ming Shu, open your mouth."

"..."

……

The Lu residence.

The main gate to the courtyard was tightly closed. Lu Youyou knelt in the center of the room, silently shedding tears.

Although Lu's parents were disappointed in him, the deed was done, and their blaming was useless.

She wanted to say something, but after seeing the coldness on Lu Yanzhi's face, she silently shut her mouth.

"Why? You clearly chose Brother A-Yuan for me, so why did you have to separate us when I fell in love with him?"

Lu Youyou's red and swollen eyes were filled with sorrow: "If feelings can really be so easily severed, then what am I to you?"

"A commodity to be used in an arranged marriage? Or a sacrifice that has lost its value?"

"You dare talk back!" Lu Yanzhi's forehead veins bulged with anger. "I told you to get to know her, but you're so frivolous and brainless, clinging to her like that! Peeping and sleeping with her! Lu Youyou, where's your self-respect?!"

"Can I control falling in love?!" Lu Youyou roared hoarsely, "Didn't the prince choose to kiss Shen Mingshu back then, which caused a rift with the Wei family? Why didn't you say you could control it then?!"

"you--!"

"Oh dear!" Lu Mingqi, the father, scolded in a low voice, "Why are you bringing up things from the past? Your brother wants you to realize your mistakes and not repeat them next time."

Lu Youyou muttered in dissatisfaction, "There won't be a next time..."

"..."

Lu Mingqi looked at Lu Yanzhi with a headache: "Yanzhi, what happened? Why are you suddenly so angry with Wei Yuan? Didn't you have no problem with him before?"

Lu Yanzhi lowered his head helplessly, overwhelmed by intense regret that completely crushed his shoulders.

He believed that Wei Yuan, who had been bullied by Zhang Yu since childhood, was still able to preserve his talents and was fearless in the face of hardship, and was a virtuous man worthy of trust.

Even if he harbors resentment, it's only natural and understandable.

The Lu family has no shortage of support for him; as long as he knows how to be grateful and treats Lu Youyou well, that's enough.

But after he found out what happened last night, he didn't expect that he would dare not refuse!

Lu Yanzhi looked at Lu Youyou with red eyes, feeling blame but even more self-reproach.

"Hey, don't you even realize what you're doing?!"

The Lu family, whose literary talents were suppressed by their martial prowess, also experienced periods of decline.

He and his father rarely returned home to support the family. Lu Youyou was bullied in the Lu family but kept quiet, thinking only that she could endure it and wait until the bullies stopped so they could play with her.

In the end, if her mother hadn't noticed something was wrong, they wouldn't have realized how lonely Lu Youyou was, how much she lacked love and security.

That's why he wanted to compensate the Lu family ten thousandfold after things improved for them.

But unexpectedly, she now... won't leave herself a way out!

Lu Youyou saw the disappointment in Lu Yanzhi's eyes, but still stubbornly muttered, "Brother A-Yuan will be good to me. We'll get married after he finishes his exams."

"..."

Madam Xu, Lu's mother, sighed: "In that case, let's pick a date a week from now to finalize the marriage. There are some things we have to be prepared for early."

Wolf cubs that grow too big are also difficult to control.

Given how much Old Lady Wei values ​​Wei Yuan, it's hard to say whether Wei Yuan is still a wolf cub.

A woman from the Lu family can have a legitimate divorce, but she cannot have an affair.

Seeing that Lu Mingqi and Lu Yanzhi both frowned and remained silent, Lu Youyou knew that the matter was settled!

Seeing Lu Youyou still able to laugh so carefree, Lu Yanzhi could only accept his fate.

"Father, I'm very busy lately, and I'd like to select an academy supervisor to assist me. I've already sent the list to the Ministry of Personnel, so please ask them to expedite the registration."

Call him selfish or insidious if you will.

In short, Shen Mingshu must never become Wei Yuan's concubine.

Otherwise, Lu Youyou's marriage was destined to be a tragedy.

Lu Mingqi nodded, not taking it seriously, but kept sighing with melancholy about Lu Youyou's future.