Marrying a treacherous official

"I don't understand what my husband is saying."

Yunji's eyelashes trembled slightly, yet she maintained a steady voice as she spoke:

"The Empress vehemently denied this marriage, a union that even General Pei dared not mention again. My husband insists on pursuing it to the end, determined to blame me. What is his intention?"

Cui Zemin released her earlobe, leaned back, and rested one hand on the banquet table, sitting sideways and half-encircling her in his arms.

He wanted to see how she would continue to argue and how she would coax him with all her sweet talk.

"In this world, it's always been the husband who divorces his wife and marries, not the other way around—where does a wife get a divorce so easily?"

Yunji picked up the wine pot and filled the empty wine cup. "Even if it's a divorce, you still have to ask your husband to write a divorce agreement, and it will only be valid if it's signed and stamped at the government office."

She refuted his argument with reason and evidence: "My husband keeps saying that others have stolen his wife, but he forgets that only divorced women can remarry. My husband divorced me first, so how can he blame me for remarrying later?"

Cui Zemin picked up the glass of fragrant wine and took a small sip.

Seeing that he still had the appetite to drink, Yunji interrupted him, saying, "Is the wine you drank sour, my husband?"

Before Cui Zemin could react, she said sarcastically:

"My husband hates General Pei so much, he believes everything he hears and blames me without any evidence. It's more than just a case of being jealous. I sniffed him up close, and he smelled sour and rotten."

If Cui Zemin hadn't been mindful that this was a palace banquet, he would have vomited up all the wine he had just swallowed.

"Try spouting nonsense again?"

"Only the magistrate is allowed to set fires."

Yunji made a sarcastic remark to him, then turned to sit upright and gave him a cold look.

The two ignored each other and sat together at a banquet table until the celebration banquet ended.

So much so that those ministers who were particularly good at reading people's expressions once mistakenly thought that Madam Cui was prone to throwing tantrums in front of Lord Cui, and that even if she got angry at a palace banquet, Lord Cui would still sit in her favor, and he would act according to Madam Cui's mood.

The first snow of winter fell outside Chonghua Hall.

Yunji followed the eunuch outside the palace and looked up to see the dense snow falling heavily, covering the majestic palace in layers of pure white. She looked from one end of the wall to the other, but she couldn't remember ever seeing such a pristine snowfall in her previous life.

"Eldest sister-in-law—"

Cui Shuhua hurried forward through the snow, and seeing that she was still not moving, she said anxiously, "The eunuch is leading the way, sister-in-law should continue down."

Yunji was struck by a silent sorrow and suddenly remembered that on the eve of winter in the twenty-second year of Qiyuan, she had also witnessed a vast expanse of snow in Qianzhou.

That was the purest snow to fall in Qianzhou after the tragic news of his grandfather and father's remonstrances, which reached both the court and the public.

A strong north wind rose, causing the hairpins and hair ornaments to sway and the hem of the phoenix-embroidered gold skirt to flutter wildly in the wind, but the slender figure remained standing calmly in the wind.

Overwhelmed by an indescribable sorrow, the sound of strings pierced her ears, and she seemed to hear the sound of falling snow, like shattered jade. As if possessed, she asked:

"May I ask, Your Excellency, what is that magnificent palace beyond this red wall?"

"Xuanhe Hall is where the emperor holds court and listens to government affairs."

Although the eunuch was puzzled, he answered truthfully because of her status as the wife of the Privy Councilor.

Yunji finally understood why she was so inexplicably grieving. The palace next door was the very place where her grandfather and father had been flogged to death!

She trembled uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face, the torrents of tears splashing into the snow, startling all the courtiers and their wives outside the palace who turned to look at her.

Seeing her in tears, Pei Yun strode down the stone steps. Before he could reach her, a gray fox fur cloak swept past him, covering her completely and unexpectedly.

"Madam is truly spoiled."

Cui Zemin covered her mouth with his hood to stifle the sob that was about to escape her lips, and feigned anger as he scolded her:

"I can't even withstand a bit of north wind. When it snows, I get so cold that my eyes water. I'm making a fool of myself in front of my colleagues and their wives."

As he spoke, he put his arm around her waist, ignoring the astonished looks of those around them, and lifted her with one arm, leading her out of the palace.

The first snow fell softly, and two footprints, one deep and one shallow, were left behind, stretching all the way to the end of the red wall in the biting north wind of the cold night.

The Cui family's carriage was parked outside Donghua Gate.

Cui Zemin flung open the carriage curtain and pushed Yun Ji into the carriage. Then, he strode in after her, forcefully pulling the curtain down to shut out the still-falling snow and wind outside.

He pulled down his hood, revealing eyes filled with tears that streamed down his face.

Hearing her ask the eunuch what the Xuanhe Hall was on the palace road, he vaguely guessed why she was crying.

Having witnessed countless deaths on the battlefield, he was usually cold-blooded and ruthless. He had never seen such deep and restrained emotions before, which suddenly burst forth, burning her alluring eyes red.

"The lady is weeping outside the palace; such disrespectful behavior! Does she know the consequences?"

Cui Zemin raised his hand and pinched her chin, lifting her face. Hot tears streamed down his face, soaking his cold hand with warmth.

Yunji remained silent, only shedding tears.

The eunuch hurried in through the Donghua Gate, found the Cui family's carriage, and stood outside the window, asking in a low voice:

"General Cui, have you forgotten that His Majesty will summon you to the Hall of Diligent Governance after the palace banquet?"

"I'll go there right away."

How could Cui Zemin possibly forget the affairs of the court?

However, seeing her ridiculous tears, he turned around, forcibly helped her out of the predicament, and planned to first send her out of the palace gate before going to the Hall of Diligent Governance to apologize to the emperor.

"If you still can't stop crying when I return with my report, don't blame me for taking action against you."

He shook off her chin, lifted the curtain, and stepped out of the carriage. He glanced at Cui Shuhua standing with her head bowed beside the carriage, and remembering that Lady You had taken her maids and servants with her after leaving the palace, he said coldly:

"Take good care of your eldest sister-in-law."

"Don't worry, brother, Hua'er will take good care of sister-in-law."

Cui Shuhua replied cautiously.

After everyone left, she hurriedly boarded the carriage. Seeing that the lady was weeping uncontrollably, she tightened her grey fox fur cloak, took out an embroidered handkerchief, and wiped the lady's tears, saying tenderly:

"Sister-in-law, please stop crying. If my brother sees you crying, he'll get angry at you again."

The sight of the cloud-covered book evoked a deep and uncontrollable sorrow in Yunji's heart.

Once the heavy snow had passed and the majestic palace was no longer in sight, she slowly regained her composure.

Even she never expected that the longing for her father that she had suppressed over the years would burst forth in such a way that she herself could not control her madness.

"With the north wind blowing so fiercely, my heart pounded painfully, and tears kept falling. I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Second Miss."