Marrying a treacherous official

Yunji was afraid that Cui Zemin would act impulsively and, provoked by the Marquis's words, would pick up a piece of broken porcelain and drain the blood from half of his body.

She pressed her handkerchief tightly against the wound on his head, watching as the handkerchief became soaked with blood, and blood seeped through her fingers. She called out:

"Where's the first-aid kit?"

"Here it is!"

Li Xiuji barged into the outer study carrying a medicine box, kicked over a fallen ebony chair, and shoved it behind Cui Zeming.

Yun Ji clutched her wound and tried to push Cui Zemin back, but she couldn't budge him an inch.

She looked up and met his sinister gaze, knowing that he had taken the Marquis's words to heart.

"Sit down quickly, I'll bandage your wound."

"I'll return the blood to him."

As he spoke, Cui Zemin grabbed her waist and flung her away forcefully, determined to send her flying.

Unexpectedly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her other hand still pressed against his wound, and no matter how he twisted her waist, she clung to him tightly.

Bloodstains were left on the two of them.

Yun Ji angrily rebuked Li Xiuji behind him:

"What are you still standing there for?! Hold him down, how can we let him go crazy like this!"

Li Xiuji dared not disobey the general's wishes and pressed him down to sit on the ebony chair. But since the madam had spoken, he dared not disobey.

He grabbed Cui Zemin's shoulders from behind and forced him to sit down in the chair.

Yunji no longer cared about being gentle and graceful, and took the opportunity to straddle his lap, using her body to prevent him from getting up again.

With the warm, soft woman in his arms, Cui Zemin froze, unable to push her away.

Yunji instructed Li Xiuji to pour Jinshangsan (a traditional Chinese medicine) onto the wound, press it with gauze to stop the bleeding, and then tear off a roll of cloth and wrap it around his head.

Lady You stood behind the Marquis, sobbing softly with her face covered.

"The eldest master has always held a grudge against me, resenting that I should have married into the Cui family and become the Marquis's second wife. But the second master is innocent. No matter what, they are brothers. Even if the bones are broken, they are still connected by tendons. How can the eldest master be so heartless and leave the second master to die?"

"Mother--"

With her back to Madam You, Yunji uttered a sarcastic remark:

"You watched as the old man was beaten until his head bled, and not only did you not stop him, but you also fanned the flames. Now you are the one who is letting the old man die without helping him."

Madam You never expected that Gu Yunji would be so unscrupulous as to break off all pretense of civility and compete with her.

She suddenly burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, and through her tear-filled eyes looked pitifully at the Marquis, lamenting:

"My lord, listen to what you're saying! I begged all the way to Qinghui Courtyard for the sake of the Second Master, only to have it ruined by that couple."

"Madam, come here."

Cui Tingyan pointed to the floor tiles in front of Madam You and ordered her, "Kneel down and apologize to your mother."

Yunji tightened the cloth strips and tried to remove herself from Cui Zeming's body, but Cui Zeming held her down and she couldn't get off no matter what she did.

Cui Zemin stared intently at her and said:

"Sit still."

"You're supposed to sit here and not move."

Yunji pried open his fingers one by one from around his waist. If it weren't for the need to force him to bandage his wound, she wouldn't have straddled him like this, as it would have been improper.

"Grandmother is here, and Third Grandfather is here too."

Cui Zemin turned his head and looked out of the study, but there was no one there. Suddenly, she was taken off him.

Yunji walked up to Cui Tingyan and bowed to him in greeting.

"Father, I will never kneel before Mother before Grandmother and the elders of the clan. If I am wrong this time, I beg the clan to step in and send me back to the family with a letter of divorce. I will have no complaints."

"What a fine eldest daughter of the Gu family."

Cui Tingyan angrily said, "If you want to be divorced and kicked out of the manor so badly, I will grant your wish. Steward, go and invite Mother and the uncles to the main hall for a meeting."

Cui Zemin looked at the slender figure blocking his way. He used to think that she was only a bully at home, obsequious to her elders, and always maintained a virtuous demeanor in public. He never expected that she would stop pretending this time and dare to challenge Madam You head-on.

But she used the divorce as a gamble; if she won, great, but if she lost, he absolutely could not agree.

Madam Cui and the clan elders were all invited to sit in the main hall.

Yunji stood in the hall with her hands clasped in front of her, her eyes lowered. After everyone was seated, she respectfully called out to them:

"Grandmother, Third Grandfather, Father, Mother, and all uncles and elders, I am an unfilial son. I beg you elders to judge for me after hearing my explanation."

Cui Zemin stood behind her, listening to her eloquently stating:

"Second Master was imprisoned for cheating in the imperial examination. This matter had nothing to do with First Master. Father and Mother knew the reasons behind it better than anyone else. Instead of reflecting on their own mistakes, they blamed First Master for this matter, which was rather biased."

Yunji was only thinking about getting a divorce and leaving the mansion, so she had no manners left and said all the things she shouldn't have said in a forceful manner.

Cui Tingyan couldn't reprimand Yun Ji in front of the clan elders.

Lady You, however, could no longer remain seated in her armchair and, in her capacity as the mistress of the house, rebuked her:

"Openly criticizing her parents, this is the eldest daughter raised by the Gu family. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Putting aside the Gu family's upbringing, Mother, tell me, is the eldest son in the right in this matter?"

Yunji would never allow Madam You to evade the main issue and shift the blame to her upbringing.

She stated the facts objectively:

"The old man has a bad temper and is quick to shout for violence. He has never been favored by my father. Even when he was wronged and his head was broken by my father, he never said a word in his defense. But I still want to speak up for the old man."

What is justice?

With tears in her eyes, Madam You angrily rebuked her, saying:

"Now that the Second Master is in prison, the First Master could release him with just a word, but he just won't say it. He insists that the Marquis and I have to lower ourselves and go to Qinghui Courtyard to beg him, but the First Master still won't budge."

"We are all brothers by blood, how could you be so heartless, sir? No wonder the Marquis accidentally hit your head in his anger. If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't be able to swallow this insult either."

Yunji exposed her hypocrisy.

"According to Mother, rescuing the Second Master from the Dali Temple is just a simple matter. Why doesn't Mother ask the Minister of Dali Temple for help, instead of relentlessly pressuring the First Master?"

Yu's face turned cold after being rebuked by these words.

"Because you can't ask for it, because even if you do, others won't respond."

Yunji revealed the truth that she dared not say aloud.

"Now the Emperor has ordered a thorough investigation into the cheating case in the imperial examinations, and Father and Mother are forcing the eldest son to defy the order and deliberately destroy evidence, all in order to get the second son out of prison."

"Father and Mother only care about Second Master's future, but never really consider Eldest Master's future. If the censor impeaches him, will Eldest Master be dismissed from his post or exiled? You don't care about any of these things."

She looked intently at the elders present and asked, "Second Master's future is a future, so why isn't First Master's future a future?"