NCCnovel Chapter 164 The Sinister Son's Sister-in-Law 39
Chapter 164 The Sinister Son's Sister-in-Law 39
Xie Wei took a step back. Even though she had never seen him before, she could guess who the person in front of her was from his clothes.
Before she arrived, Minister Xie had already instructed her to be polite to any illegitimate sons of the Marquis's household.
This man is now a favorite of the emperor, who trusts him greatly and considers him his right-hand man.
The incident at the Marquis's residence, which led to a major reshuffle of the Prime Minister's faction, was all his doing. Now, everyone in the court trembles at the mere mention of his name.
It was precisely because he feared that Xie Qingyu staying in the Marquis's residence would offend this man and cause him to set his sights on the Xie family that Minister Xie agreed to let her come to persuade Xie Qingyu of her idea.
This was the first time Xie Wei had met him, and just from the oppressive feeling of those two sentences, she felt fear towards him.
In particular, the sarcasm in his words showed that he did not treat her as an elder at all.
Madam Xie forced a smile. "This is the second young master. He came here in a hurry because he heard that Qingyu was released from prison. I'm so sorry to bother you."
"It's not that I'm bothering you, but from what you've said, it seems like you've come to care about your sister-in-law. But why did I seem to hear something else when I came in?" Qin Shenzhi asked, puzzled.
Upon hearing this, Xie Weishi had no choice but to explain, "You see, our son-in-law is already... It's not good for Qingyu to continue living in the Marquis's mansion, so we arranged a better place for her, and she won't be occupying this space anymore."
"I never knew that after becoming someone else's wife, her own family would still be asking her where she lived." Qin Shenzhi dropped his last pretense and looked down at Xie Weishi with some impatience.
"Besides, the better place you mentioned, could it be the nunnery you spoke of?" Anyone could hear the sarcasm in Qin Shenzhi's tone.
Xie Wei's heart tightened; she didn't know what was going on.
However, she knew that she couldn't say anything else at this point.
"This is also for the sake of the Marquis's mansion..." Xie Wei hesitated for a moment before saying the words that were meant to bring misfortune to her husband, but her eyes revealed this meaning.
“We don’t need the Ministry of Rites to worry about our Marquis’s affairs. She is the young mistress of the Marquis’s family, so naturally she should live here, not in a nunnery.” Qin Shenzhi looked directly at Xie Weishi with a sense of pressure. “If the Ministry of Rites has a habit of sending their daughters to nunneries, and the Ministry of Rites has so many girls, I wouldn’t mind helping them out.”
Xie Wei's trip ended in failure.
They left in a hurry, wishing they had never come at all.
Only after she and her entourage had gone far away did Xie Qingyu sit down at the table.
Hongdou, ever observant, brought over a different pot of tea. Seeing Qin Shenzhi's still displeased expression, Xie Qingyu personally poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of him.
Qin Shenzhi looked up at her, his hand on the table, his voice a little hoarse.
"If I don't come back, are you prepared to follow her arrangements and move into a nunnery?"
Xie Qingyu's eyelids twitched, and she lowered her head without answering immediately.
"Speak." Qin Shenzhi didn't give her a chance to play dumb.
"Then what do you expect me to do?" Xie Qingyu's voice was low and dejected, her tone filled with helplessness. "My husband is about to die, and my fate is still up to my family. She said that going to a nunnery is for my own good and for the good reputation of the Xie family."
"A good reputation?" Qin Shenzhi chuckled lightly. "What good is a good reputation?"
Xie Qingyu remained silent.
"And does saying it's for your own good really mean it's for your own good? If it's for your own good, they should take you back and raise you in their mansion, giving you whatever you want and letting you do whatever you want, instead of using the excuse of 'it's for your own good' to send you to some nunnery. Do you want to spend the rest of your life living a life of hardship there?"
Qin Shenzhi was genuinely angry at this point.
Having been up all night dealing with matters had already made him emotionally unstable, but hearing Xie Wei's words as soon as he arrived caused Qin Shenzhi's anger to erupt instantly.
However, the fire was not directed at Xie Qingyu.
It was directed at himself.
At this moment, Qin Shenzhi realized that there seemed to be no legitimate reason to keep Xie Qingyu.
And he.
I want her to stay.
Qin Shenzhi only realized this at this moment, and that's when his anger towards himself flared up.
If you wanted to keep him, why didn't you make arrangements earlier instead of having Xie Wei come to your door and say such absurd things, almost actually abducting him?
"Otherwise what?" Xie Qingyu looked up, her almond-shaped eyes wide open, trying hard not to show any panic. "Otherwise, am I supposed to just stay here in the backyard of this Marquis's mansion like this?"
"If you stay here like this, who can kick you out?" Qin Shenzhi retorted.
“You,” Xie Qingyu said.
Qin Shenzhi's anger was soaring to its peak that it overflowed his chest, but he was amused by her words. "Say it again, who would kick you out?"
Xie Qingyu's eyes were still on him, her tone slightly defiant, "You just asked who could kick you out."
'Who can kick you out' versus 'Who will kick you out'.
Qin Shenzhi pondered for a moment, and it seemed as if his heart had been gently soothed by a single glance.
"So you knew I wouldn't kick you out," Qin Shenzhi said with a smile.
“But she’s right,” Xie Qingyu said. “I have no legitimate right to live here. Although I’m practically a mistress, I can’t make decisions. It’s alright now because there are few people in the mansion, but what if it happens in the future…”
"What if in the future?" Qin Shenzhi was listening to her speak when she stopped and asked directly.
Xie Qingyu's gaze slowly moved down, finally landing on the intricate gold patterns on his chest. She slowly said, "If you get married in the future and this backyard has a mistress, my situation will be somewhat awkward. Being confined to my own courtyard is probably no different from going to a nunnery to cultivate."
Xie Qingyu did not look Qin Shenzhi in the eye when she spoke.
Qin Shenzhi seemed to be able to sense the sadness in her lowered eyes.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and his hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists, plunging the room into silence.
Xie Qingyu did not look up, her gaze fixed on his clenched hands, and remained silent.
Pushing someone a little at the right time can help them realize what they want more quickly.
Someone acted boldly, but realized their mistake quite late.
Give it a little stimulation when the time is right.
A balance of relaxation and moderation.
Otherwise, who knows how long it will take for him to figure it out on his own.
Xie Qingyu remained silent, and Qin Shenzhi did not urge her either, as if they were lost in their own thoughts.
After a long while, Qin Shenzhi finally spoke, his voice hoarse as if a boulder had rolled over, "I have a way to let my sister-in-law stay here indefinitely without worrying about other issues. I wonder if my sister-in-law would be willing?"