Young widow in her boudoir

"What?"

The old lady instantly looked embarrassed and became somewhat uneasy.

It was just a man's outer robe found in Cuiwu Courtyard, yet Xie Rutang started acting like she was going to die. It made it seem as if she, as the mother-in-law, was forcing her daughter-in-law to borrow a seed, making her appear vicious.

The old lady felt she had been humiliated; she was only trying to do what was best for Madam Xie!

She subconsciously looked at the cold and aloof man opposite her, the most powerful and influential man in the Pei family of the Tong family.

The old lady's eyes were unfocused. If Yuan Cheng hadn't died in battle, he would probably have brought glory to the family and risen to prominence just like Yuan Zhi.

The old lady feared that Xie Rutang's suicide attempt would displease Pei Zhiheng, thus spoiling his mood and potentially causing him to abandon the lineage.

Pei Zhiheng simply lowered his eyes, still savoring Junshan Yinzhen tea. The thin mist from the tea veiled his eyes, making his expression unpredictable and impossible to discern what he was thinking.

The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully Pei Zhiheng did not go back on his word.

After glancing at the time, Pei Zhiheng remained expressionless: "I still have duties to attend to and need to return to the Dali Temple."

The old lady nodded: "Granny Rong, see the Second Master out."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of things with the Xie family."

The man hummed in response, the echo was calm, and he left the main room shortly afterward.

After he left, the hall fell silent for a moment. The old lady sat back down and took a deep breath, and it took her a long time to recover from the farce of the day.

Hearing that Madam Xie was still making a scene in the ancestral hall, threatening suicide, the old lady suppressed her surging anger and ordered in a deep voice, "Let's go to the ancestral hall."

Shen Family Ancestral Hall.

Xie Rutang was threatening to hang herself when a group of maids, pale with fright, rushed to stop her, shouting all at once, "Madam, you mustn't do something like this!"

Someone grabbed her waist, saying, "Madam, you can't do this! If something happens to you, how will we servants survive?"

"Even if you don't care about yourself, Madam, think about Master's spirit in heaven. How heartbroken he would be if he saw you like this?"

Xie Rutang wept softly, her breath barely a whisper, feeling utterly ashamed to face anyone again.

She had been studying the precepts and virtues of women since childhood. Now that a widow had done such a thing, she was in no position to clear her name, even if she jumped into the Yellow River. It would be better for her to die cleanly, so that at least she could be remembered as a virtuous woman and do justice to her deceased husband.

She was a devoted lover and couldn't bear the thought of her relationship with Pei Zhiheng being known to everyone.

Chaos erupted in the ancestral hall.

The old lady approached with a dark expression and saw the scene. "What are you doing? Trying to kill yourself in front of our ancestors? Are you trying to make the Shen family a laughingstock and prevent Yuan Cheng from finding peace even in the afterlife?"

Xie Rutang turned around and saw Old Madam Shen, dressed in a gray-blue jacket with a peach and longevity flower pattern. Her temples were already streaked with frost, and she exuded a calm and dignified air.

The old lady said sternly, "As the widowed daughter-in-law of the Shen family, you have Yuan Cheng's memorial tablet above your head. Even if you have suffered countless grievances, you should still uphold the virtues of a wife. How can you act like this here!"

Xie Rutang gasped in fright, her beautiful eyes filled with a misty glint of tears.

As if grasping at a lifeline, she knelt before the old lady, raising her tear-streaked face to plead, "Mother-in-law, I have never had any ill intentions towards Yuan Cheng. It was not I who deliberately seduced the Second Master... Last time, it was the Second Master who helped me and lent me that outer robe to wear."

As for the incident where she was kidnapped by her fellow villagers and almost lost her virginity, even if she bit her tongue to pieces, she would never dare to say it for the rest of her life, otherwise her reputation would be completely ruined and the Shen family would no longer want her.

The woman's appearance of being all alone and helpless evoked pity in the heart.

Xie Rutang was unaware that the old lady and Pei Zhiheng had already spoken in the main room.

The old lady remained silent, and Xie Rutang hurriedly grabbed her sleeve again. Her voice was hoarse from crying so much earlier. "Mother-in-law, please let me continue to stay and watch over Yuanlang... Your daughter-in-law must not leave the Shen family, and even more so, she must not leave Yuanlang..."

She was afraid that the Shen family would kick her out of the mansion, or report her to the authorities and have her drowned.

Xie Rutang cried so hard she almost fainted.

The old lady said, "If you want to continue guarding it for Yuan Cheng, that's not impossible."

A glimmer of light returned to Xie Rutang's tear-streaked face.

"Master Pei is satisfied with you. As long as you give birth to his child and the family can continue to support you as a virtuous widow, you will remain a widow of the Shen family."

Her crimes of selling her dowry to make ends meet and secretly keeping men's clothes in the house were also erased.

Xie Rutang was stunned, and slowly loosened her slender fingers that were gripping her mother-in-law's clothes.

Does Pei Zhiheng really not mind at all that he was married before?

She had thought that someone as prominent as him would never accept her.

He was the unattainable moon in the sky, shining brightly, while she was like dust on the ground.

The old lady narrowed her shrewd eyes and pressed her, "What, you don't want to?"

The words had an effect. Xie Rutang trembled slightly, her eyes blurry with tears, looking pitiful. "I'm willing... I'll listen to my mother."

She was willing to do anything as long as she could stay with Shen Yuan in the Shen family.

Having narrowly escaped death today, Xie Rutang felt as if she had survived a catastrophe. Her love for Shen Yuan was unforgettable and would last until death; as long as she could continue to guard his memorial tablet, she would be content…

The old lady was finally satisfied.

However, this approach was still insufficient to quell the old lady's resentment. She needed to give Xie another warning and make her remember the proper order of things so as to completely extinguish any unwarranted thoughts in Xie's heart.

The old lady twirled her prayer beads, her face etched with a compassionate expression, but her voice was chillingly cold. "Don't think that just because Second Master Pei agreed to lend you his seed and took a liking to you, you can use that to climb the social ladder. Let me tell you, you will be a member of the Shen family until the day you die, and you will be Yuan Cheng's wife!"

"At most, you're just a woman kept by Second Master Pei in the Shen household, not even as good as a concubine or maidservant. They have a title and status. At least a woman kept by a man outside the household is considered an outsider. You're even worse than them. Yuanzhi is going to marry a young lady from the Su family in the future. Besides, the Crown Princess who once warmed his heart is the most noble woman in the world."

"With Mingzhu right in front of you, do you think Yuanzhi would even look at a widow like you, whose body is not pure?"

Xie Rutang bit her red lips deeply, feeling utterly ashamed. She lowered her eyes silently, not daring to raise her head. She felt so humiliated that her body trembled slightly, and her skirt quivered on the ground.

"If Second Master Pei occasionally stays at the Shen residence and sometimes rests in your room, that's a blessing you earned in your past life!"

"From today onwards, you will remain secluded in the Cuiwu Courtyard, waiting for Second Master Pei to come to your room to rest. Serve him well." Seeing her secretly wiping away tears again, the old lady, though a woman herself, felt no pity. Instead, her eyebrows furrowed, and she said coldly, "Why are you crying? Do you feel wronged? Did our Shen family force you?"

It's all because Xie Rutang insisted on staying at the Shen family and wouldn't leave. Her own son had her completely infatuated, and she didn't even want to remarry. It's all because her son is the best man in the world.

In her eyes, being able to stay by Shen Yuan's side for life was Xie Rutang's good fortune. Everyone in the household had seen how Shen Yuan had treated her back then.

"You're all married women, what are you pretending to be, a naive young girl crying and wailing? You've cried away all the good fortune of the Shen family!"

The old lady sneered inwardly. Once on the bed, Xie Rutang, this widow, took off her clothes. She had been a celibate for so long, and she was probably more wanton than anyone else. She was pretending to be elegant and chaste!

Xie Rutang held back her tears, not daring to refute or defend herself. Ever since she entered the Shen family, the old lady had always disliked her; even her breathing was considered wrong.