Chapter 93: What Can Be Done When a Man’s Heart Is as Hard as Iron?

Under the Dowager Matriarch’s forceful intervention, the Second Branch had no choice but to submit to the family punishment. Yun Qi would be castrated, yet the Second Branch would at least keep its standing and not be cast out of the clan register. Hua Wuying remained the second mistress of the Lixin Marquis’s household, and Yun Qi still bore the title of Second Master.

Only Zhuo Yan suffered some collateral harm. She was moved from the Zhiyan Pavilion to Golden Dew Hall, and the whole estate learned that her supposed pregnancy with Yun Ci’s child had been a sham after all; in truth, she had conceived through adultery with the Second Master, Yun Qi.

One affair laid bare in the open had shifted everyone’s gaze throughout the Yun household. People spoke endlessly of Zhuo Yan now—some with contempt, some with jealousy, some with cold amusement, and some even praising the Dowager Matriarch and Chu Xiu for their mercy in not punishing her.

Two days after the interrogation in the Hall of Punishment, Chu Xiu set the date for Yun Qi’s sentence: the thirtieth day of the fifth month, eight days hence.

The very day the news arrived, Yun Qi fainted dead away in the prison cell of the Hall of Punishment, and after that he remained in a state of apparent madness. Whether the madness was genuine or feigned, no one could tell. Hua Wuying wept bitterly as well, crying out from within the cell to be allowed to see the Dowager Matriarch and beg for mercy.

As for Yun Xiangrong, she made a bold request of her own: she wanted to see Shen Yu.

The Hall of Punishment, where major offenders were held, had three layers of black iron prison gates. To prevent the Second Branch from contriving any further schemes, the Dowager Matriarch ordered the three of them to be imprisoned separately.

The third and deepest gate held Yun Qi; the second held Hua Wuying; only beyond the first black iron gate was Yun Xiangrong.

When Shen Yu received Yun Xiangrong’s message, he deliberately asked Chu Xiu’s opinion before coming to see her. The first gate of black iron was cold and dark, weighing hundreds of pounds; it took three Hall of Punishment attendants working together to open it.

After the heavy gate was pushed open, the attendants tactfully withdrew. After all, Yun Xiangrong had no strength to bind a chicken, and no one believed she could subdue Young Marquis Shen by force.

The moment Shen Yu stepped into the cell, he saw at once that Yun Xiangrong looked haggard, her hair disheveled, her eyes swollen and red as if she had been crying for who knew how long. Perhaps because he was naturally sympathetic to helpless women, he had to admit that in this moment he felt some unwilling softness of heart. He also knew that the Second Branch’s scheme had nothing to do with Yun Xiangrong. Having such a mother and brother was her misfortune.

Yet whenever he remembered why Yun Ci had died, and how much humiliation and tears Chu Xiu had suffered because of it, Shen Yu could not help but resent Yun Xiangrong as well.

When Yun Xiangrong saw him staring at her as though thinking of something, she hurriedly smoothed her乱 hair and dropped to her knees. “Young Marquis...”

Her voice was soft and fragile, so pitiful it seemed to melt at once.

With both tender hands, she clutched the hem of Shen Yu’s brocade robe and whispered through tears, “That day you asked me to expose the affair between Zhuo Yan and my second brother. You said you owed me a favor, that I could ask for one condition... Now I beg you—please plead for mercy for my mother and my brother.”

“Miss Yun,” Shen Yu said, unable to describe what he felt when faced with her. In the end, his heart softened, and he bent to help her up from the floor. “When I said I owed you a favor, I only knew that the Second Master had a private affair with Zhuo Yan. I’m sure even you could not have guessed that it would later drag in the death of your eldest brother, and even your father’s death...”

He sighed and shook his head. “Your request concerns the Yun family’s private affairs. I have no right to interfere. Besides, even if I did have a say, I still would not agree. I hate them too much already—how could I possibly plead for them?”

At his words, Yun Xiangrong’s tears fell again like broken strings of pearls. “Young Marquis, you must hate me to death now too. With a mother and brother like mine, I have no face left to stand before you...”

Shen Yu had never been good at watching women cry. Since this matter really did not concern Yun Xiangrong, he could not help but comfort her. “The Dowager Matriarch and Chu Xiu are both clear-minded in public and private matters; they know this has nothing to do with you. Didn’t they spare you this time as well? Once your brother has finished his punishment, you’ll be released.”

“What use is being released?” Yun Xiangrong still sobbed without pause. “My brother is ruined, my mother too... How am I supposed to go on living in this house? I’d be better off dead.”

“What nonsense!” Shen Yu said, softening his tone. “You’re only sixteen and not yet married. How can you keep saying things like death and dying?”

He comforted her gently. “I promise you, once this matter dies down—by the end of this year at the latest, or next year at the latest—I’ll speak to the Dowager Matriarch myself and ask her to find you a good match. I’ll never let you suffer because of your mother and brother.”

“A good match... would anyone still want me?” Yun Xiangrong wept harder, her voice nearly breaking apart. “With a mother and brother like mine, how could I ever hold my head up in my husband’s household?”

“You’re thinking too much.” Shen Yu’s magnetic voice echoed clearly in the black iron cell, oddly pleasing to the ear. “Chu Xiu already said this won’t be spread outside, so your reputation won’t be damaged. Your brother is still the Yun family’s Second Master. As long as you say nothing, who would know that he is a...”

He nearly said the word eunuch, but paused and changed course. “Right now the Dowager Matriarch and Chu Xiu are both furious, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to ask them to let you out. I can only tell the Hall of Punishment to look after you a little better. I was busy moving the garden anyway, and this matter has delayed me as well. If you need anything inconvenient, send me a message.”

“Moving the garden...” Yun Xiangrong repeated it under her breath, and suddenly a flicker of longing lit her eyes. She let go of his sleeve and seized it again. “Moving the garden? Young Marquis, take me with you. Can I leave the Yun household? I really can’t stay here any longer...”

Take her with him?

Once, in this very Hall of Punishment, a woman had said those same words to Shen Yu. And yet heaven had played tricks on him then; though he had desperately wanted to take her away, he had failed because of a poison in his body. In a daze, Shen Yu seemed to see Chu Xiu pleading before him. His heart filled with a sudden tenderness and ache, and he slowly extended a warm hand, wanting to touch the face lodged in the depths of his own heart...

Yun Xiangrong looked up with shimmering eyes, waiting so eagerly that she did not evade him at all; instead, she seemed shy and pleased.

But just as his hand was about to touch her, Shen Yu suddenly stopped. Clarity returned to his eyes.

“Miss Yun is joking,” he said. “I know you’re distressed right now, but you can’t speak carelessly and ruin your own reputation.”

He tried to dissuade her with reason. “You’ll regret it later.”

“No, I won’t!” Yun Xiangrong hurried to defend herself. “I’m willing to leave with you. As long as it’s not in the Yun household, anywhere will do. You’re so good, so loyal and honorable. If I were to follow you, I’d do so gladly!”

This time Shen Yu was truly taken aback. He had not expected that a young lady raised in a deep inner chamber would say such a thing so openly... Was it sincerity? Or had she come to see him as her salvation?

He fell silent, searching for the best way to refuse her without hurting her feelings and while making his meaning clear.

But to Yun Xiangrong, his expression looked like hesitation. Like wavering.

She could no longer suppress the trembling in her heart, and her tears fell all the more pitifully. “Young Marquis... if I’m to be forced into marriage in haste because of this, how could I possibly be willing? Didn’t you just say you owed me a favor? Since you cannot plead for my mother and brother, then please—take me away!”

To leave with Shen Yu—that was Yun Xiangrong’s true intention. Her first request had merely been a pretext to win sympathy. Shen Yu himself had said he owed her a favor; if he could not plead for her mother and brother, then he should not refuse this request again.

“Do you know what those words mean?” Shen Yu finally frowned, his elegant brows drawing together. His dark eyes fixed straight on Yun Xiangrong’s swollen, tearful gaze. “Miss Yun, those are not words a proper young lady should say.”

He deliberately took her meaning in another direction, as if to decline more tactfully. “You should actually ask Third Master. He is, after all, your brother as well. If you suffer hardship later and find it hard to speak, with his character he would never stand by and do nothing.”

“Would Third Brother still look at me kindly now?” Yun Xiangrong lowered her eyes and wiped away tears. “Third Aunt is unconcerned with worldly matters and serene by nature. Third Brother is proud, upright, and open-hearted, and younger sister Muge is lively and gentle... The Third Branch was already more likable than ours. Now... with Third Brother’s temperament, I’m afraid he’ll avoid me for the rest of his life.”

“Third Master is not that kind of man.” Shen Yu said firmly, “If you have difficulties and find it inconvenient to speak, I can tell him for you... but you can’t use me as a life-saving straw. I’m a man given to wantonness. You’re only acting on impulse now, and you’ll surely regret it later.”

At this, Yun Xiangrong shook her head again and again. “No, Young Marquis, I’m not using you as a life-saving straw, and I’m not speaking carelessly... I... toward you...” She bit her lower lip, as if making a great decision. “In truth, if it had not been you who came to the Nishang Pavilion that day, I might not have gone to the Hall of Punishment and exposed my second brother’s affair with Zhuo Yan.”

As she said this, a fierce light suddenly rose in Yun Xiangrong’s eyes, and she dared to wait for Shen Yu’s response. She had spoken so plainly. She did not believe he still could not understand.

Indeed, Shen Yu was greatly startled. He had vaguely sensed that Yun Xiangrong depended on him very much, sometimes blushing shyly even when speaking. He had thought it no more than the natural regard between man and woman... never imagining that she had already quietly set her heart on him to this extent.

If he had not gone to her, she might never have exposed her own brother. If one turned that thought around... did it mean that Yun Xiangrong would betray her brother for a man with whom she had no real connection?

Shen Yu’s thoughts sank a little, and even the pity he had just felt for Yun Xiangrong diminished by more than half. Whether for Han Chu or for any other reason, he no longer wished to become entangled with the Yun family’s girls, lest he create needless obstacles for himself and Han Chu in the future.

Thinking of this, Shen Yu decisively hardened his heart and refused her. “If I have ever said or done anything improper in the past that caused Miss Yun to misunderstand, I apologize to you now. I am a friend of Wanzhi; to me, his younger sister is only... a younger sister.”

Shen Yu’s blunt refusal immediately drained the light from Yun Xiangrong’s eyes. She slowly loosened her grip on his sleeve and lowered her clasped hands behind her back. “Young Marquis, are you doing this for Sister-in-law Chu Xiu?”

“What did you say?” Shen Yu frowned at her, his heart giving a sudden jolt.

“You live in Yanlan City for so long... was it really for my brother’s dying wish? Or was it for Sister-in-law Chu Xiu? I heard that before, Sister-in-law had been a servant in your private residence. When my brother was recuperating in Jingzhou, you gave Sister-in-law to him. Is that true?” Though the tear tracks on Yun Xiangrong’s face had dried, she asked softly and darkly.

Shen Yu pressed his thin lips together and replied in a low voice, “She really was once a servant in my household, but you must not destroy her reputation.” Before Han Chu had nodded and left the Yun household, he did not want to tarnish her name, nor did he want to stain Yun Ci’s honor.

Yun Xiangrong seemed to believe him, yet not fully. In the end she said no more.

Shen Yu was still wary, and could only force a smile. “You’re far away in Fangzhou, so you probably do not know what my reputation in Jingzhou used to be like... Miss Yun, I do not want to ruin your life.”

“I know. You’re a man who dallies among flowers. But which young nobleman these days is truly devoted to one woman? Even my second brother...” Yun Xiangrong had clearly anticipated this. “Men as good as my eldest brother and third brother are already rare in this world. Though you’re frivolous, you value affection and loyalty, and you remember the women you once loved. That is enough.”

So Yun Xiangrong had already investigated his affairs so thoroughly!

For some reason, this made Shen Yu feel a little cold at the back of his neck. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Yun Ci’s half-sister was no simple person, and that she well understood the value of gentleness overcoming hardness.

After the lesson taught by Chacha, Shen Yu had long since kept his distance from women of this sort. He immediately refused again. “The favor I owe you, so long as it does not violate justice and human feeling, I will repay it one day even if it means storms and flames. But Miss Yun has mistaken the man. I am by no means a suitable match. Farewell.”

With that, he turned away without hesitation and strode out of the black iron prison cell.