Lovable Beauty

With the word “divorce,” Xie Yao felt as if someone was choking her—suddenly, she couldn’t speak and stared at Fang Ze in disbelief.  

This was her husband! Eight years ago, at the lantern festival, she fell in love with him when he held up a lantern and smiled at her, gentle as jade. While her mother sneered at the Fang family’s lowly official position, she didn’t care and set her heart on marrying him. After they married, they were practically inseparable: she followed him all the way to Shanxi; when he was promoted, she was elated; when his alluring younger cousin came to him for a place to stay, she felt bitter and wronged—but she never thought of leaving him. Today, Du Yinger caused her to have a miscarriage; the doctor said she might not be able to have children in the future—but her husband didn’t punish Du Yinger—he still wanted to take her as his concubine!  

How could Xie Yao agree to this? Her husband could take anyone as his concubine—anyone but Du Yinger!  

In the heat of the moment, she threatened him with their seven years of marriage to let him know her resolve, but he consented to the divorce—so effortlessly!  

“Say that again!”  

Xie Yao dug her fingers into the bedding; her body hurt badly, but she didn’t care—she just wanted to hear him take back his words.  

She refused to believe her husband didn’t want her anymore!  

Fang Ze looked at his wife whose face was pale and hair disheveled, with nothing but impatience in his eyes.  

He married Xie Yao in hopes of borrowing the influence of the Xie family—he was also moved by Xie Yao’s beauty. Before they married, Xie Yao was lovely and sweet, but all that changed after they married. She seemed to turn into a different person—she wanted to control everything. Once it was time for the imperial court to appoint and transfer officials, she urged him to send more gifts—even peskier than his mother—it was as if he was wronging her if he didn’t get promoted. When he was promoted to the post of magistrate by his own ability, Xie Yao remained insensitive: she would make a fuss whenever he went out to socialize and play around; she couldn’t bear a son, yet forbid him from taking concubines.  

Fang Ze grew tired of her, and now that he curried favor with the Shen family, there was no need to concern himself with the Xie family. Previously, he planned to sabotage Xie Yao during childbirth, pretending it to be a case of dystocia as an explanation for the Xie family, but now that Xie Yao lost the child of her recklessness—no more worrying about his reputation—he came up with the idea of using reverse psychology on her.  

“I conceded to your proposal for a divorce. What else did you want?” Fang Ze walked over to the window—through the window frame he saw two girls in the courtyard about to turn and leave. He chuckled to himself and called to them, “Lanqiao, Lanyin, you can come in. Just now your aunt wants to get a divorce. Since you girls heard it, come and bear witness, and testify when you return to Hangzhou. That way my father-in-law and mother-in-law won’t mistakenly believe I’m a bully.”  

This was the very reason why he didn’t send anyone to pass on the news to the Jiang family yesterday.  

In the courtyard, Xie Lanyin’s heart dropped.  

She didn’t know why Xie Yao was arguing with her husband—she could care less honestly—but she knew Xie Yao all too well. Xie Yao was proud, refusing any chances of letting her family be a witness to her follies. Just now, they heard with their own ears that she offered a divorce; no matter how much Xie Yao might regret it, she would see it through to the end.  

Xie Lanyin didn’t want Xie Yao to divorce at all. If she were to divorce, Xie Yao would move back to Hangzhou and live under the same roof as her family. She prayed every day until she saw Xie Yao finally married—she hoped Xie Yao would never return.  

But now it was all wrecked by Fang Ze…  

Xie Lanyin turned to her sister.  

Xie Lanqiao came to the same conclusion as her little sister. Mulling it over, she turned and walked into the room with her little sister in tow.  

If they simply left, Xie Yao would most likely demand a divorce out of spite. If they coaxed her enough, maybe Xie Yao would change her mind.  

“Uncle, Aunt, what’s the matter?” After a formal salutation, Xie Lanqiao rushed to Xie Yao’s side and implored worriedly, “Is my aunt sick? Why is her complexion so poor? We didn’t receive any news—if we had known, my mother would have come to visit herself.”  

Saying this, she frowned and interrogated Nanny Liu, “My aunt was sick in bed so forgot to tell us, but why didn’t you deliver a message?”  

Nanny Liu wasn’t fond of the two sisters, but she knew what was more important; she fell to her knees and sobbed, “Young Ladies, it’s not that this old slave doesn’t want to—it came so suddenly…the Madam’ child was gone, but the Master didn’t offer her any soft words of comfort—instead, he proposed to take a concubine! How can the Madam not be agitated? She was flustered and her words were spoken in a fit of rage. I implore you to change the Master and Madam’s minds. A night of being husband and wife is a bond for life! The Eldest Young Lady is only seven years old—oh how miserable she will be if she were to lose her mother!”  

And this was what happened.  

To prevent Xie Yao from returning to Hangzhou and being a pain to her family, Xie Lanyin—despite her misgivings—took two steps toward Fang Ze and consoled sweetly, “Uncle, please calm down. Lanyin doesn’t know much about adult matters; I only know my aunt’s words aren’t her true feelings. My aunt just lost her child; she is in grief, so Uncle shouldn’t take her angry words seriously. Whatever the problem is, it can wait for my aunt to heal and recover; you two can sit down and talk it out later.”  

Though the little girl was only thirteen—she was quite tall for her age—she already looked like a big girl: her eyebrows were a pair of crescent moons and her eyes were like peach blossoms; she stood there prettily as if a flower suddenly bloomed in the room. This fairy-like appearance alone made people intoxicated, and seeing her rosy lips utter such cloying words, Fang Ze nearly melted.  

As the only man in the room, the ladies were all staring at him and didn’t miss his gaffe. Xie Lanyin was fuming, looking as if she had swallowed a fly; Xie Yao’s face couldn’t even be described by the word ‘livid’; Xie Lanqiao’s face turned into a glower; Du Yinger was the most worried and anxious.  

Once her cousin changed his mind, this clever scheme would have all been for nothing.  

“Cousin, Niece Lanyin is right. Cousin-in-law’s words were spoken out of anger. Why did you take it seriously?” Du Yinger strode in front of Xie Lanyin in a few short steps, blocking Fang Ze’s line of sight before scolding herself, “I know Cousin has good intentions, but Cousin-in-law’s health is the most important thing—let’s wait for Cousin-in-law to get better before we work out our situation.”  

Her mouth uttered words of compassion but her beautiful eyes looked at Fang Ze with displeasure and resentment—and a warning left unsaid.  

No matter how beautiful Xie Lanyin was, she was Fang Ze’s niece. Even if he had dirty intentions, nothing would come of it—so why continue to entangle with an infertile Xie Yao for the sake of catching the moon in the water? Besides, Du Yinger was confident. In terms of beauty, she was not any inferior to Xie Lanyin. A smart person knew who to choose.  

Fang Ze was not stupid by any means. As soon as he was reminded, his senses returned quickly, and he lamented with a heavy heart, “I didn’t want things to come to this point, but your aunt’s reckless actions have harmed the flesh and blood of the Fang family. Instead of reflecting on herself, she slanders the aunt of her child—she is arrogant and domineering. She doesn’t act like a matriarch should. Since she offered a divorce, then that settles it. There’s no use changing my mind. I will draw up the divorce papers right now.”  

“Master, you can’t be so cruel!” Nanny Liu chased after him in a panic, clinging to Fang Ze’s legs.  She turned to the two sisters and begged, “Young Ladies, please change Master’s mind, I beg of you!”  

Xie Lanyin still remembered Fang Ze’s disgusting gaze—she didn’t want to deal with him anymore.  

Xie Lanqiao blocked her little sister from view—the person who normally was most shrewd showed a little helplessness and lowered her eyes, stuttering, “This…this matter isn’t something we juniors should interfere with. We will report to our mother when we get home; our mother will come and intervene on my aunt’s behalf.”  

Fang Ze was blatantly a lecherous person—despite his impropriety towards her little sister, he still managed to compose himself.  He was hell-bent on divorce—there was nothing they could do to change his mind.  

These two girls were tactful—Fang Ze sneered, kicked Nanny Liu away, called on Du Yinger, and left with her.  

Madam Jiang didn’t like Xie Yao. He anticipated she won’t persuade her sincerely, and maybe she will gloat at her misfortunes—he had nothing to worry about.  

The heartless husband left; the nieces’ attempts at persuasion failed and in Xie Yao’s eyes, they became useless.  She was furious that she lost face in front of them and couldn’t control her temper as she ranted, “Who let you open your mouths?  It is I who doesn’t want to face his hypocrisy! It is I who doesn’t want him anymore! Who asked you to plead on my behalf? You are all so presumptuous! Is this what that Madam Jiang teaches you? Only you guys will prize such an ingrate!”  

“Well, it seems Aunt is the smartest person here,” Xie Lanqiao sneered at her with derision in her eyes, “Since Aunt is so smart—please enlighten me—how long has the lady cousin lived in the Fang family? Since she wants to be a concubine, why did she drag it out until now? I think she is the smart one here. She figured out Aunt’s temperament: as soon as Aunt had a miscarriage, she egged on Uncle to mention the matter of taking a concubine, inciting you to foolishly propose a divorce. But that’s fine because it’s exactly as Aunt wished—you don’t have to face Uncle after the divorce and the lady cousin doesn’t have to become a concubine anymore—she’ll become the respectable magistrate’s wife and maybe even vent her hatred of Aunt on little sister A’ling in her spare time. Indeed, you’re all so smart—you don’t need us sisters to meddle. Lanyin, let’s go.”  

Xie Lanyin nodded and with a smirk, she reminded Xie Yao before she left, “Auntie, since you married far away, Grandmother often says she misses you. Now that you’ve divorced and can go back, Grandmother will be overjoyed— and the ladies you are such good friends with, they can once again invite you to visit their homes to catch up on the old days.”  

Is Fang Ze the only one who knew how to use reverse psychology? They could as well—she didn’t believe Xie Yao, who was so full of herself, would grant Du Yinger’s wish with good grace and allow herself to be ridiculed by her old friends.  

“What happened?” Jiang Huaizhou had been waiting out front, so when he saw the poor faces of his two cousin-sisters, he was perplexed.  

“We can talk about it after we leave—it’s sickening.” Xie Lanyin drew a long face—the man’s lecherous gaze felt like spider webs clinging to her body, the feeling lingering still—all she wanted to do right now was to go home and dunk herself in a bath. As an elder, it was deplorable that Fang Ze lusted after his niece—if Xie Yao wasn’t so difficult, Xie Lanyin wouldn’t object to her divorce.  

But she wasn’t foolish enough to willingly take home a hot potato.  

Yes, it was Xie Yao’s home too, but if Madam Chen hadn’t seduced her grandfather, Xie Yao wouldn’t exist in the first place.  

Thinking how Madam Chen would have acted like Du Yinger in the past, shamelessly flaunting her power in front of her deceased grandmother, Xie Lanyin was repulsed. She wondered how Madam Chen would feel when she learned all the evil she had committed would be paid for by her daughter.  

Back at her uncle’s house, Xie Lanyin went back to her courtyard to take a bath first.  

Xie Lanqiao went to find their mother and told her what happened at the Fang residence.  

Turning it over in her mind, Madam Jiang was furious and flustered—furious that Fang Ze dragged her daughters into this mess and flustered about how she should persuade Xie Yao: if she didn’t persuade her to divorce, she will offend Xi’an’s local magistrate Fang Ze; if she persuaded her to divorce, Xie Yao would go home and she could just imagine what Madam Chen’s face would be like; neither could she refuse to visit with so many eyes on her.  

Why did she have to deal with such maddening relatives!?