The night wind wailed, and the sycamore leaves rustled.
Xiao Jingnan staggered. Only by gripping the edge of the stone table tightly with his knuckles could he manage to stay on his feet.
A tear splashed on the bluestone slab, creating tiny ripples.
Suddenly, he grabbed the wine pot and gulped down the wine. The dark red liquid trickled down his neck, staining his moon - white robe with a glaring red patch.
"Smash!"
The wine pot shattered on the ground, the sound piercingly loud in the silent night.
Li Wanming wanted to reach out to support him but found she couldn't move.
In the moonlight, Xiao Jingnan's lower eyelids were wet. The tear - tracks glistened coldly, like scars that would never heal.
"Aunt suffered a great deal because of that incident and couldn't conceive ever since. She tried every means to recuperate, consuming all kinds of decoctions. It was not until ten years later that she got pregnant with Jingbai."
"Aunt was overjoyed, almost going mad. She cherished this child like a precious gem. Father and Mother doted on him even more than they did on me... I understand that this was their way of making amends and atoning for their sins."
His hands dropped limply. The charcoal fire reflected in Xiao Jingnan's pupils gradually turned to ashes.
Li Wanming's face turned deathly pale. Her lips trembled slightly, but she couldn't utter a word.
So the so - called "the elder branch owes the younger branch a life" was not just a figure of speech but a real debt!
This debt of gratitude was too heavy. The Prince of Ning couldn't repay it, the Princess of Ning couldn't, and neither could Xiao Jingnan...
They were like banyan trees entangled by hops, allowing Mrs. Kang to take whatever she wanted. They could only watch helplessly as their last bit of vitality was drained away, unable to struggle.
"No... this is not repaying a debt of gratitude!"
Li Wanming suddenly stood up, fists clenched. Her embroidered shoes stepped on the broken pieces of the wine pot on the ground, as if treading on thorns.
"She did have kindness towards you all, but as time passed, this kindness has turned into a man - eating beast because of her greed. It clearly wants to devour you all, bone and marrow!"
Her fingertips trembling, she ran back into the house and fetched the warehouse ledger that Zhang Wang's wife had just organized.
"Aunt has not only embezzled the property of the Prince's Mansion over the years but also tried to frame you for death by using the white jade Avalokitesvara statue from Mother's dowry!"
She opened the ledger and told him everything she had discovered in the past six months.
But halfway through, she suddenly felt something was wrong.
Xiao Jingnan's eyes were filled with endless pain, but there was not a trace of surprise or panic.
"You... you already knew?"
Li Wanming took two steps back, her face full of disbelief.
"Wanming..."
He raised his hand as if to touch something but then let it fall dejectedly. His voice was faint, as if coming from the sky.
"When I was young, Aunt was extremely kind to me... She truly treated me as her own son..."
"Because I was born prematurely and was weak, I couldn't drink milk. It was Aunt who mixed honey with rice paste and stuck it on the spoon bit by bit to feed me."
"When I was six, I had a high fever that wouldn't subside. Aunt stayed awake for three days and three nights, constantly wiping my body with a warm, wet towel."
"And once..."
"Enough!" Li Wanming was so angry that she trembled all over. She interrupted him sharply.
Her eyes were blood - shot, and anger welled up on her face. She was like an enraged leopard.
"No matter how kind she was to you before, it can't cover up the fact that she wants to kill you now!"
She grabbed Xiao Jingnan's arm. "You can't be like this. You're abetting evil... Even if she was kind to you before and had no ill - will towards the Prince's Mansion of Ning, people can change!"
Her voice was tinged with sobs. "Before, she had no son, so she naturally planned for the mansion whole - heartedly. But now that she has Xiao Jingbai - this son has given her wild and unjustifiable delusions! And your indulgence has turned these delusions into crazy greed!"
Xiao Jingnan raised his hand to wipe away her tears, but she turned her head to avoid him.
"It's just an Avalokitesvara statue." He softened his voice to console her. "If these evil sorcery really worked, I'm afraid I would have been dead long ago. You know, I never believe in such superstitious nonsense..."
"Nonsense!"
Li Wanming impatiently slapped his hand away. "If you don't believe in such things, then why did you marry me? Isn't it because I have a strong enough fate to help you get through the life - and - death crisis at the age of twenty?"
"It's not entirely for this reason. The most important thing is..." Xiao Jingnan's lips suddenly curved into a smile, and a tender look flashed in his eyes. "... I'm in love with you."
Li Wanming raised her eyelids to look at him. "You love me, but your father and mother don't!"
She said irritably, "They agreed to let me enter the mansion only because I can save your life. Several of your former fiancées died unnatural deaths, which just confirms these superstitious sayings. That's why Mother was so frightened that she even went to the palace to ask the Emperor to bestow the marriage... Hey? Something's wrong!"
She suddenly stopped. "Your first fiancée didn't die!"
Xiao Jingnan looked at her and nodded obediently. "Yes, she's alive and well."
Looking at his slightly smiling face, a bolt of lightning seemed to flash through Li Wanming's mind.
She stammered in disbelief, "She... she didn't die... then could it be that the others also... also... Oh! Were your former fiancées all alive? Or rather... do you actually not have that many fiancées?!"
The more she spoke, the more skeptical she became. By the end, her voice had become trembly and high - pitched, as shrill as a bird's cry.
Xiao Jingnan rubbed his ears and sighed. "It's not all fake... Before I married you, I was indeed engaged three times."
"However, they didn't die suddenly. They're all alive and kicking!"
"Ah? Then why..." Li Wanming's voice rose another octave.
Xiao Jingnan quickly raised his hand to signal her to calm down. "Well, it's a long story."
He pulled her to sit on the rattan chair and began to tell her slowly.
"The first one, as you've seen, is Miss Shen Qilan. At that time, she had to go to Longfu Temple for a retreat to recuperate because of a sudden illness, so she had to break off the engagement with me."
"The second one is the daughter of the Duke of Jing. She fell in love with her cousin and wanted to elope with him. Somehow, she came to me and asked me to help her fake her death to get away... I agreed."
"The third one is the granddaughter of the Marquis of Subei. On the eve of the wedding, her jealous younger sister scratched her face... The Marquis of Subei was so ashamed that he finally chose to break off the engagement. But this incident was a disgrace to the family, so he begged me not to tell anyone, and I agreed."
"So it means..." Li Wanming's eyes widened in disbelief. "You didn't kill any of your fiancées?"
Xiao Jingnan chuckled. "Yes, they're all lively and healthy now."
Although she had guessed this before, hearing him say it with his own mouth still shocked her.
"This... this..." Li Wanming stammered, her voice trembling slightly. "This doesn't make sense!"