There was both anger and concern in his eyes. "Why did you sell all the fields on the outskirts of the capital? Are you in urgent need of money?"
Song Wanchu's heart skipped a beat. She wondered where Liang Yuzhou had heard the news.
She was also quite surprised. Liang Yuzhou didn't even care about her dignity or life, yet he was concerned about such a trivial matter as her selling the fields.
Song Wanchu tilted up her lips. Her smile was charming, but her tone was cold. "In what capacity are you questioning me, Second Master?"
She threw back at him the question he had once asked her.
"I'm your husband!"
Liang Yuzhou's face clouded over, and his words were tinged with annoyance.
A tinge of desolation spread across Song Wanchu's eyes. "Soon you'll be someone else's."
Thousands of words welled up in his throat like a flood, almost bursting his mouth.
He closed his eyes and quietly digested all those emotions. When he opened them again, he had returned to his calm and indifferent look.
"What on earth happened? Why do you need so much money?" He frowned slightly. A bad guess popped into his mind. "Did Mother force you to give her money?"
Liang Yuzhou knew only too well how extravagant and wasteful the Princess Jiahe was.
After Song Wanchu stopped subsidizing her with her dowry, her life had taken a nosedive. Without the support of a wealthy family, the only way she could get money was to force Song Wanchu.
There was a rare look of concern in his eyes. Song Wanchu wondered how much of it was genuine and how much was fake.
He didn't even think for a moment that she might be planning to leave.
Song Wanchu felt both heart - broken and relieved.
Blame her for loving too humbly, which made him certain that she would never leave.
That was why he had been so reckless in squandering her love, leaving her in the lurch again and again and pushing her into the abyss.
Now he was trying to play the role of a "husband" over such a trivial matter.
Song Wanchu curved her lips. Her smile was beautiful, but she lied calmly. "My elder brother's escort agency is opening a new branch and needs money. As his younger sister, I naturally have to help."
She told the lie without batting an eyelid, not caring about the faint anger on Liang Yuzhou's face.
Liang Yuzhou's fists tightened involuntarily.
Shi Luohan. It was always about Shi Luohan!
He stood there. The moonlight should have softened his features, but the chill emanating from him made Song Wanchu's hands and feet ice - cold even on this summer night.
Suddenly, she was pulled into a strong embrace. Liang Yuzhou locked her in his arms in a domineering manner.
The man's scent strongly assailed her senses.
As soon as she moved slightly, she was held even tighter. The air in her chest was almost squeezed out.
"Come back with me."
His tone was both forceful and gentle.
Song Wanchu said sarcastically, "Do you want me to go back and watch you marry Yu Huiyan with my own eyes? Then, watch me kneel in front of her and offer her tea, calling her mistress, and live a humble life under her thumb from then on?"
Liang Yuzhou's shoulders visibly stiffened.
"Right, isn't it, Liang Yuzhou? You're really considerate of Yu Huiyan's feelings. You won't let her be wronged at all!"
When the mistress entered the house, if she, a concubine, didn't show up at the wedding and missed the part of kneeling to offer tea, Yu Huiyan's authority as the mistress couldn't be established.
After all, most of the servants in the Duke's Mansion only recognized her as the mistress.
Liang Yuzhou really loved Yu Huiyan to the core.
But why?
Why should she submit?
Song Wanchu didn't want to suffer such humiliation before leaving.
This time, it was Liang Yuzhou's turn to be stunned. His eyebrows knitted together. He wondered where Song Wanchu had heard such words.
"Come back with me. I won't marry her."
When the words came out of his mouth, for a moment, Song Wanchu thought he was really lowering his stance.
But just two hours ago, he had coldly left her at the Fenjin Tower and asked her to take the blame for Yu Huiyan and appease the Princess Lingyang.
If the Crown Prince hadn't arrived in time and scolded the Princess Lingyang, her life would have been ruined by that naughty and evil little girl!
Now he was saying such things. How could Song Wanchu believe him!
Liang Yuzhou's chest was warm, but this warmth didn't reach Song Wanchu at all. Her smile became even colder and more distant.
"Second Master should marry Miss Yu. She gave you her heart's blood and almost lost her life for you. You must marry her and protect her for a lifetime to repay such kindness."
Liang Yuzhou had completely lost trust in her because he thought Song Wanchu was trying to take credit for giving him her heart's blood.
Since he didn't believe her words and turned a blind eye to the scar on her chest, she might as well go along with him and let him believe that lie whole - heartedly.
Anyway, she was about to leave. She no longer cared about her image in Liang Yuzhou's heart.
Liang Yuzhou's fingers moved. He lifted her nightgown and smoothly felt the scar on her chest.
He had practiced martial arts all year round and had once followed his father to suppress bandits. He knew about scars. He knew how deep the wound must have been to leave such an indelible scar.
His intuition told him that he should believe Song Wanchu.
But she had deceived him deeply.
"Song Wanchu, which of your words is the truth?"
His fingertips were warm as they constantly rubbed against the scar. Song Wanchu's already sensitive skin trembled slightly.
The warmth spread from her chest, but her heart was colder than ever.
He didn't believe her, yet he still entangled her.
"Liang Yuzhou, you should go. I'm just an insignificant concubine, a plaything you can discard at will. Whether I'm here or not doesn't matter to you or the Duke's Mansion."
Anger flashed across Liang Yuzhou's face. His eyes became even colder.
The warmth suddenly left her chest. A shadow flashed before her eyes, and she heard the window creak softly. Liang Yuzhou had left.
Quietly, he disappeared from her sight.
The midsummer night was extremely stuffy. Song Wanchu felt a little cold, and the tears on her cheeks had already cooled.
...
It was already midnight when Liang Yuzhou returned to the Duke's Mansion.
Passing by the Fragrant Snow Pavilion, he noticed that the candles in the room were still burning.
He could faintly hear the cries of the Princess Jiahe.
Liang Yuzhou was already in a bad mood, and now his heart was even more overcast.
He asked the old woman keeping watch at the gate, "What's wrong with Mother again?"
The old woman was an honest person and told the truth. "Reporting to Second Master, earlier today, the old master came for dinner, which was a rare occasion. The mistress complained that the betrothal gifts for Miss Yu were too few, not as much as those for the former mistress back then. She wanted to discuss with the old master about asking the old matriarch for some property, but the old master got angry and left without even taking a bite of dinner."
The noise outside was heard by the Princess Jiahe. She rushed out. The powder on her face was streaked with tears, and she exuded a powerful aura of resentment.
The Princess Jiahe always looked like this whenever she was cold - shouldered by the old duke. She was both pitiful and pathetic.
Liang Yuzhou was already used to it.
The Princess Jiahe seemed to have seen a savior. She grabbed Liang Yuzhou and began to pour out her grievances.
"Zhou'er, you have to think of a way. The betrothal gifts for Huiyan must not be less than those for that bitch Song Wanchu!
Your father is being so perfunctory. It was he who decided that Huiyan should marry into our family, but his attitude towards the Yu family is so half - hearted. And your grandmother doesn't even ask about it!
Whether she can marry into the Duke's Mansion in a grand and decent way depends entirely on you!"