Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Su Family is a Den of Wolves

Su Ziwen looked at her in utter disbelief. Yun Jinhua wanted to cut her hair and sever all ties with him?

"You want to divorce your husband? Hahaha..." He laughed in sheer fury.

Was this woman mad?

Since ancient times, there had only been cast-off wives.

A husband agreeing to an amicable divorce was already the greatest mercy a woman could hope for.

Was she relying on her military achievements to defy the very laws of heaven?

"Yun Jinhua, you heartless, ungrateful woman! I, the Heir, waited for you for three years..."

"Waited for you for three years? Yet your daughter is already two and a half years old? Su Ziwen, so you've been defiled for quite some time." Yun Jinhua cut him off, her eyes filled with nothing but disdain.

To play the virtuous saint while acting so basely—how thick could his skin be?

"Yun Jinhua, you shall not slander Xuan'er's honor!" Su Ziwen's voice rose sharply.

"Heh, honor?" Yun Jinhua curled her lips in a mocking sneer.

Even the filth in a sewer ditch was cleaner than them!

"Jinhua, after you left for the border, I fell gravely ill. I was on my deathbed, beyond the reach of medicine. My family wanted to bring in a concubine to ward off the ill fortune. Yet, no one was willing to marry me in such a state. Only Xuan'er, for the sake of my life, gambled her lifelong happiness. She grew exhausted from nursing me and worried constantly about my health, which destabilized her pregnancy and led to our daughter being born prematurely. As a woman yourself, how can you question Xuan'er's honor without cause?" Su Ziwen sighed heavily, masking his deep guilt.

"If the Heir was on his deathbed, how did he manage to drag his dying body into the bridal chamber? Was he afraid he wasn't dying fast enough?" Baizhi asked in mock wonder.

Su Ziwen's handsome face turned a furious shade of purple. The Su family could never tolerate this sharp-tongued, insolent maid.

Just as he was about to berate her, a large group of people emerged in a grand procession from the North Courtyard.

"Xuan'er has truly done us proud by bearing a son for the Su family! Our Marquis of Pingyang's household must never mistreat her!" Ling Meijuan, the Marchioness of Pingyang, laughed merrily.

"Quickly, find Ziwen and have him accompany me to the ancestral hall to offer incense. We must inform the ancestors that the Su family has an heir!" Su Hao, the Marquis of Pingyang, was beaming with joy.

"Yes, yes, we must thank heaven and earth, and our ancestors." The Dowager Madame Zhao pressed her hands together, repeatedly thanking the Bodhisattva.

"Grandmother, that lady looks so scary. I don't want her to be my mother." Xinyue's aggrieved voice drew everyone's attention.

Clad in silver armor with a white tassel, Yun Jinhua stood tall and proud, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

Her face was cold, and her deep, piercing eyes swept over them. Though it was but a casual glance, an invisible, suffocating pressure washed over them.

The atmosphere in the courtyard grew heavy, making it difficult for them to breathe.

A flash of displeasure crossed the Marquis's eyes. No man liked to be suppressed by a woman's aura.

Especially when that woman was his own daughter-in-law.

"Jinhua, you're back? Today is a day of double blessings for our household! Come, accompany Grandmother to pay respects to the ancestors!" Dowager Madame Zhao said with a warm, amiable smile.

"May I ask where these blessings come from?" Yun Jinhua sneered, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

If she hadn't returned today, would a single one of them have remembered her existence?

The Su family had forgotten her entirely!

Dowager Madame Zhao's aged face flushed red.

Though she was annoyed by Yun Jinhua's lack of respect for her elders, the Su family was indeed in the wrong.

Ling Xuan's entry into the family as a noble concubine had not been proper or official.

She had not received the consent of the primary wife.

Yun Jinhua had not even known of her existence.

By right, Ling Xuan could only be considered a mistress kept outside, and the children she bore could not be entered into the family genealogy.

For them to celebrate so ostentatiously was completely against propriety.

Ling Meijuan shot her son a look. It was time for him to assert his husbandly authority.

"Jinhua, I thought that fighting on the battlefield would have given you a broad mind like a man's. I never expected you to be just like any ordinary woman—so narrow-minded and lacking in magnanimity. While you were away, Xuan'er managed the household, showed filial piety to my parents, and bore my children, all without a single word of complaint. I have only given her the status of an equal wife. What more could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"

Su Ziwen furrowed his brows, his gaze filled with reproach.

"You are treacherous and unfaithful. How could I ever be satisfied?" Yun Jinhua's beautiful face was coated in frost.

They had known each other since childhood, bound by an early betrothal and the affection of childhood sweethearts.

As the di daughter of an illustrious noble family, to become a proper wife for the heir, she had learned household management, embroidery, and culinary arts.

On the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, he had publicly declared his devotion, swearing to love only her in this lifetime.

Now, another woman occupied his heart openly, leaving only a tiny corner for her.

The moment he lifted her red bridal veil, he had tenderly promised that she would be his only wife.

Now, the old dream had vanished like smoke, and a new woman had taken her place.

Clearly, he was the one in the wrong, yet he took it for granted that she should silently swallow this grievance?

"What nonsense is this? What man does not have multiple wives and concubines? Especially in a prominent family like ours? Jinhua, you have been gone for three years. The Dowager Madame's only wish is to see the household at peace and to hold her great-grandchildren. Since you could not fulfill her wish, are you going to forbid others from doing so?" Su Hao reprimanded her in a deep voice.

This daughter-in-law of his was truly outrageous. Upon returning home, instead of paying respects to her elders first, she stood there with a cold face, ruining the festive mood just when the whole family was rejoicing.

"The House of Pingyang is going too far! You sneakily brought a woman in, keeping it completely secret before and after. Our young miss left home to defend the nation, and the entire court and commoners alike are deeply grateful for her service. Yet, in the mouths of the Marquis and the Heir, it has somehow become our young miss's sin? What kind of logic is this?"

Unable to bear it any longer, Baizhi stepped forward to protest.

"A mere maidservant dares to meddle in the private affairs of the Marquis of Pingyang's house? I shall teach you some manners!" Su Ziwen flew into a rage and swung his hand to slap her.

*Clap!* Yun Jinhua caught his wrist with absolute precision.

"My people are not yours to discipline," she said, a freezing chill glinting in her clear eyes.

"Ow, ow, Yun Jinhua, let go! Are you trying to murder your own husband?" Su Ziwen cried out, grimacing in pain.

His bones felt as if they were about to be crushed.

This woman was truly heartless and ruthless!

With a flick of her wrist, Yun Jinhua sent Su Ziwen stumbling back several paces before he managed to regain his balance.

"Jinhua! A husband is the master of his wife. How could you lay hands on Ziwen? Although your Yun family comes from a military background, you are still a well-educated lady of a noble house. How can you bring the savagery of the battlefield back into this home?" Putting on her airs as the mother-in-law, Ling Meijuan lectured her daughter-in-law as if it were only natural.

Yun Jinhua watched her coldly. She had never imagined that the grand marriage she had dressed up for back then would lead to such misery.

This entire family was a pack of ungrateful, cold-blooded beasts. She had truly fallen into a den of wolves!

"Does the House of Pingyang not know the rules of marriage in the Yun family?" Yun Jinhua demanded, throwing the question directly in Ling Meijuan's face.