Chapter 181: The Successor Wife – 3

Ren Xin didn’t see it that way. If she ended up marrying Zhang Bojian again, she would make sure his entire family experienced the exquisite thrill of a heart attack. And if she didn’t marry him…

“Whoever Shen Shen marries is in for a world of misery~”

Ren Xin: “…” Why did this thing always have to chime in at the worst moments!

In the end, Feng Qingyue got her wish. She made a special trip to Ren Xin’s courtyard to flaunt her victory.

“Dear cousin, you know as well as I do that the Zhang family favors me over you. You’ll just have to suffer the grievance of being someone’s successor wife. Actually, marrying into a Duke’s estate is quite a step up for someone like you; you should be grateful. But I’ve heard that being a stepmother is no easy task. You’d best be careful.”

Ren Xin smiled as she offered her thanks. “Then I must thank you for your consideration, cousin. A Duke’s estate—what a prestigious threshold indeed! I’m only curious, have you and the young master of the Zhang family met before? Otherwise, why would you be so reckless? Our uncle and aunt planned your marriage with such care; how can you face them? You’ve left Grandmother sighing in grief, unable to find a moment’s joy. And all for your own selfish desires, for a single man? Are you really going to abandon the family that dotes on you so?”

A flicker of shame crossed Feng Qingyue’s eyes, but it vanished instantly. She replied with self-righteous indignation, “They will understand later. They’ll realize that what I’m doing is the right choice. Forcing me to marry into that Duke’s estate would have ruined my entire life.”

Ren Xin sneered. “How do you know that marrying into the Duke’s estate would ruin you? You’ve become such a stranger lately!”

Feng Qingyue’s expression twisted, and she shrieked in a shrill voice, “What do you know? You’re just cursed with bad luck! A short-lived ghost who wants to occupy the position of a first wife—you’re better off marrying that widower. The two of you can just torment each other to death!”

Ren Xin glanced toward the window, noticing several shadows flickering outside. Only then did she continue in a slow, deliberate pace, “Cousin, are you having a nightmare? Why are you saying such nonsensical things? Is there… something unclean haunting you?”

Triggered by the remark, Feng Qingyue began to throw a tantrum, smashing every decorative ornament in Ren Xin’s room.

Ren Xin cried out weakly, “No, please! Those were part of my mother’s dowry, don’t break them…”

Feng Qingyue grew even more frenzied until her mother, Ren Xin’s aunt, burst through the door and ordered her servants to restrain her.

Ren Xin appeared terrified. She asked her aunt with a trembling voice, “What is my cousin trying to do? Why must she humiliate me so? If this is how it is, I will leave tomorrow. I’ll return to my old home in Ganyang. My clansmen are still there; at least they can ensure my safety. I won’t have to worry about people barging into my room like bandits to smash my things!”

Before the aunt could offer any words of comfort, Ren Xin feigned a weak faint, collapsing onto her maid.

The maid, Chunya, was a sharp girl. She wailed at the top of her lungs, “Someone help! Quickly, come here! The young lady has fainted! Miss Qingyue has provoked the young lady into a dead faint!”

The shouting reached the heavens, ensuring that everyone who needed to hear it did. Only then did Chunya scoop Ren Xin up and carry her into the inner chamber.

The aunt’s face turned ashen. Looking at the wreckage strewn across the floor, her head throbbed with a searing pain.

Feng Qingyue, having calmed down, didn’t feel she had done anything wrong. Ren Xin was just an orphaned girl; wasn’t she at her mother’s mercy? Even if she died of illness, everyone would just say her mother had done her best to care for her…

“You idiot!”

After cursing Feng Qingyue, the aunt immediately began damage control. Hadn’t she heard the girl screaming about returning to her ancestral home?

If this wasn’t handled to Ren Xin’s satisfaction, all the years she had spent maintaining a facade of kindness would be for nothing.

The grandmother arrived soon after, having been briefed on the situation along the way. But when she saw the shattered porcelain on the floor and Feng Qingyue standing there with her mother, her fury boiled over.

“What are you two trying to do? Do you have no respect for this old woman anymore? This girl is the only bloodline my daughter left behind. Are you truly so incapable of tolerating her?”

The aunt immediately knelt to beg for forgiveness. At this moment, any explanation was futile. It was too hollow; no excuse would suffice.

Her daughter’s actions had been witnessed by all. She had driven someone into a faint, and there was no way to talk her way out of it. How had she given birth to such a wretched creature?