Chapter 3: Bound by Resentment

Xie Genghe hurried over, a displeased expression shadowing his brows and eyes. He gripped Wen Changying’s wrist protectively, shielding her behind himself.

“Great-Grandmother, there’s no need to be angry. Aying has been spoiled by my sole favor; please be more tolerant,” he said.

Following the grasped hand upward, Wen Changying looked up. Blood seeped from Xie Genghe’s right shoulder—clearly, a recently dressed wound had been torn open again.

She curled her lips silently, her strength to break free slightly diminished. Lifting her foot, she stepped squarely on the crown prince’s instep.

Xie Genghe winced in pain and instinctively loosened his grip.

In moments, Wen Changying was three steps away from him.

“He’er!” the Empress Dowager exclaimed in frustration. “How far will you indulge her?”

Xie Genghe said nothing, his phoenix-like eyes dark and profound as they fixed on Wen Changying.

Wen Changying met his gaze without fear.

Once, those eyes had been full of tender affection, trust, and occasional playful defiance.

Now, they were utterly blackened.

Xie Genghe moved.

“Is this what you insist on?”

Wen Changying replied candidly, “If you agree to the divorce, I will leave the palace with a joyful smile.”

The Empress Dowager calmed upon hearing this.

She looked at the strained relationship between her grandson and the Wen family, a flicker of excitement shining in her eyes.

“I think you two have become irreconcilable. It would be better to divorce and find peace individually.”

“He’er, the Wen family offers you no help now. Why be trapped by love?”

“I know what’s in my heart!” Xie Genghe refuted in one sharp sentence.

He reached again to grasp Wen Changying’s hand, attempting to pull her away.

This time, Wen Changying glanced and saw it was not her right hand.

She shook him off decisively.

“Wen Changying!”

Xie Genghe called her name sharply. “You were unsettled by your brother’s matter and lost your composure. Today you even defied the Empress Dowager.”

“I punish you—confined to the Eastern Palace, no leaving!”

Wen Changying was about to retort when the Empress Dowager’s sharp voice cut through:

“I order thirty strokes for her!”

Xie Genghe turned around. “Great-Grandmother knows how important she is to me.”

“If you refuse to administer the thirty strokes, I will bear them for her.”

The Empress Dowager’s voice gradually trailed off.

Now that the Emperor was gravely ill and resting in another palace, with the Crown Prince acting as regent, a wounded heir could ill afford further punishment. Who would manage the court affairs otherwise?

She, overseeing the Six Palaces, was meant to coordinate the court and avoid adding to the Emperor’s worries.

If Wen Changying’s momentary anger led to grievous harm to the regent prince, the loss would outweigh the gain.

“Enough!” The Empress Dowager scolded, frustrated by such stubbornness. “Very well, as you wish. But the Buddhist hall must be rebuilt, and the funds must come from her. Therefore, I will deduct three years of her salary as punishment, so she may reflect quietly.”

Wen Changying’s expenses were all covered by Xie Genghe’s money. Deducting her salary would hardly impact her.

Xie Genghe sighed in relief, nodded, and led Wen Changying away.

Wen Changying wished to cause more trouble but was forcibly dragged off by Xie Genghe.

Back in Cheng’en Hall, Xie Genghe, exhausted, caught sight of the divorce papers laid on the desk, and his anger flared anew.

“I’m already overwhelmed dealing with Aye’s affairs. Aying, can you stop causing more chaos?”

Wen Changying rubbed her aching wrist. “I’m going to make a scene! I’m sharp-tongued and unforgiving!”

“Xie Genghe, you promised me from the start. This is who I’ve become because of you!”

“Are you satisfied now?!”

Wen Changying often wondered how she had come to be like this—so easily triggered by the slightest provocation, unable to tolerate anything, deaf to explanation.

She had married the young man she adored from the start.

Xie Genghe had always protected her.

Yet between them, communication only brought exhaustion, and explanation only bred pain.

At this point, divorce seemed the only solution.

Xie Genghe’s voice was hoarse and weak as he said, “Aying, I didn’t know you waited outside the study for so long.”

“Yesterday at the temple, the Empress Dowager’s people were everywhere. The news never got through.”

After issuing the order the night before, Xie Genghe had anticipated Wen Changying’s volatile mood and tried to avoid confrontation.

He never expected it would push her to decide on divorce.

After Bi Gui investigated, he learned the Empress Dowager had blocked the news, causing Aying to kneel in despair for seven hours.

“When the Jinwu Guards bring her back, I will give you an explanation. For now, calm yourself—don’t harm your heart and lungs. Trust me, will you?”

Trust.

A word rarely mentioned between them now.

At some point, it seemed a barrier of thorns had grown between them.

Called trust, but approaching it only brought wounds.

Wen Changying recalled their first quarrel was over this very thing.

Orphaned, she had worried for her younger brother after marrying into the Eastern Palace.

She found a tutor for Wen Zaiye.

The tutor helped her brother regain faith in the family’s honor and threw himself into the military camp.

At that time, Xie Genghe, fearing the Wen family’s military power and court pressure, kept his distance from her.

Wen Changying trusted him.

So she allowed Xie Genghe to arrange her brother’s posting to Huizhou to quell the epidemic.

Her brother was treated like a mere pawn and nearly died of infection.

The tutor said Aye had taken medicine early and shouldn’t have been infected.

The problem was in the camp.

The culprit turned out to be a trusted agent from Xie Genghe’s maternal clan.

Wen Changying suspected someone had stirred trouble.

When she pressed Xie Genghe afterward, he admitted the truth.

“Aying! The Wen family’s military power is a morsel in the eyes of the court.”

“I know you want Aye to grow and restore your family’s honor. But court politics are not so simple. Aye is young and alone—without support, he will be devoured by wolves and tigers!”

“Trust me, in three years I will let Aye take command.”

Wen Changying saw the reason in Xie Genghe’s words, but thinking of her brother’s life hanging by a thread, resentment lingered.

And what if it took more than three years?

If not for Aye’s lone venture into Jizhou to exterminate bandits, the Wen family army might have been erased!

How weighty a word trust is!

Once broken, it no longer means wholehearted reliance.

“Xie Genghe,” Wen Changying brought her thoughts back, “you know what it means to place those charges on Aye.”

She closed her eyes briefly.

“The Wen family is loyal and brave. None have sullied the banner of the Wen army. But this stain douses not only our family’s honor but also strips the army of its people’s support.”

“You knew, yet you did it! Even rushed to convict without verifying evidence.”

“In the end, all you want is the Wen family’s military power.”

Wen Changying expected him to argue.

But after a long wait, only silence answered.

Her heart felt desolate, yet she slowly opened her eyes.

“You have your grand plans to attend to; I have my principles to uphold.”

“You take away the position of Crown Princess and give the officials an explanation. But in return, give me time to uncover the truth and clear the Wen family and my brother’s name!”

The hand hidden in his sleeve clenched tightly as Xie Genghe stared fixedly at Wen Changying’s calm, deadened face.

“You—shall—not—think it!”

“Everything else can be negotiated, but I will never agree to divorce.”

He hurried away, fearing that even a second’s delay would mean abandoning sixteen years of love shared with Wen Changying.