Chapter 129 Kneel: “Kneel and beg me.”

Chapter 129: Kneel Down: "Kneel Down and Beg Me."

The woman was dressed in brown clothing, a thick hooded cloak covering her face, her features tightly concealed. From her demeanor, she seemed to be from a wealthy family, but there was also a subtle air of having fallen on hard times. She walked on foot, mingling with the crowd, without even a decent carriage.

Liu Ruyan, who managed such pleasure houses, was accustomed to scenes like this—often, principal wives would come to catch their husbands in adultery, creating a ruckus, beating people, and throwing tantrums. Toward such unknown women, she was typically ruthless, driving them out without mercy.

The woman stepped forward and spoke in a low voice, "I want to see Yu Tianqin."

Those words, clear and distinct, reached Liu Ruyan's ears, and she dropped her cynical expression. Yu Tianqin was none other than Miss Yingge's real name.

Liu Ruyan squinted suspiciously and asked, "And who might you be?"

The woman scanned the surrounding scene of singing and dancing, the lively entertainments of the pleasure house. Having come this far, she no longer cared about her reputation and said directly, "I am her lady of the house."

Liu Ruyan stiffened in shock.

The lady of the house was actually condescending to come to a place like this.

"Is that so?" Not sure if the woman was friend or foe, Liu Ruyan put on a fake smile. "And what business do you have here?"

Miss Yingge was a special figure; without the master's orders, even the mistress couldn't see her.

Liu Ruyan strongly doubted the woman's identity. If she were truly the master's principal wife, would she be dressed so shabbily, alone, with not a trace of nobility?

About Miss Yingge, everything had to be handled with extreme caution. Liu Ruyan was about to deny Yingge's existence outright when the woman cut in with: "I came on the Lord's orders to see her, just a few words and I'll leave. Refuse me, and you'll regret it."

Liu Ruyan secretly took the woman up to the third-floor attic.

She hadn't acted on her own; she asked Miss Yingge, who agreed to see this uninvited guest.

An unusual atmosphere charged the air between them. They clearly knew each other and had a deep-seated grudge.

Perhaps this woman really was Miss Yingge's mistress.

The room fell silent, the lamplight flickering.

Liu Ruyan closed the door and shot a glance at Yu Zhu, signaling her to eavesdrop quietly outside.

Between the unknown "mistress" and Yingge, they naturally had to protect Yingge first—after all, if even a single hair on Yingge's head was harmed, the master would kill someone over it.

Tian Qin leaned nonchalantly against the edge of the table, idly rubbing her temples. The remnants of Tusu wine flushed her cheeks, a rosy hue peeking through white, creating a drunkenly alluring look. She had once again drunk with the guests until late the night before. Unlike Xian Qiu's nervousness, she was extremely relaxed, a thin green gauze draped over her shoulders, drenched in allure yet stunningly beautiful. A messy wine gourd lay by her pillow.

The roles of mistress and maid had long been reversed; Tian Qin was the mistress, Xian Qiu the maid.

"Tian'er..." Xian Qiu was silent for a long time before speaking.

Meeting again, the scene was cold and awkward.

Tian Qin responded with a lukewarm "Mm," still half-asleep, showing no intention of playing host.

She lazily woke up for a while, then, on her own, dragged her pink long dress over to sit in front of the dressing mirror, skillfully applying colorful rouge to her face. Her hair was loosely combed up, with strands hanging down, a beauty half-hidden like a pipa behind a veil.

"Something on your mind?"

The air was thick with the cloying, dull fragrance of magnolia flowers. Sunlight streamed down, dust particles swirling and tumbling in the golden beams.

The curtains were deliberately drawn, allowing only a sliver of light to enter; most of the room was a murky darkness like a swamp.

Xian Qiu remembered that Tian Qin's eyes were bad and couldn't stand light, which was why she kept things so tightly covered. But what kind of life was this, living in darkness like a maggot? It would be better to end it quickly.

"Tian'er." Xian Qiu spoke again, this time with a serious warning. "You shouldn't be living in a place like this."

Tian Qin paused in the motion of inserting her hairpin, glanced sideways as if looking at a monster, and said lightly, "Then where should I live?"

Her shadow stretched long behind her; she had long adapted to the darkness.

"Your engagement with your fiancé was already settled, but on your wedding day, you broke your word and betrayed him. To seduce your brother-in-law, you debased yourself to this place of pleasure."

Xian Qiu sighed, putting on a look of distress. "Now your fiancé's family is suffering outside, searching for you with all their might. Does wealth and glory so intoxicate you?"

Tian Qin let out a cold laugh, even more disdainful, smiling instead. "Sister, you don't seem to be doing well either, looking so pitiful."

Xian Qiu's clothes were drab, she was skinny as a stick, exuding a shabby air, miserable and wretched, with none of the former glory of a noblewoman.

Something serious must have happened at home—either the Xie family was raided, or she had a conflict with Xie Tanwei, or she was incurably ill.

Tian Qin set down the dignified kingfisher-feather hairpin and picked up her beloved rainbow-hued shell one, letting the tassels sway, and inserted it into her hair. She carefully applied powder to her delicate face, with a touch of mockery: "Otherwise, with a legitimate eldest son at your side, as a high-ranking principal wife, proud and complacent, at the height of your success, why would you grace this dusty pleasure house?"

"You hate me, I know. When you were at your lowest, I didn't help you, only wanted to distance myself from you."

Xian Qiu explained with tears in her eyes, "But given our relationship, isn't it better to cut ties cleanly?"

Older sister, brother-in-law, and younger sister—an unspeakably dirty triangular relationship, everyone trapped in it suffering.

Tian Qin closed her eyes and knocked on the table, suddenly cutting her off: "Can you all stop thinking so highly of yourselves? Who has the time to hate you? With a flick of my skirt, thousands of silver notes come pouring in—endless comfort and joy. A good dog doesn't get in the way; don't spoil this lady's fun."

She finished her makeup, flicked her robe, and a smile rippled through the entire room, a calm kind of madness. Right, now it was her turn to be in high spirits, to sever ties with old people and old things.

Xian Qiu was silent for a long time. Then, with difficulty, she said, "You've taken customers? How can our parents bear this far away at the frontier? How can Yan'er look up to you as a sister?"

Tian Qin's degradation blackened the entire Yu family's reputation.

Tian Qin let out a laugh that seemed real yet fake, taking it to mean, "Envious, sister? It's fine—you still have some charm though you're past your prime. Some other day, I'll have Mama Liu bring you over. I hear that Master Wang seems to like older women."

"Tian Qin!" Xian Qiu shot up from her seat, her sickly, haggard face flushed with anger, her eyes as if filled with blood. With her single ear deaf, anger made her ears ring, half of her head throbbed with pain.

"This is no joking matter!"

Xian Qiu's voice rose several octaves.

"Oh, is that so?"

Tian Qin wasn't intimidated. She toyed with the colorful polish on her nails. "If you have nothing else, sister, then I'll show you out."

When conversation is disagreeable, half a sentence is too much.

Xian Qiu clenched her teeth, forcing back the grinding sound, and sat down again after a long pause. She hadn't forgotten the purpose of her visit: to beg Tian Qin for mercy and get her husband back.

"A few days ago, he and I divorced. In fact, he repudiated me. His heart and mind are completely filled with you. I believe it won't be long before he brings you back to the estate."

Xian Qiu's dismay was like snow tumbling down in flurries. "You've won, sister. I can never beat you again. Now I just want to ask: how can I get my husband back? If you loathe him, then stop haunting him like a shadow."

Xian Qiu deeply regretted being stingy in the past and not giving Tian Qin enough money. If Tian Qin had enough money, she would have run off with another man, and today she wouldn't be obsessed with Xie Tanwei.

Tian Qin was genuinely surprised.

"Divorced? They actually got divorced—just like that?" She had always thought Xian Qiu held an important place in Xie Tanwei's heart, even if love was lacking, she was still the wife who weathered storms to keep up the family's front.

And just like that, they divorced so easily?

Tian Qin’s mood lightened a little, and she smiled with a venomous edge: "You think I’ve been clinging to him, and that’s why he divorced you. But have you ever considered that a man like him isn’t so easily manipulated? He loves me. He’d rather use extreme measures to lock me up just so we can be together forever. He spends every night here—that alone proves his love."

Running her fingers over the creamy-white jade bangle on her wrist, she added: "He gave me this. I haven’t taken any clients. He said I'm to serve only him for my whole life, and if I dare to be with another, he’ll break my legs."

"He also said he regrets driving me away back then and repents day and night. It was you, the jealous wife, who forced him, and in a moment of folly, he abandoned his true love. Now, he gives me whatever money I ask for, just hoping I'd give him one look. I joked, ‘Fine, but divorce your wife and make me the principal wife.’ And he actually agreed. He doesn’t love you, sister. Stop wasting your efforts."

She laid it on thick with the word "love," twisting it into possessiveness, distorting Xian Qiu with the same cruelty Xie Tanwei had used to warp her own mind.

This love—twisted, shadowed by violence—she could now speak of openly, even wield like a weapon.

"The one not loved is the concubine. You know that well, sister."

"Do you really think he never came near you all these years because of your gallstone? He made a vow to me—one man, one woman for life—and that’s why he wouldn't touch any other woman. And you truly believe your condition is incurable? Let me tell you: his medical skill is unmatched in this world. Gallstones? He could even bring the dead back to life. Yet he deliberately refuses to treat you, his own wife. He’d be better off if you died. Promotion, money, dead wife—that's how men are."

Xian Qiu’s face turned pallid, veins bulging on her forehead. She looked ready to vomit blood, her failing lungs wheezing as she struggled for breath.

"Uh… uh…" She clutched at her throat, choking, her face darkening to a smothered purple, as if a fishbone stuck in her throat.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Xian Qiu covered her head, shrieking.

"I don’t believe you! Stop it!"

"You're lying!"

"I’m already cornered. He’s driving me out. We’re sisters of the same blood—do you have to watch me die?"

"He doesn’t love me, I know, but how could he ever love you? You’re just a plaything. Don’t delude yourself… He’s incapable of love! He’s the coldest man alive!"

Agitated, Xian Qiu cut Tian Qin off with a sharp cry, her chest heaving, tears mingling with blood. Realizing she was at the end of her rope, she forced herself to calm down: "Enough of this. Tian’er, Tian’er, I beg you. Help me! If I’m thrown out of the Xie household, I'll have to go to the freezing border to join our parents. In my frail health, I’ll never survive the journey."

Tian Qin regarded her motionlessly, looking down her nose at her.

She looked down on Xian Qiu, and also on the selfishness, filth, pitifulness, and sin lurking within her.

Her icy stare said it all.

Even if Xian Qiu died before her, she wouldn't feel an ounce of pity.

A faint smile even flickered at the corners of her lips, as she savored this day of long-awaited payback.

Why didn’t you die sooner? Why didn’t you take your husband Xie Tanwei with you to the grave?

Her heart had long been buried under thick layers of hatred, the original heart nowhere to be seen.

Xian Qiu’s last shred of hope vanished. She collapsed, drained of strength, and gave a bitter laugh through tears and said:

"Fine, fine. You kicked me when I was down; now I'm down, you kick me back. It’s nothing but retribution. Don't try to provoke me with those words. I'm still his lawful wife, married through proper rites. As a Grand Confucian in court, he cares about his reputation. Unless I sign the divorce papers, no one can force me. I will always hold the position of the principal wife. And you will always be the mistress, hidden in the shadows!"

"You're gloating now, sharing his bed every night, convinced you’ve found love. But in truth, you’re just his plaything. Your fate will be worse than mine. He’s a selfish man. He's incapable of loving anyone."

Tian Qin shook her head, unconvinced.

Locking eyes with Xian Qiu's murderous glare, she spoke slowly, her tone condescending, as if dangling a spider's thread to someone at rock bottom:

"Very well, sister. Your words do frighten me. You can be cruel, but I won't be unjust. Seeing you stoop to begging a brothel girl for help, I won't be stone-hearted and look the other way."

"Here's the deal: I can put in a good word for you with brother-in-law, convince him to take back his decision and let you stay in the Xie residence. But this cannot come without a price."

"This cannot come without a price"—Xie Tanwei had taught her those very words.

Now, she turned the bloody blade toward another.

Xian Qiu, cornered, indeed clung to that hope. She swallowed, tasted the metallic tang of blood, and asked hoarsely, dazed, "What price?"

Tian Qin’s expression grew dark, like the shadow before a storm, already planning to ditch her. She had never intended to save Xian Qiu. She could barely save herself—what power did she have to rescue her? But since Xian Qiu delivered herself right to her doorstep, she had to take advantage. She'd give her a taste of her own medicine.

"Kneel."

"Kneel and beg me, and maybe I'll think about it."

Tian Qin cast her a look of fake sympathy.

She remembered that day Xian Qiu had shoved her to the ground and humiliated her.

She would reclaim that humiliation.

Xian Qiu ground her teeth, refusing flat out. Her whole body tensed like a drawn bow. She gathered her robes and strode resolutely out of the room.

Tian Qin didn’t stop her. A long moment passed. Then Xian Qiu halted abruptly, as if making a monumental decision. Her knees went weak, and with a thud, she knelt before Tian Qin.

"Sister Tian, I'm begging you."

Tears streamed down Xian Qiu’s face like a cobweb.

"I truly… truly have nowhere else to go."

Xian Qiu loved Xie Tanwei deeply, cherished her marriage to him, and clung to the glory of being a rich man's wife.

She begged Tian Qin to grant her this.

If she could continue her life, she could bear this humiliation.

Tian Qin observed, leisurely, savoring the scene.

But alas, her heart had long turned to stone.