Chapter 6 — The Tigress Who Craved Mantou

Just as the situation was about to tilt back in her favor, a sharp, piercing feminine voice cut through the air from outside the courtyard.

"Protecting you? Do you even deserve to be protected?"

Everyone turned their heads. A young woman dressed in coarse blue cloth was being blocked by the guards. She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, her complexion deathly pale, with a jagged, old scar marring her left wrist. The moment Xie Hanyan caught sight of her, her pupils constricted in terror.

"Xie Caihang, what are you doing here?"

The girl in blue chuckled softly. "Is my dear sister afraid?"

The noble ladies in the courtyard collectively turned pale. Xie Caihang, the secondary daughter of the Xie household, was rumored to have fallen ill years ago and been sent to a remote estate to convalesce. No one had expected her to still be alive. The Princess of Ning raised a hand, signaling the guards to release her. Xie Caihang walked into the center of the courtyard and knelt down to pay her respects.

"Your Highness, I am willing to bet my life that every single rumor circulating in the city today is true."

Xie Hanyan’s voice turned harsh. "You are insane! The Xie family raised you, yet here you are, helping outsiders slander me?"

Xie Caihang lifted her head, her eyes burning with undiluted hatred. "Raised me? Your definition of raising me was to have the head servant whip me twenty times because I dared to beat you by a mere half-lap during a family horse race? Was it to lock me in a storage shed, denying me food and water, forcing me to swear on my life that I would never touch a horse again?"

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a tapestry of scars crisscrossing her arms. A collective gasp of shock swept through the crowd. Xie Hanyan took an involuntary step back. "That was because you were unruly and deserved the punishment. What does that have to do with me?"

Xie Caihang let out a cold laugh and pulled a stack of papers from her bosom. "These are the finger-printed testimonies of Nurse Liu, the woman who did your dirty work all those years ago. There are also the account books from the estate manager. Every year, you sent them coin to keep me watched, ensuring I could never return to the capital."

The head steward accepted the documents and presented them to the Princess of Ning. After reading them, the Princess’s expression turned chillingly grim. Panic finally broke through Xie Hanyan’s facade. She looked desperately toward Pei Zhihang. Pei Zhihang immediately interjected, "This is all one-sided testimony! It holds no weight!"

Xie Caihang stared at him coldly. "What is the rush, Master Pei? I haven’t even mentioned you yet."

Pei Zhihang’s face turned ghostly white. Xie Caihang pulled a letter from her other sleeve. "This letter is one you wrote to my sister. You promised that during the spring hunt, you would ensure Miss Lin lost face, solely so my sister could cement her reputation."

I listened, stunned. Pei Zhihang lunged forward, desperate to snatch the letter. Yan Huaijing merely raised his arm, using the handle of his riding whip to gently block him. Pei Zhihang stumbled back, failing to retrieve it. Yan Huaijing handed the letter to the steward, his tone indifferent. "This time, the evidence is quite conclusive."

As the letter was read aloud for all to hear, Pei Zhihang’s expression became truly grotesque. He had written with reckless arrogance. Phrases like, "Hanyan, do not worry; the daughter of the Lin clan possesses only the empty name of a general’s household, for she is fundamentally weak and sickly," echoed through the courtyard. There was even a particularly vile sentence: "Once she has been stripped of her reputation, the capital will finally know who the true tigress of a military family really is."

I felt a flash of irritation. I also felt a bit hungry. Perhaps the earlier polo match had been too strenuous; the five steamed buns I ate earlier had already been burned off. My mother, noticing me rubbing my stomach, saw her temple twitch.

"Hold on for a moment longer," she whispered.

I asked quietly, "Until when?"

She gritted her teeth. "Until these scoundrels meet their ruin."

That was acceptable enough. I went back to watching the spectacle. Finally, Xie Hanyan could no longer keep up her pretense. She collapsed to her knees, her face streaming with tears. "Your Highness, you must believe me! I did not write that letter. I have no idea what Master Pei has done."

Pei Zhihang looked at her, utterly blindsided. "Hanyan?"

Xie Hanyan didn’t even glance at him. "Master Pei and I have merely met a few times at literary gatherings. How could I possibly know what dwells in his mind?"

It was as if Pei Zhihang had been struck by a lash. Moments ago, he had been charging into the fray on her behalf, yet now, he had been instantly discarded like a worthless pawn. Someone by the side of the courtyard let out a low, mocking laugh. "What a convenient way to claim ignorance."

Xie Caihang spoke coldly, "Of course you wouldn't know. You only know how to redden your eyes in front of others, crying that you are frightened and bullied. Naturally, there will always be someone willing to strike on your behalf."

Xie Hanyan refused to yield, biting her lip until it bled. "Sister, you can hate me, but you cannot destroy my reputation."

"Reputation?" Xie Caihang laughed until tears streamed down her face. "Isn't your reputation built entirely upon the destruction of others?"

She began to recount old grievances. A talented scholar who had once defeated Xie Hanyan in a competition was, by the next day, plagued by rumors of illicit affairs and had her engagement annulled. A girl from a military family who won a target practice contest was, within days, branded as crude and masculine, effectively forcing her out of high society. Then there was the merchant’s daughter who simply wore a dress of a similar color to Xie Hanyan’s, only to be branded a social climber and forced to flee the capital with her entire family.

The Princess of Ning’s expression grew colder with every word. Xie Hanyan remained on the ground, her shoulders trembling. She tried to weep, but this time, no one was in any hurry to offer her sympathy.

Suddenly, Pei Zhihang let out a hollow, jagged laugh—a sound far uglier than sobbing. "Xie Hanyan, you say you didn't know?"

He reached into his robe, produced a jade pendant, and smashed it violently against the stone floor.