Chapter 7 — The Wedding Veil Still Cold, Loyal Bonds Severed

Ninh Uyen Nhi had reached the absolute end of her rope. If she wanted Han Lam Than to save her, she had no choice but to drag him down into the treacherous waters with her, entangling his fate inextricably with her own. With every option exhausted, she brought forth everything she possessed and laid it before him. Never in a million years could Han Lam Than have imagined that the modest silver coins he once cherished as quiet tokens of her secret affection would now transform into damning evidence, pulling him under. Enraged, torn between boiling fury and crushing disappointment, he nonetheless clung desperately to the belief that Uyen Nhi had been forced into this against her will, convinced her father was the sole mastermind behind the scheme.

Brother Lam Than, please help my father. If he is imprisoned, I too will be implicated. I do not want our child to be born within the cold, damp walls of a dungeon...

Moved by sympathy for her plight, Han Lam Than brought her back to the safety of the Han estate. Yet, to everyone's astonishment, the very next day a battered, scarred stranger with a severe limp dragged himself to the gates of the Han residence, demanding an audience with Uyen Nhi and proclaiming himself to be her betrothed husband. The Han family dismissed the disheveled wretch as a raving madman, promptly ordering their servants to beat him and drive him away. Unwilling to yield, the desperate man hurried to beat the Dengwen drum at the imperial court, lodging a formal accusation that the powerful Han family was bullying the weak and forcibly stealing another man's wife. Both Uyen Nhi and Lam Than were summoned once more to the magistrate yamen, forced to confront the wedding gifts and the formal betrothal document bearing the official seal of the Ninh family, which the claimant triumphantly presented. The moment the man caught sight of Uyen Nhi's visibly protruding belly, his eyes flared with malicious delight. Pointing directly at her, he demanded to know how many months along the child was, swearing on his life that the infant belonged to him.

Trembling from head to toe with uncontainable rage, Uyen Nhi vehemently denied knowing the man at all, yet the briefest flash of panic flickered across the depths of her eyes when she heard his name. That fleeting expression did not escape the watchful gaze of Lam Than; his expression darkened instantly, and he dispatched trusted men to investigate the stranger's background. The man was Cao Tan Bach, a lowly scholar who had once served under Uyen Nhi's father and had indeed been officially betrothed to her. A year prior, Tan Bach had vanished without a trace under mysterious circumstances. After searching far and wide to no avail, the Ninh family had ultimately declared the marriage void. The grim truth was that Tan Bach had actively assisted the elder Ninh in embezzlement schemes, and the father had arranged the match solely to bind the scholar tightly to him. However, the deeper Tan Bach was drawn into the corruption, the more he learned, and his greed grew insatiable. He incessantly harassed the elder Ninh for more money, provoking intense fury and driving the older man to secretly dispatch assassins to silence him. Miraculously, Tan Bach's tenacity outmatched death; although he suffered severe wounds, he survived, though the trauma left his mind fractured, oscillating between lucid intervals and madness. In his lucid moments, he hid from the Ninh household, but in his delirium, he would wander aimlessly, crying out for Uyen Nhi.

Although there was no concrete proof that the two had met recently, Uyen Nhi's calculated concealment deeply enraged Lam Than. The elders of the Han family swiftly seized this golden opportunity to urge him to sever all ties with her. The Ninh family was utterly beyond redemption, and Uyen Nhi was bound to be implicated; how could the proud Han household ever tolerate being tainted by such scandalous disgrace? Furthermore, the scandal had already swept through the capital, drawing no small amount of mockery upon the Hans. Compared to the honor of their entire clan and the promising future of Lam Than, an unborn child was truly a sacrifice well worth making. Weighing the heavy gains and losses, Lam Than ultimately resolved to break off completely with Uyen Nhi. When the formal letter of divorce was finally placed into her trembling hands, she was struck with such profound terror that she threw her arms tightly around him, weeping bitterly and refusing to let go.

Brother Lam Than, can it truly be that even you do not believe the child in my womb is yours?

Tears streamed down Uyen Nhi's face like driving rain, softening Lam Than's heart despite his resolve. To ease her mind, he revealed his hidden plan. He told her that once the child was born, he would arrange for trusted individuals to take the baby away and place it in the care of a devoted wet nurse. When a suitable opportunity arose in the future, the child would be brought back to officially acknowledge its ancestry and return to the clan. As for Uyen Nhi herself, she would likely be condemned to exile alongside her disgraced family, but he would find a way to rescue her midway along the journey. Yet, from that day forward, she would have to live in absolute anonymity, forbidden ever to appear in public again. Uyen Nhi shook her head relentlessly, stumbling backward step by step.

Brother Lam Than, do you mean to reduce me to a secret, nameless concubine hiding in the shadows?

You clearly have the power to protect me; why must you be so ruthlessly cruel?

Deaf to her tearful pleas and desperate supplications, Lam Than firmly ordered her to be taken back to prison. To thoroughly eradicate any lingering traces linking him to the scandal, he even returned every single piece of silver Uyen Nhi had ever gifted him. The magistrate had already thoroughly investigated and concluded that Lam Than bore no direct complicity in the crimes of the Ninh family, having at most been manipulated through his reputation. As the case files were submitted upward through the official hierarchy, the imperial court issued only a stern reprimand to the Han family, sparing them any specific punishment. The members of the Han household breathed a collective sigh of relief, secretly rejoicing at their wisdom in executing a timely divorce.