Super-Fertile Darling: Forced to Marry the Heirless Tyrant

After years of silent suffering, the woman finally heard that Su Fengyue had been arrested. She burst into a fit of laughter she couldn’t stop.

In that moment, she looked truly crazed.

Ji Qingwu pressed an object into the woman’s hand. She was dazed for a moment before she recognized what it was.

The smile still lingered on her lips, but in an instant, it twisted into an expression more wretched than weeping.

Gasping for breath, she asked with difficulty, "Little Yue... Little Yue... She’s... she’s gone, isn’t she..."

It seemed the hairpin was a secret code between mother and daughter, a signal of survival.

Ji Qingwu said, "This is a memento Madam Song asked me to bring to you before she passed. Please, accept my condolences."

The woman gripped the hairpin tightly, her entire body trembling. She had to lean on the doorframe just to stay upright.

Muttering to herself, she said, "It’s my fault. I’m the one who harmed you. I should have died long ago. Then you wouldn’t have spent all these years under the control of that beast."

Unlike her wild laughter from before, tears now streamed silently down her face.

"Damn them! They all deserve to die! Gao Zhao Yue is the one who should be dead! Why are the ones who deserve to die still alive, while my Little Yue is gone?"

Ji Qingwu stood to the side, listening to the delirious woman’s incessant curses.

’According to Prince Yong, Gao Zhao Yue was supposed to have died over a decade ago. Why would Su Daiyue’s mother say such a thing?’

Seeing the woman’s crazed state, Wei Tongyou tugged on Ji Qingwu’s arm. "We’ve handed it over," she said. "Let’s go."

Ji Qingwu nodded. Just as the two of them turned to leave, they heard a heavy thud.

The woman had collapsed to the floor, the silver hairpin plunged into her heart. Her eyes were wide open, staring at the moon in the sky, her gaze filled with profound hatred.

Soon, her blood saturated the crescent moon pattern on the hairpin.

"Miss," she said to Ji Qingwu.

"Little Yue trusted you, and I trust you too. Keep this hairpin safe. Stained with my blood, it will now be of use."

After speaking, without a trace of hesitation, she pulled the silver hairpin from her chest and tossed it at Ji Qingwu’s feet.

Blood gushed forth. The woman’s eyes lost their focus, and her pupils dilated.

Ji Qingwu sighed softly and stepped forward to close the woman’s eyes.

’In a few more days, once Su Fengyue’s case is closed... I don’t know if the entire Su family will be executed, but as a concubine of Prime Minister Su, her death was inevitable anyway.’

Wei Tongyou frowned. "What did she mean? I don’t understand."

Ji Qingwu thought back to the woman’s words. Looking closely, she saw that the woman’s blood shimmered with a faint blue glow in the moonlight.

’Yu Wen Tianqing’s blood was also an abnormal color.’

’Could Su Daiyue’s mother have a connection to Xijin? Or even some relationship with Gao Zhao Yue...?’

The memento hadn’t been delivered after all, and now it was back in Ji Qingwu’s hands.

She found a water vat to wash it clean, wrapped it in a cloth, put it away, and only then did she leave the Su Mansion with Wei Tongyou.

*

Before the sky brightened into day, Ji Qingwu and Wei Tongyou returned to the Wei Family estate.

The main gate was still shut tight, so Wei Tongyou led her to sneak in through a side gate in the rear wall.

Standing by the gate, Ji Qingwu said, "Looks like you sneak out often?"

Wei Tongyou quietly closed the small gate, then placed the key back under a loose brick at the base of the wall.

"There are too many rules in this house. You have to report whenever you leave or return. This saves a lot of trouble."

Wei Tongyou glanced at her, then turned her head away, feigning nonchalance.

"If you want to go out in the future, you can use this key too," she added, the offer a clear sign that she was starting to see Ji Qingwu as one of her own.

Ji Qingwu said, "I don’t need to report to anyone. No one would stop me from using the main gate."

’Madam Wei’s rules didn’t really apply to her.’

Wei Tongyou was speechless. She wanted to say something but swallowed her words instead.

As Ji Qingwu walked on along the stone path, Wei Tongyou ran a few steps to catch up and called out.

"Hey!"

Ji Qingwu didn’t break her stride.

’After being up all night, now that the tension was gone, I’m completely exhausted. All I want is to lie down in my soft bed.’

Wei Tongyou ran right in front of her, blocking her path.

"Since you’ve already married into the Wei Family, why don’t you try to get on good terms with Grandmother and our relatives? Why do you insist on being so aloof?"

’You couldn’t find a new bride in all of Lin’an who acted like this.’

Wei Tongyou rarely made an effort to show goodwill to someone, only to be ignored or even rebuffed.

Ji Qingwu glanced up at her. "And why do you think that is?"

Wei Tongyou said, "Is it because my older brother went to the military camp and left you here all alone? Is that why you resent the Wei Family?"

’And by extension, Ji Qingwu was ignoring her too.’

’Otherwise, Wei Tongyou couldn’t think of any other reason.’

Ji Qingwu yawned. "Things between your brother and me are complicated. We’ll sort it out ourselves. There’s no need to explain it to anyone else, so a young lady like you shouldn’t worry her head about it."

Wei Tongyou said, "My brother... It’s been hard for him, too. He’s liked other women before, but he’s never been this stubborn, so insistent on marrying someone no matter what."

While she was speaking, Ji Qingwu reached out and touched her face, giving her cheek a little pinch. The tips of Wei Tongyou’s ears turned red.

Ji Qingwu pulled her hand back. "There, the disguise is off now." Then she continued walking forward.

Wei Tongyou followed behind her like a little tail, speaking persistently.

"My brother likes you. He cares for you. Everyone in the Wei Family knows it. That’s why no one has given you a hard time since you married in."

Ji Qingwu stopped in her tracks, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile on her face. "Setting aside how you could possibly know what Wei Ting is thinking, let’s just talk about one thing: if someone likes me, am I obligated to like them back?"

"If that were the rule, the threshold to the Ji Family’s home would’ve been worn to dust by now. Your brother wouldn’t even be close to the front of the line."

Hearing her say that her own brother wouldn’t even make the cut, Wei Tongyou’s cheeks puffed out in anger.

"I’ll find you some storybooks to read another day," Ji Qingwu said. "Then you’ll understand the difference between unrequited love and mutual affection."

Wei Tongyou stopped, glaring fiercely. "So you already have someone you’re in love with?"

Before Ji Qingwu’s figure disappeared around the corner leading to Xinyuan Hall, her voice drifted back.

"I suppose you could say I did before. Now... it’s hard to say."

*

Back in her room, Xuemei was asleep, sitting slumped in a small alcove by the door. Ji Qingwu didn’t wake her.

She went into the side room to peek at Jiu Jiu, who was sleeping soundly with their bottom sticking up in the air, then returned to her own room.

Ji Qingwu thought she would be able to fall asleep the moment she hit the bed.

But instead, her head ached and she felt groggy.

She opened her eyes, looking at the still-unfamiliar surroundings. ’This is Wei Ting’s bedroom,’ she remembered.

Ji Qingwu pulled the covers up high, burying herself completely.

’Living a rootless life for so long had allowed her to adapt quickly to new environments, but it had also made her crave the warmth of a true home even more.’