Chapter 137: Seeking Nothing More Than a Spotless Reputation

"Sister-in-law, is this quite proper? If you have something to say, why can't you say it openly in front of my husband and me instead of being so secretive? Anyone not knowing better might think you were up to some unmentionable business," Madam Zheng snapped with open displeasure before Chu Renqing could even open his mouth.

Who knew what wicked scheme that bitch Madam Shen was hatching? It was bad enough that she refused to take their Miaomiao to the banquet, but now she was trying to seduce her husband right before her very eyes!

Did she take her for a mere ornament?

To demand that the eldest brother follow her away just to speak—this was a blatant display of malicious intent.

Spurred by spite, Madam Zheng reached out and hooked her arm into Chu Renqing's, determined to make Madam Shen see clearly who this man belonged to.

"Sister-in-law, I will go with you," Chu Renqing said, pushing Madam Zheng aside directly. The third sister-in-law must have urgent matters to discuss with him.

Madam Zheng was stunned. "Master, you... how can you go with that Shen woman!" She never expected that her husband, who had always treated her with mutual respect, would shove her aside just for that wretched woman Shen.

Scarcely a few days had passed, yet had the master been completely bewitched by this vixen Madam Shen?!

Did Chu Renqing even realize he was humiliating her in front of everyone?

Ever since she entered the Grand General's Manor, she had humbled herself and curried favor with Madam Shen.

Yet Madam Shen had never appreciated her overtures, and now, watching her being treated coldly by the eldest brother, Madam Shen was undoubtedly rejoicing inside.

Chu Mu had no inkling of what was running through Madam Zheng's mind. Without even sparing her a glance, he walked straight out of the inner hall.

A-Zhao was currently out there charging into battle, and he could not hold A-Zhao back.

Since the vicious woman had already been sent to prison, the next step was to fulfill the agreement with the Du family.

He would start by persuading Chu Renqing.

Yu Zihuan and Chu Renqing followed closely behind, leaving Madam Zheng stamping her feet in fury.

"Bitch! Bitch! Unable to win her own husband's affection, so she goes sniffing after other men! How can she be so shameless and unable to bear loneliness?"

Madam Liu rolled her eyes from the side. Her dignified and poised sister-in-law was even worse off than she was.

Her mouth was certainly filthy enough when hurling curses.

"Sister-in-law had better mind her own tongue. Now that Mother has been arrested, this Grand General's Manor belongs entirely to Madam Shen. If you displease her and get driven out of the estate, it's sister-in-law's own face that will be lost.

"Men, you see, all fancy blooming, delicate young wives. Once a woman's looks fade, she should stop making a spectacle of herself. Figuring out ways to hold onto her husband's heart is what matters most; everything else is just—"

*Slap!* A crisp, resounding blow landed squarely on Madam Liu's face.

Madam Liu was stunned by the strike. Her husband, who had just been unconscious, was now wide awake, his eyes brimming with boiling rage.

"Hus—" The word "Master" failed to pass her lips before—

*Slap!* Another sharp, ringing blow landed on Madam Liu's face.

Clutching her cheek, Madam Liu instinctively shrank back.

Chu Ren杰 reached out, grabbed Madam Liu by the wrist, and without stopping his hands, began a barrage of blows against her.

He cursed furiously, "You ungrateful, wolf-hearted bitch! I never looked down on your lowly birth, nor did I despise your vulgarity; every ounce of honor due to you was given without a single bit lacking. How dare you conceal things from me and funnel our family assets to that brute Liu Jinbao behind my back?!

"How dare you, you wicked woman!"

A flicker of terror crossed Madam Liu's face. Chu Renjie knew everything.

He knew it all!

Who could have told him? Who was trying to ruin her?!

Bitch, you bitches!

"Master... listen to my explanation... It's not what you think. Whoever told you this must be malicious at heart, trying to drive a wedge between us husband and wife."

She could not admit to it all; otherwise, Chu Renjie would never spare her lightly.

She could no longer return to her maiden family, nor did she wish to go back to that bottomless pit that could never be filled.

The only things she could rely on were this brute Chu Renjie and her two sons, Shanjun and Shanan.

Her position could not be shaken; she could not be replaced by some little floozy from the inner courtyard.

The legitimate status of her sons Shanjun and Shanan must not be shaken by anyone.

"You still dare to quibble, you wretched woman! Do you expect me to believe that Shanjun and Shanan framed their own mother?!" Venting all the frustration and fury he had suffered today onto Madam Liu, Chu Renjie subjected her to another flurry of beatings.

Every punch landed heavily on flesh, as if he longed to beat away the humiliation clinging to him.

Madam Liu's heart instantly plummeted to the abyss. How could it be Shanjun and Shanan who betrayed her, their own mother?

She was their mother, the one who gave them life and raised them!

She knew Shanjun and Shanan harbored resentment toward her in their hearts, but she never imagined that resentment would run this deep.

Madam Zheng let out a cold laugh. "Instead of wasting energy meddling in our eldest household's affairs, Second Sister-in-law would do better to figure out how she's going to survive.

"Unloved by her husband, estranged from her children—Second Sister-in-law must truly be the first of her kind."

The pent-up bitterness in Madam Zheng's chest was finally released, even though the eldest brother had left with Madam Shen.

At least the eldest brother had never laid a finger on her, and though Miaomiao was currently resentful of her as a mother, Miaomiao would still side with her in front of outsiders. Unlike those two ungracious, ungrateful wolves who stood by and watched their own father savagely beat their mother.

Not only did they fail to stop it, but she had even caught a flash of grim satisfaction in their eyes—truly a sight to chill the heart.

Chu Mu led Chu Renqing and Yu Zihuan straight back to the study.

He familiarly seated himself in his usual chair behind a desk upon which rested several military treatises and bamboo slips.

Looking first at Yu Zihuan, Chu Mu asked, "Zihuan, do you still wish to leave now?"

Yu Zihuan cast a complex look at Madam Chu. He wanted to leave, but he could not. As a scion of the Yu clan, he could not depart before the truth came to light.

"I am not leaving, Madam Chu. Thank you for letting Zihuan learn everything today; otherwise, Zihuan would still be kept in the dark. Zihuan thought he was the only one left in this world, never knowing he still had a cousin by blood.

"Zihuan could never understand how the Yu family, upright for generations, could fall from grace so swiftly and be subjected to insults branding them as shameless. Now, Zihuan finally knows the reason.

"Zihuan asks for nothing else, only hoping to clear his aunt's name and restore the upright reputation of the Yu family."

Yu Zihuan's words only deepened the guilt gnawing at Chu Renqing's heart.

Had he not been wolf-hearted and conspired with his mother to harm his stepmother, the Yu family would never have been implicated and reduced to such a plight, leaving Yu Zihuan alone in the world.

This was all his fault.

Watching the remorse on Chu Renqing's face, Chu Mu knew this was precisely what he wanted—to make Chu Renqing see and hear firsthand the profound suffering his past actions had inflicted upon others.

Only thus could he leverage Chu Renqing's guilt to make him accept his return to the Du family.

"Rest assured, Zihuan. What you seek is precisely what my husband and I seek as well. Stay peace in the Grand General's Manor; this is your home too."

Yu Zihuan's eyes stung slightly. Home? Did he still have a home?

Ever since he was left alone in the world, he had no home. Yet suddenly, someone told him this was his home too.

Why did his nose smart so, and why were his eyes so disobedient?

"Thank you, Cousin-in-law. I shall not disturb your and Elder Brother Chu's discussion any longer; I take my leave."

The address of "Cousin-in-law" filled Chu Mu's heart with a poignant ache. He had witnessed everything in Zihuan; how desperately this child must have longed for a home, for a blood-relative rather than surviving alone and desolate in this world.

As Yu Zihuan tactfully withdrew, Chu Mu turned his gaze, solemn and steady, toward Chu Renqing.