Chapter 22: Masks Off

Song Xirui’s lips curled into a sneer. "Ever since I entered the Su household, you and my husband have been pressuring me day and night to drain my dowry to subsidize this family. Was this your intention even before we were wed?"

Her cold gaze swept over their faces. She said nothing more, yet the silence landed on Su Yun and Madam Li like a stinging slap.

Madam Li stood frozen, completely silenced by the retort. Before the marriage, she had watched Song Xirui be utterly submissive toward her son, assuming she would be easy to manipulate. Who could have guessed she was such a tough nut to crack?

She had been careless!

"Xirui, how can you speak to Mother like that? We only saw the household's distress and wanted to ask for your help," Su Yun said, his voice feigning a coaxing tone, though he wasn't truly angry. In reality, the veins on his forehead were already bulging.

Song Xirui’s willow-leaf brows furrowed, her expression showing a hint of grievance. "Husband, it is common knowledge that a husband’s family should not touch a wife’s dowry. I am only worried that the Su family will become the laughingstock of others."

"Song Xirui." Su Yun’s face went completely dark, his voice turning savage as he called her name. "Do you know you are wrong?"

Song Xirui paused, then let out a cold laugh. "I do not."

"You show no respect to your mother-in-law—that is the first sin. You are jealous—that is the second. You show no respect to your husband—that is the third! In any ordinary household, you would be drowned in a pig cage!" Su Yun’s eyes were filled with malice. "It is laughable that you pride yourself on coming from a noble family, yet you behave worse than a three-year-old child!"

These past few days, he had been humble and ingratiating, trying to please her, but this woman was impervious to reason and kept using her influence to threaten him. Today, the thick mask Su Yun wore finally tore away, revealing his hideous, ugly true face.

"If you cannot produce money to subsidize the Su family, then you are unfilial to my mother and disloyal to the Su family!"

Song Xirui’s lips curled into a cold smile, her eyes icy. "According to your logic, Husband, if I, Song Xirui, do not hand over my money, I am not fit to be part of the Su family?"

"That’s right." Su Yun’s face was taut, his tone utterly shameless. "That is exactly what I mean!"

Song Xirui did not back down an inch. "I refuse!"

"Rui'er, how can you be so stubborn! The Song family is a Marquis’s estate; surely they wouldn't mind you pawning a few shops to help us! Your father must have been sending you money in secret!" Madam Li shouted anxiously.

Song Xirui looked at the fool before her and nodded gently. "That is true. Father has sent people to deliver money, and they even managed to slip past your watchful eyes. However..."

"However what?!" Su Yun stared at her intensely. She dared to play tricks right under his nose!

Song Xirui gave a light哼 and offered the two a look of pure contempt, her tone playful. "However, I told him the Su family treats me very well and that you would surely care for me and not let me suffer, so I sent the bank notes back!"

"You!" Su Yun flew into a rage, his resentment surging to his brain. He raised his hand high, but Song Xirui stared back at him without a hint of fear.

"Su Yun, if you dare lay a single finger on me, I will make sure you suffer misfortune for the rest of your life!"

Su Yun’s raised hand eventually dropped.

Seeing this, Song Xirui curtsied. "I have said what I needed to say. I shall take my leave."

She turned and left with decisive steps, giving Su Yun no chance to stop her, leaving the two of them standing there, red-faced and gasping for air.

***

Back in her room.

"Madam! You were magnificent just now! That was truly satisfying!" Hongdou gave a thumbs-up, her face full of admiration.

Song Xirui sipped some tea to soothe her throat. She was a lady of high breeding and usually kept her composure, never losing her temper even when provoked. But after meeting people like Madam Li and Su Yun, she realized that for unreasonable scoundrels, there was no need for civility.

Just as they were talking, a maid from the courtyard ran in.

"Madam, Chunfeng from the young master’s courtyard just came to say that our monthly allowances are being cut in half!"

The Su family was stingy to begin with, and their allowances were already lower than those in other houses. If they were cut in half now, how were the servants supposed to survive?

"That heartless, stinking young master!" Hongdou clenched her small fists, indignant.

Song Xirui poked her. "No loose talk; walls have ears." She then turned to the maid. "Tell the servants in the courtyard that whatever the young master has deducted, I will make up for it in full. Furthermore, I will add an extra thirty percent to your original allowances. I will not treat you unfairly."

The maid’s eyes lit up, and she nodded immediately. "Thank you, Madam! I’ll go tell them now!"

After she left, Song Xirui looked at Hongdou. "Hongdou, do you know how to make paper dolls?"

The maid, still simmering with indignation, blinked. "Huh?"

An incense stick of time later, five white paper figures joined together at the hands lay before Song Xirui.

"Look, Madam, I made these. Not bad, right?" Hongdou laughed, though she added, "But these white paper dolls feel a bit ominous."

Song Xirui glanced at them and smiled faintly. "It’s fine. Ominous is exactly what I need."

If Su Yun dared to mistreat those in her courtyard, he would have to learn the consequences of angering her.

She sent Hongdou away and extinguished the candles in the room, leaving only one lamp burning on the table. Song Xirui sat before it, the dim yellow light highlighting her beautiful face, yet her eyes were filled with coldness.

She closed her eyes, crossed her hands with fingers pressed together, and began to chant silently.

Suddenly, she opened her starry eyes, and the five connected paper figures before her began to move!

Her thin lips parted, and her words were chilling: "Go. Share some of your misfortune with him, and you shall live better for it."

The five little paper figures looked left and right, then nodded in unison.

Song Xirui blew out the final candle, and there was a rustling sound in the dark. When she relit the candle, the table was empty.

***

In the side hall.

"Yun'er, we’ve completely offended Song Xirui now. Do you think she’ll tell her father and provoke the Marquis’s estate to deal with the Su family?" Madam Li, having vented her temper, was now consumed with worry.

"What’s done is done. What’s the use of regretting it now?" Su Yun’s eyes flashed with malice. "We must find a way to manipulate her!" He had had enough of being so humble!

"Right!" Madam Li slapped her forehead and gasped. "Yun'er, you still haven't consummated the marriage with her, have you?"

"Consummated the marriage?" Su Yun paused, then realized. "That’s right! Once she is pregnant with my child, can she still be so arrogant?"

At that moment, in the corner, the five paper figures exerted their strength together, and a black aura began to spread toward the pair.

Su Yun, who had been standing perfectly still, suddenly slipped and fell flat on his face.

Madam Li, who was gloating while imagining Song Xirui’s humiliation, was knocked into by her own son. Being elderly and unsteady, she hit the corner of the table before tumbling to the ground, howling in pain.

The two of them rolled about in a heap, their momentary triumph vanishing into thin air.

***

Begonia Courtyard.

Before long, Hongdou ran in, beaming with joy.