Yu Mingyue took the handkerchief offered by Chidan and wiped her hands. "It seems I have no choice but to go."
Let her make a fuss; if she breaks the rules, everyone else will learn to do as they please, and the Yu family will truly be ruined.
Yu Mingyue stood up. Chidan draped a saffron-colored thick satin ribbon over her shoulders, instantly lending her bulky winter attire an air of dignity and grace.
The cold wind of the twelfth lunar month was biting, mixed with light snow. Yu Mingyue tightened her grip on the hand warmer, and the group headed towards the second branch of the family.
The maids in Madam Zhao's courtyard, upon seeing Yu Mingyue enter, felt as though they had been granted amnesty. They scurried to lift the curtain for her.
Madam Zhao was leaning on a couch, her face haggard, her hair disheveled, and tear stains still visible.
Yu Miaoyan stood by the couch, her eyes red like ripe peaches. Yu Erlang and Yu Mingchuan showed a hint of shame upon seeing Yu Mingyue.
They felt ashamed of their mother's actions and also of their own powerlessness. This was clearly the second branch's affair, yet it required their sixth sister to handle it.
"Sixth sister." Yu Mingchuan was so ashamed he could barely lift his head.
"Please trouble Second Brother to see if Second Uncle is in his study. If he is, please ask him to come over."
"Alright, thank you, Sixth Sister." Yu Mingchuan cupped his hands towards Yu Mingyue.
Yu Mingyue nodded and sat down on a chair opposite. Though small, she exuded an imposing presence that commanded respect. The young maids lowered their heads, afraid to speak.
Yu Miaoyan glared furiously at Yu Mingyue. "You're here to watch a spectacle, aren't you?"
Yu Mingyue took the tea offered by a maid and gently stirred the tea leaves floating on the surface with the lid. "Watch what spectacle? Aren't we family?"
"Who asked you to pretend to be kind!" Yu Miaoyan shouted, her eyes red.
"Has Eldest Sister only aged without growing a brain? If you were even a little bit smart, you wouldn't have incited Second Aunt and Second Uncle to make such a scene. If Second Uncle's heart is chilled and he divorces Second Aunt, and then marries a stepmother for Eldest Sister, will Eldest Sister's life be any better?" Yu Mingyue's voice suddenly turned stern.
Her words, though seemingly a reprimand to Yu Miaoyan, were actually directed at Madam Zhao.
"What right do you have to lecture me? I am the eldest daughter of the Duke's mansion." Yu Miaoyan resented this the most.
"Shouldn't you be lectured? Didn't Eldest Sister herself dislike the Li family's eldest son because his family background was too humble and he wasn't a son of a marquis or duke, and refuse to marry him? Now that his father has been promoted to Vice Minister of Personnel, you think he's good enough?"
"I didn't! You're talking nonsense!" Yu Miaoyan's secret thoughts had been exposed, and naturally, she refused to admit it.
"You know best whether you did or not. Is Eldest Sister truly a beauty of unparalleled grace, or a daughter of royalty and nobility? Do you think all men in the world should be at your beck and call? Or perhaps Eldest Sister simply cannot stand to see her own sisters marry well?"
Yu Mingyue placed her teacup on the table with a thud, her gaze growing colder.
Yu Miaoyan's face was filled with shame and indignation. She couldn't refute, nor could she withstand Yu Mingyue's imposing aura, so she could only cry.
Madam Zhao couldn't bear to see her daughter wronged. "It was your Second Uncle who wanted to divorce me. Why are you scolding her?"
Yu Mingyue gave a cold laugh. "If that's the case, why did Second Aunt call me here? To watch the second branch descend into chaos? If Second Uncle truly intends to divorce Second Aunt, can I, as a junior, stop him?"
"You..." Madam Zhao was so choked she almost couldn't breathe. "You are in charge of the Duke's mansion now. If not you, who else should I find, my own mother?"
"Since Second Aunt acknowledges that I am in charge and has invited me here, then you should listen to my arrangements. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind if Second Uncle found me a young and beautiful new Second Aunt." Yu Mingyue was not being polite.
"You..." Madam Zhao almost choked to death.
Was this how a young girl should speak to her elders?