The maternal aunt Mrs. Shen mentioned was Shen Tingyu's mother, the Heir's wife of the Duke Mansion.
With such a noble status, acting as a matchmaker would also show that Cui Lingyao was not some helpless, unsupported orphan. She had the backing of the Duke Mansion.
If the original owner of this body had listened to her mother and chosen to marry a man with potential, her life as a young miss related to the Duke Mansion would not have been difficult.
If her husband had proven successful, achieving the honor of a noble title would not have been out of the question.
Unfortunately, she was dead set on running into the brick wall that was Shen Tingyu.
Not only did she die suddenly from the seductive powder, but she had also mistakenly pulled Cui Lingyao's soul in with her.
This left her to face such a pitiful mother.
Cui Lingyao's heart ached. She couldn't bring herself to lie.
She lowered her head in silence, and after a moment, Mrs. Shen spoke again.
She couldn't bear to pressure her daughter. With a soft sigh, she said, "If you didn't see anyone you liked, then let's just forget it. You're still young, you don't know how to judge people's character. It would be terrible if someone were to deceive you."
'I'll still have to trouble my sister-in-law to help find a few candidates for my daughter,' she thought.
'My sister-in-law is the Heir's wife. She has managed the household of the Duke Mansion for many years and has a sharp eye for character. Having her choose a husband for my daughter would indeed be more reassuring.'
Cui Lingyao's brow furrowed tightly.
She had only exchanged a few words with Mrs. Shen.
But she already had a new understanding of her own situation.
'I have no father or elder brothers. I'm living with my maternal relatives. I've already come of age—sixteen years old.'
'My mother is gravely ill, and she's desperate to see her daughter find a good home before she closes her eyes for the last time.'
'In a situation like this, marriage is imminent.'
'That's probably why the original owner got so desperate she resorted to extreme measures, even daring to use an aphrodisiac on Shen Tingyu.'
Now she was dead and gone, and Cui Lingyao was left to face this mess. She couldn't think of any reason to avoid getting married either.
Even if it was just to give the original owner's mother some peace of mind, it seemed she had to get married.
It was not up to her to say no.
Unless she could complete her mission and leave this world before the wedding.
But that was obviously not enough time.
Ignoring the minor details, just the ten months of pregnancy and waiting for Xie Jinbai's child to be born would take almost a year.
And she was afraid Mrs. Shen's body wouldn't last a year.
That night, Cui Lingyao tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
She didn't know how to resolve the current situation.
'Is there any way to not get married…'
'Or, if I really have to marry, could I find a marriage of convenience, one without romance or sharing a bed?'
「Prince Yu's Mansion.」
A full moon hung high in a sky full of stars, its bright, clear light blanketing the world.
The chirping of insects drifted in through the window on the summer night's breeze.
The study was brightly lit.
Xie Jinbai, dressed in casual robes with narrow sleeves and a crossed collar, sat at his desk. He slowly unrolled a dossier that the Yulin Guards had urgently delivered.
He had only given the order to thoroughly investigate Pei Shuyao that afternoon, but in just a few hours, they already had results.
The sixteen years of Pei Shuyao's life had been completely and thoroughly investigated.
And now, it was all laid out before him in the dossier.
A pampered young lady raised in the inner quarters really didn't have a life full of twists and turns.
Two years after her birth, she lost her father.
For the next eleven years, she was in Pingzhou, raised solely by her widowed mother.
During that time, the mother and daughter suffered considerable neglect from the Pei Family.
However, mindful of Mrs. Shen's origins in the Duke Mansion, the Pei family didn't dare go too far.
Later, as Mrs. Shen's health deteriorated day by day, she worried that after her death, the Pei Family would ruin her daughter's future. She insisted on taking Pei Shuyao and her own dowry back to the Capital City.
Three years ago, in the dead of winter, thirteen-year-old Pei Shuyao moved into the Duke Mansion.
The man's perpetually calm expression suddenly froze. Violent emotions surged in the depths of his eyes, tinged with a crimson, deathly aura, as he stared fixedly at the line of black ink on the dossier: "three years ago, in the dead of winter."
'She arrived in the Capital City three years ago.'
'...Could it be a coincidence?'
'Could there really be so many coincidences?'
The wellspring of his heart, long drained of life, desolate and without hope, began to tremble faintly, as if about to overflow once more.
Xie Jinbai's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to calm his racing heart before continuing to read.
Now, Pei Shuyao was sixteen years old.
And for the three years she had been in the Capital City, she had been infatuated with her eldest cousin for three years.
Most of the dossier was filled with the foolish things she had done for Shen Tingyu.
Sending sachets, sending pastries, sending nourishing soups.
Intercepting him on the path, pretending to be unsteady on her feet, trying to fall into Shen Tingyu's arms.
Hearing that Shen Xianyu enjoyed the qin, she carried a Yaolin zither and burst into his study late at night, wanting to perform for him.
After being rejected, she threw caution to the wind and directly confessed her feelings.
Her posture was extremely humble.
She never dreamed of being his primary wife.
She didn't even dare to fantasize about being a noble concubine.
The status of a common concubine would have been enough to satisfy her.
The Yulin Guards were Xie Jinbai's trusted aides, their methods secretive and all-pervasive. Additionally, Shen Tingyu had posted several servants outside his study that day to avoid any impropriety, so the incident was hardly a secret. As a result, the dossier recorded it in minute detail.
It clearly documented all of Pei Shuyao's actions that night—not only her eagerness to become a concubine, but also her attempt to "loosen her robes and offer herself to him."
Reading this made a vein in Xie Jinbai's temple throb.
He suppressed a wave of disgust and continued to scan the page.
Soon, the dossier's account reached the events of that day.
In the afternoon, when he had encountered her, she had indeed been poisoned with an aphrodisiac.
It was seductive powder.
And she had prepared the damn thing herself, intending to use it on Shen Tingyu, but had ingested it by mistake.
The entire report was a litany of foolish, absurd, and preposterous acts.
Xie Jinbai couldn't help but wonder if he had been wrong.
After all, his Yaoyao, who seemed soft-tempered and easygoing, was in reality cold-hearted and unfeeling, filled with pride, and incredibly petty.
Three years ago, he had carefully taken his sincere heart and offered all of it to her.
She had completely ignored it, not once considering returning his feelings in kind.
'But for Shen Tingyu, she's so eager to be a concubine?'
He didn't believe it!
But that afternoon, her reaction to seeing him while under the drug's influence had certainly been strange.
Especially her eyes…
Recalling those misty almond eyes again, Xie Jinbai felt his very soul tremble.
He gripped the dossier tightly, his gaze falling to Li Yong, who was kneeling on one knee before him.
"What did you find out about Cui Mingrui?"
His voice was hoarse and dry.
Li Yong bent his back even lower and reported, "According to our investigation, today was the first time Cui Shizi and Miss Pei have ever met. At the time, Miss Pei was under the influence of the seductive powder. It just so happened that Cui Shizi was passing by the room. When she saw him, she ignored Mr. Shen's attempts to stop her and rushed forward…"
Here, Li Yong paused, his tone filled with bewildered surprise. "She called the Princely Heir… 'Big Brother.'"
Big Brother.
The two simple words were as light as a feather, yet to Xie Jinbai, they weighed a thousand pounds.
He shot to his feet and demanded sharply, "What did you say!"
"Your subordinate would not dare speak a single false word. Miss Pei did indeed call Cui Shizi 'Big Brother' upon their very first meeting… however…"
"However what?"
The heavy pressure intensified, and Li Yong dropped to both knees with a THUD. "However, Miss Pei was under the influence of the seductive powder at the time. It is highly likely she mistook him for someone else."
Xie Jinbai: "..."
He seemed to have been struck dumb, his body turning rigid inch by inch as he stood there, motionless, for a long time.