Her voice suddenly grew heavier, “Forcing me to admit I lost my virtue would be like putting Deng Ying to death. Zhang Luo is with the Embroidered Uniform Guard – if the Hall of Supreme Harmony isn’t completed, the Emperor’s displeasure won’t benefit him. I dare to see him because I bet he won’t do anything to me. No matter how composed he appears now, how he treats brother, in his heart he merely hopes we’ll voluntarily break off the engagement to avoid involving our sister in the palace and troubling his great master.”
Though Yang Wan’s words were quiet, their meaning was sharp.
Hearing this, Yang Lun felt his throat grow cold. He swallowed unconsciously, and that chill sensation flowed into his stomach.
He stared at Yang Wan’s eyes in amazement, gradually beginning to scrutinize her.
“How do you know about the affairs of the Directorate of Ceremonial and the court?”
Yang Wan replied: “Am I just a lifeless object in this household? When you all talk, I can hear some things too.”
Yang Lun looked at her without immediately responding.
After a long silence, he suddenly shook his head: “No, even though I might occasionally say a few extra words in front of you and your sister-in-law, I’ve never spoken to this extent.”
“Then perhaps I haven’t lived here in vain.”
Yang Wan continued his thought, “I haven’t finished speaking. Brother, let me see Zhang Luo. I’ll break off this engagement myself.”
“Not, don’t even think about it!”
Xiao Wen said worriedly: “Yes, don’t go. He’s like the King of Hell, you can’t face him.”
Yang Wan looked at Yang Lun, “I don’t want you to shield me. This matter originally had nothing to do with you.”
“Stop saying such heartless things!”
Yang Wan opened her mouth but fell silent, feeling somewhat regretful.
Indeed, her previous words might have gone too far for Yang Lun.
The ancestral hall grew quiet for a moment. The warm, fine breeze from the hearth made Yang Wan’s face flush and Yang Lun’s eyes redden.
Seeing the standoff between them, Xiao Wen spoke to ease the tension: “If breaking the engagement could end this matter, that would be fine, but what about after? What will happen to our Wan’er? Won’t a perfectly good young lady be ruined?”
Following her voice, Yang Wan shifted her gaze from Yang Lun and gently held Xiao Wen’s hand, “Sister-in-law, don’t worry. Though I can’t defend myself against these accusations, chastity is something you either have or don’t have. Even if I can’t prove my innocence, there are still places in this world where I can seek justice.”
Yang Lun glanced at Xiao Wen.
Though she was his sister, he was still a man and couldn’t speak too much on this topic.
Xiao Wen understood Yang Lun’s meaning.
“Such words can’t be spoken lightly. What place could right such a hopeless wrong?”
“There is – the Palace Department of Imperial Attire.”
“The Department of Imperial Attire…”
Yang Wan nodded, habitually adopting her thesis-writing style, directly pointing to the temporal node and its corresponding historical facts.
“Since the tenth year of Zhenning, the Department of Imperial Attire’s selection of female servants requires them to be virgins. Participating in the selection can prove my innocence.”
After speaking, she smoothly laid out the path ahead.
“If I go see Zhang Luo, this matter won’t involve my brother’s moral character. Zhang Luo won’t be able to trouble their brother using the pretense of questioning imperial officials. Moreover, I need Zhang Luo’s attitude – the more he humiliates me, the better. I’m not afraid of those unpleasant words outside. After I enter the Department of Imperial Attire, the Zhang family’s breaking of the engagement will naturally become their evil act of forcibly sullying my reputation. Brother can then do the Zhang family a favor. As for Mother and Sister-in-law, they won’t have to hear those filthy things about me anymore.”
After listening to Yang Wan’s speech, Xiao Wen was stunned and could only stammer, “The way you speak, it sounds like you’re taking advantage of this storm, but…”
Her voice softened, and her eyes reddened, “To put a young lady’s reputation so nakedly on display for bargaining… it’s… it’s too unfair.”
Yang Wan didn’t feel there was anything wrong with this.
However, Yang Lun vaguely sensed that there was a layer to his sister before him that he increasingly couldn’t see clearly. Though she sat right in front of him, she was no longer like before, when she would only gently tug at his sleeve when encountering problems, asking him how to handle this or that.
Every sentence she spoke now calculated gains and losses, every matter weighed cause and effect. From Deng Ying to Zhang Luo, and finally, to herself – she had found ways to turn a dead game into a living one. This was completely beyond what the former Yang Wan could have conceived.
Most chilling was that when she spoke of these things, she showed none of the self-pity a woman might feel for her situation. She was even willing to put her reputation out for thousands to discuss to use. And remarkably, she wasn’t sad at all.
“What happened to you at the lakes?”
The words slipped out, too quiet for Yang Wan to hear, as she was still helping him consider the proper official and familial stance.
“Brother, hand me over. There’s no reason for me to hide at home after making such a big mistake, letting you take the burden. You’re an official in the Ministry – these are just small domestic matters of mine. These past few days have made you all ponder them like great affairs, which is unnecessary.”