Chapter 38: Are You Blind?

If only she knew!

Madam Meng pointed at her again, "You have been fainting frequently and vomiting from time to time lately; if this isn't pregnancy, what is it?!"

A clear, elegant figure moved to block her finger. Jiang Li, with a cold face, retorted, "Is there any evidence?"

Madam Meng was silenced, and her finger instinctively retracted.

Meng Boji also felt that something was wrong, but he refused to concede. "Whether she is pregnant... one test will tell!"

He could not have been mistaken. Her nausea, vomiting, and occasional fainting were surely symptoms of morning sickness!

The Lady of the State, for once, listened to him and waved her hand grandly. "Go! Fetch Physician Liang from the Imperial Medical Academy for me—"

Officer Lu, feeling helpless, signaled to one of the guards, who took the order and left.

Just then, others arrived outside the crowd. It was the Administrator of the Swallow Pavilion, along with the two masters of dance and music.

They pushed through the crowd, first bowing to Jiang Li, then paying their respects to the Lady of the State and Officer Lu in turn.

The Administrator handed a household register to Officer Lu. "Officer Lu, this is what Young Master Jiang instructed me to bring."

Officer Lu frowned as he took it. "What is this?"

The Administrator smiled. "The household register of the performers from the Swallow Pavilion."

He considerately flipped to a specific page and pointed to a spot. "Right here, the registration for Lady Xia Qingfei."

Upon hearing this, Meng Boji forgot his pain. He and Madam Meng looked up sharply, their eyes wide and their faces turning pale again.

Following the Administrator's finger, Officer Lu began to read aloud slowly.

"Xia Qingfei, native of Lu County, Qingzhou..."

He had barely finished the first sentence when Officer Lu turned his head to cast a strange look at Meng Boji.

As a top scholar who had been honored with the title of Hanlin Academician, his background was naturally known to everyone.

Whispers were already spreading among the commoners.

"Isn't Academician Meng from Lu County, Qingzhou?!"

"The Nan family's lady was right after all; this Lady Xia from the Swallow Pavilion really is a fellow townsman of the Meng family!"

"No wonder Madam Meng liked her so much and often summoned her to the Meng residence to perform. They must be old acquaintances with a deep connection!"

"So it’s perfectly normal that he had an affair with her long ago, isn't it? They claimed she was there to perform, but who knows what they did behind closed doors?!"

Officer Lu hadn't arrived when Nan Yan was speaking earlier, but he had caught most of it by now. Combined with the well-known fact that Madam Meng often had the Swallow Pavilion's Lady Xia perform at their residence, he managed to piece the story together.

Without further comment, he continued reading. "Entered the Swallow Pavilion in the fourth month of the sixth year of Tianxing..."

Officer Lu paused again, casting another complex look at Meng Boji.

The crowd became indignant.

"The sixth year of Tianxing was only three years ago!"

"Academician Meng was the top scholar in the autumn examinations three years ago. The exams were in August, and Lady Nan met him during the Dragon Boat Festival three years ago..."

Those who were sharp had already connected the timeline.

"This is uncertain. Academician Meng must have reunited with Lady Xia first and had an affair, then met Lady Nan and fell in love at first sight... Tsk, tsk, for a scholar to be so fickle is truly despicable!"

"If he were just fickle, why would he pursue Lady Nan so crazily and promise to marry her once he became the top scholar?"

"The Nan family funded his studies so he could gain fame and rank. He was probably already entangled with Lady Xia in private back then!"

"That someone like this could become a top scholar—heaven truly has no eyes!"

"The key is that after he became the top scholar, he continued to deceive Lady Nan, coveting the power and status of the Duke's estate, kneeling at her door for three days and nights to beg for her hand!"

"Weren't they saying he has been keeping Lady Xia as a mistress for two years? They married after the autumn exams three years ago, that’s less than half a year before he started keeping a mistress!"

"The vows he made while kneeling at the Duke's gate now appear to be nothing but lies!"

"Now that the Nan family is in trouble, he has even divorced Lady Nan to marry his mistress, all while plotting to seize her dowry and her family's assets. This is truly not the work of a human—"

"Lady Nan is truly too tragic..."

...

Hearing the commoners finally reconstruct the truth accurately, the corners of Nan Yan's eyes turned crimson as tears welled up.

The pain and hatred inflicted by the Meng family roiled in her chest, nearly suffocating her, and she could not help but sway.

A cool hand steadied her just in time.

Looking up at Jiang Li's fragile yet perfect face, she suddenly remembered last night, and the pain in her heart flared again, causing tears to fall.

Bie Zhi and Mother Su hurried forward to support her.

Nan Yan and Jiang Li were currently at the center of the storm, and they truly did not want their mistress to suffer any more from gossip.

Jiang Li understood. The moment he let go, his palm felt empty, and his heart felt hollow as well.

The words of the commoners were like sharp daggers pointed straight at Meng Boji.

Madam Meng could no longer listen and roared angrily, "What evidence do you have that my grandson had an affair with Lady Xia long ago?!"

"It was clearly that harlot who seduced my grandson! After she married into our Meng family, she neglected him and showed no respect to her elders. I only summoned Qingfei to the residence to perform so he could find some relief; that’s how they reunited!"

"The only reason they developed feelings was because that harlot looked down on my grandson and neglected him. If he kept Qingfei as a mistress, it was all her own doing!"

Even at this point, the old woman was still throwing mud.

Before Nan Yan could speak, the two masters of dance and music stepped forward to clarify things for her.

"We can testify that long before Academician Meng met the Nan family's lady, he was already involved with Lady Xia!"

"Lady Xia confided in many performers at the Swallow Pavilion that she once had a good relationship with a scholar from her hometown who was full of talent and destined to succeed in the examinations."

"But her father owed many gambling debts and, refusing to let her be with a penniless scholar, sold her into the Swallow Pavilion."

"Whenever she mentioned that lover, she always called him 'Young Master Meng'!"

The two masters fixed their gazes directly on Meng Boji.

The Administrator delivered the most fatal blow: "A few days ago, Lady Xia's deed of indenture was redeemed, and it was Academician Meng who accompanied her."

Everything was self-evident.

They were both from Lu County, Qingzhou; both were old acquaintances of Xia Qingfei; both had become top scholars three years ago; and both shared the surname Meng—only Meng Boji fit the description.

With the evidence as solid as a mountain, Meng Boji collapsed like a deflated ball, clutching his swollen cheek, unable to utter a single word.

The Lady of the State spat at him again, filled with disdain.

"A legitimate daughter of a Duke's estate married down to you, and you didn't know how to cherish her, instead treating a performer from the Swallow Pavilion like a treasure... Meng Boji, are you blind?"

She pointed at Nan Yan. "You didn't want a beauty as pitiful and lovely as the Nan family's lady, yet you coveted a common, vulgar woman like Xia Qingfei?!"

Meng Boji, slumped on the ground, had no retort and silently lowered his head.

The Lady of the State turned to Nan Yan and said, "Lady Nan, do not be sad! In my opinion, you should kick such a man to the curb! He is the one who is blind and doesn't know how to cherish you, and he still has the audacity to shamelessly scheme for your dowry and the Nan family's property..."