Chapter 2: The Groom’s Fate
702 Words
The stone-paved path lay ruined under muddy ice. Following Steward Liu through winding corridors and snow-draped gardens, Song Muzhou arrived at the guest hall.
“Third Young Master, please change in the antechamber.”
No sooner had he entered than two maids materialized, stripping his coarse robe without ceremony. Shivering, Song Muzhou allowed them to dress him in silken garments that shimmered like moonlight on snow—luxurious fabric unmistakably tailored for nobility.
“These belong to the Second Young Master,” snapped Yingtao, one of the maids, as she tightened his sash. “Don’t soil them. They’ll be returned.”
Her tone held no reverence for a supposed master. Head bowed, Song Muzhou endured the humiliation. After washing his face and combing his hair, he was ushered into the main hall.
Warmth and incense enveloped him as the curtain lifted. Golden dust swirled in lamplight around a twelve-panel sandalwood screen depicting plump children—symbols of fertility. At the chamber’s head sat Lord Song Tian, his biological father, flanked by First Madam Liu. Below them clustered Song clan elders and three richly dressed strangers whose scowls deepened at Song Muzhou’s entrance.
Second Madam Chen—a concubine permitted to stand behind the First Madam—bustled forward with saccharine cheer. “Esteemed Su family, behold our Muzhou! Scholarly, refined, a talented scholar!” She dragged him before the guests like a merchant hawking wares. “While others played, this child devoted himself to—”
“This is your ‘third son’?” The lead Su clansman, Su Mingli, slammed his teacup. “Song Tian! You dare break our betrothal?”
Lord Song traced the tiger-head jade ring on his thumb, unperturbed. “The pact sworn by our fathers stands. The Song family honors its word.”
“Liar!” A burly Su clansman surged to his feet. “The vow united my niece Qianxun with your second son Song Li—not this gutter-born bastard!”
Second Madam Chen simpered, “The contract merely states ‘a Song son.’ Our eldest is in the capital, the second immersed in imperial exams. Surely—”
“So you pawn off this stray cur?” Su Mingli’s snarl echoed through the hall.
Song Muzhou’s fingers curled. Marriage? No—worse.
“Groom-taking?” He barely suppressed a flinch. To be a zhuixu—a live-in son-in-law—was social death, stripping a man of lineage and dignity. This explained the Song family’s “generosity”: exile him as a sacrificial pawn, voiding both his inheritance rights and the inconvenient betrothal.
The youngest Su delegate sneered, “Now that the Su family’s fortunes wane, you toss us scraps?”
Lord Song raised a placating hand. “I shall personally explain to Patriarch Su Mingwen tomorrow. The Song family keeps its—”
“See that you do!” The Su delegates stormed out, ignoring Song Muzhou as one would a stain.
Once their footsteps faded, Second Madam Chen’s mask slipped. “Fools! That girl was kidn*pped at ten, only retrieved this year at sixteen—who knows what filth she’s endured? Our Li’er will enter Heaven’s Gate Academy! Why shackle him to sullied goods?”
First Madam Liu finally spoke, her prayer beads clacking like bones. “Worse—the girl’s mind broke in captivity. She neither speaks nor smiles. A living doll.”
“An i***t?” Chen cackled. “No wonder they’re desperate!”
Their laughter carved into Song Muzhou. A pawn. A joke. A ghost in his own home.
“Now you understand.”
The voice slithered from behind. Song Muzhou turned to meet First Madam Liu’s serpentine smile. “Your mother, were she alive…”
Suddenly, another voice screamed in his mind:
That b***h died clawing her bedsheets, screaming injustice—
He staggered as Second Madam Chen grabbed his arm. Skin contact unleashed a flood:
Liu’s the real viper! She made me summon his mother that night—
Song Muzhou wrenched free with a coughing fit, cold sweat drenching his borrowed finery.
He could hear their thoughts.
The First Madam’s poisoned honey.
The Second Madam’s guilty terror.
And beneath it all—the truth of his mother’s murder.
- Writer
