0126 Lucky Babbler (Part 5)

When Shu Fu arrived at Yunxian Residence, the door to the main room was tightly closed. Granny Li glanced at the door, turned around and smiled apologetically at her: "Second Miss, please wait here for a moment. Madam may not have gotten up yet."

Upon hearing this, Shu Fu tilted her head back slightly and saw a pale blue sky, cloudless and already very bright.

She withdrew her gaze, walked around to the side, bypassed Granny Li, and reached out to push open the door: "In that case, I'll go inside and wait for Mother. I'll keep my voice down so as not to disturb her."

"Second Miss—" Granny Li turned around in surprise, reaching out to tug at Shu Fu's sleeve, but Shu Fu avoided her.

Shu Fu placed her hand on the door and pushed it slightly, and the door opened with a "creak".

The interior was somewhat gloomy. The sunlight filtering through the window was fragmented by the cracks in the clouds above it, briefly dangling into the small patch of sky beneath the window, making the whole house appear rather gray.

Shu Fu paused for a moment, then looked towards the seat in the center, and sure enough, she saw Mrs. Luo sitting there, dressed neatly.

The other woman had her hair styled in a slanted bun, her eyebrows were lightly painted, and her upper and lower garments were both made of moon white, clearly colors that evoked a sense of sunshine. Yet, Shu Fu inexplicably felt that many of the dark colors in the room were extending onto her.

She stared at Luo Shi for a long while, then stepped aside to let in the bright sunshine from outside.

Luo's eyebrows furrowed slightly, her eyes stinging from the slivers of light, and she turned away, her gaze settling on Shu Fu.

"I haven't even called you yet, why did you come in first?"

Shu Fu pursed her lips and said frankly, "The sun is about to rise, and I don't want to stand under the sun and suffer in the heat."

Luo was slightly taken aback. Seeing that she had replied, she actually sat down on a round chair to the side.

Madam Luo frowned even more deeply, thinking to herself that it was indeed because she had spent so much time with Princess Huayang a few days ago that her obedient and well-behaved daughter had also started to disobey her.

But Shuf was already seated, and she couldn't possibly ask her to stand up.

Having failed to achieve her goal of reprimanding you, Madam Luo felt quite frustrated. After calming herself down slightly, she spoke again: "Princess Huayang is a noblewoman of the imperial family. She is willing to promote you, and I know you cannot refuse."

“But you are already sixteen years old. You have a marriage agreement with the Liang family. After this year, you will become a Liang family wife. It is not appropriate for you to continue to associate with a young lady like the princess. Otherwise, what will the Liang family think of you?”

"Next time she invites you, just decline as many times as you've accepted. Be polite and courteous, and as long as you don't rudely, there's really no need to..." (Hong Shao Hu + Group 01)

“A lady like a princess? What kind of lady is a princess?” Shu Fu suddenly raised her eyes and interrupted her, “Mother, be careful what you say.”

Realizing she had spoken out of turn, Ms. Luo quickly shut her mouth.

No matter how much she despised Li Miao's practice of keeping retainers, she could not openly admit it, since Li Miao was still surnamed Li.

"Moreover, I associate with the princess only because I am willing to associate with her. If others are unhappy, so be it. I will never break off my friendship with the princess because of other people's feelings. Besides, the so-called 'how they will think of me' is from the Liang family, so it is not worth my time to think about it."

Luo said angrily, "Isn't it worth your worrying? Afu, that's your future husband's family. If you don't keep them in mind, how can you expect them to treat you sincerely?"

She sighed slowly: "There are many things I didn't want to tell you, but now I realize I was wrong. You've grown up, so I'll explain everything to you one by one."

"Regarding Liang Zhiyan's matter, you can let it go by being a little temperamental, but you must not keep harping on it. Otherwise, you might wear down his sense of guilt and end up making him resent you."

“I know you feel disgusted that he has an affair with your sister, but he still cares about you. Even if he has other concubines in the future, they will never surpass you. He is already luckier than many women in the world.”

“No matter how unhappy you are, he is still your husband. Rather than harboring resentment towards him and becoming a bickering couple, wouldn’t it be better to let this matter go and let him always feel guilty towards you and put you first in everything?”

Luo spoke to Shu Fu with heartfelt sincerity, her words flowing like pearls. Although she loved Shu Mingde more, Shu Fu was also her daughter, and she was willing to offer Shu Fu guidance on matters that did not conflict with Shu Mingde's future.

Liang Zhiyan's scandal has already been exposed. What can Shu Fu do but feel resentful? All the resentment and arguing will only harm her health in the end. Why not let it go from the beginning? At least she can gain some benefits and it will be more convenient for her to act in the inner quarters of the Liang family in the future.

"You are still young and want to argue about everything, but how many truths are there in this world? Everyone goes through trials and tribulations to get through this life, including your mother, and so do all the ladies and wives in Chang'an."

"Your mother hopes you can be more clear-headed and not let love cloud your judgment. Since he has done something shameful, from now on you should only treat him as family, not your husband. You should only live together and not talk about feelings at all. Would that make you feel better?"

Having said everything she had to say, Madam Luo believed she had laid bare her heart and revealed all her intentions. With hopeful eyes, she looked up at Shu Fu, hoping that Shu Fu would come over, take her hand, and hold her close as she had done countless times before, saying, "Mother, I understand."

But Shu Fu remained seated, listening silently to her words. Then, she suddenly looked up, her dark eyes like a pair of cold, bright stars, and said to her, word by word, "Mother, I don't want to."

Shu Fu stood up and took two steps closer to her: "What's the difference between being Liang Zhiyan's wife with a cold face and being Liang Zhiyan's wife with great enthusiasm? It's just that he doesn't get much affection from me, but he has so many concubines. The grievances he suffers from me are nothing to him. He still lives his carefree life."

"But what about me? I'll still have to manage the household affairs and the house for him, confined to that small courtyard for the rest of my life, looking at that square sky. Does Mother think that's what it means to be awake?"

This is not clarity, but numbness.

Shu Fu clenched her fingers, but didn't say the first sentence. Instead, she said, "I know that there are many unfortunate women like this in Chang'an and throughout the world. I feel sorry for them, but I don't want to be one of them. I have to be different so that they can know that they could have had a different life."

Luo scoffed and said coldly, "Naive and foolish!"

But what great undertaking doesn't begin with naive and straightforward people? This world truly needs some innocent and uninhibited spirit.

Shufu turned her face away and did not refute.

Luo continued, "If what you say is true, that a man with a concubine is no longer fit to be a husband?"

"Yes," she replied firmly.

Luo laughed again, her eyes gradually filled with a hint of pity: "But in this world, men and women are not the same. It is common for men to have three wives and four concubines. No matter how resentful you are, it is useless."

Shu Fu's eyes hardened, her tone resolute: "We are all flesh and blood born from the father's sperm and the mother's blood. A few ounces of flesh in life, a pile of bones in death, what's the difference? If I only have him as my husband, then he should only have me as his wife, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Luo looked at her with a sneer, but in her heart she was thinking about how the other woman would refute her.

Does this mean we should carefully choose a good person before getting married?

But all men in the world are like this!

Is he the forty-year-old, childless Chancellor in the court? Although he has no concubines, he already has a maidservant by his side.

Or perhaps it's Emperor Chongde. But His Majesty is only forty-three years old now. He is devoted to the Empress now, but what about ten or twenty years from now?

Since things have come to this, it's better to let go of it and stop caring, then there will be no more pain.

Seeing that Shu Fu did not answer for a long time, Luo's pounding heart finally calmed down a little.

She reached for a cup of tea, only to realize that she had already drunk it all without her noticing, leaving only half a cup of bright green, curled tea leaves.

Before she could even call someone in to refill her tea, the young girl in front of her suddenly spoke up: "If that's the case, why get married at all?"

Why get married? Is there any woman in this world who doesn't get married?

Mrs. Luo looked at her with surprise and disbelief.

"If a marriage is to be made, the couple must be family, and the woman must be happy from the bottom of her heart. If a marriage is only obtained through compromise and humiliation, it is better not to have one at all."

Shu Fu smiled slightly: "In the end, it all comes down to two words: 'happiness.' As long as you can be happy, it's good even if you don't get married."

"That's utter nonsense! What woman in the world doesn't get married? Is that how Princess Huayang taught you?" Luo Shi was furious and grabbed a teacup, smashing it hard towards Shu Fu.

Shu Fu was prepared and dodged to the side, but when she looked up at Luo Shi again, her eyes were filled with utter disappointment.

Luo panicked and quickly got up to grab her hand: "Mother acted impulsively just now, I hope I didn't hurt you?"

Shu Fu stared at her intently for a long time before slowly shaking her head.

Luo was flustered and didn't know what to say. She turned back to her seat and noticed a freshly picked lily lying diagonally in a white jade vat on the table beside her. Its fragrance was so sweet it made her dizzy.

She reached out and snapped the lily in half, then pulled Shufu's hand over, spreading the snow-white flower in her soft palm. She then used her fingertips to delicately part the jade-green petals of the flower, as if caressing a precious treasure.

“Your mother named you ‘Fu’, clearly hoping you would be as gentle and obedient as a lotus flower. How did you end up looking like this?”

After a long standoff, Shufu suddenly spoke up: "But Mother never told me this before."

The girl caught the flower in her palm with her backhand, her slender and strong fingers tearing apart the petals. The skin on her finger bones was as clean as white jade pulled from cold water, but because of the force she used, blue veins appeared, winding and slanting, like willow branches that were hard to break.

"Even the most delicate flower has its bones and muscles. I didn't know my mother's intention in naming me before. I just thought my name was taken from the fragrant orchid in Qu Yuan's poem, to remind myself to be resilient and unyielding. Now that I've made up my mind, I can't go back to that."

After saying that, she gently placed the wilted lilies on the table and walked out without looking back.

After Shu Fu left, Madam Luo sat there blankly for a long time, unable to come back to her senses until Granny Li stepped in and called "Madam" several times before she regained her composure.

"What about the second young lady..."

Luo snorted: "Stubborn and obstinate, yet eloquent."

“Then…” Granny Li hesitated slightly.

Luo asked, "Have you found what I asked you to find?"

Granny Li nodded hesitantly.

Is that thing truly harmless to the body?

Granny Li nodded again.

Madam Luo let out a breath, her body slumped against the back of the chair, her eyes slightly glistening, and murmured, "Why can't Afu be more obedient? Why does she have to force her mother..."