Chapter 13 Wanyan and Mingzhao: "I'm setting you free."
Xie Wanyan and Wei Mingzhao
Extra three
Xie Wanyan let go of her hand, took a step back in a daze, and almost fell, but luckily she grabbed the wall behind her.
Wei Mingzhao's outstretched hand hovered there, his fingers clenched, before he stiffly withdrew it.
"Wei Mingzhao, why can't you speak properly?"
After a suffocating silence, she suddenly spoke.
Xie Wanyan lowered her head, her expression blank, but tears streamed down her face. "I think I can understand what you're thinking. You feel that if something happens at home, you should stay away from me and my family. Maybe you're also angry with me because of Xie Lang. If you told me that, I would understand."
She seemed unaware that she was crying, and her tone of voice remained as steady as ever.
But the tears left water stains on the ground.
"Even if you tell me to wait for you for a few years, until you make a comeback, I will wait."
"But you should never have, never have trampled on my sincerity and our past friendship like this."
After he said that, Xie Wanyan didn't look at him again. As she turned away, she simply said, "I'm setting you free. From now on, even if I die, I, Xie Wanyan, will never come looking for you again."
She raised her proud head, her glistening tears reflecting the brilliant sunlight.
At this moment, she was the esteemed eldest daughter of the Marquis of Zhongwu's mansion. Her words, seemingly sarcastic yet carrying a hint of indifference after profound disappointment, said, "I will grant your wish."
He walked away without looking back.
The footsteps faded into the distance, then suddenly a muffled thud.
Wei Mingzhao slammed his fist into the blue brick wall, and his knuckles were instantly covered in blood and flesh.
Xie Wanyan returned to her residence.
Although he left so gracefully, his heart was still aching.
She fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed, drifting in and out of sleep, not knowing what she was dreaming about, tears streaming down her face.
From that day on, Xie Wanyan fell ill.
The illness came on suddenly and was severe, keeping her bedridden for a month. Various medicinal soups were constantly being prepared in her boudoir, and even the bed curtains seemed to be permeated with the bitter smell of medicine.
She was in a daze, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Sometimes she seemed to see Wei Mingzhao standing beside her bed, his eyes filled with tears, looking at her with sorrow.
Xia Ru was extremely anxious. The head of the Imperial Medical Academy was summoned, but the patient was still not better after a month. She was even considering asking a high-ranking monk to perform a ritual!
Fortunately, her daughter suddenly recovered, which relieved her.
She sat by the bed, stroking her daughter's long, silky hair, and sighed with sorrow.
She wanted to tell her daughter that it was fate, but she felt that her daughter was still too young, and that it would be too cruel to say such things to her.
No one else could do this for her, so Xia Ru could only hold her daughter and quietly stay by her side.
On the day her daughter recovered from her illness, she whispered to her, "Mother, I don't want to be betrothed, is that alright?"
"I've been sick for a whole month," Xie Wanyan said weakly, which made Xia Rushi feel very sorry for her.
They cursed the Wei family's rivals for being ruthless and merciless, and condemned the corrupt and cannibalistic officialdom!
The court is still unstable, and we can only hope that the Regent will take a hard line and reduce these problems.
Xia Rushi hugged her daughter tightly, "Alright, we'll do whatever our young lady says, what's wrong with that?"
Xie Wanyan's eyes stung, and she buried her face in her mother's arms, whispering an apology, "Mother, I'm sorry."
Xia Ru closed her eyes and gently rocked her as if she were soothing her young daughter, whispering, "You did nothing wrong, it's not you who's wrong."
From that day on, Xie Wanyan left her boudoir. She leaned against the door frame, first squinting at the bright golden sun, then shifting her gaze to the only paulownia tree in the courtyard.
She planted it with Wei Mingzhao and Xie Wanyan when she was eight or nine years old. Paulownia trees grow quickly, reaching maturity in six or seven years. The canopy is lush and green.
Xie Wanyan stared at it for a while, then summoned the old man who tended the flowers and plants in the mansion.
“Cut down that tree.”
The old man was surprised and turned to look at the paulownia tree in astonishment.
This tree is the young lady's favorite. Over the years, she has condescended to personally tend to it. In the year it was first planted, she went to check on the tree every day to see how well it was growing.
It finally grew to maturity, why cut it down?
The old man looked at the young lady with hesitation.
Then they saw that the young lady's gaze was indifferent. Although she had just come of age, there was an inexplicable indifference in her face and eyes.
"Cut it off."
She looked away, no longer glancing in that direction. "I don't want to see that tree again for the next three days."
The old man mumbled an agreement.
This paulownia tree is five or six zhang tall, and he certainly cannot cut it all down today.
Cutting down trees may seem simple, but only an expert can do it skillfully.
The old man thought for a moment, then went to ask the steward. After the steward nodded, he went outside the mansion to hire some capable people to do the work.
Nowadays, there is a spot in the market where casual laborers take on odd jobs, and the old man went straight there to look for someone.
Everyone knew it was a job for the Marquis's household and rushed to take it, then asked curiously what kind of job it was.
The Marquis's household was generous and treated its servants well, so they were all willing to do the work for the Marquis. But the Marquis's household usually didn't have any work to assign, so they were lucky to have this opportunity!
They all praised themselves for doing a good job and asked the old man to choose them.
The scene was incredibly lively.
No one noticed that a handsome young man was frozen in place.
The tree was felled quickly.
Since Xie Wanyan was of no use, giving him to a servant to dispose of would be a good way to make money, even if the timber was sold.
The workers were extremely grateful.
After everyone left, Xie Wanyan stood in the courtyard and looked around.
Without the dense canopy of the paulownia tree, the courtyard suddenly became brighter, just like her heart.
After that day, Xie Wanyan never mentioned Wei Mingzhao again.
Just pretend you don't know this person.
I never inquired about him again.
Their fates thus diverged completely.
One day, I happened to pass by my father's study and overheard him mention that Wei Mingzhao had gone to the frontier to join the army.
Two years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Xie Wanyan is still not engaged.
Discussions began to circulate in the capital.
It's quite rare for someone to be unmarried at seventeen.
It was alright during times of war, but now that the world is at peace and people are living in harmony, how can one not be married by now?
Many people tried to find out more from Xia Rushi, but she turned them all away.
Xie Wanyan wasn't worried; in her eyes, her mother was omnipotent.
My father too.
As the days passed, she gave up the idea of getting married, thinking that staying at home would be fine too.
Once the thought took hold, she couldn't suppress it, but she didn't dare tell her parents. However, she then thought that given how much her parents loved her, they might compromise.
But she was afraid of upsetting her mother, so she put it off for the time being, thinking that she would find an opportunity to bring it up someday.
But I never expected things to change so quickly.
That day, she wandered around the manor as usual. She hadn't liked leaving the manor much for the past two years. The manor itself was quite interesting.
As she wandered near the main house, a sharp scream suddenly rang out, and she froze.
He hurried forward and told the old woman to stop where she was and not come any closer.
They stood guard outside the courtyard wall, listening intently.
Why does it sound like my mother's voice?
But my mother is usually very easygoing and gentle, so why would she lose her composure like this?
Immediately following was a series of clanging and banging sounds, as if the entire house had been smashed, followed by mournful cries.
Xie Wanyan clenched her handkerchief tightly, her heart filled with panic.
She hurried toward the hanging flower gate, wanting to see what was wrong with her mother, but as she went around it, she saw her father, who was as tall as a mountain, kneeling in front of her mother through the layers of tree shadows.
She then realized her father was also there, but how could he be...?
My head was buzzing and my heart was pounding.
Something's happened, something must have happened.
She covered her chest.
But Xie Lang was far away in the frontier army, so she consulted someone.
Just then, he suddenly heard his mother scream, "I'm not living with you anymore!"
The father hurriedly opened his arms to hug the mother, but the mother kept backing away, as if the father was very dirty and she was afraid that he would touch even the hem of her clothes.
Xie Wanyan returned to her own courtyard with unease.
Something serious must have happened.
In previous years, my father went alone deep into the heart of the Northern Rong territory and hid for several years. He was unable to return home and there was no news of him. My mother never considered leaving.
What's wrong?
Is Mother determined to give up?
I couldn't sleep all night.
As dawn broke, the clappers on the street began to sound.
She went to her parents' courtyard without even bothering to wash up.
Their family was more like ordinary people than other nobles; whenever they had free time, the whole family would eat together.
I tiptoed around the bushes, and as I was about to step through the hanging flower gate, I saw my father standing outside, wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
As I walked further, several distinct scratch marks on my father's jaw and neck came into view.
Xie Wanyan swallowed hard.
Noticing her curious yet worried gaze, her father quickly turned his head away, said "Let's go to the yamen first" and fled in panic.
Xie Wanyan looked at the tightly closed door.
After thinking for a moment, he knocked on the door.
There was no movement inside.
Even though it wasn't winter, a chill crept into her body from the soles of her feet.
"Mother?"
She hurriedly pushed open the door.
Her mother lay on the bed, her face pale. If it weren't for the rise and fall of her chest, she would have thought her mother was dead!
Startled, Xie Wanyan immediately rushed over, crying in a trembling voice, "Mother, what's wrong? Don't frighten me."
Her mother turned her eyes to her and took her hand.
Her mother's hands were icy cold, like ice. Xie Wanyan shivered and quickly reached out with both hands to cup them in her palms.
"What's wrong with Mother?"
Xia Rushi regained her senses, grasped her daughter's hand, and forced a smile at her, "It's nothing, I just had a little argument with your father."
Seeing that his mother didn't want to go into details.
She didn't dare ask, but simply stayed close to her mother, trying to warm her up.
This caused my mother to fall ill.
Just like her back then, she was sick for a whole month.
A month later, my mother finally recovered.
However, he asked her to do many things, including the estate and shop that she was given to practice on, telling her to manage them well in the future, and the marriage between Xie Lang and Qingqing, telling her to take good care of them.
She knew all this and secretly took care of Qingqing.
But her mother's appearance made her uneasy.
Indeed, the mother said, "Your uncle wrote to say that his daughter is being misbehaved and is out of control. He is still young and wants me to go and help discipline her."
Her mother grasped her hand. "I will be setting sail in a few days. I may not be back for a long time. If you miss me, write to me."
Xie Wanyan swallowed hard, her throat feeling sore. "Mother, Father has left the capital. Should we wait until he returns before we talk about it?"
Upon hearing this, the mother's expression turned cold, and she seemed uninterested and unwilling to say anything more.
"Wait for him to do something."
She said.
She paused, as if afraid her daughter would notice, then forced a laugh and said, "Why would I need him to go south with the ship? I'm already this old. In a few years, when you're all married, I'll be a grandmother."
Hearing this, Xie Wanyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It's not enough to just abandon the siblings.
A few days later, Xie Wanyan sent her mother onto a ship heading south.
She stood on the shore until she could no longer see the ship.
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Author's Note: Next Chapter Preview:
He was facing away from her, head bowed, his fingers twirling her fiery red wedding dress.
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