Chapter 33: Loving Son and Planning for the Future
Liu Xiang was so popular that he never had to worry about finding a place to stay when traveling. He was staying at a friend's house. Since Yan Ru was busy that day, he and his friend set up tea sets and played in the courtyard. The tea in the cup was just beginning to boil when a servant passed on a message that a girl around ten years old was outside. She said her surname was You and had come on behalf of her mother to invite Liu Jiansheng to their home for a simple meal.
Liu Xiang was restless. "Why is it so sudden? I have no preparation at all. If you had told me a day earlier, I could have bought some gifts."
This friend was originally from Liuxiang, having moved to Jinling from Shu with his father six months ago. He had never heard of the rumors about the goddess of painting that were circulating in the streets. He simply smiled and said, "Parents who love their children will make far-reaching plans for them. Perhaps her mother dotes on you, so she took advantage of your unpreparedness and went to meet her so that she could find out whether your son-in-law is a good person or not. Don't worry, you are such a handsome man, and a student of the Imperial Academy. What mother-in-law would not like you? Go change your clothes and clean up now. I will pick out some ginseng seeds or something from the storeroom. If you don't go empty-handed, her mother will find nothing wrong with you."
There was no time to lose, so Liu Xiang quickly rinsed his mouth, changed his clothes, and carried three or four boxes out the door. On the way, You Yanbao giggled, occasionally stealing a glance at his face, turning her head and walking a little distance, then stealing another glance. Even when Yanru mentioned her sister, she always had more bad things to say than good things, calling her either a little bastard or a little evildoer. After all, she was Yanru's sister, and Liu Xiang loved her so much that he bought her a big bag of preserved fruits to eat. Yanbao suddenly felt that this big brother was beautiful and kind, while her own sister was stingy and had to resort to all sorts of tricks to ask her for a toy. She had to be a Guiguzi in the boudoir. Yanru was really not worthy of him.
The dining table was set up in the living room, with four meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a cup of wine on it. Yanru had mentioned that her family consisted of her grandmother, her uncle's family of three, and her parents, a total of seven or eight people. However, there were only two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table. Not only were the other relatives absent, but her parents were not even present either. Only Yanru's mother, Qian Peilan, sat at the head of the table. The You family's courtyard was bright, but the house was very dark. The orientation of the windows was not spiritual, and the sunlight was unwilling to jump in. Without lights on during the day, it was darker than at night. Rather than being called a "home", it seemed more like a dark and gloomy "cave". The cool and transparent black was woven into a gauze, covering Peilan's body. Liu Xiang could not see her face clearly. The door to the backyard was open, forcing in some light, outlining Peilan's figure - plump, with sharp lines, without the slightest sign of being "happy and fat".
It was colder inside than outside, and Liu Xiang shivered.
Pei Lan warmly invited him to sit down, and after a stiff greeting, Liu Xiang was curious: "I've heard Yanru mention that there are several elders in the family. Today, I only saw my aunt and Miss You Er. Is there something wrong with my uncle?"
"Indeed, the prince can't live without her father." Pei Lan picked up a chicken drumstick and sent Yan Bao away. "Her grandmother is busy at the embroidery shop for me. It's okay. It's okay with you and me alone. It's not formal and we can talk."
Qian Peilan's polite words, constantly addressing Liu Xiang as "Prince" and "Embroidery Manor," were an overt understatement, but a subtle attempt to distance Liu Xiang from her You family. In reality, the You family's house consisted of only two rooms, far less impressive than the Liu Mansion in Shuzhong, and at most comparable in size to his own small courtyard. But Liu Xiang, caught in the middle of a situation, felt a deep, almost crushing affection for the You family's daughters, a staunch servitude that forced him to humble himself, fearing the You family would despise him and reject his relationship with Yanru. He grew increasingly nervous, unsure where to place his hands and feet. He clenched his chopsticks, fearing impoliteness at any plate, and a mistake at any. Only after Peilan picked up a dish did he dare add two green leaves to the nearest plate.
Pei Lan pointed at a plate of meat and said, "Mr. Liu, there's no need to be so formal. Try this. We ordered it from the best restaurant here. Yanru loves this dish the most."
Liu Xiang straightened his back and carefully picked up a piece of meat. He chewed it with his mouth closed, and only after swallowing it did he praise it: "It really tastes great."
Pei Lan smiled and said, "Yes, when Yanru was studying in Jinling, her teacher would always send the servants down the mountain to pack this dish for her as a snack."
Liu Xiang thought the "teacher" she was referring to was Master Lu of Qiushui Academy. Zheng Sirui had mentioned that Master Lu was meticulous, caring, and thorough in his students' affairs, without any extraneous thoughts: "Having such a considerate teacher is truly a great blessing on the road of learning."
"That's right. Yanru likes that teacher very much."
When the conversation came to Yanru, Liu Xiang looked at the sky and said, "Yanru hasn't gone home yet. I guess she hasn't seen her classmates for a long time and has a lot to say. I wonder if she's been drinking too much, or if any classmates have given her a ride."
"She'll definitely be back late. I'm afraid she has to go to more places than her classmates." Pei Lan filled Liu Xiang's cup with wine. Liu Xiang quickly stood up and thanked her, "Thank you, Auntie. I'm the junior, how can I ask you to fill my wine for me? By the way, where is Yanru going next? Is she accompanied by any classmates? I wonder if it's convenient for her to come back. How about I go pick her up and then have dinner with you, Auntie?"
Pei Lan waved her hand. "No need. We'd be causing her trouble if we went. Don't worry, Liu Jiansheng. That place isn't far from the academy, on the nearby mountain. That's where she used to live with her painting teacher—oh, the one who used to pack these vegetables for her up the mountain. That teacher was said to be a very accomplished master. Yanru and he were in love back then, and they were truly in love. He took Yanru with him wherever he went and even painted many portraits of her. Later, he felt it was inconvenient for them to see each other at the academy, so he bought a house for Yanru near the academy for them to live together. Now that the painter is not in Jinling, Yanru must have gone to the house today to take a look around and reminisce about the past—ah, Liu Jiansheng, why do you look so surprised? Ah—is it possible that Yanru didn't tell Liu Jiansheng about this?"
Liu Xiang ignored the formalities and stared at Pei Lan. The flickering look in his eyes that had always flickered when he mentioned Yanru was now replaced by shock, confusion, anger, and desolation. He panted frantically, gripping the glass with a trembling hand, and gulped it down in one gulp. It wasn't clear whether it was the liquor or his lover's secret that stung his throat. He coughed profusely, his breath coming out of his chest. He had to stand up and face the window, hoping to avoid losing his composure in front of Pei Lan by the fresher air outside.
Pei Lan took a sip of wine and said regretfully, "It's a pity that our Yanru was unlucky. She was with him for a year, but they didn't have a child. Later, they separated, and Yanru was heartbroken and had to go to the capital. Speaking of which, our You family should thank Master Liu. If it weren't for Master Liu, Yanru would probably have fallen ill and never recovered. Come, let me toast Master Liu on behalf of her father."
The light inside the house dimmed even further. Liu Xiang instinctively sought shelter. It was Yanru, who had returned at some point and was standing at the door. She might have heard her mother's words from outside, or perhaps she heard the last few words as soon as she entered. In any case, there was no wind, and she stood there, holding onto the doorframe, her clothes rustling and the tassels in her hair trembling.
Liu Xiang saw her, stood up, and walked straight out. Yanru looked at his face, looked, looked, and the moment they passed by, she reached out and grabbed his sleeve tightly. Liu Xiang was held by her, unable to move. He looked at her, and there was still love in his eyes, but there was no tenderness left. In the end, there was more disappointment and anger. His two-inch long watercress nails pinched into the embroidery on his sleeve, picking up the thread. Liu Xiang grabbed her hand - he had never used so much force on her before, squeezing her so hard that she was forced to loosen her fingers. He said to her:
"I don't want to be this jerk."
Liu Xiang walked away. Yanru knew it was useless to chase him. She stared blankly into the house. Pei Lan had no intention of comforting her daughter. She put on a look of victory and proudly poured herself a glass of wine. She suddenly had an inexplicable intuition: her mother had gone crazy.
"Mother!" Yanru rushed to Pei Lan, half-knelt, and grabbed her mother's skirt on her knees tightly. This was clearly the warm bed she was attached to two days ago, but now it was grabbed by her fingers, and two nails were broken, two inches became one inch, and the gap caught the silk thread. "Mother, I am your daughter, I am your biological daughter." The sadness and anger in her crying voice made the last few words of her voice become shallow and out of breath, and they were just gently bitten and spit out.
Pei Lan took a bite of food, swallowed it, took another sip of wine, looked down at Yanru, and said with regret: "It is precisely because you are my daughter that I do this. Have you forgotten what your mother taught you since childhood after going out to study for a year? A poor couple has many sorrows. In this life, a woman must find a family background that matches yours, enough for you to wear gold and silver, eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks. You are so good. You used to be entangled with that Ji Mingxiu. He was a painter and could give you a lot of benefits. What are you looking for now? Flirting with you Yaoyao, it's not decent. You little hoof, looking at him coming to you that night, I don't know? Bah, a little Shu The county magistrate's son wants to be my son-in-law? He looks like a gentleman with greasy hair and powdered face. I don't think he is cut out for business. He won't even take the imperial examination. He just wants Rani to accompany him for the rest of his life to play the piano and make jokes? You'd better be careful not to become like Zheng Xiucai's family! They can even train their silly daughter to become an official, and change her fate for the rest of her life. What about you? Think carefully, can your belly give birth to such a child to earn money for you? Or do you want to go out and earn money yourself? Like your mother, doing this and that every day, busy for half her life? If you like, I won't stop you. Come to the embroidery shop tomorrow and help me run the shop."
Yanru didn't say anything, but just asked crying, "Why did you tell him? Why did you tell him?"
Pei Lan didn't feel she was wrong: "What's the saying? Parents who love their children will plan for them in the long run. I'm going all out, and it's all for your own good! My dear girl! I can tell at first glance that that boy is a stubborn idiot. If I hadn't done this, you two would have continued to entangle, and you would have been the one to suffer. I'm telling him now that he has broken up with you completely, so you can be at peace and go with Xue Jia. You and that Master Xue are like a water carrier marrying a vegetable seller - the right person for the right bucket. My dear girl, think about how old you are. After the New Year, you're nineteen. What girl out there isn't married at nineteen?"
Yanru fell backwards, supporting herself with her hands, saying nothing, tears streaming down her face. Pei Lan put on the look only a loving mother could muster and held her hand: "Yanru, believe me, I am your mother, how could I harm you? Men, whether rich or poor, are the same. They will always let their wives down in the future. In that case, you might as well just find a rich man, and your life in between will be easier. You mentioned this Liu guy, who flirts with you every day, so passionately, but he knows what happened in your past, and his face turns so red. You want to say a few words to him, but he just walks out without saying a word. Can't you see that? Liu guys are like mustard greens in June - fake and affectionate."
Pei Lan said this, her eyes fell to the yard outside, under the half-dead peach tree that her husband had planted. That night, she stood there, watching You Liu hugging each other, with a look of sweetness. Her brother and sister-in-law could do this, and her daughter and her lover could do this, but she couldn't. She couldn't do it before, and now her husband has a lover hidden in Tangshui Street, and it is even more impossible to have one in the future. In this life, she will never get such tenderness, and in this life, she will never know how sweet the pleasure of a man and a woman who are in love with each other is. She is jealous of her brother. After all, her brother is still far away from her, and now her daughter has one, and in front of her. In her life, she spent the first half of her life to make money for her brother's studies, and the second half of her life to make money for her daughter's studies. These two people stepped on her and got what she couldn't get.
I can't be the only one who is sad in this family. There must be more people like me in this family, who can earn money for me, earn wealth, earn a group of servants, and earn an armful of precious jades, so that I can lie in the cold pile of pearls and jades, and at least taste a little bit of the sweetness of this marriage in this life.
Yanru was held down by her mother, her head buried in her mother's arms, enveloped by the milky fragrance of maternal love. Pei Lan's words were well-reasoned and came from the mouth of "mother". Even though her mother had become half crazy, a crazy mother was still a mother. Among the millions of people in the world, only her mother would not harm her, and only her mother would be good to her children. Yi Bin did not listen to her mother's words, so why was he humiliated today? You Yanru had to listen, she could not repeat her mother's life.
Yanru closed her eyes. Perhaps, she had already made the answer, but her mother had pushed her and made her decide more quickly.
After all, she never wanted to be like that.
[Mumbling]: Are these chapters not very comedic? Oh, I'll try my best to write and quickly jump into the comedy chapters about the turtle and the mung bean.
Ah, I earned less than a hundred this month because of everyone's support, but to celebrate, my boyfriend and I went out to eat and spent more than two hundred... I happened to be at the lowest point in my life. I don't know why, but I can empathize with Yanru's choice... Please don't follow my example, scold me to wake me up...
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