Chapter 46 Moving to a new home
The boasting, flattery, and laughter in the front hall drifted into the back room, so close to Yanru, yet so far away. After an unknown amount of time, the noise faded, leaving only the crisp clatter of cups and lacquer trays, and the rustling of bamboo brooms against floor tiles. Xue Jia's coughs and footsteps came closer. He must have guessed that Yanru was resentful. He walked through the door, walked straight towards Yanru, sat down beside her, and lightly put his arm around her shoulders, rubbing them. "Hey, there are too many people in the front. Mother said it's not good for a bride to show up in public, so she'll let you rest in the back."
Yanru snorted and turned around, facing away from her husband: "Okay, okay, the bride can't show her face in public, but she can be woken up early in the morning and go out."
Xue Jia was patient and pretended to be gentle: "You didn't move after arriving here. After walking around twice, you complained about being tired, having a headache, and feeling uncomfortable, and asked to rest. Well, we let you rest, didn't we? What's there to be angry about?"
"You?" Yanru was speechless. She cried out in exhaustion, and she had dug the hole herself. She didn't know what to say anymore. She could only straighten her lower body with anger, tilt her head to the side, and knock on the edge of the beauty couch with the handle of the fan, one by one, pretending to knock on her cunning and overbearing mother-in-law, knock on her husband who didn't speak for her, and knock on Mr. Shi who came to the pawnshop to show off and torture her for no reason. Xue Jia felt sorry for the furniture, so he snatched the fan from her hand, fanned himself, and said, "Stop whining and being pretentious. Have you rested enough? If you have, get up and I'll take you to a good place."
"Where are you going? Shopping or buying something?" Amidst the doubts, Yanru stood up quickly and neatly, her movements even more agile than her husband's.
Xue Jia sneered without leaving a trace, then said, "All you do all day is go shopping? But I guarantee you'll absolutely love it."
Since she wasn't shopping, Yanru's enthusiasm had mostly waned, but she didn't want to go back to the Xue Mansion and stare at her mother-in-law. Since she had nothing to do anyway, she simply followed Xue Jia to explore the new scene. The couple got into the car from the back door, with Shanjuan and Long'er driving in front. The horses' hooves clattered, the wheels rolled, and Yanru lifted the curtain. The densely packed streets receded, and the houses on both sides gradually became sparse - it was the road leading to the suburbs. She just thought Xue Jia was going to the horse farm, so she leaned back on the backrest, half raised her head, and closed her eyes to rest. Gradually, the road turned from flat to bumpy, and the people in the car were tossed around. Yanru inexplicably felt alert and uneasy. She lifted the curtain again, and was shocked to find that the bustling streets of the capital had been completely replaced by desolate wild roads when she got in the car. She looked at Xue Jia. The strong and powerful pig narrowed his eyes, and when he realized she was looking at him, he said, "What are you afraid of? I'm not here."
Yanru was apprehensive. Perhaps the memory of Xue Jia's harassment and threats at the racecourse still haunted her, leaving her with a paranoid suspicion. Or perhaps it was simply that ugly men were hard to trust. After nearly two months of marriage, sharing a single bed and two pillows, Yanru's thoughts felt like a barrier between them, and she still couldn't fully open up to her husband. She clutched her handkerchief, her heart half a spider's, hanging on a thread. After half an hour of vigilance, the carriage slowed down again. Yanru fanned the curtains, revealing that the scenery outside was no longer filled with weeds and crooked trees with muddy leaves. Instead, newly planted bamboo surrounded a high, blue-brick wall. The carriage stretched farther into the distance, finally stopping before a magnificent gate. The paint had recently dried, giving it a sheen untouchable to ordinary people. Large stone lions flanked the entrance, their mouths opening and closing. A hydrangea was carved on one leg, and a smaller stone lion rested on the other's knee, glaring at every visitor with dignity and authority. Not a speck of dust flew, not a wisp of vines moved. They were alone, not like an official's residence about to host a banquet, but rather a place specially waiting for her arrival.
Yanru became excited and threw away all her doubts and precautions. She jumped out of the car and ran straight to the gate. She saw a large plaque hanging above the main gate with the words "Daiyuan" written in large letters.
"Where is this?!" Yanru's gloom cleared away, and she looked at her husband standing beside the carriage with a beaming smile. Xue Jia didn't respond immediately, but told Long'er to drive the horses to the stables and put them there. He then strode towards Yanru with a proud look, "Let's go in and take a look." He then walked forward and pushed open the half-closed door. Yanru followed closely behind him, and the moment she stepped into the garden, she raised her head and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow—"
A two-story building with red walls and black tiles came into view. A small courtyard in front framed a small pond, nestled within it. Four or five large, peculiarly shaped rocks were planted with shrubs and moss. Small, delicate houses, waterwheels, and bridges were placed in subtle details, simulating the landscape of Jiangnan. Several lush pine trees were neatly arranged within the courtyard, their rich, refreshing green contrasting beautifully with the grass, trees, and moss on the central rockery. Yanru waved her arms and trotted around the pond twice, like a playful puppy. Her giggles and footsteps sent a thumb-sized golden koi tumbling underwater.
Xue Jia leaned his shoulders, tilted his head proudly, and asked, "How is it?"
Yanru giggled: "It's very beautiful, very artistic. Sir, where is this?"
Xue Jia still didn't respond. He jerked his chin towards the archway on the right and said, "Go in and take a look."
Yanru suppressed her curiosity and walked in, stepping on the polished stone slabs. Aside from the small path designated for walking, the rest of the ground was covered with green lawns as soft as a Western carpet. If Buyi Bo's Fan Garden was a riot of flowers, then this Dai Garden was dominated by strange rocks. Stacking, covering, hanging, buckling... all the methods of stacking rocks were used in the landscape design, separating the various aisles and gardens, paired with plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, a clear and elegant atmosphere without being cold. Further in, the sound of water gurgling could be heard. Water had been diverted from somewhere to form a large pond, in the center of which stood a pink and white statue of Guanyin with a fish basket. On all sides, pavilions and waterside terraces all had roofs with raised corners. Without excessive decoration, the building was exquisite and elegant, yet the expensive materials used gave it an extraordinary sense of luxury.
Yanru had a vague premonition of something bold, and cautiously grasped Xue Jia's arm, probing: "Sir! Where are we?! Whose banquet are we attending?"
Xue Jia answered the question irrelevantly: "Do you like it?"
"Of course I like it!" Yanru screamed.
Xue Jia said casually, "This is our new residence. Mother said the feng shui of this place is good, and the garden is similar to the scenery in your Jiangnan area, so she asked us to move in."
Yanru was overjoyed, her feet whirring as she ran and leaped lightly across the garden, hugging this tree and circling it, then stepping on that stone and twisting it a little. The breeze soothed the weariness of feigning a fake smile in front of the Xue family, and Yanru drifted into a dream: she, a frivolous noblewoman, had evaded the flattery of the world of fame and fortune, shed her gilded attire, and transformed into a free and carefree mountain spirit, her grace, agility, loveliness, and pathetic charm comparable to the mountain ghost Shao Siming in the Chu Ci, or the elegant and famous scholars of the Wei and Jin dynasties.
Material desire was more effective than the aphrodisiac she had used on her wedding night. After a few moments of fun, Yanru returned to Xue Jia's side and took the initiative to wrap her arms around his neck, which was so short that it was hard to tell whether it was actually there. She pecked his oily face hard, her words as sweet as a bowl of honey: "Well! My lord, you treat me so well!"
Xue Jia lifted her lower body and Ren Yanru wrapped her legs around his waist: "Then you have to go home and thank mother. This is what mother arranged for us."
"Yeah!" Yanru was completely immersed in joy, her face stiff with laughter. Wasn't it just a thank you to his mother? She would agree to anything Xue Jia asked.
It was strange. We had taken the same road when we came, but the return trip was surprisingly uneven and uneven, making it uncomfortable. An hour passed much faster than the journey there. Back at the Xue residence, at dinner, Yanru lovingly helped Wang Xianyi with a chicken drumstick and said with a smile, "The master took me to see the new garden today, and I loved it. He said it was specially arranged by you, mother-in-law, for us to move there. I'm here to thank you for your concern for us."
Wang Xianyi smiled fondly and calmly placed the chicken drumstick into Xue Jia's bowl, then grabbed a chicken wing for herself. "It's not a big deal. After all, the Xue Mansion isn't very spacious. You're newlyweds, and you're always flirting with each other. It's not convenient for you two old people to see each other so often."
Xue Peng chewed his meal silently, swallowing his doubts. When the family retired for the night, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Madam, Daiyuan is too far away. It's inconvenient to get in and out. Why let two children live in such a remote place?"
"Haha." Wang Xianyi threw back the quilt and adjusted the pillow, nonchalantly. "It's not that I asked them to move out. Some people just disliked us getting in their way and were annoyed. They wanted us to move out quickly. I just fulfilled her wish so that I could gain the reputation of a kind mother-in-law."
Xue Peng said, "That's too far. I don't even want to go. Besides, that house is...even though they live alone, it's not very convenient. It would be better to rent a smaller house for them to live in."
"Oh? Sure, then you pay." Wang Xianyi frowned and looked at Xue Peng teasingly. Seeing that he lowered his head and pretended to be silent, he sneered, "What are you afraid of? Your son can ride a horse and drive a car. If it's convenient for him, it's convenient for everyone in our family."
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