Chapter 62 Was this a setup? Wasn't Meng Shutai actually strangling his wife in the abdomen...?
Meng Shutai agreed to help her resolve Princess Zhaode's marriage by sending his younger brother away.
He's so generous...
Cizhang is a very good young man; compared to his brother, he is simply innocent and naive. Le Jin opened her mouth, about to say to Xie Lianhui, "Princess, don't worry," but the words changed the subject.
"Is the princess dressed like this to meet her future husband...?"
If Xie Lianhui hadn't confessed, Le Jin would have almost thought that Xie Lianhui's dashing outfit was from someone who had just dismounted from a horse.
Xie Lianhui slightly opened her arms, looked down at her clothes, and smiled brightly: "Is there anything wrong with it? Anyway, I don't want to get married."
Le Jin let out a soft "ah," as if something had struck her between the eyebrows.
She always thought that the story of Princess Zhaode falling in love with Yuan Jingming after he rescued her was the whole picture, but in reality, Xie Lianhui wasn't someone who longed for marriage. The mismatched couple had clearly trapped two people.
Her gaze slowly swept over the woman in front of her, and Le Jin's eyes sparkled: "There's nothing wrong with it, Princess, you look especially beautiful like this."
She thought about Meng Cizhang; he probably wasn't a calculating person eager for marriage alliances. If he didn't like her, he would most likely refuse, and wouldn't delay Xie Lianhui's life. Le Jin asked with a smile, "Then how does my brother-in-law treat the princess?"
Xie Lianhui crossed her arms, touched her chin, and tried hard to recall what Meng Cizhang looked like.
"He didn't seem interested at all, he barely even glanced at me..." Xie Lianhui's face flashed with a sly look as she mentioned "eyes," and she playfully covered one of her eyes.
"It's a real shame, though, that he doesn't have many eyes to see people!"
"Him!" Le Jin's face changed drastically, a breath caught in her throat, and she gripped the chair armrest and stood up abruptly. "That was an accident! Why must the princess make fun of someone else's regret?"
In just a moment, Xie Lianhui's image in Le Jin's mind was completely overturned. She glared angrily and turned to leave, but Xie Lianhui suddenly chuckled and grabbed her shoulders, pressing her back into the chair.
"Don't be angry, I'm not angry yet!"
"What is it that makes the princess angry?"
Seeing Le Jin's cheeks puff out like she'd just eaten a firecracker, Xie Lianhui decided to tease her. She suddenly poked Le Jin's cheek, deliberately startling her before answering her with satisfaction:
"Your husband is all talk and no action. Of all the people he could have pushed to be with me, he had to push his own disabled brother. How could a princess like you have a husband who is half-blind? He is clearly trying to humiliate us and make us back down, so that we will never even think about marriage again."
Xie Lianhui calmly explained to Le Jin, while secretly glancing at the restaurant across from the cloth shop.
"Actually, I don't care. Not getting married is exactly what I want, it's just my brother..."
What's wrong with him?
When asked about the Prince of Zhennan, Le Jin's expression hardened, and her heart leaped into her throat, but she managed to keep calm so that Xie Lianhui wouldn't notice anything amiss.
"I'm so angry!" Xie Lianhui exclaimed, enunciating each word clearly before bursting into laughter.
Le Jin opened her mouth slightly, blinked dryly, and asked timidly, "...Is the princess happy?"
"Of course!" Xie Lianhui blinked. "Who told him to kick me around like a football, without considering my opinion at all? He deserves it!"
She spoke fluently and confidently, full of spirit and high spirits. Le Jin was speechless, thinking to herself, "Every family has its own troubles..."
"The princess had already decided to reject my brother-in-law, so why is she now curious about his character?"
Xie Lianhui pursed her lips and casually squatted down in front of Le Jin: "Of course, I hope this news won't be too much of a blow to him, after all, he's had an 'accident'! However, as the eldest sister-in-law, I suddenly thought it would be better if you told him this news?"
"I???"
Before Le Jin could refuse this hot potato, Xie Lianhui suddenly stood up, turned around, and walked out of the shop, leaving her only with her back and a word of advice:
"Then thank you very much, Madam Meng!"
Le Jin tried to stop her, but Xie Lianhui moved too fast. She reached out and only managed to grab a small silver chain on Xie Lianhui's belt, which then slipped from her fingertips.
"Eh..."
Oh no.
She once praised Meng Cizhang's appearance as beautiful as spring flowers and autumn moon, and even swore that his disability did not matter... Now she's being asked to tell him that the princess doesn't want you?
Frustrated and agitated, Le Jin stomped her foot on the ground repeatedly, shouting, "Meng Shutai, you're doing something inhuman!"
Xie Lianhui darted out of the fabric shop, first walking straight west for a while until she reached an intersection, then turning north and making a U-turn to take a shortcut back to the fabric shop. But this time, she entered the restaurant opposite the fabric shop and went straight to a private room on the second floor facing the street.
She crossed her arms, kicked open the door to the private room, and swaggered over to the table to sit down. "I told her everything you wanted me to say."
Xie Lianhui picked up the wine pot on the table and poured it down her throat, taking a big gulp before looking at the man who had been watching the cloth shop from the railing.
Are you sure saying this will shake their marital relationship?
The man chuckled softly: "Are they really that close? What's so unshakeable about their relationship?"
Xie Lianhui choked, coughing until her eyes welled up with tears, but she didn't forget to glare at her brother.
Is her brother so obsessed with someone else's wife that he's gone crazy?
"Didn't you already investigate? Young Master Meng treats his wife like a precious gem, they're so loving! Even if their marriage was arranged since childhood and they don't have any real affection for each other, a strong woman can be won over by persistent suitors, it's not to say that Madam Meng isn't moved."
Xie Xianheng turned around and shook his head at his sister.
"You're all about fighting and killing, you're really not cut out for romance."
Xie Lianhui, unconvinced, squinted and looked at her brother with disdain: "It seems that His Highness the Prince of Zhennan has never been in contact with women either?"
Xie Xianheng raised an eyebrow slightly, his eyes filled with a calm and composed air of strategic planning.
"I've never been in contact with a woman, but I've seen a giant python swallow a person."
The battlefield was littered with corpses, and the aftermath, often left unattended, frequently attracted filth. Tigers, wolves, and leopards were commonplace, but what truly terrified Xie Xianheng was witnessing, one moonlit night when he was sixteen, a giant python swallowing a whole corpse.
Its trunk, as thick as a tree, writhed, its scales shimmering with an indescribable light. A pair of eyes glowed a cold, eerie green, flickering like will-o'-the-wisps in the night. A male corpse lay there, swallowed whole by the beast, its serpentine form almost human-like. Xie Xianheng, hiding in the dense forest, was drenched in cold sweat. He had almost thought the giant python couldn't swallow him and would spit him out, but instead, its tongue flicked out, saliva dripped, and it leisurely basked in the moonlight among the corpses.
Xie Xianheng would never forget the gruesome sight of a snake's belly coiled around a human corpse, its greedy and satiated form. Later... he smelled that same chilling stench on Meng Shutai again.
He loved his wife, and Xie Xianheng had nothing to say about that; but if his wife remained calm and composed, why would she crave anything outside of herself?
He heard on the frontier battlefield that the eldest son of the Meng family in Luoyang was an excellent person, but after returning to the capital and meeting him, a horrifying thought popped into his mind: Could it be that Meng Shutai was the giant python that strangled his wife with its belly?
The dead are swallowed up without feeling anything; but how can the living endure it?
Xie Xianheng took the wine jug back from his sister and took a sip. "If she's interested, she'll come looking for me."
Xie Lianhui scoffed, but didn't refute anything. With the Zhennan Prince's personal guards seized, she and her brother were in grave danger. However, if they followed her brother's plan—killing Meng Shutai through Le Jin—they could either claim credit for their new achievement or regain military power; both were viable options. Most importantly, her brother had finally stopped targeting her future, and it seemed he was willing to sacrifice his own.
Xie Lianhui grinned wickedly, patted her brother's shoulder, and said with feigned heartache, "Brother, if our parents were alive, they would be both heartbroken and gratified to know that you used yourself as bait!"
Xie Xianheng glanced at her, slapped her hand away, and pointed to the door of the private room, indicating that she should leave.
Xie Lianhui pouted, muttered as she got up, "Tch, what's with the pretense..." She walked reluctantly, each step heavy, but upon reaching the door, she swiftly turned to look at Xie Xianheng:
"Whether your plan succeeds or not, don't go back on your promise to me!"
Actually, it was a good thing for Xie Xianheng to suffer a bit when Meng Shutai made her brother suffer. If she hadn't lost her military power, Xie Xianheng probably would never have known the pain of being at the mercy of others and having no control over her own life as a woman.
She agreed to help him bring Le Jin there, and he promised not to interfere with her anymore.
Xie Lianhui smiled nonchalantly and waved to her brother: "I'm off."
Xie Xianheng hummed in agreement and turned his gaze back to the cloth shop.
Not long after, Yue Jin walked out of the shop, clutching the Moon Shadow Silk, looking utterly dejected. Xie Xianheng's eyes darkened for a moment, and his body went limp as he leaned against the railing, seemingly drunk. The wine pot in his hand "accidentally" fell to the ground below, shattering with a loud crash and scattering porcelain shards, startling passersby who cried out in alarm.
Who is this?
"Another one got drunk in broad daylight!"
Le Jin followed to find the source of the noise, but Bao Yin tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "My lady, it's the Prince of Zhennan."
Following Bao Yin's raised finger, Le Jin looked up and saw Xie Xianheng, drunk, leaning against the railing of the restaurant.
Her gaze fell upon Xie Xianheng, whose eyes were glazed with drunkenness, and he seemed to... smile at her.
The moon-shadowed quilt in her arms was held tighter and tighter, and Le Jin's heart pounded like white pearls in the rain, a chaotic and complicated feeling.
Her mind was pounding, and a strange thought struck her: Why not take advantage of the situation while Meng Cizhang and Xie Lianhui were dealing with each other to get close to Xie Xianheng? It was the fastest, easiest, and safest path...
Just moments ago, Le Jin was troubled by the relationship between the two families, but now she suddenly encountered the peach grove. As if she had found money, she quickly left the street, her legs weak.
——
Meng Cizhang raised his hand to touch the gold-threaded eye mask on his face, and secretly glanced at the Western mirror hanging in his brother's study, but his gaze immediately turned away when he saw his reflection in the mirror.
Meng Shutai was aware of his subtle actions, but remained unmoved and continued pruning the plum branches.
"Is Princess Zhaode truly indifferent to you?"
"Yes. She said her ambition in this life is not to stay at home."
Meng Cizhang answered Xie Lianhui's question truthfully, finding some truth in her words. Why shouldn't a healthy person go out and see this beautiful land, travel to famous scenic spots? The world is vast, with countless worthwhile things to do; why confine oneself to four walls?
He actually envied Princess Zhaode somewhat. If his eyesight were good, he would definitely be running around all day long, and no matter how beautiful Hengyuan was, it couldn't attract him with freedom.
Meng Shutai nodded, her hand pausing as she trimmed the plum branches, and asked him curiously, "Aren't you disappointed?"
Meng Cizhang thought about it and felt a little disappointed, but since he didn't like that princess, this disappointment melted away faster than snow meeting the sun.
He shook his head. Meng Shutai scoffed inwardly and said without thinking, "That's true. The reason we arranged for you to go today wasn't really for the purpose of a marriage between the two families. You should make sure you don't delay them."
"Hello!"
An angry voice suddenly rang out, and Meng Shutai dropped the plum branch between his fingers, causing many bright red plum petals to fall.
Le Jin glared at him with one foot still outside the door and said coldly, "Can't you speak properly?"
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Author's note: Le Jin: Can't you do something decent?
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