Chapter 46 Chapter 46 This King Wants to Call Her "Little Lazy Girl"...
He nearly ripped off Lai Lao's chest-length beard, and his round, presbyopic eyes darted back and forth. "What did I say? Oh! I'm old, and my memory isn't good. Did you hear wrongly, sir?"
"Stop playing dumb, you clever old man! Tell me the truth about your relationship with the Bai family. And how do you know my biological mother, Bai?"
Mr. Lai knew that he had let the cat out of the bag and could no longer hide it, so he pretended to be suddenly enlightened.
"Oh, are you referring to the girl from the Bai family in Jiangnan who married the prince of the Central Plains? It happened a while ago, and I can't quite remember it. Only when you mentioned it did I slowly recall it. It's a long story, starting with an acquaintance twenty years ago..."
Mr. Lai was originally a descendant of a scholarly family in Jiangnan. Because his ancestors opened a private school, Mr. Lai, who was thirty years old, had nothing to do after failing the imperial examination, so he became a teacher in his own private school.
When talking about the relationship between the Lai family and the Bai family, we have to start with the trade relationship between the Lai family and the major merchants in Jiangnan.
When the private school was first established, the Lai family was not well-off and could not recruit many students. As time went by, the school could not continue to operate. However, in order to survive in the Jiangnan area, the Lai family, whose three generations were scholars, had no choice but to form an alliance with local merchants.
Among the merchants in this alliance was the Bai family, one of the four richest families in Jiangnan at that time.
The head of the Bai family at that time was Bai Yan, the grandfather of the Bai girl. The Bai family started out by trading in silk fabrics. Textile shops in the Jiangnan area and even across the country all had silks supplied by his family. Under the management of three generations of the Bai family, by the generation of Bai Yan, the Bai family had become one of the four richest families in Jiangnan.
But the Bai family has a fatal weakness, that is, they have been a single-line family for three generations, and the family has a tradition of infatuation passed down from generation to generation. While other merchants have many wives and concubines, the Bai family sticks to the system of monogamy.
By the time the family business was passed down to Bai Che, the father of Bai's daughter, the family had gradually declined, from being the richest family in Jiangnan to the last.
When Bai Che was young, he was a playboy who often frequented brothels. His family's infatuation made him determined to marry anyone he fell in love with, even if she was a famous prostitute.
But how could Bai Yan allow his only son to marry a prostitute? He cruelly broke up the couple and underestimated this infatuated child.
Bai Che tried every possible way to redeem the woman, but his father refused to comply and was unwilling to pay, and the two even broke up because of this.
Later, it was suddenly reported that the brothel girl was bought by an official family as a concubine. The mountain of love in Bai Che's heart collapsed, and the vows they made could not stand the test of human nature.
When Bai Yan thought his son could finally give up on the brothel girl and marry a decent woman, the brothel girl secretly gave birth to a daughter and sent the baby back to the Bai family.
And that girl is the twins' biological mother, Bai Runen.
Ever since Bai Che lost his beloved, he has been heartbroken and unwilling to accept matchmakers' proposals. He plans to raise his only daughter, Bai Runen, by himself.
Not long after, Bai Yan, the head of the Bai family, unfortunately contracted tuberculosis due to overwork. He died within a month, leaving behind a huge fortune to Bai Che and his daughter.
Because of Bai Che's reputation as a playboy when he was young and the fact that he had an illegitimate daughter, no one was willing to find him a wife.
Bai Runen was very smart since she was young, but because she was a girl, she could not go to a proper school. Because the ancestors of the Bai family had an old friendship with the Lai family, they used their connections to send Bai Runen to the Lai family's private school when she reached school age.
Lai Lao, who had taught Bai Ru'en for several years, had this to say about her: "Her almond-shaped eyes are like autumn water, and her gaze is naturally radiant. Her ingenuity is exquisite and penetrating, and when she lifts her wolf-hair brush, her wisdom shines brighter than the spring stars."
"She is incredibly talented. I only needed to teach her a few times, and she was able to thoroughly understand those ancient texts. Sometimes I always wonder, how much better it would have been if she weren't a woman? If she hadn't been born into a merchant family, perhaps her fate wouldn't have ended up like this."
Just because she was a merchant's daughter, she was inferior to others since she was in the womb. In addition, she was born in the belly of a famous prostitute in a brothel. As a result, she was inevitably criticized behind her back during her growth.
Bai Che had also become successful in his middle age. The Bai family's business was getting bigger and bigger. In order to let his daughter enter the circle of noble ladies in the capital, the Bai family moved to Shangjing City.
As Bai Runen's enlightenment teacher, Mr. Lai is deeply trusted by Bai's daughter. She asks her father to move Lai's private school to the capital.
Of course, with the financial resources of the Bai family at that time, it would not be a problem for them to reopen a private school. However, Bai Che had no such intention. However, he did not want to disappoint his daughter, so he invested in moving Lai Lao's private school to Shangjing City.
Lai Yue interrupted his reminiscence: "So, Grandpa, you've also been to the capital of the Central Plains? Are there any interesting sights there? Is it really as brightly lit at night as Sister Yu said? Are there countless rare and wonderful things on the streets?"
"Shut up, little rascal! Don't bother your grandfather!"
Hanyu rolled her eyes at Yin Jinglong and said, "I have a proper name. Don't call me 'little rascal'. It's so unpleasant!"
"You're such a meddlesome person! I insist on calling her 'little rascal', what do you have to say?"
"you!"
Lai Yue advised Hanyu not to be angry. She herself felt that there was nothing wrong with the title. She urged Mr. Lai to continue.
Old Lai, feeling a bit thirsty, picked up a cup of tea and drank it silently, then said slowly: "This woman! No matter how smart she is, she will eventually be defeated by a man."
As she grew older, Bai Runen also reached the age of falling in love. For a period of time, Mr. Lai found that Bai Runen was a little different from before. She always looked out the window thoughtfully during class.
At first he thought Bai Rune was just tired, so he asked her to take a few days off from school, but later he learned from Bai Che that he wanted to marry Bai Rune to a member of the imperial family in the capital as a concubine.
As Bai Ruen's mentor and Bai Che's old friend, Mr. Lai was the first to oppose Bai Che's approach.
But Bai Che said to him, "He is a prince of noble descent, the brother of the current emperor. Even if our En'en marries him as a concubine, she will be a hundred times better than the wife of an ordinary official."
He leaned close to Lai Lao's ear and whispered to him, "The prince's wife is infertile and has no children. If En'en marries him and gives birth to a son, the title of the virtuous prince will belong to my Bai family."
"But have you asked Enen's opinion? Is she willing to marry into the palace just to give birth to a child?"
This was the first time that Mr. Lai had an argument with his old friend Bai Che. He had taught Bai Ruen for many years and had long regarded her as his own daughter. Naturally, he didn't want to see Bai Che ruin her life like this. Her life had just begun!
"Why not? Enen told me yesterday that she's past marriageable age and doesn't want to delay it any longer. She wants me to find her a husband as soon as possible!"
Their argument was heard by Bai Runen, who was writing in the study. She returned all the ancient books she had obtained from Mr. Lai over the years to him.
"Mr. Lai, I won't need these books anymore. Thank you for your years of teaching. Please give them to someone who needs them more!"
She looked at Mr. Lai with a firm yet reluctant look in her eyes. Her fingertips trembled as she brushed across the yellowed and even rotten pages of the ancient books.
Mr. Lai felt that she was forced by her father, so one day when Bai Che was out, he found Bai Rune privately and asked her what she really thought.
"Well, don't be like your mother, who would rather be a concubine of an official than a wife of a merchant. I don't have much talent, but I have saved some money over the years. If you don't want to marry hastily as your father arranged, I will find an opportunity to take you back to Jiangnan."
Bai Ruen declined his kindness. She looked at the yellow autumn leaves falling on the ground with a dead heart.
"Women are inherently weak, like floating duckweed. Marrying a man means landing on the ground. Whether I want to or not, what can I do? Marrying a farmer or merchant is marriage, marrying an official is also marriage. Whether wife or concubine, a merchant girl like me will ultimately become a man's clothing, worn on the wedding day, but discarded like a worn-out shoe when the new man replaces the old."
"Hearing what you said today, even if the Master had ten thousand words to advise you, it would still be difficult for him to speak. I wish you a smooth life and find a true lover to treat you well!"
After Bai Ruen married into the palace, Lai Lao's private school business gradually declined. He planned to sell the private school in the capital, pack up his bags and return to his hometown in Jiangnan with his wife and children.
Five years after he returned to his hometown in Jiangnan, he heard from his friends in the capital that the Bai family had fallen into decline and Bai Rune had passed away.
Mr. Lai felt sorry for it, but was powerless to help.
After Bai Ruen passed away, her father Bai Che returned to his hometown in Jiangnan to sell the ancestral home and property. At this time, he and Lai Lao had not seen each other for many years.
The year he left the capital, Bai Che, who claimed to be a royal relative, was full of vigor and ambition, and often entertained dignitaries from the court in restaurants in the capital. But when they met again five years later, he had become haggard and lonely, wearing a shabby grey robe and with white hair on his temples.
When Mr. Lai went to visit him at the Bai family's old house, he was sorting out Bai Rune's old belongings, among which were many letters and paintings she had sent from the palace.
Bai Che discovered in these letters Bai Ruen's account of the years of humiliation she suffered in the palace, as well as a number of paintings, some of which depicted two carefree children playing freely under their mother's care.
The reason why Mr. Lai recognized the jade pendant given to him by Yin Jingheng was because he had seen this pair of coiled dragon jade pendants among Bai Ruen's calligraphy and painting relics.
In addition to Yin Jinglong's status as a royal family member, he guessed his identity as early as the first time he met him.
After saying this, Mr. Lai looked blankly at Yin Jinglong who was standing beside him with gloomy eyes.
He couldn't help but sigh, "You look a bit like your mother when she was young. Sometimes when I look at you, I think of Bai Ruen who used to recite poems and paint in my private school."
"It's a pity that beauty is fleeting and short-lived. If anyone is to blame, blame her for being born into a merchant family and then being reborn into the womb of a prostitute. If there is reincarnation in this world, I hope she can be born into a good family in her next life."
After learning about his biological mother's past from Mr. Lai, Yin Jinglong's hands, which were supporting the wheelchair, could not stop shaking. He knew very well that his mother was forced to death in the palace, but he had no evidence and could not accuse the evil people who killed her.
So when he heard that Mr. Lai had seen his mother's letters, he roared angrily, "Where are those letters?"
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