Chapter 1: Sober
Jiang Qingning stood in front of the desk in the main room of the west courtyard, his back straight, like a bamboo that refused to bend in the cold wind.
The thin pieces of paper in her hands seemed to weigh a thousand pounds at this moment.
"Xun Chen, let's get a divorce."
Her voice was not loud, but it was like a stone thrown into stagnant water, instantly breaking the suffocating silence in the study. After the words fell, there was an even deeper silence.
Behind the desk was Xunchen, the Earl of Anping, who had just returned from a major flood control campaign with great achievements and was about to be personally commended and rewarded by His Majesty.
Xun Chen ignored Jiang Qingning's words. He was twisting a white jade ring in his hand. The jade was warm in color. It was a gift from His Majesty today, symbolizing supreme honor and merit.
"Heh." A short sneer escaped from Xun Chen's thin lips, sounding particularly harsh in the silent study.
"Just because I accidentally dropped a bowl last night?"
"Jiang Qingning, don't be unreasonable. No one in Anping Marquis's Mansion will tolerate you."
His tone was light and airy, with a sense of absurd condescension.
It seemed as if the decision Jiang Qingning had been brewing for several months and struggling for eight years before making was nothing more than a woman's unreasonable temper.
The word "missed" was like a poisoned needle that suddenly pierced Jiang Qingning's heart.
Memories, accompanied by the cold sound of rain outside the window, instantly broke through Jiang Qingning's defenses and exploded clearly before her eyes.
Last night was also a rainy night. She carefully prepared the meals that the father and son liked, and brought a plate of freshly made Longjing shrimp.
Her fingertips were slightly red from being burned by the edge of the scalding plate, but she was completely unaware. She just held on to a hope that even she found ridiculous, and picked up some food to put in Xun Chen's bowl.
With a "clang", the bowl in Xun Chen's hand fell to the ground and shattered, splashing a mess at her feet.
Without any explanation, the father and son got up and left.
Jiang Qingning squatted on the ground, pinching the blood-stained piece of porcelain with his fingertips, and the cold touch spread from his fingertips to his whole body.
Eight years.
She was trapped in this deep house, guarding a marriage in name only, like a joke.
A few months after their marriage, Xun Chen returned home after controlling the flood and walked into her courtyard angrily.
The two had not seen each other for a long time, but the first words they said were: "Jiang Qingning, your Jiang family's eating habits are really ugly."
Jiang Qingning was in a trance for a moment.
At that time, the Jiang family was in great trouble.
His father and brother spoke frankly and gave advice in the court, which angered the powerful people at that time. An imperial edict exiling the Jiang family to Lingnan almost destroyed the foundation of the Jiang family.
At almost the same time, the two incompetent uncles, second uncle and third uncle, offended another force that should not be offended.
The entire Jiang Mansion was in a state of panic, and everyone was in danger. With nowhere else to go, her grandmother and second and third uncles scolded her harshly and ordered her to marry early into the Xun family, which had recently been quite favored by the emperor.
Then, there was a lonely lamp in the cold courtyard for eight years.
Except for the time when he had to leave the capital for flood control duties, Xun Chen stayed in the mansion all the time.
But except for the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, he never set foot in her Qingyi Courtyard.
Her yard had long become a forgotten corner in the huge mansion.
And her biological son Xun Moli, during the three years when she was forced into the Taoist temple, was gradually eroded by Bai Qingyi's gentleness and consideration, and her mother-in-law's deliberate guidance, which gradually eroded the already weak connection between them.
Xun Chen looked up, his eyes as cold as they had been for years: "Are you still not leaving? Or haven't you made enough of the trouble yet?"
Jiang Qingning was in a daze for a moment. Yesterday, she had mustered up the courage to make a bowl of sweet soup that her son Xun Moli loved, and carefully brought it to the main courtyard.
As soon as she walked to the corridor, she saw Mo Li being held affectionately in Bai Qingyi's arms, pointing at a green-feathered bird in the birdcage in the corridor and playing with it.
After seeing her, Xun Moli rushed forward in disgust and pushed her away. Most of the hot sweet soup spilled out and poured all over the back of Jiang Qingning's hand that was protecting Xun Moli. The white porcelain bowl fell to the ground and broke into several pieces.
A burning pain came instantly, Jiang Qingning gasped in pain, and the back of his hand turned red in an instant.
"You bad woman! Who asked you to come? I want Aunt Qingyi, not you!"
There was undisguised hatred and disgust in Xun Moli's eyes.
Jiang Qingning looked down at his hands, which were so red, swollen and stinging that they were shaking. The ice that had been accumulating in his heart for eight years finally collapsed and shattered into irreparable pieces.
She placed the divorce papers on the desk, feeling extremely exhausted. She nodded and said, "Yes, it's just because of this."
His wrist was wrapped in gauze, which was revealed during the movement. Xun Chen glanced at it but didn't care.
"Without me, without the support of your status as a baron's wife, Xun Jiang, you are a divorced woman with no one to rely on and no home to return to. Where can you go?"
"Think carefully. Even if you regret it later, I will not accept you again."
Xun Chen remained unmoved and spoke indifferently, never once looking at He Lishu.
"Xun Chen, since I married you at the age of sixteen, the eight years I have been a wife of the Xun family have been the worst eight years of my life." Jiang Qingning said bluntly.
In these eight years.
All her forbearance, all her expectations, and all her efforts to maintain this broken marriage and family relationship seemed so ridiculous and futile.
Enough, really enough.
"Xun Chen."
Jiang Qingning raised his hand and pushed the divorce papers forward. "I've already signed them."
Xun Chen paused. He stared at the three beautiful characters "Jiang Qingning" on the paper, which were written so delicately that they almost showed through the back of the paper, and frowned slightly.
Jiang Qingning was too decisive, which made him feel inexplicably irritated.
Xun Chen leaned back slightly, with an examining attitude, and the sarcastic smile on his lips deepened.
"Jiang Qingning, can you let it go?"
"This is eight years, not eight days, let alone eight months. You've always been loyal and determined, willing to grit your teeth and endure even if it means breaking a wall."
"Now, with just one word about wanting a divorce, you're already saying you want to cut off all ties with me. Who would believe that? Do you believe it yourself?"
Xun Chen looked at her cuffs that had been washed white, and the thick water that was gradually coming out of the gauze. His expression paused, and then he felt deep disgust.
In order to attract his attention, Jiang Qingning really did anything.
Jiang Qingning met his gaze. The eyes that might have once reflected a young girl's emotions now only had a desolate clarity.
She spoke each word with incredible clarity: "I only want my dowry, the same amount I brought into the Xun Mansion as I did when I first brought it out, every stitch and thread, every table and chair. I don't need the Anping Marquis's Mansion to add a cent."
According to the laws of our dynasty, a woman's dowry belongs to her from birth to death, and no one can take it away unless she wishes.
Today, it is to make our position clear.
Xun Chen raised his eyebrows and snorted coldly, "Is that all? The Jiang family has fallen so far that it's hard to even make a living, right? You really have some backbone."
The contempt in his tone was undisguised.
Jiang Qingning seemed not to notice his ridicule, and his voice remained unchanged:
"As for Mo Li, he is the legitimate eldest son of the Anping Marquis's Mansion, so he should naturally stay in the Xun Mansion.
With the care of the Earl of Anping and the old lady, and the careful guidance of Madam Bai, your future is much brighter than following a mother like me who has nothing."
"Can you say that again?"
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