Chapter 225: The True Heart Cannot Be Hurt
After leaving Pei Mansion, Shen Yi stood at the gate for a long time.
The driver asked, "Sir, where are we going now?"
"Go..." After a long pause, Chen Yi said, "Princess's Mansion."
"Okay." The driver turned his horse around.
However, when he was halfway there, he heard Chen Yi say, "Forget it, let's go to the government office first."
He hasn't figured out how to face her yet.
Over here, in the Princess's residence, Princess Wu Jing had been absent-minded since breakfast. She rested her head on the table, aimlessly swinging a nine-linked ring.
She frowned, her face full of regret and confusion.
"Princess," the maid asked after a while, "Are you going out today?"
Wu Jing raised her eyes and heard the maid say, "Have you forgotten? I had an appointment with the young lady from Yiyang Marquis's Mansion to go to the opera together. There's a new play being staged at Zhuangyuan Building."
"How can I be in the mood to go to the opera now?" Wu Jing curled her lips.
"Princess, are you still worried about what happened yesterday?" The maid laughed, "Princess, this is a good thing for you and your husband. You are husband and wife, so why should you be shy?"
"You don't understand."
"What do you not understand?"
Wu Jing didn't say anything.
She threw down the Nine Links and stood up, ready to go out for a walk. But just as she stepped over the threshold, she heard the voice of a maid not far away greeting her: "How is your husband?"
She froze in fear, her heart pounding. Yesterday's scenes instantly rushed into her mind, making her embarrassed and uneasy. So, before Chen Yi entered, she hurried back to the house and closed the door.
Chen Yi had originally intended to go to the government office, but once he entered the case room, he couldn't bear to read a single word. He kept thinking about what happened last night and what Pei Xingju had said.
"Ask yourself, are you willing to let her go?" Pei Xingju asked him at that time.
In fact, he didn't want to.
He didn't know when it started, but he actually felt that marrying Princess Wu Jing was a good idea. At least there was someone else chattering under the eaves, so he wouldn't be lonely.
Once you figure out some things, all the obscure emotions in the past will have answers.
His heart suddenly became clear.
He simply packed up his things and asked the driver to drive back home. But he didn't expect that when he returned and stepped into the yard, he saw Wu Jing slamming the door shut like a flood or a beast.
Shen Yi paused.
How can I describe my mood at this moment?
Complex, anxious, tangled, and with a certain inexplicable bitterness...
After a moment, he stepped forward and knocked on the door.
"Wu Jing?"
No one answered.
"I know you are in there, Wu Jing, open the door."
Princess Wu Jing leaned against the door, holding her breath and not daring to speak. But she knew that escaping like this was not a solution, as it would make her look like a coward.
So she rubbed her face, turned around and opened the door.
Their eyes met, and Chen Yi couldn't help but look away first.
"I...I came to discuss something with you," he said.
"What are you discussing?"
"last night......"
Before he could finish his words, Wu Jing suddenly shouted, "Someone's here, why don't you go make tea?"
The maid quickly responded: "Yes, I will go right away."
Shen Yi was startled, inexplicably feeling that she had become polite and distant.
With mixed feelings, he walked into the house and sat down.
Wu Jing also sat down opposite him.
"Okay, tell me now." Wu Jing said.
"Last night...I was the one who let you down." Chen Yi said, "It happened, and I must be responsible for it."
"Wu Jing," he asked, "Do you still want to return to Lu? If not, then stay."
Wu Jing felt sad when she heard this.
She never thought that he would keep her in this way.
But it was not what she wanted.
"Chen Yi," she laughed, "It's not entirely your fault. I'm also at fault. If I hadn't been so determined to win you, this wouldn't have happened..."
"Anyway, this kind of thing is not your fault." She said: "It's just a sleep. In our Lu country, when men and women sleep together, it's all consensual. No one needs to be responsible for the other."
Chen Yi was surprised and looked at her carefully, trying to find a flaw that might indicate she was not saying what she meant.
But no.
For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt a huge sense of loss in his heart.
"You think so?" he asked.
"Yeah." Wu Jing nodded.
"But..." Chen Yi moved his lips. For a moment, he was confused by Wu Jing's words. All the preparations he had made on the way here were useless.
"But I feel guilty," he said. "We were married by imperial decree, and agreed to divorce after three years. It would have been fine if I hadn't touched you, but now... now we're husband and wife, how can I just watch you become homeless?"
"Displaced?" Wu Jing was puzzled. "How could I be displaced? I have a home, a mother, and a brother. As I told you before, I've already written to my brother. Who knows, they might send someone to pick me up in a few days."
"You don't have to feel guilty." She continued, "Just treat this as an accident. I won't take it to heart."
As Chen Yi listened, he became unhappy and his expression turned pale.
"You're a girl, how can you not care?"
"Then how can I care?" Wu Jing asked, "Do you want to fight to the death, cry, make a fuss, and even hang yourself? I, Wu Jing, am not that kind of person."
Chen Yi choked and said, "You can ask me for compensation."
"I've already said that there's no need for compensation for something we both agreed on."
"Are you determined to return to Lu?"
"What else? Stay and live with you?"
"Actually... it's not impossible." Chen Yi said uncomfortably, "You don't have any flaws except for being a little stupid. We've been getting along quite well these days. If we continue like this, it seems... there's nothing wrong with it."
Wu Jing was stunned.
She remained silent for a long time, and Shen Yi also quieted down.
"Wu Jing," he said after a while, "Why don't you just stay? Let's not get divorced. You stay in the capital, and I'll take care of you in the future."
"If you're feeling guilty, there's no need to worry." Wu Jing said, "Like I said, I don't care..."
"But I care."
Wu Jing paused, raised her eyes, and met Shen Yi's serious gaze.
My heart suddenly became confused.
.
May 28th was an auspicious day. After more than a month of thrilling events, the people of the capital finally welcomed a happy event that they talked about with great relish.
——Pei Yan, the head of the General Zhenguo Mansion, went to the residence of the former Chief Censor Zhuang to propose marriage.
The common people gathered at the street, watching loads of betrothal gifts being sent to the manor house with the beating of gongs and drums, their eyes red with envy.
"How much is the betrothal gift? I can't even count it."
"Yeah, I don't know what's in it. Even the shoulder pole is bent. It looks really heavy."
"I heard that the Emperor returned all the property that was confiscated back then to the Pei family, and also bestowed countless treasures and cloth. Now, Master Pei is the only one left in the Pei family. Master Pei is in his twenties and has finally found a wife. Shouldn't he be offering as much as possible to please his mother-in-law?"
For a moment, everyone didn't know whether they should envy the Pei family for being rich, or envy the Zhuang family for having such a rich son-in-law.
There were some ladies standing on the roadside, including some wealthy ladies, who had all come out to watch the fun after hearing the news.
When these young women saw such a large crowd of people coming to propose marriage, they had different ideas.
"I never thought that Zhuang Wan, who was not originally a slave, would still be here today. She is so lucky."
"Yes, at first I thought Zhuang Wan could only be Master Pei's concubine, but it turns out Master Pei really wants to marry her."
"This further proves that Master Pei is a devoted person, doesn't it?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was filled with envy and jealousy. The most popular candidate for husband in the capital had actually been snatched away by Zhuang Wan.
"What's so good about Zhuang Wan? Is she worth such a high price? She's almost as good as a royal wedding."
"Yeah, in terms of talent, she's not as good as Sister Luo."
Someone heard this and immediately looked at Luo Yiyao standing beside them: "Oh, I remember that Sister Luo, Sister Jiang, and Zhuang Wan had a dispute. I think it was last year at Furong Cloth Shop?"
"Isn't it? I remember back then, the two of them mocked Zhuang Wan for being a lowly woman unfit to work in the cloth shop. What should we do now?" One of them said sarcastically, "Now that Zhuang Wan has become the future mistress of the General's Mansion, I wonder who will give way first when we meet at the cloth shop in the future."
Luo Yiyao's face turned pale when she heard the sarcastic words. The gazes of everyone around her were as sharp as needles, which made her uncomfortable.
She feigned a strong response, "It has nothing to do with you. Put away your dirty thoughts. Aren't you just jealous of Zhuang Wan marrying Master Pei? Why are you taking it out on me?"
"You——" The man blushed with embarrassment when he was exposed.
Luo Yiyao snorted, unwilling to pay attention to her, and left with her maid.
Not long after walking, she saw another person coming up ahead. She stopped and inexplicably regained a sense of superiority.
"Hey! Isn't this Miss Jiang from the Xiayang Marquis's Mansion? Why are you dressed like this? What are you going to do?"
The person opposite was Jiang Baohe.
She was carrying a basket on her arm, and inside it, no one knew what was in it, covered with a piece of silk. Her clothes were plain and cheap, and her face was bare of any makeup, looking as clean and simple as a commoner.
Facing Luo Yiyao's ridicule, Jiang Baohe remained calm.
She nodded as a greeting and continued walking forward.
Luo Yiyao stopped her in her tracks and asked, "Why, Sister Jiang, now that she's with Zhuang Wan, has become even more contemptuous of others?"
After the fall of the Xiayang Marquisate, Jiang Baohe and Zhuang Wan became close, a fact widely known. They both ran shops on Fengyang Street and often met for tea. On the day the Zhuang Mansion reopened, Jiang Baohe even sent a congratulatory gift.
Jiang Baohe was not angry when she was stopped by her. She stood straight with an expression of neither servility nor arrogance on her face.
“Luo Yiyao, do you know why you look so pitiful?”
This sentence immediately made Luo Yiyao look unhappy.
Jiang Baohe continued, "When you first tried to curry favor with Miss Jiang of the Cheng'en Marquisate, you thought you had gained something precious. But then Miss Jiang left the capital, and you became the object of everyone's ridicule."
"Perhaps in your eyes, one must rely on another to survive, but I, Jiang Baohe, am not." She said: "While the Xiayang Marquis Mansion is here, I am Jiang Baohe. Even if the Xiayang Marquis Mansion is gone, I am still Jiang Baohe. I don't need to rely on anyone. I can live a good life as long as I respect and love myself."
"Excuse me!" After saying that, Jiang Baohe walked straight past her.
Luo Yiyao's cheeks turned red from what she said. She bit her lips and couldn't refute a single word.
After a while, she turned around and saw Jiang Baohe's back disappearing leisurely and calmly on the street.
.
When the Pei family proposed marriage, the most lively place was the Zhuang family.
Upon learning of the Zhuang family's marriage to the General's Mansion, even the most distant relatives and neighbors flocked to offer their congratulations. As the saying goes, one shouldn't strike a smiling face, so Madam Zhuang politely welcomed them in for tea. Madam Zhuang's son, Zhuang Hun, greeted the male guests in the main hall, while Madam Zhuang entertained the female guests in the backyard.
As for Zhuang Wan, he was just an idler.
She was ordered by Mrs. Zhuang to embroider her dowry, which made her very worried.
Embroidery? This was her worst skill, but every woman in this era knew how to embroider. Qiu Tan said her original self was a master at it. To avoid revealing her flaws, she had to study embroidery behind closed doors.
But after embroidering for a long time, the mandarin ducks were turned into a messy sparrow. Finally, she had no choice but to cut her fingers and said that her hands were injured and she could not embroider.
At this moment, she was busy bandaging her wounds.
In fact, the cut was not deep, just a little skin was peeled. She sat at the table, looked at her exaggeratedly bandaged index finger, sighed, and simply continued to look at the account book.
After a while, a man's voice was heard outside.
Suddenly, her scalp went numb.
As soon as he heard the man's clear and hearty laughter, he knew that the person was his original body's brother, Zhuang Hun.
Zhuang Wan immediately put down the account book, stood up and looked towards the door. Soon, he saw Zhuang Hun appear there.
Zhuang Hun was only twenty years old, two years older than Zhuang Wan. Having spent a year in exile in a border town, he had become quite tanned and possessed a composure uncharacteristic of his age.
"Little sister," Zhuang Hun came in with a smile, a lunch box in his hand. "Guess what I bought for you?"
"What is it?" Zhuang Wan asked.
"Your favorite sour plum ice drink," Zhuang Hun approached and patted Zhuang Wan's head familiarly. "Don't worry, I bought it for you secretly. I made sure mother wouldn't know."
He added, "I put some ice in it. It's hot right now, so this is the most refreshing thing to eat."
Zhuang Wan laughed.
Whenever summer came, she wanted to eat something cold. She used to do it whenever it was convenient for her at Pei Mansion. But now that she was back at Zhuang Mansion, Madam Zhuang was restraining her, saying that if a woman drank too much cold drinks, she would easily suffer from uterine cold.
Zhuang Hun heard it yesterday and kept it in mind, so he secretly brought a copy for her.
"Thank you...brother." Zhuang Wan said.
"Look at you, why are you still being polite to me? You weren't like this before." Zhuang Hun looked a little sad. "After not seeing you for a year, you've become a stranger to me."
well!
Zhuang Wan felt guilty.
To be honest, the person she feared most was her original brother. She could treat Madam Zhuang as her own mother, but her brother...
In her previous life, she was an only child. Not to mention that she didn't know how to get along with her brother, Zhuang Hun was a real sister-con. He would come to her several times a day and give her all kinds of good things.
Faced with the warmth and intimacy of a stranger, Zhuang Wan was somewhat bewildered. She had considered playing the role of a loving brother and sister, but true love is the most vulnerable thing in the world. The better Zhuang Hun treated her, the more guilty she felt.
"Brother," Zhuang Wan quickly changed the subject, "Have all the guests left?"
"Let's go," Zhuang Hun said. "We've been dealing with this all morning, and it's finally over."
"Oh, by the way, mother is waiting for us in the main hall. After you finish this bowl of ice drink, we can go over and have dinner together."
"Okay." Zhuang Wan nodded.
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