Chapter 54
The pain surged up in an instant, like a rising tide, flooding his heart.
It's so unexpected.
"Then what was it before?" His voice was so thick that it couldn't be dissolved, and his eyes were covered with a layer of dark red, like a bloodthirsty beast.
Wang Shuhuai suddenly poked the window paper, and Xie Yunchu was somewhat caught off guard. She spoke calmly.
"You are my husband, and it is my duty to take care of you. I would do the same for anyone else."
These words were like a shower of arrows that pierced his heart. He was struck by a sharp pain, which was so intense that it numbed him. He stood there motionless. By the time he came to his senses, the intense pain had slowly spread along his limbs and bones, forcing the corners of his eyebrows to turn a shocking red.
He completely let go of her hand, turned stiffly, and walked out of the house without knowing how. After he stepped over the threshold, the lights in the yard were draped behind him. He rode away at a quick speed, the wind whistling past his ears. He passed over the mountain ridge, went deep into the forest valley, and jumped out from the straight tree-lined avenue, but he could not get rid of the mess he was in.
Xie Yunchu watched him leave and slowly lay down on the bed. After talking it out, she felt a lot more relaxed. She certainly didn't think her husband cared about her emotionally, but he just felt uncomfortable seeing that she was not as attentive as before.
By making it clear like this, we can each get what we need and live in peace, which is what she wants more.
When Xie Yunchu woke up the next day, Wang Yining brought two breakfasts. It was obvious that she didn't know that Wang Shuhuai had left. After Xie Yunchu had breakfast, he took Ke Jie'er to the main courtyard.
Prince Yao came out of the main courtyard in high spirits. When he saw Xie Yunchu, he smiled gently and even waved to little Sister Ke. Sister Ke loved to laugh and she smiled sweetly to everyone she saw. Prince Yao liked her very much.
After greeting his uncle, he crossed the hall to look for Wang Yining, only to see Wang Yining sitting in the middle of the hall in a skirt, fanning herself in an armchair, looking lazy and with a rosy face. Xie Yunchu was an experienced person and could almost guess what the two had done.
"I came at the wrong time."
Wang Yining looked irritable, glanced at the bright daylight outside, and said angrily, "What does it have to do with you? It was that bastard who caused the trouble." He smiled and glanced at Xie Yunchu.
"Did Shu Huai apologize to you last night? When he came to pay his respects, I scolded him severely for you."
After hearing this, Xie Yunchu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know how to explain to Wang Yining, so he changed the subject and asked about the child.
Soon Wang Shuqin and Wang Shuyi came over together. When Wang Shuqin saw Ke Jieer, she immediately reached out to hug her. Wang Yining saw this and said,
"Oh, you used to hate children, but now you cling to Sister Ke all day long."
Wang Shuqin pinched the two dimples on Sister Ke'er's lips and said, "Who said she is cute?"
Ke Jie'er's face was pinched by her aunt so deformed that she looked funny and cute, making everyone in the room laugh. Even Yao Jing and Yao Xing surrounded Ke Jie'er and reached out to touch her dimples.
Ke Jieer was unhappy and shook off Wang Shuqin's hand. She ran towards Xie Yunchu with a grunt. Wang Shuyi saw this and immediately stopped her niece, picked her up, and then sat down next to Xie Yunchu. "Ke'er, be good. Your mother is pregnant. Please don't rush over, okay?"
Wang Shuqin was quite unhappy when she saw that her seat was taken by Wang Shuyi. She lifted her skirt and sat to the lower right of Wang Yining.
Sister Ke was not used to being hugged by Wang Shuyi, and she made a fuss while sliding down from her arms and threw herself towards Wang Shuqin again. Wang Shuqin was so happy that she hugged her and kissed her a few times. Xie Yunchu looked at the two of them and smiled, and Wang Shuyi lowered her eyes sadly.
Wang Yining propped her forehead with her hand and glared at Wang Shuqin who was playing with the child, "If you like children so much, why don't you get married and have one soon?"
Wang Shuqin glared at Wang Yining and said, "Auntie, did you accept my mother's favor and come here to lobby for me?"
Wang Yining was angry when she heard this, "How come you have become a firecracker? No one can even mention marriage anymore?"
Wang Shuqin confidently said, "When I was born, everyone said that I looked like my aunt and my temperament was like hers. Aunt, who do you think is to blame for this?"
Wang Yining was so angry that she wanted to hit her, but was persuaded by the maids.
"Just wait, I'm looking forward to finding you a marriage partner, a man with a good tongue to control you."
Wang Shuqin was not to be outdone and said, "Humph, Gao Zhan and Yang Xiyan are divorced. Auntie, you are in trouble for your romantic relationship."
Wang Yining glared, "What does his divorce have to do with me? If I had married him, I would have married him a long time ago. Why would I have waited until now? Besides, I have two children and a business. I am in the Yao family, and no one dares to do anything to me. I will go to the Gao family and be controlled by Gao Zhan? I won't do that."
After hearing this, Xie Yunchu frowned slightly and sat up straight immediately. She remembered that in her previous life, Wang Yining had schemed against the Yao family to the point where nothing was left of her. She had to find a way to help her aunt avoid that disaster.
Wang Shuhuai hadn't appeared in the villa for three consecutive days, and Wang Yining felt a little regretful.
"Why don't we go back to the capital."
She didn't want to confine Xie Yunchu here and prevent them from reuniting.
Xie Yunchu had no choice but to agree.
On the afternoon of the eighth day of February, the group arrived at the palace. Nanny Lin and her men safely brought Xie Yunchu into Chunjing Hall. Along the way, she asked Chunqi if the carriage was stable and whether Xie Yunchu was hurt by the bumps. Chunqi hurriedly said no.
Afterwards, congratulations were given to Xie Yunchu for becoming the wife of a third-rank assistant minister. Xie Yunchu used silver to reward everyone in Chunjingtang. After Wang Shuhuai's example of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys last time, all the maids and servants in the yard were now behaving themselves and acting in a well-behaved manner, for fear of displeasing Xie Yunchu.
After breaking the window paper, Xie Yunchu completely let himself go and acted more and more casually. He used to deliver food boxes to the government office area every day, but now he told Nanny Lin not to bother, because the officials in each department had their own special supplies from the imperial kitchen and would not starve.
Since everyone gets what they need, no one needs to be pretentious or indulge anyone else.
On the second day after Xie Yunchu returned home, Xiao Youran's mother, Mrs. Xiao, came to look for her.
This was the first time that Madam Xiao took the initiative to visit the Wang family. Xie Yunchu did not dare to neglect her and went to the outer hall to greet her in person. They went together to meet the second Madam Jiang and the third Madam Zhou. Jiang happened to be drinking tea with her sisters-in-law in the glazed hall, so they also greeted her.
Jiang was reprimanded by Wang Shuhuai last time. Seeing Xie Yunchu was a little averse, the Third Madam entertained her politely. Xie Yunchu led Madam Xiao back to Chunjing Hall, sat her down in the side room, and asked her,
"Auntie came to visit me today. Could something have happened?"
Madam Xiao couldn't suppress the worry on her brows. She just raised her hand to signal Xie Yunchu to come sit next to her. Xie Yunchu came over, and Madam Xiao couldn't wait to hold her hand, half hugged her and said,
"Child, she's back, do you want to see her?"
Xie Yunchu's body shook violently.
It is obvious who this "she" is.
From the time that person left when she was less than four years old until now, Mrs. Xiao almost never mentioned that person in front of her. Occasionally, when she asked about it, Mrs. Xiao would make a joke and explain it away. Until she grew up and realized that her mother would never come back, she would obediently shut up.
Madam Xiao looked at Xie Yunchu's face that resembled Mrs. Qiao's and hugged her with heartache.
"At first, I exchanged letters with her once a year, but then she fell ill and we stopped communicating. Not long ago, I learned that she remarried to the current Jiangnan Governor Jiang Cheng. She returned to the capital these days and asked someone to contact me, so I met her."
"She asked about you and You'er, and I said you were doing well, especially you, who married Shuhuai..."
"She was very surprised to hear that Shu Huai was your husband. She said she had seen him in Jiangnan and that he was a very good man. She said you were very lucky..."
Mrs. Xiao's tears flowed like pearls from a broken string, and she spoke with some resentment and even hatred.
"Chu'er, I didn't want her to divorce me. She said she would abandon such a young child. Your mother is a very straightforward person with a cruel heart. I can't do it if it were me... I didn't tell her about your suffering, and I didn't want to tell her. Every time I saw you struggling to support a family over the years, I hated her a little... But..."
Madam Xiao buried her head in Xie Yunchu's shoulder with tears streaming down her face. "But seeing how prosperous she is now, with a caring husband and immense wealth, I vaguely feel that perhaps divorce is the right choice for her."
"It's just hard for you and You'er..."
After crying for a while, Madam Xiao sniffed, sighed a few times, wiped away her tears and said, "Forget it, it's all in the past. If you don't want to, you don't have to go see her."
Madam Xiao and Qiao Zhiyun are cousins. Their mothers' families are not from the same place. Madam Xiao's mother died early. After she married and came to the capital, she had never been to Jinling, let alone met Qiao Zhiyun.
Qiao Zhiyun's meaning was very clear. Since she could not give the child maternal love, she should simply not have any involvement. Madam Xiao blamed her and hated her, but at the same time she agreed with her words. She also did not want Xie Yunchu and Xie Yunyou to have any hope for their mother.
Look, aren’t the two children growing up well now?
Xie Yunchu listened to her silently, his expression very calm.
In her previous life, after Qiao returned to Beijing, she also asked her to meet him. At that time, she was full of resentment and refused. She even told Qiao not to appear in front of Yun You and not to disturb them.
After being reborn, she tasted the bitterness of marriage and suddenly understood Qiao's choice. She had no feelings for her, nor any resentment towards her.
When Qiao left, Xie Yunyou had just been born and he had no memory of his mother at all.
Xie Yunchu had a long memory and vaguely remembered that her back was very beautiful, as beautiful as a painting.
The sound is even more pleasant, with a soft and gentle warmth.
She never knew what her mother looked like, but she would never forget the first foggy mornings after her mother left. The little girl with double buns, thin clothes, sat alone on the stone lion in front of the door, hugging her knees, looking towards the direction where the sun was rising.
She will also never forget one evening when it was pouring rain. Her father went to the Imperial College and did not return for a long time. Her brother had a stomachache, and she ran around the streets looking for a doctor. She slipped and accidentally broke her front teeth. Blood and rain flowed back into her throat. The feeling of suffocation still lingered in her dreams many years later.
This is also the reason why she did not insist on divorcing Wang Shuhuai after her rebirth, and was always cautious about the divorce.
She didn't want her children to make the same mistakes she had.
"There's no need to meet in person." Xie Yunchu got up and went to the inner room. After a while, he took out an envelope with 10,000 taels of silver neatly placed inside. "Aunt, please help me pass this envelope to her and tell her that my brother and I don't owe her anything."
Mrs. Xiao felt the weight of the gift in her hand was quite impressive, and guessed that this was Xie Yunchu returning all the dowry left by Mrs. Qiao to her.
She wanted to say something, but finally sighed deeply, stood up and said, "I will definitely pass it on for you."
When Xie Yunchu came back from sending Mrs. Xiao back, he saw Dong Ning sitting under the corridor fiddling with something.
"What are you carving for Ke'er?"
Dong Ning saw her stand up and gave an awkward smile, "Miss, your birthday is in a few days, I will make you a birthday gift."
Xie Yunchu was stunned when he heard this, "I even forgot my own birthday."
She came over with a smile and said, "Let me see what you are doing?"
Dong Ning quickly turned her back to avoid her seeing him, and even said mysteriously,
"Girl, it won't be worse than the ghost ball you made for the Second Master."
Xie Yunchu was stunned for a moment, his eyes burning.
"Silly girl, don't hurt your hands."
She didn't know how many calluses she had at that time.
Dong Ning grinned, not caring at all. He gently kicked the Jinwu into the corner and continued carving away from Xie Yunchu.
The lights in the Ministry of Revenue were on late at night.
The young and dignified Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was still sitting behind his desk reviewing memorials.
The scarlet official robe made his handsome features look even more graceful. Several doctors were waiting before him, among them was Doctor Wen, who used to be Wang Shuhuai's superior.
Wang Shuhuai had only been in office for less than five days when he cleaned up the entire Ministry of Revenue.
There was no other reason, it was because Wang Shuhuai would go south soon to compile the fish scale atlas and re-register the newly surveyed land and population in preparation for the new tax law. It would take nearly ten years to compare various tax accounts in Jiangnan. He wrote to the Ministry of Revenue half a year ago and asked it to sort out this file. Now, when he took office, there was still no trace of it.
Wang Shuhuai said that all the files must be sorted out within half a month.
As a result, the doctors and officials under the Ministry of Revenue were busy checking files and classifying figures day and night, and they were extremely busy.
Wang Shuhuai looked through the items they had sorted out and was not satisfied. He raised his eyelids slightly. His tone was gentle, but the cold eyes and the silent oppressive aura were chilling.
Even if he didn't curse, every word he said hit the nail on the head and pointed out the mistakes succinctly, making these experienced old officials unable to hold their heads up.
Whenever Wang Shuhuai finished his official duties after working day and night and returned to the study in the palace from the government office late at night, he would sit behind his desk for a while.
The warm appearance on his face faded away, and his cold and pale face was embedded with an almost twisted coldness. He obviously didn't have to come back, but he couldn't help wanting to come back. As long as he sat at this familiar desk and looked at everything familiar, there was a hot magma surging in his chest.
The barbs in the bones seemed to pierce the skin, bulging out from the inside and covering the whole body.
He asked himself why he was doing this.
Why should I be so frustrated because of a woman?
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