Chapter 55
After paying back 10,000 taels to Qiao, Xie Yunchu was short of money. The summer of this year was coming and the canal transportation was about to be changed. She had too many places to spend money. The Jiangnan Silk Shop had been planned and needed more money. Xie Yunchu felt a lot of pressure, but she was more excited. She was busy and enjoyed it until midnight.
Pregnant women always feel hungry in the middle of the night. Xie Yunchu woke up hungry and ate a bowl of bird's nest porridge.
At noon the next day, Princess Fuyuan came to visit.
Xie Yunchu hadn't seen her for a long time. Princess Fuyuan brought a gift box to Xie Yunchu and took a look at her bulging belly. She was very dissatisfied.
"No one has played polo with me since you got pregnant."
Xie Yunchu hurriedly said ashamed, "I'll play a few games with you after I'm out of confinement."
At this time, a hearty laugh came from outside, "And me, I'll play with the princess."
When Princess Fuyuan heard Wang Shuqin's voice, she snorted softly and raised her voice to reply, "Your ability is not good enough."
Wang Shuqin brought her maids in and lifted the curtain. She said with a smile, "Then let's go find Yang Xiyan."
When Yang Xiyan was mentioned, Princess Fuyuan had a headache. "Ever since she divorced Gao Zhan, she has stayed at home. I sent her a letter to invite her out, but she didn't even show up. Is that so bad for a man?"
Wang Shuqin agreed with this statement, "Yes, what's so good about men? I don't plan to marry a man!"
Princess Fuyuan's eyes sparkled. "That's what I was planning. You don't know, I went back to my maternal grandparents' home in Qingzhou with my mother a while ago. My aunt wanted to bring me up with my cousin. My mother also wanted to do the same. I was so worried when I heard that. So I ran back to the capital."
Wang Shuqin found a like-minded person and also got excited, "Princess, let's just find a place, and if anyone urges us to get married in the future, we can hide there."
At this time, Princess Fuyuan thought of Wang Yining and said, "Go to your aunt's villa."
“Good idea.”
Xie Yunchu was watching the two of them happily, and was actually very envious in his heart. Before a woman gets married, she is free and can do whatever she wants. But after getting married, she is restricted and subject to a bunch of secular rules. Even if it is not her fault, it becomes her fault.
However, there is a reason why Princess Fuyuan's marriage is difficult.
Although the Prince Duan's Mansion is noble, its status is actually awkward. It has a father who once rebelled. Even if the emperor and empress love Princess Fuyuan, the ministers of the aristocratic families dare not easily arrange a marriage. Therefore, it is understandable that the Princess of Duan goes to her mother's family to seek marriage.
"When Sister Ke grows up, I won't force her to get married." Xie Yunchu said.
Wang Shuqin and Princess Fuyuan were deeply touched upon hearing this.
Wang Shuqin even picked up little Ke'er who was sitting on the bed flipping through the picture album, hugged her and kissed her.
"Ke'er, look how lucky you are to have such a reasonable mother."
Wang Shuqin rubbed Ke Jie'er's chest, which made Ke Jie'er happy. The little girl tilted her face up and laughed at everyone.
At this time, there was another laugh from outside.
"Ke'er is so funny."
It turned out that the Third Madam came over with her maid after hearing that Princess Fuyuan had arrived.
Everyone greeted each other, and Xie Yunchu gave the main seat to the Third Madam and Princess Fuyuan, and sat at the lower right with them.
The third wife must have heard what she had just said, so she pretended to counsel her daughter.
"Marriage is not all trouble. Look, with a daughter as cute as Ke'er, Yun Chu's life is worth it, isn't it?"
"When you are young, you can eat, drink and have fun without any worries. But when you are old, you have no one to sleep with and no children to raise. It is a bit sad."
"Take me for example. I had a stomachache last night. Mammy was so anxious that she wanted to find a doctor, but your father took the initiative and personally found some ointment to apply on me. I slept soundly that night."
Wang Shuqin was used to hearing these sneers.
Fu Yuan nodded and said, "Your words do make sense. I find them pleasing to the ear. Unlike my mother, who is gentle and dignified in front of others, she scolds me behind their backs. My ears are callused from her scolding. She keeps yelling about which woman should not get married, and if I don't get married, she will become a joke in the whole capital... I get a headache when I hear these words."
"I hate that I'm a girl, otherwise I would go to the border to kill the enemy." Princess Fuyuan looked proud.
Xie Yunchu continued,
"Princess, even if you are not a girl, you can try whatever you want. Didn't the border have female soldiers in the early years?"
Princess Fuyuan's eyes sparkled when she heard this. "I've heard about it, too. To be honest, I really had this thought, but I was afraid that my mother wouldn't agree."
Xie Yunchu smiled, "If you don't want to be a female soldier, you can do other things. Since you like playing polo so much, why don't you open a polo field and organize a few polo matches from time to time? We can all join you for fun. Over time, everyone will go to your field to compete, and it will become an industry."
Upon hearing this, Princess Fuyuan clapped her hands and stood up, "Great, what a great idea!"
"Chu Chu, how did you come up with such a brilliant idea? I'll go find a place. I want to form a polo team."
Princess Fuyuan hurried out, and Xie Yunchu had no time to stop her. Wang Shuqin also got excited when she heard this, and ran after Princess Fuyuan with her skirt lifted up.
"I'm going too, I'm going too, I'll pay a membership fee!"
The third wife's eyes were full of light, and she saw the two girls disappear without a trace. She was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"By the way, I came here to discuss something with you." She took out a note and handed it to Xie Yunchu, "February 16th is your birthday party, I plan to host one for you. Here is the guest list, take a look, is there anything missing?"
Xie Yunchu felt overwhelmed when he heard this. "You are busy enough. It is really not right for a junior like me to trouble you to take care of things. In my opinion, let it go."
"How can we just count our twentieth birthday?"
The so-called full birthday is actually just the age in lunar calendar.
At this time in her previous life, the Duke's Mansion was in mourning, and almost no one cared about her twentieth birthday. Wang Shuhuai was in Jiangnan at that time, and probably the servants reminded him to bring her a gift, and that was it.
This life is so different.
"I'm not kidding. Shu Huai was just promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, so I held a grand birthday banquet. I don't want people to say I'm frivolous. If you are interested, you can just invite your relatives and neighbors to a small banquet."
Seeing Xie Yunchu was so sensible, the Third Madam smiled and said, "Since you said so, let's do as you say." The Third Madam leaned closer to her and said, "To be honest, I was planning to take advantage of your favor and look for a daughter-in-law."
Xie Yunchu was surprised. "I see. Which girl do you like?"
The fifth young master, Wang Shuxu, is seventeen years old this year and is really old enough to get married.
The third wife smiled in bewilderment, "I don't care about family background or appearance, as long as I am steady and down-to-earth, I will be very satisfied with someone like you."
Xie Yunchu understood. In the past, the Third Wife had never mentioned the Fifth Young Master's marriage at all, because her son had not passed the imperial examination yet and should focus on his studies. The reason why she suddenly came to see him during the birthday party must be that someone in the palace had become interested in him.
As the grandson of the eldest princess and the duke, Wang Shuxu has always been a favorite in the eyes of the daughters of officials in the capital. The eldest princess must be planning to marry her grandson to a granddaughter-in-law with a prominent family background, and what the third wife said today means that she has her own plans.
It seems that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are going to fight secretly.
Not long after the Third Madam left, the concierge brought a thick envelope wrapped in a sheepskin bag. Xie Yunchu's face turned strange as soon as she saw the envelope. When she opened it, she saw the 10,000 taels of silver inside. She asked the concierge,
"Is the messenger here?"
The concierge replied, "The messenger left a message saying that if you are looking for her, you can go to the teahouse outside the main street of our palace."
Xie Yunchu closed his eyes, sighed a few times, went back to the house, changed into traveling clothes, put on a thin cloak, and was helped out by Chunqi and Xia An.
Presumably he guessed that she was pregnant, so the other party chose a place that was very close to her. Just out of the alley in front of the door and a stone's throw south was the teahouse. Xie Yunchu had just sat in the carriage for a short while when she got off and went to the teahouse opposite.
A pretty maid was waiting at the door. When she saw her, she stepped forward silently, bowed, and led her to the second floor.
Xie Yunchu arrived at the door of the private room.
The door was wide open, and what came into view was a three-part Suzhou embroidery screen with flowers and birds. A figure seemed to be looming through the silk gauze. Xie Yunchu looked at it indifferently for a moment, handed the cloak to the maid, twisted the sheepskin bag in his hand, and stepped over the threshold alone. The door creaked closed, completely isolating himself from the outside.
The room was quiet. The two of them sat and stood behind the screen, looking at each other silently.
Xie Yunchu felt calmer than she had imagined. She knew from her father's obscure eyes that she and Qiao looked very similar. When she was young, she had imagined what her mother looked like, but she couldn't understand why her mother left her. Now, after two lifetimes of vicissitudes, looking back, many things were not as important as she had imagined.
Xie Yunchu stood there for a while, then walked around the screen and went in.
Looking up, the woman under the window also slowly stood up.
She wore a jade-colored long jacket with a slanting collar and orchid embroidered on it, and a light pink veil on the outside. She had fair skin and beautiful looks, with gentle and calm eyes. Her face was bright and generous, even more beautiful than she had imagined, with a kind of beauty that was as deep as still water and yet rugged and tenacious.
Seeing Xie Yunchu staring at her clothes, Qiao Zhiyun raised her arm and asked softly, "Does this dress look good? I had it custom-made at Linglong Embroidery."
Xie Yunchu came back to his senses and bowed to her gracefully, "It's beautiful. Not everyone can pull off this color. Madam, it complements her very well."
No one expected that the story would start like this after the mother and daughter hadn't seen each other for more than ten years.
Qiao Zhiyun's eyes swept across her belly and pointed to the armchair opposite her, "Sit down and take a rest."
Xie Yunchu sat down, and Qiao Zhiyun poured her a cup of tea and pushed it in front of her personally.
There was an invisible and inexplicable aura. The two people didn't feel strange at all when they saw each other, and even seemed like old friends who had not seen each other for a long time. However, the room was filled with strangeness and alienation.
Xie Yunchu pushed the sheepskin bag directly in front of Qiao Zhiyun.
"Madam, I cannot accept this gift."
When Qiao Zhiyun heard the word "Madam", her eyes fell on the sheepskin bag. She held the teacup in her hand and did not speak immediately.
She took a sip of tea elegantly, held it in her palm, and looked at Xie Yunchu with a smile, "Yunchu, these are not given to you and Yunyou by me, but the price I paid for my mistakes. I gave birth to you, but I can't raise you. I can only leave some money to help you."
"I never thought about getting your forgiveness. I did it and I never regretted it. It's just that I hurt you after all," Qiao Zhiyun said every word in a very calm tone.
Xie Yunchu looked even more peaceful than her. "Yes, you did help us. At least I got married successfully and didn't get criticized for not having enough dowry. But now it has completed its mission and needs to return to its original owner."
Without any pleasantries or reminiscing about the past, both of them got straight to the point.
Qiao Zhiyun's fingers holding the teacup moved slightly, and she slowly put the teacup down. She clasped her hands in front of her abdomen. She looked at Xie Yunchu with a light and indifferent look in her eyes, "Are you blaming me?"
Xie Yunchu shook his head. "I don't blame you. Everyone has the right to pursue happiness. If I blame you for not choosing us, then I have too many people to blame. Instead of complaining, I might as well live my own life well."
The mist gradually filled Qiao Zhiyun's eyes. She listened in a daze, the breath rolling gently in her throat.
"However," Xie Yunchu changed the subject, "You did all this just to make yourself feel better, thinking that you have made compensation for the two children, but once I accept it, I will be the one who is uncomfortable."
"Why should I bother myself just to accommodate others?"
Her voice was calm and powerful.
All the emotions on Qiao Zhiyun's face faded.
She had nothing to say.
The two sat in silence for a while.
There was restrained sadness in Qiao Zhiyun's eyes, but she remained silent.
After a long while, she was afraid that Xie Yunchu would mind her presence, so she explained softly,
"Your Majesty summoned Jiang Cheng to the capital. You know he is the Governor-General of Liangjiang. He has been away from the court for a long time, and the court is worried. What I mean is that I will stay in the capital for a while, but I will not disturb you."
"I have met Shuhuai. He has good character, ability and skills. He is an excellent person. You are blessed." Qiao Zhiyun smiled again.
Xie Yunchu pursed her lips gently, "You haven't lived with him, so how do you know that he is an excellent husband?"
There was a flash of astonishment in Qiao Zhiyun's eyes, and she was speechless.
Wasn’t Xie Hui decent enough back then?
no.
A person’s closest relatives may be his parents or children, but the person who knows him best must be his wife or husband.
Qiao Zhiyun is an experienced person and has deep understanding of this. She looked at her daughter with concern and said, "I am not qualified to tell you about other things, but I can tell you that you must think more about yourself when it comes to marriage. You can accuse me of being selfish or cold-blooded, but if a person cannot become a better self, he or she cannot be a good mother."
"And I was a failed mother back then."
These words were like the spring sunshine that drove away the chill of winter snow.
The polite masks on the two people's faces were removed, and they were finally able to look each other in the face.
Xie Yunchu was deeply touched. In her previous life, she was also Qiao Shi before her divorce. Qiao Shi bravely ran away and found relief, but she eventually died.
"Thank you for your reminder. I know what to do."
Marriage has more than one destination, and Xie Yunchu can also take a different path.
At least while finding your own happiness, you should also open a window for your children.
Xie Yunchu thought so in his heart.
Qiao Zhiyun didn't know what was going on between Xie Yunchu and Wang Shuhuai, and didn't dare to ask more. She just nodded lightly.
Xie Yunchu took one last look at the sheepskin bag and bowed to her. "It's getting late. I have to go back. Please take care, Madam Jiang."
Qiao Zhiyun's heart ached for a moment, and she tried to force out a smile, "Okay."
She watched Xie Yunchu stand up, and noticed from the corner of her eye that she walked around the screen, carefully stepped over the threshold, and her figure completely disappeared outside the stairs. The tears in her eyes could no longer be stopped, and they fell silently into her palms one by one. She restrained herself from crying out loud, raised her hand to wipe away layer after layer of tears, and took a deep breath.
I have a lot to say, but I can't ask, and I don't have the right to ask.
The resolute determination back then created a gap that can never be crossed.
She had no regrets and would never regret it, but she and her two children missed it after all.
Qiao Zhiyun sat alone for half an hour until she calmed down, then she got up and left the teahouse with the sheepskin bag.
When Xie Yunchu returned to Chunjing Hall, he heard the lively laughter coming from inside, and hurriedly took the maid's arm and went up to the corridor.
At this time, a person came out from the inner room. She was holding a food box in her arms and holding a child in her hands. She stood in the spring breeze with a smile on her face.
"Where have you been? You've kept me waiting. I brought you some freshly made Jicui cake. If you keep dawdling, I'll have to stay here again today."
Xie Yunchu looked at that gentle, loving, yet angry face, and the empty space in her heart was suddenly filled. She hurried over and said loudly, "Then you can live here. I couldn't ask for more."
Madam Ming handed the food box to Nanny Lin, and quickly pulled the mother and daughter into the house, "I was thinking, but I'm afraid your Shuhuai will think I'm in the way."
Xie Yunchu sneered, "Why do you care about him? By the way, why are you here at this hour? Did my father make you unhappy?"
It is now the end of the afternoon.
Madam Ming glanced at her lightly and said, "It wasn't him who made me unhappy, it was me who made him unhappy."
Xie Yunchu was surprised and asked, "What did you do?"
Madam Ming described vividly, "The day before yesterday he gave the two children homework. This morning I went to check. You'er just made a few mistakes in writing, but your father scolded him loudly. I felt uncomfortable, so when the children left, I quietly found an anecdote for him and asked him to explain it to me. He thought I was joking and didn't take it seriously, so I scolded You'er back. Now he said I spoiled my children and that loving mothers often spoil their children. I was so angry that I took the two children back to the Imperial College."
Madam Ming spread her hands and said, "I am free now, so I came to look for you."
Sister Ke stood on tiptoe to hook Madam Ming's hand. Madam Ming immediately squatted down and said, "Come, come, see what delicious food grandma brought for our sister Ke." As she said this, she pulled the child onto the kang bed, washed her hands first, held the child in her arms, and broke off some red fruits for her to eat.
Madam Ming was very gentle. Sister Ke liked her and tried to kiss her with her head tilted. Madam Ming smiled and dodged, "My dear, your grandmother's cheeks are painted with powder, you can't eat it..."
Xie Yunchu stood beside the antique shelf, looking at the grandparents and grandchildren with a warm gaze, and did not speak for a long time.
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