Chapter 418 Jiang Yehui, the Second Brother
They arrived at the alley that the fourth brother had mentioned; the street was narrow, and a carriage could barely squeeze through.
The fourth brother was the first to knock on the courtyard gate, wanting to ask if anyone inside was injured.
Unexpectedly, someone arrived before them.
Outside the second son's room stood a woman wearing a veiled hat, with a maidservant standing beside her.
The second son stood at the doorway, leaning on his cane and holding onto the doorframe.
"Miss Lin, please leave. I've already been beaten and humiliated. Let's call it even."
Upon hearing this, the fourth brother, who had just entered the courtyard, stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Song Chunxue in disbelief.
Song Chunxue stood beside him, intending to listen first before speaking.
"But you clearly said you would come to Jingzhou with me, and you said you would marry me. How can you go back on your word?"
Although the woman standing at the door was wearing a veil, Song Chunxue could not see her face, but she was small in stature and had a clear voice with an accent from the Hunan and Hubei regions.
This person was the second son's wife in her previous life.
Although she had only met him once, she remembered it very clearly.
“But if I go to Jingzhou, I won’t be able to fulfill my filial duties to my mother. This place is separated from Jingzhou by thousands of mountains and rivers, and I will never be able to return to my hometown in this lifetime.”
The second brother's voice came through, carrying a hint of determination.
“I know Jingzhou is a good place. Compared to Zhuanglang County, it has beautiful mountains and rivers, and you don’t have to worry about the rain. But I grew up here. If I go to Jingzhou, my mother will have raised me for nothing. Miss Lin, I’m sorry.”
Miss Lin was crying softly, seemingly questioning why he had called her by her given name before.
This courtyard must have been rented out by the owner to outsiders to make money. Someone was standing at the door of the house next door, listening intently to the young couple's conversation.
They had never seen a woman so bold as to personally confront her unfaithful lover.
Standing in the courtyard, Song Chunxue remained expressionless, but inwardly felt incredibly ironic.
So the second son knew too. If he were to leave, this son would have been raised in vain.
However, in his previous life, he still went to Jingzhou and settled there.
For a journey of nearly four thousand miles, he hadn't even consulted her opinion beforehand, making the decision unilaterally without her consent.
But now, he has changed his mind.
Ironically, she could tell that the reason he changed his mind and rejected Miss Lin was simply because he had a better option.
This time, because she, as the mother, knew Lord Xie, and the third child wrote about their acquaintance in a letter, the second child took the initiative to find Lord Xie and ask him to help him out.
It must be said that he was very smart and brave. In order to make his career progress more smoothly, he did not waste any of the connections he had.
If he were to rely solely on himself, and was eliminated from the elite army, he would either remain an unknown soldier for the rest of his life, or leave the army and return home to farm.
The border was often in turmoil, so he could not leave the military camp and could only remain an unknown soldier, waiting to die in battle one day.
As a mother, Song Chunxue felt sorry for her second child.
Such an arrogant man couldn't get a position in the army; if he wanted to climb the ranks, he could only marry Miss Lin.
Miss Lin's brother promised that if his second brother went to Jingzhou and took good care of his sister, he would find him a good job in the county government.
However, as a mother who had died once, Song Chunxue felt deeply disheartened by her son.
A person who values wealth over parents is not a worthy son.
Court officials valued filial piety, as all scholars knew; those who were not filial had no chance of official advancement.
However, Song Chunxue had also heard a saying: "It has always been difficult to be both loyal and filial."
From the government to the public, all that matters is hypocrisy.
Who truly cares about the sincerity behind the empty titles of loyalty and filial piety?
Miss Lin is the beloved daughter of the Lin family. Her brother holds an official position and wants to stay on the frontier to make contributions. She only has one younger sister at home, and he is not comfortable entrusting her to others.
Jiang Yehui, who came from a poor family but was handsome, was chosen by his younger sister and became the best candidate to marry her.
However, at first, neither of them wanted to think deeply about how a man who could leave his mother and go to a distant place to take care of someone else's mother for his future could be someone they could entrust their life to.
A son-in-law who marries into his wife's family cannot take a concubine, but he cannot control his philandering outside the marriage.
She only found out later that the second son was even worse than the fourth son, who loved to cheat on his wife and prey on young girls.
"Mother, Mother." The fourth son nudged Song Chunxue. "Mother, my second brother is asking you a question."
When Song Chunxue came to her senses, she realized that the girl Lin had run out of the courtyard with a sob in her voice, and the second brother was standing in front of her with a cane.
No wonder Miss Lin was so infatuated with his face and insisted that he become her live-in son-in-law.
Although he had spent three years in the military, the second brother's face showed no signs of sun and wind. His skin was fair, and his peach blossom eyes were naturally charming. When he smiled, he revealed neat and white teeth. Even when he was dressed in a disheveled state, it was hard to ignore his face.
The man was honest, tall, and handsome. Most men in Lin's hometown were short, so it was understandable that she was fond of the second son.
"Mother, you've finally come."
The second brother's eyes were misty and red-rimmed, and his lips trembled slightly as he looked at Song Chunxue.
"I thought Mother had forgotten about her son."
He held Song Chunxue's hand, and with his other hand, he lowered his head to wipe away his tears, almost snot from his nose.
"Mother looks even younger than she did three years ago. If it weren't for your eyes, I almost wouldn't have recognized her."
Song Chunxue's heart softened as she felt the dry, calloused skin on his hands, and her eyes welled up with tears.
"When did you move in here? Why wasn't a better courtyard found for you? Aren't you being paid your military salary?"
The second brother shook his head. "Where would the military pay come from? If the imperial court hadn't been so slow to pay the salaries and hadn't reduced the size of the elite troops, I wouldn't have been assigned to the reserve army and wouldn't even have enough to eat."
“I also want to fight on the battlefield and serve the court, but they don’t want me. I’m starving to death. If I don’t change my path, I will either starve to death or be driven out of the city to die, bearing the name of dying on the battlefield. It’s hard to say when my mother will receive the pension.”
The second son pointed to the house and said, "Mother, come inside and sit down."
"If it weren't for the silver medal my mother gave me back then, which I've kept around my neck and it hasn't been stolen, I wouldn't be able to afford to live in this house."
Song Chunxue's heart skipped a beat. She noticed that the second son's neck was bare, which didn't seem like he was lying.
Moreover, she had never given any money to her second son.
Previously, when he went on military expeditions, it was hard to say where he would be.
Knowing that he was not in any danger, she was not worried about his situation.
Is there anything else in the house?
Looking at the dark window, Song Chunxue said to the second brother, "Let's go out and find an inn to stay in. First, tell me what happened to you."
The second son pointed to the bundle on the narrow bed, "That one."
The fourth brother looked around and couldn't help but sigh, "Second brother got beaten up, it's not convenient for him to live here."
He helped the second son walk out, asking, "When were you beaten?"
"It's been half a month. The day I was beaten, it was even difficult to go out to pee. I didn't drink any water all day and only managed to go out to find a place to pee at night."
Song Chunxue felt a pang of sadness.
“Let’s go, let’s find a nice place.” She picked up her bundle and followed behind them. “I’ve never stayed in an inn in Jincheng before, let’s find a better one.”
"The better ones are very expensive, costing two hundred coins a night. I don't need anything too fancy. I know there's a place up ahead that costs only a few dozen coins a night and is fairly clean."
Seeing her second son limping, Song Chunxue's tears suddenly rolled down her cheeks.
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