Chapter 20: Wedding Consummation (I) He ate every last bit of rouge on her lips...
Everyone was stunned by the cold voice. They saw someone's majestic shadow in her and fell silent.
Lin Meizhu watched Qing'er stagger and reached out to help her, but she found she was still holding the hoe handle. Did she just run around with it? Lin Meizhu coughed lightly, leaned the tool in her hand against the bushes, and said, "What's going on?"
Nanny Sun's hair was torn into pieces, its white hair scattered on her shoulders. She angrily accused: "Young lady, you should make the decision for me! This girl is relying on your favor to bully others! So many people can testify! She was the one who started it!"
Qing'er's cheeks were slightly red and swollen, and there was blood at the corners of her mouth. She pulled the grass scraps from her crooked bun and snorted coldly, "Do you dare to tell the girl what you said to me again?"
Nanny Sun was speechless for a moment, her eyes flickering.
Lin Meizhu dismissed everyone and took Qing'er into the inner room. She tidied her clothes and hair for her and sighed softly, "You've been wronged."
What is more likely to make people cry than dirty words is unconditional trust. Qing'er's eyes turned red almost instantly.
Qing'er had been watching Nanny Sun acting on her own, beating and scolding Aunt Zhang, and she couldn't stand it so much that she said something. Nanny Sun then ridiculed Qing'er for treating herself as half-master before she even climbed onto Shen Changfeng's bed.
Qing'er was extremely angry and yelled, "You old cucumber who paints! I'm going to slap your mouth to pieces today!" Then the two of them started to fight.
Qing'er said, "I know that the young lady treats me well. But I don't know if the prince will be angry if he finds out about what happened today."
Lin Meizhu: "Don't worry, I have my own plan. Tell me what happened."
Qing'er said, "The servants did find the hairpin on Madam Zhang's daughter, Fourth Lady. Madam Sun said she would execute her first and report later, and she wanted to expel her immediately."
Lin Meizhu shook her head. "Fourth Lady had a high fever when she was a child and is mentally retarded. How could she steal things on her own initiative? Even if someone taught her, she wouldn't necessarily recognize the place."
Qing'er said, "I thought so too. Madam Sun said that Aunt Zhang had guessed her thoughts correctly and that no one would suspect the Fourth Lady."
Lin Meizhu asked, "Where is Aunt Zhang?"
Qing'er said, "Madame Sun wanted to chase her and her daughter away, but I disagreed and asked the servants to take them to the side room."
Lin Meizhu felt strange. Nanny Sun acted as if she couldn't wait to drive people away. "Does Nanny Sun have a grudge against Aunt Zhang?"
Qing'er thought about it carefully and said, "I haven't heard of it. It seems that the two of them didn't have much in common in the past."
Lin Meizhu said, "Bring the person to me." Qing'er agreed, and before leaving, she heard someone behind her ask, "Has anyone come to see Madam Sun or Madam Zhang in the past few days?"
Qing'er said, "Yes, Aunt Zhang's family member Ruo Niang came here once."
After a while, Qing'er said with a stern face: "Madame Sun, the Crown Prince's Consort wants to speak to you."
Nanny Sun watched Aunt Zhang walk out as if she had been pardoned, and saw Qing'er with a gloating look on her face. Her already weak feet felt like they were stepping on cotton.
In the side room, Lin Meizhu sat upright, her face as calm as water. Seeing someone approaching, she slowly uttered two words: "Kneel down!"
Nanny Sun's knees softened and tears immediately fell: "Miss, I am doing this for you wholeheartedly. I cannot allow such harm to continue..."
Lin Meizhu said slowly: "I already know."
Nanny Sun's eyes suddenly widened, and she stared at Lin Meizhu with bated breath, then quickly looked away in less than two seconds. She didn't know where Lin Meizhu had acquired such a terrifying aura in such a short time.
Nanny Sun swallowed and asked tentatively, "Miss, do you believe what they say, and not what I say?"
Lin Meizhu slowly closed her eyes, as if she was extremely tired. "Mammy, I treat you as a family member and an elder, but you... Aunt Zhang has told me everything."
Nanny Sun panicked and said hastily, "Don't believe their nonsense! I don't even know that Ruoniang!"
Ruoniang's inn was located at the border of Hubei and Hunan. As far as she could remember, Nanny Sun had only been there once. Lin Meizhu's heart skipped a beat. "But the time and place she mentioned match."
Nanny Sun said, "It's been over ten years now. There's a lot of traffic on that official road. It's possible she recognized the wrong person!"
Lin Meizhu said, "But she remembers me. Other people in the inn also recognize me."
"She knows I have a red mole on my collarbone."
"She still has evidence."
Nanny Sun's cold sweat soaked her front, and her already small eyes narrowed into a line due to nervousness. "Impossible! That must be fake. I didn't sign the contract! They are crazy about money! What does it have to do with me if the inn they run goes bankrupt? They are trying to blackmail me with a forged contract!"
Lin Meizhu stared directly at the people below, her piercing gaze breaking through her already fragile psychological defenses. She pressed her, "Do you know what crime you've committed?"
Nanny Sun threw herself at Lin Meizhu's feet, tears streaming down her face. "Miss, believe me! I really didn't sign anything! I was ill for a long time at the time and thought I was going to die. My money was all gone. I just... just wanted to find a good family for you, just in case."
Nanny Sun's eyes were sincere as she held Lin Meizhu's hand tightly. "But later! Later, those thoughts only flashed through my mind. I couldn't bear to leave the girl, so I forced myself to set off..."
Lin Meizhu's heart sank as she watched the other woman's panicked expression, her attempts to conceal her guilt only exacerbated. She hadn't even summoned Ruoniang for a confrontation; with just a simple trick, Nanny Sun confessed.
"You caught a cold while taking me to Lingnan, and the money my mother gave you was long gone. You didn't want to continue your journey and just wanted to get rid of me, this hot potato. Ruoniang and her husband ran an inn at the time, and you wanted to sell me to them for travel expenses. After the paperwork and contract were drawn up... you changed your mind and secretly ran away with the deposit. I think the money they offered was too little, and it wasn't what you wanted, right?"
Lin Meizhu felt a surge of anger rising to her face, followed by disappointment, utter disappointment. It took her a long while before she spoke: "Ruoniang never told Aunt Zhang about these things. I'm sure she wasn't sure if the child was me. You were guilty and afraid that the matter would be leaked, so you hurriedly wanted to drive Aunt Zhang out of the palace to prevent future troubles."
Nanny Sun wanted to argue for herself, but Lin Meizhu slowly withdrew her hand and said, "Save these words for the government."
According to the laws of the Wei Dynasty, people who were slaves were suspected of trafficking women and children of officials and would be sentenced to death or exiled a thousand miles away if the facts were verified.
Nanny Sun's tears flowed down her lips, and the scars became red and swollen. She bit her lip and looked up. Lin Meiju turned her back, leaving her with only a resolute profile.
Nanny Sun suddenly laughed softly. In the silence, her voice was a little mocking, as if she saw through Lin Meizhu's embarrassment beneath her calm demeanor. She said, "Young lady, you understand, don't you?"
Lin Meizhu interrupted her: "Take her out!"
But the words "You understand" kept echoing in her head. She leaned on the corner of the table and slumped down in the armchair.
She understood, but she just kept running away.
From the day Aunt Chen chose to send her back to Lingnan, she became an abandoned child.
In his early years, Lin Qianzu served in the Huguang region before being transferred to Nanjing. He placed Concubine Chen and their two children there, promising to relocate the family to Nanjing in two years. Concubine Chen grew increasingly anxious, fearing her husband would never return and that a woman outside her would steal her favor. However, the long journey, and the difficulty of carrying two children, proved difficult. After weighing the pros and cons, she had an idea: she sent Lin Meizhu back to her father, Lin Huisheng, in Guangzhou Prefecture. Then, with her son, she caught up with her husband as he left the city.
Aunt Chen said that her brother was in poor health at that time, so he had to send her back to Lingnan.
But she was only two years old at that time.
Why did Nanny Sun dare to think of selling her out? Because she knew that no one in the Lin family would care about her.
She was born out of wedlock, a girl, so it didn't matter if she died.
She understood that what Aunt Chen said about wanting to live a good life was a lie. Aunt Chen was obsessed with marrying her into a wealthy family. She knew that her life would be difficult due to the huge gap in social status, but she didn't care, as long as she could pave the way for her brother.
She also understood that Shen Changfeng's attitude warmed up not because he liked her so much, but because he was attracted by her beauty and coveted this body.
For the first time, Lin Meiju felt so insignificant. She pretended to be indifferent in front of others, as if the cup was full of water but was holding on. The moment she closed the door, she could no longer hide her loss and sadness and shed tears.
She wanted to curse and accuse these people loudly, but in reality she could only fill her wine cup again and again.
After all, no one cares that she cares.
The wine soaked her clothes. Lin Meiju stared blankly at the purse on her waist. In a trance, she saw several figures circling around a little baby in the thatched hut. She suddenly burst into laughter: No, no, someone cares.
She suddenly wanted to talk to them, to ask them if she had cried and made a fuss at that time, if she had been clamoring to find her parents.
"You didn't cry or make a fuss. You were just being good and obedient." The young man smiled warmly and winked at the baby in his arms. The baby giggled and reached out to touch his face.
"That's good, that's good! The baby's father had to leave for something, and I suddenly had diarrhea. I'm sorry for delaying your journey!" The middle-aged woman trotted all the way, panting.
The young man said slowly: "It's okay, I'm waiting for someone too."
The woman wiped her hands on her apron, walked quickly to the back of the stall, flattened the dough with her palm, took out a rolling pin and rolled it out. She said, "Sir, please wait a moment. I'll make you a flatbread to eat on the way! You scholars work hard, you need to eat a full meal to have strength!" Without waiting for the young man to reply, she said to her attendants, "This is a scholar who is going to Beijing to take the imperial examination! He will become a high-ranking official in the future!"
The vendors around exclaimed, poking their heads out, nodding and bowing, saying, "Your child has been held by a scholar, you will have great prospects in the future!"
The firelight illuminated the woman's face, making it look beaming. She said, "My baby's father and I can't read a single word. Could you, sir, help me pick a name for the baby?"
The woman flipped the pancake over, revealing a tiny cyanotic burn on the back of her hand and a large, slightly deformed thumb joint. The young man paused for a moment and said, "Filial piety and brotherly love are the foundation of benevolence." He stroked the child's head. "How about calling him Xiaoqian?"
The vendors were amazed and envious.
The woman said repeatedly, "Good, good, good! Xiaoqian is good, it's a good name! Thank you for the name, sir!" She took out a few copper coins from her purse and said, "Sir, please don't despise it."
This was the fee for naming the child, an unwritten rule. The young man didn't refuse and leaned over to help the child straighten the small cloth bag.
The woman baked three pancakes in succession, wrapped them in lotus leaves, and watched the child reach out to grab the earring on the young man's earlobe. She shouted, "You child!"
The little kid was startled, his mouth pouting and about to cry. The young man put his arms around his little body, patted his shoulders gently, and rocked him gently in his arms. The corners of the kid's mouth soon softened.
The woman walked out of the stall, took the doll, and said with a smile, "Sir, do you have children at home?"
"I have a younger sister."
He looked at the doll, his eyes suddenly filled with sadness, and his tone became very low, "But then... she disappeared."
The woman looked at him, almost on the verge of tears, and was about to comfort him when she saw the young man's eyes light up with joy. "But I already know where she is."
"I came to Beijing this time just to find her."
The woman smiled and said, "Then I wish you to find your sister as soon as possible, and I also wish you to pass the imperial examination and become a high-ranking official!"
The young man smiled and said, "Then I will accept your advice."
Several young men carrying bookcases on the bridge looked around, raised their hands, and shouted to a white figure, "Chuqi, where have you been?"
Chuqi walked over calmly and said, "I went to buy some books."
"Wow, that smells so good! It's so hot! Someone brought you food again!"
A plump white face was the first to bury its head in Chuqi's book and said resentfully, "I'm so jealous of you~Chuqi~"
"What are you jealous of on Tuesday? You always eat the most!"
Several people were pulling at the bookcase, and Chuqi had to bend his legs to reduce the weight.
"Speaking of which, you checked out early on the seventh day. Were you afraid that the shopkeeper would persuade you to become a live-in son-in-law again?"
"I'm so envious. Chuqi doesn't have to pay for housing every time."
"Don't talk nonsense, Chuqi always secretly saves some money... Tuesday! You save some for Chuqi!"
"Zhang San, let go! It's okay to eat less on the seventh day of the first lunar month!"
"The city gate is about to close, let's go faster."
"good."
As dusk deepened, the voices became fainter and the chirping of insects became clearer.
Across the noisy sound of cicadas, Qing'er put her ear close to the window paper, but heard nothing. Could it be that he fell asleep?
Even through the doors and windows, she could still easily smell the overflowing aroma of alcohol. Qing'er was worried. She knew that Lin Meizhu must have been saddened by Nanny Sun's behavior. Just as she was hesitating whether to knock on the door again, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her.
Shen Changfeng strode over, looking at the dark courtyard, and asked with some dissatisfaction: "What's going on?"
Qing'er had the guts to fight a shrew, but she didn't dare to speak loudly in front of him. She stepped aside and told him what had happened during the day. Finally, she said, "The girl locked herself in her room for half a day, saying that she wanted to be alone. She didn't want any food, but she did order two bottles of rice wine..."
There was no door that could stop Shen Changfeng. He just raised his foot and kicked it. After a loud "bang", the two door panels shook and collapsed.
The rich aroma of wine wafted into the air. The lights in the room were dim. After walking a few steps, Shen Changfeng stepped on something soft. He picked it up and saw that it was a pair of white silk stockings.
Qing'er was about to raise her foot to follow, but Qingsong was quick to pull her to the side.
Wine cups and glasses were scattered on the nanmu wood floor, the carved windows were wide open, moonlight poured in, and a pair of jade feet on the chaise longue were shining with a cold light.
Shen Changfeng's eyes lingered on the delicate ankle for a few times. He slowly walked closer and shook the wine cup on the table. It was completely empty.
Lin Meiju heard footsteps and slowly raised her head, revealing a drunken face. Her eyes were a little sleepy, and there were large patches of rouge at the corners of her eyes and temples.
Shen Changfeng frowned and was about to scold him when suddenly a white hand gently grasped his moon-white sleeve, "Why... did you come only now?"
Seeing the visitor remained silent, Lin Meizhu tugged at her sleeves, her tone anxious and even tearful, "Why... did you come just now?"
He should have been angry. It wasn't the woman's place to question his comings and goings. But he had only been in the palace for two days, and this woman seemed to have suffered a great injustice. He felt somewhat pleased: "I have something to do and can't leave."
After hearing his reply, she suddenly sobbed, "You lied to me. You said you'd be back soon. Why are you here now? Why are you here now?"
She was being unreasonable, but Shen Changfeng remained calm. His eyes involuntarily fell on Yingchen's closed mouth: "Isn't this coming back?"
Perhaps she felt hot, so she took off her coat and draped it on the table. She was only wearing a cherry-red waist-hugging top embroidered with mandarin ducks and a pair of short white panties. She was so white that she seemed to blend into the snow silk.
Unable to hold back, he grasped her smooth shoulders and ate every bit of rouge on her lips.
Lin Meizhu felt pain and looked at his face. It was as if she had woken from a dream, tears streaming down her face. "It's too late, too late, everything is too late."
Shen Changfeng thought she was just talking nonsense after drinking and swallowed all her chatter.
He took her hand and touched his wet fingertips. "I just did my nails yesterday. Do you think they look good?"
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