Chapter 9 "They are father and son..."
Yin Yuan was promoted to the rank of fourth-grade prefect, and his newly moved residence was naturally more luxurious.
Leng Cuizhu had only seen the gate of the mansion before, which was enough to amaze her. Now that she was actually walking inside the mansion, seeing the willows and flowers in the courtyard, the carved railings and jade steps, she was completely dumbfounded.
She thought Yin Yuan treated her extremely well and often felt indebted to him, but now she realizes that she is nothing more than a tiny fragment.
The jade pendant at the maid's waist, the carved corner of the eaves... all were more precious than her.
Leng Cuizhu stroked the plain silver hairpin in her hair, suddenly realizing the weight she was carrying.
She thought she was just a drop of water in a pot, but she never imagined she was just a drop of water in a lake.
Yin Yuan walked ahead, and she followed behind him to a woodshed.
The ground was cold and damp, and Leng Zhen huddled in the woodpile, her back covered in scars.
The robe he was wearing was stained with blood and clung to his body, soaking wet.
The smell of blood forced Leng Cuizhu to cover her nose. She trembled all over, and tears streamed down her face.
"My lord, he is your child! How could you..."
She envied Yin Yuan's ruthlessness; she could never do it. Even if Leng Zhen made a terrible mistake, she couldn't do it; that was her child, her flesh and blood, the one she had carried for ten months.
How can parents not love their children?
Yin Yuan glanced at her: "If you make a mistake, you should be punished."
"You've failed to raise your son properly, how long are you going to keep indulging him?"
Several servants quickly helped Leng Zhen up from the ground and tied his hands and feet.
Leng Zhen regained consciousness after being tossed around and lifted her eyelids: "Mother..."
"no!"
Leng Cuizhu rushed forward and shielded Leng Zhen: "My lord, please let him go this time... The thought of running away came first, it's not Zhenzhen's fault, he's your only child!"
“Leng Zhen is neither a legitimate nor a concubine’s daughter, and is not a member of the Yin family.”
Yin Yuan sat down in the chair, resting one hand on his forehead.
Several maids tried to pull her away, but she shook them all off.
"Zhenzhen, are you alright? Does it hurt?" Her heart ached terribly. She cupped Leng Zhen's cheeks and looked at the wounds on his face. "I'm so sorry... I've made you suffer."
"mother……"
Leng Zhen's lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but she was suddenly pulled back by a servant.
Yin Yuan: "That's fine."
He reached out and grabbed the ribbon behind her, then pulled her back with his other hand.
Leng Cuizhu fell into the man's knees, and when she got up, she was pulled down again, her waist being pinched tightly.
She was almost out of breath and turned to look at Leng Zhen, who had already been pulled into the inner room of the woodshed by the servants.
Through a screen, the hazy figure knelt on the ground, surrounded by people. A maid stood at the front, slapping the person repeatedly.
The piercing sound gave her a splitting headache. She stared longingly into the inner room, but her face was turned back.
Yin Yuan frowned, his dark eyes flickered, and he swept his gaze across her face again and again.
He slapped her as many times as he could, and finally reached out to wipe the tears from her cheek.
She turned her head away, saying, "You're so heartless. He's your child."
“Lingniang, you are not without heartlessness.”
Yin Yuan gently touched the tear stains on his fingers: "Your indenture is with me. Where do you think you're going to run off to?"
The person behind the screen couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed silently to the ground, coughing up blood weakly.
"We will have more children."
She tried to stand up, straining her whole body, and just as she straightened one leg, the man grabbed her hair and forced her back down.
She lowered her head further, brushing against the man's nose, forced downwards.
A thin mist escaped from her slightly parted lips, clear and sticky, clinging to them.
Therefore, even when she kissed her, she remained as still as a dead tree, her eyes red with tears.
Yin Yuan turned his head, pursed his lips, and there were only salty tears on his lips.
Her pleasure gave him nothing. He pursed his lips, trying to hold back his tears, but they fell, leaving nothing behind.
All that remained was the reflection of his utterly shameful state in her eyes.
Hasty and insatiable.
"No," she said. "Being with you, my lord, is unbearable."
Leng Zhen was put into a bamboo cage and carried to the lake by several strong men.
Drowning is a punishment rarely used on men, and the bamboo cage specially made for women was naturally unsuitable for Leng Zhen. He huddled inside, his body squeezed so tightly that his cheeks were scratched by the bamboo strips.
Leng Cuizhu was forced to sit in a chair by Yin Yuan, unable to move, and could only watch helplessly as the bamboo cage was submerged in water.
"Mother...I don't want to die!"
Leng Zhen pressed her face against the edge of the bamboo cage, her eyes blurry with tears.
"Zhenzhen!"
Her hands were tied to the armrests on both sides, and her shoulders were held down by the man behind her.
“Look.”
Yin Yuan bent down and rested his head on her shoulder: "You two look so alike."
"Like you, not like me."
"Don't be like him."
Yin Yuan slowly scratched her chin, which made her feel terrified. She couldn't dodge it and watched as the bamboo cage was completely submerged in water, with bubbles rising to the surface.
She completely panicked.
"Zhenzhen!"
As soon as she finished speaking, an unprecedented chill rose in her heart, spread throughout her body, and penetrated her brain, indescribable.
She easily snapped the rope around her wrist, and with a gust of wind, she leaped into the lake.
The lake water was frigid in winter, seeping into her very bones. Her wounds, which had not yet healed, burst open when she was soaked in the water, and blood flowed out.
She swam in the pitch-black water, not daring to relax for a moment.
Her child, her child—Zhenzhen is her child!
For more than a decade, she has lived entirely on his support. He has grown from an infant to the man he is today, and she has devoted countless efforts to his upbringing.
The underwater world was far more vast than she had imagined, with algae and duckweed growing everywhere, blocking out the sun.
She had only been searching for a short time when her ankle became entangled in vines.
She bent down to untie it, but accidentally choked on water, her throat tightened, and her vision turned blue.
Her chest was filled with water, and she sank down, disappearing into the lush water plants.
In a daze, someone called her name.
"Cold Green Candle".
Like a fleeting glimpse of a shadow, she caught a glimpse of it in an instant.
His long hair, ethereal as snow, embraced her shoulders, entwining with her robes.
"Not worth it."
She nodded slightly and leaned against his chest.
Yes, she always makes the same mistake again and again.
Unable to awaken to the truth, he lived in constant fear.
Let go of lingering resentment, refrain from petulance... Cease clinging to the past, turn back from the sea of suffering, and awaken to the true cause of your suffering.
It sounds easy, but it's anything but simple in practice.
Leng Cuizhu surfaced, while Leng Zhen had already been rescued and brought ashore.
She was held in Yin Yuan's arms.
Leng Zhen really does resemble her. In her daze, she still thought the person in Yin Yuan's arms was herself.
Such intimacy only made her feel disgusted. She felt disgusted when Yin Yuan held her before, and she still felt disgusted now that he was holding someone else.
She finally chose to acknowledge the truth.
He made her very uncomfortable.
She didn't understand what the dodder was referring to when it said that Yin Yuan fell in love at first sight.
He actually had feelings.
She was like a soul that had drowned and only floated to the surface.
Her soul longed to drift before them, to look closely at them, to gaze upon every inch of them, just as they had gazed upon her before.
All the hard work over the past few days has been in vain.
The rooster stood on the bank, head bowed, looking embarrassed: "Host... I'm sorry."
"It's better that you didn't see it..."
Leng Zhen was ultimately not drowned.
This was the result Leng Cuizhu wanted, yet it wasn't, so when Yin Yuan made the decision, her face remained expressionless.
"I will obey my master."
Yin Yuan nodded: "Let him recuperate at home for the next few days, and so will you."
"I will have someone clean up the side courtyard for you to live in."
What exactly happened between Yin Yuan and Leng Zhen on the shore that day, Leng Cuizhu never knew.
The image of them embracing kept replaying in her mind.
She initially threatened to kill him, but now she's sending so many servants to take care of him and showing him great concern. She doesn't understand Yin Yuan's infatuation.
She should have been a father, yet she tried to have an affair with him.
Leng Cuizhu should have realized long ago that Deng Tuzi is naturally lustful, and he doesn't care about male or female beauty. Once he falls in love, he will disregard all ethics and morals.
Such unrestrained indulgence is no different from that of a male dog in heat. Even after having sex with her, dominating her body, and possessing her flesh, the itch remains unbearable.
One man is not enough, so he is promiscuous. He then turns around and warns women to be single-minded and to only have one man in their lives, otherwise they will be criticized and slandered. The idea that women can have any man is also misinterpreted as a demeanor towards women.
Perhaps men don't have deep feelings in their hearts; they just want someone to tickle them and relieve their desires. Therefore, women can do it, and so can men.
“That’s part of the plot,” Dodder explained. “Your husband will fall in love with your son at first sight no matter what, and that’s unchangeable. No matter how bad their relationship is, when the time comes for him to fall in love, he has to fall for him, then forcefully take him away while being unable to have him, and then forcefully love your son.”
"Host, don't worry about it. That's just how the setting is. It's like... your setting is that of a particularly unfortunate woman, despised by everyone, and destined to die young."
"You're just a not-so-vicious villainous supporting character. All you need to do is compete with the bottom for the top spot."
Eun said calmly, "This plot would be perfectly natural even if the main characters were a man and a woman."
"The target audience for this kind of book is usually young girls. They can't stand seeing the male protagonist treat the female protagonist like that. If it's a man treating another man like that, they'll feel a sense of satisfaction watching from the sidelines."
"However, the host is now in a very urgent situation."
The rooster jumped into Leng Cuizhu's arms: "Host, stop crying. It's not worth it. What's there to cry about with a dirty man?"
"Sigh, if I were a girl, I could hug you. The China region has always lacked female systems; female systems are unwilling to come to the China region, which means that male systems are in charge of all types of books... I think there are more heterosexuals in this world. What are they thinking, letting male systems be in charge of these kinds of books? Are systems something else?"
"Stop talking, the rooster's crowing is too noisy."
Leng Cuizhu sniffed and began to draw her eyebrows in front of the bronze mirror.
“It’s fate, I accept it. I just feel disgusted.” She wiped away her tears. “They were father and son…”
Upon hearing this, the rooster and the crow fell silent.
After Leng Cuizhu finished applying her eyebrows, she got up to change her clothes.
"You...did you really do that kind of thing?"
The rooster bit her skirt.
"What are you talking about? What do you mean?" Leng Cuizhu didn't understand.
"Haha...it's nothing."
The rooster shifted its claws: "Host, are you going to see your son?"
"Hmm," she said thoughtfully, "You should stay in your room. This courtyard is very large, and there are many strangers around. Don't go out unnecessarily."
"Why don't you care about Eun? He's always flying around everywhere."
"Actually, you don't need to care about me so much, hehe... Just treat everyone equally."
He went with me.
She raised her hand, and a crow flew to her fingertips and landed gently.
The secluded courtyard was rarely visited, with only a few sweepers occasionally lounging under the eaves, taking a break.
It was very cold on a snowy day, and no one wanted to work.
Leng Cuizhu went up to the pavilion and saw the guards standing at the door. She immediately felt something was wrong.
She recognized the guard in blue; he often followed Yin Yuan. With the guard at the door, Yin Yuan must have gone inside.
She walked blankly to the door, and the guard glanced at her without saying a word.
She lifted the snow-blocking curtain and peeked inside.
Yin Yuan sat on the edge of the bed, holding a bowl of porridge in one hand.
The mole on the side of his neck was covered in snow, damp and glistening, rising and falling with his words like a piece of white porcelain bowl chipped away by wormholes.
A note from the author:
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He taught me to let go of lingering resentment, refrain from petulance, reform myself, change my temperament, cease clinging to the past, turn back from the sea of suffering, and awaken to the true cause of my suffering. —From *The Story of the Jade Bracelet*
[Upright-eared rabbit head]
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