13 Bloody
◎Many years later, Ci Ying often felt that she was naive.◎
The bright red veil embellished with pearls fell to the ground. Ci Ying staggered to her feet from the bed, walked through the screen, opened the door, and ran out of the room holding her wedding dress.
Xiaowan chased Ciying through the corridor, and was stopped at the gate of Zezhiyuan together with Ciying.
The cold weapon stopped in front of Ci Ying. The gorgeous pearl ring hanging from her head hit Ci Ying's face. Ci Ying swallowed and said, "Get out of the way."
The guard at the gate stared into the distance, seemingly not hearing Ci Ying's words. The weapon in his hand did not move at all. Ci Ying's eyes turned red, and he shouted angrily, "I told you to get out of the way."
The guard remained unmoved. Xiaowan stepped forward to negotiate, but was stopped by Ciying. Ciying looked at the unmoved guard, one hand gripping Xiaowan's wrist. With the other, she drew her sword from the guard's belt and held it across his neck. She gritted her teeth and said coldly, "I'll say it again. Get out of the way. I don't care whose orders you received to guard this door. If you don't, you'll die."
The guard's eyes narrowed, and he tried to snatch the sword from Ci Ying's hand, but Ci Ying broke the sword into pieces and dropped it straight down. Another guard hurriedly grabbed the person who wanted to snatch the sword and made way for him.
Ci Ying had no desire to argue with the two guards. She slammed her knife at their feet and hurried to the Madam's courtyard. Everyone who saw her along the way knelt down in obeisance. The red silk draped over the long corridor hadn't been removed yet. In a trance, Ci Ying could still hear the voices of the guests in the distance.
She was stopped by the guards again at the door of Qingshuangwan. Before she stepped into the yard, Ciying heard crying inside. Ciying took a step back and looked at the guards at the door. They were two people she didn't know.
Looking at the two unfamiliar expressionless faces, Ci Ying lost her patience. When she tried to do the same, someone grabbed her hand from behind. As she struggled to turn around, she saw a figure also dressed in bright red. Quicker than the sound, she felt the coolness of their palm.
The voice was apologetic and gentle, a tone Ci Ying had never heard before: "There's been some trouble with the elders lately. I'm the one who has had people guarding the gates. I'm sorry that something like this happened during my wedding." After saying this, Xie Huaijin ordered the guards at the gate: "Candle One, Candle Two, move aside."
The guards indeed stepped aside.
Ci Ying rushed inside, her bright red wedding dress blowing in the wind like a blazing fire. Zhu Yi leaned over and said, "Sir, the Second Elder wants to know if you need to cancel this engagement."
Xie Huaijin wiped his hands carelessly. The courtyard was filled with sobs behind him. A tall, graceful young man in red gently stroked the jade ring on his finger and asked calmly, "Why cancel it?"
As Zhu Yi leaned forward, the red lanterns overhead still glowed. The wind blew, and the red lanterns swayed. A doorway separated them, and though white cloth had been hung inside, some shadows of red paper-cuts still lingered.
After the crying subsided a bit, Xie Huaijin stepped inside. Everyone he passed by knelt down. The door had been opened by Ci Ying, but not closed. Two servants were also sobbing on the ground.
Xie Huaijin followed the light and looked towards the place where everyone was gathered. Ci Ying was standing straight in front of the corpse. She was a patch of bright red among the white cloth in the room.
A dead silence spread amidst the muffled sobs. Ciying leaned over and lifted a corner of the white cloth. Beside her, Yusheng's eyes silently shed tears. Ciying's hand caressed the corners of the lady's eyes, and the cold touch followed. Ciying, who had endured the pain all the way, knelt dejectedly. As her eyes swelled, the blurry figure of the young lady suddenly appeared before her.
For a while, the young lady always liked to take her with her to talk about things she wanted to do when she grew up.
The young lady's most common phrase was, "If only we were birds, this high wall wouldn't be a wall anymore. We could fly back in spring and back in winter. We'd be healthy, free to migrate according to nature's laws. Ciying, tell me...if father died, could I take mother and you and marry south?"
Ciying covered her face and tears fell down.
It seemed that she had finally reached the age where she could answer the young lady's question. Even though she could only count on her fingers that there was only one reincarnation, the story already had an irreversible answer.
The girl in her wedding dress knelt beside the bed, and her whole body gradually collapsed.
Yu Sheng had gradually wiped away her tears. She looked at Ci Ying, who was kneeling on the ground, and stepped forward to cover Lin Lan with a white cloth. Amid the exclamations of the crowd, Yu Sheng bumped her head against the corner of the bed.
With a "bang" sound, accompanied by the screams of the crowd, Ci Ying slowly raised her head and saw Aunt Yu Sheng struggling and falling beside the bed where the lady's body was placed. In the dizziness of sunlight and candlelight, Ci Ying's eyes were stained red by the blood flowing from Yu Sheng's forehead.
Ci Ying stumbled forward to support Yu Sheng, her voice trembling: "Aunt, Aunt... Doctor, go find the doctor, Xiao Wan, Xiao Wan."
But the person in her arms had already stopped breathing, not even giving Ciying a chance to say goodbye. As Ciying frantically wiped the blood from Yusheng's forehead with the sleeve of her wedding dress, she noticed a hint of relief in Yusheng's frozen expression, as if... Aunt Yusheng had been holding on just to wait for her.
Xiaowan supported the staggering young lady, but Ciying could no longer hear the sounds around her. She was lost in the memories of the past few days, her mind fixed on the way Aunt Yusheng shook her head at the lady when she was resting, on every word the lady said last night, and on the stiff corners of Aunt Yusheng's mouth when she was combing her hair today.
Ci Ying collapsed along with Yu Sheng's body, tears streaming down her face, like her heartbeat like the summer rain yesterday.
"Bang" sounded again and again. In a trance, Ci Ying felt warm blood flowing from her forehead. When she touched it, she found that it was not blood, but a red hairpin decorated with rubies and warmed by her body temperature, just like the bright red wedding dress on her body that was mixed with blood.
Ciying's soul was screaming in pain, but she was numb and couldn't utter a word. She knelt up and forced herself to stand up. There were wrinkles on her luxurious wedding dress that could not be smoothed out.
She turned around and found that the servants in the room had left at some point.
Xie Huaijin walked forward, held Ci Ying's hand through the handkerchief, brought Ci Ying to the stool, then picked up the handkerchief and gently wiped Ci Ying's blood-stained hand.
The young man's voice was gentle. "I've sent them out first. My aunt had already made the instructions before she passed away. Some of the maids who have reached the age of servitude have been given slave certificates. The mansion originally provided each of them with ten taels of silver as resettlement fee, and with the ten taels given by my aunt, it's enough for them to marry and live. Some of the others are still young or don't want to leave, so they will be placed in your name. The housekeeper will deliver the slave contract to your room in three days."
Ci Ying flinched, and Xie Huaijin noticed this. He didn't mind, his expression still gentle. After releasing his hand, he handed the handkerchief to Ci Ying, "It's stained with blood. Please wipe it off first. Your maid in the yard has gone back to get clothes. The banquet has been dispersed today. Although we didn't have a wedding ceremony, we are already husband and wife. Since my aunt recently died, the etiquette will be simple. I may feel sorry for you."
Ci Ying hurriedly shook her head and clenched her handkerchief.
She looked at the young man in front of her, and her heart, filled with sadness, was divided into two contradictory parts.
She and Xie Huaijin were both still wearing their wedding dresses, but her pearl hairpins and phoenix crown were all gone, and her wedding gown was stained with patches of dirt. In stark contrast to her, Xie Huaijin was dressed neatly and tidy, and his wedding gown made him look particularly gentle and graceful.
Ci Ying hesitated, or rather, she had been hesitating since the flower-viewing banquet that day.
The moment she heard the news of her wife's death, she hadn't thought about her future. Until Aunt Yusheng died in front of her, her warm blood flowing on her hands, she knew that there was no one left in this world except Ru Zhen, whose whereabouts were unknown.
Ciying came to Xie's house when she was six years old. The young lady gave everything she had to Ciying countless times. Through the young lady's eyes, Ciying saw too many hypocrisies between the children of aristocratic families and between aristocratic families.
It would be too false to say that she completely doesn't understand the intricacies between the aristocratic families.
From the moment Xie Huaijin held her hand, Ci Ying knew that even if her wife died on the wedding day, the Xie family would not regret the engagement.
Her young lover was gentle and polite, and even lost seven points of his usual alienation towards others.
In front of everyone, he gave her the respect of a new wife.
He is fine.
He is so nice.
So Ci Ying began to fall into deeper hesitation. She asked herself, could she really become the wife of the eldest son of the Xie family?
Should she really become the wife of the son of the Xie family? This engagement, which was forced upon her by her wife at the cost of her own life, would she continue to use it to oppress her beloved even after her wife's death?
Xiaowan was late, and in her hesitation, Ciying was able to see the cold blood on her wedding dress. The color of the blood was darker than the color of the wedding dress, covering the eyes of the phoenix outlined by gold thread.
Many years later, Ci Ying often felt that she was naive.
At that time, she actually thought that—
The maid named Ci Ying, who later became the young lady of the Xie family and the future mistress of the Xie family, really had the right to choose at the moment when the brilliant young man gently handed her a clean handkerchief.
What was even more naive was that Ci Ying looked into Xie Huaijin's eyes and swallowed all her hesitation.
Her wedding dress was stained with blood. She was pushed by so many people to the place she had longed for in her youth. She had the biggest opportunity in her life to cross the class barrier. She was no longer the girl who was sold to a brothel by her biological father for ten taels of silver.
Ci Ying thought that she should accept this gift which was bloody but full of love.
Just like the lady said.
She liked the person before her, even if her affection for him was no longer pure at this point, but she liked him. The phoenix on the wedding gown, its eyes blurred with blood, seemed to be wailing. The golden thread shone gorgeously in the evening light. The two corpses behind them looked at Ci Ying with smiles.
When you open the door, the coffin should have been placed in the yard.
The mourning hall needed countless white flowers. Ci Ying slowly took off the blood-red pearl flowers on her head. The golden hairpin made a very light sound on the table. The candle that was burning in the daytime suddenly went out. Although there was still the light of dusk, the room was still much darker.
Xie Huaijin raised his hand and touched Ci Ying's tearful eyes. The girl's eyelashes trembled slightly, but the next moment she held Xie Huaijin's hand.
【Author’s words】
Note: Xie Huaijin is a pervert.
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