Forced marriage
In the dimly lit woodshed, with only a small patch of sunlight shining through the roof, Wen Xian lay bound on the ground.
"Clang—" The dilapidated wooden gate was pushed open.
Hearing the sound, Wen Xian woke up groggily. The long-unseen sunlight was so bright that she couldn't open her eyes. Only when the person who entered the room slowly squatted down in front of her and blocked the light could Wen Xian see the face in front of her clearly.
It was Qin Yanzhen, her mother, who was also the one who kidnapped her here.
Three days ago, when Wen Xian came out of the room after visiting Wen Fu, she heard Wen Lingchen and Qin Yanzhen arguing in the inner room.
They argued fiercely, and the sound of porcelain being smashed on the floor could be heard repeatedly from inside the house.
Wen Xian pushed open the door, and the books on the floor were scattered all over the ground, and the vase was smashed to pieces.
Qin Yanzhen lay on the ground, blood still seeping from the corner of her mouth, and the red marks on her face were enough to prove what had just happened inside the room.
"Mother!" Wen Xian ran up to her, looking at the slap mark on Qin Yanzhen's face with heartache.
Wen Lingchen realized he had gone too far, so he stepped forward to help Qin Yanzhen up. Qin Yanzhen looked resentful and hesitated to take his outstretched hand.
Qin Yanzhen smiled wryly: "I just noticed that you have a few more wrinkles around your eyes. You are no longer the Lingchen I remember who used to send you flowers every day."
"If it weren't for your unreasonable behavior, we wouldn't be in this situation!" Wen Lingchen withdrew his hand: "Xian'er, your mother is too tired, take her to rest..."
"Wen Lingchen! Are you really going to be this heartless?" Qin Yanzhen shook off Wen Xian's hand and stood up unsteadily from the ground.
He didn't reply, but instead flicked his sleeves and went out.
I heard Wen Xian's sobbing voice beside me: "Mother..."
"Slap!" A loud slap landed on Wen Xian's face. She covered her face, completely dazed.
"Cry, cry, cry! All you do is cry! What's the use of raising you?!" Qin Yanzhen vented all her anger from the past few days on Wen Xian.
"mother……"
That night, Qin Yanzhen, carrying a slightly dusty wooden box, knocked on Wen Xian's door: "Xian'er, are you asleep?"
Wen Xian nestled in the blankets, remaining silent for a moment.
"Xian'er?" Qin Yanzhen called again, knocking on the door several more times: "Mother is coming in."
Just as Qin Yanzhen was about to push open the door, Wen Xian, who was barefoot, stood behind the door first and pushed it open.
Qin Yanzhen acted as if nothing had happened during the day. She looked Wen Xian up and down, who was not saying a word, and when she saw that Wen Xian was not wearing shoes, she said, "Oh dear, the floor is so cold. Why aren't you wearing shoes? Quick, go sit on the couch first. What if you catch a cold and get sick?"
As she spoke, Qin Yanzhen affectionately took Wen Xian's arm and pulled her into the house, where they sat together on the bed.
"Did I hurt you?" Qin Yanzhen gently touched the red and swollen spot on Wen Xian's face, looking every bit the loving mother. This made Wen Xian burst into tears. She looked at Qin Yanzhen with a wronged expression and began to wonder if she had wronged her mother.
Perhaps her mother loved her just the same, and that's why her mother did it in a fit of anger.
"mother……"
"Hey." Qin Yanzhen hugged her in her arms: "Xian'er, you know that even when we lived alone in a house in the suburbs, I never let you do any hard work. Since you were born, I have cherished you as my precious treasure and spoiled you. Today I was so angry that I hit you in a moment of impulse. I hope you don't resent me."
Looking back on everything, Wen Xian realized that, just as Qin Yanzhen had said, whatever gold or silver jewelry she wanted, she would never be shortchanged.
"Yes, daughter understands and never blames mother."
As she spoke, Qin Yanzhen opened the wooden box in her hand, inside which was a golden phoenix hairpin, which was placed on a small square of red silk cushion.
"Mother, what is this...?"
Qin Yanzhen took out the gold hairpin and held it up in Wenxian's hair, saying, "Yes, Mother made the right choice. It suits you very well." She put the hairpin back in the box and added, "When you were born, Mother had someone make this gold phoenix hairpin for you, so that you could use it when you grew up and got married."
“But Mother, isn’t it too early for you to give me this phoenix hairpin today? I don’t have a man I like right now.”
"Xian'er." Qin Yanzhen's smile faded slightly as she gripped Wen Xian's hand tightly and said earnestly, "You must understand that a woman's life is never truly her own."
"Mother, what do you mean?"
"Xian'er, you saw the argument between your father and me. For the past twenty years, Jiang Xuwan has usurped my place, leaving me alone with you and your brother, hiding in a small courtyard on the outskirts of the capital. I've lived a life of humiliation and injustice, nameless and without status. I thought I had finally reached the day when I would become the mistress of the Wen family, but Wen Zhibai has cut off my path. Your father wants to bring the children from the clan back to the mansion and raise them as the eldest son of the Wen family again. He really wants to abandon your brother, he really wants to abandon us, the three of us. Xian'er, I have no other choice but to leave."
"..." Wen Xian burst into tears and let go of Qin Yanzhen's hand. The gold hairpin in the box on the bed seemed particularly ironic at this moment.
"Mother, I don't want any golden hairpins or the title of a young lady. I just want to be with you and my brother as before, even if it's just simple food and I'm not afraid of being criticized." She forced an extremely ugly smile and stepped forward to grab Qin Yanzhen's sleeve.
“But your brother wants it! And your mother wants it too! I can no longer accept living the rest of my life under the shade of a tree…” Qin Yanzhen took a half step back, knelt down in front of Wen Xian, and raised her head with trembling hands: “Xian’er, Mother, please.”
Wen Xian immediately knelt before her, her voice hoarse with fervor: "Mother, I beg you! Don't force me, please get up! Mother! Please get up..."
The two argued for a long time before Wen Xian finally said coldly, "Who do you want me to marry?"
"Gao Zheli, the eldest son of the Gao family."
"What?!" Wen Xian's eyes widened. Gao Zheli had suddenly gone insane three months ago for some unknown reason, and the news had spread throughout the major families in Shangjing. If she really married him, her life would be ruined.
"Mother, I am your daughter! How can you let me marry a madman?"
"Xian'er, I only ask this of you. As long as you are willing to marry into the Gao family, we can get their support. Right now, the Gao family has the most influence in the court. If you can go, our current predicament can be easily resolved."
Wen Xian shook her head incredulously. She felt that everyone had gone mad, including her dearest mother.
She didn't care about power, status, wealth, or identity at all.
"No, I will never marry him!" She staggered back a few steps.
After saying that, Wen Xian turned around and rushed out of the room.
The square courtyard, once stepped into, becomes a hell where people devour each other.
Wen Xian rushed forward headlong, but when she reached the front yard, she was stopped by about seventeen or eighteen servants.
"Wen Xian!" Qin Yanzhen called out her name, her tone tinged with reproach: "As for the Gao family, you'd better just accept marrying into it, or you'll have to marry into it whether you want to or not!"
Wen Xian slowly turned around. Qin Yanzhen said that Wen Lingchen was a different person from the Wen Lingchen of the past, but the mother in front of her now was also different from the mother of the past.
"Guards, take the young lady away. Without my orders, she is not to step out of the room!"
After that, Wen Xian was confined to her room every day, only knowing that the wedding was in fifteen days; she knew nothing else.
Wen Xian also tried to escape by climbing out of the window, but to no avail. Instead, she was tied up and taken to the house she used to live in on the outskirts of the city.
...
Qin Yanzhen's eyes were still red and swollen, but when facing the girl in front of her, her face showed no emotion. Like a puppet blinded by power, she held Wen Xian in her arms, opened the food box she had brought, and fed her water.
"Mother...why are you doing this to me?" Wen Xian's voice was hoarse, and with each tear she shed, her eyes ached more.
"This is your fate. You were born to pave the way for your brother." Qin Yanzhen's eyes were icy, as if she were treating a lamb to the slaughter. She felt only joy at what she was about to gain, without a trace of pity.
"Xian'er, if you must hate someone, don't hate your mother. If it weren't for Wen Zhibai, the three of us wouldn't have ended up like this."
After hastily feeding Wen Xian, she left with the nanny, ignoring Wen Xian's calls, locked the wooden gate, and instructed the guard: "Keep an eye on the young lady, and report back immediately if anything happens."
The light disappeared once again as the door closed, and Wen Xian's head slumped helplessly to the floor, utterly disheartened.
Her world seemed to have been filled with many more things: hatred, sorrow, pain...
All of this is thanks to Wen Zhibai.
As Wen Xian thought of this, her eyes became bloodshot.
The seeds of hatred began to take root and sprout in the barren land of his heart.
...
Pei Qinzhou is not in the mansion; the situation in the Pei mansion has changed drastically.
The instigator was none other than Wen Zhibai.
In the front courtyard of the Pei residence, people from all walks of life came and went, some carrying gauze curtains, others carrying tables and chairs, and still others carrying fruit.
Wen Zhibai sat in the center of the courtyard, eating milk pastry, with tea newly bestowed upon Pei Qinzhou by the Eastern Palace beside him.
Xie An, who was ordered to protect Wen Zhibai in the mansion, was standing beside Wen Zhibai scratching his head: "Miss, this...you, sigh..."
Seeing his hesitant expression, Wen Zhibai couldn't help but laugh: "Hmph, what's wrong? Only Lord Pei is allowed to set fires, but I'm not allowed to light lamps? Xie An, it's your master who keeps saying he likes me and forcibly keeps me in the mansion and won't let me leave. If he can't stand me like this, then let me go. I promise I will never come back."
"No, no... I'll shut up, I'll shut up."
"By the way, where's Tao Zhi? Is she back?" Wen Zhibai asked Xie An.
"It should be soon."
Tao Zhi was a maid who served Wen Zhibai personally in the mansion. She had round eyes, and Wen Zhibai found her cute, so he called her to do things for him.
Sure enough, Tao Zhi was sent by Wen Zhibai to Yiying Tower to find someone.
Yiyinglou was a place for women to seek pleasure, and the courtesans there were all elegant and refined, famous throughout the capital.
Tao Zhi held the note written by Wen Zhibai, which was a special instruction he had given her before her departure, listing the criteria for choosing a candidate.
Tao Zhi handed the note and a heavy bag of silver to the owner of Yi Ying Lou. Upon seeing the note, the owner couldn't help but chuckle. He lightly lifted Tao Zhi's chin with his fan and asked, "Which family's young lady is behind you? So picky! You even want our top courtesan?"
Tao Zhi had never seen such a scene before, and her face turned as red as an apple: "Pei... Pei family!"
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