Chapter 5 A Quick Return: The stingy Shen Wanqing returned to the East Courtyard, and after sitting down, she truly didn't even have the strength to lift her hand. \r…
When the stingy Shen Wanqing returned to the East Courtyard, she was so exhausted after sitting down that she didn't even have the strength to lift her hand.
Since the original owner of this body was at her parents' home preparing for her wedding yesterday morning, she hadn't slept a wink except for a short nap in the middle of the night. At this moment, Shen Wanqing even thought fiercely that she wouldn't let the original owner come back now.
Why did I get myself into this godforsaken place, suffer all this, and then go back in such a daze? I haven't even had a chance to properly look at the return gifts I received in the main courtyard today.
"You must be tired. Take a good rest this afternoon if you have nothing to do. I have to go out for a bit."
"Where are you going?"
She was sitting in front of the dressing table, letting Chunxian remove her hair ornaments and jewelry. She was so tired that she was a little dazed. But when she heard that Yulang was going out, she immediately perked up and turned around to look at him.
Regardless of whether he stays here or somehow goes back to switch back with the original owner, he can't afford to be careless with the present. Today is the first day after their marriage, and Yu Lang has to go out without a proper reason, or he'll become a laughing stock tomorrow.
Yu Lang sat imposingly on the daybed opposite the dressing table, and was taken aback when Shen Wanqing asked him a question. In recent years, few people in the family had asked him when he would come back or when he would go out, and no one cared what he did when he went out.
The old lady never cared about outside affairs. As long as she dressed neatly like a man when she went to the main courtyard to pay her respects every day, even if she went out to play games or gamble, in Tongjia's eyes it was just her grandson going out for entertainment, and it was not a big deal.
Mother would nag me, telling me not to cause trouble outside, not to be too arrogant, and not to always try to compete with the second branch of the family. He Yi is my second uncle; no matter how good outsiders are, they are never as close as blood relatives.
But when he said this, Yulang was not yet fourteen. Later, Yulang found himself a job in the guard camp. When Niohuru found out, she neither said it was good nor bad. She just let Yulang do whatever he wanted from then on.
It was good that his family wasn't nagging; Yu Lang also felt he didn't want to listen to their nagging. It wasn't until Shen Wanqing asked him where he was going that he realized he was already married, and Shen was his wife. It was only natural for her to ask him where he was going.
"I need to go to the guard camp. There were a lot of people there yesterday, and I didn't even get to say hello to many of them. They're all brothers on duty in the same platoon, so it wouldn't be right not to go."
The Eight Banners were strictly hierarchical; even a regular bannerman under a captain had to bow and pay respects to his captain according to custom. However, once they entered the Imperial Guard, this relationship was somewhat diluted.
In the decades after entering the Central Plains, whether by choice or by necessity, the Manchus gradually came to understand the Han people's way of life and rules of conduct. No matter how strict the rules of the Eight Banners were, the hierarchy of "you are the master and I am the servant" had to be somewhat restrained once one entered officialdom and the court and wanted to rise further.
The Hesheli family was full of prominent figures, and the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner was mainly composed of meritorious officials who had led their troops to surrender before entering the pass, as well as prominent Manchu families with military achievements. Yulang's family background and origins destined him to have little contact with Han people in the past.
Before joining the Imperial Guard, Master Yu really didn't understand the ways of the outside world. He was the master, so he was the master. He lived like a young bull, recklessly charging around. He was the most common spoiled young master in the inner city of the capital.
It wasn't until he entered the guard camp, broke free from the confines of the Plain Yellow Banner, saw more people and things, and suffered a few injustices that he gradually realized how much he deserved to be beaten and how annoying he was in the past.
No matter how respectful the bannermen under a bannerman are to their bannerman, the bannerman will still turn around and try to secure their own future. Once they enter the guard camp or the imperial guard office, the difference between who gets promoted and who doesn't is huge.
Even if you can't get up there, whether the Matchmaker lets you lead people to patrol Jingshan or just take a couple of rounds outside the Imperial City before returning to your duty room to wait for dawn, the difference is a hundred times more real than the master-servant distinction.
You can't learn something just by being taught, but you can learn it after just one lesson. Yulang has learned his lesson from his mistakes in the past two years since losing his father, and now he even understands some of the ways of the world.
"I didn't have time to attend to yesterday's events, and they can't criticize my manners. But if I don't go today, wouldn't that be inappropriate?"
"Don't go empty-handed. If you have wine at home, have someone bring a few more jars. And don't come back late. At noon, the old lady said that Second Uncle would be back as soon as he finished his shift. I don't want to serve tea alone."
"Of course, I'll only go once, it won't even take an hour."
Chunxian combed Shen Wanqing's hair extremely quickly and skillfully. She removed the hairpins and jewelry and re-braided it into a long braid that hung down her back, with only a ribbon tied at the end. No other jewelry was used.
The auspicious robe was changed into a lotus-colored solid gauze shirt, and the lower body was dressed in a light pink pleated skirt, revealing a small part of the soft satin shoes embroidered with white butterflies.
After changing out of the clothes and jewelry that had bound her for nearly two days, Shen Wanqing turned her back to Yulang and let out a long sigh of relief. Even Chunxian smiled with her lips pursed. Their second young lady was the most lazy and impatient of them all, and these past two days had really been difficult for her.
"Then you should go early, sir. There's no need to rush back. As colleagues, it's only right that you sit with them for a while."
As soon as she felt comfortable, sleepiness immediately washed over her. Before she could even fall asleep in the middle of the night, Shen Wanqing had already mentally prepared herself for Yu Lang.
Living, no matter how long she can live here, she will live well. Shen Wanqing wasn't so opposed to becoming Yu Lang's real husband and wife, but it couldn't be in broad daylight, so she wanted to get him away quickly so she could get some sleep.
"No rush, I'll sit with you for a while."
Yulang originally wanted to say that he would go out after you fell asleep, but for some reason, he was too embarrassed to say it. He usually hangs out with those people from the guard camp and dares to blurt out anything, but he's acting strangely today.
Shen Wanqing's embroidered shoes were adorned with small South Sea pearls on the toes. With each step, she swayed. Yu Lang glanced at her once, then couldn't help but glance at her again. He couldn't describe the feeling in his heart; he just didn't really want to go out.
"Then I'll just take a nap on the kang. I still have to go to the main courtyard later, and I'm afraid I'll make things difficult if I sleep too soundly."
Yu Lang was the groom, and if he wanted to keep his bride, there was no reason for him to turn her away. Seeing that he showed no intention of getting up, Shen Wanqing stopped arguing and got up to walk towards the daybed.
She was too busy last night to see it, but this morning Shen Wanqing finally saw that the kang (a heated brick bed) next to the south window was not just a kang, but also had a Luohan bed with three screens on it.
The bedding on the daybed was already laid out, and since it was a new house, it wouldn't be taken down for three days. Shen Wanqing took off her embroidered shoes and lay down, while Yulang sat quietly on the other side of the kang table.
Shen Wanqing had thought she wouldn't be able to sleep with Yu Lang sitting next to her, who was barely a stranger, but in fact, she fell into a deep sleep within three minutes of her head hitting the pillow. When she woke up again, the sun was setting, and it was almost time for dinner.
When I read novels and watched TV dramas, I always heard that people in the Qing Dynasty only ate two meals a day. But that's not true. The original owner's father served as the prefect of Fujian for many years, and the whole of the south was basically the same as in later generations, with three meals a day. Even the Eight Banners troops stationed in various places got used to this kind of diet.
Manchu people in Beijing and those in the palace did indeed eat two meals a day, but in addition to these two meals, they also had snacks. There was breakfast in the morning, tea snacks in the afternoon, and late-night snacks in the evening. As long as the family could afford it, there was no reason not to let them eat.
Nineteen-year-old girls are not young, especially since the original owner was well raised at home since childhood and never suffered hardship or hunger. This body is indeed much more precious than Shen Wanqing's previous one.
Lunch was plentiful, but she still maintained the airs of a new bride and didn't dare to eat much. She slept through the afternoon snacks, and now she felt so hungry she felt like she could eat a whole cow.
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