Chapter 4: Straw
Suddenly, a big hand grabbed Wen Youqing's shoulder. She subconsciously turned around and slapped the hand back.
The clean scent of soapberries blocked the cold wind outside and wrapped her tightly in his arms.
The sudden turn of events caught Wen Youqing off guard. Her palms were still numb. She looked up woodenly, unable to see Shen Zijie's expression, but at that moment she felt her back straighten.
Everyone was stunned. Such intimate behavior was really immoral.
Father Wen, who was the first to react, was about to explode when Shen Zijie said, "This junior has come to visit Lord Wen and Madam Wen today to ask for Miss Wen's hand in marriage."
Unexpectedly, these words were like kerosene, "whoosh" igniting Wen's father's anger. He pointed at Wen Youqing with a trembling finger, and said with trembling beard: "Rebellious girl! You have no shame every day. Who are you hooking up with, huh?" Then he picked up the family rules and hit Wen Youqing in the face!
"I, the father, will clean up the house today!" It was as if the old ornament placed in the main seat came alive, maintaining its own house with the sound of bones falling apart.
Wen Youqing subconsciously dodged, and the family discipline hit Shen Zijie's arm. Father Wen showed no guilt at all and said, "Shen's son, this is my family affair, you should stay away from it."
Shen Zijie didn't move and continued to block Wen Youqing behind him. Seeing that Wen's father was about to swing the stick to hit him again, Wen Youqing pulled Shen Zijie behind her and retorted: "Coward! What have I done wrong? Do you have the guts to hit the treacherous? Do you have the guts to hit the high-ranking official? Don't be afraid to hit the former! The latter is you!"
The engagement finally exposed the truth and revealed the accomplice.
It's especially ugly in front of outsiders.
Having been largely misunderstood, Wen's father felt his blood boil, and without caring if anyone tried to stop him, he lashed out at Wen Youqing like crazy, using the family discipline. The salt-soaked cane was incredibly painful.
"Even if my Wen family is extinct, even if we erect a memorial archway, we will never let a whore like you go out!"
Wen's mother also saw that her husband was furious, so she quickly called on the servants to rush forward to separate them, and the scene was chaotic for a while.
No matter how hard she dodged, Wen Youqing was hit a few times, and the pain made her break out in a cold sweat.
Seeing another family's magic trick coming through the gap, several heavy sounds came from under their feet, shocking everyone to stop and look towards the door.
An old lady dressed elegantly knocked the nanmu stick in her hand hard on the ground, making a deep sound that was intimidating.
It was Wen's mother who came to her senses first. She bowed and said, "Mother, why are you here?"
The door was closed early, and the servants who had signed the death contract gathered around. After feigning illness and delaying for a while last time, my grandmother came again.
The old lady walked straight to the main hall, and the crowd immediately made way for her. The old lady said in a deep voice: "If I don't come, will you guys make trouble here? Even if I die of anger here, I will still take care of this matter to the end."
Mother Wen pulled Father Wen's arm, and Father Wen came to his senses. He threw the family rules to the housekeeper and asked him to put them away, then quickly asked someone to prepare tea.
His mother-in-law was a cousin of the third branch of the Wang family. If the late Empress Dowager hadn't feared that she would threaten her niece's position... Even though she was deliberately assigned to a fourth-rank civil servant, she was still able to lead her husband and children to advancement. With such intelligence and means, Wen's father still respected his mother-in-law very much.
Shen Zijie didn't know whether to leave or go in, so the old lady's maid politely invited him to the side hall to wait.
Wen Youqing followed her in, and the old lady's maid immediately took her behind the screen, washed her, applied medicine to her, put the hot water bottle in her arms, and wrapped her in fox fur.
The anger in his heart had not yet subsided, and Wen Youqing pricked up his ears to listen to the movement outside the screen.
The old lady knew Wen Youqing was listening, so she didn't shy away from asking, "Do you know why I married my daughter to you?"
A fifth-rank civil servant who is not from an aristocratic family has no future at all. Although my father-in-law was eventually promoted to the third rank, he is still more than qualified to be a match for a fifth-rank official.
"I don't know."
The old lady said mercilessly, "Because you're stable and down-to-earth, and you love writing books, you don't have any other ulterior motives. You know how many women who marry into a wealthy family end up having a happy ending? Without the support of your family, who can you turn to when you suffer injustice? Don't look at others, there's one right in front of you. If I hadn't come, I don't know what would have happened to my innocent niece today. You've already lost a son, and now you don't want your daughter anymore?"
This one sentence stunned everyone. Wen Youqing no longer waited for the old lady to make the decision for her. She lowered her eyes to warm her stiff limbs. Her brother, five years her senior, had died three years earlier while reclaiming wasteland in the northern border. The family hadn't spoken of this matter in a long time, and the old lady must have been at her wit's end, bringing it up again today.
Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, the old lady returned to the matter of the engagement. "Did I say that verbal marriage was unreliable back then? Did you all turn a deaf ear to me? I'm just a woman, not well-educated, unable to serve the country, and have made no achievements. But I still dare to boast about my ability to judge people. The Cui family seems to be low-key and polite, which fits the so-called literati character of yours. You like their family and want to marry your daughter there, and I understand. Today, they are all our own people, and I've said it frankly. Even if everyone in their family were truly literati, they wouldn't have reached their current status. The Wang family of Langya, the Shen family of Yingchuan, and the Zheng family of Xingyang, which one of them is not polite when meeting their family? Look at the concubines in the palace. The Cui family sent out a girl from a side branch, so how could a girl from the main branch enter the palace? Why not? You and I know it very well. If the Cui family is like this, that brat from the Wang family is even worse!"
The last few words were spoken in a low voice, but they frightened the servants who had signed death contracts and were serving them so much that they wanted to bury their heads in the ground.
The emperor was not incompetent, but he was cowardly and mediocre. Children from ordinary families would not be taken seriously if they were mediocre, let alone the emperor. As long as the emperor was not outstanding, he would be considered incompetent in the eyes of his ministers and the people.
The noble families just kept this rabbit as a pet to prevent the wolf-like families from fighting each other because they didn't have this toy.
"Entering a family like this is more torturous than entering a golden cage." The last sentence was the final word, crushing any words of rebuttal that Wen's father wanted to say.
He wanted to marry into a well-established family for safety, he wanted to have the integrity of a scholar, but now nothing was left in the face of power. He had no capital, so he could not send his daughter to such a place. The Cui family would not protect an outsider who was a burden.
Father Wen gently held his trembling hands. He felt a burning sensation in his palms from having just used so much force to swing the family law. He had really lost his mind by using so much force just now.
Seeing that her mother didn't say anything but didn't leave, Wen's mother immediately lent her father her hand to bandage the wound and left on the pretext of doing so.
As soon as the two of them left, the old lady asked loudly, "Did you hear that? Calm down now."
Wen Youqing, wrapped in a fox fur coat, came to the main hall, sat next to her grandmother, and said, "What should I do now?"
"I have found many people for you in Beijing. Do you want to take a look or do you have your own candidate?" The old lady's stern expression instantly turned into heartache. She hugged Wen Youqing in her arms and warmed Wen Youqing's hands.
This sentence reminded Wen Youqing of Shen Zijie who was still in the side hall. She didn't hate him, but she definitely didn't like him either. She had inquired about him before and knew some aspects of him. Overall, he was pretty good.
Wen Youqing didn't want to calculate anymore. Anyway, this world was not her original world, so she just had to make do with it.
"Grandmother, what do you think of Master Shen?"
"You are a concubine and bastard, and you will suffer a lot in the future. But from what your grandmother has heard, it is indeed not as what is said outside. If you like her, you can decide on her first, but if you find someone you like more, you can change her." The old lady still doted on Wen Youqing and dared to say such words to her in private.
The energy in his body suddenly dissipated, and when it dissipated, he could no longer hold on. Wen Youqing leaned against the old lady, muttering, "Why is life so hard?" and slowly fell asleep.
Although the Shen family is also a noble family, Shen Zijie is a bastard with a bad reputation, so Wen's father is naturally unhappy.
However, Wen's father couldn't help but be unhappy. The Wang family had already arranged the marriage very quickly. It seemed that they had heard some bad rumors and were afraid that Wen Youqing would be involved.
Although he was scolded by the old lady, he was embarrassed after all. Father Wen did not want to hold a grand wedding for his daughter, and the Shen family did not care about the marriage of a bastard.
The marriage between the two was hastily arranged.
Just like Wen Youqing's first intuition, Chen Zijie was not a playboy. He was even so clean that he was obsessed with mysophobia. He didn't have any concubines or maids.
After recovering from his illness, Wen Youqing asked Shen Zijie to meet him alone.
At the teahouse, Wen Youqing thanked him, but before she could ask herself, she heard Chen Zijie say, "I know I have a bad reputation, but what I do is upright. You don't have to worry about me being a hypocrite."
The wind and snow outside the building had stopped, and the sunlight shining on the ice and snow was a little dazzling. Wen Youqing withdrew her gaze and became the lady from a noble family again. She accepted this arrangement and listened quietly.
"I know we don't have much affection for each other, and we don't have much in common. You can treat me as a friend and do what you want. As long as it's not excessive, I won't interfere."
It is not easy to make such a generous promise.
"If you don't want to get married, you can tell others that you don't like me and cancel the engagement."
Wen Youqing looked up suddenly and saw the sincerity and pity in Shen Zijie's eyes.
All the doubts in her heart disappeared in an instant. It wasn't love at first sight, and he didn't come here just for her. She was like a weak woman in trouble with Shen Zijie.
No matter whether it is a heroic complex or male chauvinism, some things have already ended and there is no need to ask so clearly.
At least she was lucky enough to meet Shen Zijie.
No longer burdened by criticism or the pressure of living to be worthy of others, Wen Youqing naturally felt at ease. The countless shackles from childhood were stripped away, and the future held new, unknown shackles. But Wen Youqing still shook her head and said, "Okay, let's get married."
The two got married when the plum blossoms first bloomed.
The weather was really good that day. Before getting into the sedan chair, Wen Youqing said goodbye to her parents who looked unhappy. At an empty corner, she looked up at the sky above her head. It was blue after the snow had just stopped.
The malicious voices of those people waiting to watch the show outside seemed to disappear in the boundless blue.
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