Chapter 5: Settlement
After a few breaths, Wen Youqing covered her face with the fan again and walked out gracefully.
The eyes of several dandies immediately locked onto Wen Youqing the moment she appeared, with obscene and explicit expressions. One of them even said to the person next to him in a neither loud nor soft voice, "This Miss Wen is truly beautiful, but I wonder if a figure like her has already been in the bag of Master Cui. Poor Brother Shen, he can only pick up what others have left."
Another echoed, "The royal family has run schools for girls for many years. You sound narrow-minded. Mr. Shen is also a frequent visitor to the brothels and mansions. They are a perfect match."
The people around them laughed softly, and glanced at the two of them from time to time.
Of course Shen Zijie heard these words, but he pretended not to hear them and led Wen Youqing into the sedan chair by the hand holding the red silk.
The moment the curtain fell, Wen Youqing heard Chen Zijie say, "The etiquette is complicated, Madam, please don't pay attention to them."
Wen Youqing had heard so much harsh words that although she felt uncomfortable, her tolerance was extraordinary. She hadn't expected Shen Zijie to vent her anger. Shen Zijie was already much better than most men of this era, and she couldn't force more.
Wen Youqing agreed with a smile, but there was no smile in her eyes.
The wedding banquet lasted a long time, and the Shen family's nanny prepared food for Wen Youqing. This was not reasonable, but since it was prepared by the Shen family, Wen Youqing didn't hesitate and sat down to eat.
It was late at night, Wen Youqing had eaten and drunk his fill, but Chen Zijie still hadn't arrived.
The nanny also heard the rumors outside, but she still tried to appease them, "It's normal for the men to make trouble later. I'll go to the front and take a look."
Wen Youqing didn't really care about Shen Zijie. She wanted to urge him to go to bed because she was too tired and wanted to sleep. But Shen Zijie was also her savior. If she didn't even pay attention to etiquette and just rested on her own, it would be really uncultured.
She didn't know Shen Zixing's character yet, and she couldn't ignore other people's bottom line just because of their preferential treatment, so she said, "Excuse me, Ma'am."
Not long after, the sound of chaotic footsteps approached. Shen Zijie stumbled and pushed open the door, saying drunkenly, "Madam, I am late. Please forgive me for being late."
The wedding ceremony was completed quickly, and Shen Zijie lay unconscious against the bed frame. Several people rushed in from behind, their faces black and their clothes mostly torn. They wanted to step forward, but when they saw that they had no interest in making trouble in the bridal chamber, they pulled the people in front of them away, saying, "It's just for fun."
As soon as the others left, Shen Zijie's eyes suddenly cleared up. He took off his heavy wedding clothes and jade crown, and smiled like a child who had been asked for candy: "I used the excuse of pitching pots to push them into the charcoal basin. They didn't dare to fight back. Isn't it amazing?"
Wen Youqing, who was hanging the wedding dress, was stunned and didn't react. Mumu asked, "Who? Who are you talking about?"
"You bastard who can't control his mouth, no one else is here, hahaha." Shen Zijie was really happy. He quickly washed up, drank some hangover soup, and said to the well-behaved Wen Youqing, "No one else is here, go get some rest."
While washing up, Wen Youqing didn't even notice the corners of her mouth curled up. Perhaps it was because she'd traveled through time, but she didn't seem to be shy like a newlywed. She stepped over Shen Zijie and lay down beside him.
Shen Zijie had a fight, drank some wine, and fell asleep as soon as he touched the pillow.
Wen Youqing looked at his sleeping face, closed her eyes peacefully, and silently thanked him in her heart.
On the second day after their wedding, Chen Zijie took Wen Youqing to pay his parents a visit. Having heard some gossip, Chen's parents weren't exactly fond of Wen Youqing, but they were still quite polite. With Chen Zijie's meddling in the middle, things seemed harmonious.
After all, Shen's mother was not Shen Zijie's biological mother, so she had no expectations of him and just acted according to etiquette.
She only said one thing to Wen Youqing: "If you can make him change his mind and be more motivated, that's enough. Then he can stay at home and take care of his husband and children." She looked at Wen Youqing deeply as she said this.
That look gave Wen Youqing goosebumps, but she still said respectfully, "I will follow your mother's instructions."
The brothers and sisters-in-law did not have high expectations for Shen Zijie and Wen Youqing. They chatted and laughed about some unimportant things and then left. They were waiting at noon, but at noon they were not even allowed to stay for lunch.
On the other hand, Shen Zijie was a carefree person. He took her to a restaurant with a smile and tried some trendy dishes.
Wen Youqing didn't have any expectations. She just wanted to live a harmonious life with her husband and take one or two concubines to share her pain of childbirth.
Unexpectedly, even without Wen Youqing's advice, Chen Zijie turned out to be a man with his own ideas.
Less than a month after the wedding, Shen Zijie was appointed as the chief of Xunyang. Before that, Shen Zijie asked Wen Youqing about her opinion. Wen Youqing naturally had no objection and just said, "Wherever my husband goes, I will go."
Shen Zijie seemed to be hesitant to speak, and after a long while he finally said, "It's not like the capital. The conditions there are very harsh. You may only be able to bathe once every two weeks."
After hearing this, Wen Youqing was a little hesitant. If she couldn't take a shower, she would feel itchy all over. But why should she stay? Even the most insignificant illegitimate child of an aristocratic family was still a member of the aristocratic family, and she had to play by the rules here.
Wen Youqing looked at Shen Zijie calmly: "Then I should go. With me here, I can take care of my husband."
Shen Zijie had nothing to say, his face showed no joy, and he buried his head in eating.
Wen Youqing rolled up his sleeves to help him put the piece of cake on the plate. Suddenly, he remembered something and said, "What should we do with those sisters from the outer courtyard?"
"Don't worry about that." After saying that, Chen Zhijie felt that he still needed to explain, so he continued, "I will support them for three months. They will learn something there, some learn embroidery, some learn accounting. After three months, they will leave and support themselves. When they earn money, they can come back to make up for the three months' payment. If they can't pay it back... just consider it a good deed."
Wen Youqing only knew that Shen Zijie was helping those down-and-out girls, but this was the first time she knew how he was helping them. She was a little surprised and said, "Before, I only knew that my husband was kind-hearted, but I didn't know he had such foresight."
"Fish and fishing, they should know which to choose. I can't support them for the rest of their lives." These words inexplicably woke Wen Youqing up. She had thought about just getting by before, but now it seems that this is not going to work. In the end, she has to take advantage of Chen Zijie's power to be more useful.
So, when the trees were just beginning to sprout, the two of them said goodbye to the Shen family and set out on the road to the northern border. Although it was bitterly cold, they had finally left the capital.
For some reason, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
On the eve of Wen Youqing's departure, the old lady sent people to deliver a lot of things, and Wen's mother also sent some things. However, Wen's father still felt ashamed and did not want Wen Youqing to return home.
Wen Youqing rewarded the nanny beside his mother and said, "Mammy, I'm leaving now. Please take care of my mother."
The nanny had watched Wen Youqing grow up since she was a child. Now, seeing the young lady who never made mistakes fall into this situation, she couldn't bear it. Her voice was filled with tears: "Miss, the young master is gone. No matter how hard the master and mistress talk, they still miss you in their hearts. You must take care of yourself. Take care of yourself."
Wen Youqing patted Mammy's hand and said, "I know. I don't blame them. Mammy, please go back."
After the nanny left, Wen Youqing sorted the things into categories: clothes, silver. She didn't like her father, but her mother...
After sighing and letting out the warm air, Wen Youqing continued to clean up. This mother had already done the best she could in this era.
Wen Youqing was bored from traveling on the road, so he went to catch some wild game to reward the team.
Shen Zijie saw that she always managed to hunt animals back. One day, he couldn't hold it in any longer and asked curiously, "Where did you learn this? It's so amazing."
The skills of riding and archery were common to women of noble families and officials, a symbol of status, but they needed to be superficially competent, not to let calluses form on their delicate hands. Wen Youqing was perhaps the only noblewoman in Jingjing City who truly mastered them, and her current "achievement" was due to a casual remark by Cui Junji: "Boring! What's the difference between looking at her and looking at a painting of a court lady? I like women who can ride and shoot."
At that time, Cui Junji was young and of noble status, so many people teased him with all kinds of things to see his reaction. At the Jockey Club that year, a group of older playboys pointed at Wen Youqing who was sitting quietly in the distance and asked Cui Junji to take a closer look at his fiancée.
The young Cui Junji was just annoyed by the teasing of others, so he made trouble for Wen Youqing and deliberately said that he liked someone who had nothing to do with Wen Youqing.
This single sentence alone caused Wen Youqing to be mocked and ridiculed by countless people at the horse race, but he didn't care. What he didn't know was that Wen Youqing, despite his reluctance, went to learn horseback archery the next day.
The bowstring rubbed his fingers into blisters, and his thighs were sore that he couldn't even walk normally for a while. Thinking of this, Wen Youqing wanted to tear off his horseback archery skills, but then he calmed down and realized that he had learned these skills with great difficulty. The person was disgusting, so what did the skills have to do with it?
The relief of escaping from that den of tigers and wolves slowly welled up in her, warming her whole body. If she had really been brainwashed, she would have married into that family. Otherwise, she would have to learn something she didn't like.
Everything suddenly became clear before his eyes. Wen Youqing swallowed the rabbit meat in his mouth and said, "It's just for emergencies. At least it's more useful than flower arranging or something."
"That's really amazing. I think you can open a restaurant." Shen Zijie praised sincerely.
He had just said this casually, but he didn't know what the situation was like in Northern Xinjiang. When he finally arrived in Northern Xinjiang, Wen Youqing couldn't laugh anymore.
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