Relax at the racecourse
Later on, things took another turn.
It turned out that Ding went to Wanfu Temple to burn incense three months ago and met Yan Wei by chance. She was raped by Yan Wei and became pregnant.
Due to her unusual constitution, she could not take abortion pills. When Yan Wei sent her another letter, she decided to go to Wanfu Temple to tell him the news in person, hoping that Yan Wei would take her with him. However, due to Concubine Qiu's unintentional actions, the plan was exposed. Terrified, Ding knew she had no other options. By dying, she could at least protect her reputation and Yan Wei.
Yan Wei and Ling Wan said that Ding was pregnant just to insult and disgust Chen Cong. He had no idea that Ding was actually pregnant with his child.
Mrs. Ding, upon hearing of her daughter's suicide, rushed to the scene and accidentally felt her daughter's belly. With some knowledge of medicine, she knew her daughter was pregnant, but now that she was dead, she was heartbroken and began to think about profiting from the Shen and Xu families.
The people whom Ding regarded as her closest and dearest relatives all had other thoughts about her. Chen Yuanyuan couldn't tell whether she was pitiful or stupid, so she could only ask people to bury her properly. She hoped that she would meet a good man in her next life, have the love of her father and mother, and have a happy family.
Time is ruthless and will not stop for anyone's sigh.
The days that followed passed in a blur. The eldest son of the Shen family returned, the second son of the Shen family got married, the fifth daughter of the Shen family got married again, and the fourth son of the Shen family won the third place in the imperial examination.
Although she had only spent one year in ancient times, Chen Yuanyuan felt as if she had spent decades. There was a piece of her heart that had become cold and hard, and even the spring breeze could not melt it.
"Miss Wang is unlucky. She was about to marry the third place in the imperial examination, but she died of a cold." Tao sighed as she ate the jade dew balls she had just bought.
The young lady from the Wang family, to whom Shen Huaijin had been engaged, passed away last month due to illness. When the news reached the Shen family, Shen Huaijin immediately knelt before the old lady Shen and said that he wanted to observe mourning for her for two years, which made the noble ladies in Kyoto who were interested in marriage both envious and regretful that "Shen Silang was a man of integrity and loyalty."
Ling Wan smiled, didn't respond, and concentrated on looking at the calligraphy that Shen Huaiyin had been practicing recently.
"Second sister-in-law, what's wrong with you? I always feel that you have been unhappy recently." Mrs. Tao wiped her mouth, a look of concern between her brows. "Did you have a quarrel with Second Uncle?"
Ling Wan shook her head.
"Why is that?" Tao came closer and blinked.
Chen Yuanyuan also felt that she could not be happy during this period. After thinking for a while, she realized that she had been locked up in this backyard since she came to ancient times and had never breathed the air of freedom.
"Oh, that's so easy." Mrs. Tao curled her eyes. "Sister-in-law's horse ranch outside Beijing is huge. Now is the perfect time for riding. Let's go there for a few days and all our worries will go away."
Chen Yuanyuan's eyes lit up immediately. In modern times, when she felt troubled, she loved to go horseback riding for an entire afternoon. Tao's suggestion struck a chord with her, so the next day she changed into riding gear and met Tao at the stables.
"What a handsome young man!" Tao held the reins, looked Ling Wan up and down for a long time, and reined in the horse and teased.
Chen Yuanyuan was wearing a red corset today, and black curly-toe boots that fitted her straight and slender calves tightly. In order to prevent her black hair from falling apart while riding, she used a red headband to tie it into a hairstyle similar to a modern high ponytail, which looked both heroic and neat.
If you look at his back instead of the front, you will see that he has a tall and slender figure and a dashing demeanor. Who wouldn't ask, "Whose boy is this?" when seeing him?
"Thank you for your kind words, young lady!" Ling Wan raised her eyebrows and smiled. Holding the reins, she glanced at Madam Tao several times with the same expression. She said loudly, "I've heard that Madam Tao is an excellent rider, unrivaled at the moment. Do you dare to compete with me today?"
As he said this, he whipped his horsewhip, laughed loudly and galloped away.
"Xu Lingwan, you are being lazy!" Tao Shi came up from behind, waving her whip and laughing.
One black and one white, chasing each other.
The black horse Ling Wan was riding had a sturdy body and strong limbs. It ran as fast as the wind and lightning. It was one of the dowries given to her by the Xu family.
"Good Fanmo, if you beat Madam Tao today, I'll give you a big dinner tonight!" Chen Yuanyuan bent down, held the reins tightly, swung the whip with her backhand, and chased after the green figure in front.
The other side of the racecourse.
Shen Huaijie, who had pestered his fourth brother to come to the stables to help him choose a horse, looked at the rustling figure in red and asked curiously, "Whose young lady in red is this? How could she be on par with Sixth Aunt?"
The servant beside him respectfully said it was the Second Madam.
It took Shen Huaijie a while to realize that the "Second Madam" was his beautiful and cheerful second aunt.
"Sixth Aunt is fine, but I didn't expect Second Aunt's riding skills are so good!" Shen Huaijie clapped his hands and laughed.
"My aunt's riding skills are amazing. She is second to none among the women in the capital, so she dare not claim to be first." Shen Huaijin retracted his gaze and signaled Shen Huaijie to choose a horse.
Chen Huaijie knew that his fourth brother had always been indifferent to this young aunt, and even somewhat disliked her. After thinking for a while, he frowned and said, "Second Aunt comes from a family of scholars. It's already very good that she can be on par with Sixth Aunt, who comes from a military family, in terms of riding skills."
"I see that Second Aunt is very kind to my sixth and seventh brothers. In the winter when it snows heavily, she will personally go to the school to pick them up after school. Every time she sees me, she smiles and always invites me to her house for candy and sizzling fruit."
"My grandmother, father, and mother all say she's good."
"But Fourth Brother seems to dislike Second Aunt. Fourth Brother, did she bully you behind everyone's back?" Shen Huaijie blinked and asked in a low voice.
He was the late son of the Lu family, with a strong build and always loved by everyone in the family.
Shen Huaijin felt warm in his heart when he saw his serious eyes. He sighed slightly, touched his head, and said, "No."
Shen Huaijie tilted his head and confirmed again: "Really?"
Shen Huaijin smiled faintly and pinched his chubby face: “It’s more real than real gold, who can bully your fourth brother.”
The little fat boy's brow softened at this point. Just as he was about to say, "Third brother always annoys you," he saw that Tao had dismounted to drink water. He quickly pulled Shen Huaijin over and pulled Tao's sleeve, saying, "Sixth Aunt, Jingyun runs so fast. I want to ride it too. Can you take me for a ride?"
He had fallen off his horse last year, and Mrs. Lu had forbidden him to ride again. Now that he saw Mrs. Tao's precious horse Jingyun, he really wanted to ride it.
Only then did Mrs. Tao see Shen Huaijie and Shen Huaijin. She wiped her mouth, bent down and tapped the tip of the fat boy's nose: "Not now, wait until Sixth Aunt takes a break, then I'll take you for a ride."
On the other side, Ling Wan also stopped her horse. Before she had run enough, Tao was exhausted.
Seeing Chen Huaijie running towards her and looking up at her expectantly, she couldn't help but laugh at his clever and naive appearance.
She bent down, extended her hand to Shen Huaijie, and said, "Young Master, come up! Your Sixth Aunt isn't very strong, so let your Second Aunt take you for a run!"
As he spoke, he flexed his arms and used the momentum of his waist and abdomen to swiftly bring the fat boy onto the horse. "Huaijie, hold on tight! Fanmo can run just as fast as Jingyun!"
Today is the happiest day for Chen Yuanyuan since she came here.
Far away from Kyoto and the Shen Mansion, without the identity restrictions of Miss Xu San and Madam Shen Er, her expression and her scattered hair all speak of the freedom and unruliness of her soul.
The wind was whistling in my ears, and the little fat boy in my arms shouted, "The ink is turning so fast."
In her spare time, Chen Yuanyuan enjoyed speed and passion on the horse racing track. She probably didn't realize how charming she was at that moment.
Shedding her usual gentle and amiable appearance, she was dressed in fiery red, her face full of heroism, and she was so bright and unrestrained as she galloped on horseback that she looked like a pearl covered with a veil in the Shen Mansion.
After running a few laps with Huaijie, Chen Yuanyuan put him down.
After a short break, Tao asked Shen Huaijin when they would be leaving, and he replied that they would be back in a moment. Ling Wan listened in silence, then looked up at the magnificent sun on the distant skyline, a sun that wasn't even setting yet, and her nose suddenly felt sore.
"I'll run a few more laps." Chen Yuanyuan stood up and hurriedly mounted the horse.
Mrs. Tao watched the figure running faster and faster in the distance. She wanted to get up and chase after it, but her whole body was sore from the ride that afternoon. She could only say in a deep voice, "Huaijin, go follow your mother. I think she's not feeling well today."
When Shen Huaijin caught up, he wondered if he had heard it wrong.
The person in front was clearly dressed in red and had been laughing heartily for the past few hours, but at this moment, her shoulders were shaking slightly, as if she was sobbing.
Shen Huaijin kept a distance from Xu Lingwan, and when they stopped, they were already at the edge of the horse farm.
In the distance, the afterglow is brilliant, the sky is full of rosy clouds, and golden, rose, and orange-red clouds fill the sky.
"I don't want to go back tonight." Hearing someone riding a horse approaching behind her, Chen Yuanyuan thought it was Tao and spoke softly.
The person behind him didn't respond, and the horse's hooves moved slightly.
Chen Yuanyuan dismounted, ran forward a few steps in despair, and let the tears roll down her face. "You asked me today why I've been unhappy lately. Actually, it's not just this period of time. From the moment I got here, I've been unhappy. Very unhappy."
The emotions that had been pent up for more than a year seemed to have found an outlet. Perhaps it was because there was only the sound of the wind, or perhaps it was because today's sunset was so beautiful and brilliant that people were reluctant to leave. Chen Yuanyuan could no longer hold back, squatted down, buried her head in her arms, and burst into tears.
In this era, men can socialize freely and see the world, while women can only be trapped in the backyard, dealing with concubines and children all day long, and having a lot of complicated thoughts.
She was really fed up and tired. She was such a proud and independent person, but why did everything here revolve around Chen Cong? All the problems she had to solve were because of Shen Cong.
If it were modern times, she would have kicked Shen Cong away long ago. But in ancient times, where in-laws were the most important, filial piety was the most important, and husbands and wives followed their husbands, without a very strong reason, a divorce between her and Shen Cong would be a fantasy.
If she wants to survive in this era, she must act according to the rules of this era.
Mrs. Tao always said that Chen Cong was very kind to her, but what good was that? It couldn't even make up for the troubles he brought her. Furthermore, despite his kindness, she had to constantly warn herself not to fall deeply in love, otherwise the Qiu and Zhao families would end up like Xu Lingwan tomorrow.
She could neither feel the sweetness of love nor be bound by the law of marriage fidelity. On the contrary, all the terms of their marital relationship based on social conventions were unequal treaties for her as the "wife".
Chen Yuanyuan was truly exhausted. This life of constant vigilance and constant fulfillment of obligations had left her physically and mentally exhausted.
"Wow, I... I want to go home. I don't want to be here." Chen Yuanyuan couldn't help crying even louder when she thought about returning to the Shen Mansion's backyard and becoming the Second Madam Shen again, who couldn't even express her joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness freely.
"If you don't want to go back, then don't go back." The rosy clouds in front of her blocked her view, and Ling Wan could only feel a light fragrance of Duruo coming down. "Why are you crying?"
This voice... Chen Yuanyuan looked up in surprise.
The eldest son in front of him had a calm demeanor, and when he bent down, he looked like a bamboo bent by the snow.
"You...you...I...you go, I'll be fine in a while." Their eyes met, and her body couldn't stop shaking because she had cried so hysterically just now.
Xu Lingwan was the first to look away, then buried her face in her arms, acting like an ostrich.
It's so embarrassing, how can it be so embarrassing!
"Shall I leave you here alone to continue crying?" The eldest son seemed completely unaware of how embarrassed his mother was.
"I... I was just excited just now. I won't cry anymore." Xu Lingwan sniffed, her voice still tinged with tears.
"Wipe your face." A handkerchief was thrust into her hand. "Otherwise, when you go back later, Aunt Six will see you and think I bullied you."
This brat can still bully her? What a hell of a joke.
Chen Yuanyuan buried her face and didn't move. Shen Huaijin sighed almost inaudibly and went to the side to wait for her.
When she heard his footsteps fade away, she raised her head and wiped her face roughly with the green handkerchief.
Fortunately, Shen Huaijin didn't see her tears and snot just now, otherwise how would she, as a stepmother, put her face in the future.
Ling Wan took another deep breath, and then another deep breath. After a while, she turned around after her emotions calmed down.
Fifty meters behind her, Shen Huaijin was holding Fan Mo's hand and looked up at her.
Behind him was an endless green field and an orange-red sky. The setting sun cast a faint golden veil over his thin figure; she could even see the tiny golden flakes of light sprinkled on his long, dense eyelashes.
The humble young man is over seventeen years old, with pearl-like teeth and red lips. What a young man with a refined and elegant demeanor.
With the handsome young man in front of her, Chen Yuanyuan felt much better. In the silence between them, she gave him an embarrassed smile and said, "I thought you were Zhang Yi just now, so I lost control of my emotions. I'm sorry."
"I've made your handkerchief incredibly dirty. I'm afraid it won't be usable anymore. I'll buy you a new one and return it to you."
Ling Wan said as she jumped on her horse and whipped it back: "Anyway, I'm sorry for what happened just now."
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