Chapter 63 Chapter 63 It turns out that before Benbo’s wife got married, she and Gui…
"Ah Xu, are you wearing too little? Someone, bring Miss Nan one of my cloaks."
Nan Xu smiled and grabbed her hand. "How could that be? Stop working. By the way, where did you just say that?"
Yin Ruizhu took her hand and, noticing it wasn't cold, she let it go. She said with amusement, "I'm talking to you. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about Duan Wenpei?"
Nan Xu shook her head guiltily. She didn't dare to say that he was the first person she thought of.
"I was just distracted for a moment, but you had to say so much."
A maid brought tea and snacks. Nan Xu took a bite of a piece of cake, then handed one to Yin Ruizhu with her other hand. "Try it! Your family's snacks are famous for being delicious."
Yin Ruizhu was a little amused and helpless. This was clearly an attempt to shut her up and stop her from mentioning Wei Yangbo.
She took it but didn't eat it. Instead, she placed the cake on the handkerchief beside her with a worried look on her face. Nan Xu paused, her thoughts shifting slightly. "Tell me, what exactly did you call me here for?"
Yin Ruizhu waved her hands around, and except for her personal maid, all the other servants in the room slowly retreated.
Before she could speak, she sighed and said, "I tried the method you told me last time, but it didn't work."
Nan Xu tapped the lid of the teacup and asked, "Uncle Yin still wants you to get married?"
Yin Ruizhu nodded, "It's not that they want me to get married, it's that they've already decided."
These words caught Nan Xu off guard. She suddenly lost control of her strength in her hands and pushed the tea lid onto the table, causing it to roll several times.
She opened her mouth, and after a lot of effort, she said, "Which family did you choose?"
Yin Ruizhu pointed to the south in annoyance, "Who else could it be! My second cousin from my aunt's family!"
Nan Xu searched her mind for a moment, then suddenly covered her mouth and exclaimed, "The one who's half a head shorter than you?"
Yin Ruizhu buried her face in her knees and said "yes" in a muffled voice.
Nan Xu looked at her miserable expression and suddenly didn't know what to say.
She had met several of Mrs. Yin's nephews and nieces, and she remembered her second cousin particularly well.
That year, Uncle Yin held his birthday banquet. After three rounds of drinks, some youngsters who loved to show off suggested to use the alcohol to write a poem to celebrate Uncle Yin's birthday. Everyone tried their best to write a poem, but none of them won Uncle Yin's favor. Only the second cousin was very talented in writing. He could compose a poem in just a moment, which won Uncle Yin's praise.
At that time, she and Yin Ruizhu were sitting at the women's table, drinking until their cheeks turned red. When she heard the noise, she looked up to see what the great talent looked like, but she couldn't find him no matter how hard she looked. Someone who knew about the situation pointed at a short man in the crowd, and her second cousin was so short that he was drowned in the guests.
And Yin Ruizhu, they are really not a match...
"Actually, since you are related, you won't suffer if you marry her—" Nan Xu really didn't know how to persuade her. She stumbled over a few words and then fell silent when she saw her digging her nails into the flesh.
"I'd rather suffer! Ah Xu, you'd rather let me die than marry him!"
Seeing her talking about death again, Nan Xu felt a headache. "Even if you die, the problem won't be solved! Who knows, Uncle Yin might make you marry into your cousin's family even after death for the sake of the friendship between our two families. I think you won't be at peace in the underworld then!"
Nan Xu just wanted to scare her and stop her from talking nonsense, but it unexpectedly made Yin Ruizhu even more emotional. This time she didn't cry, but her eyes were red.
"Bah! If that's the case, I won't let them go even if I become a ghost!"
Nan Xu didn’t want to think about who they were, but those who didn’t want her to have an easy life were counted among them, and Nan Xu just felt a little distressed.
Yin Ruizhu was her close friend from childhood. In the past, Yin Ruizhu was full of vigor and spirit, dressed as a man and chatting and laughing. How many women in Beijing could be as unrestrained as her? But now? Even without men's clothing, she still couldn't escape the fate of being teased by men and forced into marriage by her parents.
It's a cruel fate that makes people sigh.
She stood up and walked to Yin Ruizhu, hugged her friend who had buried her whole body, and patted her back again and again to comfort her.
"Now that things have come to this, Ruizhu, what do you think?"
"You used to joke with me, saying I shouldn't be so obsessed with Li Zhan. There are so many good men in Kyoto, I should see more. I didn't understand at the time, thinking you'd seen too much love in those brothels and your heart had become numb. But when Li Zhan and I finally parted ways, I finally realized that nothing in the world is predetermined. The only thing you can change is yourself. As long as you have made up your mind, you should follow your heart, no matter how difficult and dangerous it is."
She spoke gently, as if she was persuading Yin Ruizhu, or also as if she was convincing herself.
The person in front of her didn't move for a long time. Just when Nan Xu thought Yin Ruizhu didn't want to talk, she reached out and patted Nan Xu in response.
"Ah Xu." Her voice was still a little muffled, but Nan Xu could hear some of her former spirit. "I want to escape the marriage."
*
When Madam Li arrived at Tianxiang Tower, it was already late.
Candles were lit everywhere in the building, and the shopkeeper personally led Madam Li up to the second floor.
When they reached a secluded private room, Liu Hui greeted her at the door, "Madam, please come in."
Madam Li looked at Liu Hui a few times, feeling somewhat suspicious. "Is Madam Bo in there? Why didn't Yuxiang come to greet me?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Hui did not change his gesture of inviting her in. He smiled and replied, "My uncle was worried about Madam coming alone, so he asked me to accompany her."
What are you talking about? She's not a monster, can she eat Nanxu?
Mrs. Li felt a little unhappy, but thinking about the purpose of her trip, she had to put away her unnecessary expression, put on a decent smile and walked in.
The inside of the house is a different world than the outside.
A huge screen stood across the center of the room, and under the flickering candlelight, only the silhouette of a woman could be vaguely seen on the other side of the screen.
Mrs. Li frowned and was about to approach when she heard a woman's voice from inside.
"I specially ordered the tea that Madam likes to drink. Madam, please try it."
There was indeed a chair and a desk placed on the right side of the screen, and on the desk was steaming tea that had just been served.
Are you asking her to sit there?
Talk to her through the screen?
Mrs. Li's brows were furrowed so tightly that they could pinch a fly to death.
It had only been a few days since she got married, and she no longer called herself aunt. Whenever she met her, someone from the uncle's house had to watch over her. Even if they wanted to have a serious conversation, they had to do it through the screen. No matter how well-educated Madam Li was, she couldn't stand it.
She sat down with a sneer and said sarcastically, "I didn't see it before. I thought you were just a little arrogant and conceited. It turns out you are just like those vulgar people who flatter the powerful and fawn on the inferior. You don't have the slightest bit of the upbringing of a marquis. It's a pity that your aunt, Concubine Yu'an, went to so much trouble..."
"Ma'am, have some tea."
A female voice interrupted her endless lecture. Mrs. Li choked and angrily threw the handkerchief in her hand on the table, and the things inside made a clear crisp sound.
The person on the other side of the screen didn't say anything else, and seemed to be waiting patiently for her to speak.
Madam Li looked at the blood-stained broken jade and said stiffly to the person behind the screen as if she had made some kind of resolution: "Nan Xu, Auntie asked you out today, not for anything else, but for Ah Zhan."
She finished her words in one breath and waited for the reaction of the person inside. Seeing a long silence, she gritted her teeth and continued, "Auntie, please think of a way to stop A Zhan's thoughts and let him go!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a very faint sneer from inside. It didn't sound like a female voice. Mrs. Li looked inside and only saw the thin female figure. She thought she had heard it wrong.
The female voice asked back, "How do you want me to let him go, Madam?"
Madam Li didn't expect her to give in so easily, and hurriedly said, "That's easy. I'll take you back to the palace to meet him. You can tell him that you've never loved him, nor have you ever taken him seriously. Everything you did before was just his wishful thinking. Then you can persuade him to return to the princess's palace as soon as possible to apologize to the princess."
At this point, Madam Li's tone softened. "Good Ah Xu, consider this a favor from your aunt. Your uncle Li has been sent back to the capital without being recalled. He has not returned since entering the palace, and I don't know how he is doing in the palace. If you can persuade Ah Zhan to change his mind and have the princess go to His Majesty to plead for mercy, the Li family will surely be able to turn this crisis into a blessing. Then, I will agree to anything you ask me to do."
There was another long silence. Mrs. Li was getting anxious waiting and called out, "Ah Xu?"
"Madam, do you think I can explain Li Zhan clearly in just a few words? He and I have been together for nearly ten years. If I could have figured it out, I would have figured it out long ago. Why wait until now? Is it that Madam doesn't understand her son well enough, or is it that Madam has underestimated her son?"
Mrs. Li clenched her clasped hands tightly and managed to hold back the scolding that was about to come out of her mouth.
She is the elder after all. How can a junior lecture an elder like this?
Taking a sip of the tea on the table, she slowly said, "It's not completely without effect. Before you married into the Bo Mansion, you asked A-Zhan to meet you outside Guanghua Tower. That night, you even begged him why he treated you like that. You also returned the token of your love. That's why A-Zhan was able to marry the princess peacefully and become her husband."
She actually became a little proud as she spoke, "Ah Xu, I just asked you to persuade him one more time, what difference does it make? Ah Zhan will always listen to you to some extent."
As she spoke, she stood up, picked up the broken jade on the table, and walked slowly around the screen, muttering, "Even if you don't consider your aunt's feelings, you have to consider the kindness of A-Zhan who carved the jade for you with his own hands. When have his hands ever done any carving work? Ah! You, you, who are you!"
There was no Nan Xu behind the dimly lit screen, but a strange woman in black sitting there.
The woman looked at her coldly, then stood up, turned around and called inside, "Master, she's coming in."
Master!
Almost at the moment she reacted, a secret door opened in the innermost wall and Duan Wenpei strode out.
Looking at the man's handsome and profound face, Mrs. Li fell to the ground.
"Wei... Yang Bo——"
Duan Wenpei smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes. "So, before my wife got married, she had this incident with the young master."
He walked closer and picked up the broken jade that had slipped from Madam Li's hand. Looking at the vaguely discernible words "enduring affection", he pursed his lips slightly and exerted force with his hand. In an instant, the broken jade turned into powder through the brocade handkerchief.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: I am saving the manuscript and will update it again in mid to late June.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
