Chapter 16
(31) Newly Married (I)
"The water is far away, the wind is blowing, there is always a spring breeze to dispel the winter cold; one step of cold, one step of spring, peach blossoms fall from the branches in March."
"Who wrote this poem?" The young marquis once asked me with a smile when we were in the marquis's mansion.
"I just made this up." I rolled my eyes and said to him, "Young Marquis, you are truly an illiterate Marquis."
I remember that was how I mocked him at that time, but the young marquis was not angry when he heard what I said.
"Thirteen, you are really a person who is hard to understand." I remember the young marquis once said this to me.
In fact, I am the same. I have never been able to figure out the young marquis's thoughts.
I sat in the quiet room in a daze.
I touched the wound under the veil and it still hurt a little.
After a while, I lifted up my red veil myself.
I was the only one in the room, so I stood up and walked around, taking in this strange yet festive room.
It seems that King Pingnan is not joking with me.
He is different from the young marquis.
I don't like to mess around with others.
As I thought about this, I held up my skirt and lay down at the door, peeking out.
Suddenly, a hand pressed my head from behind.
"Shang Shisan, are you planning to run away again?" I turned around and saw Wei Zhen with a happy face.
"Do you know how proud your uncle Su Cen is that the young marquis you love has married your sister?" Wei Zhen smiled and withdrew his hand. He said to me, "Your mother is having a hard time in Baihua City. She's on the verge of losing her position as city lord. Of course you can run away, just like you have done so many times before. You can run away again and again if you don't care about your father and mother's situation at all."
Seeing that I didn't say anything, Wei Zhen continued, "Do you think I'm forcing you to marry me? I'm sacrificing myself to save your family, okay?"
I looked at Wei Zhen's face and continued in silence.
Seeing that I didn't say anything, Wei Zhen reached out and snapped his fingers.
A man came into the room and knelt on the ground.
"I congratulate the Prince of Pingnan and the Queen on their wedding." Sansong said this to me while kneeling on the ground.
Wei Zhen stood beside me, pinching her waist and said to me, "Madam, do you feel relieved by this?"
But, I am not happy at all.
After Sansong left, I asked Wei Zhen, "Why did you marry me? My family is actually powerless..."
Wei Zhen was still smiling happily.
"Of course it's to piss off Gu Shaolian. Besides, I just said you're my Princess Pingnan, I never said the Prince of Pingnan can only have one Princess. I can marry whoever I want."
I murmured to myself in frustration, "Young Marquis doesn't like me, you married me for nothing..."
Wei Zhen sat at the round table in the room, drinking by himself. "Everyone in the world knows that the young Marquis Gu Shaolian traveled thousands of miles to marry the daughter of the Lord of Baihua City, but unfortunately he couldn't marry her."
Wei Zhen smiled and glanced at me, "Because Baihuacheng is not yours at all, Gu Shaolian's move is a complete failure."
"The young marquis didn't ask to marry me..." I wiped my tears and said, "Don't talk nonsense, I have a crush on him."
After a while, Wei Zhen was dragged away to drink again.
I sat at my dressing table, bored, taking off the heavy and cumbersome headdress on my head.
The door was suddenly kicked open.
I thought Wei Zhen was drunk and was dragged back.
When he turned around, he saw the young marquis standing behind him.
At this moment, his face and eyes were red.
We both looked at each other quietly, no one spoke.
The festive room fell into dead silence for a moment.
(32) Newly Married (Part 2)
My wet nurse in Baihua City had no name until the day she was beaten to death by Su Cen.
Everyone just called her Mrs. Qiu Bai.
She was a sensible woman who had been honest all her life. She had been trying hard to protect me even when she was declared dead for protecting me.
In other words, she has never caused any trouble for our family in her life, but she has always been forced to clean up my mess.
She has been trying hard to use her not-so-strong arms to protect me, a naughty and trouble-making person, behind her.
Because she had no power to protect others, she could only kneel down in front of others again and again to apologize on my behalf.
Or he would hold me in his arms and use his thin body to block the vines that were meant to fall on me.
As I was growing up, my wet nurse largely made up for the emotional needs that were missing because my mother was busy managing Baihua City.
When the wet nurse was brought to me, I was just a baby in swaddling clothes.
And she had just lost her child.
A bereaved mother came across a baby in swaddling clothes who needed care.
So I became half a child to my wet nurse.
But, as a little baby, I can always ask someone to beat up my half-mother-in-law whenever I’m in a bad mood.
Of course, this is only possible in theory.
After all, the entire Baihua City knows that I was raised by my wet nurse.
The entire Baihua City also knows that my family has no military power and we are just a paper-made city lord.
When my wet nurse was alive, her biggest wish was to get me married.
"When our thirteenth daughter gets married and finds someone to rely on, I'll feel at ease." I remember that day when I was lying on my wet nurse's knees and she said this to me while she used her arms, which were covered with scabby marks from cane whips, to gently fan me with a palm-leaf fan and swat away mosquitoes.
I don't know why my wet nurse started looking forward to getting me married when I was very young.
"Thirteen, you are so naughty that you will never get married."
"Thirteen, you can't play outside all day like a boy. If you do, you won't be able to get married."
"Thirteen, Thirteen, grow up quickly. When you grow up you can get married and find a good family..."
When I was fifteen, my wet nurse secretly combed my hair into a lady's hairstyle.
"When you get married and become a lady, our Thirteen will become like this." I was sitting in front of the dressing table, looking up sideways, and saw that the wet nurse's face was full of expectations for the future. She smiled even happier than me.
"Thirteen, when you grow up and meet someone you like, remember to hold on to them. Happiness is something you have to fight for yourself..."
Later, the story spiraled out of control.
So much so that when I later recalled that time, I only felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
Suddenly, I recalled the nursery rhymes my wet nurse sang to me to sleep when I was a child.
"Bamboo dragonfly, fly and fly, fly into my daughter's dream, my daughter, grow up quickly..."
I softly sang the nursery rhyme that had carried me to sleep countless times in my childhood, and which had been taboo to me for many years after my wet nurse's death.
Because it reminds me of the day my wet nurse died tragically.
I recalled the scene when my aunt successfully framed the wet nurse and saw me crying heartbreakingly, and she covered her mouth and laughed secretly. I recalled the wet nurse's broken and cold body, and I recalled the indifferent look on my mother's face when she learned of the wet nurse's death.
My mother's indifference was the direct reason why I left Baihua City.
I couldn't stand it. After learning that my wet nurse, who was like half a mother to me, was murdered by a villain in order to protect me, my mother was so indifferent.
She didn't mention a word about asking me to avenge her wet nurse. She just told me indifferently, "This is reality, Thirteen. You have to accept that everyone will eventually leave you. Don't be willful. You have to learn to accept this reality."
I remember that day, I cried and asked my mother, "What is reality? What reality do you want me to accept?"
"The reality is that the dead cannot be resurrected. Even if you kill your aunt, your wet nurse will never come back. She's just a servant. Forget it, Thirteen."
That day, my face was swollen from crying. I lay on the window of my wet nurse's empty room, looking at the peach blossoms falling in the yard. For the first time, I felt a little confused about the future.
I thought of Sansong and wanted to go to Sansong.
So I rode my horse for three days and found myself at the Sansong Gate, and happened to see him marrying his bride.
"The peach blossoms have fallen, and the pavilion is deserted. Although the oath of love remains, it is difficult to entrust a letter."
Once again, I froze in my tracks, mumbling to myself.
Now, I really don’t know where I’m going.
Overnight, I realized that the world was so big that there was no place for me to stand.
I led my horse and walked in a daze for several days.
It wasn't until I saw Yunniang's recruitment notice that I stepped into her yard with the idea of giving it a try.
But now, I am really married, wet nurse, but you can't see it anymore.
As I was taking off the very intricate and complicated bridal headdress on my head, my heart kept uncontrollably recalling my childhood.
I turned around and saw the door swinging, and the young marquis was standing behind it.
He held a sharp sword in his hand.
I turned back to the mirror and continued to dismantle the messy headdress on my head.
"Thirteen, come on, I'll take you away from here." The young marquis said to me while standing behind me.
I looked at the young marquis's face through the mirror.
He looked flushed, probably from drinking some wine.
Unlike his usual carefree look, he looked a little painful at this moment.
"Young Marquis, you can't just barge into someone else's bridal chamber." I said to him in a flat voice.
The young marquis gave a bitter grin.
"Wei Zhen doesn't really want to marry you. Look at all the ridiculous things he and his son have done. If he really wanted to marry you, he wouldn't have tied you up, nor would he have deliberately married you here. He's clearly trying to sabotage it... He just wants to be at odds with me... Thirteen, there's no need to risk your life for someone like him. Come on, I'll take you away from here."
I suddenly felt that my life was very sad.
That familiar feeling of sadness began to bubble up from the bottom of my heart again.
I slammed the comb down on the dressing table, turned around, and glared at the young marquis.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked.
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