Chapter 11: Fleeing the Marriage

Chapter 11: Escaping the Marriage

The Hu family's main gate stood open. Madam Wang arranged the lodgings with a disagreeable tone.

Master Xu and Little Madam Xu's two brothers were squeezed into the kitchen, making beds on the floor.

She was unwilling to associate with poor relatives, so she had Madam Xu and the Xu family daughters-in-law take the sons to stay in Little Madam Xu's room.

"There's only Erlang's room empty in the house, but it contains precious things like brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Aside from cleaning, I rarely set foot inside. It's inconvenient for the in-laws to stay there; they'll have to make do."

The Xu family's padded jackets were all patched. The children were filthy, running wild in the Hu courtyard, pinned down and cleaned up by the Xu family's eldest daughter-in-law.

Master Xu sat on the steps, his spine severely bent.

"Of course, of course."

Resentment flickered in Madam Xu's eyes.

So what if you have a scholar for a son!

But she didn't dare offend them, so she smiled awkwardly: "We're all country mud-legs, big and clumsy with no sense of propriety. What would we do if we dirtied or broke something?"

"Before coming, I told the kids too—your Uncle Hu is a future Xiucai, a man of boundless prospects."

These were endless flatteries, and they smoothed Madam Wang's temper. She lifted her chin arrogantly, the disdain in her eyes impossible to hide.

Yu Tingwan entered the courtyard at this moment. Her ink-black hair was disheveled, her clothes torn with several gashes from thorns.

Everyone's gaze turned toward her. Among them, the dark-skinned man's eyes lit up.

"Cousin Yu, what happened to you? Need a hand?"

Yu Tingwan frowned, dodging the hand he reached out.

This was the Xu family's second brother, the most smooth-tongued and slippery.

The Xu family couldn't afford a bride price for him, so he went around teasing girls.

Last year, he even came to propose marriage and was chased out with a broom by Hu Dazhu.

Yu Tingwan slowly raised her eyes, a flash of disgust crossing them.

"Move."

Xu Fen's smile didn't falter: "Haven't seen you in a while. Asked around and heard you went gathering firewood. Look at you, frozen like this, hands chapped red—I'm just heartbroken."

The little girl was beautiful, skin fair and delicate as porcelain. She had grown quite a bit more. Xu Fen's eyes nearly popped out staring.

He knew the Hu family looked down on him. So what?

Now that he could stay here, even if he couldn't marry Yu Tingwan, touching a little hand, stealing a little kiss would be enough.

Yet Yu Tingwan avoided him like a snake or scorpion.

Yu Tingwan sneered coldly. Her memories from her past life were fragmented, few and incomplete; she didn't know Xu Fen's ending.

But a dissolute man like Xu Fen, who privately hooked up with widows, would capsize sooner or later.

Yu Tingwan drawled: "You look rather unlucky to me."

!!!

Little Madam Xu:!!!

How is it this sentence again?

She's traumatized by it!

Seeing Xu Fen still shamelessly leaning toward Yu Tingwan, she feared her second brother would cause another incident and hurriedly pulled him back.

"Cousin Wan must be tired too, anxious to go back and rest. Second Brother, whatever you have to say can wait."

She had learned her lesson.

Yu Tingwan's gaze swept over everyone in the courtyard, finally pausing briefly on the noisy Xu family boys, before returning to her room.

The instant the door shut, she heard Madam Xu's complaining.

"This Wan girl's temper is getting worse and worse. My second son was just being kind."

Would Madam Wang believe that? But she couldn't be bothered to expose it.

Yu Tingwan didn't care either. With the door closed, she brushed the snow off herself and hid the remaining six wen coins away.

Only then did she tend to her wounds.

Not serious, just abrasions, a bit of bleeding.

These past few days she had rushed about, but ultimately, as a woman, her energy was limited. In her current state, she probably couldn't go out much anymore. Firewood had to be rationed.

The room was damp and cold. She hadn't wanted to burn firewood. Her hands were already numb with cold. She took off her insufficient padded jacket, climbed onto the kang, and pulled the thin quilt over herself.

But it was still cold.

She layered a few more clean garments over herself, then dug out some ointment and applied it evenly on her hands.

A soothing, cool sensation relieved the itch.

She was utterly exhausted, her eyelids growing heavier. In her drowsiness, fragmented memories floated before her eyes.

Only the sound of gongs and drums shaking the sky, firecrackers incessant.

Passersby near the Dong family residence in the county town all stopped to watch.

A crowd gathered, talking.

"Old Master Dong is old in body but not in heart. His first wife's bones aren't even cold, and he's already remarried."

"It was Matchmaker Liu who arranged it. Don't know which family's daughter. The Dong and Liu families are tight-lipped as thieves; not a shred of info has leaked out."

"Hey, heard the news? That niece of the Hu family disappeared."

Someone inquired.

"Which Hu family?"

"The one whose youngest son studies in our town, the one who always scores top. Heard he couldn't go home for the New Year, and Master Chu even invited him to his home for the reunion dinner."

Someone sighed.

"I'm from the neighboring village, heard it too. After the New Year, the road back from the town and county just cleared. Hu Dazhu carried big and small bundles home, only to learn his niece was missing. He treasured that niece more than his own eyeballs, flew into a huge rage over it."

"Now everyone in Xilin Village is helping search, but not a single clue. Privately, they all say she probably went up the deep mountains and was eaten by wild beasts."

Someone's eyes shifted.

"Wait, I smell something fishy. You think it's too much of a coincidence—that the Dong family's new bride is actually..."

The words weren't finished before being cut off.

"Impossible. Madam Wang wouldn't dare."

"If Hu Dazhu found out, wouldn't he beat her to death?"

"Besides, there's a scholar in the family. If she did such a thing, she'd ruin her son's reputation and cut off his future."

"She can't be that muddle-headed."

Outside, the discussion was heated, but inside the Dong family's inner courtyard, chaos reigned.

The bride ran away.

Yu Tingwan had never been to the county town; everything around her was unfamiliar. She could only rush forward blindly in a panic.

She was terrified.

Helpless and fearful.

But no one saved her.

Unlike the Dong family's lanterns and decorations, another street was hung with white silk from every household.

This was the route General Wei Zhao's coffin must take on its return to the capital.

The road was cleared. Under the intense grief, the commoners on both sides covered their faces and wept.

These commoners had followed the funeral procession all the way from the border. They had seen it off stage by stage, their shoe soles worn through.

All under heaven belongs to the king.

The people revere the Emperor sitting on the dragon throne in the capital.

But with constant war on the borders year-round, in the people's eyes, only the Wei Family Army protected them.

Their lives were won by Wei Zhao risking his life in battle.

The Wei Family Army soldiers all wore plain clothes, white sashes around their waists. Carrying the coffin, grief-stricken, they advanced numbly.

"Stop! Don't run!"

"Persuade the new young mistress not to anger the Old Master! You'll be the one suffering in the end."

"Country bumpkins just have no manners!"

Those chasing Yu Tingwan were the Dong family servants.

Tears in the corners of her eyes, she ran with all her might toward the crowds, not daring to stop, treating those behind her as flood and beast.

Paper money swirled in the air. This street was plastered with mourning couplets, hung with mourning banners.

Sorrowful mourning everywhere.

Until... a splash of vivid red stumbled desperately out of the despair.

"Help me."