In the first year after they married in her previous life, she and Song Yanzhou returned to Pi County. Song Yanzhou’s second paternal cousin, Song Yanhuai, had broken his hand. When he saw them, he was so frightened that he could barely speak, and the Song family dragged him away. Liaoyi
Wen Yunwan’s uneasy conscience finally relaxed.
She looked at her parents again and asked cautiously, “Father, Mother, if someone appeared in the future who looked very much like me, would you forget me?”
After all, the fact that Wen Yunwan had been living inside a novel still haunted her. The thought of her family treating a pursuer as their own daughter made her feel uncomfortable all over.
Madam Lin gave her a strange look. “What nonsense are you talking about, child?”
But Wen Yunwan refused to let it go. She stubbornly demanded an answer. “Tell me, tell me! If I died, and then—”
“Enough!”
It was Wen Zhiyuan who interrupted her.
“You’re still so young. Stop talking about dying all the time.”
Madam Lin calmly took her hand. “I have only one son and one daughter. My daughter is the child I risked my life to give birth to. No one can replace her.”
The warm touch of her mother’s palm seeped through the back of her hand, and Wen Yunwan’s uneasy heart finally settled.
After returning home, Wen Yunwan was in such a good mood that she happily prepared to take a bath and sleep soundly.
Dongzhi helped her undress and bathe. She had just taken away the crimson gauze dress and stepped outside the screen when a silver ingot rolled onto the floor.
“Huh?”
Dongzhi picked it up. “Miss, you dropped some silver.”
Wen Yunwan was bathing behind the screen and answered lazily, “I don’t carry silver when I go out.”
She found it troublesome. Dongzhi had always carried her money for her.
“It seems to be the ten taels you gave Jieyuan Song. It must have fallen out of your sleeve.”
Wen Yunwan: …
When had he slipped it in there? How had she not noticed?
Fine. It seemed she had once again trampled all over that fragile young man’s pride. Liaoyi
But with the crisis over, Wen Yunwan could not be bothered to think about it. After bathing, she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.
Song Yanzhou returned to the small courtyard.
A brand-new chair had been placed in the yard. The stove, which had been extinguished before he left, had been lit again, and the jar atop it gave off the fragrance of rice.
The lid was scalding hot, yet he opened it with his bare hand as if he could not feel the heat. Inside, thick white porridge bubbled and steamed.
“Little Song, you’re back?”
The landlady Granny’s voice came from the courtyard gate. Song Yanzhou turned and replied, “Granny.”
“After you and that young lady left, someone came over and set down the chair, saying it was compensation for you. I was worried someone might steal it, so I opened the gate and let him put it inside. That person cooked the porridge too.”
As she spoke, Granny looked at him worriedly. “Little Song, the people who came looking for you this afternoon—”
“The Song family have been imprisoned.”
Song Yanzhou briefly stated the outcome.
Granny gave two quick replies. “That’s good, then. As long as everything’s all right. Get some rest early.”
The gate to the small courtyard closed again.
Song Yanzhou put out the fire and did not drink the porridge.
He went inside and took a box from a secret compartment he had designed himself. When he opened it, it contained the reward money he had received that day, along with the bits and pieces he had saved from copying books over the years. Together, they came to exactly fifty taels. Liaoyi
It was common knowledge that a jieyuan received reward money.
Once the Song family learned that he had received it, they would certainly come demanding money.
He had deliberately taken the long way around East Street precisely to lure the Song family into attacking him and have them sent to prison.
False accusations, forged IOUs, and bullying children were enough to prevent the Song family from producing a scholar for at least two generations.
That was what the laws of Tianqi decreed.
If a poor commoner suffered such a calamity, no one might pay attention.
But if a jieyuan suffered such a misfortune, the local authorities would take it extremely seriously.
That was why, even after learning the truth, he had continued to endure it for so many years.
He had possessed the evidence long ago, but he wanted more than just money. He also wanted to cut off the Song family’s path to official careers, along with those of their descendants.
When his parents had died, the Song family had immediately divided up his family’s house and produced an IOU.
“Your father owed the gambling den three hundred taels. Your eldest and second uncles paid it off for you. Pay us back slowly.”
In truth, his father had owed the gambling den only one hundred taels.
Every time he repaid money, he had the Song family sign their names as proof. They assumed he did not know the truth and signed readily enough. In reality, he had kept meticulous accounts and had obtained evidence long ago that the gambling den had forged the IOU.
With these preparations in place, he would not lose the fifty taels he had here. He would also recover another one hundred and seventy taels from the Song family. The worst that could happen was that the matter might delay his metropolitan examination in the second month of the following year.
But he had not expected everything to be resolved so easily today.
He had lost nothing.
For an ordinary household, ten taels of silver was enough to cover a year’s expenses.
Two hundred and twenty taels still were not enough.
Song Yanzhou looked at the money for a while, then returned the box to its original place and reset the mechanism. Liaoyi
He went back out into the courtyard and looked at the jar.
The white porridge was still warm. It should have been just right to drink now.
His slender hand lifted the jar, and he calmly poured the white porridge inside into the slop bucket.
He did not need anyone’s pity—not even a bowl of white porridge.
It was the second day after her rebirth.
The weather was clear.
Her mood was excellent.
Wen Yunwan got up unusually early, giving Dongzhi quite a fright. Liaoyi
After breakfast, she began wandering aimlessly around the residence again.
One moment she was feeding the fish; the next she was admiring the potted plants. In short, everything she looked at seemed fresh and fascinating.
Dongzhi followed behind her, utterly baffled. She did not understand, but she respected it.
The young lady naturally had her reasons for doing this.
Wen Yunwan was so delighted that she began humming a little tune.
They had never been ghosts, so they did not know how miserable it was to be one.
You could not feel warmth or smell the fragrance of flowers, and nothing you looked at held any interest.
Being alive was still the best!
But this good mood was quickly shattered.
“Second Young Miss, Madam asks you to go to the front hall.”
One of the nannies by Madam Lin’s side smiled as she spoke.
Wen Yunwan was still as carefree as ever. “What is it?”
“Madam Zhou has arrived, and she brought Young Master Zhou and Miss Zhou with her.”
Madam Zhou?
Wen Yunwan’s thoughts turned, and she remembered who that was.
Madam An was her mother’s close friend.
In her previous life, before Song Yanzhou married her, she had nearly been betrothed to Madam An’s son, Zhou Huai’an. Later, for some unknown reason, Madam An had come to their home in person and said that the engagement was canceled. She said that she would accept whatever scolding or beating Wen Yunwan and her mother gave her, yet when her mother asked why, Madam An stubbornly refused to explain.
Later, her mother sent someone to investigate and learned that Zhou Huai’an had been carrying on with a young woman outside, and that woman had already given birth to their child. They had merely been waiting for Wen Yunwan to marry into the family so they could manipulate her and register the child under her name.
After all, Wen Yunwan had rather liked Zhou Huai’an’s face, and she had always hidden her spoiled nature in front of the Zhou family.
She had been gentle and obedient, like a porcelain doll.
But now, she no longer wanted to pretend.