Li Zhenchun lifted the hem of her light yellow dress and quickly ran into the back garden.
Under an osmanthus tree stood Yue Jingque. She wore a dark green robe over a plain white inner dress. Standing there, she looked as elegant and upright as a green bamboo stalk.
Beside her, Wei Xinian looked even more sloppy and carefree.
Wei Xinian pointed at a large stone weight under the tree.
“This stone weight has been here since the Wei family first built this estate. It weighs over two hundred jin. Today I’ll show you what a real man’s strength looks like!”
Li Zhenchun walked over and quietly asked a nearby maid,
“What’s going on?”
The maid bowed before answering,
“Today the Second Young Madam forced the Second Young Master to study. He refused. He challenged her to a bet. If he can lift this stone weight, she can never force him to study again.”
Li Zhenchun looked toward Yue Jingque.
“And she agreed?”
“I’m not sure,” the maid replied.
Li Zhenchun didn’t believe Yue Jingque would agree to such an unreasonable bet.
Since Wei Xinian had suggested it himself, he must have been confident he could do it.
Only a fool would accept such a wager.
Yue Jingque noticed Li Zhenchun from the corner of her eye.
“Sister-in-law.”
After eating Yue Jingque’s pastries the night before, Li Zhenchun felt embarrassed pretending she hadn’t heard her.
Since she was so easy to win over with food, she walked over and stood beside Yue Jingque.
“Do you think he can lift it?”
She deliberately lowered her voice, but Wei Xinian still heard her.
“What kind of question is that?” he scoffed. “I’m from a military family. Of course I have plenty of strength!”
Li Zhenchun looked him up and down.
His arms and legs were so thin.
Everyone in the capital knew that the Wei family’s military glory belonged to the past. The family had already declined. Besides Wei Nancheng, the women now managed the household.
She was willing to bet that Wei Xinian had never been on a battlefield.
He probably hadn’t even ridden a warhorse.
Wei Xinian grabbed the stone weight with both hands and was just about to lift it when he noticed something.
He touched the handle and suddenly shouted,
“Who? Who smeared oil on this?”
He stood up and spread out his hands.
His palms were covered in oil.
He glared at the maids around him.
“Was it you? Or you? Was it one of you?”
Then something occurred to him.
He pointed at Yue Jingque.
“It must have been you! You didn’t want me to win, so you put oil on it! You’re shameless!”
Li Zhenchun couldn’t watch anymore.
It was obvious Yue Jingque hadn’t done it.
Was his brain filled with mud?
“Can you use your brain for once?” she said. “If she had done it herself, she wouldn’t still be standing here.”
No noble young lady from a powerful family would use such an obvious trick.
Doing so would only make Wei Xinian dislike her even more.
Since Yue Jingque wanted him to study, she wouldn’t deliberately make him hate her.
“This has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it.”
Wei Xinian lifted his chin proudly and looked at Yue Jingque.
“Don’t think I’ll obediently listen to you just because I can’t lift the stone weight. The men of the Wei family stand tall under heaven. We will never let a woman control us!”
“What nonsense are you talking about, brat!”
The Second Madam suddenly appeared from nowhere and slapped Wei Xinian across the face.
“The oil was put there by me! Stop blaming Jingque!”
“If you still refuse to listen to her and go back to study today, then don’t call me your mother anymore!”
“Fine! Then I won’t!”
Wei Xinian covered his face.
“You didn’t think of me as your son yesterday when you beat me anyway!”
“Good!”
Second Madam turned toward two female guards.
“Qingxuan! Zhuque! Go with the Second Young Master to his room. Pack two sets of his worst clothes and throw him out of the Wei family!”
Then she turned to Yue Jingque with an apologetic expression.
“Jingque, you’ve suffered. You just married into the Wei family, and now you’ll become a widow while your husband is still alive.”
“But don’t worry. Mother has money. When you remarry in the future, I’ll find you someone even better.”
“The wind is strong here. Let’s go back to the courtyard.”
As she held Yue Jingque’s hand, she turned toward Li Zhenchun.
“Dalang’s wife, come with us too. I had the servants roast some venison. Come eat with us.”
Li Zhenchun had been about to refuse.
But the moment she heard the word venison, her eyes lit up.
She happily followed behind.
“Thank you, Second Aunt.”
“No need to thank me. We’re all family.”
Wei Xinian stood there in shock as he watched the three women leave, followed by a crowd of maids and servants.
They’re all family… then what am I?
Was I picked up off the street?
“Wait! Mother, persuade me a little more!”
he shouted.
“I really know I was wrong! Just persuade me one more time! If you do, I’ll go back!”
He wasn’t stupid.
If he were truly thrown out, he’d have to live like a beggar.
Not only would he sleep outdoors and struggle for food, but his useless friends would laugh at and bully him.
“Mother! Come back! Don’t leave!”
He tried to chase after them, but Qingxuan and Zhuque blocked his way.
“Second Young Master, Madam ordered you to return and pack your clothes.”
“Move aside! Can’t I even see my own mother?”
He smoothly slipped around the two female guards and hurried after the others.
Catching up, he grabbed his mother’s sleeve.
“Mother, I was wrong. Didn’t you already slap me just now? Doesn’t that make us even?”
Actually, it didn’t.
If anyone had suffered more, it was him.
He had been beaten, forced to spend the night in the ancestral hall, and had just been slapped again.
No matter how he counted it, he was the one who lost.
Fang Rushi ignored him.
Walking beside Yue Jingque, Li Zhenchun turned around, looked at the clingy Wei Xinian, and stuck out her tongue at him.
Serves you right for tearing up my copied scriptures last night.
Now you’re the one begging.
Wei Xinian gritted his teeth.
He pointed at Li Zhenchun and made a throat-slitting gesture.
The childish exchange didn’t escape Yue Jingque’s notice.
She quietly looked away.
In the end, those two really were a perfectly matched couple.
…
A barbecue grill had been set up in the middle of Second Madam’s courtyard.
Li Zhenchun hurried over, squatted down, and stared eagerly at the roasting venison.
Wei Xinian followed behind her.
“Country bumpkin, you’ve never seen anything like this before, have you?”
“This grill was made by craftsmen from the imperial palace. The venison comes from a deer raised in the royal hunting grounds.”
“Someone from a small merchant family like you probably doesn’t even know what venison tastes like.”
Still squatting, Li Zhenchun looked up at him with narrowed eyes.
Then she suddenly stood up.
Before Wei Xinian could react—
Bang!
She slammed the top of her head straight into his chin.
“Oww!”
Wei Xinian clutched his jaw, his face twisting in pain.
“Ah!”
Li Zhenchun also grabbed her head.
Tears immediately filled her eyes from the pain.
The maids nearby couldn’t help laughing.
Second Madam, who was slicing the roasted meat, shook her head with disgust.
“The wife Dalang married is just as foolish as Erlang.”
She turned toward the osmanthus tree.
Yue Jingque sat there quietly drinking tea.
This daughter-in-law is much more reassuring.
At least she can keep Erlang under control.
Standing behind Yue Jingque, Nanzhi quietly asked,
“Young Madam, shouldn’t you stop them?”
“It’s not proper for a younger brother-in-law and his sister-in-law to be so close, whether in an ordinary family or a noble one.”
“Let them be,” Yue Jingque replied.
She picked up the teapot and poured herself another cup.
The fragrance of fresh tea drifted through the air, mixing with the rich smell of roasted venison.
Like the waters of the Jing and Wei Rivers flowing together, one strong and one light, the scents blended into a perfect balance.