“Please, dear in-law, do not be so angry. The truth of the matter is this…”
Wang Hua recounted the entire affair carefully, looking to the Fang family with hopeful eyes, praying they might understand that she and Xu Qingzhou had been victims as well.
Instead, Liu Bailan waved her away sharply, her face dark with fury as she pulled Fang Yao down to sit beside her.
Her tone was unyielding and cold. “Our daughter is the treasure of this house she is not unwanted! If Xu Manjiang could not tell his own bride apart, then you ought to have sent Fang Yao straight back to us! You exchanged her without so much as a word what sort of thing do you take my daughter for? She is not pork laid out for the New Year, to be picked over as your family pleases!”
Wang Hua stood chastened, her cheeks burning red. As a mother herself, she understood Liu Bailan’s anguish and realized too late how rashly the marriage had been arranged. She bowed her head in genuine remorse.
“Truly, the fault is mine. I ought never to have settled matters in such haste. I should have sent Yao Yao home, and then let Qingzhou come formally to seek her hand anew. Dear in-law, I ask your forgiveness sincerely, and before all of you.” Wang Hua then drew Xu Qingzhou forward, and together they bowed respectfully before Liu Bailan and every member of the Fang family.
“Mother!” Fang Yao tugged at Liu Bailan’s sleeve, seeing how humbly Wang Hua and Xu Qingzhou stood before them.
She understood her mother was hurting on her behalf unable to call Xu Manjiang to account, she had turned all her anger upon Wang Hua and her son. But Fang Yao had given her consent freely; she must speak up in fairness.
“The Xu family forced nothing upon me. I chose to marry Qingzhou of my own will. And I have already demanded compensation from Xu Manjiang.”
“Hold your tongue! You have no say in this!” Liu Bailan’s expression, far from softening, grew harder and colder still.
Fang Yao had never seen her mother so enraged. She fell silent and stood aside.
Liu Bailan looked again at Wang Hua and her son standing humbly upon the floor, and spoke with iron resolve. “Go home. I do not recognize this marriage. Take your gifts with you. My daughter may remain unwed all her days but she shall never be treated so cheaply by your family!”
Wang Hua’s composure faltered. “Surely, dear in-law… you cannot mean this!”
Xu Qingzhou steadied his mother’s arm and stepped forward. From the moment he had entered, he had stood quiet and respectful, never interrupting his elders. But he knew that if he remained silent now, he would lose his wife before their life together had even truly begun.
“Mother forgive my speaking plainly. I, Xu Qingzhou, am a man who stands by his word. Having chosen Fang Yao as my wife, I shall stand beside her all my days. The reason I did not send her home that morning was this: she had already entered my bridal chamber, and we had performed the marriage rites before witnesses. To deny that bond is impossible. Yet let me give you my solemn pledge: though we dwell beneath one roof, I respect her will. I have not forced myself upon her. We take this time to know one another, honourably, as husband and wife should.”
Xu Qingzhou stood tall in his army uniform, his bearing dignified and sincere. Even his own mother stood stunned, speechless at the gravity of his words.
Liu Bailan, meanwhile, stood utterly bewildered. It took long moments for the title to sink in ‘Mother’ and when it did, it prickled down her spine like cold water.
“Who are you calling ‘Mother’?” she snapped instinctively. “I have told you plainly I do not sanction this union! I am not your mother!”
“Mother…” Fang Yao could not bear to see matters worsen further. She had to speak up once more. “Qingzhou and I have already submitted our marriage application to his command. A military marriage cannot be revoked.”
Liu Bailan gritted her teeth in fury and pinched Fang Yao’s arm hard.
“I told you to be silent!”
Fang Yao clutched her stinging arm and looked to the rest of her family for help.
Her father, Fang Daguo, was known far and wide as a man who dared not cross his wife. He pressed his lips tight and said nothing.
Fang Bin, however, glanced from the fine gifts to his sister, and grinned. “Mother look at our new brother-in-law! Fine height, fine bearing what has Xu Manjiang ever had to compare? Our sister has said with her own lips that she wishes this match. Why fight her choice?”
He nudged his elder brother Fang Tong sharply with his elbow.
Fang Tong nodded and spoke up. “Since Yao Yao chooses this for herself, we ought not stand in her way. He seems an honourable man who truly cares for her. Give him a chance and let his actions speak hereafter.”
Liu Bailan drew breath to protest when Old Master Fang, who had sat quietly by the bed, stood up. He walked with hands behind his back to stand before Xu Qingzhou, and asked him directly.
“How old are you, young man?”
“Twenty-five.”
“How many years have you served?”
“I enlisted at sixteen. Nine years in all.”
“And your father? Why do you come only with your mother today?”
“My father passed away when I was twelve. My only elders are my mother and my grandmother. She cannot walk far, yet from yesterday she has bid me offer her deepest apologies to your family in her name.”
Old Master Fang reached for his water pipe. Before he could strike a light, Xu Qingzhou had produced matches and leaned forward to light it for him with careful courtesy.
The furrows in Old Master Fang’s brow softened. He looked Xu Qingzhou up and down, and a gentle smile creased the corners of his eyes.
“A fine young man. So young, yet already so accomplished and so honourable!” He rested his hand firmly upon Xu Qingzhou’s shoulder.
Then he turned to Liu Bailan and to all the Fang family and spoke with final authority.
“Bailan… our daughter has grown. She has a mind of her own. If she chooses this man for herself, and brings him home to show us then we must accept this marriage as her choice.”
Liu Bailan stood with face set hard, turning her head stubbornly away but she spoke no further word of opposition.
With Old Master Fang’s blessing, Old Madam Fang set about welcoming their guests and preparing the feast for the return visit on the morrow. She knew news of the sudden change of groom must be told to all their kin beforehand, lest confusion and embarrassment arise.
She entrusted the task to Fang Tong and Fang Bin. Liu Bailan, meanwhile, went reluctantly to the kitchen and pulled Fang Yao aside before she could follow.
“Child, what am I to make of you? How could you enter the wrong bridal chamber in all innocence and then agree to this exchange without a word? The whispers alone will be enough to bury you! We stood humbly enough before Xu Manjiang and now you wed a man so far above us in rank, bound by military law from ever setting you free? If he should ever mistreat you and refuse release… what then could we do?”
Only then did Fang Yao understand. Her mother’s opposition was not born of pride alone she feared the vast difference in standing, and worried that if her daughter were ever wronged, she would be powerless to help.
Fang Yao’s eyes glistened. She took her mother’s hand, her voice soft and trembling.
She could not speak of her past life, nor of all she had suffered. She could only lay the blame where it belonged upon Xu Manjiang’s treachery on their wedding night.
“Mother… Xu Manjiang is a faithless, fickle-hearted man. You ought to rejoice I am not his wife. Xu Qingzhou is honourable and fine but I do not think myself unworthy of him. He seeks simply a wife who will stand beside him faithfully and that is what I shall be. Have faith, Mother. I shall strive all my days to be worthy of him and of you. I shall never give you cause for shame or sorrow.”
Tears welled in Liu Bailan’s eyes and spilled over. She wrapped her daughter tightly in her arms.
“My dear, good child… I believe you. I know you shall build a good life…”