When everything suddenly went quiet, Li Wan found it strange and went over to take a look, only to be startled. She helped the person up while shouting loudly, "Father, Mother, come quick! Third Brother's husband has fainted!"
Chen Lanfang's brow twitched at the news. That youngest son of hers was one thing, but how could the husband he'd married be so frail as well?
One sick person in the family was already enough to bear; she had no energy to care for another.
But no matter how displeased she felt, she wasn't heartless enough to leave Wen Xi to die. After having her two daughters-in-law help Wen Xi back to his room, she called her eldest son Yan Wangchun to hurry and fetch the village doctor.
On the big bed of the bridal room lay two people, one big and one small. The bigger one's brows were tightly furrowed, unconscious and unmoving.
The smaller one's cheeks were flushed red, mumbling incoherently about pain.
The more Chen Lanfang looked, the more bitter her heart grew.
If he was crying out in pain, there had to be wounds on his body. Aside from her and the daughters-in-law, there was no one else in the room, so she said, "Jin ge'er, undo his clothes and see what's wrong with him."
He Jin did as she said. The moment she undid the clothing at Wen Xi's chest, she let out a small gasp of shock.
Wen Xi's body was covered in wounds of all sizes, both new and old. The most serious was at his chest, where a large patch was still swollen and bruised, black and purple—a terrifying sight.
His thighs and back also bore wounds of varying degrees. He Jin examined him carefully and found that there wasn't a single patch of unmarked flesh on Wen Xi's body.
Pity welled up in her, and she said angrily, "Those two from the Wen family are truly beasts. Even if this child had committed some terrible wrong, they shouldn't have beaten him like this."
Chen Lanfang felt awful as well. Her three sons had been terribly mischievous growing up, but no matter how naughty the children were, neither she nor Yan Shichang had ever laid such heavy hands on them.
That was a child who had come from your own belly—who could bear to beat them like that?
She had long heard that the Wen couple were biased at heart, that the eldest ge'er and the youngest were treated in completely different ways at home.
The older one was raised like a young master, while the younger one was worked like a servant. But she hadn't imagined that the younger one's treatment at home was even worse than a servant's.
Anyone who dared beat a servant like that would have long been arrested and fined by the officials.
But since parents' kindness outweighs the heavens, let alone a beating—even if parents truly beat a child to death by accident, outsiders would have no say in the matter.
Thinking it over briefly, Chen Lanfang understood where Wen Xi's new injuries had come from.
They were most certainly inflicted because he hadn't wanted to marry into their family, and the Wen couple had been furious about it.
A surge of anger rose in Chen Lanfang's heart. If their family's Feng'an hadn't been injured, what kind of bride couldn't they have married? The Wen ge'er wouldn't even have had the chance to be picky.
If Wen Xi didn't want to marry, the Yan family didn't even want the match. They were all from the same village—who didn't know whom? The Wen couple were shallow as a coin's edge and black-hearted to boot. Being in-laws with such people was truly unlucky.
And as for that Wen Liu—never mind that he was the best-looking ge'er in the village, Chen Lanfang didn't think much of him at all.
Though born a mud-legged peasant like everyone else, the Wen couple had raised him like one of those pampered city ge'er, never letting him do any heavy work inside or outside the house. He simply waited to be waited on hand and foot.
With their Feng'an needing to study, he barely did any chores at home, and now they were supposed to take in a husband like that? How would the household even carry on?
If their son hadn't thrown such a fit insisting he would marry no one else, Chen Lanfang would never have agreed to the match.
After Yan Feng'an fell and injured himself on the mountain last month, Wen Liu only came to visit once, and after that he was never seen again.
Chen Lanfang had already been dissatisfied with him, and seeing such heartlessness chilled her heart further. He didn't look like the type to obediently marry into the family, so she wanted to use this opportunity to break off the engagement between the two families.
The condition was that the Wen family had to return the thirty taels of betrothal gift their family had given.
Who knew the Wen couple would be so shameless—unwilling to return the betrothal gift, unwilling to marry their elder ge'er over, and yet proactively raising the matter of the younger ge'er marrying in his place.
Chen Lanfang knew that with how black-hearted those two were, even if their family refused, they would probably pull a switch on the wedding day anyway.
If it really came to that, the Yan family would surely be in the right.
The marriage contract clearly bore Wen Liu's name; even if they went to sue at the county yamen, the Yan family had nothing to fear.
It was just that Yan Shichang and Chen Lanfang were used to cutting a fine figure in the village. Yan Feng'an's accident was already distressing enough for the two of them—if something went wrong on the wedding day as well, they truly wouldn't know where to put their old faces.
Besides, Wen Liu was lazy and scheming; if he really married in, he would surely throw the whole household into chaos. Wen Xi's temperament was a bit weak, but he made up for it by being diligent and honest. Comparing the two, Chen Lanfang naturally favored him more.
After weighing everything, she and Yan Shichang had gritted their teeth and agreed to this absurd arrangement.
The substitution had been agreed upon by both families, yet the Wen family insisted on making it so undignified. Chen Lanfang was seething with anger and had nowhere to vent it.
But when she saw the shocking scars covering Wen Xi's body, her hardened heart couldn't help softening.
……
When Wen Xi woke in a daze, he felt someone placing a cool, damp cloth on his forehead.
Opening his eyes, he saw Chen Lanfang sitting by the bed. Remembering the beatings and scoldings from his parents whenever he'd been sick in the past, Wen Xi was terrified. Without stopping to think about what he'd done, he immediately began apologizing: "I'm sorry, Mother, I… I didn't faint on purpose…"
As he spoke, he tried to get up from the bed to kneel before Chen Lanfang.
Chen Lanfang pressed him back down and said, "What is there to be sorry for? Whether a person falls ill isn't something they can decide for themselves. You caught a chill and have a fever, and your body is covered in wounds—of course you fainted."
Wen Xi opened his mouth to say something, but Chen Lanfang continued, "The village doctor came by to see you just now. Aside from your external injuries, he said your constitution is weak and badly depleted—you need to rest and recuperate properly, or you'll be left with lingering illness."
Wen Xi didn't catch her underlying meaning; he was only thinking about how the Yan family had spent thirty taels of betrothal gift to marry him in.
No matter who the money was meant to marry, the Yan family had genuinely paid it out. They had married him in expecting him to serve Yan Feng'an well, yet he had turned out to be so useless—fainting after doing just a little work. If the Yan family felt cheated and sent him back, wouldn't he be left with even less of a way to survive?
Whether the Yan family was a good home, Wen Xi didn't know. But he understood one thing: he absolutely could not go back to the Wen family.
He hurriedly explained to Chen Lanfang, "I've always been in good health. Even when I get sick, I recover quickly—it doesn't slow down my work at all. If this happens again in the future, just let me rest a bit. There's no need to waste money on a doctor."
" foolish child!" Chen Lanfang held back again and again, but in the end she couldn't resist reaching out and poking Wen Xi on the head. "I really don't know how your parents raised you. No one treats themselves so shabbily."
A child this old, treated at home worse than livestock—it was no wonder he'd turned out this way.
Chen Lanfang was indignant, and inwardly she cursed Wen Shishan and his wife roundly.
Wen Xi could tell that she was standing up for him. He covered his head and lowered it, hiding his reddening eyes.
Chen Lanfang sighed. "Forget it. Your father-in-law and I have never mistreated the people in our own household. Don't do any chores for the next few days. Once you've recovered, focus on caring for your husband—that's the most important thing."
Chen Lanfang's understanding and generosity filled Wen Xi with gratitude. He knew the purpose for which the Yan family had married him in. As long as the Yans gave him food to eat and didn't beat him, he would certainly take good care of Yan Feng'an.
Only one thing left him uneasy—would Yan Feng'an truly go mad and hit people?
Wen Xi felt too embarrassed to say it directly. He mulled over his words for a long while before carefully speaking up: "Last night before bed, Scholar Yan called me 'Wen ge'er.' He didn't seem like a madman to me. I imagine his condition isn't as serious as people outside make it out to be."
Chen Lanfang said bitterly, "Those gossiping wretches do nothing but spread rumors outside. My son is a distinguished xiucai—how could he go mad and hit people?"
Wen Xi nodded, watching her face. "He doesn't look like it to me either."
Chen Lanfang's gaze shifted from him to Yan Feng'an, her eyes filling with a mother's tenderness and love. "Feng'an takes his medicine every day according to the prescription the doctor in town wrote. He spends more and more time lucid. If you care for him diligently, he'll recover soon. And then, the two of you living sweetly and lovingly—wouldn't that just make those bitches outside die of envy?"
Sweetly and lovingly? Him and Yan Feng'an?
Wen Xi couldn't help picturing it, and goosebumps rose on his skin for no reason.
If Yan Feng'an were lucid at this moment, he would probably feel exactly the same. Under normal circumstances, the two of them would absolutely, absolutely never be as sweet as other couples.
Wen Xi didn't dare show any of these feelings in front of Chen Lanfang. He chimed in with a few agreeing words, and only after Chen Lanfang left did he, nerves taut, let out a long breath.
At that moment, a sigh suddenly sounded in the room again. Realizing it had come from the man beside him, every hair on Wen Xi's body stood on end, and like someone who'd seen a ghost, he tumbled off the bed in a stumbling scramble.
Earlier, with other people in the room, Yan Feng'an had lain there like a corpse, utterly without presence—so much so that Wen Xi hadn't even registered that the two of them were lying in the same bed.
That sigh nearly scared him out of his wits. He fell to the floor and lay there for a long while, unable to climb up.
The rustling sounds from the bed grew louder, and before long Yan Feng'an, dressed in his white inner robe, slowly sat up, his deep-set eyes lowered, silently gazing down at the terrified Wen Xi on the floor.
Less than a zhang apart, the two stared at each other. It seemed like several lifetimes had passed before Yan Feng'an finally spoke: "Why is it that every time I see you, you're in such a sorry state?"
The sedative's effects had worn off overnight, so it wasn't surprising that Yan Feng'an had woken up by now. The fact that he could say such a thing proved that he was at least lucid at the moment.
This man still thought of himself as some lofty scholar. Had he never looked in a mirror? Didn't his thin, gaunt appearance look just as pitiful?
Wen Xi only dared to grumble about this in his heart. He now had to make a living under the Yan family's roof, so no matter whether Yan Feng'an was mad or foolish, good or bad, he had to quietly endure it.
Wen Xi rubbed his bruised, aching waist, slowly got up from the ground, and turned to go outside to call for someone.