Xin Wanqing held Yu Shi’s hand, her eyes slightly reddened. “Since Father and my brothers met with misfortune, the Marquis’s Residence has been wanting to cut ties with me.”
“Just when Wu Menyuan wanted to take a brothel woman as his concubine, I firmly refused. They used this as an excuse to divorce me.”
“Wu Menyuan even listed several charges against me – failing to produce an heir and being jealous.” Xin Wanqing smiled bitterly. “After all these years of managing the Wu household day and night, I ended up with the reputation of a jealous woman.”
The Old Madam was so angry she felt dizzy.
Madam Nie Shi hugged her daughter and burst into tears: “Why is my child’s fate so bitter?”
“Mother, don’t be sad. Leaving such a family might not be a bad thing for your daughter.” Xin Wanqing instead calmly comforted her mother.
“You don’t know – Wu Menyuan had already bought a small residence outside over two years ago to keep that brothel woman. Now that prostitute is over six months pregnant, and Wu Menyuan wanted me to accept this illegitimate child into the household.”
Xin Wanqing sneered, “Our Xin family ancestral rule absolutely forbids sharing a husband with prostitutes. Naturally, I couldn’t agree.”
Nie Shi worriedly shed tears, “Wanqing, your temper is too fierce. Couldn’t this have been negotiated?”
“Negotiate what? There’s absolutely no room for negotiation here.” Xin Wanqing raised her willow-like eyebrows, her tone intensifying. “Does Mother actually want me to share a husband with that prostitute? In her dreams. Using me to boost her status – is she even worthy?”
Nie Shi was left speechless, stammering for a long time before saying, “But you… instead of living well in the capital, do you intend to follow us into exile?”
Married daughters weren’t subject to exile, yet now Wanqing was actually rushing to join them.
“Grandmother, Mother, I would rather go into exile in the northern lands with my family than stay in the Wu household suffering such humiliation.”
“Moreover, there’s no turning back now.” She took out a stamped divorce letter from her bosom and unfolded it. “The divorce letter has been written – my ties with the Wu family are completely severed.”
“What I regret is that over the years, I’ve been constantly patching up the Wu family’s financial holes, leaving very little of my dowry money.”
“But even this mere two thousand plus taels, Wu Menyuan didn’t want to return to me.”
“He said divorced wives can’t take any dowry money. Well, when I have nothing left to lose, what is there to fear? They should be the ones afraid.”
“I held a knife to that prostitute’s neck, planning to burn the Pingyang Marquis’s Residence to ashes. In the end, Wu Menyuan got scared and obediently produced two thousand six hundred taels in compensation.”
Yu Shi and Nie Shi listened in stunned silence.
Xin Ruoyu didn’t even notice when half of her coarse rice cake fell to the ground.
“Then what? How did you fight your way out, Elder Sister? Did you ride that tall horse and sweep through thousands of troops, breaking through heavy encirclement?” Seeing everyone remain silent for so long, Xin Nian couldn’t help asking curiously.
Xin Wanqing was taken aback, looking down to meet a pair of sparkling big eyes.
The little girl was squatting beside her, tilting her small head to look at her, still holding a half-eaten pickled vegetable flatbread in her hand. Her bright eyes seemed full of longing for the future.
Xin Nian had come looking for her father, but ended up listening to her elder sister’s fascinating story, unknowingly squatting beside her father to listen together…
“Sixth Sister jokes. I don’t have such sweeping abilities. That prostitute went into premature labor, and I took advantage of the chaos to escape.”
Nie Shi’s face turned pale. “You… you took their silver and fled the city. Will the Wu family send people after us?”
Old Madam glanced at her eldest daughter-in-law. “What’s there to panic about? If the Wu family had any sense of shame, they wouldn’t come chasing after the dowry money.”
“After this scandal, as long as the Wu family doesn’t want to become the laughingstock of the entire capital, they’ll be eager to cover it up as quickly as possible.”
“Now that our eldest girl has left the capital, they naturally wouldn’t dare to cause more trouble.” Old Madam sighed and patted Xin Wanqing’s hand. “It’s just been hard on you, child.”
Xin Wanqing remained optimistic. “Grandmother, from now on I’ll be helping everyone along the journey. Our travels will be somewhat easier.”
Nie Shi’s brows immediately smoothed when she remembered the young lady held over two thousand taels of silver.
“Wanqing, since it’s inconvenient to buy things on the road, did you bring any food…” Before Nie Shi could finish, her stomach growled first.
Xin Wanqing took down the bundle from her back and pulled out numerous sesame pancakes, distributing them to everyone.
When she offered one to Xin Nian, the girl quickly waved her hand. “No need to trouble yourself, eldest sister. Father and I have already eaten.”
With that, she dragged along her father who had been eager to hear more gossip and quickly left the main branch’s area.
People from the end times weren’t accustomed to accepting food from others. In those difficult years, everyone struggled to get by. When people had food, they ate behind closed doors, and no one would be so tactless as to visit during mealtimes.
Besides, their family had never shared food with the main branch before either.
Xin Wanqing stared blankly at the retreating figures of the fourth branch father and daughter. “Grandmother, Fourth Uncle and Sixth Cousin they…”
Yu Shi thought of how Xin Wenyuan had secretly slipped her some food earlier and pursed her lips irritably. “Don’t mind them. The fourth branch has their own provisions.”
“Grandmother, there are two baskets on the horse with warm clothes and water pouches I prepared for everyone.”
Yu Shi felt both touched and guilty. “This is all from your own dowry money, and you’re using it to support us.”
“We’re all family. There’s no need to distinguish between what’s yours and mine.”
“Is Auntie not leaving? If we stay with Auntie from now on, we’ll always have food, right?” A five-year-old girl widened her clear black and white eyes.
“Man’er, don’t talk nonsense.” Second son’s wife, Mei Shi, embarrassedly patted the daughter in her arms, signaling her not to speak carelessly.
“Auntie isn’t leaving.” Xin Wanqing looked at the child, her expression softening. “With Auntie here, none of us will go hungry.”
“Yay! I’m going to tell Zhe brother that we won’t go hungry anymore.”
“Man’er.” Mei Shi patted her daughter. “Zhe brother has been sick these past few days. Don’t disturb him.”
“What’s wrong with Zhe’er?” Xin Wanqing quickly turned to look at her elder sister-in-law Lin Shi.
Lin Xiuyi’s brows were clouded with faint worry. “He’s been listless since last night. After traveling all day today, the child has developed a cough.”
Over at their side, Xie Ninglan saw the father and daughter returning from their stroll and couldn’t help poking Xin Wenyuan’s waist. “What happened? You were squatting there listening for so long.”
Xin Nian summarized Xin Wanqing’s situation for her mother in just a few words.
Xie Ninglan clicked her tongue unsurprisingly. “Throughout history, scumbags gather in crowds. You never know what kind of creature you’re lying next to!”
Xin Wenyuan quickly declared his loyalty. “Wife, my devotion to you can be witnessed by the sun and moon, testified by heaven and earth. Let’s not resort to misplaced anger.”
Xie Ninglan glanced at her fair-skinned husband and pouted in complaint, “I really can’t stand your face now, Lao Xin. Your masculinity is gone.”
Xin Nian burst out laughing.
Xin Wenyuan added, “Darling, don’t judge me by my frail appearance now. What matters is my strong inner self.”