Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 187 - 186: The Reason

Chapter 187: Chapter 186: The Reason

Tang Shoude claimed that his ancestral home was in Sanqing County, and that his family had some convoluted familial ties with the Zhaos; he invited Chen Shiying to stay with the Tangs. Studying in the Tang household would undoubtedly be more conducive than in the inn - it would be quiet and there would be personal attendants to cater to his needs.

Chen Shiying had not had any prior relations with Tang Shoude, so of course he couldn’t accept gifts of silver from his household, nor could he stay with the Tangs. He only expressed his gratitude for Tang Shoude’s kindness multiple times. Never did he expect that the Tangs would approach his mother in an attempt to marry their daughter off to him and jointly force Mrs. Wang to leave.

Chen Shiying had known Wang Juanniang for many years and had always found her gentle, virtuous, knowledgeable, and courteous. Their relationship was excellent – closer than that of biological siblings.

That’s why he didn’t believe his mother’s words. How could his sister possibly make a scene and cause such an uproar? How could she have thrown a fit and returned to her home without waiting for him to return home and understand the situation? She, she must have been forced to leave.

Chen Shiying was seething with anger, and he dashed to the Wangs to find Wang Juanniang. What surprised him even more was that Wang Juanniang had gotten married just a few days ago.

A distraught Chen Shiying returned home. He knew that Wang Juanniang was forced, even her marriage was forced. He could not bring himself to hate his own mother, and vented all his anger on Uncle Zhao and the Tangs.

He firmly refused to marry the Tang girl.

However, not only had his mother exchanged betrothal gifts with the Tangs, but she had even accepted 2,000 taels of silver and a mansion in Sanqing County worth a thousand taels from the Tang’s family. Through this course of action, his mother was compelling him to marry the Tang girl!

If he were to return the things that his mother had received to the Tangs, and the Tangs were to make a fuss about it, he, the highest-scoring candidate in the recent imperial examination, would become a laughing stock. If things got out of hand, he might even lose his scholar title...

At a loss over what to do, the then Magistrate of Sanqing County, Mr. Wu, and his wife visited his home to propose a marriage alliance with Mr. Jiang’s second daughter.

He accepted this proposal, and so did his mother. After much consideration, he also allowed the Tang girl into his household, but only as a concubine.

The Tangs knew that they couldn’t compete with the Jiangs, and seeing how much Chen Shiying detested them, they dared not demand too much and argued only for their daughter to have the status of a beloved concubine.

Because his mother’s leverage was caught by the Tangs, Chen Shiying finally agreed that the Tang girl would be his beloved concubine.

The following year, during the Palace Examination, the Emperor conferred him the title of scholar, allowing him to directly enter the Hanlin Academy. However, he gave up on this golden opportunity and requested to be assigned as a county magistrate in Jiangnan instead.

He had no choice. He didn’t dare to serve as an official in the Capital City. At that time, he was just a sixteen-year-old lad who was left penniless. The money in his family belonged to the Tangs, the people in his family belonged to the Jiangs, and he didn’t even know if there were people from the Tangs mixed among the servants they later bought...

Sanqing County is only a little over two hundred miles away from the Capital City, and Shizhou Mansion is just over five hundred miles away. His mother was domineering, and he feared that his mother would not listen to advice and would get into trouble due to the Zhaos or the Tangs and cause a scandal.

Mrs. Jiang seemed quite nice and on the surface did not dare to defy her mother-in-law too much.

He thought to himself that he’d go serve as an official thousands of miles away in Jiangnan first, allow Mrs. Jiang to take care of the household, seek out some useful people for himself, and most importantly, keep his mother curry...

Chen Shiying pulled his thoughts together, feeling angry and ashamed, his face flushed red. He said, "The Tangs were truly despicable! Back then, I hadn’t even set foot in the Tang household, so how could I have possibly had anything to do with their daughter?" He continued, "Sister, you raised me, don’t you know my character? Why didn’t you figure out a way to wait for me to return? You only needed to wait a few more days..."

Mrs. Wang sobbed, "At that time, I felt like the sky was collapsing. I had nothing left, no Ying Di, no younger brother, no..." She wanted to say "reputation", but couldn’t bring herself to say it. She paused, then continued, "I thought, why am I still alive? I should just die. When I returned to my parents’ house, I shut the door and tried to hang myself. But I was discovered and saved by my father just in time..."

The doctor who came to see her was related to her deceased mother, and when Mrs. Ding and Wang Laohan weren’t around, he quietly told Mrs. Wang that she was pregnant.

Upon hearing this shocking news, Mrs. Wang was dumbfounded, both delighted and scared. She didn’t know what to do, so she decided to go and discuss it with her own father. But when she arrived at her father’s room and was about to walk in, she overheard Mrs. Ding and Wang Laohan discussing something.

Wang Laohan said that Mrs. Wang was his own daughter; they had already sold her once. This time, even if she were to remarry, they should find her a somewhat suitable man.

But Mrs. Ding argued that Mrs. Zhao had decreed that Wang Juanniang must be married to someone far away within half a month. Given such a short time frame, even a good girl from a respectable family couldn’t find a good man to marry, let alone a woman who had been married off as a child bride. Mrs. Ding told Wang Laohan not to meddle and that she had a way to get her married off to a far place.

Wang Laohan then said that he knew Mrs. Ding had accepted gifts from Mrs. Zhao and the Tangs and was thinking of selling Wang Juanniang again to make some money. But he warned Mrs. Ding not to overdo it. Wang Juanniang had already tried to hang herself once; if pushed too hard, she might attempt suicide again.

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Ding became somewhat terrified. If Wang Juanniang truly were to hang herself, she wouldn’t earn a single penny. She finally agreed to put the word out that Wang Juanniang was up for marriage. If a good family approached them within half a month, they would let her marry. If no such family appeared, they would leave it to her...

Listening to this, Mrs. Wang’s legs gave way. She barely managed to lean on the wall to return to her room. Lying on her bed, she turned things over in her mind and came to an approximate understanding.

Ying Di was not an careless person, so how could he have ended up staying at the Tangs for no good reason, let alone act recklessly after getting drunk?

Thinking back to her mother-in-law, no, she should now refer to Mrs. Zhao, she remembered how Mrs. Zhao had not shown her a favorable countenance for many years. Directly and indirectly, she expressed her disdain. After Ying Di angrily rebuked Mrs. Zhao a few times, Mrs. Zhao became even more harsh when Ying Di wasn’t around. She didn’t just curse her even more nastily, but even pinched her, telling her not to be a fox spirit and not to fantasize about her son. She told her that as a country woman who couldn’t do anything to help her son, she was basically a waste of space...

So this was it: Mrs. Zhao, having risen up in society, couldn’t wait to kick her out.

She felt her belly. Should she go hide somewhere else until Ying Di returned to take her back to the Chens? She trusted him completely. She knew that as soon as Ying Di returned, he would take her back home.

But she also knew beyond doubt that if she returned to the Chen household, Mrs. Zhao would find a way to get rid of the child in her stomach, drive her out again, and even put her life at risk.

Whether she lived or not didn’t matter anymore, but she couldn’t bear to lose the child in her belly. She couldn’t let this unborn child die in her womb. She needed to protect her child.

But it was obvious that Mrs. Ding intended to sell her.

Mrs. Wang remained quiet, pondering about how to escape from this home and go to a place where nobody knew her. There, she could safely give birth and live out the rest of their lives together.

A few days later, a family came to propose marriage. Their son was on his deathbed, and they wished to marry Mrs. Wang with the hope of reversing his ill luck.

But Mrs. Ding demanded a high marriage price of ten taels. Many virtuous young maidens did not even require such a steep price. Mrs. Ding was obviously trying to discourage the Chens in the hope that they would withdraw their offer, and then she could sell Mrs. Wang to a distant place...