chapter 2
chapter 2
Mother refused.
“Those animals were worth only a few taels,” she said. “When we left Qingzhou, I gave them to the neighbors.”
I still hesitated.
“If you miss them that badly, I will have the pigs brought to the capital for you to raise.”
She had already done more than enough. If I continued insisting, I would seem impossible to please.
“Zhen’er, do you dislike life in this household?” she asked.
I shook my head.
It wasn’t that I disliked it.
Life here was far easier than raising pigs and planting rice. Even the maids were as cultured as the daughters of wealthy families back in the county town.
During their free moments, they read romances. I was curious too, but I could not understand the words. They reassured me that being illiterate was nothing to be ashamed of.
Then I heard them whisper behind my back.
“Miss Mingyi is the remarkable one. She writes poetry and treats everyone kindly. This one can’t recognize more than a few characters, yet she gets to be a young lady. Even I know more than she does.”
Nor could I forget the day Mother brought me face cream and an older maid murmured, “My lady, what about Miss Mingyi?”
“I have already sent her the Emerald Essence Balm,” Mother replied. “Even the Noble Consort was allowed to keep only one jar. Without my cousin the Empress, how could I ever have obtained it? Something so precious should naturally go to Mingyi.”
Everything in the estate was wonderful, yet I could not explain why it left me so stifled I could barely breathe.
I had too little learning even to put my pain into words.
When Mother saw me like this, she sighed in exasperation.
“Enough. The man I want you to meet is Ah Zhao’s younger brother. He is your age, but he has spent years guarding the frontier, so he has neither wife nor concubines. His return to the capital is the perfect opportunity. If you marry him, you will live very well.”
She left that night in a poor mood.
Soon afterward, I met General Zheng.
Zheng Fuchen was no less handsome than his brother. Years on campaign had made him tall and broad-shouldered, with a lethal edge between his brows.
I assumed he disliked me. From beginning to end, he did not smile once.
Nor did he hide his feelings.
He came straight to the point. “There is someone I love. I would marry you only to put an end to the trouble you pose for her.”
For once, I understood quickly. “That person is Mingyi?”
Zheng Fuchen’s throat moved. His dark eyes turned sharp and dangerous.
That was answer enough.
“I will marry you,” he continued. “You will have the position of my lawful wife and a lifetime of wealth. But from that day on, you may bear her no resentment and plot nothing against her. If I discover otherwise, I will show you no mercy.”
Every word rang with absolute resolve.
The younger son of a ducal household was willing to marry me solely to keep me from disturbing his sister-in-law’s perfect life.
Everyone in the capital went out of their way to protect Guo Mingyi. The general before me would even sacrifice his own happiness for her.
But there was someone in my heart too. When he was eighteen, a conscription order had sent him to war at the frontier.
I had waited for him from fifteen to twenty, only to receive word that he had died in battle.
He was gone.
In my heart, I had already been married once.
I smiled at Zheng Fuchen. “General, you needn’t humble yourself so terribly for my sake. You keep saying you are willing, yet you have never asked whether I am.
“You have someone you love. So do I. You may be willing to throw away your happiness for yours, but I am not.”
Zheng Fuchen went still.
I continued, “I will not hate or harm anyone. But General, if you truly believe I harbor evil intentions and want to end them with a bargain, then help me find out what happened to a common soldier named Wang Ming. If possible, I want to build him a grave.”