Chapter 4
When I reached the front hall, a lavishly dressed woman was drinking tea. She glanced at me, then lowered her head to blow at the leaves in her cup.
“Lady Liang, what important business brings your distinguished self to our humble home?”
She set down her cup and cleared her throat. “Since Shen’er is fond of you, I can hardly go against his wishes. We’ll soon be family, so don’t take what happened before to heart.”
Liang Huaishen’s mother had always been so high and mighty. She was then, and she was now.
Sometimes I wondered whether Liang Huaishen and I might have stayed together if not for her.
We had met at a banquet the previous spring.
After that, everything happened naturally. He invited me to go riding and practice archery, gave me many paintings, and said that in a little while he would come to my house to propose.
He was handsome and gentle. Marrying him seemed like a good choice.
I had thought I might finally find a husband. Then the marchioness spoke, and put an end to all my hopes.
That day, I was secretly waiting for Liang Huaishen outside the marquis’s residence when the steward spotted me and invited me in.
Strangely, just before we reached the front hall, the maid guiding me excused herself to use the privy and told me to go on alone.
Before I arrived, I heard Lady Liang’s cold voice.
“I never approved of your association with her. Of all the good girls in the capital, you had to choose that one. What does she have besides an attractive shell? What respectable young lady runs about with men like that before she’s even married?”
I simply didn’t want to be like every other woman, stealing one glance from behind a screen at a matchmaker’s introduction and letting that single glance decide the rest of my life.
“With her temperament, all she does is spend recklessly. What does she know of the difficulties of keeping a great household afloat? Besides, how could our family afford her extravagance? You need a virtuous wife whom you can trust to manage the household. A woman like her is simply an embarrassment.”
“How can you be so foolish as to entangle yourself with such a woman? Haven’t you heard what people say about her? Spending all day with that wastrel from the Wen family—her reputation is in ruins.”
“Your father has so many children by his concubines. Think how hard you worked to distinguish yourself. Our family’s future honor rests on you. You should marry a worthy woman who can run the household and ease your burdens. Beyond her looks, that girl has absolutely nothing to recommend her.”
In truth, she wasn’t wrong. I don’t know why I was so furious at the time.
Perhaps it was because Liang Huaishen listened quietly to his mother, seeming to agree, seeming to weigh her words.
He didn’t even defend me.
What was there left to misunderstand? Lady Liang had deliberately brought me there, deliberately made sure I heard every word.
If she had said it to my face, I might even have praised her honesty.
But to use such tactics against a young woman like me? She disgusted me.
Anger burned away my reason. With a cold laugh, I strode boldly before her.
“You think far too highly of this marquis’s household. A declining family, barely holding on, and you presume to pass judgment on me? My grandfather is the Minister of Revenue. My eldest uncle is the General Who Pacifies the West. My father may hold no office, but he has earned a fortune through his own ability. Understand this: marrying me would be a step up for your family. You have no right whatsoever to turn up your noses at me.”
The less said about what happened next, the better.
Still, after I had spoken so plainly, I had never imagined Lady Liang would dare come to our door today.