Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
Lu Xianghe, sitting at the next table, happened to hear him.
When she went home, she told her family at once.
The Marquis of Qing'an immediately sent Father an urgent letter.
As soon as Father received it, he rode day and night without stopping.
That was how he managed to return in time.
After admitting his fault, he looked coldly at Mother and called her foolish.
By now, Mother no longer cared about anything.
Her lips curled contemptuously.
“Foolish?”
“You men are all the same. Beauty turns your heads. If I don't plan for Shanyi, what will become of her?”
Father looked at her in disbelief.
“Not everyone in the world is ruled by lust.”
“If Shanyi truly has outstanding character, she'll have a future of her own.”
“Why must you cling to this?”
The mockery in Mother's eyes deepened.
“Do you believe that yourself?”
“I've been married to you for more than twenty years and borne you two children. Yet you've never forgotten that woman Xu.”
“It's only because you think I'm ugly and unworthy of a third-place scholar like you.”
“A village girl, with neither my background nor my accomplishments.”
“If she weren't pretty, how could she have kept you thinking about her for all these years?”
14
His Majesty did not want to punish Father too harshly. He also wanted to understand the old marriage affair, so he asked about it.
“General Gu, what exactly happened between you and Lady Xu?”
Father was silent for a long time before answering.
“Your Majesty.”
“She was an orphan my parents adopted. She grew up in the Gu household.”
“For years, I devoted myself to my studies. It was her embroidery work that supported me.”
“When I placed third, I meant to return home and marry her. Instead, Lady Zhao entangled me over that fall into the water…”
Father closed his eyes.
When he opened them, tears glimmered there.
“Your Majesty, I had no choice in marrying Lady Zhao.”
“Now she has committed such a grave offense. I beg permission to repudiate her.”
Mother went still for a moment, then suddenly gave a shrill laugh.
“Repudiate me?”
“You can't!”
“I've endured the frontier with you for years, borne and raised your children, and managed your household. How can you cast me off?”
Father's voice was hoarse.
“Why can't I?”
“A wife taken from a home to which she can no longer return must not be repudiated.”
“A wife who shared her husband's poverty before he became wealthy must not be repudiated.”
“A wife who shared three years of mourning must not be repudiated!”
“The orphan with nowhere to turn was Xu.”
“The one who endured poverty and hardship with me was Xu.”
“The one who nursed my mother at her sickbed for three years was Xu.”
“None of those three protections has anything to do with you. So why can't I repudiate you?”
All color slowly drained from Mother's face. Her whole body went limp.
Father and His Majesty had known each other since youth. Father had defended the frontier for years without ever boasting of his achievements.
His Majesty had already been struggling to decide how to handle this.
At Father's request, he immediately decreed that the marriage could be dissolved and stripped Mother of her conferred title.
For my sake, he spared her life.
But from then on, she could no longer call herself the Crown Princess's mother.
15
At last, everything was settled.
Mother was sent back to her natal family.
My marriage to the Crown Prince was arranged.
On my wedding day, Lu Xianghe came to bring gifts for my trousseau.
As she helped comb my hair, she lamented that I could no longer become her sister-in-law.
When Father married Aunt Xu, I returned home for the ceremony.
The Eldest Princess—whom I now had to call Aunt—came with me.
Widowed for many years, she loved nothing more than an entertaining spectacle.
Because of what Mother had said that day, rumors had turned Aunt Xu into a heavenly goddess descended to earth.
The guests clamored to see the bride.
Her red veil was slowly lifted.
Beneath it was a gentle-looking woman whose face could only be called delicate and pleasant.
She was not offended by the guests' silence.
She merely covered her mouth and laughed softly.
“My looks are ordinary. I'm afraid I've disappointed you.”
Yet her eyes and brows were full of mischief, as though saying, “Surprised you, didn't I?”
Father looked down at her, his gaze both helpless and fond.
Suddenly, I understood why he had never been able to forget her.
In those difficult years of his youth, a cheerful girl who loved life had always been beside him.
How could he forget?
Amid the good-natured laughter, a woman's shrill cry suddenly rang out.
“You're not Xu Qing!”
“You're not her!”
Mother.
She knew the layout of the residence well. Somehow, she had found a servant's outfit and slipped in.
Now she stared at Aunt Xu in disbelief, murmuring, “How can you be Xu Qing?”
Aunt Xu raised an eyebrow.
“If I'm not Xu Qing, are you?”
Mother turned to Father and laughed wildly, tears streaming down her face.
“The woman you've never forgotten really is nothing but a coarse village wife?”
“Then what am I?”
“All these years, what have I been?”
Father's gaze was calm.
“You deliberately schemed to make me fall into the water. That's true.”
“But once I married you, I thought I ought to give you the respect and dignity you were due.”
“Yet you were so insecure about your looks that whenever someone disliked you even a little, you accused them of judging only by beauty.”
“You refused to admit your own faults. Instead, you grew jealous of anyone with a striking face.”
“Every reasonably pretty maid in the household was driven away on some pretext.”
“Whenever you met other ladies, you spoke ill of them behind their backs.”
“Now you won't even spare your own daughter.”
“Such behavior is no different from a vicious demon's.”
“How could it inspire respect or love?”
At last, Mother broke completely.
Aunt Xu was not even as attractive as she was.
The obsessions and convictions she had clung to for half her life crumbled the moment she saw Aunt Xu.
Then, hearing Father compare her to a demon, she ran outside in a frenzy.
“I'm not a demon.”
“Those enchantresses have bewitched you all.”
“I'm not…”
16
Mother lost her mind completely.
She spent her days before the mirror putting on makeup, asking everyone she met whether she was beautiful.
Uncle said she disgraced him and drove her out of the Zhao household.
For the sake of my reputation, Father eventually took her back and settled her in a secluded courtyard to recover.
Only then did I learn that Mother's engagement had once been broken off when she was young.
The two families' mothers had been close friends as girls. While pregnant, they had betrothed their unborn children.
Mother and the young man had grown up together.
But as they grew older, he came to dislike her more and more.
He bluntly declared that marrying an ugly woman would affect his descendants.
If he really had to marry Mother, he would rather kill himself.
After that, she had grown increasingly obsessive.
Father placed her beside my sister's courtyard.
My sister visited her often.
She blamed Mother for changing the portraits without consulting her, leaving her too ashamed to go out.
Never mind the Crown Prince—even a scholar with a modest degree would not marry her now.
But Mother understood none of it. She only kept putting powder and rouge on her face.
Whenever she saw my sister, she looked surprised.
“You say you're my daughter?”
“How could someone as beautiful as me give birth to someone so ugly?”
My sister shouted angrily, “You dare call me ugly?”
“Father is so handsome. He placed third in the palace examinations.”
“I only look like this because I take after you. And you still dare call me ugly?”
Mother understood that she was being insulted and immediately lunged at my sister.
As they struggled, they scratched each other's faces bloody.
When the wounds healed, both were left with scars.
When the news reached me, I was carrying my little daughter through the garden.
She held a freshly picked branch of red plum blossoms. Looking up, she smiled at me.
“Put it in Nuannuan's hair, Mother!”
I tucked the blossoms into her hair.
She leaned against my knees and looked up, her little voice soft.
“Am I pretty?”
I bent and kissed her forehead.
Suddenly, I remembered the little girl in Shimmering Light brocade all those years ago.
She stood among the banquet guests.
Her new clothes shone like a little lantern. Her heart was full of happiness as she waited for a word of praise from her mother.
Smiling, I lifted my daughter and touched the tip of her nose.
“Yes.”
“In your mother's eyes, Nuannuan, you're the prettiest little girl in the world.”
The End