Ruan Yuewei nodded, and the Zhao family's old man returned to Luoyang with a satisfactory reply. Not long after, Mrs. Ruan sent the promised betrothal gifts. The amount of money was not much even among the noble families in Chang'an. This sum of money solved the urgent needs of the whole family, and Ruan Yuewei was also slightly relieved. Although the money could not make up for the unsatisfactory marriage, it proved Zhao Qinghui's sincerity and her worth.
Because both families had experienced incidents, and Ruan Yuewei was getting married for the second time, both families agreed to keep things simple and let the two children get married as soon as possible. The wedding was scheduled for the end of July, but the Zhao family's wedding reception arrived at the end of June. The groom, who was supposed to come to welcome the bride, did not show up. Instead, a brother from a branch of the Zhao family came to welcome the bride.
The Ruan family was somewhat unhappy, but the Zhao family explained that Zhao Qinghui had been a little unwell since the beginning of summer, and sent a few boxes of silks and brocades as well as gold and silver jewelry to "add to the bride's dowry". The Ruan family did not care about it anymore. Zhao Qinghui had always been ill, and after what had happened, it was normal for him to not want to get out of bed or come to Chang'an.
There was no need to think about the ten-mile wedding dress. Ruan Yuewei put on her wedding dress and got on the carriage. The wedding procession was sparse, with only her brother and a team of servants.
Ruan Yuewei sat in the carriage, thinking back to her first wedding, when flags covered the sky, drums and music blared, and the whole of Chang'an came out to watch. She felt as if it were a lifetime ago, and the comparison made her look even more desolate and miserable. But what she feared more was being recognized by people she knew and having them point fingers at her behind her back.
As the carriage drove out of Chang'an, she gradually calmed down, and even began to look forward to life in Luoyang.
Dongdu is not as crowded as Chang'an. Zhao Qinghui's title of Yong'an Earl is nothing in Chang'an, but it is counted in Luoyang. There are not many powerful families in Luoyang, but there are many famous merchants and wealthy people. Some of them are not short of money, so they like to curry favor with the nobles and flatter themselves. No wonder her aunt became more wealthy after moving to Luoyang. It is said that the Zhao family has more than ten large shops in Luoyang City and several farms in the suburbs. In the future, she will be the wife of Yong'an Earl. Her aunt is old and Zhao Qinghui is a cripple. When she has a child, she will be the master of the Earl's Mansion, right
As Ruan Yuewei thought about it, she felt more and more that marrying to Luoyang had many advantages and was much better than staying in Chang'an. As for Zhao Qinghui's disability, she could just put up with it. He had been weak since childhood and it was hard to say how many years he could live.
The journey from Chang'an to Luoyang was eight hundred miles. On the way, Ruan Yuewei caught a cold and her old illness flared up. She wanted to rest for a few days in an inn beside the post road before continuing on her way. However, the Zhao brothers who came to welcome the bride kept urging her, as if they had something urgent to do. So she had to continue on her journey despite her sick body, and finally arrived in Luoyang City in mid-July.
Luoyang City is smaller than Chang'an, but no less prosperous and wealthy. The Yong'an Marquis's Mansion is located in the north of the city. The families nearby are either rich or noble, and many of them are gardens and mansions owned by the dignitaries of Chang'an in Luoyang.
The Zhao Mansion had been demoted in rank, and its gates were not as large as the former mansion of a duke, but its garden and mansions covered an even larger area than that of a duke's mansion. With winding corridors, neat towers, and a large number of servants, it was completely the image of a noble family. Ruan Yuewei was secretly satisfied.
The carriage stopped steadily, Shuzhu helped Ruan Yuewei get out of the carriage, and the driver of the Zhao family was already ready to take them for a ride.
Ruan Yuewei was surrounded by the Zhao family and led into the main courtyard. Her aunt, Mrs. Ruan, came out from the hall to greet her with a warm smile on her face. She held her hand and said, "Finally, you are here, as you have been waiting for. Hui'er has been talking about you to me every day. If you hadn't come, I'm afraid your ears would have been worn out."
Mrs. Ruan Yuewei's worries and doubts suddenly disappeared - it seemed that Zhao Qinghui did not tell his mother the whole story.
She lowered her head slightly, her face flushed, and said shyly, "Aunt always makes fun of Sanniang."
Mrs. Ruan took her hand and said, "I'll take you to meet the elders."
Ruan Yue was slightly startled, and Mrs. Ruan said, "Don't be afraid, they are all relatives of our Zhao family. When they heard that Hui'er was going to get married, they couldn't wait to come and see the new bride."
Ruan Yuewei couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable. Those so-called "elders" were most likely the Zhao family's illegitimate branches, just like the cousin who came to welcome the bride. If it were them in the past, she wouldn't even bother to look at them, but now she had to greet them with a smile.
But she couldn't show her displeasure and walked into the hall with a proper smile on her face.
To her surprise, in addition to the women of the Zhao family's concubines' branches, there were also a few women dressed in fine clothes and jewels but unable to hide their vulgarity. From their expressions and behavior, it was obvious that they were women of even lower class than the Zhao family's distant concubines.
She suddenly felt embarrassed and her face turned red, but her embarrassment turned into anger. Mrs. Ruan seemed to be unaware of it and introduced them to her as if nothing had happened. The first one was the wife of a certain family, and the second one was the young wife of a certain family...
As her aunt introduced them one by one, Ruan Yuewei's face became worse and worse. The status of these people was lower than she thought. More than half of them were wives of merchants, rice merchants, cloth merchants, fur merchants... Being in the same room with these people made her feel uncomfortable all over. She didn't expect that when these people came, she didn't take the initiative to avoid the table and greet them. Instead, they nodded and bowed, looking at her with an appraising eye, as if she was some kind of commodity.
A middle-aged woman in luxurious clothes laughed and said, "I used to think that the most beautiful woman in Chang'an only had two eyes and a mouth. How beautiful could she be? Now Mrs. Ruan and her niece know that even the gods and mortals are no more beautiful than her. My daughters-in-law used to look pretty, but compared to her, they are just firewood maids."
The words were just normal compliments, and immediately a young woman with thick eyebrows, big eyes and wide mouth interrupted: "Not to mention whether there is another concubine as beautiful as the fairy for you to marry home, who has a hand like Mrs. Ruan and can take out 50,000 gold as a betrothal gift."
Ruan Yuewei's face changed and she wanted to explode, but when she met her aunt's warning look, she could only hold it back, tears already welling up in her eyes.
Everyone seemed to ignore it and turned to compliment Mrs. Ruan on her generosity. Mrs. Ruan smiled and said, "We are aunt and niece, so why should we differentiate between each other?"
The woman in front immediately said, "The most important thing is that we are related relatives, which saves us a lot of trouble. Unlike the ones in my family, I still need to work hard to train them."
Ruan Fu said: "Shi Fu is more capable and works harder."
After a while of greeting, the woman surnamed Shi said, "The bride has come all the way here, let's not disturb the reunion of the young couple here."
Ruan Yuewei's face was burning hot, but her hands and feet were cold, and she was unable to speak.
After he left, Ruan Yuewei's tears immediately fell.
Mrs. Ruan just glanced at her calmly: "Do you feel wronged? Do you feel humiliated?"
Ruan Yuewei looked at her aunt in disbelief. She was so different from the one she was before. She couldn't even utter a complete sentence, and her lips trembled: "Aunt..."
Mrs. Ruan sneered and said, "I know you look down on some of you, but you must understand that you are no longer the same as you were before."
Her eyes wandered from the golden phoenix hairpin in her hair to her brand new silk dress: "Now what you wear on your head, on your body, everything from head to toe, still depends on you to buy some things that you despise."
Ruan Yuewei's face turned pale. She had heard some rumors that Mrs. Ruan was now buying farms and opening shops in Luoyang to do business, but in fact she was relying on Zhao Jun's connections to connect big merchants and court officials to make profits.
Mrs. Ruan continued, "Besides, you look down on others, so how can you think that others will look down on you?"
Ruan Yuewei finally recovered a little from the shock and blow, and cried, "I can't write two Ruan characters with one stroke. Sanniang is my niece. How can my aunt look good if they humiliate her like this?"
Mrs. Ruan laughed: "When the Zhao family was in trouble, the Concubine and the Ruan family didn't care about me, a married woman. Although they are merchants, they sell goods. At least they have a meal and don't sell their children."
Ruan Yuewei's face flushed red. She understood that when the Zhao family was in trouble, her aunt came to the East Palace to ask her for help. She did not help in order to protect herself. Her aunt was resentful. She said, "My niece was also dependent on him at that time. She had no choice in everything. Since my aunt resented my niece and the Ruan family, why did she marry my niece to my cousin?"
Mrs. Ruan sneered, "Who told Hui'er to like you? Otherwise, what else could it be? Do you think you are really worth 50,000 gold? You must remember that I paid 50,000 gold to buy you back, not because you are worth that much money, but because I was willing to spend some money to buy Hui'er's happiness."
Ruan Yuewei felt as if she had fallen into an icy cave, and tears flowed out like a dam bursting.
Mrs. Ruan said, "You don't have to cry in front of me. I am your aunt and I don't want to torture you, but you should also have some self-awareness. In the future, if you keep acting like you did today when interacting with those wives and daughters-in-law, and if you delay the family's business, don't blame me for not caring about family affection."
Ruan Yuewei continued to cry. Mrs. Ruan frowned and asked the maid, "Take the girl back to the backyard to bathe and wash herself, and then send her to the young master's courtyard."
Ruan Yuewei felt as if she had fallen into an icy cave and she even forgot to cry.
Mrs. Ruan guessed what she was thinking and sneered, "Do you want to get married again?"
Without even looking at her expression, he waved his hand impatiently, "Go ahead and serve Hui'er wisely. You are only of some use now."
Ruan Yuewei felt numb all over when she walked out of the hall. It was July and the sun was shining brightly, but she felt cold to the bone. However, she still had a glimmer of hope in her heart. Although her aunt resented her, at least Zhao Qinghui had always been devoted to her. Mrs. Ruan loved her as if she were her own child. As long as she had Zhao Qinghui's heart in her hands, she had nothing to fear from this old woman.
She cheered herself up, bathed, changed her clothes, and applied a light amount of makeup, making herself look pure and beautiful, like a lotus flower emerging from the water - she remembered that Zhao Qinghui liked this look of her the most.
She looked at herself in the mirror and felt relieved. At least she was still beautiful.
The maid beside Mrs. Ruan urged her to get up. She put down her mirror and followed her to the back garden. Zhao Qinghui's residence was in the northwest corner of the garden, hidden in a crabapple forest. It was the most remote and quiet place in the mansion.
The maid took the child away and left. The courtyard was silent, without even a servant in sight. The huge courtyard was shaded by thick trees, and there was a chill even in broad daylight. As soon as Ruan Yuewei walked in, she thought of the severed hand she had received, and felt a chill.
She reached the stairs and hesitated for a moment, then lifted her skirt and went up the stairs.
The door to the room was heavily covered with curtains, and no one was guarding it.
Just as she was hesitating, a voice came from behind the curtain: "But my cousin is here?"
The sound was like oil that had been stored for a long time, greasy and sticky.
Ruan Yuewei said: "Cousin, it's me."
Zhao Qinghui said, "I don't have anyone to serve me at home, please help yourself, cousin."
Ruan Yuewei had no choice but to open the curtain and walk into the house.
There were icebergs in the room, and the curtains were drawn low, making it as dark as night in the middle of the day. She went from the light to the dark, and before her eyes could adjust, she couldn't make anything out. Suddenly, her foot was tripped by something, and someone immediately supported her from behind: "Cousin, be careful."
Zhao Qinghui's body slowly pressed against hers, his hot breath spraying on the back of her neck. Because of long-term medication, there was a strange smell in his breath. Ruan Yuewei froze: "Thank you, cousin..." She tried to break free, but Zhao Qinghui's two arms immediately wrapped around her waist.
Ruan Yuewei reluctantly said: "I haven't seen you for a long time, cousin. Let's sit down and have a good chat..."
Zhao Qinghui let go of her waist: "I also want to reminisce with my cousin."
Ruan Yuewei said: "It's so dark in the room, I'll go open the curtains a little."
Zhao Qinghui said, "I don't like sunlight. If you think the room is too dark, you can light a lamp. There is a fire starter on the table. But be careful when you light the lamp, I'm afraid you might be scared."
Ruan Yuewei's eyes gradually adjusted to the light. She fumbled for the fire and lit the candle. The room gradually became brighter. She glanced at the wall inadvertently and was horrified. She stepped back and almost knocked over the screen behind her.
The wall was covered with paintings. At first glance, they looked like scenes of hell in a Buddhist temple, but a closer look revealed that the women in the paintings were not being tortured in hell. Ruan Yuewei was not an inexperienced girl, so she knew what they were at a glance, but the scenes in the paintings were so bizarre that she could not even dream of them. What shocked her most was that the women in the paintings were all her faces.
Zhao Qinghui supported her: "I told you that it would scare my cousin."
Ruan Yuewei said: "A little bit..."
Zhao Qinghui stroked the most recent painting. "These are all my dreams. When I was in Yangzhou, I missed my cousin every day. I only thought that one day I could live with my cousin. All these dreams have come true. It's a pity that thanks to my cousin, I lost my right hand. These paintings were painted with my left hand, and I was unable to paint my cousin's beauty vividly."
Ruan Yuewei turned pale with fear: "I never asked you to do that kind of thing. I also advised you not to provoke Huan Xuan, but you didn't listen to my advice..."
The smile on Zhao Qinghui's face gradually disappeared: "Cousin, you are right. I am willing to do something for you. But it was you who asked that slave to kill me?"
He took a step forward and stretched out the arm without a palm to show her: "Is my right hand with my cousin?"
Ruan Yuewei's whole body was shaking like a sieve.
Zhao Qinghui suddenly smiled: "Why are you so scared, cousin? Are you afraid that I will take revenge on you? I love you so much, how could I take revenge on you? I just want to stay with you forever and grow old together."
He said this and took another step forward.
Ruan Yue staggered back a few steps, accidentally stepped on the hanging curtain and fell to the ground.
Zhao Qinghui stopped and said with a smile, "Don't worry, cousin. I don't like to force things. If you don't want to, you can leave right now. The door to the room and the gate to the courtyard are not locked, and my mother won't stop you. You can go back to Chang'an or find a job on your own. However, you must ask your uncle to return the 50,000 gold betrothal gift and the 20,000 gold that you gave to your uncle in an emergency."
Ruan Yuewei was stunned.
Zhao Qinghui said, "A centipede is still alive even after it dies. We can still come up with the mere 70,000 gold coins. At most, we can sell some of our farmland and shops. But, cousin, have you ever thought about what kind of life you will live after you return?"
He paused and said, "Of course you can also find a temple to become a nun, but my cousin, a person of your generation should be well-dressed and well-fed. It's really sad to see her go through such a hard life."
As he spoke, he walked to the wall, opened the cupboard door, took out a box, lifted the lid and poured it onto the bed. There was a series of crisp and pleasant ding-dong sounds, and the bed was covered with pearls, jade and gold hairpins, which sparkled brightly in the light.
Zhao Qinghui said: "You have all kinds of things, and they all belong to you. Once you step out of this gate, you are a respectable and elegant uncle. I will make sure that all the parts exposed outside the clothes are intact and as clean as jade."
He smiled and said, "Cousin, you might as well think about it carefully. If you insist on giving up wealth and glory and go to the mountain temple to waste your time, I will have no choice but to let you go. Who told me that I am crazy about you?"
Ruan Yue lowered her head slightly and looked away.
Zhao Qinghui narrowed his eyes, picked up a cane and pointed at one of the paintings: "Let's start with this one today."
He sat back on the couch and pointed at the door, saying, "Cousin, think carefully whether you want to go out through this door or come in."
Ruan Yue glanced at the door. A ray of light came through the gap in the door curtain. She turned her head to look inside the room. The gold, pearls and jade on the bed were dazzling. Compared with them, the ray of light from the sky was almost negligible.
She bit her lip and slowly walked towards Zhao Qinghui.
Zhao Qinghui sneered and pointed at the painting with his cane: "Please come in, cousin."
Ruan Yuewei almost lowered her head to her chest and slowly knelt down. She was just desperate. What was wrong with that
Zhao Qinghui leaned forward, stretched out his broken arm, and gently stroked her cheek with the tumor-like thing: "Cousin, you just want to live a better life, what's wrong with that?"