The Rebirth of Han Yuxi

Chapter 0815 The Dream (2)

The moon slowly rose above the distant treetops, casting its clear, bright light over the lake and giving it a silvery sheen. Soon, a translucent grey cloud drifted over, obscuring the moonlight. The ground sank into dimness.

Looking at Yuxi, who stood beside him, still and tranquil as water, Yun Qing felt a sudden surge of panic. This version of Yuxi seemed very far away from him. Unable to stop himself, Yun Qing embraced her and said, "Wife, it was only a dream. Don't take it as real." Although Yuxi hadn't finished speaking, he was certain it must have been an extremely terrible dream.

Yuxi shook her head. Since she had already made her decision, she couldn't possibly stop after revealing only the beginning. Her voice was so soft that only Yun Qing could hear her. "In the dream, my Er Tangjie took pleasure in bullying me. Every time she saw me, she would make sure I got hurt. Once, she even pushed me off a rockery and broke my leg. The first two times, I complained to the Old Lady, but instead of receiving justice, I was angrily scolded and punished. After that happened several times, I no longer dared to complain whenever Er Tangjie bullied me. When the pain became unbearable, all I could do was hide under my quilt and cry." In her previous life, Yujing had bullied her terribly. Yet she did not resent Yujing. A good-natured person gets bullied, just as a docile horse gets ridden. She could only blame herself for being too weak and incapable.

Yun Qing asked, "Didn't Mom care for you very much? Why didn't she uphold justice for you?" Judging from Qiu Shi's attitude towards Yuxi, it was clear that she cared deeply for her and should have been unwilling to see her harmed.

Yuxi shook her head. "Er Tangjie's concubine mother was Eldest Uncle's favoured concubine. Even Eldest Aunt had to yield to her somewhat." Because Yujing's mother was so favoured, even when Eldest Aunt knew Yuxi had been wronged, in the end she would merely turn a major matter into a minor one, and a minor matter into nothing.

Yun Qing froze for a moment before asking, "Weren't you very close to Jing Wangfei? When she saw you being bullied like that, didn't she help you?"

Yuxi raised her head towards the sky, a faint, detached smile appearing on her face. "Yuchen looked down on someone as weak and useless as I was. Normally, she wouldn't even bother saying a word to me. At most, if she happened to see me being bullied, she would say a few words to Er Tangjie." Beyond that, Yuchen would not interfere. If she truly valued their sisterly bond, she wouldn't have stood by and watched Yuxi get tormented like that in her previous life while pretending not to know. Yuxi had never blamed Yuchen either. If she could not stand up for herself, relying on others would be useless. But because of those experiences, she had never dared to open up to Yuchen.

Refusing to give up, Yun Qing asked, "What about Han Jianming and Han Jianye?" Han Jianming was the heir to the Duke's residence. If he had supported Yuxi from behind, she would not have suffered such bullying.

Yuxi shook her head. "In the dream, whenever I saw Dage, I didn't even dare raise my head. He barely had any impression of me, so naturally he didn't support me. As for Er Ge, he cared about me very much. Unfortunately, he left home when he was ten, so I could only see him for two days each month."

Yun Qing asked, "So you became a little cabbage?" A little cabbage whom nobody loved or cherished and who was constantly bullied.

Yuxi did not respond to Yun Qing's remark. Instead, she said, "Less than two months after Han Jingyan married my mother, he left the capital to take up an external posting and did not return until I was eleven. During those eleven years, Yuchen received carefully prepared gifts from him on every birthday, as well as extra gifts during each of the three major festivals. As for me, I never got so much as a single feather. So every time Yuchen received a gift from Han Jingyan, I would hide under my quilt and cry for half the day." The reason she had been hurt in her previous life was that she still held expectations in her heart, hoping Han Jingyan would remember he had another daughter. In this life, however, she expected nothing from him, so nothing Han Jingyan did could hurt her any longer.

After pausing for a moment, Yuxi continued, "When I was eleven, Han Jingyan returned to the capital with my stepmother and his other children. From the moment he appeared until the moment I left, I couldn't stop watching him. When he finally noticed me, there was no happiness in his eyes, only disgust. I cried until morning that night, and my eyes became so red and swollen that I did not dare show my face to anyone the next day." Back then, whenever something happened, she never thought about solving the problem. All she knew how to do was cry. She was a complete bag of tears.

Yun Qing said, "Doesn't the old saying go, dreams are always the opposite of reality?" The old saying certainly was not wrong. His wife, Yuxi, was resilient by nature. When trouble hit, she didn't cry; instead, she tried every possible way to solve it, rather than hiding under the quilt and weeping in secret.

Yuxi omitted everything about Wu Shi abusing her. If she went into that much detail, she would still be talking tomorrow. "After my coming-of-age ceremony, my marriage was placed on the agenda as well. But because I lacked talent, beauty and a good reputation, and had no substantial dowry or the temperament to manage a household, it was difficult to find a suitable match for me. Eldest Aunt was grateful that my mother had saved Er Ge's life, so she wanted me to marry into her own maiden family. She spoke to me specifically about it, saying that for her sake, I would not be bullied in the Qiu family." At that time, Yuxi was nothing but a steamed stuffed bun, someone anyone could push around. Had she married into a ruthless household, she would only have been tormented. Eldest Aunt's words ultimately came true.

Although Yun Qing knew it had only been a dream, hearing that Yuxi had married someone else in that dream still left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Yun Qing asked, "Then did you marry into the Qiu family?"

Yuxi gently shook her head. "At the time, the two families had already given their verbal agreement and were preparing to match our Eight Characters. But unexpectedly, the newly appointed Zhuangyuan came to the Han residence to ask for my hand in marriage."

Although Yun Qing felt rather uncomfortable, his mind remained clear. "If what you say is true, and in your dream, you had no talent, virtue, or notable reputation, and were weak by nature, why would the top scholar come specifically to the Han residence to ask for your hand?" It simply did not make sense.

A mocking smile appeared on Yuxi's face. "Although I wasn't intelligent in the dream and was even somewhat foolish, I still knew that a meat pie does not simply fall from the sky. The top scholar definitely had ulterior motives for marrying me. When I refused, Han Jingyan threw me a strip of white silk and told me to take my own life."

Yun Qing held Yuxi tightly. "Don't say any more. Let's go back." Yuxi's story had seemed so real that he could barely bear to hear it. What kind of father would behave like that? He knew the marriage was wrong, yet he forced his daughter into it. If she refused, he wanted her dead. Even a vicious tiger does not eat its own cubs. Han Jingyan was simply a beast.

Yuxi clutched at Yun Qing's clothes. "Since I've started opening up to you, let me finish." She was very happy now. She and her husband loved each other, and her daughters were filial and obedient. One could almost call her life perfect. She had thought that, in a couple of years, the shadow buried in the deepest part of her heart would disperse with the wind. Yet, in reality, she could not make it disappear.

Yun Qing gave a quiet acknowledgement, then suddenly asked, "Who was that newly appointed zhuangyuan? Was it Jiang Hongjin?" He had reason to suspect Jiang Hongjin. Without a hatred carved into the bones, Yuxi would never have harmed him.

Yuxi gave a soft affirmative. "Once the marriage was settled, everyone said I had stumbled upon incredible luck and had somehow managed to marry the youngest zhuangyuan in the Great Zhou Dynasty. But anyone with a discerning eye could tell at a glance that something was wrong. Even my Eldest Aunt noticed that something wasn't quite right. Unfortunately, once Old Lady and Han Jingyan had made their decision, Eldest Aunt had no power to change it."

Yun Qing stroked Yuxi's head. "Then you married him?" Although he knew it was just a dream, he still felt unhappy about it deep down.

Yuxi replied, "I did. But on our wedding night, Jiang Hongjin never even entered the bridal chamber. Before long, I became the laughing stock in the Jiang family. My mother-in-law disliked me, my sister-in-law hated me, and even the servants ignored me completely. Every day in the Jiang residence felt like a year. The one thing I insisted upon was keeping my dowry firmly in my own hands and refusing to let Yu Shi coax it away from me." Since she already knew Jiang Hongjin had married her for ulterior motives, and he had never once come to her room after their wedding, handing her dowry to Yu Shi under such circumstances would be like cutting off her escape route.

Qiu Shi knew Yuxi's temperament and realised that expecting her to run a business properly was unrealistic. Therefore, all the dowry property she prepared for Yuxi consisted of practical assets, houses and farmland, that would provide a steady income. The houses could be rented out, while the farmland was guaranteed to produce a harvest in both drought and flood. To prevent Yuxi from being deceived by servants, Qiu Shi even assigned some of her own trusted people to help manage Yuxi's dowry. Such a generous dowry naturally caught Yu Shi's covetous eye. Yet Yuxi stubbornly refused to hand it over, which made Yu Shi dislike her all the more.

Yun Qing's expression was complicated. On the one hand, he felt he ought to be pleased that Jiang Hongjin had never consummated the marriage with Yuxi; on the other hand, he was furious that Jiang Hongjin had treated her this way. Suppressing his mixed emotions, Yun Qing asked, "What happened afterwards?" There was no need to guess; whatever followed had surely been dreadful.

Yuxi replied in a dull voice, "I was confined to the rear courtyard and forbidden from leaving. Fortunately, Eldest Aunt occasionally sent older female servants to see me, so Yu Shi did not dare withhold my food." As Yuxi had money of her own, she could still eat enough at all three meals, but eating well was impossible.

After pausing, Yuxi took a deep breath. "But in the third year after I married into the Jiang family, Yu Shi used my infertility and poor health as grounds to demand that Jiang Hongjin divorce me and marry someone else. Jiang Hongjin refused. Soon after, a bedchamber maid arranged by Yu Shi became pregnant. Then the concubine lost the child, and all the evidence pointed towards me." At this point, Yuxi gave a mocking smile. "The me in the dream was weak and incapable, not particularly clever, and already living a difficult life in the Yu household. Anyone with even a little sense would have known the matter had nothing to do with me. Yet Yu Shi insisted on blaming me, hoping to force Jiang Hongjin to divorce me. Jiang Hongjin refused, but I wanted to escape that place that devoured people, so I begged him for a way out. Even if I had to spend the rest of my life accompanied only by a green lamp and an ancient Buddha, it would still have been better than guarding that place until death."

Yun Qing asked, "Jiang Hongjin refused?" Jiang Hongjin married Yuxi but would not consummate the marriage, and then, when she wanted to leave, he would not allow that either. Such a man was simply inhuman.

Yuxi gave a soft affirmative. "He refused. Instead, he sent me to a very remote estate and kept me there under house arrest. Had things remained that way, I could have spent the rest of my life peacefully in the countryside. But the realm was in chaos, and nowhere was truly safe. The court's incompetence and corruption had created countless starving refugees. Jiangnan in particular suffered a catastrophic flood unseen in a hundred years, and bandits and robbers were everywhere. One group of bandits set their sights on the estate where I lived. Not only did they steal the grain and abduct the women, but they also killed everyone else in the village and burned the place down."

Yun Qing's expression changed completely as he listened. Everything Yuxi described sounded far too real—as though it had genuinely happened.