Chapter 57: Chapter 57
Chapter 57
As for Yueqian’s cooking plan, she had prepared some for days after. If they needed soup, she could use the broth from the pickled lime winter melon stew with chicken wings she made. If they wanted other dishes, she had those ready too. She was confident they would never tire of her cooking.
"I definitely won’t get bored. I used to eat just plain porridge, and I never got bored."
"Huan’er feels the same," the two children quickly chimed in support of their sister-in-law.
How could they ever tire of such good food, especially when their sister-in-law prepared it with such care? Even if they had to eat it every day in the future, they would never say they were bored.
Seeing the children pleased her to this extent, Yueqian couldn’t help but laugh. She turned to look at Mu Heng, who was helping her managed the fire.
"And what about you? Will you get tired of the food I make?" Seeing that he was included with the children, Mu Heng hesitated slightly.
"I’m not a child. How could I get tired of food?" The person pretending to be old made Yueqian unable to hold back her laughter.
"In the future, if there’s anything specific you want to eat, just let me know. I’ll prepare it," the young woman said considerately, trying to make him forget about today’s events. Yueqian was really trying to please him.
"Fine, I will let you know," Mu Heng acknowledged the beauty’s intent. He nodded with deep meaning.
After all, they had plans to be together till old. Whatever he wanted to eat today or in the future, he wanted to eat everything only with her, without letting anything else bother him.
Seeing such a loving family and seeing Yueqian appearing unlike Yueqian they knew, the three of them who emerged from the door couldn’t help but pause.
The person most astonished might have been the distinguished man, a target of desire for many women in the capital. The Young General stood frozen. He had just heard the laughter of his former fiancée, which didn’t have a hidden ill-will for the first time.
The tone she used with her husband didn’t seem pressured at all. It was an easy-going voice, not to please anyone, neither indifferent nor repulsive, but rather one that easily warmed the heart of a listener.
His fists clenched tightly. He realized what he had been wanting and longing for all along... It was a ‘sincerity’ from her.
If he were the one in front of her now, he would feel at ease, right?
As he sat, copying textbooks, strategizing over conquests across the kingdom, by his side should be a woman who cared for him, saw him as family, without any disgusting pretense. Shouldn’t it be him who enjoyed such comfort?
Why had she shown him only her worst side for over a decade? Why did he only see her trying to make him uncomfortable?
Or could it really be that, once she married as she desired and became a rightful wife, she would turn out like this?
Even when she married this poor villager, a man nowhere near his equal, she still seemed so carefree and comfortable, apparently at ease here.
"I heard you’ve prepared a lot of food. So, as your fiancé, may I come and have a meal?" The young man’s deep voice couldn’t help but break into the sweet atmosphere that was so enviable.
His voice was loud enough to make everyone in the house turn their attention. Yueqian looked at him with furrowed brows, seemingly displeased, before her expression neutralized, but it was enough to make the general feel anger rising.
Does she dare to look at him with such eyes? When in the past, she used to chase after him like a bird pecking at melon seeds! What does she see him as now, or does she think she has escaped from him? Was that why when they met again, she could not help but feel dissatisfied?
Yueqian, you really are something!
"Or is it no longer possible? Was the past camaraderie you showed all just a lie?" He couldn’t help but say another word.
His piercing gaze scrutinized her unadorned, sweet face, a beauty above ordinary.
"Everything from the past has been forgotten. Please do not instigate discord between me and my husband," Yueqian said indifferently and wearily.
She looked at the three guests who entered without making a sound, showing a lack of manners by eavesdropping on them, as if they hadn’t been taught. Yueqian’s lips curled sarcastically, her eyes disdainfully looking at them.
"I’m even more baffled now. Since when did a general like you become so indecisive? When you had me, you didn’t care, but now that I’m someone else’s wife, living peacefully, you want to disrupt our lives. What exactly are your intentions?"
"Or is your taste somewhat perverse? Do you have a special liking for other men’s wives, seeking to conquer?" Yueqian covered her mouth while laughing.
She looked like the villainess they were familiar with, but her expressions were more adorable than ever. The lady didn’t scream at people with her high pitch voice but used demeaning words that shamed more profoundly.
Usually, these words should have made a man of honor like the Young General feel embarrassed and unwilling to interfere. However, his character wasn’t like those in the novels... Hearing Yueqian’s words, his face darkened, yet he did not turn and leave as he should have.
"Qian’er, don’t say that. You have been my fiancée since childhood. I definitely consider you my future wife."
"The incident now was just a decision by the Qin family that wasn’t discussed with us. By the time I knew it, you were already on a sedan chair, carried off to marry someone else."
"This matter was really a breach of contract by the Qin family against us. But I believe that once the Qin family realizes that I am not overly concerned about the aphrodisiac drugs, they will make things right."
"The gratitude the Qin family owes our family doesn’t end just because you were forced to marry someone else. Moreover, we grew up together; I could never despise or disdain you. Today, you are being someone else’s wife unwillingly, I am definitely unhappy."
"Soon, I will send a matchmaker to the Qin family to formally propose as our ancestors had arranged. Our marriage is bound to happen."
"I am not perverse as you say. Everything I do now is to fulfill the promise between our families. This is something I cannot defy; it is a way to show my filial piety to the ancestors who have passed."
He not only remained composed, but the Young General, who is usually not very talkative, spoke as if he was a deeply virtuous man, holding on to filial piety, thinking of the souls that have passed away. He would continue to be regarded as a good person in the future.
If Yueqian really became his wife, in the end, she would be the one criticized because she would be the one with two husbands, while he would be seen as accepting, willing to take a wife who once married.
The Young General wouldn’t be at fault; he would be seen as pitiable, and Yueqian would be the one society condemns. When in fact, she was just living her life, the other party used his and the Qin family’s power to threaten her.
Yueqian felt that this brazen general had a depth that was terrifying. Is he really the brave and honest hero of the story?
In the story, he spends his time on state affairs, while the heroine spends her time fighting and helping him secure his position and succeed. Ultimately, Liu Sun becomes the principal wife, highly esteemed.
But why does the hero now seem like a deceiving villain!
He seemed too clever. It seemed like he could guess the purpose of everything Yueqian had done, letting things slide so he can catch her later. What she was doing now would make Yueqian’s life harder. Why did she think he wanted the outcome to be this way?
He wants to see her suffer... but why?
“You talk about the deceased like this, I can’t do anything anymore. The Qin family’s betrothal contract, the Qin family members will surely know how to find a way out. With many descendants, sending a beautiful woman to marry is not difficult.”
“Besides, I no longer consider myself a Qin. A woman who marries into her husband’s family must trust her husband and listen to him the most. It’s impossible for me to have such disgraceful thoughts.”
Yueqian raised her head challengingly. When he made a move against her, she was ready to fight back.
Moreover, even if this situation caused her to be defamed as not following the ancestral teachings, she would be wrong for not showing filial piety to the ancestors, not completing the agreement made by them, but so what?
If she did well, could the Villainess Qin still be called a villainess? Certainly, she was not afraid of people throwing mud; she only feared that he might play dirtier. If it was about reputation, she wasn’t concerned from the start; let her be whatever character in someone else’s story. Yueqian is tired of caring.
She was from an era where celebrities’ small mistakes would lead to them being called evil, yet they could turn from villains to goddesses in a few months, then back to mud again. Such things people are used to. In the end, words never killed anyone, there are only those who want to die over words.
As long as there’s money... no matter how bad things get, there’s no trouble. Ultimately, they might even end up more powerful than all those good people.
“You’re still young, Yueqian. You don’t understand the thoughts of adults. They look farther than you think,” the Young General said with a smile, as if he hadn’t heard Yueqian say she’s no longer a Qin.
This made the beautiful woman just shrug nonchalantly, did not want to argue with someone who thinks he controls everything. She just looked affectionately at the children hungry from the aroma of the lime pickled winter melon stew.
“Kids, go ahead and eat first. I’ll follow shortly.”
Yueqian didn’t want them to wait long. However, she had no intention of inviting guests she ’disliked’ to join them for dinner. So, if they don’t leave, she won’t go into the house, not giving them the chance to follow her in.
“Yueqian, did you really cook this food yourself?”
