Chapter 153 Crotchety Commander He
“Damn it!” Liao Qing’er kept her eyes open and said, “How could it be? Even if your stepmother dislikes you, as long as your biological father meets you, he definitely likes you!”
He Danggui still shook her head with a sense of alienation and obstinacy in her eyes. Liao Qing’er lovingly gave her a big hug, which made the people gulp on the other side of the river. Liao Qing’er said sincerely, “Your personality, temper, appearance and ability are all preeminent. Even Zhu’s Family could not teach such a princess like you. Now the only regret is your family background. Why not try to change it?”
“Would you like some wine, Miss?” A boy of academy who took charge of boiling plum wine carried a basket and stood behind them. He Danggui took a pot of wine, a dish of sour plum and peanut with sauce. And she gave that boy 500 qian as gratuity. Then he happily received and ran away.
They had a drink together, and Liao Qing’er still persuaded, “Your biological father is living in He’s Family in the capital. Don’t look down upon the love that a father has for his daughter. It’s deeper than sea and heavier than gold. Maybe he never notices how deeper his love is, and you should feel his love face to face. If you agree, next month when it comes to the New Year, we will come back to the capital and I’ll go to He’s Family with you to get a status for you! As long as getting the status of legitimate daughter, you’ll choose those childes arbitrarily!” She said and pointed at those childes on the other side like counting ducks, “Zong Qiao is so pedantic. Pass! Wen Han plays the field. Pass! Guan Mo and Guan Qi all have waiting-maids (maid in name, concubine in reality), and they are not virginal. Pass! Sun Zhize? People in Sun’s Family can get out of my face! Han Fang? He looks nice. Oh, he glanced at me. I’m so excited...”
He Danggui put one sour plum into her mouth. It was so sour that she frowned. She laughed at Liao Qing’er and said, “Do men need to be virginal? Your standard of choosing a husband is so diversified, which could pass so many men. You may not know that when a childe is 11 or 12 years old, his mother or grandmother will choose a few older unknown girls as waiting-maids in his room. You have only lived in Guan’s Mansion, so you only know Guan Mo and Guan Qi have waiting-maids. In fact, they are not alone. Even Han Fang, which you think is very good, probably has a waiting-maid.
“Really?” Liao Qing’er doubted, “My brother has no waiting-maid. He was a virgin before he married my sister-in-law! He claimed that he never had that behavior even when he went to a brothel. A gentleman of ‘Passing through flowers, nothing can be allured.’ Oh, no, no, no. My mother really gave him a waiting-maid! Oh, Xi Chan is my brother’s waiting-maid. That’s so secret, and I never noticed since I’ve lived in Liao’s Family for so long... No wonder she was so shy when looking at my brother... Does Meng Xuan have a waiting-maid?”
He Danggui gave her an annoyed look and said, “Don’t you feel tired when you mention him a dozen times in different pretexts every day?”
Liao Qing’er scooped up a peanut with a small white porcelain spoon and chewed, saying vaguely, “Because you’re not so direct. You like him, but why don’t you try it? Let’s go to He’s Family to find your father, okay?”
“Hush, be quiet. There’s something wrong.” He Danggui raised her hands to stop Liao Qing’er while listening for it.
Liao Qing’er knew that He Danggui was listening to others’ conversation by “long ears” which seniors usually used. So, she stopped and waited. After a while, He Danggui turned back to drink with a thoughtful expression in her face. Liao Qing’er asked eagerly, “Did you hear something?” Seeing He Danggui was silent and said nothing, Liao Qing’er curled her lips and said, “You just want to change the topic deliberately, don’t you? Now that you are patient to linger with those villains like Dong Xinlan and Luo Baiqiong. Why not have the courage to meet your father? I think he is nice. It’s so cool when he flied on the eaves like a martial-arts film!”
Being silent for a while, He Danggui said seriously, “Qing, for all I know in previous life, Commander He is definitely not good. As you said to describe Cao Hongrui, Commander He is abnormal. If you meet him when you come back to the capital, just regard him as the second Cao Hongrui and keep away from him as far as you can. Remember don’t speak to him, and even do not say that you know me, got it?”
Liao Qing’er asked surprisingly with an unbelievable expression on her face, “The second Cao Hongrui? Are you kidding me? He is your father. Why do you describe him like that? Did he do something offensive?”
“I just heard and never saw him.” He Danggui said slightly, “Just because he is my biological father, it’s inappropriate for me to say. If you’re curious, just ask you brother to survey him. The spies from Changye Tower like researching others’ secrets the best, don’t they? As for my status of the daughter of the concubine, on the third day after the death of He Jinpeng who is Commander He’s father, Commander He threatened his father’s cousin, He Jinzhou who is the patriarch of He’s Family and came to condole. He forced He Jinzhou to give him the family tree. Then he changed my mother to Concubine Luo and changed me to the daughter of the concubine. Will he become kind again and change it back for me?”
Hearing this, Liao Qing’er was so surprised and cared about another thing. She asked, “He Jinpeng? Your biological grandfather? You call your father Commander He. It seems that you have a deep resentment with him. Did your mother told you that?”
He Danggui sighed and said, “My mother is a spoony. She has given all her love for Commander He when she was with him. Later she completely gave him up and was matched to marry He Fu by my grandmother. She believed the truth that following the man you marry, no matter what he does. No matter how cold and heartless he was, she still paid all her heart to him, as if taking care of her brother to help him manage everything. Even though, He Fu still left her. It was said that he considered him to a son-in-law of Luo’s Mansion in the capital, kept concubines and had children. He was so carefree. My mother, like a fool, has no sophisticated thoughts and is inarticulate. What could she tell me? Some of these stories were heard from the conversation between Madam Luo and others in the previous life, and others were known from Wuying Tower. Actually, I don’t have any resentment to people in He’s Family. They’re just irrelevant.”
“Wuying Tower? Is that the place where you worked for your husband in the previous life? Oh, sorry. Never say the name of Zhu’s Family’s seventeenth son!” Liao Qing’er repeatedly weaved her hands and said, “Every time when mentioning his name, your look gloomy! Come on, just drink! In wine, there’s truth. My sister, just tell me who is the successor? Is his first grandson?”
He Danggui hit Liao Qing’er with her fist and said, “Stop saying it. I will never tell you in case you have some shocking actions, such as running for Xiunv (women in the Imperial Harem) or Crown Prince’s concubines.”
“I’m not Luo Baiqiong!” Liao Qing’er was originally angry to mumble. Suddenly, her eyes brightened up, and she moved close to He Danggui. She said, “Tell me, last time when Luo Baiqiong lured Peng Shi with overpowering drug, how far they were going? Did you fly on the roof to see them? Does she still have the virginity to run for Xiunv?”
He Danggui despised Liao Qing’er while she chewed the sour plum. She said, “What a shame. As a postgraduate having Time Travel from the future, you not only didn’t read history and have no idea of the history of Ming Dynasty, but also have such a vulgar interest.”
Liao Qing’er didn’t care about it. She said, “I was a little rebellious at the period of junior middle school. Because of having much money given by my father, I hired students to help me do homework. Each subject was 2.5 yuan. Well, my history book was still new from the beginning to end of the semester, and I even didn’t distinguish Zheng Chenggong and Zheng He. I always thought that Zheng He’s given name was Chenggong. Later I know they two have no relations.”
He Danggui tilted her head and asked, “Zheng He? I vaguely heard this name. What did he do?”
Liao Qing’er scratched her head and said, “A general maybe, like a national hero. He also went to the Atlantic by ship. Later I was a freshman in high school and usually skipped class to my father’s office to ask him for money. But that secretary didn’t let me in and said my father was having an important meeting. So, I waited for him on the sofa outside. After a while, a strange sound came from inside. That secretary and I looked at each other and listened from beginning to end. In the end, the door was opened. A woman with a slender figure came out and saw me. Then she turned back to sneer at my father, as if to say, ‘your daughter comes for money again.’ I looked at him from a crack and found that he wore a suit on his upper body and underpants. Things on the table were rolled on the floor. We looked at each other with embarrassing looks. Luckily, the elevator opened and I came into the first floor at once. After coming out, I took a taxi to school. Since then, I never skipped class, and later I went to college and got into a graduate school. But before honoring my mother, I had Time Travel back with my soul suddenly. When my mother saw my corpse, how sad she would be!”
He Danggui comforted her, “Having the vast sums of 50,000 yuan you kept, your mother must have a comfortable and wealthy lives with a good health and happiness.”
“How could it be called the vast sums of money? I told you that 1 yuan of my age isn’t same as 1 liang. 1 yuan is equivalent to 3 or 4 copper cash, so 50,000 yuan is just equivalent to 400 or 500 liang silver. You don’t know that the housing price of my country is so high, and my mother has been living in the old house which my grandmother left till now. I really want to send my 20,000 liang silver to her so that she could buy a house...” Liao Qing’er showed a lonely expression which He Danggui was sympathetic. When He Danggui was about to comfort her, Liao Qing’er shook her arms and said with a smile, “Say something happy. After the feast last month, which stage did Luo Baiqiong and Peng Shi develop? I don’t believe that you didn’t see it!”
He Danggui searched the white plum on the wine cup and smiled slightly. She said, “I didn’t specifically see it. But passing by that wing-room, I admired the flowers for a while...” Liao Qing’er hissed, but He Danggui didn’t care and continued, “I haven’t heard it. If it has, even if Peng Shi isn’t willing to marry Luo Baiqiong, Luo Baiqiong would depend on him as a concubine. So, I guess that maybe she just kissed him, which waked Peng Shi up. Thanks to it, otherwise Peng Shi would kill her with his personality. As a legitimate daughter of Luo’s Mansion, if she goes to be her cousin’s concubine, how humiliating this marriage is! There are so many curious reasons behind, and she couldn’t bear even just Peng’s Family’s gossip.”
“What about your mother?” Liao Qing’er and Liao Zhiyuan were really brother and sister, who both had a strong thirst for knowledge and exploring spirit. Then Liao Qing’er stroked her chin and said, “She is a legitimate daughter of Luo’s Mansion, and the family property of Luo’s Mansion is little higher than He’s Mansion’s. Why did she endure humiliation to be a concubine? Divorce is not a big deal. Just delete the name of the family tree and leave! Why did she change into a concubine? She didn’t become Commander He’s wife, of course becoming his concubine is not a choice!”
He Danggui smiled and said, “My mother is artless and couldn’t get the sense. At first, she heard that Commander He had a concubine living outside and spoiled her so much. Commander He gave her anything whatever she wanted, so my mother constantly cried and screamed in order to ask her husband to change his mind. But she never thought they would break up. Later, that concubine was taken to He’s Family, and Commander He took her to kowtow to his seriously ill father. He told his father that the concubine was a prostitute before, which resulted in his father’s death. At that time, my mother also served his father with decoction, and she was charged in neglecting father-in-law’s care to his death without reason somehow. Then she received a piece of divorce paper on the spot.”
Liao Qing’er was shocked and said, “How insidious Commander He is! Why did she have something to say to him? Just divorce by agreement!”
He Danggui said, “Do you really think ‘divorce by agreement’ of this age is the same as yours? Actually, it’s not. There is little difference between divorce by agreement and divorcing wives. They’re all up to men. Since ancient times, no matter how wronged the wife was in her husband’s family, she would go back to her mother’s home to complain for a few days at most, and would not take the initiative to ask for a divorce. In their eyes, their husbands are like sky and root. Not only they couldn’t be higher than sky, but also they couldn’t cut off their roots. Just like He Fu. He treated my mother with heartlessness, but my mother still couldn’t send divorce by agreement to him. She is pedantic and cowardly, but Madam Luo of Luo’s Family also has her own idea and really loves my mother. But she still couldn’t tell my mother about ‘divorcing husbands’. Last year, I once indirectly asked Madam Luo. Do you know what she said?”
“What did she say?”
He Danggui calmed down and said, “She said that the reason why they still had something to do with He Fu is considering on my behalf, for I’ll have a father when I get married in the future. If my mother divorces him and those things, which she got married twice and had divorce by agreement twice, are spread, my social status will also become lower. And it will be more difficult for me to get married. Childes from rich family even aren’t willing to take me as a concubine. Even if a childe loves my beauty and wants to appreciate me at home, his parents dare not agree to let a woman without good family background to tarnish their reputations and the ancestral hall.”
“What? Is this the reason? Your mother didn’t marry a good man, but does it have anything to do with you?” Liao Qing’er was unconvinced, “Why did they divorce to make you devalue? Who made the rule? That sucks.”
“This is the truth. No one could change it from ancient times till today. Women obey the three obediences and the four virtues as well as regard their husbands as guides and the heaven. Not only should they obey and assist her husband, but also not be so competent as to damage her husband’s majesty.” He Danggui looked up at the sky, and the line of egrets which rose up to the sky was reflected in her black pupils. She said, “I once broke this rule in my previous life, so I failed with my head broken and bleeding.”
Touching her chin and thinking for a while, Liao Qing’er suddenly asked, “Zeng Yuelian, your stepmother. I heard that she was the most beautiful prostitute. It seems like your family background is higher than her. How could she get into the gate and ancestral hall of He’s Family, and also became Commander He’s wife? Commander He’s father died of anger, but his mother didn’t care it and usually went to the opera in Ming Jia Fang and watched soap operas. How could she agree her son to marry that prostitute?”
He Danggui drew back her sight of seeing the sky and looked at the opposite bank at random. When she unconsciously glanced at Wen Han with an evil gaze and smile, she thought it was a whammy and just turned to look at the wooden cup in the river. It had already flowed to the sisters of Qian’s Family. She said, “I just eavesdropped from the conversation between Madam Luo and Mammy Tang. They two chattered and scolded on behalf of Luo’s Family, which seemed to lack the justice. It was said that Madam He is narrow-minded and always dislikes my mother. In order to send away my mother, she would rather let a prostitute come into He’s Family. And I heard that woman is cleverer than my mother and has the excellent ability of relaxing bone. When Commander He took her home at the first time, she had made Madam He laugh and did everything whatever Madam He wanted.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friends.” Liao Qing’er sighed and said, “No wonder you don’t want to go back. No one is good in He’s Family. But your identity depends on Commander He. I think you’d better go back. I’m sure he will arouse his conscience of his love to you when seeing you. Because you really look like him, especially your nose and mouth. Your eyes are also a little like his, and there’s a flash of unfathomable light in your eyes. He’ll recognize you as his daughter the moment he sees you. If you call him daddy again, he will be in the mood to resume your status as a legitimate daughter. Then you will... Why did he change the family tree by forcing the patriarch? If he didn’t love your mother, he could just kick her out of the door. Have they already divorced by agreement?”
He Danggui explained, “You don’t know the difference between divorce by agreement and divorcing wives, Qing. One is woman could bring her dowry, and the other is woman could continue to live in her husband’s family but must lower her status to a concubine. So, my mother who never changed her mind and hoped her husband to come round...took his divorce paper with tears and lowered her status as a concubine. Hearing this, Commander He became so angry. His purpose wasn’t to become entangled in Luo’s Family and my mother. He didn’t want my mother to be his concubine. He just wanted her to leave by all means, so he changed the family tree in front of tens of guests who came to condole, and humiliated her with ‘concubine’ and ‘the daughter of the concubine’. But it was just a beginning.”
Liao Qing’er frowned and asked, “Uh? What could he have done worse? Your mother also has the background of a master, Grandpa Luo, to support her. Could Commander He not be afraid of offending Luo’s Family?”
“Luo’s Family had a deep hatred with He’s Family a hundred year ago. My grandfather Luo Duzhong facilitated this marriage with He Jinpeng to resolve that hostility. He Jinzhou, who was the patriarch of He’s Family, also knew it, so on that day at He Jinpeng’s mourning hall, even though the sword was on his neck, he firmly didn’t revise the family tree of changing the legitimate daughter of Luo’s Family to a concubine in order to avoid two families’ feud.” He Danggui pause for a while and then said, “But my mother kowtowed to the patriarch, He Jinzhou, and asked for taking her as Concubine Luo to redeem her husband’s love.”
Liao Qing’er kept her eyes wide open and said, “Come on. That sucks! Oh, I’m sorry.”
“There’s the worst. My mother’s bride servant, Mammy Li, told these things to Madam Luo.” He Danggui sneered and said, “A few days later, Commander He and his new wife went into the bridal chamber, and they didn’t ask the personal maids to serve. Instead, they asked my mother to hold the plate with a happy steelyard to lift the bridal veil and to give them the articles that they needed while flirting. My mother humiliated herself to serve them and witness the whole process of their wedding night.”
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