A Willing Mistake, My Lady – Chapter 4

The Hero Saves the Beauty

She is my legally wedded wife

It was a scene of vibrant spring, blooming with red flowers and green willows. Yet this magnificent scenery was utterly ruined by the hideous man standing in the distance.

            

Seeing that she was too late to physically block the slap aimed at Miss Jiang’s face, Shen Hetang bent down and snatched up a stone half the size of an egg. The moment her fingertips brushed the rock, it shot through the air.

While the man was still howling, Shen Hetang strode over to Jiang Chenyu and lifted her off the ground with both hands. The speed and power behind that throw had definitely not been her own; it was more like the muscle memory of this body.

“Who are you? How dare you run wild in my manor!” Wu Daoyuan glared at the young man before him, his wrist bone nearly shattered. His usual good-natured facade had vanished completely.

            

“Father, he is Shen Hetang, the man I married yesterday. My current husband.” Jiang Chenyu leaned behind Shen Hetang, but she answered Wu Daoyuan clearly, articulating every word as if to formally notify him that she now had a husband.

“Good… good… you shameless thing! I wasted years raising you with such care, only for you to go behind my back and do something this brazen. Go out and ask around—what proper maiden from a good family would dare elope so illicitly? This is fornication! I ought to take you both and sink you in the pond¹.” Wu Daoyuan roared uncontrollably. When Nanny Wu had told him that Chuntao was parading the wedding veil around—shamelessly letting half the courtyard know what they had done—he had wanted nothing more than to strangle this dog couple with his bare hands.

“Um… sir… please, don’t get so worked up. My marriage certificate with my wife was officially registered at the county yamen² by the matchmaker. It is absolutely not an illicit union without a broker, let alone fornication. You can put your mind at ease.” Shen Hetang simply could not bring herself to call him ‘Father.’ The relationship between this father and daughter did not look good at all.

            

“Divorce him at once, or I will beat this pretty boy to death.” Wu Daoyuan stared at Jiang Chenyu with a dark, menacing gaze.

“Father, your daughter was simply blinded by anger at the Zhang family. But what is wrong with marrying Shen Lang now? I am the only daughter of the Jiang family. Must you insist on marrying me off, leaving yourself to grow old in solitude?” No matter what she had to say, she was determined to bind herself to Shen Hetang.

“You… you…! Even if you hate the Zhang family, you should let your father personally choose a good husband for you! What use is finding a pretty boy like this!” Wu Daoyuan pointed furiously at Shen Hetang.

            

Shen Hetang leaned back to dodge his poking finger. This was too much. She was standing right here. Was he treating her as if she didn’t exist?

“Father, I think Shen Lang is wonderful. The rice is already cooked³. Divorce is absolutely out of the question.” Jiang Chenyu’s voice, clear as pearls and jade, struck Wu Daoyuan’s ears word by word.

“Fine… fine. It seems you won’t repent without facing the family discipline. Someone! Lock the Miss in the woodshed!” Wu Daoyuan no longer wanted to bicker with them. His patience had run dry. The only reason he didn’t order Shen Hetang tied up as well was because he refused to acknowledge the youth’s status; he fully intended to have Shen Hetang thrown directly out onto the street and beaten half to death.

            

Jiang Chenyu looked at her stepfather, who had completely torn away his disguise. Despite her fear, she reached out to pull Shen Hetang behind her. She had dragged him into this, after all, and she didn’t want him in any more danger. This bastard flipped his face faster than turning the page of a book. Was he going to resort to a private lynching?

Nanny Wu stepped forward with two guards, preparing to tear the couple apart. Shen Hetang’s gaze snapped to the old woman, sharp as a drawn sword. Intimidated by those commanding, upturned phoenix eyes, Nanny Wu flinched, not daring to reach out her thick, pincer-like hands.

This Young Master’s eyes were dark and bright, radiating an indescribable sense of oppression. Nanny Wu hesitated.

            

“Are you all deaf? I said lock up this shameless slut.” Seeing his servants dawdling, Master Wu raised his voice.

Shen Hetang frowned heavily. What kind of father called his own daughter a slut? Recalling how Miss Jiang had been forced to marry in such a desperate rush while her father was away, she began to seriously doubt the relationship between these two.

Prodded by Master Wu’s urging, Nanny Wu shouted at the men, “Are you deaf? Get over there and grab her!”

            

The two guards lunged for Jiang Chenyu’s shoulders. Just as they braced to yank her away, a foot slammed viciously into the lead guard’s chest.

A sharp crack rang out—the sound of splintering ribs.

The man flew backward, sailing five or six metres through the air before hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Agonized howls erupted, echoing across half the Jiang Manor.

            

“Has my father-in-law gone mad?” Shen Hetang demanded loudly while the courtyard was still frozen in shock. “How dare you let other men bully my wife right in front of my face?”

For a moment, no one could comprehend how the guard had flown so far. Only after Shen Hetang’s booming question did they snap out of their daze and stare at him.

“You have a lot of nerve! How dare you act so wildly in my manor!” Wu Daoyuan was just as stunned by the sheer force of that kick, but he scrambled to salvage his pride.

            

“My wife and I have already bowed to heaven and earth. Even as her father-in-law, you cannot tear us apart on a whim. That was just a servant. If I catch anyone else disrespecting my wife, I will not spare them.” What kind of wealthy family allowed lowly guards to manhandle their own Miss? As far as Shen Hetang was concerned, this master had lost his mind.

Shen Hetang’s words struck like dropping stones. Her voice was clear and bright, carrying a boyish resonance. Yet her expression was so deadpan and serious that it unconsciously commanded obedience.

Having his face repeatedly thrown back at him by these two, Wu Daoyuan had no choice but to drop the matter for now.

            

“Fine… I will settle this score with you later. Without my approval, let’s see who in this house dares to recognize him as the young master.” His chest heaved with fury. He whipped his wide sleeves back and stormed off.

The servant with the broken ribs was half-carried away by the other guard, groaning in agony. Nanny Wu spat a few reluctant curses and scurried away after Wu Daoyuan.

The small garden fell silent, leaving only Shen Hetang and Jiang Chenyu. Jiang Chenyu clung tightly to her husband’s arm. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest—not out of lingering terror from the farce, but from the sight of that explosive kick Shen Hetang had delivered to protect her.

            

She pressed her body flush against his. Feeling her clothes being tugged rather tightly, Shen Hetang looked down, meeting a pair of sparkling, star-bright eyes.

Seeing the girl clinging to her like a little kangaroo, she asked, “Are you hurt?”

“I am alright. Nothing’s wrong.” Jiang Chenyu shook her head and spoke softly.

            

But Shen Hetang still spotted the red, swollen bruising on her wrist. No matter how she looked at it, this wasn’t how a father treated his child. She was a grown woman; how could he default to corporal punishment so easily?

“Come on, let’s go back. I’ll help you apply some medicine.” She turned, wrapping an arm around Jiang Chenyu to guide her back to their rooms.

“Alright. Thank you, husband… Um… don’t you want to ask me something?” She couldn’t bring herself to mention Wu Daoyuan’s filthy thoughts toward her, afraid of dirtying her husband’s ears.

            

“If you think there’s something I need to know, then tell me.” It was better to have a clear understanding of the household’s interpersonal dynamics, after all.

Hearing this, Jiang Chenyu thought back on the past few years. This was the Jiang family’s manor, yet she had been forced to live like a beggar under someone else’s roof. Just thinking about the grievance of it made her eyes rim red.

When the two returned to the bedroom, they ran into Chuntao, who had just brought breakfast from the kitchen. Completely oblivious to the storm that had passed through the front courtyard, the maid was in high spirits as she set out the bowls and chopsticks.

            

Two bamboo steamers of xiaolongbao⁴, four cold side dishes, a mixed vegetable congee, and a steamed egg custard with ham. It was a simple breakfast, but in Shen Hetang’s eyes right now, it looked like an imperial feast.

Still, remembering that Jiang Chenyu’s hand was bruised, she ordered Chuntao to fetch some medicinal wine.

The young master didn’t say what the medicinal wine was for, and Chuntao didn’t dare ask. She simply glanced at her miss; seeing Jiang Chenyu nod, she obediently went to retrieve the bottle.

            

Jiang Chenyu had no desire to repeat the story of the chaotic brawl to Chuntao. If she let the maid fuss and scream over her all over again, it would only give her a worse headache.

Once the room was empty of others, Shen Hetang gently pushed up the pink jacquard cuffs beneath Jiang Chenyu’s outer gauze robes. She carefully applied the medicinal wine to the swollen wrist, rubbing it briskly a few times to generate heat and help the medicine absorb.

“Wu Daoyuan is my stepfather. Just like you, he is a matrilocal husband who married into the Jiang family, only my mother married him after her previous divorce.” Looking down at the person earnestly tending to her injuries, Jiang Chenyu felt her heart soften. In two short sentences, she had laid bare the hierarchy of the Jiang Manor.

            

“Stepfather?” Shen Hetang found this answer unexpected, yet perfectly reasonable. If he were her biological father, why would he force her into throwing an embroidered ball to snag a random man off the street?

“Yes. Yesterday, the matchmaker went to the yamen to register our marriage certificate, and she had a new household register drawn up for you while she was there. Because you are marrying into my family, establishing your residency was very convenient. You are now officially a member of my Jiang family.” Matchmaker Wang dealt with the government offices year-round; as long as she was given enough silver, there was nothing she couldn’t accomplish.

“I’m on the Jiang Manor’s register?” Just like that, she had legal status in this world?

            

“Not the Jiang Manor’s register. You were added to my personal register—Jiang Chenyu’s.” Her eyes were lined with a pale pink makeup, lending a radiant, striking beauty to her face. She looked for all the world like a soft, easily bullied girl, yet she was spouting the lines of a domineering CEO⁵. Was this the self-cultivation of a golden thigh⁶?

Jiang Chenyu’s maternal grandfather had been a wise little old man, and not at all rigid in his thinking. Before his death, he had split the manor into two separate legal households, using the eastern half of the estate to establish an independent female household for his granddaughter.

On the surface, the excuse was to preserve the Jiang lineage—so that if his daughter had more children in the future, they could take Wu Daoyuan’s surname, preventing the Wu family line from dying out. In reality, he simply feared his daughter was too weak-willed and wanted to leave his granddaughter an undeniable way out.

            

Jiang Chenyu had been very young at the time. She only remembered her grandfather telling her that the land deeds and household registers must never be handed over to anyone; she had to grip them tightly in her own hands. Later, whenever Wu Daoyuan asked her for them, she stubbornly insisted that they were in her mother’s keeping. By that point, her mother was already dead and buried. Wu Daoyuan could hardly go interrogate a gravestone. Figuring that he had the girl herself firmly in his grasp anyway, he assumed the properties would be his sooner or later.

Only now did she understand the true weight of being a household head. By officially adding a husband to her register, she had instantly severed her legal dependency on Wu Daoyuan. In the past, being utterly alone, she hadn’t possessed the courage to burn her bridges. Now that she had someone reliable at her side, she never had to be afraid again.

In the middle of the night, Shen Hetang lay awake reviewing her own reactions from the day’s fight. She was certain that the power to snap a man’s ribs with a single kick wasn’t hers; it belonged to this original body. She couldn’t help but feel that her compatibility with the original owner was terrifyingly high. Every movement she made felt utterly natural, without the slightest hint of dissonance, almost as if this body had belonged to her all along.

            

As she lay thinking, a soft, fragrant body suddenly rolled over beside her. The early spring night was by no means hot; there was even a slight chill in the air. Wearing only a layer of silky undergarments, the young woman pressed herself against Shen Hetang’s side, draping a pale hand naturally over her waist.

Shen Hetang jumped in fright.

She hurriedly checked herself, confirming that her neat two-piece inner garments were still securely in place. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was fine. For now, she needed this job, and Jiang Chenyu needed a husband. Let the girl hug her. As long as her disguise didn’t slip⁷, it would be fine.

            

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