A Willing Mistake, My Lady – Chapter 43
by Little PandaA Dysfunctional Relationship
The Hot Spring Estate
For a long time, the Wu Manor had been quiet, but recently, it had been turned completely upside down. Some time ago, Master Wu had been too busy managing his business to find trouble at home. However, this latest shipment of goods had run a deficit, costing him a great deal of silver. He had even been forced to sell off a shop to compensate the primary client, losing both his investment and his faceβtruly a case of losing both wife and soldiers1.
His once-comfortable savings had dwindled to almost nothing after a year of reckless squandering, leaving him entirely reliant on the earnings of his remaining shops. At this thought, he remembered Jiang Chenyu, that little bitch. He had raised her with such careful devotion, only for her to run off with some wild man, dividing up his shops in the process. Wu Daoyuan cursed the neighboring estate in his heart. Sooner or later, he would teach her a lesson and show her just how high the heavens were and how deep the earth ran.
Swept up in a wave of sudden, hot anger, he marched straight to the back courtyard, his heavy fists thudding against Li Qingmei’s door.
“Qingmei, open up. Let Uncle Wu come in and sit for a moment,” he coaxed in a low, wheedling voice.
Inside the room, Li Qingmei had been sewing a cloth pouch. Hearing the predatory, wolfish voice at her door, her body gave a violent shudder. The sharp point of her needle slipped, piercing the pad of her finger and drawing a tiny bead of crimson blood.
“Uncle Wu, I’m not feeling well. Let’s do this another day.”
This old bastard came to amuse himself at her expense whenever he had a spare moment. It was a blessing that his body had recently failed him; even after swallowing all those expensive tonics, he showed no signs of recovery. He fully deserved this retribution. Yet, even though he was impotent, he still looked for ways to torment her. The last two times, she had fought back with all her might and kept him from getting his way. Who would have thought this dead pervert would actually become addicted to it, constantly craving to see her struggling in wretched distress?
Having gone through so much, she had developed a stubborn resilience that grew stronger with every setback. Since she had already lost all sense of shame anyway, she could even manage to land a few solid blows on Wu Daoyuan whenever she found her rhythm. Strangely enough, both of them derived a bizarre excitement from these clashes. The old lecher loved nothing more than watching a disheveled young girl fight back with everything she had; the more she resisted, the more thrilled he became. Even if he could not perform sexually these days, merely pawing at her was enough to satisfy his urges.
After a year fraught with disaster, Li Qingmei had learned one absolute truth: relying on anyone else was useless; she could only rely on herself. Now that her reputation was entirely ruined, her only path to survival lay in fleeing Qingyuan County to start her life anew.
But traveling anywhere required silver, and she did not have nearly enough. She would have to squeeze more funds out of Wu Daoyuan before she could make her escape.
Unfortunately, all of Wu Daoyuan’s household wealth was managed by Nanny Wu, who viewed Li Qingmei as a thorn in her side. There was no way Nanny Wu would ever let her near anything of value.
Having failed so spectacularly the last time, she no longer dared to casually seek out other men; that flower-picking thief had truly scared her half to death. Meanwhile, Wu Daoyuan always played a game of slaps and sweet dates. Every time he came to her room to pester her, he would hand over some silver afterward to placate her. Sometimes, when she gained the upper hand and slapped him across the face a few times, she would feel instantly refreshed and clear-headed. For reasons she could not fathom, Wu Daoyuan never ordered the old servants to bind her up, choosing instead to slink away in embarrassment.
After a few rounds of this, Li Qingmei had reached an understanding. As long as she let him touch her a little, then violently resisted and lashed him a few times, the old lecher would rarely get angry. On the contrary, he would occasionally leave her with more silver.
“Qingmei, I just got my hands on a strand of pearls the day before yesterday. I thought it would suit you perfectly. Open the door quickly, or else I’ll take this strand and give it to Cuiying over at the Yihong Brothel.”
Wu Daoyuan’s voice made Li Qingmei feel utterly sick to her stomach these days. But a strand of pearls had to be worth quite a lot of silver, right?
Glancing at the thin whip resting on her bed, she slowly walked over to open the door, carrying herself with the reckless air of someone who had nothing left to lose.
The moment she cracked the door open, Wu Daoyuan jammed his hand in to block it and wedged himself inside.
“What pearl strand? Hand it over.” The sixteen-year-old girl, with her delicate and plain features, held out her palm with practiced ease.
“My, aren’t you dreaming? Even if little Cuiying wanted it, she’d have to serve me well first. Don’t you have anything to show me?” Wu Daoyuan muttered, looking at his stepdaughter with dissatisfaction.
“If you won’t give it, then forget it. I’m not that Cuiying from the Yihong Brothel; don’t you dare compare me to a whore2!” Li Qingmei cast a displeased, sidelong glance at Wu Daoyuan.
“Yes, yes, that makes sense,” Wu Daoyuan said, drawing closer. “I just wonder if you’ve grown a bit more voluptuous lately, Qingmei. Why don’t Uncle Wu check for you?”
He grew closer as he spoke, cornering her against the bed before suddenly lunging forward and pinning Li Qingmei down. Still in his prime, he possessed a fair amount of strength. Having pinned the young girl beneath him, he began to frantically grope her.
With her waist pinned flat and unable to budge, Li Qingmei knit her brows and clawed fiercely at him. Just then, a series of dull, thumping sounds echoed from the other side of the wall. It was likely her bedridden mother, knocking to protest.
Hearing this sound, Wu Daoyuan grew even more excited, sliding his thick palm down toward her waistband. That was the last straw. Li Qingmei grabbed the whip hidden beneath the bed and lashed out wildly at his head and face.
Because the space was too cramped to swing it fully, she folded the whip in half and whipped it directly across his face. Stunned by the stinging pain, Wu Daoyuan scrambled off her, only for Li Qingmei to leap up and pursue him relentlessly. His body, hollowed out by wine and debauchery, could only hold out for so long; when Li Qingmei went wild, she did not fall short in the slightest.
Unable to dodge her blows, he scurried around the room with his hands over his head. “Stop hitting me! Stop! I’ll give you the pearl strand, alright? How did you become so fiery?”
The reason Wu Daoyuan did not take a harder line was that he had been impotent for quite some time now, so he only came to his stepdaughter’s room looking for a cheap thrill.
And Li Qingmei had learned his tactics as well. After beating him, she would weep with tearful eyes, claiming she had been wrong and coaxing him with sweet words, promising that once he recovered, she would definitely stop running from him. The two of them had been carrying on this dysfunctional dynamic for some time, treating her mother like thin air as they dragged each other back and forth.
It was as if Wu Daoyuan brought bad luck to his wives. Ever since Li Qingmei’s mother became his second wife, she had been ill eight days out of ten. That Wu Daoyuan had not kicked the mother and daughter out was likely because he still harbored a desire to toy with the young girl.
In the dimly lit room, the sickly woman stared at her daughter, who was dressed in sleek, glossy garments. Her eyes were filled with deep revulsion as she spat, “All you do day in and day out is seduce men. You won’t even spare your own stepfather! At your tender age, do you have no shame left?”
“How am I the one seducing him?” Li Qingmei defended herself, feeling deeply wronged. “It’s obviously the man you chose who is no good. He is a hypocritical, sanctimonious scoundrel! He’s the one coveting your daughter, yet you turn around and lecture me instead?”
“The master was clearly very good to me at the start,” her mother wheezed, forcing out her innermost grievances in strained, halting breaths. “If you hadn’t stolen his attention, he wouldn’t have gradually ignored me! It wasn’t easy for me to raise you all by myself, and is this how you repay me? You just can’t bear to see your old mother live well. You absolute bane of my existence! In the past, there were so many young men, but you refused this one and turned down that one, picking and choosing. And look at you now! You didn’t know how to carry yourself with decorum and went outside to find some piece of trash, ruining your own reputation. What are you going to do from now on?”
“What’s wrong with wanting to find a better man? You’re allowed to marry into a wealthy family to be the madam, but you want to marry your daughter off to some muddy-legged peasant3? What kind of mother treats her daughter like this?” Li Qingmei spat, entirely disregarding her ailing mother as she vented her deep-seated resentment.
“Cough, cough, cough⦔
Her mother’s face turned white with rage as a violent coughing fit seized her. She had only married Wu Daoyuan because she wanted the two of them to have a good life. How had things turned out like this? Where, exactly, had they gone wrong?
“Has your illness still not improved?” After all, she was her biological mother; once the shouting match subsided, a trace of concern remained.
“I’m not dead yet!” her mother spat irritably.
“Hmph.” Li Qingmei stamped her foot and swept out of her mother’s room. She did not know what was wrong with her mother’s body; she had been fine in the past. If she ran away, what would happen to her mother?
Returning to her own small room, she quietly pulled out the cloth pouch hidden beneath her bed. She tipped the silver out onto the mattress and counted it. Thirty-eight taels4 in total. Once she bought a small courtyard, there would be next to nothing left. It was still too little. Fortunately, she had some jewelry that could fetch a decent price, which meant her escape from that old bastard Wu Daoyuan was just around the corner.
She carefully hid the money pouch back in its place, then strolled around the courtyard as if nothing were amiss. Now and then, she could hear laughter drifting from the neighboring estate. She could not help but feel that heaven was deeply unfair. It was as though she were suffering in Jiang Chenyu’s stead. This life of constant fear and anxiety was supposed to be Jiang Chenyu’s to bear. Yet that girl had somehow found a perfect husband and was living a carefree, blissful life, while she had ended up with a madman. Heaven was truly unjust.
Whatever chaos unfolded in the Wu Manor had absolutely nothing to do with the young couple next door. These days, whenever Jiang Chenyu’s eyes met Shen Hetang’s, her face would flush a delicate pink, appearing even more vibrant and enchanting than the roses blooming in the courtyard. It made one want to reach out and pinch her fair, tender cheeks.
Since Jiang Chenyu’s return, Shen Hetang’s nightmares had grown less frequent. Free from her previous reservations, she now slept with the girl wrapped securely in her arms like a bolster. A fragrant, soft little fairy was infinitely better to hold than a cold blanket.
After confessing her true gender to Jiang Chenyu, she had not given the girl any time to overthink. Through a combination of sweet coaxing and gentle deception, she had utterly consumed her, ensuring that her wife5 was a cooked duck that could never fly away.
The other day, after the two of them had inspected the shops, they decided that things were running smoothly enough that they did not need to worry. The shopkeeper was a loyal veteran who had watched Jiang Chenyu grow up. Out of gratitude for the kindness of the late Old Master Jiang, he managed the properties impeccably. All that was required was for Chuntao to drop by once a month to balance the ledgers.
Because Jiang Chenyu’s visit had been unannounced, she had specially bought some pastries and candied fruits for the shopkeeper and the assistants, making the atmosphere warm and harmonious.
Before Jiang Ning’s silver arrived, Jiang Chenyu wanted to take stock of her private treasury to see how much wealth she had left. Back then, to fund the maritime trade venture, she had invested 120,000 taels in silver notes, leaving herself with less than thirty thousand taels in notes and gold ingots.
Now, combining the income from her shops and farmland, along with the forty thousand taels in silver notes from Hua Rong, she had managed to save up nearly eighty thousand taels. To any ordinary family, this was a staggering fortune, but if she wanted to stand proudly beside Ah Tang, it still felt a little light.
Although Ah Tang had not fully recovered her memories, Jiang Chenyu still remembered the soldiers who had come to fetch her beforeβthey were entirely different from the indolent bailiffs at the local yamen. Jiang Chenyu was of merchant stock. If even a minor family like the Huas looked down on her mother’s merchant background, how much more would a truly powerful, noble household sneer at her?
Ah Tang would eventually return to her original life. Jiang Chenyu needed to build her own foundation of confidence so she would never drag her down. She locked the thick stack of silver notes inside a redwood chest and tucked it into a hidden wall alcove. Carefully twisting the base of a nearby porcelain vase, she heard a soft, mechanical click as the secret compartment door locked tight. She then neatly adjusted the hanging scroll concealing it.
Remembering that Hua Rong had also gifted her an estate, she thought about taking Ah Tang there to stay for a few days. Ah Tang had been sleeping fitfully of late, sometimes clutching her in a death grip, and at other times waking up in a cold sweat. Of course, she slept much more peacefully after she spent the night teasing and bothering her.
Jiang Chenyu could sense that Ah Tang was likely recovering her memories, or at least remembering things bit by bit. Her temperament seemed to be shifting slightly; the aura about her was growing heavier. She could not quite define the change, but Ah Tang no longer possessed the relaxed, easygoing air of before.
Perhaps Ah Tang herself had not even noticed these subtle shiftsβthe look in her eyes when she regarded others, her occasional hesitation in speech, or the instinctive furrow of her brow. All of it carried a faint, intimidating weight that made people draw back in apprehension.
Jiang Chenyu’s own estate was an agricultural farm, boasting ample land and grain but possessing only a small courtyard house. The estate Hua Rong had given her, however, was a Hot Spring Estate. Nestled against a mountain and surrounded by a dense orchard, it was a spacious three-entry courtyard residence.
Some time ago, she had sent Chuntao and Zhuzi to inspect the place. It was currently managed by a quiet, elderly couple. She had heard that soaking in hot springs was excellent for promoting deep sleep, alleviating nightmares, and dispelling internal cold.
As the estate was located not far from Qingyuan Town, she did not know how Hua Rong had managed to acquire a hot spring property in this area. Regardless, since he had given it to her, she would not stand on ceremony.
When Shen Hetang returned home, she found Jiang Chenyu packing their clothes.
“Why are you packing up? Where are you going?” To Shen Hetang, this hasty bundling of garments looked suspiciously like she was preparing to run away!
“We are going together!” Jiang Chenyu replied, continuing to fold the garments.
“Together where?” Shen Hetang asked, thoroughly bewildered.
“To the Hot Spring Estate that Hua Rong gave me, right on the outskirts of Qingyuan County,” Jiang Chenyu said with great interest. “It’s already May, so isn’t your yamen about to observe the agricultural rest days? Let’s go soak there for a bit. I’ve only ever heard of hot springs, but I’ve never actually seen one!”
It had to be said that the Great Qian Dynasty’s treatment of public officials was remarkably generous. The system was clear in its rewards and punishments and put great emphasis on leave, marking off holidays for the winter solstice, summer solstice, Qingming, the busy agricultural season, the Dragon Boat Festival, and even Qixi. Overtime was absolutely out of the question, and there were no overeager show-offs who lingered at the yamen to curry favor when there was no work to be done.
While it was officially called the agricultural rest days, Shen Hetang had no fields to tend at home, leaving her free to do as she pleased.
The recent cases at the yamen consisted mostly of trivial neighborhood disputesβsuch as Zhang San’s dog eating Li Si’s chickenβwhich did not disrupt the yamen’s holiday schedule in the slightest.
“A hot spring estate?” Shen Hetang’s dark, phoenix eyes lit up with a brilliant gleam as she teased, “Marrying you is truly the blessing of eight lifetimes. All I do is enjoy fine food and luxurious treatment!”
“All you do is talk nonsense!” Jiang Chenyu turned her head away, her heart skipping a beat as if struck by the warm, lingering light in those eyes.
Shen Hetang had not brought up her true identity again, and Jiang Chenyu had not probed further. In hindsight, she herself felt the entire situation was colored with a touch of the absurd.
But what of it? The one she loved was Ah Tang. If she was a man, she would love a man; if she was a woman, she would love a woman. As long as it was her, nothing else mattered.
Furthermore, her feelings were like the waters of a hot springβseemingly comfortable on the surface, but scalding hot underneath. There was no retrieving them now.
Her only lingering grievance was that she had yet to manage to undress Ah Tang during their intimacy. While Ah Tang stripped her bare, she herself remained meticulously dressed, with not a single hair out of place. It was truly too wicked! Hmph.
She dared not dwell on it; the mere thought made her cheeks burn, leaving her unable to meet her gaze.
The next day, the two loaded their carriage with daily necessities and set off for the Hot Spring Estate.
However, the moment they cleared the main street of Qingyuan County, they abandoned Chuntao and Zhuzi, mounting their black horse to ride off as free as the wind!
Their light spring robes fluttered and their sleeves danced in the wind. The oncoming breeze bore the distinctive, sweet fragrance of spring. Riding together once more felt infinitely more relaxed than their first time. Back then, every embrace had been tentative and cautious. Now, she could finally lean back and nestle into her arms without a single care in the world.
Footnotes
- Lit. 'losing the lady and the soldiers'; a classical idiom from Romance of the Three Kingdoms meaning to suffer a double loss.
- YΓ‘ojiΔ; a vulgar, derogatory historical slang term for a prostitute.
- NΓtuΗzi; a colloquial, mildly derogatory historical slang term for poor peasants or laborers, literally 'muddy legs'.
- LiΗng; tael, a historical Chinese currency unit equivalent to roughly 37 grams of silver.
- NiΓ‘ngzi; wife, used here as an affectionate or marital term.
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