A Willing Mistake, My Lady – Chapter 89

Biaomei Seeks Help

The Foolish Boy Wants a Wife

It was late autumn, and the weather was turning cold.

            

The little one was nearly two months old now. Madam Shen would come over to Jiang Chenyu’s courtyard whenever she had nothing else to do, to look in on the child.

Since Shen Hetang was away from home, the child’s formal name had been set aside for the time being. They had only given her a milk name—Anhe.

Hehe was growing chubby and fair-skinned. Her smiling peach blossom eyes could look straight into one’s heart, as clean and clear as a sky washed clean by heavy rain.

            

The skin on her face was so tender it practically glowed. She smelled of milk all over, rarely fussed, and those big blinking eyes held a spark of intelligence in every glance.

Her arms were like lotus roots—segment after segment of plump little rolls. Madam Shen’s heart melted every time she saw them.

Though she wondered why a child of six-plus months was still so small, she remembered the baby’s birth weight of just over three jin, and that quelled any doubts.

            

The child looked clever and bright—the more Madam Shen looked, the more she adored her.

“Mother, you don’t need to feed her so much. It’s fine for little ones to eat a little less.” Madam Shen treated Anhe as a six-month-old, eagerly trying to add fruit paste, egg custard, and other supplementary foods to her diet.

Fortunately, Jiang Chenyu was quick of hand and eye, saying she would handle these chores herself.

            

And so, baby Anhe would watch a small wooden spoon, dabbed with fruit paste, swipe quickly past her mouth. Before she could stick out her pink little tongue, the spoon was whisked away.

Jiang Chenyu blocked Madam Shen’s line of sight and kept repeating the decoy motion—one, two, three times—until a deeply wronged expression appeared on the baby’s face.

Mouth puckered, corners of her eyes drooping as she looked at Jiang Chenyu, tears welling up as though she might burst into cries at any moment.

            

“Mother, it’s time for Anhe’s nap. Let me take her to sleep first,” Jiang Chenyu said, taking the child from the wet nurse.

“Mm, alright then. Take the little one back,” Madam Shen said, shifting her shoulders as she rose.

“Mm.” With that, Jiang Chenyu carried the child back to the bedroom before she could start wailing. The weather had turned cold, and staying in the main hall too long was more than such a tiny baby could bear.

            

“Young Mistress, Cousin Zhang has returned,” a young maid came to report just as she had coaxed the baby to sleep.

“Cousin Zhang?” Jiang Chenyu was baffled, one hand still patting Anhe as the two of them spoke in hushed tones.

“It’s Miss Zhang, of course!” The maid reminded her, thinking her mistress had forgotten yet another visitor.

            

“Oh, her. I’d clean forgotten about her. Has she come with some urgent matter?” A young woman of marriageable age, not staying home properly and running about outside—something must be wrong.

“Miss Zhang wishes to see you, Young Mistress. She’s waiting in the main hall,” the maid reported dutifully.

“Good. Call Wet Nurse Wei to watch the little miss. I’ll go see my biaomei¹.”

            

“Yes, ma’am.”

In the main hall, Zhang Miaoyi was dressed in coarse hemp clothing, her expression betraying a barely concealed panic.

“Biaomei, why are you dressed like that? Have you run into some trouble?” Seeing Zhang Miaoyi’s unusual attire, Jiang Chenyu asked point-blank.

            

Though this biaomei of hers wasn’t always friendly toward her, she hadn’t gotten around to harboring any real malice or crooked schemes. For Ah Tang’s sake, Jiang Chenyu let it go.

“Biaosao², can you help me?” Zhang Miaoyi’s expression was edged with barely concealed panic.

“What has happened?” Jiang Chenyu studied her and asked.

            

“My father followed the concubine’s suggestion to marry me off to her distant nephew. She says I fell into the lake in broad daylight and disgraced the Zhang family. Her nephew lives far out in the countryside, far enough that it won’t affect the Zhang household. But that distant nephew of hers is the son of a wealthy family—he’s a simpleton. I won’t marry him.”

“Biaoge³ watched me grow up. He would surely be willing to help me. Biaosao?” Zhang Miaoyi looked at Jiang Chenyu, her expression a mix of pitiful desperation and firm conviction.

Jiang Chenyu thought to herself: Your biaoge is only a few years older than you. How exactly did he watch you grow up?

            

This girl always had a way of sounding clever while inadvertently outsmarting herself.

Well, never mind. She had no desire to argue the point.

“How do you want me to help you?” she asked, her red lips parting lightly, her gaze cool.

            

“Biaosao, the concubine has locked me up these past days. She wants to trade me for that fool’s family silver—she’s put it in black and white, selling me for one thousand taels!” At this, Zhang Miaoyi choked up slightly, looking like a little white flower⁴ that had endured wind and frost yet still stood proud.

“One thousand taels. That’s quite a sum!” Jiang Chenyu curved her lips, looking almost pleased.

“Biaosao? What do you mean?” Seeing Jiang Chenyu’s barely concealed delight, Zhang Miaoyi lost her nerve.

            

“Never mind, I won’t tease you. But one thousand taels really is quite a sum!” She couldn’t resist the jab.

Zhang Miaoyi’s face went from pale to flushed, then flushed to pale again.

“Your biaoge isn’t home. I’m just a woman—I can’t exactly march up to the Zhang household and start a fight. How exactly do you want me to help you?”

            

“I… I wanted… to borrow some silver from you, Biaosao.” Zhang Miaoyi looked up at Jiang Chenyu’s face, uncertain.

“Mm. And then?”

“And then?”

            

“Of course—if you give the silver to the concubine, will she let you go? Or will she sell you to a brothel next time? And if you refuse, will she demand two thousand taels instead?” Jiang Chenyu dropped her smile and fixed Zhang Miaoyi with a steady gaze, making the girl feel the pressure.

“I… I hadn’t thought that far. I only managed to bribe a maid and find a set of rough clothes to escape. I have to go back soon.”

“What does your mother say about all this?” Such an enormous matter—was her mother blind?

            

“She… she turns a deaf ear to everything. She only says the Zhang family has food and shelter, and that it’s a steady match.” Zhang Miaoyi lowered her eyes and forced a smile that looked worse than crying.

“Fine. Since she can’t help, you’ll have to rely on yourself. I won’t hand over one thousand taels to feed a venomous woman with ill intentions. But I do have a way to help you out of this predicament.”

Jiang Chenyu had heard about Zhang Miaoyi’s mother. When this Aunt was a young woman, she had a sweetheart. But the man was poor, and the Aunt’s family disapproved, so they tore the two apart and forced her to marry into the Zhang family.

            

The Aunt resented the Zhang family for destroying her romance, and after marriage she was neither warm nor cold toward her husband. Her husband was no considerate man either. After she repeatedly refused him, he forced himself on her, and she conceived Zhang Miaoyi. The mutual disgust between them only deepened, and after giving birth to a daughter, the Aunt withdrew from all household affairs.

According to Madam Shen, they had taken pity on Zhang Miaoyi in the old days, which was why they occasionally invited her to stay with them.

The Zhang family, seeing that Shen Manor still cared about Zhang Miaoyi, maintained a show of goodwill toward mother and daughter—but it was likely all for appearances.

            

When Jiang Chenyu told her to rely on herself, Zhang Miaoyi was on the verge of despair. But at the second half of the sentence, hope flared back to life in her heart.

“Miaoyi will listen to Biaosao. As long as I don’t have to marry that fool, I’ll do whatever Biaosao says.” She had learned to be smart by now.

“Does your father’s concubine have any other daughters of marriageable age?” Jiang Chenyu asked thoughtfully.

            

“I have two concubine-born younger sisters. One is sixteen, the other fifteen.” She didn’t understand why Jiang Chenyu was asking.

“Then lean closer.”

“Mm.”

            

“Here’s what you do…”

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One month later, the wealthy Wang family came in person to deliver betrothal gifts.

“Mother, I want to see my wife! Mother, I want to see my wife!” The foolish son was stout and round, his small eyes nearly swallowed by the flesh of his face.

            

“I say, Hong-jie, we’ve already brought the bride price over. Let Jinbao see his wife—that’s not too much to ask, is it?” Madam Wang had the air of a woman with money to burn, looking every bit like her son.

Xu shi sneered inwardly, but for the sake of that one thousand taels, she plastered on a smile and played the gracious hostess.

If she didn’t desperately need that thousand taels of silver, she would never endure this damned old crone’s insolence.

            

“Wang-saozi⁵, that’s easy enough. I’ll have someone call her out.”

“Hurry up and fetch the young lady to meet her future mother-in-law.”

“Yes!” The little maid took the order, grumbling inwardly as she went to fetch Zhang Miaoyi.

            

Just then, concubine-born sister Zhang Jingyi happened to pass by the front hall. She glanced inside, and the thought that this fat-headed, foolish-looking man was her legitimate older sister’s future husband sent her lips curling upward irrepressibly. What a spectacle!

Just as she was about to walk past the main hall, Wang Jinbao suddenly lunged out and grabbed Zhang Jingyi’s arm in a death grip.

“Wife! Wife! You’re my wife!” he shouted. His narrowed eyes widened a fraction, and there was even drool at the corner of his mouth.

            

Zhang Jingyi was terrified out of her wits. “Where did this dead pig come from? Let go of me this instant, you’re disgusting! Or I’ll have the servants chop off both your paws!”

“Wife! Wife! You’re my wife!” Wang Jinbao didn’t understand why his wife was being like this, but he held on tight.

“Oh dear, wrong one, wrong one! This isn’t your wife—your wife hasn’t arrived yet. Worthy nephew, hurry and let her go!” Xu shi panicked and rushed forward to pull Wang Jinbao off, but she couldn’t budge him.

            

Madam Wang, seeing this young girl cursing her son, was having none of it either. She was about to go teach the girl a lesson—she wasn’t even married in yet, and she dared insult her precious son like this? The nerve!

Once she was through the door, she would show this cheap little wench a thing or two.

But seeing her son had the upper hand, she stopped her advance and stood to the side to watch the show.

            

“Isn’t this my Jinbao’s wife? What’s the matter—she’s not made of gold, can’t be touched?” Madam Wang watched, eager for the drama.

“Nonsense! This is my daughter Zhang Jingyi. Your wife is Zhang Miaoyi—her older sister. A girl of the right age knows how to care for a man,” Xu shi said, still tugging at Wang Jinbao. But Wang Jinbao might as well have been a turtle—once he clamped on, he wouldn’t let go, reducing the second young lady nearly to tears.

“She’s my wife! My wife! Mother, I want this wife! I don’t want anyone else!” Wang Jinbao started wailing too. The main hall descended into chaos—crying and shouting from every direction.

            

Zhang Miaoyi stole a glance from the back, then quietly returned to her bedroom.

Let them fight it out—dog eat dog. If Wang Jinbao insisted on the second sister, she would love to see whether Xu shi still wanted to earn that silver.

A beating only hurts the one who gets hit. Watching Xu shi desperately wrestling with Wang Jinbao over the second sister, Zhang Miaoyi felt a deep satisfaction.

            

“Where are the servants? Come here, all of you! What are you good for?” Xu shi shouted toward the outside.

Madam Wang, seeing Xu shi calling for help, feared her son might come to harm and finally stepped forward to intervene. “Oh, come now—we’re all family here. No need to make such a fuss. They’re both your daughters. Our family isn’t picky. We’re happy to swap a legitimate daughter for a concubine-born one—after all, our Jinbao likes her!” Madam Wang said magnanimously, showing no regard for the fact that the Zhang family were official gentry. The Zhang family patriarch was nothing but a poor, idle appointee, and after Xu shi’s repeated swindling of silver from the Wang family, Madam Wang no longer regarded her as some grand official household lady—let alone a mere concubine.

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