Author: 打字机N号
Chapter 51: The search for one’s mom second spring 19/For the sake of my mother’s remarriage 19
The law and decrees of the Jin Dynasty in regards to false accuse stipulate that the sentence that should befall on the accused will be used against the accuser. This is a gesture of goodwill against the slander befall on the other’s party. Once it was investigated and handled, they will use the punishment that should befall upon the accused to punish the false accuser. There are several grades of punishment for slandering. Any false accusation will be considered as a first-grade offence. The accuser will be considering committing a second-grade offence if the slander was against the government official. Consequently, to falsely charges a royal with slander will be considered as a third-grade offence. The minimum exiled penalty could vary from 100 miles to a maximum of 3,000 miles.
Jiang Erchun and his wife had falsely accused Jiang Liu of being unfilial. Although Jiang Liu had not yet been officially appointed as a minister, he was still a member of the new rank of the Imperial Civil Service. Thus, this couple should be punished with a second-class felony. In addition, Emperor Jin Wen himself demanded severe punishment to befall upon them. In the end, Jiang Erchun and his wife were sentenced to 80 flogging and ten years exile to Kunnu City.
Kunnu city is a place where all criminals who had not been sentenced to death to be an exile. This is a place where people need to undertake heavy labour for the sake of obtaining basic living materials. They basically did not possess any freedom at all. Before entering the city, these criminals will be tattooed on their faces which indicated their status as a felony for life
So for many people, being exile to Kunnu City was much more miserable
punishment compared to death. So much that every year, many of those Kunnu’s
sinners had committed suicide because they can’t stand such a life.
Before the couple, Jiang Erchun and Su Panyun had the time to enjoy the rich life promised by these people, they were ended up being taken away from the Lu residence by the government officials.
After being hit with eighty boards, not even waiting for their wound to heal, these two people hand and were chained up and set to follow a group of criminals on the road to Kunnu City.
At that time,
Jiang Erchun and his wife finally suspected that this was indeed a revenge act
by Jiang Liu, however, by now, they did not even have time to regret it.
This time, Jiang Erchun and his wife completely have no chance for a comeback. These two people probably not appeared again in front of this mother and son in this lifetime.
******
“By himself bestow Meng-shi a FengGuanxia, a jadeite Ruyi sceptre, two jade bracelet and 200 taels of silver. ” [T/N: FengGuanxia = Wedding dress for noble]
On the day of Meng Yun-niang dowry’s makeup, a sacred decree from the emperor came down unexpectedly. [T/N: Dowry make-up is the ceremony where relatives and friend of the bride come to the bride’s home and add more dowry to what already prepared by the family. It was said that the value of a bride correspondence by the amount of dowry she brought to her husband house.]
Not only Meng Yun-niang who was kneeling at that time was shocked by the sudden bestowment. Even the ladies who came for the sake of preserving Jiang Shendao’s face were also stunned.
They had heard from their husband about Jiang Liu’s battle with Lu Guang in the Imperial Palace. From their perspective as a mother, many of them envied Meng Yun-niang for having that kind of filial and caring son, but from the perspective of a woman, not all of them agreed that a woman should marry after being widowed.
But now that the Emperor had bestowed a decree, it is certainly not foolish to think that the Emperor has truly appreciated Meng Yun-niang. This decree not only revealed that the intention of the Emperor in supporting the movement of allowing the widow to remarry, but also act as a deterrent towards old ministers by giving them a proper measure if they planned on going against the Emperor.
“Congratulations. “
These ladies are all human beings. They immediately changed their attitude toward Meng Yun-niang, becoming more intimate as they put her at the centre of the crowd.
As for Meng Yun-niang, she was holding the decree with a dazed expression while looking at the exquisite bridal gown which was far better than her carefully tailored wedding dress and those beautiful phoenix crown. Her mind was full of thousands of thoughts.
She thought about the night after her son got selected as the champion and asked her.
Her son asked her if she wanted to marry someone she liked if there was no obstacle for her to do so.
It was the first time her son had talked to her about the subject that she had shut down eight years ago.
What if there’s no obstacle?
Meng Yun-niang thought of Hu Guirong, who had never settle down. She thought of the brief contact that she had with him every time he came to the tofu factory to pick up the batches, the bitterness, the joy, the tangled feeling and the hesitation in forming the eye contact… …
The feeling that had never been put down, over the course of eight years, had become even stronger.
If there is no worldly pressure and prejudice; if it does not affect her son; Meng Yun-niang thought that she is willing to do it. That man had waited for her for more than ten years. They had not been able to be with each other for more than a decade, but there is still a lot of time left in the future. So she wanted to spend with that man.
It’s just that the reality dictated that she could never marry Hui Guirong. It was impossible for her to get married without any obstacle. She felt that her son only wanted to give a wonderful longing.
However, Meng Yun-niang had never imagined that, after their thoughtful talk on that day, her son will do so much in order to her long-cherished wish.
Not only did the patriarch and the elder agreed to her remarriage. Even those high and above son of heaven had sent the gift for her marriage which was too dreamlike for her.
But if this is s a dream, Meng Yun-niang hopes that she never wakes up.
*****
On the day of the wedding, the bride was sent out with 72 chests of dowries, in which the treasured object bestowed by the Emperor becomes the focus of attention.
Even a young lady from a normal rich household will not be able to come out with expensive and luxurious dowries as Meng Yun-niang. In addition to some dowries added up by her friends and colleagues, vast of the dowries actually came out from Jiang Liu’s coffer. At first, Meng Yun-niang was not willing to let her son prepared the dowries for her. Yet she could not persuade her son who reasoned her that it was his willingness to show his filial piety by making up her dowries.
It was at this time that Meng Yun-niang finally realized that her son had sneakily conducted a side business while attending the school. She did not specifically know how much profit he had made, however, for him to be able to provide these much of dowries, it was unlikely that he had been cheated or making a poor business. Jiang Liu had assured her that by the time he was ready to take in his wife, he should be able to provide an equate to value or maybe even more expensive betrothal gave for his intended.
Meng Yun-niang reluctantly agreed to take the expensive dowries upon his son’s guarantee, but she also secretly swore that whether she will have a baby with Hu Guirong in the future, this dowry will be left to her most beloved eldest son.
The wedding had become the most favourite event among the common people of the capital for a long time. Even with the increasing number of widows who got remarried, this event of the Champion marrying off his own mother remained the biggest topic for idle conversation.
*****
“Yun-niang did you have a nightmare? “
That night, Meng Yun-niang could not resist from sleeping soundly. In the meantime, Hu Guirong who was still immersing himself in the excitement from being able to marry his beloved had been staring at Meng Yun-niang the whole night under the faint light of the wedding candle. So much that he was reluctant to close his eyes.
He was afraid that once he closed his eyes and then when opened it again, Yun-niang will not be by his side.
Just as it was approaching dawn, Meng Yun-niang appeared to be having a nightmare as she started to get agitated while her eyebrows were tightly locked and her hands and feet were struggling under the cover.
Hu Guirong quickly hugged the person tightly as he fixed her struggling hand and feet in fear that his beloved will ended up hurting herself.
“What a terrible dream. “
When Meng Yun-niang opened her eyes, she couldn’t tell the difference between dreams and reality, and only after she felt the heat of the person next to her did she believed that all she had experienced was not real.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s just a nightmare, I’ll go to your nightmare and protect you.”
Hu Guirong had solemnly promised Jiang Liu that he will always protect Yun-niang, and he would naturally help her to be safe against any nightmare.
Meng Yun-niang laid her face against Hu Guirong’s chest. She knows that this man is not good at lying. As long as he promised it, he will do it. Even against the nightmare, he will surely protect her for life.
It just that, that nightmare was too terrible. In that dream, because of the Jiang’s second household’s scheme, she was forced to destroy her appearance in order to protect themselves. It was also not easy for her son to participate in the examination. Additionally, because of a dispute between her and her son’s wife, she had been wasting her time and even delayed her son’s future.
But this man in front of her, whether in the dream or in reality, continued to be consistent, as he silently guarding her.
Meng Yun-niang still remembers when she was dying in her dream, she had been holding her son’s hand and saying that she had been treating someone badly, and the person she meant to say was the person currently in front of her.
“Shall we have a child?”
Meng Yun-niang couldn’t help speaking.
“Good!”
Hu Guirong was dumbfounded and then nodded with joy.
In fact, he has long been ready not to have a child. But now that her beloved said that she wanted to give him a child, a child solely belongs to the two of them, how could he not be thrilled by it?
Meng Yun-niang could not help smiling as she looked at her husband with a foolish expression on his face.
Her life was very different from that nightmare, and indeed, a dream was just a dream.
******
Four years later.
Four years ago, the reforms that encourage widows to remarry had become a trend, and the Court had amended the Law of the Jin Dynasty to stipulate that the husband’s family cannot force widows to observe their dead husband and maintain their widowhood. It also specifies that the dowry is a woman’s personal property and that widows can take their dowry away if they intend to remarry. Any party who was found to force a widow to remain as a widow will be flogged with 30 times and serve five years of hard labour.
Due to the emergence of this law, the life of the widows of the Jin Dynasty suddenly improved a lot. Jiang Liu was considered as a living Buddha who brought benefit to the widow. However, in the following four years after that event, Jiang Liu had seemed to be relatively quiet. As for Emperor Jin Wen, instead of promoting him as an official, Jiang ended up being sent to the Imperial Academy where he becomes the 7th-grade officer responsible for compiling and editing.
But in the eyes of those clever people, they knew that the Emperor was working on tempering Jiang Liu’s character.
Three years ago, at the Jiang Furong’s coming of age ceremony, Jiang Shendao had announced that his daughter will marry his apprentice, Jiang Liu. But he wanted to keep his daughter for a few more years and will send her to marry after she was 18.
Today is the day of great joy for both Jiang Lu and Jiang Furong
After a night of **, Jiang Furong and Jiang Lu washed up with the help of their attendant. When Jiang Furong sat in front of the mirror preparing to trace her eyebrow, Jiang Liu took the eyebrow pencil and held her face as he carefully drew her eyebrows.
“Furen is very beautiful.” [T/N: Furen = Madam]
After the eyebrows were drawn, Jiang Liu gently flicked the tip of his little wife’s nose and with a smile on his face uttered such words.
She did not know why, but Jiang Furong somehow remembers of her mother who had always cajoled his father with such words every morning.
Unlike her father, she still knew the level of her. However, when her husband smiled softly and gently said that phrase to her, Jiang Furong felt more than half flustered.
She felt that, at least in the eyes of the person in front of her, she was really beautiful.
T/N: I am not sure, but no matter how many times I read this chapter, I cried, both at the ending of Meng Yun-niang as well as Jiang Furong.
Someone commented in my other story, [Why should tasker exist, should people take care of their own revenge or counterattack?]
At first, I was shocked, so, why tasker exist? Until I read from one novel [ It is a danmei, I am not going to include the title lest people blaming me for dragging them into the world of no return lol].
The MC there said, even if people experience a rebirth, it will be difficult for them to change themselves. We already have this set of personality that has been nurtured since young and it was difficult to change ourselves subconsciously. Most of the MC who managed to counterattack are those who always kept themselves on the edge in order not to revert back to their old personality. It’s tiring you know, to force yourselves becoming what you are not. That’s why tasker exist. They have a different set of experiences and values which help them to cope with the changes/butterfly effect/etc that happened throughout counterattack. After all, it was weird if no changes happened when they spoiled the already existed plot, right? Anyway, I think the next arc will prove the importance of tasker and why tasker are more appropriate in helping the victim.
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