Shen Guqing heard the master’s words, tears welling up in her eyes: "Thank you, Master, Mistress, thank you, Senior Brother, thank you all."
Mrs. Du, understanding and considerate, said, "It’s getting late. Cheng Xi will return to the hospital for work tomorrow, and Qing’er has been busy since she came back these days. Let’s all rest early."
Mr. Du’s courtyard is a three-section one; each of the apprentices has their own room. Even for Xinyan, Mrs. Du has arranged and tidied up a room herself.
Once in the room, Mr. Du spoke, "Was it wrong back then not to restrain her?"
Mrs. Du poured her husband a glass of water: "Who knew Meng Yifei’s family would be so disgraceful. The mistake was Qing’er should not have chosen to endure for the sake of so-called true love."
Mr. Du sighed, "It proves the saying true; there’s no match for shamelessness."
Mrs. Du angrily said, "It was the Meng Family seeing Qing’er not caring about them because of Meng Yifei’s face. They took kindness as shameless capital."
Fearing his wife might get overly upset, Mr. Du added, "Alright, we’ll listen to Qing’er on this. Since she figured it out, we don’t need to preserve her dignity anymore. As long as Qing’er confronts them, we’ll make sure the Meng Family pays, especially that troublemaking sister-in-law."
After that, the old couple remained silent, neither speaking further.
In another room, Shen Guqing lay on the bed filled with regret.
Back then when Meng Yifei pursued her, she was too naive, claiming it was for love. But hadn’t she also been swayed by the Meng Family’s status?
If not for the master, she feared she wouldn’t have been able to marry into it.
But even after marrying, what did it matter? Her father-in-law and mother-in-law never respected her, so when the sister-in-law caused trouble, they just turned a blind eye until she was pushed into a miscarriage by the sister-in-law. Only then did they reprimand her, but eventually, they still came to defend the daughter, asking her not to fuss over it with the sister-in-law.
Thus, from her own experience, marrying up isn’t really a good thing. Only now did she somewhat understand why the elders always said to marry someone equal.
Though it’s not necessarily true that you must marry equally to live well, there’s some truth in it. At least there’s no one seeing each other below them, or someone having to climb socially.
Thinking of the events after her marriage, she fell asleep.
*
Xinyan sat on the back seat of the bicycle, wrapping her arms around He Jinxuan’s waist, resting her head on his back, speaking suddenly without reason: "Jinxuan, no other woman can sit on your bicycle’s back seat in the future."
He Jinxuan freed one hand, held the small hand around his waist, teasingly replied: "That’s not possible."
Xinyan heard his answer and immediately sat up straight: "What did you just say?"
Not expecting such a strong reaction, He Jinxuan quickly responded to avoid upsetting her further: "In the future, we have a daughter. Surely, she can sit, right?"
Only then did Xinyan realize he was being intentional.
Her other hand formed a fist, punching He Jinxuan’s back repeatedly: "You wicked person."
He Jinxuan laughed aloud: "Alright, alright, alright, I’m the wicked person, okay? I’ll remember your words, and if any special situation arises, I’ll inform you first."
Xinyan ’hmph-ed’ and continued to lean on He Jinxuan’s back: "No special situations, don’t try to fool me."
He Jinxuan patted the hand around his waist: "Okay, I will surely remember Yanyan’s words."