Chapter 480 - Marriage of the Dead, a Woman Who Remained Unmarried After the Death of Her Betrothed (III)
“A fine New Year’s Day is spoiled just like that by such a person.”
Madam Hu got up with an unpleasant look on her face.
The Second lady took a sip of tea with a strange light sparkling in her eyes. She called for Jiang Nongqin.
“When are you leaving?”
Jiang Nongqin lowered her head and replied respectfully, “I’ll leave for Xiangyang District in another five days when everything in Hejian is arranged properly.”
The Second lady said, “Leave with Wan’er as soon as possible. I’m afraid that there will be changes if there is a delay.”
The look on Jiang Nongqin’s face changed. She responded hesitantly, “But Madam, if the shrew comes again…”
The Second lady scorned, “So what? If she comes again, I’ll just break her legs.”
Although Mrs. Zhang came to create trouble, she did not stir up trouble for nothing because the missing Shangguan Wan was indeed hiding in the Liu residence.
Rather than saying Shangguan Wan escaped after leaving behind the divorce letter, it was better to say that the Second lady gave her a suggestion to hide in the Liu residence and provided her with a shelter upon seeing that she was so pitiful. Otherwise, Shangguan Wan would already be dead a long time ago.
The Second lady had once seen the clever and lively Shangguan Wan. In her memory, the girl had always been an aristocratic lady born to a distinguished family, who was raised in luxury.
However, when she met her again, she did not expect that the bright and beautiful young lady had actually been tortured into a haggard and lifeless girl.
This matter had to be explained from what happened three years ago. Shangguan Wan’s mother died of illness and her father remarried after that.
His second wife was an aristocratic lady who was not considered to have come from a rich and powerful family in Zhongzhao.
She was just a second wife, so she did not need to have an esteemed identity.
His second wife was born of a mistress, so her dowries were not abundant. The only highlight was probably the few sets of Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women.
She claimed to have read the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women thoroughly and she behaved according to the contents of the book.
It was funny. With her humble and lowly appearance, she served her sisters-in-law and mother-in-law well.
Her mother-in-law was treated so comfortably that she casually asked his second wife to educate Shangguan Wan well and not neglect her.
His second wife then treated her mother-in-law’s casual marks as an order and made a big fuss about it. She taught Shangguan Wan by using the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women.
Why would Shangguan Wan agree to it?
She had the arrogance of an aristocratic lady. She despised the contents of the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women.
The stepmother and stepdaughter did not get along well. At the beginning, the Shangguan family was biased towards Shangguan Wan.
As time went by, his second wife became pregnant. Shangguan Wan’s superiority instantly weakened. Instead, she was trampled upon by her stepmother.
The last straw that led to Shangguan Wan’s tragedy was her first engagement.
The man originally said that he was willing to wait for her to cease mourning. However, her stepmother heard from somewhere that Shangguan Wan had once fallen into the trap of the bandits. She actually said that Shangguan Wan was a girl who had lost her virginity. Of course, this was not said in public, but it was circulated.
The man was disgusted. His mother read the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women again and deeply felt that the contents of the book made a lot of sense. The more she read, she more she felt that marrying a girl like Shangguan Wan, who had lost her virginity, would bring disgrace to the family. She forcefully broke off the engagement.
Shangguan Wan became a joke across the entirety of Hejian because her engagement was broken off due to her being called ‘the girl who lost her virginity’. The Shangguan family was also ashamed by it.
Her ‘motherly’ and ‘kindhearted’ stepmother volunteered to educate Shangguan Wan and fixed her another marriage.
He was the son born of the legal wife of the Zhang family in Hejian. The family’s status was incomparable to the Shangguan family, but they were not too bad.
However, Shangguan Wan only found out later that her stepmother had malicious intentions.
Her stepmother had a good relationship with Zhang Zhaoshi, who was Mrs. Zhang, who had just come over to stir up trouble.
The son born of the legal wife of the Zhang family was impotent. Moreover, he was weak and had ill health. He was about to die, so he could not be humane at all. Her stepmother set up the marriage in the name of Shangguan Wan’s benefit and pushed her into the fire pit.
However, the matter was not over yet.
The ill son born of the legal wife of the Zhang family died before his marriage. Using the excuse that the marriage had been fixed, she said that Wan’er was already married into the Zhang family and that she could not marry anyone else. With this, she persuaded Shangguan Wan to marry into the Zhang family as a woman who remained unmarried all her life after the death of her betrothed. The implicit and explicit meaning of her words were filthy. She reminded Shangguan Wan over and over again that she was ‘a girl who lost her virginity’. Mrs. Zhang said that Shangguan Wan had killed her son and insisted Shangguan Wan to marry into the Zhang family and preserve her chastity after the death of her husband.
Shangguan Wan was isolated and helpless. Her family was almost on her stepmother’s side. She could only be forcibly married into the Zhang family in misery.
Her ill husband was dead, so she had to wear a wedding costume and marry a rooster. The second day after her marriage, her mother-in-law gave her a dig.
As the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women became popular in Hejian, Shangguan Wan’s life became tougher and tougher.
Not only her, but the aristocratic ladies who had once fallen into the bandits’ trap were more or less affected.
Her stepmother and Mrs. Zhang were close. They unintentionally mentioned that if a woman could not stand the loneliness, she might masturbate to vent her desire.
This was also an act of destroying one’s reputation and integrity, and considering a violation of chastity.
In Zhongzhao, an upright and unyielding woman who remained unmarried all her life after the death of her betrothed would break her fingers to show her determination in keeping her virginity. Mrs. Zhang was worried that Shangguan Wan might cuckold her son because she was young. She hoped that Shangguan Wan would break her fingers, so that she would not masturbate when she could not stand the loneliness. Why would Shangguan Wan agree to that?
However, she was lonely and helpless in the Zhang residence. No one in the Shangguan family felt that she was innocent.
She really could not live anymore if she did not think of some other way!
Mrs. Zhang pressed on her and Shangguan Wan refused to agree no matter what. The pressure that she had to bear was massive.
Finally, she simply chose to kill herself when she went up the mountain to prostrate herself to the image of Buddha.
She did not die in the end because she was stopped by the Second lady.
Hearing Shangguan Wan’s experience, the Second lady could not help but think of herself, who had once been lonely and helpless. Her heart softened and she promised to save her.
In a few days’ time, Mrs. Zhang ran out of patience and planned to ask someone to chop off Shangguan Wan’s fingers. But Shangguan Wan he left a divorce letter and successfully escaped from the Zhang residence with the help of the soldiers from the Liu residence. In order to be safe, she did not stay in the Liu residence. She lived in the soldiers’ camp instead. She had gone into hiding for half a year.
Her trace was accidentally leaked half a month ago. Mrs. Zhang had repeatedly sent people to the Liu residence to ask for Shangguan Wan.
These people were all removed. At last, Mrs. Zhang had no choice but to take some people with her and go to the Liu residence in person.
Because of this, Jiang Nongqin was not in the mood for the New Year’s banquet. She had been wearing a gloomy face.
Shangguan Wan had already abandoned her aristocratic attire and changed into coarse civilian clothes. She was adapting well in the new environment with the soldiers.
“Sister Nongqin, have the people from the Zhang residence left?”
A trace of fear flashed across her face. She looked unusually nervous and fearful. She lost all the bravery and aggressiveness that she once had.
“We have to travel north in advance,” Jiang Nongqin responded. “Let’s go together, Lady Wan. You’ll be exposed sooner or later if you stay here.”
One might get off that day, but not necessarily the next day.
Shangguan Wan left the divorce letter behind, but Mrs. Zhang firmly believed that even if Shangguan Wan was dead, she was a part of their family.
If she was caught, she would probably be tortured harshly. One would hear the news about her sudden death in a matter of days.
In the past two years, Jiang Nongqin had saved a number of women who were at the end of their ropes. They were all victims of the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women.
The world today was already so difficult. Why were so many cruel shackles imposed on innocent women?
In the era when the patriarchal clan system was above the law, it was really a dead end when a clan wanted to drown a woman who had lost her virginity.
A slight hesitation flashed across Shangguan Wan’s haggard face. She immediately steeled herself and said, “Okay. We’ll leave this place.”