Chapter 117

Jiang Miao Lan originally wasn’t meant to be a person in this world. But, since she had come here, she should forget everything about the past and stay here to continue living.

Jiang Miao Lan had met Wei Kun during Mid-Autumn Festival. On that day, she was guessing the riddle underneath a colorful lantern. At that time, his key strength was his scholarly knowledge. He could correctly guess ten riddles in a single breath without being wrong. As Wei Kun was passing through the streets, he saw half of her face from the side and became foolish. The surrounding multi-colored lanterns illuminated her face.

Her almond eyes were as bright as lustrous gems. Her nose was elegant and her eyes were mysterious. Her flower-like lips were slightly curved upwards. Her entire body was bursting forth with the radiance of excitement. What made Wei Kun feel even more unexpected was that her clothing was very shabby as if she was wearing someone else’s clothing. It wasn’t fitting at all. There was even an obvious mended patch on one of the sleeves. Compared to the magnificently dressed young ladies that were at the Lantern Festival, Jiang Miao Lan’s appearance could be considered poor. However, this didn’t seem to have the slightest affect on her.

She won the lanterns one after another until she could barely hold them with her hands. It made the surrounding gifted scholars and beautiful ladies cast sidelong glances at her.

Jiang Miao Lan was in high spirits. She pointed towards a colored lantern on her left side and said, “In the green cluster, there is a little bit of red, xu fei ge, guess a type of medicinal herb.”

“I guess its cinnabar (硃砂). Am I right?”

(Note: Xu fei ge means its a riddle where the answer is a word that’s consist of two Chinese characters that share the same radical (the symbol on the left of each character).

The stall owner was both happy and depressed. The expression on his face was rich and colorful. “Correct. But… could you move to another place? You’ve already taken all of the lanterns from my place. It’s not fun for everyone else…”

Jiang Miao Lan took the eight-treasure style rabbit lantern from the stall owner, smiled, nodded, and left.

During the Lantern Festival, there were places to guess riddles everywhere. As she continued walking down the street, Jiang Miao Lan easily won more than a dozen colorful lanterns. She cleverly sold the colorful lanterns to the nearby servant girls of young ladies from wealthy families. The money she earned from this would be enough for her to live off of for many days.

Like a ghost, Wei Kun followed her as she walked. When she walked to the entrance of a tunnel, Jiang Miao Lan turned around without any warning and readily caught him.

Wei Kun rubbed his nose and asked, “I saw that you were very skilled at guessing riddles. Would you be willing to go to the teahouse down the street with me?”

Just like this, this was how the two of them met.

After Wei Kun found out that Jiang Miao Lan orphan, he was very caring towards her and even purchased a residence for her without his parents’ knowledge. When Wei Kun had free time, he would go over there to see her. It was only then that he discovered she was an exquisite and elegant girl when she wasn’t wearing her shabby clothing. During that night on the Lantern Festival, he had only seen a glimpse of her dirty face. So, he had only though she was good-looking. He hadn’t expected that she would as sparkling and clear as a lustrous gem.

Jiang Miao Lan always had many bizarre ideas. For example, playing poker, making perfume from various flower petals, and fermenting grape wine… Jiang Miao Lan had a lovely voice. She would sing songs that Wei Kun had never heard of. She was sweet, agreeable, and unique. She made people feel intoxicated. From Wei Kun’s point of view, Jiang Miao Lan was a treasure. A treasure that was able to do anything.

After the two of them knew each other for a year, Wei Kun couldn’t resist confessing to his family. He told Duke Ying and Old Madam that he wanted to marry an orphan without any family background.

Later, things happened as mentioned before. Duke Ying and his wife didn’t agree, so Wei Kun kneeled outside of their doors for three days and three nights until they were forced to agree.

After Jiang Miao Lan married into his family, Old Madam Luo-shi didn’t care for her. However, for the sake of Wei Kun, Luo-shi didn’t make things too difficult for Jiang Miao Lan. Luo-shi just rarely spoke to Jiang Miao Lan when she came to pay respect and wish her good health every morning.

Three months after their wedding, Jiang Miao Lan became pregnant.

Wei Kun was wild with joy and treated her with increasing attentiveness.

The first three months were good. The married couple loved and cherished each other. They seemed like they were stuck together by glue. They were so affection with each other that other people would blush when looking at them.

However, Luo-shi still didn’t like this daughter-in-law and wanted to find another woman to serve Wei Kun while Jiang Miao Lan was pregnant. That woman was Count Zhong Yi’s family’s Du Yue Ying.

Although Du Yue Ying was born from Count Zhong Yi’s family’s side branch, the circumstances of her birth weren’t good. Her father was concubine-born, so it wouldn’t be wronging her to make her into Wei Kun’s concubine.

Luo-shi had also privately asked Du Yue Ying for her opinion. Du Yue Ying’s blushing face and lowered head showed that she tacitly agreed.

However, when Old Madam mentioned this to Wei Kun, he refused to agree, so this matter came to nothing.

After October, Jiang Miao Lan gave birth to fraternal twins. The son and daughter were healthy. However, she almost died because she had lost too much blood while giving birth. On that day, Wei Kun was taking highest level imperial civil examination. He only had time to briefly look before leaving to take the examination.

As a result, Wei Kun made a mistake that wasn’t like him. When the results came out, Wei Kun didn’t pass.

During that time, Wei Kun was in low spirits. After hearing that Jiang Miao Lan’s body was weak, he thought it wouldn’t be good to infect her with his moodiness, so he moved to his study. When Wei Kun visited Jiang Miao Lan, most of the time he was seeing her sleeping appearance. Even if she wasn’t sleeping, Jiang Miao Lan wasn’t in the mood to talk. Her mind was focused on their two newly born children.

During this period, one of Wei Kun’s classmates and close friend suddenly died. His death was a heavy blow to Wei Kun. Wei Kun became fond of drinking. He would often go to the lake pavilion in the back of the residence to drown his sorrows by drinking by himself.

So, when Du Yu Ying came to Duke Ying’s residence with Count Zhong Yi’s wife for Wei Chang Hong and Wei Luo’s one-month-old birthday, she saw Wei Kun’s depressed appearance.

At the time, Du Yue Ying was still very clever and knew that she should act out her plan starting from Wei Kun. She kept him company while he was depressed. She praised, encouraged, and comforted him. Although Wei Kun felt very thankful towards Du Yue Ying, he still maintained some distance between them and didn’t overstep the bounds of what was proper.

Du Yue Ying stayed at Duke Ying’s residence for a month under the excuse of accompanying Old Madam.

This was the period of time that Jiang Miao Lan was recuperating, but there was something wrong with her body. Her health became worse and worse. At the end, she couldn’t even get out of bed. Wei Kun would take out two hours each day to keep her company. Jiang Miao Lan knew that he was busy studying for the next examination, so she didn’t ask him to stay for long. Usually, she would ask him to leave after an hour.

Until one day, when he was walking around the courtyard with Jiang Miao Lan on a day that she was feeling slightly better, they met Du Yue Ying at the lakeside. Du Yue Ying accidentally stepped on a stone and her body started falling backwards.

Without even thinking, Wei Kun let go of Jiang Miao Lan’s hand to support Du Yue Ying.

This was the first time that Jiang Miao Lan met Du Yue Ying.

Once you noticed someone, you would find traces of her everywhere in your life.

For example, Jiang Miao Lan’s servant girl, Gui Xiang, said that Du Yue Ying would frequently go inside Wei Kun’s study to bring him tea and snacks. She would also occasionally bring her own writings to ask Wei Kun for advice. All of these things were acquiesced by Duke Ying and his wife. Old Madam wasn’t satisfied with Jiang Miao Lan’s background to begin with. She wanted to find someone for Wei Kun that could help him. Someone from Count Zhong Yi’s family wouldn’t be bad.

After hearing this, Jiang Miao Lan’s face became even paler. She called Wei Kun over to ask if these things really happened. Wei Kun shook his head to deny. He held her hand and solemnly promised, “Lan-er, you’re the only person that I want in my life.”

Jiang Miao Lan chose to believe him.

She believed Wei Kun until she heard him say to Du Yue Ying in the verandah after he left her room, “Why are you here? Your health isn’t good either. Didn’t you feel cold a few days ago? The illness in Lan-er‘s room is too heavy. I’m worried that you’ll get sick. You should go back.”

Inside her room, Jiang Miao clenched the bed sheets underneath her. She couldn’t describe the feeling in her heart. She always thought she was special in Wei Kun’s heart. Now, she realized this wasn’t true. He was equally gentle, patient, and magnanimous towards everyone. Just like the way he was treating Du Yue Ying right now.

She believed that one day, Du Yue Ying would come into her room, bashfully place her hands on her stomach, and say, “Older sister, I’m pregnant with Fifth Master’s child.”

Lightning will strike the guilty.

Jiang Miao Lan closed her eyes. She looked peaceful, but her heart already had a knife twisted through it.

She didn’t want to believe the words she imagined. She wanted to clearly ask Wei Kun, but Wei Kun didn’t return home that night. Jiang Miao Lan had Gui Xiang find out where he went. She said Wei Kun left the residence to socialize with schoolmates.

On the next day, Jiang Miao Lan was greatly ill. People from the first and second branch came to see her. At that time, Third Master Wei Chang wasn’t married yet. Everyone in House Wei clearly knew the person that Wei Chang longed for. Fifth Madam was as fair as a flower and the moon. Fifth Master wasn’t the only one person who had fallen in love with her. Third Master had also fallen in love with her at first sight. Unfortunately for him, Fifth Madam and Fifth Master were deeply in love. There wasn’t any space for Third Master.

Seeing Jiang Miao Lan like this, Wei Chang waited until everyone had left to walk to her beside. With red eyes, he asked, “Why have you become so thin? Are the servants treating you harshly?”

Jiang Miao Lan weakly said, “Thank you Third Brother-in-law, I’m well.”

Wei Chang looked at her without saying a word.

A long time, Jiang Miao Lan was the first one to speak. But, she asked about something else, ” Yesterday… did anyone in the residence call for a doctor?”

Wei Chang naturally knew the question that she wanted to ask.

Wei Chang thought of the schemes that Du Yue Ying and his fiancée, Liu-shi were capable of. She was capable of doing anything that would drive away this woman that she found threatening. But, for some reason, he didn’t tell Jiang Miao Lan this. Instead, he directly said, “Du-shi is pregnant. The child is fifth brother’s.”

Jiang Miao Lan finally lost the last of her strength to support herself. She felt as if she had been hollowed out. Her mind was empty without any thoughts. Sitting on the bed, she closed her eyes. The past two months had used up all of her strength. She felt withered and as if she had reached a dead end. If it wasn’t for her two children, she might not even have lasted until now.

When Wei Kun entered the room, he saw Jiang Miao Lan crying and Wei Chang sitting on the bed and helping her wipe her tears.

Seeing that she was on the same bed as his brother, Wei Kun’s eyes sunk. He walked forward. This person used to be his dear brother. Because of a woman, they had fallen out.

This was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back.

In a raging temper, Wei Kun quarreled with Jiang Miao Lan and said many ugly words. Later, he didn’t even remember the words that he had said. He only remembered that Jiang Miao Lan’s face was as white as paper. He couldn’t see anger in her eyes. There was only defeat.

Then after that, Wei Kun couldn’t see Jiang Miao Lan anymore.

She left without bringing anything. She waited until nighttime and left with her servant girl, Gui Xiang. That night, if the room didn’t have a lingering medicinal smell, Wei Kun would think that everything that happened during this period was a dream. Jiang Miao Lan was gone. Their two children were gone…

Children!

Suddenly remembering something, Wei Kun hurriedly ran over to the next room. He saw children lying in their swaddling clothes. Their faces looked identical. One was awake and the other was sleeping. Wei Luo looked at him with her dark eyes. Her tender and white fist was clenched. She completely didn’t know what had happened. She even giggled when she saw him.

Wei Kun kneeled down next to the cradle. He couldn’t resist bitterly crying.

He didn’t know the exact reason why Jiang Miao Lan left and he thought he would never know the actual truth. Wei Kun had only treated Du Yue Ying as Jiang Miao Lan when he was drunken one day. He had hugged her and said a few words.

As for the pregnancy, it was utter nonsense. Even if Wei Kun had done something with her, it wouldn’t be possible for her to become pregnant so quickly. It was only because Jiang Miao Lan thought that they had started a relationship earlier so she believed Du-shi‘s words. Du-shi and Liu-shi‘s original purpose was to force Jiang Miao Lan to die. Now, Jiang Miao Lan had left. But, where could a woman go? If she didn’t die on the streets, then she would be reduced to going to the red light district. Either way, their goal had been achieved.

Wei Kun was kept in the dark. At the time, he wanted to explain everything to Jiang Miao Lan when he came back home, but then he saw how close she was with Wei Chang and thought of the affection that Wei Chang felt for her. He was temporarily overwhelmed by jealousy and lost his senses to uneasiness and anger. So, he said words that he shouldn’t have.

However, it was true that Wei Kun had touched Du Yue Ying. Even if they didn’t go to the last step, he had harmed a young woman’s reputation. He didn’t have another choice. He had to marry Du-shi after coming back to the capital. He couldn’t find Jiang Miao Lan and his heart that had turned to ashes.

No matter how much affinity you felt for another person, you couldn’t escape fate.

This was why House Wei would tell outsiders that Jiang Miao Lan had died of sickness. After all, it would have been scandalous to say that they had lost a daughter-in-law in this sort of way.

When Jiang Miao Lan left Duke Ying’s residence, she originally thought she wouldn’t live for long. She hadn’t expected that she would meet Fu Xing Yun.

Fu Xing Yun saved her life with his skilled medical knowledge.

However, she had injured her body when giving birth and didn’t receive sufficient medical treatment for too long. She had lost the ability to become pregnant a long time ago.

Jiang Miao Lan had been gone for so many years. From the beginning, she had known that Wei Luo and Chang Hong wouldn’t recognize her. She had also prepared herself for this outcome. But seeing Wei Luo today, she couldn’t resists the impulse from her heart. Even if Wei Luo didn’t recognize her, she still wanted to tell Wei Luo that she was her mother.

Jiang Miao Lan looked at Wei Kun, who was sitting at the table, “… I heard that you married Du Yue Ying. Have you been well?

Wei Kun covered his face. He couldn’t speak.

No one could see the expression he had on his face. They could only see that his body was trembling as he let out a painful sound.