Chapter 62: I Have a Child
There was no wine after the meal. There was only clear water.
The boiled water had a bit of a pot taste and wasn’t very good to drink.
However, Meng Shaoxia and Young Master He Chen drank several bowls of water.
They were full and satisfied.
They let out a couple of water-filled burps.
They also prepared to leave.
They had not intended to stay the night anyway; they had lodgings in the county town.
Besides, this household did not look like it could accommodate guests.
Yet, Young Master He Chen did not understand.
How could Jiang Feng’s Father, such a beautiful person, live in a place like this? How could he possibly just be a Yamen Runner?
Nowadays, extravagance is in vogue in the Imperial Palace, and scholars in Qingzhou judge people by their appearance first.
With his looks, even if he handed in a blank paper, he would likely still place in the imperial examinations.
How could he…
It felt abrupt to say anything to such a beauty.
Finally, the square-faced Meng Shaoxia curiously asked, “Uncle Jiang, where is your ancestral home? You shouldn’t be a local here, right?”
When he asked this, the entire Jiang Family fell silent for a moment.
The long-haired young man sitting on the bamboo chair held the baby in his arms and calmly said, “If you are asking about my ancestral home, I should be from Jiangyin.”
“The Jiang Family of Jiangyin?” Young Master He Chen asked eagerly. It was as expected; a beauty like him was clearly from a noble family.
Jiang Changtian gently rubbed the hands of the baby in his arms. Jiang Mianmian’s little hands were always clenched into fists, her palms sweaty. Father would help her open her palms, kneading them bit by bit to help her use her hands more flexibly.
“My Father once served as the Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor, Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and Minister of Rites. My Father’s name was Grand Tutor Jiang Bai. After I was born, Father named me Changtian, hoping that my life could be like the vast sky, unbound and free.”
The night sky, the small courtyard, the bamboo chair, the long-haired young man—he spoke slowly.
Young Master He Chen and Meng Shaoxia were both stunned.
Young Master He Chen wanted to say something, but really didn’t know what to say.
Meng Shaoxia had not expected that Jiang Yu would actually be the granddaughter of Grand Tutor Jiang.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng was also stunned; Father had never mentioned it.
But immediately after, an incomparable bitterness surged in his chest.
He thought of how Father would bow and scrape before the Yamen Runner.
He desperately wondered when he could grow up, grow up enough to become Father’s support.
So he wouldn’t have to think about those people anymore.
Qin Luoxia stood behind her husband, wringing her own clothes hem tightly with both hands.
Jiang Yu was also silent.
She just felt that her Father was so pitiful.
If Father and Mother didn’t want her, she would cry to death just thinking about it, but Father’s parents had really abandoned him.
“But was there some misunderstanding?”
Young Master He Chen thought of his visit to the Jiang Mansion this morning.
Although it wasn’t extravagantly opulent, it had pavilions and terraces, ancient paintings and incense vases, and the windows were covered with gauze made of Shu silk.
Old Madam Jiang was dressed magnificently.
His distant aunt, Madam Jiang, wore gold hairpins and jade bracelets.
Although Lord Jiang was not dressed extravagantly, it was clear he had never worried about money; the training ground was spacious and the study was bright.
Jiang Wan wore a half-new ru-skirt, a warm white jade bracelet on her raised hand, and emeralds inlaid on her shoes. Her hands were fair, her smile sweet, and she was sensible and well-mannered—she looked like someone who had never suffered a day in her life.
Meng Shaoxia also recalled it.
He thought of Jiang Wan again, thinking of how exquisite her food and clothing were, her generous demeanor, and how kind she was to her maids.
He looked at the round-faced little girl in front of him, dressed in coarse linen clothes, sitting there with red eyes like a little rabbit.
Meng Shaoxia wanted to knock on her head—what a silly girl.
Jiang Changtian finished rubbing one of his little daughter’s hands and then rubbed the other.
His voice became even softer.
Because he was unwilling to mention those things, he appeared fragile and pitiful.
He did not want to appear as if he would choke up or care.
He said these words in the lightest tone possible, as if his vocal cords didn’t need to vibrate at all.
“Mother had loathed me since I was young, saying that I hid evil in my eyes and that she felt sick seeing me. I secretly studied hard, wanting to rely on the imperial examinations to escape the family. Mother told the teacher that I did not uphold filial piety and was not fit to be a person. Thus, my path to the imperial examinations was severed.”
Jiang Mianmian’s hands were being rubbed, and she listened to Father’s voice, which was different from usual.
Sentence by sentence, very, very slowly.
Father’s body was trembling slightly.
She looked up at Father, only to see Father lowering his head, smiling at her.
“Mother wanted me to die, but I did not want to die, because I have a child.”
