Chapter 258.2: Play, Jealousy, Anger

Speaking of which, just talking about Li Hong Yuan as a person, he was definitely the Creator's favorite, perfect to a somewhat unreasonable degree. Not only so, he was even given extraordinary talent and wisdom. Perhaps, it was precisely because of this that he was thus robbed of familial love.

Li Hong Yuan's voice was neither soft nor heavy, clear and rhythmic. Jing Wan listened along. Even if the hair dried relatively slowly, she was still extremely patient.

After wiping dry, Jing Wan used the comb to lightly comb apart for him, afterwards directly helping him comb into a crown.

Although this was her first time putting a man's hair into a crown, Jing Wan was still very satisfied.

Li Hong Yuan had the book placed aside, having her pulled into his arms, "Practiced before?"

"Isn't that given?" She can not touch needlework, and can also not enter the kitchen, but this kind of small matter, she can still learn.

Li Hong Yuan kissed her, "Hungry? Let's go eat first."

The two of them exited the inner room holding hands. In the outer room, the dining table was already propped up, and the dishes were also brought up one by one.

This outer hall intersected with other areas, yet was completely open up to the outside, not having any windows. The scenery in the courtyard fully visible at a glance. Jing Wan immediately saw the people kneeling on the pebble paved path outside, a dense mass of people. The two girls in the lead had their heads lowered, wearing just a dudou and a pair of thin inner pants, their entire body somewhat shivering. And those behind them, Jing Wan guessed, were their family.

Probably hearing the sounds of movement, they all simultaneously lifted their heads, "Wangye..............." One of the girls very pitifully called out. That look, and that clingy voice, even made Jing Wan somewhat raise goosebumps.

"Little slut, shut up." An old servant woman to the side went forward and just slapped her.

That old servant woman, Jing Wan has never seen before, but presumably must also be someone from the estate.

Jing Wan frowned, this scene really spoiled one's appetite. "Wangye, this is..........."

"You take care of it." Li Hong Yuan didn't even bat an eye.

Jing Wan slightly pondered for a moment, roughly understanding his intentions. "Since that's the case, just take them down first, wait until after we finish using the meal."

Although she long knew that the people who have delusions about her husband weren't in the minority, and originally, just thought about it in their hearts, she believed that no one would do anything excessive. Yet, she'd just arrived at the estate for the first time, and on the first day, they just dared to do something like this. Isn't this deliberately trying to disgust her? No matter how good tempered one was, one would still be unhappy.

And since she's unhappy, just let them kneel for a while longer.

Perhaps knowing that having the people left until now had caused his wife to be unhappy, Li Hong Yuan very diligently 'served' her in using the meal. Moreover, his mood was also pretty good. Her being jealous was a good thing.

After finishing, and then letting the food digest a little, Jing Wan finally let someone have them brought over.

At this time, if one still didn't know who was in control of their fate, then that was really just having water enter the brains.

Perhaps seeing that Jing Wan looked tender, in addition to knowing that she just married in, they believed that in front of her own husband, she certainly won't be ruthless, so as to avoid leaving behind a malicious impression. This was something that no new bride wanted after all.

(T/N: The underlying meaning being Jing Wan looks easy to take advantage of lol.)

They loudly kowtowed, begging exceptionally pitifully, and at the same time, still not forgetting to have Jing Wan praised into the sky, saying things like great mercy and benevolence, living Bodhisattva, the unspoken implications just being, if she touches them, then she's just malicious inside.

Jing Wan actually didn't understand, how come some people are just able to be this conceited, attempting to crawl on your husband's bed, yet if you punish them, you were just wicked beyond redemption. What gave them this confidence? Regardless of what Li Hong Yuan's original purpose was, in any case, Jing Wan this while really was angry.

"Have all the widowers in the estate, as well as those thirty and above that have yet to take a wife, all called over."

Upon hearing this, the two girls as well as their family immediately understood Jing Wan's intentions.

"There's another estate next door, mainly for growing grains. That place should have even more people that fulfill your requirements." Li Hong Yuan leisurely opened his mouth.

Jing Wan turned her head and shot a glare at him. Picking flowers and trampling grass all day, causing this kind of trouble, yet want her to come clean up?

———-Taking care of these things, shouldn't it be the duty of every wife? Li Hong Yuan smiled very innocently.

Since even the people of the other estate were included, then gathering altogether certainly will take some time. In any case, they weren't in a hurry anyways, so just slowly wait.

Speaking of which, although both estates belonged to Li Hong Yuan, the treatment between the two estates greatly differed.

The people of this estate, that was all having gone through selections. The most obvious bit was, with master coming, they can't taint master's eyes, no? That's why, Jing Wan wanting to pick crooked gourds and split jujubes, the difficulty was slightly high.

By the time the people from this estate that matched with Jing Wan's request gathered in one place, sure enough, they for the most part were all proper looking, with some that even appeared to be relatively good-looking. If these people were improper inside, it was still okay. Matching with this kind of bed crawling woman, it was also just 'what kind of pot matched with what kind of lid'. But if they wholeheartedly just want to peacefully live out their days, encountering this kind of woman, that was just suffering the misfortune of eight lifetimes. In the future, perhaps it was just never having peace at home, a great ruckus all day long.

Jing Wan wanted to punish people, but didn't plan on involving innocent people.

This crowd of people, due to not knowing what was going on, all just quietly stood there with their heads lowered, not daring to lift their heads to carelessly looked around. They all knew that wangye had brought wangfei over. The crime of great disrespect was something they couldn't afford to shoulder.

However, since they were already here, Jing Wan can't just let them, without knowing anything, just come for nothing, no?

Receiving Jing Wan's indication, the old servant woman just explained to them that their master has the intention of 'appointing a marriage', asking if anyone among them were willing.

Seeing the people kneeling on the ground, they for the most part already knew what happened.

These two girls were also quite famous in the estate, beautiful, and at the same time, also limitlessly spoiled by their family. In essence, they were farmers, however were raised just like noble young ladies of the boudoir, leading a pampered life, their hands never once touching labor. There were actually quite a few men of suitable age that admired them, but unfortunately, the withered flower had the intention, but the flowing water was heartless. Their eyesights were too high, from the start, just aiming for their master, wanting to live a life being above people. However, while still far from reaching that step, including their family, they just began using their nostrils to look down on others, naturally making quite a few people annoyed, and their feelings certainly fading as well. But, no one dared to speak out, sometimes even enduring the humiliation. After all, if by chance they really were to climb onto master, one really couldn't afford to offend them.

Now, it looks like they'd found the opportunity, just didn't succeed, even getting caught red-handed by wangfei. Moreover, wangfei wants to have them married off. To say they weren't moved in the slightest, certainly would be false, but getting shamed like this in public under numerous eyes, even if one were to marry back, one would still get mocked by others, and at the same time, they also very much worried about their hat going green. As such, even the old widowers over fifty all similarly remained silent. They already had grandchildren, so who would still do this kind of shameful thing.

Coming to this step, they all knew that it was already too late to turn back. These two girls, as well as their family, all hoped for someone to be able to stand out and resolve the trouble for them. Since that many people liked them on normal days, at this time, it should only be natural for them to be competing to stand out first. Not just them, those men of suitable age that heard the news should be the main ones.

Unfortunately, while their thoughts were beautiful, reality was very cruel.

T/N: This part reminds me of the story of Pan Jinlian in the 'Water Margin' (one of the four great classics of chinese literature). In the Water Margin, Pan Jinlian was the wife of the main protagonist Wu Song's older brother. She originally was the servant girl of a wealthy family, but was forced to marry Wu Dalang, who was a very short, ugly, and simple-minded man, as punishment for refusing her master's advances. (Yes, the whole troupe of forcing girls to marry ugly men as punishment in cnovels mostly originate from classic literature, the more ya know.) She herself is described as a great beauty and was very much unwilling to be married to such a man because in her view, it was a waste of her beauty and youth. Moreover, she was also a very loose and lustful woman, and since Wu Dalang was unable to satisfy her extreme lust, she often messed around with the local wastrels when he was away from home. He's a poor peasant that sells flatcakes for a living so he's often gone for most of the day to make money.

Wu Dalang is overall described as an honest and hard-working man who is very weak tempered because he's often bullied for his appearance. And because his parents died early, he was also responsible for raising his younger brother, the protagonist of the Water Margin, Wu Song. In the story it's said that Wu Dalang was very good to Pan Jinlian and according to the neighbors they were very harmonious despite being ill-matched. In an alternate spin-off of the 'Water Margin' that focuses on this story, Wu Dalang also had a daughter with a previous wife, but his daughter was often abused by Pan Jinlian, frequently beating her for no reason and not giving her food.

Eventually Pan Jinlian starts having an affair with the handsome and wealthy young master, Ximen Qing. However, when Wu Dalang found out about it, literally walking in on the two in bed, the two of them colluded to poison him to death and then bribed the coroner to hide his cause of death. In the end, she and her lover were killed by Wu Dalang's younger brother Wu Song. Oh yea, she also once tried to hit on Wu Song, because Wu Song was tall and handsome unlike his brother, but Wu Song literally pushed her aside when she threw herself at him. The killing scene is like one of the most graphic scenes in the novel.