Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan 知否知否 应是绿肥红瘦

C118. I Won't Accept Her as Your Concubine or Maid (2)

Xiaotao's forehead was still oozing sweat. She tugged at Dangju's sleeve and said, "I asked the gatekeeper Xiaoshun to follow them. He returned back soon and said that he saw the carriage driving into the grove of peach trees outside the entrance of the alley. After that I immediately rushed back and told Lady about this."

Sheng Mansion was located in a good area and not far away from it, there was a grove of peach trees. Although the grove was uneven and few people would go there and enjoy the scenery, it had a rustic charm. Minglan pondered for a while and guessed that Cousin Cao must have come to see He Hongwen alone. Since they wanted to talk about their old times alone, they would choose a secluded romantic place. He Mansion and Cao Mansion were both unsuitable for a chat. In this case the grove of peach trees was the best place for them to chat.

Minglan counted the minutes with her fingers. It would take about seven or eight minutes to reach the grove of peach trees by carriage from Sheng Mansion. Xiaoshun and Xiaotao were good at running. So up to now, Cao Jinxiu and He Hongwen had just talked to each other for half an hour. Minglan conjectured that they had just finished talking about their experiences because Cao Jinxiu must have cried for a long time according to Minglan's reading of the character of Cao Jinxiu.

After hearing Xiaotao's words, Dangju stammered, "... So, my lady, what are you going to do?"

'Is Lady Minglan going to catch them red-handed?' Dangju was dumbfounded by her own thought.

"Nothing," Minglan answered.

The carriage stopped and the curtain was slightly lifted by a gentle breeze. A faint fragrance of peach flowers came in. Minglan opened her eyes, smoothed the wrinkles on her skirt and pushed upright the golden ornament on her hair while she said lightly, "I have run out of patience." With that she stepped out of the carriage with the help of Xiaotao.

'Damn it! I'm tired of all the speculation. The average marriage age of people in ancient times is 16. Youth is the most precious time of life and I can't let my youth slip idly by. Furthermore, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. If he doesn't want to marry me, I will change my mind at once,' Minglan thought to herself.

The noon sun was fierce in late August and there were few people in the grove of peach trees. This area was in the inner part of the capital and had a good public order these days because it was under the state of siege during the Autumn Imperial Examination and idle persons were not allowed to walk around. Minglan wore the curtained hat and walked toward the depths of the grove with Dangju, Xiaotao and the two young men of Huang family.

Xiaotao walked fast forth to detect the positions of He Hongwen and Cao Jinxiu. After a while, she hurriedly came back and whispered to Minglan, "The carriage of Cao family is in the west of the grove. Young Master He and Lady Cao are over here." She pointed to tall trees thick with leaves ahead.

Minglan asked the two young men of Huang family to wait here and then led Xiaotao and Dangju to walk on. When they came near to the shade, they heard a woman crying and a man gently consoling her. Minglan, Xiaotao and Dangju promptly hid behind a big tree.

"... Cousin, I have suffered a lot in Liang Prefecture. There was even no clean water to drink. The water fetched from the well was salty and bitter. After drinking it, my parents' faces swelled up..." Cao Jinxiu said with sobs, "But that was not the worst thing. A few years later, we ran out of money and had nothing to bribe the officials. My family was unable to continue living, so they married me... married me... to him... He's a military official garrisoning the Liang Prefecture... Cousin, I really wanted to kill myself at that time but I couldn't do that. If I had died, my parents would have been in a hopeless situation."