As time goes by, Xiao Song began to love his new routine in his hometown. Instead of being stuck in his room with plenty of free time with little to do, he'd now dedicated his energy and time in supervising the ongoing process of building the irrigation system.
He was also responsible to form a unit task force specializing on redistributing food rationing for the people in the town. He had his days filled with meaningful duties, it helped him to take the capital - specifically the princess - off his mind.
Everything was progressing smoothly until a letter arrived and shattered his peaceful days. It was a letter from the capital addressing to his sister-in-law.
Their entire family was enjoying tea in the garden when a servant came and handed the letter to Zheng Er.
"whose letter is that?" Xiao Zhan asked curiously.
"From my friend" she answer vaguely. Xiao Song knew that she deliberately try to invoke his jealousy to spice up their mundane days.
But for the love of God, can't they take it to their private space?
However, seeing his father's face brimming with happiness seeing his son's radiant married life, Xiao Song choose to keep mum his discomfort to himself.
"This friend… is he a man or a woman?" Xiao Zhan was dissatisfied with his wife's short reply. He reacted exactly how the people at the table expected him to do.
"Ahahaha…...you are an open book. I would not drag this for long. This is an important letter from an important friend" she giggled gracefully. Her slender fingers began to dismantle the rope tying the letter together.
Her face contorted a bit while reading the content of the letter. Seeing the changes in his wife's facial expression, Xiao Zhan was becoming more intrigue about the letter.
"What was it? What did the letter says?" he butted in while she was perusing the letter.
"Hmm….nothing much. My friend was getting married" she replied wryly.
"Hmm? what with the reaction? Isn't that a good news? Xiao Zhan was befuddled.
"I knew the groom-to-be. He was not a good guy. He must be wanting to use her to elevate his status in the royal court" she threw aside the letter as she had finished reading the letter. Xiao Song lifted one of his eyebrow openly showing his disdain toward her pompous behaviour.
Despite getting on the wrong foot with Zheng Er on their first day departing from the capital, he admitted that he was amazed by her adapting skill. She was fitting in quite well with his family despite of the huge differences between their family's hierarchy and social status. She did not shown any troubled in making herself comfortable in their home.
Perhaps, it was because the lack of female family members in the household. Zheng Er had getting along with their father by playing the role of a responsible daughter in law. Not only that, she was also actively socializing around with the woman in the town.
Xiao Song believed that he was the only person - in their family- that was not compatible with Zheng Er. Nevertheless, over the time, they managed to be tolerant toward each other.
But, there would be several occasion where they would be passively aggressive to one another. This is one of the rare occasion.
" Who is this friend of yours , daughter-in-law?" the duke appeared to be equally intrigue with this elusive friend of her.
"One of the emperor's many daughter. I don't think a lot of people knew about her as her late mother was a commoner. Eerrr…. her name is Princess Liu Shi"
Xiao Song accidentally choked on his tea as soon as the name slipped out of Zheng Er's mouth. He coughed incessantly as he was trying to get the swallowed tea out of his windpipe. Xiao Zhan was trying to help him by slapping his back.In the middle of the chaos, Xiao Song could see Zheng Er's subtle smirk that she tried to suppress.
'This woman!!!'
"What's wrong with you son?" his father asked innocently.
"If I'm not mistaken, older brother-in-law was acquainted with the princess, am I right? Zheng Er hastily replied.
Xiao Song glared menacingly toward his sister-in-law. He knew she was trying to annoy him by deliberately informing him about Princess Liu Shi's impending marriage.
"You know her?" his father appeared to be curious about his relationship with the princess.
"Yes, I occasionally encounter the princess while I was visiting the emperor" that was technically right. His father seemed to be satisfied with the answer. He nodded his head a few times.
"Princes…Liu Shi….I heard that name before. She was born a few weeks before we moved here. I think I met her mother one time when she was heavily pregnant with the daughter." his father reminisced the olden days.
"The princess, I have never met anyone more pitiful than her…." Every eyes on the table were looking at Zheng Er wanting to know more. Upon seeing the interest flickering in their eyes, she joyously resumed her stories.
"Her mother passed away when she was very young. She had no one to fend for her hence she had only herself to depend on to survive the vicious inner palace. Then, there is this Yun young master who had shown interest toward her."
"Yun? The affluent Yun family?" his father seemed genuinely had his heart on the discussion.
"Yes, that Yun family"
"Why would Yun family want to marry their son off to a mere princess with no political influence?"
"The Young master of Yun family was not of benevolent character. He was known to frequent brothel houses in the capital thus the reason why they were targeting to marry him off the Princess Liu Shi. She has no strong back up like any other princesses. Yet she was still the emperor's daughter. This way, the young master Yun would be able to elevate his political status while at the same time free to resume his hideous activities" She elucidate.
"Poor the princess" Xiao Zhan remarked while clicking his tongue.
Unable to hear anymore of this, Xiao Song abrupt got up from his seat. He bowed to the three of them and said
"I'm going to visit the irrigation site"
Without waiting for their reply, he walked away from the table. His head was in a mess and he needed to get respite from all the information that had been shoved into his head. But Zheng Er would not let him go just like that. She immediately went after him and started to shout.
"Are you a coward!?" she yelled breathlessly while trying to keep up with his fast pace.
" Do not follow me!" he yelled at her back.
"I'd do whatever I wanted to do! You should go back to the capital! You should swept her feet off from falling into the vile man's hand. Don't you love her?!"
Xiao Song abruptly stopped in the middle of the track. Zheng Er who did not foresaw the unprecedented move bumped into his back. She backed away a few stops while brushing off her nose.
" I am doing my best…" he mumbled the words under his breathe slowly.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"I said, I'm doing this for her own good. If she is married the young master Yun, she would one day be the mistress of an affluent family. With a powerful connection such as this, she would no longer being looked down by everyone else and she can now held her head high. This is something that I can never offered to her. She would be reduced from a neglected princess into the daughter-in-law of impoverish aristocrat" He grimaced. His face display such a dejected look , Zheng Er was left feeling stunned by looking at him.
She began to composed herself and her infamous smirk resurfaced. This time, it was much more soft and conveyed maternal comfort rather than a menacing one.
"Both of you are very much alike" she commented. She never did took the smirk off from her face.
"Pardon me?"
"You. And Xiao Zhan." she replied. "When I first met Xiao Zhan, I fell in love from the first sight. But I forbid my selfish self from nurturing this feelings any further as I knew the gap between our social status. However, I kept questioning myself, what I was so attracted to him? Why did this unassuming man stood out so much among many men that I had met in the capital? How could I, the daughter of the finance minister who was a strong contender to be the empire's crown princess decided to choose some country bump over the crown prince?"
Xiao Song was staring intently at Zheng Er. Never did he imagined that this headstrong woman would open up about her private feelings to him. This is something he did not expect but was pleased to listen to. He had always been curious about both of them anyway.
"Then, why did you choose him?"
"He was different. He was…..kind?" she tilted her head a little bit. It appeared as if she was explaining her feelings to her own self rather than to Xiao Song.
"I have never been treated with such a kindness before. Being a woman in a high ranking officer's household, our lives are difficult. We need to wear our strong facade almost all the time. We would always need to be careful, or else we'd be stabbed from behind by our own flesh and blood. Being my father's daughter, I was ingrained to think that I need to make myself valuable to him so that he wold love and appreciate me" She let out a heavy sigh.
" So I did my best to earn the admiration from people around me. I learn how to read, write and calculus. I made sure that I was equipped with necessary skills such as dancing , writing poem and embroidery. Not only learning skills, I also made sure that I became the best in every aspects so that I made myself useful for my father. That's how I came to know Princess Liu Shi. I made sure I befriended her and other princesses so that I could get closer to the crown princess. I work so hard so to elevate my status in the eyes of everyone." she threw back her head and let out a loud, humorless laugh.
"The jokes is on me right? I ended up throwing all the skills that I had cultivated in the long run for a cute country bump. I was such an idiot" her eyes was staring off into the space.
"But I would never regret my decision"
"What made you convince that you have made the right choice?"
"Men had forge their life in battlefield while we. woman, battling our own war. It was a long and exhaustive one. I've been faring one since I was a kid, hence I decided to settle with someone who love me for myself and not putting me in another war again in this lifetime."
For someone who never had complex family relationship, this is a new revelation for Xiao Song. Due to him living away from political environment in the capital, their family was blessed with ordinary lifestyle where no one had to fight with each other to love or be loved.
His late mother was the duke's only wife and they rarely need to think about political marriage for their family's benefit.
"So…." Zheng Er's voice pulled him away from his trance.
"…you were wrong when you said she would be blessed with good future once she married into Yun family. It would be another lifelong battle she needs to endure before she'd earn the privileged of being the mistress of the family. In other words, her world would not change, it just going to be much more difficult" She was glaring sharply at him.
Gone now her soft smile and maternal gaze. It was replaced by her usual scathing look. Looks like she had put on her defensive mask back.
"Now , excuse me. I think I speak too much. I need to go back to my husband" she curtsied in front of him and proceed to left and leaving him standing alone in the middle of the corridor.
Xiao Song clenched his fist tightly. It felt as if he was slapped with new reality that no matter which way he choose, he would never be able offer a comfortable path of life for Princess Liu Shi.
The conversation that he had with his sister-in-law just now had messing up his head. He was cornered to think that he was wrong about his early decision. He need to changed that!!
Xiao Song had decided. He immediately ran to the stable and pulled his strongest horse out of his box stall.
The image of the horse speeding away from their household startled everyone in the house.
"where is first young master going?" the duke asked the stable boy.
"He said that he was going to the capital"
"Huh? Going to the capital? On a horse?"