Reborn After Widowhood – Chapter 188 Part 2
Chapter 188 – Chen Eldest III – Part 2
Chen Bozong actually wanted to take her with him to take up his post, but such selfishness couldn’t be shown, so as soon as he returned to Guanhe Hall, he went to the study and let her to pack her things.
Since they were going together to his post, there was no need to rush to do anything at night. The couple lay down, one facing outwards and the other facing inwards, as if they were both embarrassed by the madness of the previous two nights.
After moving to the Lingzhou prefectural yamen, Yu Xiu unexpectedly discovered that Princess Hua Yang seemed to like her quite a bit and often invited her to visit.
Yu Xiu was very happy.
She had never had a good sister of the same age.
When she was a child, she didn’t like to go out because of her engagement to the Chen family, so she never made any good sisters. After marrying into the Chen family, the Chen family was full of men, and she could only talk to her mother-in-law. When the third brother’s wife Luo Yuyan came in, their life experiences were very different, and Luo Yuyan didn’t like her. Unexpectedly, the princess with the most noble status treated her quite kindly.
Yu Xiu didn’t even dare to speak to Princess Hua Yang at the beginning, but slowly she could look her in the eye.
On this day, Princess Hua Yang was going to entertain Princess Consort Xiang and other female guests in Ningyuan, and invited her to join. Since they were all distinguished guests, Yu Xiu put on a newly made red brocade jacket, adorned her hair with a gold hairpin inlaid with red gemstones, and wore a pair of white jade earrings.
She seldom dressed up, and after getting dressed like this, Yu Xiu felt that she looked a little strange in the mirror.
After dressing up, she went out to have breakfast with Chen Bozong.
Yu Xiu felt a little awkward at first, but unexpectedly, Chen Bozong just glanced at her indifferently, as if no matter how she dressed up, it would be the same in his eyes.
Yu Xiu was relieved, but also a little disappointed. She actually hoped that Chen Bozong would look at her more and see that she looked better than usual today.
But Princess Hua Yang gave her what her husband had not given her, a smile and praise for her beautiful appearance.
In Yu Xiu’s heart, the princess had become the best person in the entire Chen family beside her mother-in-law and children.
After dinner in Ningyuan in the evening, and Chen Bozong and Chen Jingzong finished talking, Yu Xiu followed her husband into the carriage.
With the swaying of the carriage, the white jade bead pendant on Yu Xiu’s earlobe also swayed gently.
Chen Bozong took a look and asked her what she had seen and heard in Ningyuan during the day.
Yu Xiu answered one by one.
Then the couple had nothing to say.
Arriving at the prefectural yamen, Yu Xiu washed her face and rinsed her mouth. She walked around the screen and was about to take off her clothes when Chen Bozong suddenly hugged her from behind. Without saying a word, he just bent down and kissed her earlobe.
Yu Xiu gradually leaned into his arms.
“You look good in this outfit. Keep dressing like this in the future.” Chen Bozong stroked the exquisite embroidery on her collar and whispered in her ear.
When he lifted her up horizontally, Yu Xiu lowered her eyes and thought, so he noticed too.
Chen Bozong not only noticed that, but he also noticed something else. Whenever she mentioned the princess, there was a light in her eyes, lively and vibrant.
She was no longer afraid of the princess’s identity, so why was she afraid of him alone?
“Look at me.” Chen Bozong held her face and forced her to look directly at him, “Look at me.”
Yu Xiu didn’t understand why he did this, but if she didn’t listen, he would become very bad, even worse than on their wedding night.
She had to force herself to look at Chen Bozong’s handsome face and his eyes that were as deep as a pool of water.
At the end of the year, when the family reunited for the New Year, Sun shi found that the eldest son and his wife finally looked like a married couple. She didn’t know whether the Old One had become smart and could coax his wife, or her daughter-in-law had become bolder and was no longer so afraid of her son.
In short, it was all good!
.
Since Yu Xiu married Chen Bozong, she had followed him to the capital, followed him back to the ancestral home to mourn, and then followed him back to the capital. The couple had always been together and never been apart for a long time.
Until the third year of Yuanyou, Chen Bozong actually went to Guangzhou, the southernmost city, to serve as the prefect, and stayed there for three years.
The night she first learned the news, Yu Xiu buried her head in Chen Bozong’s chest and cried for a long time.
Chen Bozong: “It’s nothing. Mother and Father were often separated in the past, sometimes for several years.”
Yu Xiu knew that, but when it really happened to her, she felt very uncomfortable.
“Three years, will you keep a mistress outside?” In addition to being reluctant, Yu Xiu was also worried about this.
Chen Bozong: “I’m not that kind of person, not to mention that I have job to do.”
Yu Xiu: “Will there be danger in implementing the new policy?”
Chen Bozong: “No, no one dares to attack the court officials.”
Yu Xiu was still reluctant.
But no matter how reluctant she was, the day of separation still came, and her father-in-law was so cruel that he didn’t even let them see him to the door.
From that day on, Yu Xiu and Luo Yuyan’s relationship became closer and closer. The two sisters-in-law often got together to guess how Chen Bozong and Chen Xiaozong were doing outside.
Luo Yuyan: “Eldest Brother is very reliable. Third Master may have many beautiful concubines around him.”
Yu Xiu: “No, Father is very strict. Third Master will not dare to take concubines.”
Luo Yuyan: “As long as he doesn’t bring anyone back when he returns to the capital, who will know? Humph, don’t let me catch him, or I will divorce him!”
Yu Xiu silently sweated for Chen Xiaozong. If it really came to the point of divorce, her father-in-law, mother-in-law and Chen Bozong would not stand on Chen Xiaozong’s side.
A year passed quickly, the new policy was implemented smoothly, and her mother-in-law also said that she would arrange for her and Luo Yuyan to go to their husbands separately.
Luo Yuyan happily instructed Yu Xiu: “Although Eldest Brother doesn’t look like that kind of person, you can’t take it lightly. When you get to Guangzhou, you have to find a way to bribe the servants in the prefectural yamen and get clues from them, including the maids inside, you have to test them one by one.”
Yu Xiu remembered it all in her heart.
After the Lantern Festival, the two sisters-in-law set out together, sailing southward, and separated in Jiangnan. Yu Xiu then continued southward with her maids and entourage.
They were about to reach Guangzhou when a rainstorm suddenly broke out, and the group had to stay at the post house.
Yu Xiu sat by the window, looking at the rain outside with resentment in her eyes. Without this rain, she would have reunited with her husband by now.
She had been lost in thought for too long when she suddenly realized that someone was approaching the window with an umbrella.
That person was holding an ordinary bamboo umbrella, with raindrops falling densely on the surface, making a continuous pattering sound.
His face was blocked by the umbrella, revealing only his slender figure below the chest.
Yu Xiu frowned. The postmaster said that the courtyard here was for them to live by themselves, so why did they let a man in?
This man really didn’t know etiquette. He knew that she was here to enjoy the rain, but he still walked over here.
Yu Xiu quickly closed the window.
Through the window paper, she could see that the man was still walking over, getting closer and closer.
Yu Xiu began to get scared. She was unfamiliar with this place. Would she run into a bad guy?
“Madam, the tea is here.” The maid knocked on the door and said with a smile.
Yu Xiu looked at the hazy shadow and deliberately raised her voice, “Come in.”
The maid put the tea down, but the figure outside the window had not left yet.
Yu Xiu asked the maid to call two guards to go out and take a look.
After the maid left, Yu Xiu was about to sit somewhere else when the figure outside the window suddenly spoke, “It’s raining heavily on the way. May I ask Madam for a cup of tea?”
This voice…
Yu Xiu suddenly opened the window.
The umbrella was lifted up, revealing a face she had been thinking about day and night. The 37-year-old Zhuangyuan was more majestic than before, but his handsomeness had not changed at all. He stood in the rain with an umbrella, and the sternness that once frightened her was also softened a little.
Because they hadn’t seen each other for such a long time, he actually smiled at her.
Yu Xiu’s tears rolled down like rain, and gradually turned into sobs.
Chen Bozong: “Wait a minute.”
He walked along the eaves towards the door. The maids and guards saluted in surprise when they saw their master.
Chen Bozong went straight to the door of her room, pushed it open, and just as he lowered the door latch, she rushed over and hugged him tightly from behind: “Why are you here? Isn’t today not a holiday? Isn’t the government busy?”
Chen Bozong: “One day off is not a big deal.”
His wife came all the way here, how could he not come to pick her up?
He turned around, lifted her face, looked at her for a moment, and said: “You’ve lost weight.”
Yu Xiu subconsciously wanted to look away, but Chen Bozong suddenly kissed her. A short separation could ignite hotter than a newlywed, and Yu Xiu couldn’t care about much else. She stood on tiptoe and hooked her arms around his neck.
Chen Bozong carried her to the inner room.
Yu Xiu remembered something and quickly looked back, only to see that the door had been properly latched. This Zhuangyuan, even before becoming the Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple, had always been exceptionally thoughtful.
The heavy rain covered up the sound from the bed over here. When Yu Xiu’s head hit the headboard again, she thought dizzily that Chen Bozong was so hungry like this, he should not have kept other women, right?
However, maybe Chen Bozong was just pretending. He was an extremely smart man who could see the flaws in other people’s words at a glance, and naturally would not leave any flaws for himself.
The next day, the weather was clear, and Yu Xiu followed Chen Bozong to the Guangzhou prefectural yamen.
Yu Xiu asked Chen Bozong to take her around on the pretext of being familiar with the place. During this tour, Yu Xiu was surprised to find that most of the servants in the yamen was male servants. Except for the cooking and fire-making women, there was not a single maid.
She deliberately asked: “Why didn’t you buy two maids? Maids are very careful in their work.”
Chen Bozong: “, it’s better to avoid suspicion.”
Yu Xiu pursed her lips, lowered her eyes and made a little joke: “Are you afraid that you can’t resist the temptation, so you just use male servants?”
Chen Bozong seemed to smile, and then he returned to his upright and cold appearance.
After lunch, Chen Bozong went to the yamen at the front to do some work. Yu Xiu was still tired from the long journey, so she lay on the bed to take a rest.
After sleeping for an unknown period of time, her body suddenly felt heavy.
It scared Yu Xiu. When she went out, even if she was accompanied by guards, she was afraid of encountering villains who bullied men and women!
She opened her eyes in panic, and then she found that the “villain” was actually the prefect, her husband.
Yu Xiu looked at the sky outside and asked in surprise: “Why are you back? Is the yamen so idle?”
Chen Bozong: “Not idle, but I’ve been distracted by someone. To have divided attention, twice the effort will only yield half the result. It’s better to get rid of distractions first.”
Yu Xiu: …
Her face turned bright red, but she was worried he might overexert himself. After all, he was almost forty, and they had already been together both yesterday during the day and last night. Could he handle it again now?
She didn’t actually doubt his abilities and didn’t want him to hurt himself just to prove a point.
Yu Xiu, being a very gentle and considerate wife, held her husband’s hand and voiced her concern.
Chen Bozong: …
Originally, he wanted to hurry up so that he could go back to handle official business, but now Chen Bozong was not in a hurry at all.
In the end, it was Yu Xiu who begged for mercy before the prefect finally let her go.
“That’s great.”
Before falling asleep, Yu Xiu hugged his waist and said contentedly.
She wanted to be with him, to be together forever, and never separate.
Translator’s note:
Since the main story has ended and only extra chapters are left, I’m going to focus more on the new novel. Next week I’m going to upload the next chapters only on Saturday and Sunday, but if it’s any consolation, I won’t cut long chapter into two like this, so it’s essentially two chapters in one.
Wonderful~ thanks Ollie! I must admit, I’ve been curious about this couple for a long time so it’s nice to get some insight into their relationship.
I can finally confirm that Bozhong is the type that’s cold on the outside and hot on the inside 😀