Eldest Miss, The Son-in-law Still Wants to Escape!

Year 21 of Anhe, Great Wei Dynasty, Shuzhou.

The spring sun was bright, and the sky was clear for ten thousand miles.

From a residence in the back courtyard of the Marquis Dingyuan's Xiao Manor, the crisp sound of counting could be faintly heard.

"...Twenty, twenty-one..."

"Fifty-two."

"...Fifty-three, fifty-four... one hundred."

"Son-in-law, you've finished copying the family rules one hundred times. It only took you fifteen days."

Chen Yi looked at the admiring Xiao Die and, knowing she hadn't realized the count was short, suppressed a laugh and suggested, "Why don't you count them again?"

"Mm-hmm! I'm the best at counting. Even the Eldest Miss has praised me, saying she'll let me help with the accounts in the future."

Those accounts would likely be very difficult to balance.

Chen Yi thought to himself, but seeing how earnest she was, he didn't disturb her further and stood quietly to the side.

He wore a long, green robe; his appearance could not be called strikingly handsome, but it was not lacking in elegance and refinement.

Coupled with the free-spirited and straightforward air he inadvertently exuded, he possessed a gentle and composed temperament.

In contrast, Xiao Die was dressed in a short jacket and a horse-face skirt, the two buns at the back of her head making her oval face look quite adorable.

He watched for a moment.

Perhaps fearing he would laugh at Xiao Die's serious expression while counting, Chen Yi walked to the window and looked at the character for "Joy" on a red lantern not far away.

Fifteen days ago.

He had transmigrated here to become the Xiao family son-in-law—a son-in-law who had failed in his attempt to flee his own wedding.

When he woke up, he wasn't in this pleasant Chunhe Garden, but in the Disciplinary Hall of the Xiao Manor.

In a daze, he only remembered many people around him staring at him with fierce and cold expressions.

Vague, disjointed voices drifted into his ears.

Some spoke of beating him to death with staves, some suggested sending him back to the Chen Family in Jiangnan Prefecture, and others proposed drowning him in a pig cage.

The pig cage idea was truly excessive; he had only fled a wedding, not eloped with someone else.

It wasn't until his wife—whom he only learned was the Second Miss of the Xiao family, Xiao Jinghong, after getting to know Xiao Die—spoke up:

"Since he has already become my husband, everything shall be decided by me."

Her voice was clear and clean, suppressing all the surrounding noise and clamor.

Following that, he was sentenced by his wife to copy the Xiao family rules one thousand times and was confined for one hundred days.

One thousand times—it sounded easy, but the entire set of rules was one hundred characters long. One thousand times meant one hundred thousand characters. Even typing on a computer would take ten days or so, let alone writing with a brush here.

That aside, there would eventually be a day when he finished.

The key was that after regaining his senses, Chen Yi learned from his memories that he was a renowned talented scholar in Jiangnan Prefecture, not only proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and skilled in poetry, but his calligraphy had even been praised by Master Juyi of the Jinling Academy.

The persona was set so high that when he, an ordinary office worker, first started copying the rules, he was almost discovered by Xiao Die as a different person, forcing him to use amnesia as a temporary excuse.

But Chen Yi knew this was merely a stalling tactic.

Xiao Die was simple-minded, but the others in the Xiao Manor were not fools.

Especially his wife—that female general, Xiao Jinghong, who had joined the army for her father at fifteen and slaughtered the Barbarian Tribe until they threw away their armor and fled at eighteen.

If she were to see those dog-scratched characters, she would likely have him dealt with by military law on the spot.

Fortunately, after more than ten days of effort, his calligraphy had improved significantly—

Name: Chen Yi

Way of Calligraphy: Minor Accomplishment (5/100)

Font: Wei Qing (Proficient)

Opportunity: 0

[Daily Intelligence · Yellow Grade, Lower Rank: At noon, the Eldest Miss of Marquis Dingyuan, Xiao Wan'er, will audit the mansion's accounts and discover that the butler in charge of procurement has been embezzling funds, leading to his expulsion. Can obtain a trace amount of Opportunity.]

Chen Yi glanced at the illusory screen, stood with his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, and began to count down:

"Ten, nine, eight..."

Xiao Die seemed to have heard his voice.

"Forty-three... eleven, ten, nine, eight... Oh, Son-in-law, don't disturb me, you made me count wrong."

[Opportunity +1.]

[Evaluation: The person has not arrived, the sound has not been heard, the scene has not been seen, yet Opportunity falls from the sky and is not seized; truly a lazy fellow.]

Chen Yi ignored the "lazy" evaluation, skillfully added the Opportunity point to his Way of Calligraphy, turned to look at the pouting Xiao Die, and said with a smile:

"My fault, I was just thinking it's time to eat."

Hearing the word "eat," Xiao Die's eyes lit up, and a trace of bashfulness appeared on her pretty, delicate face:

"Son-in-law, the head chef made ghee pancakes at noon, and there's stewed fish too..."

"Fish sounds good," Chen Yi said, knowing she was craving it again. He winked mischievously, "Why don't you go hurry them up so we can eat together?"

"You got it!"

As if afraid he might change his mind, Xiao Die dropped the Yunsong Paper in her hands and dashed out, not forgetting to remind the Armored Soldier at the door:

"Keep a close eye on the Son-in-law, you hear?"

"Yes, Miss Xiao Die."

Chen Yi caught a glimpse of the Armored Soldier's thick, muscular arms, sighed, and leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on the rafters of the guest room.

His calligraphy was passable, but he still lacked proficiency in the zither, chess, painting, and poetry.

Poetry was fine; with the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties in his head, he feared no one.

He was clueless about the rest, however, and to avoid exposing himself, he had to make up for these deficiencies one by one.

After pondering for a while, the memories of this body surfaced in Chen Yi's mind.

Chen Yi, courtesy name Qingzhou, was born in the first year of Anhe to the Chen Family of Jiangnan Prefecture, his father being the current head of the house, Chen Xuanji.

Although he was merely a concubine-born son of the Chen Family, his life had been decent enough since birth.

He had studied under masters in the family school since he was a child, reading extensively, and later branched out to master the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

At thirteen, when the Imperial Court dispatched troops to Guangyue Prefecture to suppress coastal bandits, he wrote Young Traveler · Welcoming the Banners.

At fifteen, when his father was ordered to serve as an envoy to the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom, he wrote Farewell in Jinling, earning high praise from Jiangnan Prefecture for being "both loyal and filial, with a talent for poetry that surpasses others."

But after that, his circumstances plummeted.

First, his mother passed away from illness, then his Second Uncle, Chen Xuandu, took up the post of Provincial Administration Commissioner of Beizhou and rarely returned, leaving all matters of the household under the control of First Madam Cui Yu.

She had truly put him through two years of hardship.

Not only was he confined to the house and unable to go out, but he was also forbidden from reading, and he didn't even have paper and brush to write with, which caused him to miss the most important imperial examination.

If one said he didn't hate her, Chen Yi wouldn't believe it.

But what could he do with that hatred? Chen Xuanji was away, Chen Xuandu was away, his mother was dead, and there was no one in the family to help him.

He could only grit his teeth, endure, and wait.

In the end, he didn't wait for his father; instead, he was the one arranged by Cui Yu to be married into the Xiao Family of Marquis Dingyuan as a son-in-law.

In fact, on the road from Jiangnan Prefecture to Shuzhou, he had contemplated suicide more than once.

But for the sake of having a chance to take revenge and kill Cui Yu in the future, he chose to accept the arrangement and marry into the Xiao Family.

It's a pity he was murdered in the end anyway.

Chen Yi knew that on the day of the grand wedding, his predecessor had been manipulated into fleeing the marriage through some bizarre means, and had already died before the Xiao Family could find him.

If Chen Yi hadn't arrived here, the course of events would never have been as "peaceful" as it was now.

Perhaps the Chen Family and the Xiao Family would have become enemies, perhaps the Xiao Family would have been branded with a "wicked" reputation, and even Xiao Jinghong would have found it hard to stay out of it—she would likely have been labeled a "shrew."

Thinking of this, a sense of grievance rose in Chen Yi's chest: "A tragic life, indeed."

He sat up slightly, picked up the Wolf-hair Brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote:

Ballad of Shu · Marrying into the Xiao Gate

In the desolate land of Wushan and Chishui, for twenty years I have been a castaway. Nostalgically I leaf through the Xiao Clan's scrolls, entering Shu to become a wandering soul. A thousand sails pass by the sunken boat, ten thousand trees bloom before the withered tree. Today I hear your song, and for a moment, I borrow the wine to lift my spirit.

After finishing, Chen Yi picked up the Yunsong Paper to blow the ink dry, looked it over, and nodded with satisfaction.

As expected of me, my talent is truly exceptional.

But Xiao Die had stood behind Chen Yi at some point, holding a steaming basin of beef.

She looked at the poem, then at him.

She looked at the poem, then at him.

"Son-in-law..."

"Eh?" Chen Yi turned around.

Xiao Die stared at him blankly for a long time. When she finally came to her senses, she hurriedly turned and ran out with the basin of beef.

As she ran, she shouted: "It's bad! Eldest Miss, it's bad! The Son-in-law is planning to escape again!!"

New author here, seeking follows, monthly tickets, reading progress, and investments.

New author here, seeking follows, monthly tickets, reading progress, and investments.