Newly Wed
[Time-Travel Rebirth] "
A Salty Fish
After Her Stepmother Got
Mind Reading
" Author: Jiang Ciyu [Completed]
Book Introduction:
Shen Lantang had time-traveled into this world nineteen years ago, marrying Xie Jin, the son of the distinguished military family the Xie Family, as his second wife, and even coming with a plump, chubby, fine son as a bonus.
After marriage,
Shen Lantang was virtuous and gentle, modest and courteous, respectful to elders and loving to the young, and passionate about life--translated into plain vernacular:
Eat what she ought to eat and drink what she ought to drink, never taking up conversational hooks she should not, and never meddling in affairs that were none of her business.
Though she had no great achievements, she gave no cause for criticism either, until one day:
Her second uncle and aunt came to discuss arranging a marriage for the family's young younger sister with her mother-in-law.
Shen Lantang: That fellow wanting to make a marriage contract with the fourth young miss already has a concubine outside and still lingers in pleasure quarters with frivolous extravagance. No, I must think of a way to make this engagement fall through.
Second uncle, aunt, and mother-in-law: !!!
Third brother that brat, if he keeps hanging around with his scoundrel friends, even the Xie Family's reputation will be affected. It's about time to slip a burlap sack over him and physically persuade him a lesson.
The next day, the robust third brother broke his leg because his left foot stepped out the door first.
Shen Lantang: *...*
Shen Lantang considered herself at most a six-out-of-ten daughter-in-law in the Xie Family, barely passing, but she never expected her mother-in-law to tightly grasp her hand and say with deep emotion,
"Lantang, our Xie Family spent three generations accumulating good karma just to get such a good daughter-in-law like you!"
Shen Lantang (tactical lean-back): Aren't you overacting a bit?
2, Xie Jin already knew that only matters truly cared about by Shen Lantang would leak her inner thoughts. One day, due to ancestral oaths, he had no choice but to bring the daughter of an old friend back to the residence. Although she was settled in a detached courtyard, he still felt unease in his heart.
Seeing Shen Lantang walk over, his heart tightened slightly, yet his eyes carried anticipation.
Shen Lantang only walked with eyes straight ahead, heartbeat steady, passing by with the calm detachment of an old dog.
Xie Jin: *...*
Newly Wed
Half past the mao hour, daylight had already grown bright. In the room, Shen Lantang was half-asleep and half-awake, lazily stretching out one arm while letting her two maidservants help her dress.
It was already the sixth lunar month, the so-called scorching sixth month when stones melted like metal under the blazing heat. Early in the morning, this sun gave no quarter.
Shen Lantang wore a light-purple-and-grey silk chest wrap matched with a turquoise cross-collared narrow-sleeved blouse, and below was a light green skirt embroidered with orchid patterns, currently letting the maid slip a half-sleeve of the same color onto her arm.
The Jing Dynasty had no written regulations, but women's formal attire was mostly centered around wide-sleeved robes. However, wide sleeves were truly too sweltering; ever since Shen Lantang discovered two days earlier that her mother-in-law had changed her wide sleeves into a short jacket when seeing her, she decisively abandoned the heavy and stuffy wide sleeves, alternating between short jackets and half-sleeves.
After putting the upper garment on her young miss, Baozhu squatted down halfway to tidy the jade ring pendant with inlaid green gems and peacocks hanging from her waist. When rising, her gaze fell on a spot, and she suddenly covered her mouth and smiled.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Young miss... Young miss is growing more and more plump!"
Shen Lantang speechlessly lowered her head to look at herself. She had been married for over three months, and Xie Jin was in his prime with abundant physical strength. She also held curiosity and intentionally cooperated, both of them finding great interest in their marital union, so this talk of being plump...
"Don't fool around." Lan Xin scolded Baozhu from the side, turning to Shen Lantang to say gently:
"Young miss, it's time to head out."
"Alright, let's set off!"
--
The so-called heading out referred to going to the next-door courtyard of her mother-in-law to pay respects, the so-called morning and evening greetings. However, the Great Jing Dynasty did not practice that set of "keeping women under strict discipline." The so-called morning and evening greetings only consisted of the first half, and it was only necessary to go to the mother-in-law's place to offer a morning greeting and eat breakfast together after daylight every day, as long as one didn't get up later than Grandpa Sun.
The scenery along both sides of the path was vibrant and full of unique interest. A jade plum tree half-hid artificial rockery, with spring water flowing slowly down the ravines in the middle of the rockery, moistening the soil through buried pipelines. Perhaps influenced by the babbling stream, the internal heat within Shen Lantang's body eased slightly.
Shen Lantang had walked this path for three months and quickly arrived at the destination. Before entering the door, a few sounds of laughter drifted out from the hall inside.
Seeing someone enter, a woman dressed in a light-purple cross-collared ruqun embroidered with a hundred birds and flower patterns slowly turned around: "Lantang has come."
Shen Lantang performed a morning greeting bow: "Greetings, Mother. Greetings, Aunt."
The middle-aged noble woman sitting in the host seat said with a cheerful smile: "Good morning to you too, Lantang. Come, come inside. Your aunt brought freshly picked vegetables from the vegetable garden today, come try them together."
"Alright." Shen Lantang generously stepped forward.
This woman on the main seat was Shen Lantang's mother-in-law, the First Madam of the Duke's Residence, while the one who spoke first was the wife of the second master of the Duke's Residence, which was Shen Lantang's aunt. Speaking of this, one had to mention the Xie Ducal Estate into which Shen Lantang married.
Years ago, when Shen Lantang resigned herself to accepting that she had transmigrated into ancient times and even into a scholar-official family, she had prepared herself to marry into an official's household in the future and deal with a large crowd of people. For this, she even specially trained her memory skills, bitterly memorizing the main characters of Dream of the Red Chamber. As a result, starting from the grandfather's generation, the Xie Ducal Estate strictly practiced monogamy; not a single concubine or secondary wife existed, which consequently meant brothers, sisters, and children were also few.
The Xie Family's great-grandfather was an old meritorious veteran who conquered the empire on horseback alongside Jing Gaozu in those years. After the founding of the dynasty, he was enfeoffed as Duke Dingguo. To demonstrate imperial favor and consolidate his status, Jing Gaozu married his daughter to the great-grandfather's youngest son, who was the grandfather of the present Xie lineage.
Grandfather and the Princess had two sons and one daughter in their lifetime, among whom the eldest was Shen Lantang's father-in-law, currently the Left Minister of the Censorate of the First Rank, holding the duties of inspection, impeachment, and denunciation.
Father Xie only had one son, Xie Jin; the second uncle and aunt had two sons and two daughters, among whom the second daughter was married away to a distant place; the youngest aunt below was married to the descendant of an old friend of the great-grandfather in Zhaojing, and also had one son and two daughters. Hearing it this way, it seemed there weren't few people either, but to summarize, Shen Lantang's daily interactions only involved three senior relatives and their family dependents, plus five or six cousin brothers and sisters, which truly could not be considered many.
Mother Xie called the servants to serve the morning meal. The Duke's lineage did not indulge in extravagance and luxury, and the breakfast only had slightly more varieties than ordinary households: two plates of steamed buns and stuffed buns, steamed dumplings and flower rolls, plus egg pancakes. The pancakes could be dipped in sugar or soy sauce, and there were also those wrapped with vegetables and meat.
Rankings List
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Time-Travel Rebirth Romance
Devoted Love
Jiang Ciyu
Mind Reading
Salty Fish