Chapter 196 Desire for Freedom

Chapter 196 Desire for Freedom

Chang Yuan is Chang Yao's younger sister. Although the siblings rarely see each other, they have always had a good relationship. Chang Yao is stationed at Zijing Pass, and every now and then he would take his guards, stewards, and attendants to stroll around the places where foreign merchants gather.

He mainly spends money on three people: his mother, his wife, and his sister.

Because when he buys things, he always tells the steward in charge of delivery, "This is for my mother, this is for the Crown Prince's wife, and this is for the Seventh Miss," his confidants who accompany him have long been forced to memorize the preferences of the three women in his household.

Jiang Yuan was a meticulous person to begin with, and after hearing him talk about it so many times, it was impossible for him not to remember it.

Thanks to him, Xie Wanniang perfectly catered to Chang Yuan's preferences when preparing the dowry for her.

Chang Yuan was overjoyed by the gift, and her eyes seemed to be shining as she looked at Xie Wan Niang.

The girls she got along with all came from military families, and like her, their needlework skills were all quite mediocre.

Well... okay, some of them aren't even that good. Not only are their embroidery skills terrible, they don't even have the ability to make a garment by hand.

In this situation, they certainly wouldn't give their girlfriends handmade embroidery and clothes when exchanging gifts.

Therefore, this was the first time Chang Yuan had received a curtain and screen that her friend had embroidered stitch by stitch.

The little girl touched the delicate patterns on the curtain and the screen of the kang (heated brick bed), "You're amazing! You understand medicine, know martial arts, are educated, and even know Suzhou embroidery! Where do you find the time to learn so many things?"

Like her and her sisters, just practicing martial arts with their elders and older brothers and sisters was already exhausting and they were all complaining endlessly.

Xie Wanniang laughed, "I've learned a lot of things, I know a little about everything, but I'm not proficient in anything. Take martial arts for example, I'm a self-taught martial artist, so I'm definitely not as good as you who have been practicing since you were a child."

This wasn't Xie Wanniang's deliberate flattery; Chang Yuan's skills were indeed far beyond what Xie Wanniang, a self-taught martial artist, could match.

She had heard Jiang Yuan say that Chang Yuan was very talented in martial arts and had inherited the skills of the Lady Hou at a young age. The Lady Hou was a formidable figure who had accompanied her family to the battlefield and even killed a general of the enemy.

If we're talking about studying, who hasn't studied? If we're talking about hardship, who hasn't suffered? She and Chang Yuan just had slightly different directions in their efforts.

The three of them drank tea, chatted, and occasionally ate some candy, pastries, fresh fruit, nuts, etc., and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

After chatting about various things for a while, Xie Wanniang got down to business.

She took out a piece of Xuan paper folded into a small square from her sleeve pocket. "There is actually another matter that I have come here for."

After handing the item to the head maidservant who served Lady Hou, Xie Wanniang fell into an unusual silence. Before Lady Hou could see the contents of the paper, she succinctly explained to her what she had written on it.

Lady Hou noticed her unusual behavior. She dismissed the servants and then slowly unfolded the sheet of Xuan paper in her hand.

After just one glance, Lady Hou suddenly stood up without any warning.

Chang Yuan was reaching for the nearest Nan Guo pear when she was startled by the Lady Hou's words. Her hand trembled, and she instinctively withdrew it.

"mother?"

Lady Hou took a deep breath. "It's alright."

She sat down again, her eyes quickly scanning the contents of the paper.

A moment later, she raised her head with a complicated expression, her gaze fixed on Xie Wanniang, who still wore a smile and appeared calm and composed.

“You’re a smart woman,” the Lady Hou said, her voice slightly hoarse but with a hint of seriousness. “I don’t need to tell you, you must know the value of this. What do you want from this?”

Xie Wanniang smiled, "Freedom."

Lady Hou was taken aback. "What?"

"I'm sure you've already heard about my background from the Crown Prince. My biological father is Yuan Zhuo, the Prince of Nanyang, and my biological mother is from the Xie family of Tang County. She is the Xie family member who, at the end of the previous dynasty, the father and his two sons, though separated in different places, all chose to die for their country."

Upon hearing this, Lady Hou immediately remembered which Xie this was.

She frowned. "Is your birth mother's name Jing Shu?"

Xie Wanniang nodded, "She and Yuan Zhuo were engaged. After being separated from their families, the two young people who depended on each other for survival got married on the way to escape. However, after the situation stabilized and Yuan Zhuo found his family, his family turned their backs on the marriage."

Lady Hou was awakened by her words to some distant memories. "I have an impression of your mother. She was one of the most famous noble ladies in the capital at that time."

If it weren't for the fact that Xie women never married into the royal family, given Xie's power, status, and reputation as a virtuous and talented woman, she could easily have become an empress or a princess.

Unexpectedly, the three pillars of the Xie family died for their country. After the Xie family lost power, Yuan Zhuo became the kind of person who broke off the engagement, remarried, and was ungrateful.

Thinking that the head of the Yuan family at that time had become one of the many rebel kings, Lady Hou felt that perhaps the Yuan family broke off the engagement not only because the Xie family had fallen, but also because the Xie family was a "loyal subject" while their Yuan family was a "traitor".

But in Lady Hou's view, the fact that the two families had different political stances was not a big deal at all.

The Xie family father and his two sons were not living, breathing opponents of the Yuan family; they were already dead, and the Yuan family only took action after their deaths.

Before the Xie family father and son died alongside the last emperor of the previous dynasty, the Yuan family had always been very well-behaved.

Clearly, as one of the noble families of the previous dynasty, the Yuan family still cherished their reputation and honor.

Although they were also traitors, they started their rebellion under the banner of suppressing rebellions. However, as the rebellion progressed, Emperor Hongde, Yuan Yu, was "forced" to don the yellow robe.

It doesn't matter what the Yuan family thinks in private; on the surface, they aren't exactly traitors who directly rebelled against the previous dynasty's imperial family.

As you can see, after the establishment of the new dynasty, their founding emperor still set a benchmark to show that he treated the members of the previous dynasty's royal family well.

Let's get back to Xie Jingshu and Yuan Zhuo.

There was no blood feud between the two families, and the Xie family would not hinder the Yuan family's ambition to dominate the country. In fact, if the Yuan family handled things properly, their act of marrying a loyal and virtuous woman into the family could win them more support from former officials of the previous dynasty. What a wonderful thing that would be!

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks the same way as Lady Hou.

Xie Jingshu's grandfather, father, and uncle all died for their country. Her brother took her widowed mother and younger brother back to the clan without her knowledge. She followed Yuan Zhuo through many hardships and dangers. When they finally returned to the capital, what awaited her was not the tears of her relatives, but the meanness and hostility of Yuan Zhuo's birth mother.