Chapter 468 - 467: Yellow Millet Dream

Chapter 468: Chapter 467: Yellow Millet Dream

Rumors filled the streets, putting a little girl from a deep mansion under scrutiny.

Mrs. Shi spread the word for the Du family, hoping to settle things with an imperial decree.

Mu Lianxiao felt pity for the girl he hadn’t yet met but had already implicated, and spoke a few kind words for Du Yunluo in front of Old Madam Wu.

This was part of Mu Lianxiao’s memory, but when told by Du Yunluo, it became another story.

Without Princess An Ran’s interference, the marriage proposal dissipated without Mu Lianxiao even knowing.

"The me in my dreams didn’t want to marry you. Never marry a young man of the Mu family, the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion is full of loyal martyrs, what’s left is only widows and orphans. I didn’t want to gamble. With my Du family lineage, I didn’t seek high branches. Marrying into a common official family wasn’t difficult. That’s how I thought at the time..."

Du Yunluo’s tone was calm, as if she was talking not about her own past or her dreams, but someone else’s story.

She was picked apart by Du Yunying and Du Yunnuo with words and then stormed into Lianfu Garden, had a fierce argument with Du Gongfu and Old Mrs. Xia.

Such defiance towards the elders naturally led to punishment.

Unwilling to resign, Du Yunluo cried to Mrs. Zhen, who gave her a hard slap.

Looking back, Du Yunluo never expected that the sick Mrs. Zhen could muster such strength, the slap made her ear buzz for hours.

"At that time I thought they wanted to sell me off, to pave the road for the Du family sons’ official careers with my life. Clearly, they pampered and protected me, but in the face of prospects, they would still sacrifice me," Du Yunluo sighed, "When the marriage fell through, I thought my rebellion had won, but never considered they actually cared for me, that even if I didn’t understand or comply, they still wanted to protect me."

Everything had ended, yet an incident at Fa Yin Temple changed it all.

Du Yunluo and Mu Lianxiao fell into the water together, damaging the girl’s reputation. The Dingyuan Marquis Mansion sought an imperial decree to marry Du Yunluo, leaving the Du family with no grounds to refuse.

No matter how much Du Yunluo fussed, in the face of imperial pressure, none were capable of opposing it.

Du Yunluo was unyielding; Mrs. Zhen even threatened her with death.

"I threw away the red veil, refused to let my brother carry me to the sedan, refused under any circumstance, but my mother took scissors from her sleeve, she knew I would do that, she used death to force me.

All around was red, but the blood at my mother’s throat was the only thing that appeared crimson to me.

If I didn’t comply, she’d stab it in completely."

Unwilling to marry into the Marquis Mansion, at that point, Du Yunluo couldn’t watch Mrs. Zhen die in front of her.

She held the imperial decree as she entered the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion.

Yet her personality was not liked by Old Madam Wu and Mrs. Zhou.

"At that time, the Lady was already married, she married Prince Rui, and in the mansion, there were only me and my second sister-in-law. My second sister-in-law was newly pregnant, and my second brother had gone to the Northern Border. She often came to talk to me.

She said she worried about my second brother day and night, being alone and pregnant made her fearful and anxious. She had no one to talk to but me.

The more I listened, the more afraid I became, the more afraid I was, the harder I resisted, I refused to let you go, but you had to go.

For this, my mother scolded me. This was something everyone in the house could endure, why was I the only one who couldn’t..."

This part of Du Yunluo’s story bore a resemblance to Mu Lianxiao’s memory.

He remembered when they had just married, Jiang Yunuan would often come to talk to Du Yunluo, and Du Yunluo mentioned it when discussing going to Lindong, Jiang Yunuan spoke of these things.

"In those five years, we spent more time apart than together and I never became pregnant. My relationship with Grandmother and Mother was extremely poor, only you protected me again and again, even when I acted out of ignorance, you always yielded to me." Du Yunluo paused, "In the spring of the 25th year of Yong’an, the Lady said, maybe this time when you leave, you won’t come back.

I was terrified and uneasy at the time. I cried and pleaded for you not to go, and you had to find my eldest sister, who hadn’t associated with me for several years due to my willfulness.

I didn’t listen to her and caused a fuss until you left.

That autumn, you died in battle at the Northern Border."

The word "death" was chilling and cold.

In Du Yunluo’s recounting, Mu Lianxiao seemed to witness his own death.

The coffin returned to the Capital, under a sky filled with white papers and copper coins, Du Yunluo fainted holding the memorial tablet, while his mother, Mrs. Zhou, took her own life in Jingshui Hall.

A prophecy foretold, she became a widow, Du Yunluo completely fell out with her family.

She moved out of Shaohui Garden to a small courtyard on the edge of the Marquis Mansion, where Aunt Qiao had lived. Nanny Su taught her to manage the long house affairs and talked of many past stories.

Until a year and a half later, when Nanny Su left the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, she never believed Mrs. Zhou had taken her own life.

In the 27th year of Yong’an, the Empress Dowager passed away, and Prince Rui rebelled.

The rebel army surrounded the Capital but was eventually broken through by Prince Cheng and his son, who led tens of thousands of Capital soldiers along with other provincial and city troops, encircling Prince Rui’s army to slowly wear them out.

The victory was decided, yet Li Luan committed patricide.

Mu Lianhui pleaded with the Imperial Consort, while Nanyan, as Prince Rui’s concubine, implored Princess Yunhua.

Nanyan hung herself in the Prince Rui Mansion, Mu Lianhui’s only son was permanently confined to the inner palace, and Li Luan along with Mu Lianhui guarded the Imperial Mausoleum.

Three years later, Mu Liancheng, who stood on the Holy Emperor’s side during Prince Rui’s rebellion, inherited the title, firmly taking hold of the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion.

In the 35th year of Yong’an, Du Yunluo adopted Mu Lingran under the Lian family’s arrangement.

"I originally refused, a life of the green lamp and old Buddha, my life would just pass like this, one day at a time like Fourth Aunt.

Second Aunt brought Lingran to the small courtyard, and those eyes I saw, resembling yours by seventy to eighty percent, I couldn’t refuse anymore.

I raised him for over a decade."

Young Mu Lingran was very obedient, Du Yunluo treated him sincerely, and it brought mutual response.

He was all the light in Du Yunluo’s life, comforting her heart more than scriptures or sandalwood.

In the 46th year of Yong’an, the Holy Emperor passed away, and the Crown Prince ascended to the throne, changing the era name to Shuntian the following year.

In the first year of Shuntian, the new Emperor granted a Chastity Arch, erected in front of the family shrine.

This was Du Yunluo’s lifelong honor, and also her lifelong cage.

The filial Mu Lingran drifted further away amidst rumors, his wife viewing Du Yunluo as a wolf or tiger, Mu Lingran no longer visiting the small courtyard, leaving Du Yunluo without her adopted son, as if she had never raised such a person.

Yet these rumors existed only within the Mu family; none a word was leaked outside. The Chastity Arch overhead ensured that, should the rumors spread, it would tarnish the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion’s reputation.

As for the Du family, despite falling out with Du Yunluo, upon hearing such rumors, they wouldn’t ignore them.

In the Marquis Mansion inner courtyard, Mu Lianyu’s wife’s mocking sarcasm and Jiang Yunuan’s indifference made Du Yunluo’s life increasingly unbearable.

"I lived until February of the 30th year of Shuntian. In the preceding half-year, during the autumn of the 29th year of Shuntian, Liu Yulan came to the small courtyard to see me." Du Yunluo let out a long sigh.