Wenlan stopped, slightly raised her eyebrows, "Cousin called me, do you need something?"
Xie Yuan rubbed his forehead, walked closer to her, and asked, "How is it going? Did my mother take the medicine?"
Wenlan looked at the man in front of her, and their eyes met.
"I haven't eaten," she immediately said.
He responded with an "oh." His entire face's expression couldn't be seen, but a hint of undisguised helplessness crept between his brows.
"Auntie is actually fine. So, there's no need to take medicine. She just ate her meal."
Pretending not to have seen him, she added.
Xie Yuan "oh"ed again, looking at her in astonishment. It seemed like he guessed something. It's just that he wasn't entirely sure, so he hesitantly looked at her and said, "Are you saying…"
"Wen Lan said: "Cousin, Auntie isn't sick. She's just pretending to be sick and not eating because she's afraid you won't agree to marry me. She told me that if she pretends like this for a few days, you will probably agree."
It was clear that after saying this, the person in front of her visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Cousin, you can rest assured. I will take good care of her."
Wen Lan smiled slightly and turned as if to leave.
"San Niang..." She heard him vaguely calling her name. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to look at him.
"You..."
Xie Yuan interlocked his hands, rubbed them together, hesitated for a moment, and finally blurted out, "Is your foot fully recovered?"
Wen Lan glanced at him and nodded, saying, "I applied the ointment yesterday. Apart from a little bruising on the top of the foot, it doesn't hurt anymore. You asked me about it yesterday, didn't you?"
Xie Yuan responded with an "oh" and approached her, as if he had made a major decision. With a reassuring and gentle tone, he looked at her and said, "San Niang, cousin wants to tell you, please don't overthink. You are truly good. It's just that in my eyes, you are like my own younger sister. Also, I am older than you, so I can't marry you. But I promise, I will pay attention and help you find a good husband as soon as possible."
Wen Lan didn't interrupt his words, but after he finished speaking, she smiled, revealing dimples, and said, "Cousin, how can you be so forgetful? When we met at the well early the other day, you said similar things. I also remember at that time I told you, I see you as my own older brother."
Xie Yuan saw her smiling at him. The smile was playful, but seemed to carry a hint of mockery. It suddenly occurred to him that he did indeed say something similar to her before. He awkwardly responded with an "oh," feeling a little tongue-tied.
"Cousin, perhaps you have really overthought it."
Wen Lan decided not to go around in circles with him and stopped smiling, saying seriously, "I understand that you are kind and comforting me to prevent me from feeling upset. Thank you, cousin. But I really haven't felt sad, and I have no intention of marrying you. Previously, I didn't refuse in front of Auntie for one, because I know she pities me. It's hard for me, as her niece, to reject her kind intentions. Secondly, I came here with nothing and no one to rely on. Auntie and cousin didn't abandon me and took me in, which can be considered as kindness. If cousin likes me and it fulfills Auntie's wishes, I wouldn't object, considering it as repayment. But now that cousin obviously has no such intention, it's for the best. Cousin, rest assured, if you have something to do tomorrow, just go ahead. I will take care of Auntie and will advise her to dismiss such thoughts."
After finishing her words, Wen Lan saw that he didn't speak, just gazed at her with a slightly strange expression.
Both of them fell silent, and the atmosphere became cold. Just then, footsteps approached, and Wen Lan recognized it was Chun Fang and said with a smile, "Let's go eat, cousin, you come too." Then she turned and left.
Xie Yuan watched her cheerful figure as she left. After a while, he grabbed his head.
It turned out that he had underestimated this cousin... Previously, he thought that with her age and experience, she should be a simple-minded young woman, and even worried that she would blindly follow his mother, knowing she didn't want to marry him, and would cry and feel sad. He didn't expect her to say such things. Her attitude was so generous and thoughtful, completely beyond his expectations. In comparison, he felt that he was overly suspicious, feeling a bit embarrassed.
But this was also good. Now that things had been clarified, it would be easier to get along with her. Despite her unfortunate background, this cousin was surprisingly free of self-pity and resentment. In the future, he would take extra care of this cousin.
Thinking this, Xie Yuan heaved a long sigh.
In the Ma family on the other side, she never dreamed that her secret had been revealed to her son by her nephew. So the next morning, when Xie Yuan came to greet her, she was still lying there, feeling weak and breathless, "You may go, no need to come early or late." Then, she sighed to Wen Lan, who was standing aside, "I have no appetite, tell Chunfang not to cook for me, I can't eat."
Xie Yuan glanced at Wen Lan and then coughed lightly, leaning down to Ma Shi, "Mother, you still need to eat. I reminded Chunfang to prepare some soft food for you today. I should be accompanying you, but something has come up, so I have to leave first. I'll come back to accompany you as soon as I can."
"Sanniang, please take care of my mother. I'm leaving her to you."
As Ma Shi listened to her son's parting instructions to his niece, her footsteps gradually faded away, and she sat up in surprise, "Did he just leave like this?"
Wen Lan helped her up, saying, "Cousin said he's busy with official matters and really can't break away, it's not that he's neglecting you, Aunt, you heard it just now."
Ma Shi suppressed a trace of disappointment that had crossed her mind, sighing for a moment, then said, "Let's wait until the evening... when he comes back, remind him that I couldn't eat..."
In the blink of an eye, a couple of days passed. The old lady saw that her son was acting as usual, not at all frightened as she expected. Gradually, she began to suspect that he might have seen through her ruse.
"Could it be that the servant girl, Chunfang, saw it and told him?"
Seeing the old lady lost in thoughts by herself, Wen Lan couldn't hold back any longer.
"Aunt, Cousin really knows you're fine. But it wasn't Chunfang who told him. It was me."
Ma Shi was amazed, "Didn't we agree? Why did you tell him? Now that he knows I'm faking being sick and not eating, how can he agree to marry you?"
Wen Lan said, "Aunt, Cousin is really a dutiful son. As soon as he heard that you weren't eating all day because of illness, he was so anxious, immediately found me and asked. I couldn't bear it for a moment, so I told him. Please don't scold me."
It was only then that Ma Shi realized that her son's lack of restraint was not due to his indifference to her illness, but rather that he knew she was deceiving him. Her earlier disappointment vanished, and her mood improved somewhat. However, she couldn't help but feel that her plan had failed. She couldn't resist criticizing, "You child, I just praised you for being clever a couple of days ago. Why did you become muddle-headed all of a sudden? By telling him, how can he listen to me?"
Wen Lan stuck out her tongue and quickly sat down beside the old lady, embracing her arm and cooing. "Aunt, I just didn't want Cousin to worry. I won't do this again in the future!"
Ma Shi's anger dissipated as Wen Lan embraced her, and she just reached out and poked her forehead, scolding, "You mischievous girl, why didn't you tell me earlier. You and him have colluded to make fun of this blind old woman!" As she spoke, she couldn't help but chuckle.
Wen Lan smirked and took the opportunity to say, "Aunt, stop pressuring Cousin."
Ma Shi stopped laughing, turned to Wen Lan, and sighed, "I can ignore other things, but I can't ignore this. In the past, he refused to get married, and with the inconvenience caused by my poor eyesight, things have been put off day by day. But now that you've come, and with such a perfect marriage in front of us, how can I, as a mother, not take charge?"
Seeing that Ma Shi was unilaterally determined to unite her with Xie Yuan, Wen Lan was worried that if she didn't show her attitude, Ma Shi would come up with more ideas. She had to say bravely, "Aunt, I'd better tell you the truth. I don't want to marry Cousin."
Ma Shi was genuinely surprised this time, thinking she had misheard. With a gasp, she had an incredulous look on her face, "What are you saying? Isn't Cousin good enough for you?"
Wen Lan hurriedly said, "He is. Cousin is very good."
"Then, are you interested in someone else?"
"Neither."
"Then why don't you want to marry him? Knowing each other's background, being close to each other, it's so good. When I think of you two getting married, I even smile in my dreams."
Wen Lan had no choice but to say, "I can see it. Cousin doesn't want to marry me at all. A forced marriage is never sweet. And I'm not in a hurry to get married. I'm willing to stay by Aunt's side and serve you for the rest of my life."
Mrs. Ma shook her head and smiled, saying, "I told you that you are a silly girl, young and inexperienced. Your aunt tells you, all men are like this. Before marriage, naturally, they don't know the benefits of being married. After you are married, then he will understand your worth and will cherish you. Besides, at your age, it's time for you to get married. Moreover, if you stay by my side, it will be more convenient. Once you and your cousin get married, we will truly become a family, and you naturally have to stay by my side for the rest of your life."
Warm Lan was left speechless by Mrs. Ma's words and felt a bit depressed. She couldn't say, "I am not Li Sanniang, I am pretending, I don't want, and I can't marry your son," could she?
Thinking her niece had been convinced, Mrs. Ma patted her hand and comforted her, "Don't think too much. Just listen to your aunt, I will take care of everything."
~~
After this conversation, almost half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Warm Lan noticed that the old lady seemed to have calmed down and stopped pushing her to marry Xie Yuan as she did in the beginning.
Unexpectedly, one evening, the commander, who had been sent by the governor to inspect this place, was going to leave the next day. Wu Sanchun organized a farewell banquet at the eunuch's mansion, and Xie Yuan naturally sat and accompanied him, not returning home for dinner. This was common, and Warm Lan was used to it. So, she had dinner with Mrs. Ma and Chunfang, then sat in the courtyard to cool off until around the third night watch. Chunfang began to yawn and they each went back to their rooms. Warm Lan had dozed off and was suddenly awakened by a knock on her door. It was Mrs. Ma, who explained that Xie Yuan seemed to have had quite a bit to drink and had fallen asleep. She was worried he might wake up thirsty, so she asked Warm Lan to accompany her to take tea to him.
At that moment, Chunfang was likely fast asleep, and Mrs. Ma was unable to act alone, so Warm Lan agreed. Rubbing her still sleepy eyes, she put on a cool robe she had worn for cooling off after her bath. She poured a pot of pre-prepared cold tea in the kitchen and, yawning, went with Mrs. Ma to Xie Yuan's room.
He lived in a room in the western courtyard. Warm Lan held the tea pot in one hand and supported Mrs. Ma with the other to his door, seeing light shining through the straight window lattice.
Warm Lan called out at the door, "Cousin, I've brought you some tea," but there was no response. She tried the door and found it unlatched.
Assuming Xie Yuan had nodded off and forgotten to blow out the lamp, Warm Lan gently pushed the door open, planning to leave the tea and then blow out the lamp for him.
As she stepped inside and before she could take a few steps, she heard a "clack" as the door slammed shut behind her. This was followed by the distinct sound of the door being locked from the outside. Startled, she turned to the door and asked, "Aunt, what are you doing?"
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