And so, throughout the journey, Zhen Tingyun practically treated the horse like some honored ancestor, carefully attending to it every step of the way. She even gave the horse a name: Malantou. She was terrified the horse might disappear again, or worse, get cursed to death by Zhen Yiyun. Fortunately, thanks to all her attentive care along the road, not only did the horse not go missing, it became sleek and glossy from being so well-fed, and increasingly affectionate toward people.
Thinking of this, Zhen Tingyun felt both relieved and somewhat pleased with herself. She felt that she was already completely different from the self in the dream, so surely her future would not end up as miserable either.
However, at that very moment, sounds suddenly came from the stable, followed by the noise of hooves.
Hearing it, Zhen Tingyun’s heart jumped. She hurriedly turned to look, only to see a tall man dressed in black sitting astride Malantou. The horse, which usually was not especially friendly toward strangers, actually allowed him to ride it.
Because he stood against the light, his features were somewhat blurred, and in her haste she could not see him clearly.
Before Zhen Tingyun could take a better look, the man clamped his legs around the horse’s sides and galloped straight out, disappearing like a streak of dust.
Zhen Tingyun: “……”
Zhen Tingyun stared, dumbfounded.
After standing frozen for a moment, she suddenly snapped back to herself and immediately ran after him, shouting loudly, “Wait! That’s my…” horse!
Before she could finish speaking, the man completely ignored her and sped away on horseback. In the blink of an eye, he was already far in the distance.
A clap of thunder exploded across the sky, and rain poured down in torrents. The rapid hoofbeats were quickly swallowed by the sound of the rain, and soon even his silhouette could no longer be seen.
Zhen Tingyun stood blankly beside the stable. After standing there for a while, she suddenly let out a grief-stricken roar: “You d*mned horse thief! Just you wait till I catch you! If I do, I’ll make you be my horse for me to ride!”
***
Because the horse had been stolen, Zhen Tingyun became utterly dispirited. She trudged slowly upstairs and, upon seeing Old Lady Zhen, merely called out, “Grandmother.”
Old Lady Zhen had heard the commotion upstairs as well, but the horse thief had long since vanished without a trace. All she could do was lament the loss of the horse for a while before comforting her granddaughter. “Forget it, forget it. It’s only a horse. Back home you rode mules, donkeys, and old oxen all the time, and I never saw you this attached to any of them. Why are you suddenly so fond of this one?”
Puffing out her cheeks, Zhen Tingyun huffed, “How is that the same? This was the horse Elder Sister sent over. I heard Father specially picked it out himself, a thousand-li steed worth a fortune.”
“What do you mean ‘your older sister sent it’? How old is your sister? What could she possibly own? Silly girl, all those things belong to your father!” Old Lady Zhen scolded her, then chuckled twice. “And besides, it’s just a horse. Do you really think someone would trade gold for it? I think you’re still dreaming from last night and haven’t woken up yet!”
Zhen Tingyun replied, “Even if it’s not worth gold, it’s still worth a lot of silver, isn’t it? Now the horse is gone, and the silver’s gone too.”
Hearing this, Old Lady Zhen also began to ache with distress. “That horse thief sure knew quality. Out of all the horses in the stable, ours was probably the only good one, and he just happened to pick it. Sigh, your father finally sent over such a fine horse, and yet you still couldn’t keep hold of it…” After lamenting a while, she could not help muttering that her granddaughter simply lacked fortune and was born to squander wealth.
Zhen Tingyun pouted. “Wouldn’t have happened if Grandmother hadn’t kept rushing me. If I’d stayed in the stable a bit longer, maybe the horse thief wouldn’t have dared do anything.”
Old Lady Zhen spat a few times in annoyance. “Bah, bah, bah, you sharp-tongued girl! You failed to guard the horse because of your own bad luck, and now you’re blaming me instead!” Then, suddenly thinking of something, she changed her tone. “Still, it’s fortunate I called you out and didn’t leave you in the stable. If that horse thief had turned vicious and hurt you, what would have happened to my silly girl then?”
Zhen Tingyun had been feeling gloomy, but hearing this softened her heart somewhat. Even so, she still refused to relent verbally. “That’d be perfect then. Without me, this little useless girl, you could go to the capital and dote on your precious eldest grandson instead.”
“You’re the sharpest-tongued of all!” Unable to win an argument against her granddaughter, Old Lady Zhen could only snort before pulling her down to sit beside her. “Enough, enough, stop aiming that cannon-mouth at me! Since the horse is gone anyway, let’s just count it as saving ourselves trouble. Sit with me and do some sewing. When we see your father and younger brother, at least we’ll have something respectable to present.”
Naturally, Zhen Tingyun had no intention of helping Old Lady Zhen make clothes for others. However, she was quite clever when it came to coaxing her grandmother. Upon hearing this, she obediently sat down beside Old Lady Zhen and took the cotton socks her grandmother handed over to inspect. Immediately she exclaimed in admiration: “Oh my, Grandmother, your stitching is so fine! I think it’s no worse than the work from Qianyi Workshop back in town.”
Old Lady Zhen could not help boasting a little. “Things made at home may not be as flashy as those sold outside, but when it comes to comfort and care, they’re a hundred times better. Your father only likes wearing the clothes and socks I make. He says there’s nothing more comfortable… And let me tell you, don’t learn from your spendthrift mother. She thinks everything outside is better and would move the entire marketplace home if she could. She doesn’t understand the careful thrift families like ours should practice.”
As Old Lady Zhen sewed, she continued lecturing her granddaughter about household management and frugality, growing more and more energetic the longer she spoke.
Especially whenever her throat became dry from talking, Zhen Tingyun would eagerly pour her tea at her side, repeatedly praising her with things like “Grandmother is right” or “Grandmother speaks so wisely.” The endless stream of flattery left Old Lady Zhen feeling utterly delighted, and with even more teachings she wished to impart to her granddaughter.
After Old Lady Zhen finished a cup of tea, she finally reacted and glared at her granddaughter. “Will you shut that mouth of yours already? I told you to do some sewing, but instead you’ve spent all this time babbling nonsense and still haven’t even picked up a needle!”
Zhen Tingyun had no choice but to pick up the sewing things and pretend to work. One moment she was asking how this part should be stitched, the next she was asking what kind of stitch ought to be used.
In short, she annoyed Old Lady Zhen so badly that her head began to ache. At last she waved her hand and chased the useless granddaughter away. “Enough, enough. It’s almost supper time anyway. Go downstairs and have them bring up the food. We’ll eat in the room tonight.”
Zhen Tingyun had actually wanted to go downstairs anyway to ask what should be done about the stolen horse. Earlier she had been so flustered that she forgot her father had specifically sent along an experienced and capable steward to handle matters on the journey. This was exactly the sort of thing she could consult him about. Thus, as soon as Old Lady Zhen spoke, Zhen Tingyun promptly set down her sewing and skipped downstairs with light steps, not looking troubled in the slightest.
Old Lady Zhen: “……”
Ai-yo, having such a sharp-tongued granddaughter really was enough to worry a person to death.
Speaking of sharp tongues, Old Lady Zhen herself was no less formidable.
Even Zhen Tingyun’s mother, Madam Pei, had suffered quite a bit after marrying into the Zhen family. Back then, Father Zhen had merely been a poor scholar, yet he had won the favor of his teacher, who even gave him his beloved daughter in marriage. Truly, he had stumbled into outrageous luck. Especially since Madam Pei had studied alongside her brothers under her father’s instruction from a young age. She was beautiful and talented, no less learned than most men. Calling her a gifted lady was no exaggeration. Father Zhen and Madam Pei had long harbored affection for each other before marriage, and after marrying they exchanged poetry and music in perfect harmony, deeply devoted to one another. The only unhappy matters were Old Lady Zhen, the difficult mother-in-law, and their poor luck with children.
Madam Pei’s fortunes were not good. More than a year passed after marriage before she conceived, and her first child was a daughter. Old Lady Zhen, who strongly favored sons over daughters, responded only with constant mockery and sarcasm. Madam Pei ignored her and personally named her eldest daughter Yiyun, thinking that her husband would be the one she could rely on for life. She devoted herself wholeheartedly to supporting his studies and examination career, perfectly fulfilling the role of a virtuous wife. Yet when Father Zhen went to the capital for the imperial examinations, Madam Pei happened to become pregnant again and thus had to remain at home to nurture the pregnancy. After enduring the difficult birth, she gave birth to yet another daughter. With Father Zhen absent from home, Old Lady Zhen fully displayed the behavior of a wicked mother-in-law. Even Madam Pei herself grew somewhat discouraged and named the younger daughter Tingyun, hoping the “luck” of giving birth to daughters would stop there and that the next child would surely be a son.
Perhaps sincere wishes truly could move heaven, because later Madam Pei did indeed give birth to a younger son, though that was a story for later.
Back then, when Madam Pei angrily carried her eldest daughter to the capital while leaving behind the newborn younger daughter at home with such a difficult mother-in-law, she had been worried beyond measure. Yet by sheer coincidence, Zhen Tingyun turned out to be Old Lady Zhen’s natural nemesis.
Although Old Lady Zhen favored sons over daughters and constantly complained that “raising girls is useless,” she could hardly let her crying granddaughter cry herself to death. And with the child’s mother gone while the baby had not yet been weaned, she certainly could not let the child starve to death either. Thus Old Lady Zhen raised the girl while grumbling about her own soft-heartedness. After finally raising her a little older, the child turned out to be unbearably delicate, she refused to do farm work, and though she could at least hold a needle, even now she could barely sew a pair of socks. As for cooking, if asked to make a meal, one had to worry she might burn the kitchen down.
On the contrary, Old Lady Zhen herself had somehow been coaxed and persuaded by this girl into doing the unprecedented: spending her own private savings to buy two little maidservants for the household. After all, Zhen Tingyun had argued, “Father is already an official now, and you’re the mother of an official master. Yet our household doesn’t even have a single maid, and you still have to cook personally. If people found out, who knows how much they’d laugh at Father?”
In short, Old Lady Zhen had not enjoyed even the slightest blessing from having a granddaughter, and instead had lost quite a bit of money. Wasn’t that why people always said girls were money-losing burdens?
Even now, while sewing, Old Lady Zhen could not help worrying about her granddaughter’s marriage prospects.
Ai-yo, such a sharp-tongued and spoiled little girl who knew nothing at all, who even tried to wriggle out of sewing a pair of socks… she was probably never going to get married.
Author’s Note:
Zhen Tingyun: “You d*mned horse thief! Just you wait till I catch you! If I do, I’ll make you be my horse for me to ride!”
Male Lead: “I’m already lying flat. Come ride me then~”
