Chapter 196: Of Course I Choose to Forgive Him

What you fear most always comes to pass.

You cut carbs, eat grass (vegetable salads), finally lose twenty pounds, spend an hour picking out clothes, another hour on makeup, go to the village entrance to find Tony the stylist for an exquisite hairdo, looking so beautiful that even glimpsing yourself in a dinner knife makes you admire your own face, fantasizing about running into your ex, thinking surely your ex would be green with regret?

But no, your ex invariably appears when you’ve gained twenty pounds, wearing flip-flops and a pajama-style floral cotton dress, haven’t washed your hair in three days, are wolfing down skewers at a street-side fly restaurant, with roasted leeks stuck in your teeth, and you’re using the skewer stick to pick the leeks from between your teeth when you lock eyes with your ex.

This was exactly the awkward encounter Mu Chun faced.

He swore that his daughter wasn’t always this wild, playing with mud up to her knees catching shrimp, nor was she always this grimy and dirty. But once summer arrived, his daughter spent half her time soaking in water, swimming, diving, catching fish. After summer passed, she’d be tanned like a mudfish, slowly turning fair again by autumn.

His daughter had well-behaved moments too. A’Lei had already begun her studies and could write several characters. Ah, why couldn’t Sister Shanwei have returned when A’Lei was sitting properly at her desk practicing calligraphy?

Just as Mu Chun’s mind was in turmoil with lightning-like thoughts, A’Lei walked up to Hu Shanwei on her short, stubby legs that were both dark and plump, covered in mud, “You must be Sister Shanwei. My brother-in-law has your portrait in his study. He gives me everything I want, but he won’t let me touch your portrait.”

What sister? I’m your mother!

With the child present, Hu Shanwei couldn’t lose her temper with her husband. She could only suppress her anger and say gently, “Little children all need afternoon naps. Won’t you let… Mother… Sister help you take a bath first?”

“No, I don’t know you well.” A’Lei pointed at Mu Chun, “I only want brother-in-law to bathe me.”

Rejected, Hu Shanwei felt blow after blow. Four years had passed, and A’Lei no longer remembered her. She had gotten her revenge, but she had also paid the price.

Zhu Zhanji, who had already finished his afternoon nap, picked up a shrimp cage to go play. Seeing his wife’s distress, Mu Chun took her hand, “You’re not familiar with her, but I am. How about you help by pouring water and handing towels?”

A’Lei thought about it and nodded, saying to Hu Shanwei, “You can’t peek at me.”

It took two buckets of warm water to wash the mud off A’Lei’s legs. While handing soap and towels to Mu Chun, Hu Shanwei stole glances at her daughter. Only her two little bottom cheeks were pink and fair, showing her natural skin tone – the rest was dark and gleaming black. Her body was overly plump, and when she ran, she was quick as a black whirlwind, looking exactly like a freshly boiled tea egg that had rolled on the ground.

Ming Dynasty children, regardless of gender, all had their heads shaved, appearing like “Buddha children,” leaving only a tuft of hair on top tied with a red silk ribbon into a small braid. Zhu Zhanji had this hairstyle, but A’Lei was completely bald, without even that tuft of hair.

Hu Shanwei asked, “Where’s her hair?”

Mu Chun felt somewhat guilty and didn’t dare meet his wife’s questioning gaze. He ladled water to pour on his daughter’s shoulders, “A few days ago she was rolling around in the grass, and her hair got completely covered with hooked burrs. Each one I pulled off made her cry from the pain, so I just shaved all her hair off.”

Hearing this, A’Lei looked quite pleased, patting her little bald head and giggling, “Little Brother Ji said I look like a little monk.”

Hu Shanwei: Was this supposed to be something to be happy about?

Seeing his daughter laugh, Mu Chun immediately forgot his wife’s death glare and chuckled along, “Look, she’s an optimistic little girl.”

Watching Mu Chun’s silly grin, Hu Shanwei repeatedly consoled herself: This was whom she married, whom she gave birth to – accept reality.

After her bath, A’Lei refused to walk by herself, insisting that Mu Chun carry her to bed, and wouldn’t let Hu Shanwei watch her sleep, “I don’t know you well. If you watch me, I can’t fall asleep.”

Hearing this broke Hu Shanwei’s heart. Her presence as the biological mother in the bedroom actually made her daughter feel insecure.

Fortunately, A’Lei had been wild for most of the day and was exhausted. She fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. Mu Chun quietly brought Hu Shanwei in and handed her a pillow, “Lie down next to her. The little one’s breath is sweet.”

Hu Shanwei whispered, “Won’t this disturb her sleep?”

Mu Chun said, “Don’t worry, once she’s asleep, even thunder won’t wake her.”

The old married couple lay on the bed with their daughter sleeping between them.

Hu Shanwei gazed greedily at her daughter. One’s own child truly was different – even looking at this round, dark tea egg, she could see delicate features and beauty!

Seeing his wife gradually accepting their daughter’s tea egg reality, Mu Chun inwardly rejoiced at dodging disaster. Without waiting for his wife to ask, he confessed voluntarily – lenient treatment for confession, harsh punishment for resistance:

It turned out that when Li Jinglong was besieging Beijing, Mu Chun received emergency orders to take Prince Yan’s eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji back to Yunnan, shouldering the important mission of preserving the “spark of hope.” After settling Zhu Zhanji, when he went to collect his daughter from his father-in-law, he discovered that his daughter called his father-in-law “father” and called him “brother-in-law.”

Hu Rong had been raising his granddaughter as his own daughter. As A’Lei grew and began to talk, to avoid exposure of Hu Shanwei’s secret marriage, he simply told outsiders that A’Lei was his youngest daughter, whose mother had died in difficult childbirth.

Hu Rong was a well-maintained, handsome old widower who had been quite the ladies’ man in his younger days. Having a daughter in his old age wasn’t surprising, especially since A’Lei’s thick, curved eyebrows and round eyes resembled Hu Rong’s features, making the lie more believable.

Thus, A’Lei transformed from granddaughter to youngest daughter. Hu Rong felt that “Lei” wasn’t a good name for a girl, so he gave her a formal name. A’Lei was born during a rare occurrence of rolling thunder, considered an auspicious omen. Since this generation used the character “Shan,” she was named Hu Shanxiang and had already been entered in the family registry.

Mu Chun said, “…Father-in-law said that changing her name and entering her in the registry was just a temporary measure, to give A’Lei a respectable identity. You couldn’t expect a lively, jumping girl to hide away from people her whole life, could you? When we husband and wife reunite and bring A’Lei over, we can remove her name from the registry and change her to the Mu surname. However, I think surnames don’t matter. My relationship with father is cold, and I never wanted to inherit this surname anyway. Since our daughter was born by you, having your surname is just the same. Hu Shanxiang – such a good name and surname, why change it?”

When Mu Chun and his father Mu Ying fought most fiercely, Mu Ying cursed that he might as well have given birth to a preserved egg instead of him. In anger, Mu Chun took a knife to cut himself, pointing at the flowing blood and saying it would be better to bleed soy sauce than Mu family blood.

Such a terrible father-son relationship, combined with the childhood trauma of being beaten unconscious by his father, made Mu Chun scoff at concepts like family legacy and bloodline surnames.

“If she took my surname, she’d be called ‘Mu Lei,’ which sounds like a bearded, foot-picking tough guy. Not appropriate at all.”

His father had taken excellent care of their daughter, acting as both father and mother in raising her. Hu Shanwei felt only gratitude toward her father and didn’t think changing the name was improper. Besides, as Mu Chun said, if not Hu Shanxiang, she’d have to be called “Mu Lei”… better forget it, or their daughter would hate them when she grew up.

Hu Shanwei kissed the little tea egg in her arms. Her own child – even if ugly as a crayfish, it didn’t matter. Nothing was more important than healthy, happy growth. If Mu Chun hadn’t been home caring for their daughter, she couldn’t have had such a beautiful revenge and comeback in the palace.

What else could she do? Of course she chose to forgive Chun Chun.

Exhausted from travel and constantly vigilant against repeating Fan Shanggong’s tragedy, she had maintained constant alertness. Only now, with her husband and daughter on a warm bed, did she completely relax. Drowsiness overwhelmed her, and amid Mu Chun’s chattering about their daughter, she fell into deep sleep.

“…Let me tell you, A’Lei’s health is excellent. When she had chickenpox in spring, she only had fever for one day, then ate and played as usual, as if nothing happened. That child from the Zhu family was much worse – had intermittent fever for five days. If something had really happened, how would I explain to Princess Yan? I was so scared I even prepared a boy who looked similar to him, ready to substitute if needed. Fortunately, he gradually recovered, so I didn’t need to use the substitute.”

When Hu Shanwei awoke, the sun was already setting and the weather had cooled. She had slept so comfortably that she was reluctant to open her eyes. She reached toward her pillow to touch her daughter’s monk head, but instead felt a head of long hair, startling her into sitting up like “awakening from death’s dream,” “Who!”

“Who else would be sleeping next to you? Your husband.” Mu Chun had commandeered her pillow, his shirt half-open, revealing the undulating muscles of his torso. His long legs were crossed and elevated, and from Hu Shanwei’s elevated viewing angle, his loose pants revealed a glimpse of spring – a “red apricot” blooming over the wall.

Mu Chun’s pose was seductive, full of spring desire in the hot summer, making Hu Shanwei’s mouth dry. She couldn’t help licking her lips, but she retained her reason, looking around and asking, “Where’s our daughter?”

“At this hour, A’Lei and Little Ji are learning characters and practicing calligraphy. Their teacher assigns five characters daily, about an hour’s duration. When the water clock runs out, lessons end.” Mu Chun inverted a water clock filled with fine sand, the sand silently falling through the narrow gap at the neck.

Mu Chun blinked, “They’re studying in the gauze pavilion in the middle of the chrysanthemum field – good light and cool. Tonight’s dinner is also set there – quite far from us. Listen carefully, can you hear their reading voices?”

Hu Shanwei listened intently and indeed heard nothing, only faint insect chirping and bird calls, “I can’t hear anything.”

“Very good, they can’t hear us either…” Mu Chun pulled Hu Shanwei to his pillow.

In the bedroom, the water clock was silent but people were not.

In the chrysanthemum field pavilion, A’Lei and Zhu Zhanji were both clever children who quickly learned the five characters. After each copied two sheets of large characters, they wanted to go play. Seeing that his daughter and son-in-law hadn’t come to collect them, the temporarily substitute teacher Hu Rong cleared his throat twice, “It’s still early today. Let’s add a lesson from ‘Phonetic Primer’ – if you memorize it, I’ll take you to the teahouse tomorrow to watch ‘Journey to the West.’ Tomorrow they’re performing Monkey King’s great havoc at Flaming Mountain.”

Hearing about a performance, especially their favorite Monkey King, both children immediately settled down.

“Spring matches summer, autumn matches winter… Dancing butterflies match chirping crickets. Mud-carrying paired purple swallows, honey-gathering several yellow bees. In spring gardens, orioles call sweetly, in autumn frontier, geese cry in chorus…”

Today’s dinner was somewhat late. Sheep-horn lanterns were lit for illumination in the chrysanthemum field’s gauze pavilion. The family sat around eating dinner as a welcome feast for Hu Shanwei. The two children, being small, sat at a small side table, while at the main table, the couple had Hu Rong take the seat of honor, with Mu Chun and Hu Shanwei sitting opposite each other.

After twenty years apart, father and daughter finally sat down to eat a meal together. All past stubbornness had disappeared with the years. Hu Shanwei noticed her father had visibly aged these past years. Her nose stung, “I planned to visit father at the bookshop tomorrow, never expecting father to be A’Lei’s teacher.”

This was the first time in twenty years that Hu Rong ate at the same table as his daughter. He still felt this happiness came too quickly, feeling somewhat awkward. Though his heart was hot as boiling water, outwardly he showed the distant restraint of one who fears approaching home, saying:

“I wasn’t originally their primer teacher. The previous teacher… didn’t get along well with A’Lei’s temperament and resigned. We haven’t found a new teacher yet, but we can’t delay the children’s education. Since I know a few characters, I came to teach them.”

Hu Rong came from a scholarly family in Shandong with solid academic foundation. Hu Shanwei had received her early education directly from her father. Now teaching his granddaughter and the future Crown Prince, he would only be more dedicated than before.

A mother knows her daughter best. Hu Shanwei looked at the “tea egg” buried in eating at the small table, “It was A’Lei being naughty and driving away the teacher, wasn’t it? Now that father teaches her, is she obedient?”

Looking at his adorable granddaughter, Hu Rong immediately relaxed, “Within an hour, she’s quite obedient. Beyond that, she gets impatient. But she learns very quickly – knows it after a few repetitions, just as clever as you were as a child.”

Mu Chun quickly came to his father-in-law’s defense, “Originally I wanted to teach them myself, but father-in-law asked what books I’d read, then said I should just play with them and not delay our own family members, haha.”