Extra Chapter 2: Cheng Lang and Her

On a bitterly cold winter day, the room of Cheng’s Fourth Madam was heated by floor furnaces.

Young Cheng Lang was led by an old woman to the entrance of Fourth Madam’s room. Before he could approach, he saw his frail mother kneeling at the doorway. His mother was beautiful, with bright eyes and thin, soft lips like flower petals. Her beauty was described as ethereal. But now, she kept her head lowered, silent.

Cheng Lang gripped the old woman’s hand tightly, earning a gentle pat on the back of his hand. “Young Master Lang, go hug your mother and cry. Your father is inside; he’ll hear you soon.”

Cheng Lang blinked, his delicate face as beautiful as his mother’s. He asked softly, “Nanny, why is the Concubine Mother being punished by kneeling?”

“Your mother is a concubine daughter from the Ningyuan Marquis’s household,” the old woman sighed. There were many such concubines from the Ningyuan Marquis’s household, but who could intervene here? Though she had a brother supporting her, he was of little use. The Cheng family paid them no mind. Even as she said this, she felt uncertain.

“Your mother was betrothed from a good family and is a favored concubine. She’s not like those lowly concubines who can be beaten, scolded, or sold at will. Unless she committed one of the seven sins, why would she be punished by kneeling?” the old woman said quietly. “Just go cry and soften your father’s heart. Then your mother might be forgiven…” She then muttered to herself.

Essentially: Who doesn’t like a beautiful woman?

The six-year-old Cheng Lang slowly approached, timid and unsure how to soften his father’s heart. He stood for a while, unable to cry, looking around bewildered. The old woman came forward, sighing at his uselessness, and pinched his small arm hard.

In the bitter winter, even through the cotton jacket, the child’s tender skin felt the pain acutely. Little Cheng Lang finally burst into tears.

The old woman finally sighed in relief. It wasn’t that she was cruel. Without a mother, this child would be torn apart in the Cheng household.

Although this mother was… indifferent to him, it was still better than nothing.

The child’s cries finally attracted the attention of those inside. Concubine Lu didn’t even raise her eyes, stubbornly looking towards the door.

The old woman, observing that lonely and stubborn figure, felt a mix of emotions.

Foolish, stupid!

She was a concubine daughter from a marquis’s household. Though not favored, she could have married into a wealthy family as a proper wife. Yet she fell for a man who already had a wife, and remained lonely and stubborn. In the early years, the Third Master Cheng still loved her, but after two years, he’d grown tired of her beauty. If she had such a background, her life would have been so much better. If this wasn’t foolishness, what was it?

Unexpectedly, after a few cries, the first to emerge from the room wasn’t Third Master Cheng, but a chubby boy. He was a year older than Cheng Lang but a head taller. He wore a thick fur-lined cocoon silk jacket, black silk trousers, and a tiger-skin cap. Compared to Cheng Lang’s thin frame, he was bundled up like a ball.

The chubby boy’s face was fierce, his breath visible in the icy air. He stepped forward and kicked Cheng Lang, shouting, “I’ll make you cry! I’ll make you cry! You’re so noisy!”

With snow on his boot soles, Cheng Lang was quickly knocked down, the cold, snowy boot pressing against his face.

He cried louder, struggling in the cold snow.

The old woman didn’t intervene at first. Only when she saw more people emerging from the room did she hurry forward to pull the boy away? “Young Second Master! The Fourth Young Master is just recovering. He can’t be beaten!”

The man walking in front saw the scene and his face darkened. “Cheng Shen, stop it! Who taught you manners? How dare you hit your brother!”

A beautiful woman followed, seeing her husband about to strike her son. She cried out in distress, “Husband, Shen is just a child who doesn’t know better. He’s just playing with his brother. Shen, quickly help your brother up and apologize to your father!”

To little Cheng Lang, everything was chaotic. Many people were talking. His father, angered, pulled the chubby second brother over, but due to the Third Madam’s interference and the arrival of Old Madam Cheng protecting her grandson, he couldn’t bring himself to strike after clenching his fist for a long time. His concubine mother, of course, was no longer required to kneel. And him?

He only remembered the cold, snowy boot pressing against his face.

When they returned to their small courtyard, Concubine Lu sat by the table drinking tea. She was scolding the old woman: “Who told you to bring him there? How embarrassing.”

The old woman said, “Concubine, if not for this, your knees would have been ruined…”

“Even if my knees were ruined, I wouldn’t bow to that vixen,” Concubine Lu said coldly. “That vixen slanders me in front of Zong Lang, saying I’m just a concubine, not as good as her…”

The old woman thought silently, you are indeed a concubine not as good as her.

But she wouldn’t dare say this aloud even with a hundred lives. She relied on Concubine Lu for her livelihood. After all, this concubine was still a daughter from a marquis’s household and had borne a son. As long as she didn’t cause trouble, who would come to bother her? It was much better than those lowly concubines who lived in constant fear of disaster.

She patiently tried to persuade Concubine Lu, and the two began to whisper. Meanwhile, the child who had just recovered from illness, been beaten, and hadn’t eaten all day due to hunger, was ignored by everyone.

Cheng Lang felt the voices becoming increasingly muffled, the nanny and concubine fading into shadows.

Later, exhausted and hungry, he curled up on the overly hot kang bed and fell into a restless sleep.

He hazily heard people talking: “Zong Lang, if not for the Second Young Master’s beating, how could our Lang get such a high fever… The Second Young Master is fine, but what if our Lang becomes stupid from the fever? He’s my only child…”

This weeping voice was his concubine mother’s.

Cheng Lang opened his eyes in confusion and saw a young maid kneeling by his bed, feeding him medicine.

Subsequently, his father made a decision. The boy was punished with a whipping, while Concubine Lu was granted an opportunity to visit her family.

Concubines weren’t supposed to have families to visit, but Concubine Lu was from a marquis’s household and had been wronged. This visit home was a show of defiance against the Third Madam Cheng, which delighted Concubine Lu.

The young Cheng Lang just recovered from another serious illness, was carried onto a carriage to accompany his concubine mother to the Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion. He knew he had an uncle there who had recently married. The old woman had told him this. He didn’t know what the Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion was like. Would anyone hit him there? Would he fall ill?

Being sick was so uncomfortable.

The old woman carried him off the carriage. They led him through a small bamboo grove, then along a path lined with winter plum trees and stones, before entering the mansion.

The marquis’s mansion was naturally much more spacious and bright than their small courtyard. He saw her standing at the entrance waiting for them.

She wore a long pink jacket with white orchids and an indigo embroidered skirt. Several sachets hung at her waist. She smiled, and when she did, a dimple appeared on her left cheek – only on one side.

When not smiling, she looked dignified, but her smile and the single dimple made her appear very young.

“This must be A-Lang,” she said, reaching out to hug him.

Cheng Lang couldn’t avoid her embrace. She must have been sitting by the fire for a long time; she smelled of charcoal.

It was like being hugged by a large, warm stove. A long-armed, warm stove.

Cheng Lang blinked his big eyes at her and found her looking back at him, exclaiming, “What a beautiful child!”

No one had ever called him beautiful before. Third Madam Cheng always looked at him coldly, while his concubine mother was entirely focused on his father. The other servants wouldn’t dare call a young master beautiful.

She loved beautiful children, and Cheng Lang looked like a porcelain doll, with a sickly paleness that made him even more striking. She wanted to keep him, dress him up beautifully, feed him well, and make him chubby and healthy.

That was the first time Cheng Lang saw Luo Yining.

This person, Luo Yining.

Luo Yining.

In later years, her name would echo in his mind countless times, buried deep in his heart, from which he could never escape for the rest of his life.

Concubine Lu went to speak with her brother, leaving little Cheng Lang with her. Yining saw that the child was thin, timid, and poorly dressed. Her heart ached for him. If she could raise such a child, who knows how well she could care for him!

She tempted him with food and toys, but Cheng Lang remained silent. So she held him in her arms and read him stories from books.

Ah! It was held by the warm stove, which smelled so nice.

Cheng Lang’s body tensed. As he listened to her read, he looked up at her. Oh, when she wasn’t smiling, the dimple disappeared.

Unconsciously, he reached out with his small hand to poke her face, then realizing what he’d done, he curled up in fear. At home, if he touched his concubine mother’s face, she would be displeased.

But she caught his little hand, saying, “You dare poke my face? You’ll get a spanking!”

She then lightly patted his bottom. It didn’t hurt at all.

Cheng Lang thought, the warm stove’s spankings don’t hurt, they’re just ticklish. She wasn’t angry either, holding his small hand to point at the pictures in the book.

The Marquis’s mansion was wonderful. The servants here didn’t pinch him; they all smiled at him kindly and lovingly. When he climbed onto a small table to eat, they would gather around to watch, exclaiming in admiration.

“Oh, how adorable!”

“He can’t hold things steadily yet!”

“He doesn’t like the skin, he’s biting it off. Quick, bring him that plate of chestnuts and see how he cracks them open!”

It was as if they were watching a cute little animal eat. If his bottom started to slip off, they would immediately rush over to hold him up: “Young Master, be careful not to fall!”

Cheng Lang didn’t know that this was the special treatment given to a child with high facial value. He had never experienced this in the Cheng household.

When she came in, the servants would respectfully stand aside with their hands down. Luo Yining would pick him up, unable to resist kissing his chubby face. “A-Lang, did they bully you?”

Did watching someone eat and laugh count as bullying?

Cheng Lang shook his head and hugged her neck, calling out softly, “Aunt, I’m full.”

Ah! He was so adorable, even his speech was cute. Yining’s heart melted. How could he be so cute?

At this moment, that tall man walked in. He smiled and said, “Why are you spoiling this child so much?”

Yining replied matter-of-factly, “Look how beautiful he is.”

Cheng Lang knew this was his uncle, but he wasn’t close to him yet. He saw his uncle laugh heartily and say, “Luo Yining, I give up on you!” He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. “If I weren’t good-looking, would you not want me anymore?”

“You don’t know when I changed the child’s clothes, I saw many bruises on his body,” Luo Yining whispered to Lu Jiaxue. “How could a young master have so many bruises? Who knows what kind of life he’s living in the Cheng household, and his sister doesn’t even care for him…”

“Sister never liked children. If not for securing her position, she wouldn’t have given birth to him,” Lu Jiaxue said, trying to engage little Cheng Lang in conversation. “Little one, you’re here and your aunt doesn’t even like me anymore. Quick, call me uncle!”

Cheng Lang thought this man talked too much.

“Take him for a ‘horseback ride,'” Luo Yining handed the child to him. “This child never smiles.”

Carrying him on his neck and walking around was considered a “horseback ride.” Lu Jiaxue didn’t want to do it, but after a look from Yining, he sighed heavily and took the boy from Yining’s arms to give him a ride.

He was so tall! And Cheng Lang sat so high. Little Cheng Lang was a bit scared, but this man carried him steadily. He looked back at her, and she smiled and waved at him from where she stood.

His uncle then smiled and said, “I’ll be back soon!”

Cheng Lang was confused. Was she waving at him or his uncle?

But everyone here was so nice. Although his uncle talked a bit too much, he always smiled at him. Cheng Lang didn’t want to go back. When the servants from the Lu family came to find him and take him back, he hid in the wardrobe.

When the Lu family’s maids found him, he had a fluffy cape on his head, moving around like a small animal.

Yining pulled him out, and he cried loudly, clinging tightly to her: “Don’t want to go back… don’t want to go back…”

The old woman pinched him, his brother beat him, and his concubine mother didn’t like him. He didn’t like the Cheng family.

Cheng Lang had never expressed his emotions so intensely before, had never cried so heart-wrenchingly.

He knew that once he was taken back, he might never be able to come again.

Sensitive and fragile.

He clung to the warm stove, sobbing, “I like Aunt, I don’t want to go back!”

The warm stove held him tightly in her arms, then went to discuss with Lu Jiaxue.

Lu Jiaxue remained silent for a long time. After all, Cheng Lang was a child of the Cheng family, and his sister was only a concubine. It wasn’t quite proper. But seeing Yining’s reluctance to let go and his little nephew’s timid, tear-filled eyes, he sighed: “Alright, don’t worry. I’ll go talk to the Cheng family.”

Cheng Lang stayed.

He spent the New Year with the Lu family.

It was agreed that he would return after the New Year.

But after the New Year, he didn’t go back. Lu Jiaxue went off to war, and spring arrived. Some wild ducks appeared in the courtyard, leading a string of fluffy ducklings. Yining made spring clothes for him, measuring him and finding that he had grown half an inch taller. He watched the fluffy wild ducks, leaning against Yining, and watched her take his measurements.

“I like Aunt,” he said.

“A-Lang is growing up!” she smiled, patting his head. “When you grow up, you won’t like Aunt anymore. I’ll be old then.”

He insisted earnestly, “I will always like you.”

How could a child’s words be taken seriously?

Yining had someone catch a wild duckling for him to play with. He held the fluffy creature in his hands as it flapped its wings, trying to escape, quacking loudly. Cheng Lang fed it a little food before letting it go.

He watched it anxiously return to its mother’s wings. He empathized, thinking that if one day he had to leave his aunt and was taken away by someone, he would feel a thousand, ten thousand times worse than this little duck because all the good things in his life came from her. So he felt compassion.

Later that day, there was a feast at the mansion. Lu Jiaran returned victorious.

His uncle also returned with him.

Lu Jiaran enjoyed all the honors, while his uncle stood coldly in the corner of the crowd, looking resentfully towards his elder brother.

But when he walked towards her, he was full of smiles.

“I’m back.” He held her tightly in his arms, his voice deep, “Look, I’ve returned alive.”

The garden was filled with guests, congratulatory voices, chatter, and the clinking of wine cups. Yet, it seemed as if there were only the two of them in the world.

When he was little, he used to hold onto her skirt, feeling an indescribable sensation.

Later, he gained power, and no one dared to ignore him anymore. However, she was no longer by his side. His great source of warmth was gone, and that little duckling eventually lost its mother, leaving it bewildered and despairing to the point of numbness. How cold it was.

After personally killing his second brother and Lady Cheng, his mother was promoted to the position of the principal wife, as no one dared to offend Lu Jiaxue by then.

His mother achieved the status she had always desired and began to attempt to mend the relationship with her son.

Cheng Lang sat drinking tea in the night. He set down his teacup and smiled, “Mother, it’s unnecessary. You didn’t like me before, and I think… I no longer need it either.”

He no longer needed affection and love. As a grown child, his heart was filled with unspeakable desires, contrary to ethics and self-destructive.

But no one would ever know these things again.

He left the Cheng family, walking far away from the brightly lit residence of his mother.

In the courtyard under the vast sky, he looked up at the stars. They twinkled, reminding him of how lonely one could feel in this world.

How lonely indeed.