Farmhouse Green Plum

Madam Chen's face stiffened, she tightened her handkerchief, and snorted coldly, "Stop trying to fool me, this marriage was agreed upon by her parents!"

Song Ying wasn't very familiar with the law. The few articles she had just heard about were told to her by Yuan Qing last night. She only knew that the Great Qian Dynasty ruled the country with filial piety and that children who harmed their parents were severely punished. She had never heard of how cases involving parents harming their children were judged.

However, even so, only Luo Yong and his wife could be pardoned; the entire Chen family would definitely be beheaded.

She was about to retort when Luo Yanxing stopped her. Her gaze slowly swept over the three members of the Chen family, and she said, word by word, "I want to know, why?"

Mr. Chen took a breath and said in a deep voice, "This matter is something my Chen family has wronged you about, but we also have our own difficulties."

He turned his head and looked at the flowerbed by the path, his voice dazed, “My eldest son was intelligent from a young age. He could recite the Classic of Filial Piety at the age of five and understand the Analects at the age of seven. My teacher often said that this son would surely become a great man.”

In order for him to have a better teacher, I bought a new house in Rongcheng and let my wife, him and Yunze live there.

My son was also very promising; he passed the county examination at nine and the prefectural examination at twelve. But unexpectedly, a month before the provincial examination, he went to the Confucian Temple to buy books and met Du Heng, the son of the then governor.

His voice trembled, and when the word "Du Heng" was squeezed out from between his teeth, each syllable was soaked with poisonous hatred.

"That Du Heng is a beast in human skin. He often invites young and handsome scholars to his pleasure under the guise of literary gatherings."

My son had long heard of his reputation and was naturally unwilling, so he used the excuse that the imperial examination was approaching and he needed to study hard at home to refuse.

Unexpectedly, that scoundrel, having failed in his first scheme, devised another. He bribed my son's classmate to deliver an invitation to my son's poetry gathering. My son, unsuspecting, gladly accepted the invitation.

When I got there, I discovered there was no poetry club at all; it was just a privately run place for illicit pleasure.

His voice trembled violently, barely able to form coherent sentences. Madam Chen, who had been holding on, recalled the events of that year, and her eyes instantly reddened. She almost lost her balance and was only able to stand up because Chen Yunze supported her.

Old Master Chen closed his eyes, seemingly trying to suppress the grief and anger surging in his heart, and continued to recount in a hoarse voice: "After that night, my son came back covered in injuries and had a high fever that wouldn't go down for three days. But he didn't dare to make a sound or tell us, only saying that he had fallen and hurt himself."

Even so, Du Heng still wouldn't let us go. He was worried that my son would take revenge after passing the imperial examination, so on the day of the examination, he accused him of cheating. My poor son was stripped naked and thrown out of the Dragon Gate.

Unable to bear such humiliation, he hanged himself. When we found him, he was already…

He couldn't continue speaking, while Madam Chen was already crying uncontrollably.

Chen Yunze supported her, frowning, "Dad, don't say anymore."

"No! You must tell!" Master Chen wiped away his tears. "My wife blamed herself for not noticing his abnormality sooner, and fell ill. She only got better a few years later, but since last year, she has been dreaming of Yunhai every night, crying out that she died tragically, could not be reincarnated, and was even bullied by evil spirits."

We thought that if we could arrange a ghost marriage for him, perhaps his soul could find peace and be reincarnated.

He took a breath and said solemnly again, "We are sorry for what happened. We... we just don't want him to be a wandering ghost anymore!"

Despite his pitiful state of mind, Luo Yanxing remained unmoved. "If you want to have a ghost marriage, you can simply find a woman who died unmarried."

"What do you know!" Overwhelmed with grief, Madam Chen suddenly shouted shrilly, a sickly flush rising on her pale face. "Those lowly maids from poor families, do they even deserve to share a grave with my son?"

Her fingers gripped Chen Yunze's wrist tightly, tears streaming down her face. "My son is so outstanding, how could an ordinary woman be worthy of him?"

She stared at Luo Yanxing, her eyes filled with resentment, "When Yunhai was alive, so many noble ladies sought to marry him; if it weren't for him... someone like you wouldn't even dare to dream of entering my Chen family!"

Luo Yanxing sneered, "So, I should thank you for thinking so highly of me?"

Madam Chen snorted, "If it weren't for your talent in business, which is a testament to the Chen family's tradition, you wouldn't even be worthy of being my son's concubine!"

Song Ying felt a surge of heat rush to her head, and her fingertips trembled. So all their hard work and advancement was just to be qualified for a ghost marriage for her son?

Throughout her medical career, she had encountered countless ladies and wives, but none had ever been as arrogant as Madam Xu!

"You old..." she was about to curse, but Luo Yanxing stopped her once again.

Luo Yanxing seemed unusually good-tempered today, showing little anger despite the humiliation.

She looked at Chen Yunze: "And you?"

Before Chen Yunze could speak, Old Master Chen interjected, "Yunze was unaware of this beforehand. Even after he found out, he kept begging us to give up. We forced him to compromise by using filial piety."

Luo Yanxing seemed not to hear him, only looking at Chen Yunze, "Have you never thought about marrying me?"

"I……"

"You don't need to make things difficult for my son. With your background, how dare you dream of becoming Yunze's wife?" Madam Chen said with extreme sarcasm.

"Is that so?" Luo Yanxing suddenly laughed, revealing his gleaming white teeth. "Now, you have two choices: one, I will report you to the authorities, and your whole family will reunite underground."

Second, this ghost marriage does not exist. I am marrying Chen Yunze; I will be his wife and the young mistress of the Chen family.

"Huh?" Song Ying's eyes widened, almost thinking she had misheard.

She quickly tugged at Luo Yanxing, "Are you out of your mind? This kind of thing definitely needs to be reported to the authorities so they can be punished as they deserve!"

I know you're angry, but it's not worth getting entangled with people like that. Don't worry about the lawsuit; his family is wealthy, and we have connections. I'll risk everything to give you justice. If Magistrate Chen isn't fair, we'll go to Prefect Shen in the prefectural city; if that doesn't work, we'll go to the capital to appeal to the emperor!

Madam Chen was also furious. "What an ignorant and shameless servant girl! How dare you covet my Yunze? You should take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror. Are you even worthy?"

Luo Yanxing patted Song Ying's hand and glanced at the three members of the Chen family: "You think about it first, and give me your answer in a while."

He then pulled Song Ying around and led her out, saying, "Let's go, I'll see you off."

Song Ying was confused. "No, what are you doing? This matter..."

"Let's go." Luo Yanxing interrupted her. "I know you mean well, but I'll make the decision about this."

“But…” Song Ying hesitated.

Yuan Qing glanced at Luo Yanxing and said, "Let's go first."

After hesitating for a moment, Song Ying decided to leave the Chen family first.

As soon as they got into the carriage, before they even got back, Song Ying said anxiously, "Yanxing, what's wrong with you? This isn't like you at all."