On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

The Wang Family Mansion in Hu County, a mansion that once symbolized power and luxury, is now like a huge, forgotten tomb.

Outside the high walls, there is the bustling noise of construction and the gradually recovering atmosphere of the city; inside the high walls, there is still suffocating despair and silence.

The Jinwu Guard soldiers are like silent iron towers, guarding all entrances and exits in shifts day and night. Their cold armor reflects a faint light in the sunlight, isolating the two worlds inside and outside.

In the warm room at the back of the house, the doors and windows were tightly closed, and the heavy curtains blocked most of the light, making the room appear dim and depressing even during the day.

The air was filled with the scent of expensive incense, but it couldn't cover up the musty smell of rotten wood and the sour smell of the women, a mixture of powder and fearful sweat.

Wang (the legal wife) was reclining on a chaise longue covered with half-worn brocade. Her face was sallow and her eye sockets were sunken. Her once carefully maintained appearance was now haggard, like a flower that had been drained of moisture.

She twisted a silk handkerchief unconsciously in her hand, staring blankly out the window at the gray sky that was cut into squares by the high walls.

The fourth concubine sat on an embroidered cushion at the bottom, her expression equally listless, and there was only numb fatigue between her once charming eyebrows and eyes.

The Sixth Aunt was curled up in the shadow of the corner, hugging her knees with her chin resting on them. Her pretty profile looked like fragile porcelain in the dim light, and her eyes were empty, as if her soul had already left her body.

The Ninth Aunt snuggled up to the Sixth Aunt, her little face showing panic and confusion that had not yet completely faded. She didn't fully understand what was happening, but the depressing atmosphere around her made her instinctively feel fear.

The other concubines also sat in the corners, like lifeless puppets. The air was filled with a suffocating silence waiting for the final judgment.

What broke the dead silence was a slight gust of air caused by the sudden opening of the door curtain of the warm room.

The fifth concubine came in like a gust of wind!

There was an extremely complicated expression on her face - a mixture of incredible shock, a hint of ecstasy, and fear deep in her bones!

Her breathing was a little rapid, her chest was slightly heaving, her hair was a little messy, and a few strands of hair stuck to her sweaty forehead. It was obvious that she had been jogging all the way back.

"Madam! Sisters!" The fifth concubine's voice trembled slightly with excitement. She rushed to the center of the warm room, and her eyes swept across everyone's numb faces like a searchlight.

Wang was startled by her, her empty eyes focused on her face, with a hint of displeasure at being disturbed and a deeper despair: "Old Fifth...you...what are you trying to find out again? Those soldiers outside...are so ferocious...what if..."

Her voice was hoarse and weak.

"We found out! We found out!" Fifth Aunt interrupted her, her voice suddenly rising with a desperate excitement and eagerness. "This is huge news! It concerns all of us! It concerns the lives of the children!"

"Life?" This word was like a huge rock thrown into stagnant water, instantly causing ripples!

All the female members of the family suddenly raised their heads, and a strong desire for survival burst out from their numb eyes!

Wang struggled to sit up straight, the fourth concubine widened her eyes, a faint flame of fire ignited in the empty eyes of the sixth concubine, and the ninth concubine nervously grabbed the sleeve of the sixth concubine.

"Hurry up and tell me! Old Five! Tell me quickly!" The Fourth Aunt urged anxiously, her voice tinged with tears.

Fifth Aunt took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart. She looked around at everyone and spoke clearly, enunciating each word:

"I... I just... spent ten taels of silver! I bribed a small flag officer (a low-ranking officer) guarding the back corner gate!"

Her words made everyone gasp!

Bribe the guards?!

This is a big taboo! If you get caught...

But Fifth Aunt couldn't care less. Her eyes flashed with the light of a lone wolf: "He...he told me! His Royal Highness... His Royal Highness has shown mercy!"

"Show mercy?!" Wang's voice suddenly became sharp, and her body leaned forward slightly in excitement. "He...he is willing to let us go?! Let the children go?!"

"It's not letting us go!" Fifth Aunt shook her head vigorously, a complex light flashing in her eyes, "It's... it's giving us a way... to survive!"

She paused, as if trying to organize her words, her voice filled with indescribable excitement and a subtle hint of bewilderment:

"Your Highness...promised to let all of us..."

She took a deep breath, as if using up all her strength, and shouted the word that would change their fate:

"Be an ordinary citizen of Hu County!"

"Ordinary people?"

"Ordinary people?!"

"what?!"

The warm room instantly fell into a dead silence! Then, there were exclamations of disbelief and huge disappointment one after another!

The ecstasy on Wang's face froze in an instant, replaced by a huge sense of confusion and an unacceptable sense of gap!

She stood up suddenly, her voice shrill and piercing with excitement: "Ordinary people? Lao Wu, did you hear me right?! We are the wives of officials, the wives of county magistrates, and officials! How can we become lowly common people?! This... what kind of life is this?! How is this any different from being exiled and enslaved?!"

The huge feeling of humiliation and the collapse of her status and identity instantly overwhelmed her like a tide!

She can't accept it!

She would rather be exiled and demoted to a government slave, because at least she still has the word "official" in her title!

It’s better than being an “ordinary citizen” like a mud-legged peasant!

Her Wang family has been officials for generations (although they were only minor officials), and she has been living a life of luxury since she was a child, and has never had to do housework!

Let her be an ordinary citizen?

Like those mud-legged peasants who work with their faces to the earth and their backs to the sky, covered in sweat?

Go farming?

Go do laundry and cook?

Are you going to look at other people's faces just for a meal?!

This is simply worse than killing her!

"That's right!" The Fourth Concubine also stood up suddenly, with the same humiliation and unwillingness on her face. "We have served the master! We are the emperor's concubines! How can we do such a lowly job?! His Highness the Crown Prince... he... is he trying to humiliate us?!"

Her eyes were filled with anger and resentment.

The Sixth Aunt was curled up in the corner, and when she heard the words "ordinary people", her body trembled violently!

She slowly raised her head, and an unprecedented, strange light burst out from her empty eyes!

No longer despair, no longer numbness, but a kind of...almost crazy relief and hope!

Ordinary people?

No longer a family member of an official?

No longer... Wang Youde's plaything?!

Does this mean...she can completely escape the shadow of that demon?!

Can... can I live a clean and honest life like a real person?!

Even the most humble life?!

The huge impact made her tremble all over, and tears flowed silently, but this time, there was no despair in her tears.

But...hope!