WSMTATMC C20

Chapter 20

Once inside, Wang Ying recounted the entire affair from start to finish, leaving Third Aunt clicking her tongue in amazement.

“This was the first time Qingyan and I had encountered something like this — we were terrified. My first thought was to report to the authorities, but without proof, the magistrate would never take our word for it. Mother’s temperament is too soft; she didn’t know how to handle it. There was no trustworthy elder in the family we could rely on, so after thinking it over, we could only write to Fourth Uncle to ask you to uphold justice for us.”

Chen Jing stroked his beard and nodded, his gaze appraising Wang Ying. This was no ordinary ge’er — to devise such a large scheme in such a short time, to be both bold and meticulous, and to net his Second Brother’s whole family in it… such a mind was not common.

Chen Rong gave a helpless laugh and smacked her nephew’s shoulder. “You brat, you scared me to death!”

Feeling a little sheepish, Qingyan rubbed his nose. “It all happened so suddenly — I couldn’t inform Aunt and beg her understanding.”

“How could I blame you?” Eyes red, Chen Rong straightened his collar. “So long as you’re unharmed, that’s all that matters.”

Li Shi came in with tea, full of distress. “What will we do now with Second Brother’s family?”

It was a tricky problem — under the laws of the Wu dynasty, Chen Biao’s attempted murder would not merit the death penalty, but eighty heavy blows and exile a thousand li⁽¹⁾ from home. At his age, eighty blows would likely kill him outright.

Even if Chen Jing was furious with his elder brother, he couldn’t quite bring himself to deal such a heavy hand.

Wang Ying shot Qingyan a look, and Qingyan quickly picked up. “What Second Uncle did was wrong, but after all, we share the same family name. Blood ties are hard to sever — I hope Fourth Uncle can be lenient.”

Seeing his nephew so considerate only deepened Chen Jing’s disgust for his Second Brother’s behaviour.

“You needn’t worry — Fourth Uncle will see you get justice!”

That promise eased Wang Ying’s mind. The two branches were now openly at odds; if they could not grind the other side down completely, trouble would surely return.

As for the Chen Biao household, they could set aside for now — but Tian Liu’s family would receive no reprieve.

The poison had been brought back by Tian Liu and administered by Madam Tian herself. Such treacherous, disloyal servants could no longer be kept. They were sent directly to the yamen to be dealt with according to law — flogged or executed as the statutes dictated.

When the constables came to arrest them, Tian Liu fainted dead away on the spot. Madam Tian fell to her knees, knocking her head on the ground to beg her mistress for mercy.

Her tearing cries rang through several courtyards: “Madam, spare me! For the sake of my seventeen years of service, forgive me this once!”

Li Shi turned her head away to wipe her tears. How could her heart not ache? After seventeen years together, one would feel for a cat or dog — let alone a human being.

But the deeper the attachment, the harder the betrayal was to forgive. Li Shi could not fathom how, after she had treated Madam Tian so well, the woman could still collude with Chen Biao to harm her son.

The sound of weeping in the distance gradually faded. This farce had finally come to its end.

Chen Bo set the servants to dismantle the funeral canopy, stripping the yellow mourning papers from the front gate. When the guests were sent off, the courtyard returned to its former look.

Only the monks hired to chant remained, waiting for the family to settle their fee.

“Amitabha, Patron, please settle the payment for these days’ sutra recitations.”

Chen Bo feigned puzzlement. “Payment? What payment? Go to whomever invited you in the first place.”

“Second Master Chen has been taken to the yamen — how are we to get paid?”

“Doesn’t he still have sons? Ask them for it.”

“But we were chanting for your young master’s soul!”

“To hear you say so — our young master is perfectly fine. Did he need your chanting?”

Just then Wang Ying emerged from the house. The monks hurried over to him.

“Patron, sutra-chanting is not without price. Give us something, however little…”

Wang Ying cut them off coldly. “Enough. You’ve skimmed plenty from my mother-in-law over the years — a few days of chanting hardly tips the scales. If you want to quibble, perhaps we should explain it all to the magistrate!”

The old monks exchanged looks, and in the end swallowed the loss.

After dinner, Wang Ying pushed Qingyan’s chair back to the rear court.

“Tell me — do you think your Fourth Uncle will quietly release Chen Biao? After all, that’s his own elder brother.”

“He shouldn’t. Fourth Uncle is an upright man — he said he’d win me justice, so he won’t go easy.”

“Best that way. I’d hate for him to be freed — we’d spend our days looking over our shoulders.”

“Thank you.” Qingyan turned his head back to look at him.

“Bah, what for?” Wang Ying was not entirely acting for Qingyan’s sake — he lived under the Chen roof. If the family prospered, he prospered; if it fell, he fell.

“You should be thanked. Without you, I’d already be dead; my mother, Qingyun, and Qingsong would be having a much harder time of it…”

“If you really want to thank me, can you grant me a few mu⁽²⁾ of land?”

“What land?”

“Fields from the manor. Not much — three or five mu would do.”

Qingyan looked puzzled. “All the manor fields belong to us — you can use them whenever you like.”

“That’s not the same… never mind, I’ll bring it up another time.” Qingyan’s health was not yet back, his own shop hadn’t opened, and he still needed to help set up the sishu. If, one day, Qingyan wanted to remarry, he could step aside in exchange for a plot of land and leave.

That night, Wang Ying finally had time to check on the experimental field. He had been so busy with the household’s affairs that he had no idea how the crops were doing inside.

As usual, he laid out his bedding to sleep on the floor.

Qingyan gave a small cough. “It’s getting chilly — don’t sleep on the floor.”

“You’re right. The west wing’s been cleaned up; I’ll move there tonight.” Gathering his quilt, Wang Ying strode quickly out.

Qingyan opened his mouth but stopped, sighing softly at the sound of the door.

He doesn’t seem to like me much…

This marriage had not been of Wang Ying’s choosing; he had even jumped into the river to avoid it. If he truly didn’t want it, better to free him early so as not to waste his youth.

Qingyan turned over, looking at the empty floor in the moonlight, feeling as though a piece of his heart was missing.

Though they had only lived together two months, he was used to his presence. Now, with Wang Ying moving out, the quiet — once broken by a voice — was suffocating.

“Hoo!” Throwing back the covers, he sat up against the bedframe, intending to light the lamp and read a little.

But then the door knocked.

Knock knock knock. “Chen Qingyan, are you asleep?”

“No… not asleep.”

“Then I’m coming in.” Wang Ying padded in with his quilt in his arms.

“Weren’t you moving to the west wing?” In the dark, Qingyan didn’t hear the note of laughter in his own voice.

“Funny thing. In that room, I couldn’t enter the experimental field no matter what. I think the requirement to open it is that I can’t be too far from this room.”

Qingyan’s eyes lit, the heaviness gone. “Then stay here.”

Wang Ying glanced from the floor to the bed. Sleeping on the floor forever wasn’t ideal — sooner or later, the cold would cripple him.

“Deal — we share the bed, alright?”

Happiness came so suddenly that Qingyan stammered, “O-of course… we’re husbands; sharing a bed is only natural.”

“Thanks!” Wang Ying cheerfully ignored the last part, kicking off his shoes and climbing onto the bed.

“I’ll sleep inside so you can get up easily at night.”

“Alright.”

Sprawling out, Wang Ying said, “Nice big bed. My sleeping’s rough — if I snore, just kick me.”

“No problem.”

Wang Ying began to strip. After his robe, he reached for his underclothes.

Qingyan jumped. “No — just sleep like that!”

“What? Embarrassed? Ge’er and men — what’s the difference? You have what I have.”

Face hot, Qingyan said, “I’ll find you a book tomorrow. Read it, then you’ll understand.”

“Why not just tell me?”

“No.”

“Shy?”

“No…”

Wang Ying reached out to touch his face. “Burning hot — and you say you’re not shy.”

“Wang Ying! Sleep or get out!”

“Heh heh… I’m going to the field. Remember the book tomorrow.” And with that, he vanished.

Qingyan turned to look at the empty bed, hand over his pounding heart, a smile tugging at his lips. That scoundrel.

Just then, in the experimental field, Wang Ying let out an earth-shattering, “What the f***!”

This… was his field?!

Hovering over the once-ordinary plot was a giant electronic touchscreen.

It displayed the field’s name, details of its origin, and how to open it:

[Experimental Field No. 003]

Bound Users: Wang Ying, Chen Qingyan

Level: 1

Daily Use Limit: 60 minutes

Activation: Binds upon marriage (users must remain within close proximity during use or the field will fail to fully load).

Note: This field is a Time-Space Management Error Compensation. Please use it appropriately.

So it was bound to both of them — no wonder it wouldn’t open when he moved out. Did that mean he could never be apart from Qingyan again?

He scratched his head in irritation — but soon forgot it. Because he’d found something even more outrageous: the field could adjust weather, temperature, wind force, and plant growth speed!

Good lord — isn’t this god mode?!

Temperature: adjustable up to 42℃, down to -30℃. Sun, rain, snow at will.

For now, plant growth speed could only be set to 1.5×. But that was insane — a tomato that normally took 120 days to mature would ripen in just 80 here!

This was a total cheat!

However, enabling accelerated growth would rapidly consume the field’s “experience.” Planting at normal speed would slowly fill the experience bar.

At Level 1, who knew what upgrades Level 2 would unlock?

Overjoyed, Wang Ying waved his arms in glee. No — even just for this field, he had to “secure” Chen Qingyan!

Gay relationship? No big deal. He’d do it!

notes:

1. Li (里) – Traditional measure of distance; here, ~576 meters per li, making “exile a thousand li” roughly 576 km from one’s home. 
2. Mu (亩) – Traditional land measure; ~666.7 m² or 0.165 acre.