After Li Wanming finished handling the matters here, she turned to Qinglan and said, "Go get the money box from the academy and distribute some lucky money to everyone. After all, it's the Spring Festival. We should all share in the good fortune."
Qinglan nodded in agreement and then led Qiuying and Xiahe to fetch the money box.
Hearing that there was money to be had, the on - looking commoners were all overjoyed and sang even more praises for Li Wanming.
Li Wanming, along with Wanxin and Wanmo, went to the back courtyard of the academy. She closed the side gate that connected it to the front yard and said to Wanxin, "Elder sister, if you have anything you want to say to Chen Lin, you can say it now."
Wanxin nodded and fixed her gaze on Chen Lin.
Although her face was deathly pale, her expression was calm.
Under her cold and indifferent gaze, Chen Lin felt a twinge of timidity. "Wife..."
"Hey!" He Muhao said unhappily, "My wife has already told you not to call her that. Didn't you hear? My elder sister has divorced you. There's no 'wife' for you here... Ouch!"
Wanmo grabbed his ear and dragged him into the room. "Shut up! What do you have to do with this? You won't be taken for a mute if you keep your mouth shut!"
Li Wanming walked past Wanxin and whispered softly, "Elder sister, we'll be right beside you. If you need anything, just call us."
She followed behind Wanmo and He Muhao into the room and closed the door, leaving the whole courtyard to Wanxin and Chen Lin.
The back courtyard of Zhaoyu Academy was quite large. One corner had been reclaimed for planting medicinal herbs next year. On the other side, there were racks for drying grains and several jars of wine that the students had brewed badly.
It was winter now. There were no crops in the fields, but it wasn't empty.
Wanxin had already led everyone to mix plant ash with mud and bury it in the soil to fertilize it.
If people neglect the land for a short while, the land will neglect people for a whole year.
She understood this truth, so did Li Wanming, and so did the students in the academy... But Chen Lin would never understand.
"Wife..."
"Chen Lin, we've been husband and wife for four years, but it's only today that I've truly gotten to know you." Wanxin didn't want to hear his clichés anymore and just spoke on her own.
She walked to the vegetable field, scooped up a ladle of water from the water tank, and gently poured it on the soil.
"When we first came to the capital, the matchmaker came to propose marriage, saying that the Chen family was upright, honest, and a scholarly family, one of the best in the city. Grandmother also said that Lord Chen's family was of noble lineage, a rare and prominent family.
"At that time, Mother, just like us sisters, was new to this place and knew nothing. So we thought it was really a good marriage. Mother even said that a scholarly family was good. Everyone in the family was well - educated and gentle. If I married into such a family, I definitely wouldn't be bullied..."
"Later, your mother made me stand in the proper posture for two or three hours at a time. After that, whenever it was time to eat or sleep, I had to serve her until she finished eating and went to bed before I could leave. For morning and evening greetings, I had to stand in her courtyard and wait, rain or shine.
"Even so, your mother often feigned illness and made me go to her room to take care of her. At midnight, if she wanted tea or to relieve herself, I had to do it all and wasn't allowed to leave her side for a single step. She slept during the day, while I had to boil medicine and wash clothes for her..."
At this point, glistening tears rolled down Wanxin's face. Even Chen Lin was a bit moved when he saw it. "I... I didn't know..."
"Yeah, you didn't know. You were too busy fooling around with the maids at that time. How could you know?"
Wanxin pursed her lips, wiped the tears from her face, gave a bitter smile, and continued, "I was so stupid. At that time, I had never seen a wealthy and noble family before. I was too self - abased and timid, thinking that this was really the normal state of the noble families.
"Which man doesn't have several wives and concubines? Which mother - in - law doesn't make things difficult for her daughter - in - law? Which high - walled mansion doesn't have overbearing servants? Just endure it. Just endure it and it will pass... That's what you all told me."
Chen Lin said urgently, "That's right, Wanxin! Which aristocratic family doesn't have a whole basket of dirty things? Everyone gets by like this, right?"
Wanxin turned her head stiffly, and her eyes instantly turned cold, as if carrying the cold wind of the ninth month of winter.
Chen Lin swallowed hard and said timidly, "Wanxin..."
"Don't call me!"
Wanxin gritted her teeth and said angrily, "It was because I believed your nonsense that I had to swallow my humiliation and try my best to please you all. I've lived such a pathetic life in these four years!
"For your family, I made my mother, such a proud woman, cry all night long. She kept regretting and blaming herself for marrying me into a noble family! I made my younger sister, at such a young age, have to exhaust herself trying to find a way to rescue me from your mansion!
"But what about you all? You still said that I was unvirtuous, incompetent, jealous, and resentful... In the end, you even wouldn't let me go back home!"
Wanxin was trembling all over. Her eyes were bloodshot and tears were streaming down her face.
She tightly grasped the fence to support herself so as not to fall.
"And I... And I actually really stayed meekly in the back courtyard of the Chen family because of you all. I didn't go back home and almost missed my younger sister's wedding..."
Chen Lin said, "Li Wanming's wedding? You mean the time when she 'caught a husband' right after the imperial examination? Wanxin, that was just a farce... If you want to watch her get married, I'll accompany you to her wedding ceremony at the Prince Ning's Mansion again. How about that?"
"Pah!"
Wanxin trembled all over and spat out with all her might, "You're daydreaming!"
It was only now that she finally saw the meanness and shamelessness of this man.
It was also at this moment that she was completely despairing and completely awake.
"Chen Lin, let me tell you, don't even dream about it! I've divorced you. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other. It's absolutely impossible for you to get in touch with the Prince Ning's Mansion through me!"
"Wanxin, we were husband and wife. Why be so heartless..."
Chen Lin walked over and tried to grab her, but Wanxin pushed him away forcefully. Her eyes were wide open with anger. "Being married to a despicable villain like you is the greatest shame of my life, Li Wanxin!"
She used so much strength that she pushed Chen Lin to the ground.
Chen Lin landed on his butt in the vegetable field, and his face and hands were covered with thick black mud.
The black mud was what Wanxin had made by burning plant ash for fertilizing. Now that he had churned it out, a stench instantly spread.
Chen Lin was almost nauseated by the smell. He quickly spat out and at the same time shouted angrily with his neck outstretched,
"Li Wanxin, don't be ungrateful! Do you think you're still a virgin? Without me, let's see who in the capital will want you!"
Wanxin looked at him as if she didn't recognize him at all. "Do you think I'll get married again? No, I won't. Once bitten, twice shy. Do you think I'll endure the hardships of marriage again?"
"Not get married?"
Chen Lin wiped the mud off his face and hands with his clothes and asked in disbelief, "As a woman, if you don't get married, are you going to rely on your natal family and be an old maid for the rest of your life?"
"Why do I have to rely on someone?"
A calm and gentle light shone on Wanxin's face. "I've learned a bit of medical skills now, and I also have a small medical clinic in Pingkangfang. I can definitely support myself."
Chen Lin looked at her as if she was telling a fantasy story. "You... You're going to show yourself in public like that crazy woman Li Wanming?"
"Why not?"
As she said this, Wanxin slowly picked up a long pickaxe in her hand. It was used for stirring the compost, and the other end was still covered with wet black mud.