Rebirth: The Journey of a Wife Spoiling Her Husband

Recap: Chuchen (ml) ran away from home and tried to marry Xiao Wan in order to escape his aunt, who is trying to sell him to the Xu House in order to pay off her own gambling debts. 

Though he successfully marries Xiao Wan, he is forced to leave and return to the Xie House. After crawling through the dog hole he is met by his cousins. They mock him and try to inflict injury to Zhao-er (his faithful manservant), to which he blocks and nearly falls over because of his injured ankle that he received from crossing over the fire pan. 

He confronts his aunt (Xie Qingrong) about the planned forced marriage. She admits it and uses his father as leverage to coax him into peacefully committing to the marriage. 

The matchmaker for the Xu House comes in and speaks in a derogatory manner to him, but is disappointed when she gets no visible reaction. 

This is when Xiao Wan interferes and saves Chuchen by beating up both the cousins’ wet nurses and the matchmaker. She declares that Chuchen is her husband and demands fit punishment for all the servants that harmed him. 

At this point Xie Qingrong realizes she has a potential golden goose on her hands. 

notes: Names are in bold the first time they appear with their pronunciation guides (p/g). 

[Translator/Editor: otwentyfirst]
[Host: justreads.net]
[June 19, 2019]

...

Xie Chuchen’s[notes] cheeks burned and he wished there was a hole he could crawl in. Everyone was staring strangely at him. It was only then that he realized Xiao Wan[notes] was holding him in a snug embrace against her chest while he was clinging to her waist with his arms.

Then it hit him. He was like a frightened deer when he realized his position. In a panic he dropped his arms and tried to push himself away from Xiao Wan. He remembered how disgusted she’d been last night when he threw up on her. He could only imagine what she thought of him now. He was sure he was filthy and smelly after crawling through the hole.

He didn’t push her far before she yanked him right back to her.

Xiao Wan was in fact remembering the execution grounds. She remembered how disgustingly filthy and bloody she had been. Back then, despite her noxious odor, Xie Chuchen had crawled to her and cradled her carefully and gently in his arms.

The memory made her eyes misty and she held on to his thin boney fingers even more tightly. He was clearly from a rich family, yet he was so skinny. Living at the Xie House had to be hard on him.

As the young master, Xie Chuchen should have been pampered and spoiled. How did he end up in such a bad position?

A few possibilities went through Xiao Wan’s mind when she saw the look of bright expectation in Xie Qingrong’s[notes] eyes.

“Mrs. Xie, Chuchen is my husband.”

The simple sentence made Xie Chuchen tremble. He looked nervously at Xiao Wan.

She lightly squeezed his hand to reassure him before glancing over at the matchmaker and speaking to her. “Just now this young lady heard you demanding Chuchen for the Xu’s third young mistress. How is that even possible?”

Xie Qingrong knitted her brows in a frown at the glare Xiao Wan gave the Xu’s matchmaker.

“I did not know Ms. Xiao wanted to marry Chuchen, so I had promised him to the third young mistress of the Xu House.”

Xiao Wan grandly waved her other hand. “Today is the groom’s return home so I brought five thousand silvers and eight chests of gifts. The Xu House only brought two thousand. Don’t you think that’s too little? Besides that, Chuchen is already officially recognized as my husband. You’re not going to renege on the marriage contract are you?”

Xie Qingrong had already accepted the gifts from the Xu House. They would make her pay if she failed to hand Xie Chuchen over. According to Eastern Wei[notes] marriage laws, the injured party was entitled to twice the betrothal gift amount as compensation. But the Xiao House sent over five thousand silvers and five boxes of gifts!

Xie Qingrong looked greedily at the chests moving through the manor gates and estimated that each had to be worth at least a thousand silvers. She waved her hand as she came to a decision and in a righteous tone of voice said, “Chuchen will not be marrying into the Xu House today!” She fished out the marriage contract and tossed it at the Xu House’s matchmaker. “This engagement contract is null and void! You Xu House matchmaker, leave the premises immediately!”

In Eastern Wei it was customary for the matchmaker to speak to the potential groom’s family on behalf of the girl’s family. If interested, the father on the male side would hand over his son’s birth charts to be divined by the girl’s family’s fortune-teller. This involved burning incense in front of the ancestral memorial tablets for three days. Then the fortune-teller would divine if the union was auspicious or not.

If all went well, the two would be engaged and a marriage contract would be signed. To be a legal binding document the contract had to not only be signed by all parents involved, it had to also be signed by the matchmaker.

A broken contract without good cause would require the offending party to compensate the injured party with twice the agreed upon betrothal gift amount. On top of that the guilty party would also receive sixty lashes as punishment. An engaged man caught secretly marrying another woman would be publicly scorned and labeled an adulterer.

The tossed contract made Xiao Wan smile. The matchmaker on the other hand had gone pale and was stomping her feet. In frustration she said, “You dare?! The third young mistress is not going to let you off easy!”

The matchmaker stormed out after yelling this, colliding into a girl dressed in green as she did so.

“Ah! Are you all right?” the girl asked.

The matchmaker was knocked to the ground from the powerful collision. She was still trying to clear the stars from her vision when the girl in green reached a hand out to help.

The matchmaker got up and gave those in the Xie House a mean glare before directing the empty wedding sedan be returned to the Xu House. She needed to report to the third young mistress that the Xie House had broken the contract and that Xiao Wan had stolen her future husband.

Xu Qing[notes]had been waiting eagerly for Xie Chuchen’s arrival, so naturally she was livid when she saw the matchmaker return bruised and battered with an empty wedding chair. She ground her teeth in anger.

She had a lot of pride, and this felt like a direct slap to her face. As an arrogant young mistress of course she wasn’t going to take it lying down. She immediately gathered several guards and left for the Xie House intent on giving them hell.

Back at the Xie House, Xie Qingrong was treating Xiao Wan like an honored guest in order to curry favor with her. She resolutely gave the two wet nurses fifty floggings and kicked them out of the house, completely ignoring their years of service and her daughter’s pleas for leniency.

Xiao Wan realized what a greedy money-grubber Xie Chuchen’s aunt was. She was the kind Xiao Wan disdained the most, but she still put on a polite face and respectfully addressed her as “Mrs. Xie.”

As the visit wound down she had Xie Chuchen lead her to his courtyard to meet her new father-in-law. She made sure to shoot Xie Xi[notes] a provoking glare before sashaying away with a madly blushing Xie Chuchen. It made Xiao Wan smirk to see Xie Xi so angry.

Xie Xi was panting with rage as she glared after Xiao Wan. She tugged at her mother’s sleeve and asked in plaintive voice, “Mother, why did you take Xiao Wan’s side? Why did you back out of the deal with the Xu House, you know their third young mistress is not going to let us off. We’re going to have to pay back twicethe amount!”

Xie Qingrong waved her hand dismissively at her daughter’s argument as she gave a calculating stare at the retreating figures of Xiao Wan and Xie Chuchen. “It’s only double two thousand silvers. We’re getting five thousand from Xiao Wan. In the end we’ll be making a profit! Then there’s the power and prestige we’ll be getting from an alliance with the Xiao House. With that kind of backing, who’s afraid of the Xu House? Besides can’t you see? Xie Chuchen, as worthless as he is, somehow wiggled his way into Xiao Wan’s affections. That’s even better because she’s the heir to the entire house!”