allonlinenovel Chapter 490 Crying so loudly
Chapter 490 Crying so loudly
Seeing the resistance in Xiao Huanyan's eyes, Yu Wan did not rush to refute.
Instead, he sighed softly and suddenly asked her, "Miss Xiao, you are already of marriageable age, why are you still unmarried?"
Xiao Huanyan's expression turned somewhat unpleasant upon hearing this question.
Her eyes already showed displeasure as she looked at Yu Wan. "What does this have to do with you inviting me here?"
"Could it be that you invited me here today just to interfere in my private affairs?"
Yu Wan waved her hand, her expression earnest, "Miss Xiao, please don't misunderstand, I had no intention of prying into your privacy."
"I'm just a little curious. With Miss Xiao's family background and looks, she should have found a good man and married in style long ago, but she is still unmarried. Why is that?"
Xiao Huanyan lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously twisting the handkerchief.
Why aren't you married yet?
She was already seventeen years old. Other women her age would have already married and even had children, but she was unwilling to get married too early.
Because her mother had told her before she died that she should not live her life just for men.
Because of her mother's dying wish, her father and the elders of the Xiao family did not pressure her about marriage.
While most marriages were arranged by parents and matchmakers, her father consulted her opinion before proposing any of the marriages he suggested.
Unfortunately, Xiao Huanyan didn't like any of them.
It wasn't that her father was saying the men were bad, but whenever she thought about becoming a wife and spending the rest of her life confined to the inner quarters, managing household affairs for her husband, and perhaps even competing with concubines for the family property, she would think of her mother's words.
She cannot live her whole life solely for men.
Although her mother was also from a noble family, she did not live in Shengjing from childhood, but grew up with her maternal grandfather on the grasslands of Lingbei.
Xiao Huanyan had heard her mother mention that she had taken a wandering martial arts master as her teacher and spent most of the year traveling around, living a carefree and unrestrained life. That was the happiest time of her life.
Later, my mother married my father at the behest of her family. After arriving in Shengjing, she was bound by the rules of the large, secluded mansion.
Like a bird with broken wings, trapped in a cage, its once colorful feathers have turned gray and are gradually filled with death.
Xiao Huanyan took a deep breath, looked away from Yu Wan's curious gaze, and said coldly, "It's none of your business; it's my private matter."
Yu Wan did not back down because of Xiao Huanyan's cold attitude.
Instead, he chuckled lightly, "Miss Xiao's private affairs are indeed none of my business, and I have no intention of offending you. It's just that I feel that although we are not close friends, we are somewhat connected."
"I know something about your mother."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Huanyan suddenly looked up at Yu Wan, her eyes filled with a hint of darkness.
She knew in her heart that her mother did not have a good reputation in Shengjing.
Especially after the news spread that her mother had once apprenticed under a wandering martial arts master, the women in the family pointed fingers at her, saying that she was unorthodox, acted absurdly, and was always showing her face in public, and that she might not have been innocent for a long time.
In the strictly regulated city of Shengjing, the mother's past experiences made her seem like an outcast, becoming the subject of gossip and criticism.
My mother died young, partly due to the oppressive life she led while confined to the inner quarters of the house, and partly due to the unbearable rumors and gossip.
Xiao Huanyan gripped the handkerchief in her hand tightly.
He sneered inwardly.
As expected, Yu Wan will probably say things like, "She is unconventional, unrestrained, and lacks manners, disgracing the status of a noble lady."
Yu Wan seemed to understand Xiao Huanyan's thoughts and gently shook her head.
“I know what people outside are saying, but I don’t agree with it.”
"In my opinion, your mother was a brave and extraordinary woman. To roam freely in the vast grasslands and experience the world's various aspects with the help of wandering heroes, that required immense courage and boldness. Compared to living a life of rigid rules and wasting one's life in a secluded mansion, she truly lived her first half of life."
Xiao Huanyan was stunned.
"you--"
The defensiveness and hostility in her eyes faded slightly.
Her voice trembled slightly involuntarily, "You...do you really think so?"
Yu Wan nodded emphatically, giving a sincere and firm "hmm".
With just that one sound, Xiao Huanyan suddenly couldn't help but shed tears.
She was raised by her mother until she was eight years old, receiving both her mother's unrestrained and free education and the strict discipline of the aristocratic family.
She felt as if she had been split in two, one half yearning for the freedom her mother spoke of, the other half bound by strict rules.
Especially after her mother passed away, rumors about her mother covered her like an overwhelming net, making it hard for her to breathe.
The elders all said that her mother was wrong, and gradually, she also felt that her mother was wrong.
So she seemed to have forgotten everything her mother had taught her, and became a model noblewoman praised by everyone, following the rules and making no mistakes whatsoever.
But whenever the topic of marriage comes up, her mother's words, which she thought she had completely forgotten, will resurface.
This caused a strong sense of resistance to well up within her, even though she had already submitted to the rules and etiquette.
In recent years, she felt that she was sinking deeper and deeper into this quagmire, and that she might sink completely at any time.
But at this moment, Yu Wan's understanding and recognition were like a lifeline, pulling her out of the mire.
Her long-suppressed emotions finally broke down.
She cried out:
“Over the years, no one has ever said a good word about my mother. They all think she is a disgrace to the family.”
“Even my desire to live more freely, as my mother expects, is seen as rebellious.”
"I could only bury my longing for freedom deep in my heart and try my best to be a noble lady who conformed to the rules of the aristocratic family. But I was not happy at all. Every time I thought of my mother, I felt that I had betrayed her teachings."
Yu Wan only found out that Xiao Huanyan's mother was different from ordinary women in Shengjing, and wanted to use this to persuade Xiao Huanyan.
Unexpectedly, this touched a nerve with Xiao Huanyan.
Yu Wan sighed softly to herself.
The more she interacted with the people here, the more she felt that this was an incredibly real world.
Freed from the control of the plot, these people, whom she originally thought were just two-dimensional characters, turned out to be real beings with flesh and blood and their own thoughts.
She truly hadn't expected Xiao Huanyan to bear so much.
Yu Wan waited quietly until Xiao Huanyan had cried enough.
She cried so loudly that the tenant farmers who were passing by carrying hoes were drawn to her cries and kept glancing at her.
Yu Wan secretly rejoiced.
Fortunately, she invited Xiao Huanyan to the manor instead of the restaurant. Otherwise, if Xiao Huanyan had been seen crying uncontrollably by acquaintances, she probably wouldn't have been able to show her face in public afterward.
After Xiao Huanyan's crying subsided, Yu Wan handed her a silk handkerchief.
In a coaxing tone, like that of someone comforting a child, they said, "It's alright, it ... good to have cried it out."
Xiao Huanyan paused in wiping away her tears, and said awkwardly, "...What kind of tone is that? I'm not a child, I don't need you to coax me."
"Okay, okay." Yu Wansheng was afraid that she would cry again, so she naturally agreed to whatever she said. "You're not a child anymore."
After Xiao Huanyan calmed down from crying, she recalled her pathetic state of breaking down and crying just now, and felt extremely ashamed. She couldn't help but stomp her foot.
"I didn't cry! I wasn't the one crying just now!"