Chapter 323 - 196: Marry This Girl Later_3
Even Old Grandma Fan’s heart was aching. Why did her unfavored second son have eyes for that silly widow? If he had flirted with Qian Manxia instead, wouldn’t all those fine things have been carried into their own house?
Putting aside the envy, jealousy, and hatred of these people, everyone in Qian’s third wife’s family cried, except for Qian Yeejin, who had left to send off the bride. Cheng Yue, in particular, cried her eyes out as she watched the wedding procession move along the small path across the wasteland and disappear at the entrance of the village. She remembered how she watched her mother-in-law send Brother Jiang away on this very path, and now she witnessed her son sending his younger aunt away on the same road.
Wan Dazhong, seated on his horse, couldn’t stop smiling, yet his heart was filled with a myriad of emotions.
Nine and a half years ago, he and his father had escorted the Princess back to the Capital City. Staying at the Wen County Inn and preparing to take a boat the next day, they didn’t expect to hear the rumor that Prince Ning had killed his brother, the Crown Prince, and had been imprisoned.
This rumor struck like a bolt from the blue, causing the Princess to be grief-stricken and give birth prematurely to the little prince.
The Prince already had three daughters but no sons. That’s why he approved the Princess to personally visit Daci Temple to pray for a child and allowed her request to chant scriptures and practice vegetarianism for three months there.
Indeed, a son was born, but the child saw the world at just over seven months, with the Prince’s fate in the Capital City still uncertain.
To prevent the worst, the Princess ordered Wan Father and son to take the child and disappear among the common folk, while she continued northward, claiming to the outside world that the prematurely born child had died.
Wen County was not far from Xishan County; Wan Erniu’s hometown, Darong Village, was within the jurisdiction of Xishan County. The father and son took the child and the little hound they had bought at a high price in Wen County, which was initially intended to guard the Prince Residence, and hurried to Darong Village.
Although the little prince had seen the world at over seven months, he was very healthy. When passing through small villages, whenever they heard of a nursing woman, they would bring the child to her doorstep and pay her to feed him a little. Thus, they safely returned to Xishan County.
Not daring to bring the child directly back to Darong Village, they were unsure what to do when they heard on the road that Qian’s third wife, the foolish daughter-in-law of West Huaxi Village, was about to give birth any day now. Everyone was saying how that family was full of crippled and foolish members, driven mad by poverty, and struggled to survive with yet more mouths to feed.
Wan Erniu was about the same age as Qian Sangui and knew him to be a straightforward and generous man when they lived in the village. Leaving the child in his care would mean the child would have milk to drink, and they could rest easy.