Chapter 2 — Mother wants me to share my husband with you, so I won't marry anymore

There cannot be more than one piece, nor can there be one piece missing. One time, my grandmother made me a butterfly-shaped kite. Tong Dao saw it and wanted it too, so my mother ordered someone to make an imitation of one all night. The design and color were all based on my kite, and the next day it was delivered to Tong Dao. Tong Dao held up that kite and ran in front of me, smiling and saying: "Look, this is what my mother made for me, exactly like yours." When she said this, she was really happy. And I was only ten years old at that time, holding the string of my kite tightly, standing in the yard looking at her back, not being able to tell clearly what I felt. After that, I no longer liked flying kites anymore. Mother's voice pulled me back. She sat neatly in the chair position, her carefully taken care of face still had a familiar gentle smile. Seeing that I did not accept the list, she was not in a hurry and asked one more question: "Is there anything that doesn't suit your liking?" I raised my eyes and looked at her seriously. At the age of over forty, his good fortune is still there, between the eyebrows and the corner of his eyes there is a soft and gentle temperament. The whole capital said that the Great Lady of the Tong family was a kind-hearted person, treated her concubine like her own child, and that a bowl of water was better than anyone else's. We used to believe that before. But later we learned that the so-called bowl of water was in Tong Dao's hands from the beginning.

“Mother,” I opened my mouth softly, “I do not accept this list.”

Tong Dao was stunned for a moment, blinked at me, not understanding why. The smile at the corner of her mother's lips faded a bit, she slowly put down the tea cup in her hand: "Just now in front of Mrs. Bui, you spoke nonsense, saying something when there was an engagement contract, I haven't yet punished you, yet you've already messed up on your own." She lowered her voice, as if she were teaching a child who didn't understand: "Yen, don't feel like you're being wronged just because I ordered a bowl of water. You're a daughter, you have to accommodate my sister." In my previous life, when I heard this sentence, although my heart felt bitter, I still nodded in the end. I think mother is right, I am a daughter, so I should be more generous. So I tried to listen and understand everything, everything was according to her wishes, but in the end I still couldn't get back my motherly love. I stayed in the heavenly room in pain all night, screaming until my throat was broken, but I couldn't wait for my mother and midwife to arrive. I lowered my eyelids: "My great-grandmother has long planned a marriage between you and Prince Co. Just because you mourned your mother for three years, you still haven't gotten married. It's not like you're talking nonsense." The gentleness on my mother's face finally couldn't be held anymore. She suddenly looked at me: "When did you plan to get married? You, who are my mother, don't know?" My voice was calm: "It was my grandmother who decided to come down. Maybe she felt that mother was preoccupied with things in the house and didn't have time to pay attention." These words were said very politely, but no one present could hear the meaning beyond the words. The mother's face completely darkened. She stared at me for a long time, then suddenly laughed coldly: "Tong Yen, it's true that I have spoiled you. Is it possible that just because I ordered a bowl of water, you want to refuse to marry the General? Who doesn't know that Prince Co already has someone in his family?" I'm still not married yet, are his disciples something you can only dream about?" When I heard these words, my heart felt like it was being pricked by a needle. In my previous life, when my mother tested me, I resisted. I knelt in front of her, crying and saying that I did not want to share the same husband with Tong Dao. At that time, she also looked at me like that, in her eyes there was disappointment, there was blame, there was also a trace of emotion that I did not understand at that time. Later I understood, it was impatience. I let out a soft breath, tightened my fingers hidden in my sleeve, and raised my eyes to look at Tong Dao next to me. She was still holding the bride price list, looking at me and her mother in confusion, as if she didn't understand what had happened. Seeing me looking over, she instinctively moved a little closer to her mother and timidly called out: "Sister..."