Chapter 6 — This life is not a stepping stone

Cui Minh Thu was moved to tears again, thinking that he had finally won. The day she put on her wedding dress, I was testing the water-powered dyeing rig that I had just built outside the city. The winter snow melted, the river pushed the wooden wheel, more than ten long cloths were slowly lifted up on the rack, like a wall of blue clouds supported by the wind. Flip Dao asked:

“Is the lady really not going to see the bride off?”

“Don't go.”

“Yesterday, the eldest lady even sent someone to show off, saying that her phoenix mandarin used eighty-eight Dong Pearls.”

“My neck must be very tired.”

Lhat Dao burst out laughing. In the distance suddenly came the sound of horse hooves. Le Canh Hanh dressed in a dark red dress and ran to the riverbank before the wedding reception. He jumped off his horse and walked straight towards me.

“Come on Thanh Quy, I'll only ask you once.”

He was breathing rapidly, his sleeves were blowing in the wind.

"If you agree, I will immediately leave the kiss."

The ladies on the riverbank all stopped. I look at him.

“What happens after that?”

“I marry you.”

"Let me take the reputation of stealing my sister's marriage and enter the Marquis' Palace, making both the Thoi family and the Le family hate me, and then have to thank you for the rest of my life for canceling the marriage today for my sake?"

Le Canh Hanh's face turned pale:

“I will protect you.”

"You don't even dare to refuse someone you don't love. How can you protect me?"

“I am responsible for her.”

“Then go take your responsibility.”

I raised my hand to brush a remaining red petal from his shoulder. The sound of drums and music to welcome the bride echoed vaguely in the distance, causing deafening joy.

"Le Canh Hanh, you don't like me. It's just that the first time I met someone who refused to raise his head to look at you, I was unhappy in my heart."

His lips moved.

"Saving lives is fine, love between men and women is fine, I don't need it."

Let's take a step back.

“If you leave Cui Mingshu today, I will despise you even more than I do now.”

His eyes gradually darkened. After a while, he turned around and got on his horse. When the happy shadow disappeared at the end of the long dike, the wooden wheel just barely turned around. Water bubbles shot up, flashing in the sunlight in the blink of an eye. I turned around and said:

“Let the rig run.”

The long cloths fluttered in the wind. That day, someone married into a tall house with wide doors. And we got our first dyeing factory.

07

Three months after getting married, Thoi Minh Thu was extremely prosperous. Every few days, she sent gifts to Thoi Phu, not forgetting to send me a portion. The gift to La Thi was a set of jewelry encrusted with gems, and the gift to me was a book, Female Gender. We took it and put it under the dyeing pot. Half a year after getting married, Mrs. Hou began to push for children. The gifts sent by Thoi Minh Thu were changed into talismans to pray for children. One year after getting married, Le Canh Hanh inherited the title. When the old Marquis passed away, there were two more rooms next to the new Marquis. The first time Cui Minh Thu returned to her mother's house crying, La Thi advised her to be virtuous, saying that it was normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines. As soon as she saw me, she immediately dried her tears.

“Master treats me very well.”

I nodded:

“That's good.”

What she hates the most is my indifference.

“In his study, he still keeps the torn sign you wrote.”

My hand that was strumming the abacus stopped.

“So what?”

“Are you very pleased? He's not forget you.”

“A married man still misses me, what is there to be proud of?”

Cui Minh Thu's face turned pale. We close the window:

“If you don't live well, you can get along. I have a dowry, arms and legs, I don't need to wait for anyone to save me."

That was the last time I advised her. But she suddenly threw the tea cup at me.

“Stop pretending to be a good person! Haven't you been waiting for this day? When I am disgusted, you can enter the Marquis Palace!”

The tea cup grazed my forehead and shattered on the wall. I felt a little blood. Lat Dao rushed to cover in front of people, angry and wanted to chase away the guests. I raised my hand to stop her.

“Cui Minh Thu.”

I look at the face in front of me gradually overlapping with her face before she died in her previous life.

"Before, I still didn't understand why you hated me."

“We will understand later. You don't hate me for stealing your things, but you hate me for not being one step lower than you forever."

Her chest heaved violently.

“So regardless of whether I save Le Canh Hanh or not, whether I give up this marriage or not, you can't live well.”

I threw the bloody towel into the tea tray.

“Because your eyes never look to see what you have, only look at whether you have it or not.”

It started to rain outside the window. She sat there, the anger on her face suddenly disappeared, leaving only a confused look as if someone had punctured her disguise. But just in the blink of an eye. When she stood up, she returned to her arrogant appearance as before.

“I will not separate. I will definitely give birth to the Marquis's son."

I won't say more. The room door closed. The last bit of sisterly love between us was finally broken. Bat Phan Ward's fabric is sold to twelve continents. I set up seven receiving stations along the banks of the canal, most of the people hired were women. There are people who check the fabric, there are people who manage books, and there are people who follow the boat to escort goods. At first, the men laughed and said that a woman getting on the boat was a bad omen. Later, our ship's loss rate was three points lower than theirs, the books were clear down to the barbed wire, and they fought over each other to ask about the method. I only teach those who are willing to pay women workers the same as men. During the flood season that year, the river level rose dramatically.