Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 496 Calculation
Upon hearing her daughter's whisper, Madam Cao was so shocked that her eyes widened and she nearly dropped the handkerchief in her hand.

Immediately, that fear transformed into a desperate, all-or-nothing resolve. Since there was no way out anyway, they might as well fight to the death!
She nodded heavily, her face still wet with tears, but her expression had changed to one of even more sorrow and despair than before. She lowered her voice and said, "Fine! Do as my son says!"

"Our lives are hanging by a thread! We absolutely cannot let those heartless Sheng family get away with it!"

……

Sure enough, on the morning of the second day, just as dawn was breaking, He Hongwen, with a heavy heart, hesitantly approached the west wing.

The struggle and exhaustion between his brows were almost overflowing. He hadn't slept a wink all night. The sharp words in "The Tale of Two Beauties" and the image of Minglan's cold and disappointed eyes kept intertwining and tearing at his heart.

After lingering in the courtyard for a long time, Xu Changqing's calm reminder, "My cousin is indeed pitiful... but... Minglan is still more important!" became clearer and clearer in He Hongwen's mind, overpowering all the reluctance in his heart.

He Hongwen stood outside the door, took a deep breath, and tried to strengthen his resolve.

Today, he was determined to make things clear with his aunt and cousin. Even if it was cruel for a moment, he wanted them to understand that living elsewhere and being supported by the He family was the best long-term solution for everyone.

He could no longer hesitate.

However, just as He Hongwen raised his hand to knock on the door, he heard a series of suppressed yet clearly audible sobs coming from inside, interspersed with the mournful voice of Madam Cao offering words of comfort: "...My poor son..."

"...Don't do this...At least drink a sip...Your health is important..."

"...If you treat yourself like this, won't you kill your mother?"

"..."

He Hongwen's heart tightened suddenly, and the determination he had just gathered instantly dissipated, replaced by a deep sense of helplessness and concern.

With a creak, he quickly pushed the door open and entered.

Inside the room, Cao Jinxiu did not throw herself onto the bed and weep as usual. Instead, she sat slumped on a low couch by the window with her back to the door. Her thin body was curled up in a ball, her shoulders heaving violently. She was crying so hard that she could hardly breathe, but she covered her mouth tightly with her hand, as if afraid that her crying would annoy others.

Meanwhile, Madam Cao stood by, holding a nearly empty medicine bowl in one hand and wiping away tears with a handkerchief in the other, looking utterly exhausted and helpless.

"What...what's going on now?"

Seeing this, He Hongwen swallowed back the words "explain" that were already on the tip of his tongue, leaving only a sense of helplessness and a hint of barely perceptible irritation.

When Madam Cao saw him, she rushed over as if she had seen a Bodhisattva who could save her from suffering. She lowered her voice but could not hide her anxiety and panic.

"Hongwen! You've finally arrived! Quickly! Quickly, persuade Jinxiu!"

"This child...ever since you left yesterday, this child has been acting like he's possessed. He doesn't speak or cry, he just silently sheds tears...his eyes are staring straight ahead, it's terrifying!"

"I finally managed to persuade her to drink a little bit of the calming soup, but she vomited it all up as soon as she turned around... She wouldn't say anything when I asked her anything, she just shook her head... I'm so worried..."

"...I'm so scared!" she said, tears streaming down her face again. "Did she...did she hear something from the servants? Did she...did she hear something from the Sheng family..."

She paused at the opportune moment, not continuing the conversation, but emphasizing the words "Sheng family" with exceptional clarity, leaving endless hints and room for imagination, letting He Hongwen fill in the worst possible scenario himself.

He Hongwen's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately thought of the deadly book "The Tale of Two Beauties" in his study.

Could it be... that my cousin found out? Who leaked the news?
He was immediately filled with guilt, as if he had done something extremely wrong to the mother and daughter, hurting these two fragile duckweeds that depended on the He family for survival.

He quickly walked to Cao Jinxiu's side, trying to soften his voice: "Cousin? What's wrong? Is there something you can't tell your cousin? Don't keep it to yourself, it'll only hurt your health."

Cao Jinxiu seemed startled by his sudden approach, shrinking back abruptly. She remained with her back to him, but cried even harder, her thin shoulders trembling like the last leaf falling in the autumn wind, so fragile that she seemed about to shatter at any moment.

She turned her head slightly, revealing half of her face, streaked with tears and devoid of color. The pale purple tattoo on her forehead looked even more poignant and sorrowful in the tear-filled light. Her voice was broken and incoherent: "Cousin...cousin...you...you don't need to worry about me...just let me fend for myself..."

"...I...I'm just a withered flower, a burden to others...and now...now I'm an eyesore and an obstacle in their path..."

Her words were ambiguous, yet every sentence was pointed, like cold needles piercing precisely into the softest part of He Hongwen's heart.

"Nonsense!" He Hongwen frowned, his heart aching even more. "What 'fallen flower,' what 'burden'! I won't allow you to degrade yourself like this!"

"I'm not demeaning myself... I'm self-aware..."

Cao Jinxiu finally turned around slowly, raising her red, swollen, and teary eyes to look at him. Her eyes were filled with endless grievances, fear, and a heartbreaking despair, as if she had been abandoned by the whole world.

“Cousin…the Sheng family came yesterday…did they…did they hate me? Did they…try to force you to kick us out?” She asked directly, her voice trembling violently, filled with a desperate courage and despair.

"This……"

He Hongwen was speechless for a moment, unsure how to respond.

deny?

That is deception, which is blatant lying.

recognition?

Looking at the person in front of him, with tears in his eyes and looking fragile and broken, how could he possibly utter those cruel words?
His hesitation and silence were undoubtedly interpreted by the Cao family mother and daughter as tacit agreement.

Madam Cao immediately slapped her thigh and began to wail, her voice suddenly rising in pitch, filled with dramatic sorrow!
"Heavens above! They're really leaving us, mother and daughter, with no way to live! We're already in this state, who else can we possibly get in our way?! Do they really have to force us to our deaths?!"

"Jinxiu, my poor child, if we had known this would happen, we shouldn't have gone through all that trouble to come to Bianjing to find our relatives. We should have just died on the road to exile, so we wouldn't be rejected by your cousin's marriage proposal and become a thorn in his side! Waaah..."

"Aunt! Please don't say that... Get up..."

He Hongwen felt a chill run down his spine. He wanted to help, but the scene left him at a loss.

Cao Jinxiu suddenly grabbed He Hongwen's arm, her nails almost digging into his flesh, and looked up at her tear-streaked face, tears streaming down her face like a burst dam!

"cousin!"

"I don't resent the Sheng family! Really!"

"What pampered young lady would want her future husband to have a cousin like me, who has an unclear past and is disfigured, as a burden?"

"I understand... I understand everything..." She kept saying "I understand" while crying uncontrollably, almost fainting. "Cousin, please... please give in to the Sheng family! Send me and Mother away..."

"Then...we'll just find some remote village to settle us in...or...or we'll just give us a few taels of silver and let us fend for ourselves..."

She spoke as incredibly "sensible," offering to leave, but her miserable, desperate demeanor, as if facing a life-or-death separation, clearly screamed in silence: if you send us away, we are doomed!
"But...cousin!"

Her tone abruptly changed as she gripped He Hongwen's hand tightly, like a drowning person clinging to the last piece of driftwood. Her eyes were filled with a frantic obsession and pleading. "Please, for the sake of our past relationship, for the sake of my parents who died young... I ask for nothing more than... I only ask that you don't marry me off to a distant place so casually!"

"With my health and reputation, if I were to marry into a family of complete strangers, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to survive even a single day!"

"I'd rather cut my hair and go to a secluded temple in the mountains to live a life of solitude and Buddhist devotion! I'd rather hang myself right here in this room! I'd rather never suffer the humiliation of being trampled on and humiliated again!"

"Cousin, I'm begging you!"

Promise me! Please promise me, okay?

Cao Jinxiu's words were a tactic of feigned retreat, and were extremely vicious!
On the surface, it was for He Hongwen's sake, voluntarily withdrawing, but in reality, it was a threat of "death"!
She had a perfect grasp of He Hongwen's weakness—he was soft-hearted, valued relationships, and especially couldn't bear to watch his relatives, particularly the poor relatives who had been taken in by his family, die!
She not only cut off He Hongwen's escape route of marrying her off to end the matter, but also directly presented him with the two most extreme and bloody options: "death" and "becoming a nun," forcing him to choose between these two tragedies and keeping her!

Looking at his cousin's face, which was almost distorted from crying, filled with tears and despair, listening to her heart-wrenching pleas, feeling the sharp pain from her fingernails on his arm, and seeing her trembling body that seemed about to fall apart, He Hongwen felt a wave of dizziness and difficulty breathing.

The chilling warnings in "The Twin Beauties", the potentially cold and disappointed look in Minglan's eyes, Sheng Changquan's penetrating scrutiny...

At this moment, I was almost shattered by the tragic scene before me, which seemed to be about to end my life!

He is soft-hearted, that's true, but he's not entirely without consideration.

At this moment, two thoughts were fiercely battling in his mind: on one hand, there was the blood ties and the "life or death" of the person in front of him; on the other hand, there was his own future happiness and the pressure from the Sheng family.

Reason told him that a short, sharp pain was better than a long, drawn-out one, and that cutting the Gordian knot now, though cruel for the moment, was the best choice for everyone.

But Xu Changqing's words and the book "The Tale of Two Beauties" resonated in his heart like an alarm bell—Minglan was more important!

He took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil and reluctance in his heart, and was about to harden his heart and speak again, even if his words would be more direct and resolute...