Chapter 58: Now Men in the Neighboring Country Are Having a Hard Time. How Do You Know So Much…

“Xiao Jun, wake up…”

Wen Xi’s call gradually came closer, waking Meng Huan from his dream.

He was used to sleeping on the soft, big bed in the Wen residence. Suddenly sleeping on this hard wooden plank, he couldn’t fall asleep half the night and only dozed off from exhaustion near dawn.

It had only been two or three hours since he fell asleep. Coupled with yesterday’s hustle and fatigue, he hadn’t slept well at all. When called to wake up, he just mumbled and twisted, refusing to open his eyes.

But as he was sleeping on the edge, with this twist and before Wen Xi could react, he directly tumbled down along with the quilt.

“Ouch, it hurts…” He sat on the ground in a daze, rubbing his elbow that had hit the floor. His snow-white undergarments were covered in dust.

Wen Xi hurriedly stepped forward to help him up and settle him on the edge of the bed, as besides this wooden plank bed, there was no other place to sit in the room.

He went out and brought in a wooden basin borrowed from the neighbors, filled it with cold water, and helped Meng Huan wipe his hands and face. He then changed the dirtied undergarments before saying:

“The neighbors next door only have steamed buns, and they said they don’t have enough to sell to us. This servant will go to town to buy some food and come back. Just informing Xiao Jun first, so you don’t worry if you wake up and can’t find me.”

Meng Huan looked out the window. It seemed to be around 5 or 6 o’clock now. Wen Xi was going out to buy things at this hour – quite a hardship.

In the residence, Wen Xi took care of him like this. Now that they were outside, he shouldn’t overly rely on others and should also take on some responsibilities himself.

“I’ll go with you.”

“No.” Wen Xi shook his head. “Xiao Jun, you just came out. The head of house will definitely send people to search. Going out now will make it easy to be discovered.”

“The round trip to the market takes an hour and a half, requiring a lot of walking. You were exhausted from the journey yesterday, so you really shouldn’t go out again today.”

An hour and a half to the market? Meng Huan was startled upon hearing this. “Why so long? Is it by walking or by carriage?”

The latter replied it was naturally by walking. The village didn’t even have carriages – everyone went out by foot.

“This won’t do, it’s too far. Let’s go ask around other households and see if there’s anything to eat to make do for now. We can’t have you running so far just for one meal.”

His attitude was firm. Wen Xi tried to dissuade him twice but he didn’t agree, so Wen Xi had to give up the idea of going to the market to buy food and change to buying from other families in the village instead.

Actually, the villagers didn’t really accept copper coins or silver. They preferred to barter, but the two of them came empty-handed with nothing, so they could only pay a slightly higher price than the real cost to be able to buy things.

Continuing like this was not a solution. After having a filling meal, Meng Huan put on a veil and went with Wen Xi to the slightly farther market. There, they rented a donkey cart and bought many daily necessities and grain to bring back to the village.

After all, they had to stay for at least a dozen days. They couldn’t keep relying on buying from the neighbors to get by. They needed to provide for themselves.

After they finished moving the purchased items, Wen Xi picked up a water bucket and went out. Meng Huan didn’t know what he was going to do, so he stayed in the room to arrange the tables, chairs, and stools.

The original owner’s body was too weak. Plus, he had been spoiled for two years, so he really didn’t have much strength now. Halfway through arranging, he was already exhausted and could only wait for Wen Xi to come back.

With the two of them working together, it would be easier.

However, after a good while, Wen Xi still hadn’t returned.

What was going on? He didn’t have any acquaintances in the village. Meng Huan was a bit worried about him. After some hesitation, he locked the courtyard fence, put on a thick veil, and decided to go out and look.

He had only walked a few steps when he saw Wen Xi walking this way from a distance, carrying a heavy water bucket. His skirt was soaked up to the waist.

“What happened to you?”

Wen Xi slightly shifted his hand, not letting Meng Huan who ran over take the water bucket from him. He forced a smile and said, “This servant went to get water and accidentally fell into the river, that’s why the clothes are wet. It’s no big deal.”

Accidentally fell into the water? Meng Huan looked at the footprints on the hem of his skirt and felt that his words were not credible.

“It’s too tiring for you to get water alone. Later, you and I will take a long rod and carry the water back together. It’ll be easier.”

He said this with good intentions, but the smile on Wen Xi’s face was obviously a bit strained. He said with some stuttering, “One bucket, one bucket is enough for us to use today. It’s not too late to go again tomorrow.”

He walked forward, his gait slightly imperceptibly limping, not noticeable when forcibly concealed.

Meng Huan frowned, feeling something was wrong. Without a second word, he walked up to Wen Xi and stopped him, temporarily putting the water bucket on the ground, then leaned close and asked in a low voice, “Who bullied you? Are outsiders not welcome here?”

“Xiao Jun, what are you saying…”

“You were even kicked and you’re still pretending with me. Do you take me for a blind man? Hurry up and say it!” Meng Huan pointed at the footprints on the hem of his skirt, his expression already very serious.

Wen Xi’s figure stiffened. He looked around and seeing no one nearby, only then said, “There was just some conflict with the village men. This servant was inconsiderate. Had I known earlier, I would have styled an unmarried hairdo for you and this wouldn’t have happened.”

There was a small river in this village where the villagers usually went to get water.

When Wen Xi went to get water, he heard others discussing them, the newcomers. He didn’t say anything and just silently drew water.

However, those men were idle and bored all day. They actually took the initiative to approach him and inquire, asking whose young master Meng Huan was, why he was living in seclusion after getting married instead of being at his wife’s family.

He naturally couldn’t tell the truth. At the moment, he also couldn’t think of what to say to gloss over it, so he just kept silent and didn’t speak. Who knew this would make those men speculate even more recklessly, thinking Meng Huan had done some unsavory things to have moved out to live here.

How could Wen Xi tolerate such words about his master? He immediately started arguing with those few men, and in the end, they broke out in a fight. He was kicked into the river by their joint attack.

After those few men left, he tidied himself up and carried the water bucket back.

On the way back, he had made mental preparations, not wanting to let Meng Huan worry about him. He didn’t expect to still be found out in the end.

“It’s all this servant’s fault, I shouldn’t have argued with others outside…”

Meng Huan stopped his words. “This isn’t your fault. It’s those men who have loose tongues and can’t mind their own family’s business, so they’re busy gossiping about others.”

“Let them say whatever they want about me. At most it’s just some speculation. Being talked about won’t make me lose a piece of flesh. There’s no need to haggle with them.”

He felt Wen Xi was still thinking too simply, still looking for reasons on his own side, saying it was because he didn’t style an unmarried hairdo for him that caused this. How ridiculous.

If those people really wanted to gossip, regardless of whether he was married or not, whether he had a wife or not, wouldn’t they say the same things anyway?

Wen Xi seemed to have something to say but stopped himself. In the end, he still nodded and carried the water back to the small courtyard with Meng Huan. There were still many things in the room that needed to be tidied.

They thought this matter would pass just like that. Who knew that at night when they were about to sleep, they heard the sound of someone walking outside.

Wen Xi mustered up the courage to go out and take a look. He discovered a woman dressed as a villager was pacing outside their courtyard, peering into their room. Seeing him come out, she became a bit nervous and quickly walked away.

After he went back and told Meng Huan, he thought for a bit. He had heard people mention this woman during the day, saying she was a loafer in the village, idling around all day waiting to eat and relying on others, often mingling with the widowers in the west of the village.

“What’s she doing lurking by our door?”

“Could it be that she wants to steal something?”

“I don’t know, but she doesn’t seem like a good person anyway. We need to be more vigilant.”

Meng Huan’s thinking had also changed somewhat from before. He began to look at issues from the perspective of a man in a female-dominant society, feeling that the two of them being targeted by a loafing scoundrel was not a good thing, as they were currently in a weak position.

After tonight, he stayed in the village for two more days. Not hearing anything about people searching nearby, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and began to go out to gather information.

In this era of limited information, going on a long-distance journey was not an easy matter. Meng Huan felt that first, he needed to have a map.

However, after inquiring for two days in a row, there were simply no maps for sale outside.

Moreover, some shopkeepers not only said they didn’t have any, but also asked vigilantly why a man wanted to buy a map, with an air of reporting him to the officials to arrest him if he didn’t tell the truth.

Meng Huan no longer dared to inquire openly, so he had to beat around the bush and go to the escort agencies to ask for directions, what kind of routes there were, and what places they would pass through, intending to draw a simple map based on the descriptions himself.

However, most escort agencies or post stations did not receive single men. Only a few were willing to let him in, but as soon as they heard him ask how to get to the border, they kicked him out again.

It had been about six or seven days since he left the Wen residence, and he was hitting a wall everywhere.

The village men began to gossip about him, saying he was a man who had been dismissed by his wife’s family. They speculated that he was infertile and even guessed that he didn’t return to his father’s family because he had cheated and been dismissed, too ashamed to go back.

When Meng Huan heard it himself, he just laughed it off. He was not a man in a female-dominant society, so he had a high resistance to these words. Sometimes, he even found it interesting that these words, which should have appeared about women, were appearing about him.

It’s just that he didn’t let Wen Xi go out alone anymore. Even for fetching water, he had to accompany him, because Wen Xi would always get angry when others talked about Meng Huan, and sometimes couldn’t help but speak out in defense. With Meng Huan by his side, he could stop him a bit.

But their silence was taken by those gossips as tacit agreement with the previous speculations.

The surrounding neighbors were no longer as easy to talk to as when they first came. Upon seeing them, they acted as if they had a plague, always staying far away.

There were also some children who would throw stones into the courtyard. When Wen Xi went out to scold them, those children would all run away without a trace.

Meng Huan gradually understood the true meaning of “the terror of gossip”.

He originally thought that the gossip was harmless, but he didn’t expect it to evolve into this situation, causing him to be completely “socially dead” in the small village due to unfounded reasons.

“No, we have to move.”

When that loafer came to look outside the small courtyard again at dusk, Meng Huan finally made up his mind to leave the small village and go to a slightly more prosperous town.

He really couldn’t stay here anymore.

One was the rumors and the exclusion by everyone, two was the potential threat from that woman, and three was the extremely inconvenient transportation. Not one thing could make him continue staying here.

Deciding to leave immediately, the two traveled light, only bringing some simple clothes and silver, leaving everything else in the small courtyard.

Anyway, the courtyard was bought by Wen Xi’s parents. Leaving things behind wouldn’t be a waste, so they didn’t feel distressed about leaving.

Originally, Meng Huan wanted to part ways with Wen Xi in the small village, but who knew this kid was too sincere, insisting on the saying “once a servant, always a servant”, and that he would follow wherever Meng Huan went.

Failing to dissuade him and thinking that being together would provide companionship, Meng Huan agreed to let him follow along. He even silently promised in his heart that as long as he had a mouthful to eat, he wouldn’t let Wen Xi starve, not wasting his devotion in following him.

They arrived at a small town on the edge of the imperial capital and rented a room in an inn.

This time, Meng Huan learned to be smart. He no longer mentioned buying a map, but asked if there were any travelers returning to their hometown at the border, saying he wanted to go back with them to visit relatives.

Finally, his efforts paid off. After inquiring continuously for three or four days, there really was someone going back to the border, and it was even a man.

They were overjoyed. Upon learning that this man was a pitiful person who had been struggling outside with his wife, but his wife had unfortunately fallen ill and passed away, they quickly settled on an agreement with him and set off for the border.

When they were about to leave the territory of the imperial capital, Meng Huan looked in the direction of the Wen residence for a long time with some inexplicable meaning. If Wen Xi hadn’t called him, he probably would have looked even longer.

“Young master, if you are reluctant, we can go back now. I believe the head of house is someone who cherishes old affection…”

Before he could finish speaking, Meng Huan stopped him. “I never eat my words. Besides, what old affection does Wen Zhaoyin cherish? We’ve been out for so many days and haven’t seen anyone searching for us on the streets.”

At this point, he didn’t continue.

To be honest, although the initial reason for running away was being hurt by her using him as a substitute, people are not made of wood. With time, feelings would develop. The fact that Wen Zhaoyin didn’t even search for him made Meng Huan feel an indescribable sense of loss.

“Let’s go.” There were some emotions he couldn’t understand, but he knew the most basic point – once he left, he couldn’t turn back.

That woman Wen Zhaoyin might seem gentle and refined usually, but she was actually the most resentful and cold-hearted. If he fell into her hands again, he definitely wouldn’t have a good end.

On the way, he began to tactfully inquire the man who had lost his wife about the neighboring country.

“I heard that the country bordering the frontier is one where a man is the emperor, and it’s very friendly to men there. Some men can even become officials through examinations.”

The man didn’t say much at first, but later, unable to resist his questions, he gradually began to speak.

“Ye Country was indeed like that in the past. Men could become officials, walk on the streets without wearing veils, and go to see a doctor on their own. But now it’s not possible anymore.”

Meng Huan’s footsteps paused. He pretended not to care much and continued asking, “Why is that?”

“Does the young master not know? Two months ago, the male emperor of Ye Country relinquished power, and the regent prince took over the government. On the first day of the regent prince’s rule, he withdrew those policies that were beneficial to men, saying they went against the natural order and propriety.”

“Some men were even beheaded for having objections. Now, the lives of men in Ye Country are even more miserable than ours.”

After saying this, he looked at Meng Huan with a somewhat strange gaze, but the latter was still in shock and feeling dejected, not noticing it.

Wen Xi was focused on watching the road and didn’t notice either.

The three continued walking, but two of them completely lacked the enthusiasm they had at the beginning. Meng Huan would even occasionally mutter, “How is it possible…”

“How could they be suppressed overnight? There was even a transfer of imperial power… Let’s find someone else to ask. What if you heard wrong?”

The man looked back at Meng Huan pulling Wen Xi to stand still in place, not responding to his words, but instead urging, “Young master, keep walking.”

Meng Huan frowned and said, “I think we should find someone else to ask.”

The man nodded and smiled. “Alright, let’s walk further and see if we can encounter anyone else.”

He walked ahead as if nothing had happened. Meng Huan finally sensed something amiss and asked with a throat so dry from nervousness that his voice was hoarse, “You, a man who has been in the imperial capital for years and whose wife just passed away, how do you know the situation in the neighboring country so clearly?”