Three ex-husbands and a marriage

Characters

"How can you say that?" I asked, my voice trembling. My facial muscles froze as I stared back at the woman who was this character's birth mother. The glint in her eyes shone like the Divine Lotus Goddess in my dreams. Previously, it was just the resemblance in their faces, but now, with the deep resentment and ambition in her eyes, the person in front of me was the spitting image in character and form.

"Mother, after all that has happened, have you not learned anything?" I implored.

She slapped my face without blinking. My cheek stung, but I continued to stare at her without flinching. Slowly, I raised my hand to cool the heat in my cheek, the pain insignificant compared to the overwhelming disappointment in my heart. After all we had been through, her character remained unchanged.

Mother Bai glared at me, our eyes piercing each other with heated anger. "I should be asking you that question. Have you not learned anything? We suffered so much because we lacked power and wealth. If it weren't for the allure of wealth to create a better life for us, would your father have been so easily lured by those people? They baited him and, through him, brought us one suffering after another. Because we lacked power and gold, they could use your father to trample on our dignity and force us into a corner."

"Mother, what's gotten into you?" I asked, my voice trembling with confusion and fear.

"We had to risk our lives and even kill to survive. Don't you remember how close you came to losing your innocence? All because we had nothing. Xiao Wei, even now, we have to look at the faces of these people here. They don't treat us like family. Can't you see? They either want to suppress us for the rest of our lives as revenge for the past or outright want to kill us. There is no one in this place who genuinely cares for us."

"That's not true..." I said, my tone carrying an edgy frustration. "Even if it is true, how do you know that the Prince will give you the power and wealth you so desire? How do you know that it is not just jumping into a pit of vipers? Pushing your only daughter into a situation that is a hundred times more dangerous than this simple life here. At least at the Bai residence, as long as we stay obedient and endure small grievances, we can keep our lives. The Bai Regent has no habit of executing people on a whim. Who knows with the Prince? Mother, the northern tribes are hordes of wild people whose rules and customs are completely different from ours. If I make a mistake, it won't be only me, mother, it will be you and everyone we ever loved."

"Then don't make a mistake. Use your beauty and talents. Make him love you more than life itself. Do whatever it takes to survive and live well. Xiao Wei, I have seen the deadly side, one that barely blinked when she killed those men. Call upon her and trample all others in your path. Better you fight for the bright future ahead than to dwell here and become nothing. My daughter's beauty and intelligence cannot be second to anyone, least of all, that Bai Mingling." Mother Bai seethed with resentment, her eyes sharp with a murderous gaze. I could not believe my eyes and ears; a part of me wished that I had accepted reality and didn't hope.

"The Prince is not a good person. Mother, if you push me into this, you will regret it," I said through gritted teeth.

"Bai Xiao Wei, this is my warning to you. If you cannot make him marry you before he leaves, I will hang myself from this rafter and free myself from this suffocating life." I looked at her in disbelief, but her steely eyes filled with determination dashed away all hope of talking reason to her. I turned around and left the room with a loud flurry.

I ran blindly until I had to stop. I looked up and blinked, staring at the full moon tonight to distract myself from the tears that had gathered. My eyes got blurry. I placed my hands over my eyes, putting pressure on the eyelids and brows to stop the tears from flowing.