In the courtyard on the other side of the wall, Madam Zhao was crouching beneath the window sill. She hadn’t heard any arguing from inside, nor any other sounds, which made her somewhat puzzled.
When Xie Wu and Xie Qi came out and saw this scene, they silently retreated and closed their door.
Carpenter Zhao stood under the eaves. After coughing twice to get Madam Zhao’s attention, he also went inside.
Madam Zhao looked back once more at the still-silent main room before tiptoeing back to her room. As she closed the door, she glared at Carpenter Zhao and said, “You think I was eavesdropping? I was worried about the young couple. They didn’t seem right. I was afraid they might quarrel.”
Carpenter Zhao didn’t know what was going on between Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng, but he said, “Earlier when the girl Changyu was taken to work on the dam, she told me when she found me that she and the boy Yan Zheng had already separated.”
This news startled Madam Zhao. She instinctively said, “What nonsense are you talking about!”
Forgetting to lower her voice in her excitement, she quickly glanced outside again before sitting on the edge of the bed and saying, “When Yan Zheng was conscripted, Changyu was depressed for days and prepared so many things for him. How could that look like they had separated? Besides, when I went to persuade them, didn’t they sleep in the same room?”
Carpenter Zhao then told Madam Zhao what Fan Changyu had told him earlier.
Regarding the fact that their initial marriage was just a pretense, Madam Zhao was first shocked but then thought carefully. Yan Zheng was literate and handsome; his willingness to marry into the family did indeed seem to be as Carpenter Zhao had said.
She sat worriedly on the bedside for a while, then said, “Even if their marriage at the beginning of the year wasn’t mutual, they did formally bow in the ceremony. How could they not be husband and wife? A single man and woman living under the same roof day after day, especially when they’re both so good-looking, how could they not develop feelings? Remember when Yan Zheng was bedridden with injuries? Changyu was afraid the medicine would be bitter for him. Even though they were living so poorly, she still bought sugar for him! Such a bond forged through hardship can’t be fake!”
Carpenter Zhao glanced at Chang Ning, who was quietly listening with pricked ears and sighed, “Alright, alright. Those two kids have probably made up. Ning is still here. Let’s not talk about this anymore.”
Chang Ning blinked her bright, dark eyes.
Madam Zhao helped her remove the silk flowers from her hair buns, pinched her chubby cheeks, and said with a smile, “Our Ning is blessed too. Your sister is now an officer in the army, commanding a large group of people. In the future, Ning’s husband won’t dare to bully her.”
Chang Ning smiled, showing her small white teeth. After thinking for a moment, she counted on her fingers and added, “Brother-in-law is powerful, Uncle Xie Qi is powerful, and Xuan is powerful too! No one will bully Ning!”
Madam Zhao was amused by her, “What a clever little girl.”
After putting Chang Ning to sleep, Madam Zhao lay in bed but thought of another matter.
According to what the old man had said, could it be that the young couple still hadn’t consummated their marriage?
On one hand, Madam Zhao hoped they would get along well, but on the other hand, considering Fan Changyu’s current position in the army, if she were to become pregnant, it could be extremely troublesome. She couldn’t help but worry, tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep. Several times, she even thought about getting up to eavesdrop on the neighboring room-
The next morning, as soon as Fan Changyu got up, Madam Zhao pulled her to a quiet place.
Fan Changyu had slept well, but for some reason, Madam Zhao’s eye bags, which were already prominent, looked frighteningly dark.
Fan Changyu asked in confusion, “Madam, didn’t you sleep at all last night?”
Madam Zhao looked around before lowering her voice and saying, “Changyu, your mother passed away early, and you don’t have any elders above you. There are some things no one has taught you. I see you as my child, so I’ll speak frankly. You’re in the army now. If you were to have a child, it would be inconvenient. Do you want me to find a doctor to prepare some contraceptive medicine for you?”
Fan Changyu hadn’t expected Madam Zhao to be worried about this. Her face instantly turned red down to her neck. She shook her head and said, “No need.”
Hearing this answer, Madam Zhao didn’t know whether to feel relieved or continue worrying about the young couple.
While she was still conflicted, Fan Changyu had already gone to the courtyard to fetch water to wash her face.
It was summer, but the well water was still a bit cool in the morning.
Seeing her wash her face with cold water, Madam Zhao couldn’t help but nag, saying she was afraid Fan Changyu would accumulate cold in her body, and told her to go to the kitchen for hot water.
Fan Changyu had a strong constitution and didn’t take Madam Zhao’s words to heart. When Chang Ning put her hands in the basin, seemingly ready to wash her face with cold water too, Fan Changyu wouldn’t allow it. She made Chang Ning take her hands out and obediently go to the kitchen for hot water.
After washing Chang Ning’s face, Fan Changyu yawned as she helped Chang Ning tie her hair buns by feel.
The child, who used to accept whatever hairstyle Fan Changyu gave her, now looked at her reflection in the water basin and pouted, “I want Uncle Xie Qi to do my hair.”
Fan Changyu looked at the messy buns she had tied and felt a bit guilty.
The child had grown up and now knew about beauty. She wasn’t as easy to fool as before.
Fan Changyu said, “Alright then, go find your Uncle Xie Qi to do your hair.”
Chang Ning took her comb and toddled across the threshold to find Xie Qi. She searched each room but couldn’t find him. Hearing faint voices coming from the main room, she ran over, her little feet pattering. As soon as she pushed open the door, she was frightened and burst into tears with a loud “Wah!”
In the room, Xie Zheng had his back to the door, his upper body bare. Bloodstained white cloth was scattered at his feet, and a sword wound spanning most of his back was red and ghastly. Xie Qi was applying medicine to his back.
When Xie Qi heard Chang Ning’s cry, he realized the situation was not good. The master had specifically waited for his wife to leave before asking him to help apply medicine. Now it seemed they couldn’t keep it hidden anymore.
Sure enough, although Xie Zheng quickly wrapped himself in a single layer of clothing, Fan Changyu, who had heard Chang Ning’s cry, had already arrived at the door.
When she saw the circle of bloodstained white cloth on the ground, Fan Changyu’s expression changed. She raised her eyes to look directly at Xie Zheng and asked, “You’re injured?”
Xie Zheng tied his robe and answered, “It’s a minor wound.”
Fan Changyu’s brows furrowed tightly. Looking at the circle of white cloth on the ground, she knew the wound on his body was likely not small. No wonder he had mostly used skillful techniques to avoid heavy attacks when sparring with her last night.
She crouched down and patted Chang Ning’s shoulder, comforting her for a few words, then said to Xie Qi, “Please take my sister out first, Brother Xie Qi. She was frightened last time and is a bit afraid of blood.”
Xie Qi then coaxed Chang Ning out of the room.
Fan Changyu closed the door and turned around. Her face still expressionless, she looked at Xie Zheng and said, “Let me see the wound on your back.”
Xie Zheng’s handsome brows furrowed slightly. He hadn’t expected Fan Changyu to discover this and answered evasively, “The medicine has already been applied.”
Fan Changyu stared at him and said slowly, enunciating each word, “I said, let me see.”
After a moment of standoff, Xie Zheng still didn’t move. Fan Changyu then stepped forward to untie his robe.
When Xie Zheng caught her hand, she was afraid of tearing the wound on his back and didn’t dare to struggle, but her expression was extremely displeased.
Her almond eyes were cold and sharp, her tone unusually forceful: “Either you untie your clothes, or you leave now and never appear before me again.”
Xie Zheng’s hand gripping her wrist didn’t let go. His phoenix eyes were half-lowered, long lashes casting a beautiful arc of shadow. His jaw appeared somewhat pale in the morning light filtering through the window screen. He asked with a lazy smile, “Your tone… why does it sound like you’re forcing me into prostitution?”
Fan Changyu’s lips tightened, “I am forcing you.”
Xie Zheng met her gaze. It was the first time he had seen Fan Changyu so assertive. Those almond eyes no longer held their usual clear innocence; instead, her gaze was sharp and aggressive.
It was as if a lazy cat had suddenly transformed into a tiger or leopard that could easily tear apart its prey.
Yet that gaze seemed to have hooks that caught Xie Zheng’s heartstrings.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he lowered his eyelashes, resisting the urge to grab her jaw and kiss her deeply. He obediently untied his robe again, slightly raising his eyes. The pitch-black color of his pupils had lightened somewhat in the morning light, making them look particularly beautiful. His profile seemed to be coated in a soft glow.
His long fingers untying the sash revealed some small scars. The body hidden beneath his robes was not as delicate and beautiful as his face might suggest, but rather lean and sturdy, even giving off a sense of pressure.
This wasn’t the first time Fan Changyu had seen Xie Zheng bare-chested, but previously he had either been lying injured or it had been too dim in the moonlight. She had never seen him this before.
When her eyes met Xie Zheng’s invasive gaze, her previously built-up momentum faltered. She couldn’t help but pursed her lips and shifted her gaze from his taut abdomen to look at the wound on his back.
Seeing the long, diagonal wound among the crisscrossing old scars, Fan Changyu was speechless for a while before asking hoarsely, “How did you get injured?”
Xie Zheng didn’t answer, only saying, “It doesn’t hurt.”
Fan Changyu glared at him with reddened eyes, “I asked you how you got injured?”
He still didn’t speak, so Fan Changyu stared at him and voiced her guess, “Was it that bastard Yuan Qing who hurt you?”
He was fine with everything else she said, but when she mistakenly thought he had been injured by Yuan Qing, Xie Zheng finally spoke up, “I did it to myself.”
Seeing Fan Changyu look at him as if he were crazy, Xie Zheng wasn’t sure what he was thinking at that moment. He just locked his pitch-black eyes on her and said, “I drew blood to consecrate your sword.”
Fan Changyu indeed cursed him, “You madman!”
But the redness in her eyes intensified. She pressed him to sit down and picked up the unfinished medicine bottle from the table to apply it to him. Straining to keep her voice cold and hard, she said, “If there’s a next time, I won’t care even if you die of pain! And I don’t want that damn sword either!”
The wound medicine was potent, and when it was sprinkled on the wound, it stung like salt in a fire. As Xie Zheng listened to Fan Changyu’s scolding words, his hands resting on the chair’s back, he couldn’t help but smile.
His dark, obsessive, and abnormal thoughts hadn’t frightened or disgusted her; they had only earned her pity.
He was scarred and mottled like moss in a dark alley, damp and sticky, yet his sun was still willing to shine on him.
The gloomy clouds lingering in his heart seemed to dissipate considerably all at once.
Fan Changyu finished applying for the medicine and re-bandaged him. Seeing that he still had the mood to smile, she didn’t spare him verbally, “Has the pain made you stupid?”
Taking advantage of her posture as she reached around his back to wrap the bandage, Xie Zheng raised his arms and hugged her, resting his chin in the crook of her shoulder. His tone carried a hint of laziness, “I remembered you’re going to give me dolls. It makes me happy.”
Fan Changyu tied off the bandage and glared at him-
Regarding what kind of doll to give Xie Zheng, Fan Changyu had pondered for quite a while.
She had originally planned to make a pair of clay figurines, but thinking of Xie Zheng’s expectations and how easily clay dolls could be damaged, she decided, while watching Carpenter Zhao work with wood, that it would be better to carve a pair of wooden dolls for him.
Carpenter Zhao was not only skilled at crafting various household items, but he could also carve lifelike flowers on boxes and cabinets.
However, Fan Changyu had no foundation in woodworking and couldn’t produce a finished product in a short time. Fortunately, her years of knife work meant she had a very steady hand.
The army only had one day off. She had returned yesterday afternoon and had to go back to the army this afternoon, leaving only half a day to learn wood carving from Carpenter Zhao.
As Fan Changyu practiced in her room with a pile of wood scraps left over from Carpenter Zhao’s furniture making, Xie Zheng frowned at the stack of white paper on the table. His knuckles lightly tapped the desk as he asked, somewhat uncertainly, “You want me to help you copy books?”
Fan Changyu, without looking up, said, “Last time, Adoptive Father tested me on the ‘Zhuangzi.’ I recited one sentence incorrectly, so he punished me by making me copy that passage ten times.”
Xie Zheng’s fingertips touched the crisp white papers, noticing that only the top sheet had a few lines written on it. He slowly raised his eyes to look at Fan Changyu, “So you haven’t even finished copying it once?”
Before their eyes met, Fan Changyu already felt a wave of guilt. She kept her head down as she whittled the wood, trying to make her voice sound firmer, “I’ve memorized it, but Adoptive Father said my handwriting is ugly. He wants me to copy it neatly ten times, that’s why it’s taking so long.”
Xie Zheng held the top sheet of paper with one hand, examined it for a moment, and said, “Your handwriting is indeed quite ugly.”
Fan Changyu said angrily, “Are you going to help me copy or not?”
Xie Zheng said, “My handwriting is different from yours. It would be difficult for me to imitate your style.”
Fan Changyu heard the implication in his words—he couldn’t write such ugly characters.
Her hand gripping the knife tightened repeatedly. After taking a deep breath, she seemed to accept reality and said, “Forget it, I’ll copy it myself. I can’t carve this wood properly in such a short time anyway. I’ll practice slowly when I have time.”
She put down the wood and the boning knife, reaching out to take the stack of white paper from in front of Xie Zheng. However, a few knuckled fingers pressed down on the edge of the paper.
Fan Changyu looked up, unsurprised to see Xie Zheng’s handsome face, now dark with displeasure.
He pressed his temple and said, as if he had no choice, “Fine, you can’t improve your handwriting in a day or two. I’ll help you copy it.”
Fan Changyu’s scheme had succeeded. Her eyes narrowed, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile like a cat that had stolen cream. She picked up the boning knife and continued practicing wood carving.
Xie Zheng dipped his brush into thick ink and glanced at the person sitting across from him, engrossed in carving wood. Sunlight streamed through the gauzy window, casting a halo around her hair, while the characters on the paper in front of him starkly contrasted with her appearance.
With a wry smile, he tried to mimic her handwriting, continuing to ink the paper. In his eyes, a softness emerged that even he was unaware of.