The following morning, Shen Zhuxi forcibly dragged the grumbling and cursing Li Wu to Suxin Hall to have his injury examined.

“I already said it’s not necessary, not necessary… it’ll heal on its own in a few days, what do we need a doctor for, why should we blow the family’s silver on this wretched old man!”

Even when they reached the entrance of Suxin Hall, Li Wu was still putting up a desperate fight, until Shen Zhuxi physically hauled him inside.

“You little brat, this old man can hear you cursing me all the way from his seat in the hall!” Doctor Tang huffed, glaring at him and bristling his beard.

Shen Zhuxi pressed the reluctant Li Wu down into the seat before the examination table and turned to Doctor Tang with an apologetic smile. “Doctor, pay him no mind. Please take a look at the wound on his back.”

Inside the hall, aside from the two of them, there was only Doctor Tang and a young apprentice sorting medicinal herbs. A bundle of medicine packages suspended from a hemp rope overhead slowly swayed in the breeze drifting in from outside the door.

Doctor Tang rose and moved behind Li Wu, saying without any pleasantry: “Are you going to take it off yourself, or wait for this old man to do it for you?”

“I told you, it’s really not necessary…” Li Wu furrowed his brow deeply.

Shen Zhuxi pouted, her eyes glistening as though she might cry.

“…Fine, fine, fine — I’ll take it off, all right?!”

Li Wu yanked off his upper garment with the frantic speed of someone whose backside was on fire.

Doctor Tang leaned in, squinting as he assessed the wound on Li Wu’s back, pressing lightly around the edges with his fingers. “Does it hurt?”

“You’re pressing on my wound — what do you think?!” Li Wu bared his teeth in a grimace.

“Still got this much fight in you — you’re not going to die.” Doctor Tang turned and returned to his seat at the examination table.

“Aren’t you going to take his pulse?” Shen Zhuxi asked, concerned.

“Look at him — full of life and vigor. Does he need his pulse taken?” Doctor Tang said. “That husband of yours has the look of a man who’ll live a thousand years.”

Li Wu’s face darkened. “Old scoundrel — you’re calling me a pestilence?”

“Well, well — you actually knew it was an insult.” Doctor Tang looked genuinely surprised. “I heard you’ve recently taken up reading and writing. It seems you really have picked up something!”

“You son of a—”

Li Wu had barely risen from his seat when Shen Zhuxi pressed down on his shoulder and shoved him back into it.

“Doctor—” Shen Zhuxi said anxiously, “how long will it take for his injury to heal?”

“A few days at the least, half a fortnight to a full fortnight at most.” Doctor Tang picked up a writing brush and, after a moment’s deliberation, began writing out a prescription on a stack of pre-cut banana leaves on the table. As he wrote, he stroked his beard and said, “Li Wu, ah — you’re not so young anymore. Why are you still getting into brawls every other day like when you were a boy?”

Li Wu shot a quick glance at Shen Zhuxi beside him and said with a thinly veiled warning: “When was I ever brawling every other day?”

“When?” Doctor Tang had his head bowed over the prescription and missed the look. He raised his head and gave Li Wu an amused glance. “When you were sixteen or seventeen, half the trauma ointments sold in this old man’s shop every month were bought up entirely by you and Li Diao’er!”

“He goes by Li Kun now. Not Li Diao’er.”

“Li Kun — which character for ‘kun’?”

“The ‘kun’ from ‘kunpeng,'” Shen Zhuxi supplied quickly.

Doctor Tang nodded and continued writing the prescription. “That’s a fine name. One look and you can tell it wasn’t thought up by a roughneck like Li Wu.”

“Who are you calling a roughneck—” Li Wu started to rise again.

Shen Zhuxi pushed him back down for the second time.

“Doctor, his injury is on his shoulder blade — is it better for him not to do any heavy labor for the time being?”

“What heavy labor could he possibly have, other than using his fists to…” Doctor Tang raised his head, and his gaze finally met Li Wu’s ferocious glare. “…pound… cakes.”

Doctor Tang cleared his throat and stroked his beard. “Come the winter solstice, let Li Kun take over the cake-pounding.”

Shen Zhuxi grew more puzzled the more she listened. Doctor Tang had just said a few days at the least, half to a full fortnight at most — so why was he now talking about the winter solstice? The winter solstice was still more than three months away. By then, Li Wu’s wound would have long since healed.

Doctor Tang finished writing out the prescription and sent the apprentice to collect the medicinal ingredients. Then he personally changed the bandaging on Li Wu’s body and applied a thick coat of medicinal salve over the wound.

“…All right, that’s that! You’re a married man now — stop putting yourself through all this grief. Be careful you don’t grieve yourself right out of a life one of these days!” Doctor Tang gave Li Wu a measured pat on the back.

“Stop cursing me, old man. I’ll outlive your grandchildren.”

Doctor Tang let out a snort and bristled his beard. “Fine — if you live that long, remember to keep my great-grandchildren’s business going.”

“Doctor, thank you very much. How much does it come to?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

Doctor Tang named a price, and Li Wu immediately erupted: “You’re fleecing your own regulars! A roll of bandages and a can of foul-smelling ointment — you—”

Before he could finish his ranting, Shen Zhuxi had already shoved him out through the front doors of Suxin Hall.

“Doctor, he’s just like this — a sharp tongue but a soft heart…” Shen Zhuxi smiled apologetically as she reached into her purse and counted out the silver to settle the bill.

“Sharp tongue but a soft heart?” Doctor Tang looked at Shen Zhuxi with a skeptical squint. “Who? Someone you met in a dream?”

Shen Zhuxi was unconvinced in her heart, but she didn’t argue.

She could hardly tell an outsider about how Li Wu called her a dunce every day, only to turn around and play the role of a kept man who supported her — she could only silently tuck away the depth of Li Wu’s devotion to her and hold it close in her heart.

She shifted to another question instead. “Doctor Tang, Li Wu’s suffered an external wound — what should he eat to help his recovery?”

“He needs a supplement? If he takes any more supplements, he’ll be leaping into the sky to pluck the stars and scoop out the moon!” Doctor Tang looked genuinely alarmed.

Shen Zhuxi ignored his theatrics and pressed on. After she asked three times, Doctor Tang finally relented: “He doesn’t need ginseng. If you want to nourish him a little, just simmer a chicken broth. A young hen is the most nourishing.”

Shen Zhuxi gave a start.

“What is it?” Doctor Tang looked perplexed.

“Nothing… it’s nothing…”

When Shen Zhuxi stepped out of Suxin Hall, Li Wu was standing by the entrance, muttering under his breath as he rubbed his right shoulder. “…That rotten old man — did he do that on purpose… practically strangled me…”

“Let’s go,” Shen Zhuxi said. “We’ll head to the market and buy a young hen.”

“You want chicken?” Li Wu asked without suspicion, falling into step beside her as they walked toward the lively market. “What have you been eating these past few days? I swear you’ve gotten thinner. Was it because I wasn’t here, and you went back to not eating properly again?”

Li Wu’s ceaseless fussing after days of absence filled Shen Zhuxi with a quiet, comfortable warmth.

“I have been eating properly. I haven’t gotten thinner — if anything, I’ve put on weight lately!”

Saying that made Shen Zhuxi feel at a loss for words. She was probably the first princess in recorded history to have actually grown fatter after the ruin of her kingdom.

If anyone found out, they would surely say she had no conscience.

She would have liked to have a conscience, but Li Wu wouldn’t let her have one. Every time they sat down to eat, those sharp, hawk-like eyes of his were locked on her chopsticks. If she ate one bite less than he deemed sufficient, he would all but force her to make up for it with an extra bowl.

Li Wu asked her many questions, most of which were concerned with what she had eaten, what she had done, and what she had read during the days he was away. He also spoke about himself — with great self-satisfaction: “That fellow who got me injured — I wonder if he’s woken up yet.”

Shen Zhuxi had also tried to probe indirectly for the reason behind his injury, but he had wrapped it up in a single terse line — “a conflict in a business deal” — and that was that. Shen Zhuxi did not press further.

The two trades he was involved in — one selling his fighting ability, one selling his body — both left Shen Zhuxi sick with worry.

When the two of them arrived at the market, the morning stalls had already cleared out. The few vendors selling chickens and ducks that remained had no young hens, and Shen Zhuxi had even checked with the only inn in town — they had old hens, but no young ones.

Shen Zhuxi could not help but knit her brows. Li Wu didn’t understand her fixation on a young hen specifically, but he said anyway: “If you want a young hen, I’ll come early tomorrow to buy one.”

“Forget it…” Shen Zhuxi couldn’t hide her disappointment.

After they returned home, Shen Zhuxi was still thinking about her young hen.

Li Juan was pacing around the courtyard, and Shen Zhuxi’s gaze drifted involuntarily to that plump, round little rear end.

No — she couldn’t! Shen Zhuxi shook her head sharply. How could she possibly have thoughts like that about Li Juan?!

But then again…

“If you want to nourish him a little, just simmer a chicken broth.”

Shen Zhuxi stared blankly at Li Juan’s chubby backside.

That backside — so plump and round — would surely make the most restorative broth imaginable.

No, no, no — how could she even think such a thing?!

“A young hen is the most nourishing.”

Shen Zhuxi was on the verge of tears.

Li Backside — how did he always manage to put her in impossible situations?!

Two voices were locked in a relentless tug-of-war inside her head. One said:

“Li Juan has kept you company for nearly a month now — how can you bear to put her in a pot and turn her into soup?!”

The other said:

“Li Wu has kept you company for more than four months — he’s even become a kept man just to support you. How can you not be willing to sacrifice even one chicken for his sake?!”

Both voices then declared in unison:

“Heartless!”

Shen Zhuxi turned it over and over in her mind, and the scales of her heart gradually tilted toward Li Wu.

Of course she could go to the market and buy a young hen tomorrow — but wouldn’t that just prove that in her heart, Li Wu ranked below a single young hen?

A man who had been willing to become a kept man for her sake — how could she bear to let him come after a young hen?

She had raised Li Juan from the start for the purpose of laying eggs to nourish Li Wu’s health. Now wasn’t this precisely the moment for Li Juan to fulfill that purpose?

Shen Zhuxi, what are you still hesitating for?!

She gave herself a fierce mental scolding: Li Wu is a kept man supporting you!

Shen Zhuxi gritted her teeth — then suddenly launched herself at Li Juan. She scooped up the hen with both hands before the bird had time to react and sprinted into the kitchen.

Since Li Wu’s injury made it inconvenient for him to help, only Li Que was busy at work in the kitchen.

Li Que looked up at her frantic appearance, startled. “Sister-in-law, what’s the matter?”

“Send her off with care — don’t let her suffer!”

“Sister—”

Shen Zhuxi, tears streaming down her face, shoved Li Juan into Li Que’s arms and ran out of the kitchen, utterly heartbroken.

“This is wonderful.”

Li Wu finished a bowl of the chicken broth, smacked his lips, and couldn’t help letting out a sigh of pure contentment.

“Homegrown really is different,” Li Que added his own praise. “The meat is firm, and the flavor is so much richer.”

“Delicious… delicious…” Li Kun slurped happily as he shoveled rice soaked in the broth into his mouth.

“Sister-in-law didn’t eat much before she left the table,” Li Que noted. “Is she all right?”

“She feels for me — keeps all the good things for me.” Li Wu shook his head. “It was the same with the roast chicken last time. She didn’t want to eat any of it, left it all for us. Didn’t you see the look on her face just now when I picked up the ladle to scoop the broth? Her eyes were red!”

Li Wu’s expression was full of feeling as he said, “She’s still worried about my injury — the sight of me moving my arm at all makes her heart ache.”

“Congratulations, Big Brother — after all your patience, the clouds have parted and the moon shines through. Sister-in-law has given her whole heart to you!” Li Que said with a warm smile.

“Don’t talk nonsense.” Li Wu said it with his mouth, but the corners of his lips were curved upward in a way he simply could not suppress.

After the midday meal, Li Wu handed the tidying up to Li Que and went into the inner room to check on Shen Zhuxi, who had left the table early.

That little dunce — lying face-down on the bed without moving a muscle. He could tell at a glance she had been secretly crying again.

Li Wu felt both tender and helpless. Knowing that she was crying out of worry for him, even his usual cold quips dried up and refused to come.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and, looking at the back of Shen Zhuxi’s head, said: “You’ve been feeding that chicken well — not only is the broth fresh and fragrant, the meat is far better-tasting than any of those dubious chickens from outside.”

Two streams of hot tears welled up from Shen Zhuxi’s vacant eyes.

Look how touched she is — it was only a few words of praise.

Li Wu found himself reflecting: perhaps he gave too little affirmation in his daily life. Otherwise, why would she be moved to tears the moment he offered her two words of commendation?

Li Wu offered a few more words of comfort, but Shen Zhuxi remained silent and unresponsive, staring blankly at the empty surface of the bed.

He figured she must have been frightened by the sight of his wound. A young woman like her, who had spent her whole life serving nobles in the palace — she had never had occasion to see anything so bloody. That she couldn’t come back to herself for a while was perfectly understandable.

But when all was said and done, wasn’t her reaction because she was worried about him?

Li Wu offered reassurance after reassurance. In a moment of being moved himself, he made a great number of promises — new clothes and jewelry from the gold and silver shop, entire cartloads of soft paper — and only after all of that did he finally coax Shen Zhuxi’s tears to a stop.

He walked out of the inner room. Li Que had just finished wiping down the table and, seeing him, asked: “How is sister-in-law?”

“She is…”

Li Wu shook his head, let out a long sigh, and walked into the courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back like an old patriarch.

He didn’t look back, and only his voice drifted back, drawn-out and unhurried:

“Hopelessly in love with me.”