HomeA Cup of LoveYi Ou Chun - Chapter 81

Yi Ou Chun – Chapter 81

Qingyuan was still a young girl – she didn’t understand the profound implications of what a “kiss” truly meant. She only knew that when happy, one could kiss cheeks, or at most touch lips – though thinking about it made her bashful, since it was intimacy with her beloved, naturally none of it was improper.

On such a fine night, with bright moonlight outside and rustling leaves in the courtyard, she hung from his neck like a gourd – that sweet burden gave a kind of solid, reassuring feeling.

A fire burned in his heart. She was very close, so close their noses nearly touched. Up close, she was still immaculate, perfect. She came seeking a kiss, crashing into his heart, but in her innocence, she didn’t know what consequences could arise when a man was aroused.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, pecking her lips once, “How was that?”

Her face reddened, but there wasn’t much aftertaste – just the feeling of soft lips pressing like a seal… though the time was too brief, not quite satisfying.

“Is that all for the kiss?” she asked innocently, though feeling quite accomplished.

She never realized how attractive her unconscious charm was to men. His breathing grew somewhat rapid as he chuckled softly, “That was just the appetizer – there’s more to come. A real kiss can draw out your soul.”

She thought he was exaggerating, “You’re teasing again!”

“You don’t believe me?” he smiled mischievously, holding her close, “If you don’t believe… let me show you.”

He kissed her again, lips and teeth meeting. Qingyuan was very surprised, only now discovering that two people could share such intense intimacy. She tasted a masculine essence, subtle like ambergris, instantly filling her thoughts. She saw how absorbed he was in the kiss, the contentment in his expression like a child with candy.

He seemed very happy, Qingyuan thought secretly. If he was happy that was wonderful – she was happy too. But when he opened his misty eyes and saw her staring at him intently, he laughed helplessly, covering her eyes with his hand and saying softly, “No looking.”

One shouldn’t look while doing such things – looking makes it impossible to continue. Qingyuan obediently closed her eyes, discovering the sensation was different with eyes closed, perhaps like… a spark igniting a prairie fire.

She heard her heartbeat growing faster and faster, a strange desire to cry out filling her throat. He held her face preciously – fierce at first, then gentle as an autumn moon, pecking once, then again. She didn’t know why but made a soft sound, the drawn-out breath and trailing tone making him pause.

He seemed to grit his teeth, wanting to crush her, crush this person, crush her into his flesh and bones. Qingyuan had the same feeling, wanting to crush him as she embraced his broad back. Though her strength was small, she tried her best to return his passion.

Then as they kissed, they began to laugh. He asked, “What are you doing?”

Qingyuan’s hands were still firmly gripping his back as she said, embarrassed but innocent: “I’m hugging you!”

He reached behind himself, scratching his back, “I thought Da Yuan Zi had jumped on my back…” There were places he couldn’t reach to scratch. He drew in a sharp breath, “So itchy.”

There probably weren’t many couples who would go from kissing to scratching like this. Qingyuan tugged at his clothes to help scratch his back, “Where? Is it here?”

He twisted this way and that, following her fingertips like a cat.

Qingyuan scratched with all her heart, as if scratching was also a good way to deepen their affection. She didn’t understand that he had withdrawn from this game midway, afraid his self-control wouldn’t be enough. Old Madam Chen trusted him greatly, letting him visit her chamber even after dark – if he crossed the line before marriage, he would have no way to explain to the elders.

But this didn’t stop him from teasing her, “Are you itchy? Let me scratch for you too.”

Unfortunately, Qingyuan didn’t fall for his trap, “I have Baoxian for that, I don’t need you to scratch. Why did you come back now? These past days in the capital, have you not bathed?”

He naturally denied this, “I bathe daily.” For the refined Commander, bathing was as important as eating. But since she asked, it wouldn’t do to show no response, so he leaned in closer, sniffing near her neck, “Miss bathed today, smelling very fragrant – I can tell.”

Qingyuan pushed him away slightly, saying awkwardly, “Of course I’m fragrant, I’m fragrant even without bathing.” As she spoke, she stood up and asked, “Would you like some water? Let me pour you a cup.”

He shook his head, his tone suggestive as he glanced at her, “Miss just served me fragrant tea – I’m not thirsty yet.”

Qingyuan didn’t understand at first, but when she realized, she stammered, “Don’t… don’t tease me, I’ll… I’ll get angry.”

He embraced her, laughing, “Private words between husband and wife – just laugh it off, don’t get angry.”

She grew coy again, “Who’s your wife…”

“You are.” He held her face, kissing those plump red lips again, then hugged her close with a long sigh, “What can I do – one day apart feels like three autumns…”

Even the iron-blooded Commander had his romantic moments. Qingyuan circled his waist, saying softly, “I feel the same… A few days ago, Grandmother brought the wedding clothes for me to see. When I tried them on, I finally felt that I was truly going to be married.”

He said with a smile, “Marrying me – does it feel like a dream? Every day I complain time passes too slowly, complain there’s no good news from beyond the passes. But today I received a message by carrier pigeon saying the wing of imperial troops we sent helped Minister Xie take Stone Fort. A checkpoint was taken at the cost of over twenty thousand lives, yet only six hundred Tibetans were captured or killed. The Emperor, though pleased, was sorrowful, saying we shouldn’t have been so stubborn about-face, leading to such losses now.”

Qingyuan heard this dejectedly, “Earlier, the Old Master refused to take Stone Fort, causing political disagreement with the Emperor. Now that the battle is over and the Emperor realizes his insistence was reasonable, presumably the merits and faults will balance out, and he shouldn’t be too hard on the Old Master.”

Shen Run pulled her to sit on the couch, saying lazily, “Such is heaven’s will – without the Minister’s tribulations, how could my present fortune exist? While his merits and faults balance out, I’m likely to be promoted. The Emperor has wanted to make me Military Governor for a while, but the court has been stable, lacking the right opportunity. Now this title is certain – the Lulong Army guards Youzhou, the previous Military Governor has been dismissed and has been under my control. Now with proper justification, the Emperor won’t hesitate.”

Qingyuan nodded, happy to see his official career prospering. But just as she took his hand, she discovered calluses on his palm. She turned his palm over to look, stroking it while asking worriedly, “These past ten-some days in the capital, you haven’t had a moment’s rest, have you?”

He smiled, “Some official business had piled up in the office – I’ve rushed to complete it these past two days, so I can be at ease for the wedding.”

There was a glistening light in her eyes as she looked at him, then lowered her gaze to stroke his palm again, “It’s all because of me, making you so busy.”

Afraid she would worry too much, he said in a low voice, “I’m willing. Besides, it’s not just the wedding making me busy – there’s always a lot of work at the office. The calluses on my hands are nothing. From riding horses… would you like to see elsewhere?”

Qingyuan immediately understood his meaning and hit him, blushing, “Stop being improper!”

After taking a couple of hits, he said, “Since I returned to the capital, no one has dared to hit me – now only my wife raises her hand to me.” He even sounded somewhat wronged by the end.

She went to comfort him, stroking his arm, “My hits don’t hurt… if you’re not satisfied, you can hit me back?”

How could he bear to hit her? He laughed, “Hit a woman? That would never do!” He shook his head, “I don’t hit women, especially not my own woman.”

This was good too. Earlier when she was in Hengtang, her grandfather had a nephew who always beat his wife. Every time that aunt visited, her face and hands were always black and blue, and to save face she would forcefully claim she had bumped into things – truly pitiful.

Nestling against him, she asked, “Is the battle at Stone Fort truly settled?”

He made an affirmative sound, “The Dragon Guard’s men sent back news first. After the battle, troops need to be counted and reorganized. For the Minister to formally return to court will take at least a month or so. Tomorrow I’ll prepare the gifts to set the date – marry early, have sons early.”

Qingyuan’s face reddened at this, “You only think about having sons…”

He paused slightly, then smiled, “It’s not just about having sons – it’s about seeing you every day. I know you’re very young – having children now wouldn’t be good for your health.” Though preparations for having children could still be made first – actually, she didn’t know that this was what he valued most.

Having agreed to set the date for the next day, he truly arrived as promised. The Commander’s ceremonial visit was always grand – Qingyuan understood he wanted to give her face. No matter what rumors circulated outside, he was determined to elevate her status. Once he decided on someone, he never wavered – sometimes she didn’t understand how he could have such firm conviction.

She sat in the adjacent hall listening to them arrange dates and prepare the gift list. Finally, it was set for the sixth day of the eleventh month.

Baoxian bowed to her with a smile, “Congratulations, Miss – still three whole months.”

Qingyuan lowered her head to calculate – three months… with all the scattered preparations, three months should be enough time.

But he was busy, and after setting the date had to rush back to the capital. Since the Shen family had no elders to manage things, and Fangchun was now pregnant with her body growing heavier, it wouldn’t be right to trouble her – inevitably Qingyuan had to oversee things herself.

That day at the Commander’s mansion, a servant came to report that the wedding courtyard had been renovated and prepared, requesting the young lady’s inspection. She went with Baoxian to examine everything inside and out carefully. The mansion’s servants handled matters quite well, but the expenses seemed somewhat questionable upon closer examination. For instance, a mother-of-pearl cabinet that would cost at most a hundred taels in the market was recorded at double the price in their accounts. This was the difficulty of having no internal household manager – Shen Run was a man, and even if he knew the household expenses weren’t right, he had neither time nor energy to investigate thoroughly.

Having reviewed the accounts, Qingyuan closed the book, maintaining a neutral expression as she addressed the household managers below, “I used to help Grandmother manage the household, and deeply understand the difficulties of running a home. For the remaining three months, we’ll still rely on Mother Zhou and the other mothers to handle things.”

The old women acknowledged this, knowing this new mistress wouldn’t be easy to fool in the future. Though she’d reviewed the accounts and surely noticed the deceptions within, she didn’t mention them – preserving everyone’s dignity for now.

Though Mother Zhou felt somewhat uneasy, she still harbored hope that a girl of just sixteen wouldn’t be as shrewd as imagined, so she smiled and agreed: “Please rest assured, Miss. We’re all old servants of the household – when the family fell on hard times, we scattered to various places, and only when the Master restored the family’s fortunes did he summon us back. We’re truly dedicated to this family, having shared in its hardships – what more needs to be said? Before the Master’s marriage, we’ll take extra care, and after Miss enters the household, we’ll act according to Miss’s judgment.”

Hearing this tone, it was clear they didn’t intend to hand over the accounts. Qingyuan didn’t press the matter, asking casually, “How much official land and salary rice does the Master currently have? Who manages these?”

Mother Wang replied, “In response to Miss, our husbands manage these. The Master has seven hundred mu of official land, and receives three hundred and sixty shi of annual salary rice…”

“That’s wrong.” Qingyuan cut her off before she could finish, “According to the imperial decree, the Master should have one thousand mu of official land and four hundred and sixty shi of salary rice for his second rank.” Seeing the old woman’s face changed dramatically, she smiled and changed the subject, “Outside matters are managed by outside people – it’s understandable if the inner household is unclear. No matter, we’ll discuss this later. Right now the main concern is the courtyard arrangement. I’ve seen it today – very good. Later I’ll certainly recommend rewards for everyone before the Master.”

This was how it had to be – since she hadn’t formally entered the household yet, some things had to be endured. But it was necessary to give them a warning. The meaning was very clear – the future household manager knew everything. She wouldn’t investigate their past embezzlement, but from now on they needed to be careful. If she could recommend rewards, she could certainly recommend punishment. The master of the house handled criminal cases – when it came down to saving face, no matter how experienced a servant you were, you couldn’t be closer than the one sharing his pillow.

The old women all grew fearful, repeatedly saying, “This is just our duty – we dare not seek credit before Miss.”

Qingyuan didn’t argue with them, smiling, “The mothers have worked hard – go rest now. I’ll look around some more and leave shortly.”

After the old women had withdrawn from the courtyard, once they were far enough away, Baoxian said, “Truly no household’s inner accounts are completely clean – even with the Master being a second-rank official, these household managers won’t hesitate to cheat him.”

Qingyuan said, “With huge amounts of silver passing through their hands daily, how pure would someone need to be to not take even half a coin? But today we’ve stretched their nerves – before the wedding we need to send people from our household to carefully inspect every corner of the bridal chamber.”

Hearing this, Baoxian understood – as the saying goes, better to offend a gentleman than a petty person, for petty people harbor revenge in their hearts and might set traps. Whether a marriage goes smoothly or not affects one’s whole life – if something spoils the feng shui or if unexpected things appear, it would be a major problem.

Baoxian said, “Don’t worry, Miss. When the time comes, we’ll select some experienced mothers, and I’ll come along too.”

Qingyuan nodded, turning around to see Fangchun approaching with an unfamiliar young lady. She hurried to meet them, supporting Fangchun, “I was afraid of disturbing you and didn’t send word, yet you’ve come anyway.”

Fangchun said, “How could I not come when Elder Sister-in-law is here? I used to come often to check when they first started renovating this courtyard, but these past days I haven’t been feeling well, so I’ve been lazy about moving about.”

Qingyuan helped her sit down, saying, “With so many people managing household affairs, you don’t need to oversee things personally – just take care of yourself. Now that you’re pregnant, you must be careful in everything. Where are you not feeling well? Have you seen a doctor?”

She was still just a maiden after all – she might not understand these pregnancy matters even if told, so Fangchun just smiled and glossed over it, “It’s nothing serious – the doctor said I’m somewhat qi deficient and prescribed two doses of medicine to take first – some conditioning and I’ll be fine.” Then she exclaimed, “Oh! I was so caught up in chatting with you, that I forgot to introduce myself – this is the daughter of the Deputy Magistrate of Xuanzhou, her given name is Haoxue. Her family is related to my natal family. They just moved to Youzhou last month, and seeing me lonely, Haoxue often comes to keep me company.”

The Deputy Magistrate’s daughter came forward to pay respects, smiling, “I often hear Sister Fangchun mention you, Miss, and have long wanted to make your acquaintance, but never had the chance.”

Qingyuan returned the courtesy with a slight bow, “I’ve been quite busy lately, really haven’t had time to come to the mansion…”

“There must be much to prepare before the wedding, no wonder Miss is busy.” Her words were considerate, as she quietly looked Qingyuan over, “Sister Fangchun said Miss was young – seeing you now proves it true. Miss is truly fortunate – let me offer my early congratulations.”

Qingyuan observed this Miss Haoxue – her appearance was proper, and she seemed well-educated, but somehow her gaze made one uncomfortable. However, since she offered congratulations, it wouldn’t be right not to accept, so she returned another courtesy, saying thank you.

Fangchun was simple-hearted, saying openly, “Once Elder Sister-in-law enters the household, the three of us can often be together – won’t that be lively!”

Qingyuan smiled slightly, “I’m afraid Miss Haoxue’s family won’t let her come out so often.”

Haoxue said, “Originally my family was very strict, but because of the relationship with Sister Fangchun, they don’t restrict me.”

“Yes, they’ve only moved here a month, yet we’ve spent half the month together,” Fangchun said, taking Haoxue’s hand. “Shen Che is busy and rarely home – thankfully Haoxue keeps me company.”

Qingyuan just smiled without saying more, secretly pondering – a Deputy Magistrate of Xuanzhou was only a sixth-rank official. If the family had good principles, how could they let their daughter spend half a month at someone else’s house? But seeing Fangchun was happy with it, she had no right to comment. She simply told her to take good care of herself and to send word to the Chen household if anything was needed, then took her leave.

On the way back, Baoxian sighed, “The Second Mistress must truly be bored to death, clutching at a companion like a lifeline.”

Qingyuan also sighed, “It’s very difficult for her – her natal home is far away, and she spends all day alone in that big mansion, like being in prison.”

But the real difficulties were yet to come. Not two days later, a servant woman came from the Shen household to report, her face full of anxiety: “This is terrible – please come quickly, Miss! The Second Mistress has fallen and is crying in pain at home!”

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