After Constable Wang left, Fan Changyu sat in the ransacked room, holding her younger sister and the Zhao carpenter couple, speechless for a long while.
After some time, Madam Zhao hesitantly said, “Marrying in… it’s not an easy thing. In all my years, I’ve only heard of rich gentry families with only daughters doing this. For a poor family like ours, who would be willing to marry in?”
Fan Changyu remained silent.
The solution Constable Wang had given was for her to quickly find a husband to marry into the family. This way, her father would be considered to have a son, and the family property would naturally belong to her.
But after the broken engagement with the Song family and the spread of her reputation as an ill-fated star, it would be difficult for her to marry at all, let alone find someone to marry into her family.
The legal advisors she had consulted before probably knew about her family situation, which is why they didn’t even consider marrying in as an option for her.
After all, people generally considered marrying into a wife’s family shameful. Once a man married in, he would be giving up even his ancestral surname and couldn’t hold his head high anywhere. Not to mention ordinary families, even those good-for-nothing ruffians were rarely willing to marry in.
Carpenter Zhao’s calloused hands rested on his knees, his wrinkled face looking even older as he sighed, “Marriage is a lifelong affair. We can’t just hastily find someone to perform the ceremony. Otherwise, Changyu will be the one suffering in the future.”
Hearing this, Madam Zhao felt even more sorrowful for Fan Changyu. When other girls got married, which one didn’t have their parents carefully selecting and thoroughly investigating the other party’s character and background before marrying them off in grand style?
Fan Changyu had already lost her parents, and now she was in a rush to find someone to marry. Forget about assessing the other party’s character; it would be considered good if his appearance wasn’t too unsightly.
Just as she was about to wipe her tears, Madam Zhao suddenly thought of something. She paused and looked up at Fan Changyu, “That young man you saved, is he married?”
As soon as she spoke, she answered her question, “He probably isn’t. You said earlier that he fled from the north, and he’s the only one left in his family.”
Fan Changyu understood Madam Zhao’s implied meaning but remained stunned for a good while.
Seeing no response from her, Madam Zhao had to make her intentions clearer, “He’s injured and has nowhere to go, right? How about… I help you ask that young man what he thinks?”
Perhaps because she had already thought of matchmaking, the more Madam Zhao looked at Fan Changyu, the more she felt that she and that young man were a good match. Changyu herself was capable, and even if that young man truly became disabled in the future, she could support the family on her own.
Moreover, after being turned away by the Song family when seeking help today, Madam Zhao was furious at Song Yan’s ingratitude. Thinking that the young man’s appearance was even more handsome than Song Yan’s, she felt even more satisfied.
Fan Changyu’s mind was in chaos at this moment. Hearing this, she only said, “Madam, please don’t ask him yet. Let me think it over carefully first. When I’ve made up my mind, I’ll ask him myself.”
Madam Zhao knew that Fan Changyu was always decisive, so she didn’t say anything more after hearing this. After helping Fan Changyu tidy up the room, she and her husband returned home.
Chang Ning had a habit of taking afternoon naps. Having cried earlier and feeling tired, she fell asleep and was carried to the bed by Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu lay down on the bed fully clothed, staring at the canopy with an empty mind.
Song Yan and the man who called himself Yan Zheng appeared overlapping in her mind.
Come to think of it, although she and Song Yan were childhood sweethearts and betrothed since young, the memories concerning the two of them were pitifully few.
Song Yan was always busy. Before he was admitted to the county school, he had been studying hard. Although both families lived in the same alley, to avoid disturbing Song Yan’s studies, she rarely went to see him. If she did go, it was mostly because her parents asked her to deliver something to the Song family, sometimes meat, sometimes pastries.
At that time, Song Yan’s mother was very kind to her, saying that Song Yan was studying hard to pass the imperial examinations so that she could enjoy a good life in the future.
Later, when Song Yan was admitted to the county school, which provided room and board, he spent even less time at home, making it even harder for Fan Changyu to see him.
Once, when she followed her father to the county fair, Song Yan’s mother made a new set of clothes for Song Yan and asked them to bring it to him.
That was Fan Changyu’s first time going to the county school. She thought the school buildings looked very grand. After the doorman passed on the message, Song Yan came out to see her. She handed over the new clothes his mother had made for him, and he thanked her with a bland expression.
A passing classmate laughingly asked Song Yan who she was, and he answered that she was his younger sister.
On the way back that day, Fan Changyu felt dejected. She could sense that Song Yan didn’t want her to visit him.
Having a butcher’s daughter as his fiancée probably made him feel embarrassed in front of his classmates.
In fact, from that time on, she had thought about breaking off the engagement with Song Yan if he didn’t like her, but her parents seemed to like Song Yan very much, thinking he was ambitious.
Song Yan’s mother also liked her a lot at that time, often saying in front of others that once Song Yan passed the provincial examinations, he would have the chance to marry her. Others all praised her for her good fortune.
Fan Changyu had only privately mentioned breaking off the engagement to Song Yan once. At that time, Song Yan was reviewing his lessons. Hearing this, he raised his eyes, which rarely showed any emotion, and asked her, “Marriage is a major life event, determined by parents’ orders and matchmakers’ words. Are you treating it as child’s play?”
Fan Changyu felt that his words meant he was refusing to break off the engagement. Knowing his attitude, she never mentioned it again.
Later, her parents passed away, and Song Yan’s mother came to break off the engagement, citing incompatible horoscopes.
Perhaps because her parents’ death had already exhausted all her sorrow, or maybe because there wasn’t much feeling to begin with, now when she thought of Song Yan, she didn’t feel sad at all.
As for the man called Yan Zheng whom she had saved, she knew even less about him.
He knew just as little about her. To abruptly ask him if he was willing to marry into the family when he was seriously injured and had nowhere to go seemed somewhat like taking advantage of his gratitude and his difficult situation.
Her engagement with Song Yan had also been arranged because her parents had done a favor for the Song family.
Fan Changyu didn’t want to go through another troublesome engagement like the one with Song Yan, but she truly had no other choice at the moment.
After much thought, she felt that maybe she should discuss with the man called Yan Zheng and ask if he would be willing to pretend to marry into the family.
She only needed to keep the family property. After he recovered, he could stay or leave as he wished.
If he wanted to leave, Fan Changyu naturally wouldn’t stop him. She had saved his life, and he would help her through this difficult time by pretending to marry in. They would be even.
If he wanted to stay… Fan Changyu thought of his face, as clear and pure as the moon and snow, and felt that she wouldn’t be at a loss either.
In the attic of the Zhao house, Xie Zheng, who had just taken a message from the gyrfalcon’s leg, suddenly sneezed.
He frowned impatiently, wondering if he could have caught a cold.
The pure white gyrfalcon gripped the wooden windowsill tightly with its iron hook-like claws, tilting its head slightly and staring at its master with intelligent button eyes.
Xie Zheng unfolded the message and, upon reading its contents, his expression immediately turned ugly, followed by a cold, mocking smile at the corner of his mouth.
That person couldn’t rest easy for a day without seeing his corpse. They had already sent someone to Huizhou to take over his forces, and the one sent was that person.
The message was thrown into the charcoal brazier in the corner of the bed, quickly turning to ashes.
Xie Zheng leaned back against the headboard. The cold wind blowing in through the wide-open window ruffled his bangs but couldn’t dispel the gloom on his face.
The one who had taken over his military power in Huizhou probably wanted him dead even more than the person in the capital. At present, his old subordinates could barely protect themselves and wouldn’t dare to act rashly, lest that person sniff out their trail like a wild dog.
Before his wounds healed, he could only lie low here and make long-term plans.
Xie Zheng glanced at the fresh bloodstains on his clothes, his expression becoming even more self-loathing and impatient.
“Coo?” The gyrfalcon, having waited long for instructions, tilted its head to the other side and continued to stare at its master with its button eyes.
“Get lost.”
Xie Zheng impatiently closed his eyes, his handsome face showing a rare hint of fragility due to its extreme paleness.
The gyrfalcon seemed used to hearing him say this. Having received the order, it flapped its wings contentedly and flew away.
Xie Zheng had indeed caught a cold.
Fan Changyu had spent the entire afternoon preparing what she wanted to say to him. In the evening, she specially stir-fried two small dishes and cut a plate of braised pig’s head meat to bring to him. However, when she called out several times outside the attic door, there was no response from inside.
Worried that something might have happened to the person inside, she pushed the door open directly, only to find him lying on the bed with an unnaturally flushed face, looking dazed.
Fan Changyu hurriedly called for Carpenter Zhao. After checking his pulse, Zhao consulted his tattered medical book for a long time and wrote the most conservative prescription for treating a cold.
Fan Changyu knocked on the door of the closed pharmacy late at night to get the medicine, brought it back, decocted it, and made him drink it. Soon after, he broke out in a sweat.
However, when Carpenter Zhao was wiping Xie Zheng’s sweat and changing his bandages, he noticed that his wounds seemed to have reopened, with quite a bit of blood staining the gauze, which he found strange.
When Xie Zheng woke up again, it was already the next morning.
The fever had subsided, and his head was no longer dizzy, but his throat was painfully dry.
To make it convenient for him to pour water himself, the old couple had specially placed a round stool by his bed with a teapot and a coarse pottery cup on it.
Xie Zheng propped himself up to a half-sitting position and was about to pour himself a cup of water when the door suddenly opened. The young woman entered carrying a large bowl and said, “The tea is cold. You’ve just recovered from a fever, don’t drink it. I’ve made you a bowl of pig lung soup.”
Carpenter Zhao said that pig lung soup had the effects of clearing heat, stopping coughs, and moistening the lungs. They had slaughtered a pig yesterday and still had a bucket of offal left, so Fan Changyu used the pig’s lungs to make soup.
Xie Zheng thanked her in a hoarse voice. Since this time the food wasn’t intestines, he started drinking without any psychological burden.
But as soon as it entered his mouth, his expression became strange.
Under Fan Changyu’s gaze, he silently swallowed that mouthful of pig lung soup and asked, “Did you make this?”
Fan Changyu nodded, “Yes, why?”
Although it was her first time making this pig lung soup.
Xie Zheng held the bowl but didn’t drink anymore. He said, “Nothing.”
He just found it hard to believe that this bowl of pig lung soup and the previous fatty intestine noodles were made by the same person.
Fan Changyu was still urging him, “You should finish it while it’s hot. Uncle Zhao said pig lung soup stops coughs and moistens the lungs, it’s good for your health.”
Xie Zheng: “… It’s a bit hot, I’ll drink it later.”
He thought that after saying this much, the woman in front of him would leave, but to his surprise, she pulled over a chair and sat down: “I don’t think I’ve told you my name yet. My surname is Fan, and my given name is Changyu. People in town just call me by my given name, you can do the same from now on.”
Xie Zheng nodded slightly. He had heard that old woman call her name before, so he already knew it.
He didn’t respond much, and the room fell into silence again.
Fan Changyu felt a bit embarrassed trying to force a conversation but thinking of her purpose, she had to continue asking, “You said earlier that your surname is Yan, and your given name is Zheng. Which ‘Yan’ and which ‘Zheng’ characters?”
Xie Zheng answered, “The ‘Yan’ from ‘reasonable speech’ and the ‘Zheng’ from ‘upright gentleman’.”
Sensing that Fan Changyu might not have studied much and might not understand which two characters he meant, he dipped his finger in the cold tea and wrote the characters “言正” stroke by stroke on the round stool by the bed.
These two characters were each formed by taking a radical from his original name.
His index finger was very long and slender, with distinct knuckles, like a delicate bamboo. It should have been a very beautiful hand for writing, but there were crisscrossing scars of varying depths on both the fingertips and the back of the hand, making it hard to imagine what he had been through before.
Even using his fingertip as a brush, the characters he wrote carried an inherent strength. Fan Changyu inexplicably became entranced.
It wasn’t until he finished the last horizontal stroke of the character “正” that his low, hoarse voice sounded, “These two characters.”
She suddenly came back to her senses, and when she spoke again, there was some hesitation in her voice: “Were you a scholar before?”
His handwriting was extremely good, seeming to have even more character than Song Yan’s.
However, Xie Zheng said, “I’m just a mere warrior, how dare I claim to be a scholar.”
His words seemed self-deprecating, but strangely carried a hint of arrogant mockery, as if he greatly disliked those so-called scholars.
Fan Changyu breathed a sigh of relief and asked again, “Then what did you do for a living before?”
Xie Zheng’s brows furrowed imperceptibly, feeling that she was quite intent on getting to the bottom of things today. But considering that she had saved him and was willing to take him in while he recovered, it was understandable for her to ask for more details.
After some thought, he said, “It wasn’t much of a proper occupation. I used to work for an escort agency.”
To his surprise, the woman’s face suddenly lit up with joy: “What a coincidence! My father also worked as an escort when he was young!”
Xie Zheng: “… Indeed, quite a coincidence.”
Fortunately, she didn’t continue to ask about the escort agency. With her hands clasped together, seeming quite nervous, she asked him another question: “Are you married?”
Xie Zheng scrutinized the woman in front of him. Under his gaze, she seemed somewhat embarrassed, but notably not shy.
For a moment, he couldn’t figure out the meaning behind her question. He answered truthfully, “No, I’m not.”
Fan Changyu’s hands were almost red from her pinching before she finally threw caution to the wind and said, “Well… I want to ask for your help. My family is in some trouble. After my parents passed away, my uncle has been intent on taking over our house and land. Yesterday, he tried to forcibly take the land deed but failed. I’m afraid he’ll go to the government office to file a lawsuit next. If the government makes a judgment, since my parents had no sons, the property would naturally go to my uncle. The only way to keep the property now is for me to quickly find a husband to marry into the family.”
Xie Zheng’s eyelid twitched violently: “You want me to marry into your family?”