Fan Changyu quickly said, “It’s a fake marriage.”
She explained her plan in detail: “After we perform the wedding ceremony, we’ll claim to others that you’ve married into my family. This will help me keep the property my parents left behind. My family still has some modest savings. Once the property is transferred, we’ll be able to manage it financially. I’ll hire the best doctor in town for you and use the best medicine to treat your injuries. After you’ve recovered, you can choose to stay or leave as you wish.”
Xie Zheng raised his eyes, the upturned corners making him appear even more aloof: “Aren’t you afraid that after I leave, your uncle will come back to claim the property?”
Fan Changyu replied, “Once the property is transferred, I won’t be afraid of him no matter how much fuss he makes. Besides, when you leave, I’ll just say you’ve gone on a long journey for some business. Others won’t know if it’s true or not.”
Xie Zheng said with an ambiguous tone, “You’ve thought this through quite thoroughly.”
Fan Changyu couldn’t tell if his comment was praise or criticism. She awkwardly asked, “So… what do you think?”
“Let me think about it.” His eyelids were half-lowered, his expression unreadable, as if he was truly considering it.
Fan Changyu couldn’t help feeling nervous. She recalled what she had just said – although she mentioned he could stay or leave as he wished after recovering, she hadn’t mentioned what she would give him if he left, or what she could offer if he stayed.
She quickly thought it over and added, “If you want to leave after you’ve recovered, I’ll give you enough money for your journey. If you have nowhere to go…”
She glanced at his pale face and injured body. Because his undergarments had been soaked with blood yesterday, and Carpenter Zhao couldn’t find any clothes for him to change into, he had put on his own tattered coarse linen clothes for now.
His hands, besides various scrapes, were covered with a layer of thick calluses and cracks, showing that he hadn’t lived an easy life before.
Now he was both sick and poor. Fan Changyu made a bold promise: “Don’t worry, I’ll slaughter pigs to support you in the future!”
Xie Zheng: “…”
The expression on his face at this moment was truly spectacular.
If anyone who knew him had been present, they probably would have already imagined their demise just from hearing these words.
Under the heavens, this woman before him was probably the only one who dared to brazenly claim she would support him.
However, if she knew his true name, she probably wouldn’t say such things to him, and might not even have saved him from dying in the snow.
Thinking of this, Xie Zheng’s eyes held a hint of mockery.
He asked, “Why?”
Fan Changyu didn’t understand his meaning: “What?”
He was unusually patient at this moment, seemingly quite curious about her reason for saying she would support him: “We’re not related in any way. If these injuries of mine don’t heal, there’s a high chance I’ll become disabled. What do you gain from supporting me?”
Fan Changyu answered honestly: “You’re good-looking.”
Xie Zheng was stunned, not expecting such a shallow reason. After a while, he frowned and asked, “Just because of that?”
Fan Changyu blinked as if to say “What else?”
Xie Zheng naturally knew his appearance was above average, but being so directly complimented on his looks was a first for him. He said, “There are many good-looking people in the world.”
Fan Changyu said, “But you’re the one I happened to carry back from the snow.”
She had only meant to explain her response to his statement about there being many good-looking people in the world, but unexpectedly, after she finished speaking, his gaze on her became even stranger.
Fan Changyu belatedly realized that her words could be easily misunderstood and hurriedly tried to explain: “What I mean is, perhaps everything happens for a reason…”
She, who valued appearances, just happened to save someone who looked exceptionally good. So she thought that if he had nowhere to go in the future, and if their personalities were compatible, it wouldn’t be bad to make do and live together.
If he wasn’t interested, she definitely wouldn’t force him. After all, a forced melon isn’t sweet.
However, he didn’t give her a chance to finish explaining. He frowned and interrupted her: “After I’ve recovered, I will leave on my own. I won’t trouble Miss Fan any further.”
His eyes and brows were cold as if he had already decided that she had improper intentions towards him.
Fan Changyu found it hard to explain: “…That’s fine.”
He seemed unwilling to have any further entanglement with her and didn’t want to owe her anything. He spoke coldly again: “Miss Fan, please make a wish. I will repay the kindness of saving my life in the future.”
Fan Changyu waved her hand dejectedly: “If you’re willing to fake marry into my family to help me keep the property, that’s already a great help to me.”
She wouldn’t say anything more, to avoid further misunderstandings. How embarrassing that would be.
Unexpectedly, she heard him say: “The fake marriage will only count as repayment for taking me in.”
Fan Changyu looked up in surprise, staring at his exceptionally handsome face, and asked uncertainly: “Do you mean… you agree to the fake marriage?”
Xie Zheng nodded slightly.
Fan Changyu almost cried with joy: “We can sign a contract as proof, set a time limit for the marriage, and when the time is up, I’ll immediately write you a divorce letter. I won’t force you to stay. If you want to leave early, I’ll give you travel money and a divorce letter, and won’t stop you.”
This way, he wouldn’t have to worry about her having improper intentions and refusing to let him go when the time came.
Xie Zheng: “…That won’t be necessary.”
He lowered his eyes and asked again: “What is Miss Fan’s wish?”
Fan Changyu thought for a moment and said, “I want to start running the pigsty my father left behind as soon as possible, and hopefully raise a hundred pigs in the future.”
“…”
This wish was truly simple and unpretentious, and once again related to pigs.
Xie Zheng was silent for a moment: “Miss Fan can aim higher.”
Fan Changyu thought to herself that a hundred pigs would be worth at least a hundred taels of silver. In town, a two-courtyard house would only cost about a hundred taels. How was this wish small?
She dishonestly stated a larger number: “Then… two hundred pigs?”
Xie Zheng: “…”
Fine, he’d give her more silver when he left in the future.
Fan Changyu saw his silence and thought she had asked for too much. She awkwardly said, “There’s an old saying that saving a life is better than… better than building a pagoda. I’m not expecting you to repay me…”
Xie Zheng’s eyelid twitched slightly when he heard her misquote the saying “Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.” He interrupted her: “I will remember Miss Fan’s kindness.”
Since he had said this, Fan Changyu didn’t continue the topic. She asked, “So… since you’ve agreed to the fake marriage, is there anything else you want to ask me?”
The man sitting by the window just shook his head slightly, seemingly not taking this so-called marriage seriously.
Fan Changyu thought it made sense. After all, it was all fake. They weren’t getting married, so there was no need to thoroughly investigate each other’s family background.
She said, “The wedding might be a bit rushed, probably in the next day or two.”
Xie Zheng only said, “You can arrange it as you see fit.”
His eyelashes, like raven feathers, were half-lowered, hiding all the deep emotions in his eyes: “However, my household registration documents were also taken by the bandits. I suppose I’ll need to go to the government office to get new ones.”
Fan Changyu said, “That’s not difficult. Since you’re marrying into my family, we can just add you to my household registration later.”
Now that both parties had reached an agreement, Fan Changyu didn’t linger any longer. She stood up to go prepare for the wedding.
Before leaving, she saw that he hadn’t drunk much of the pig lung soup and reminded him: “The soup must be cold by now. You should drink it.”
Xie Zheng: “…Mm.”
Did she not know that the pig lung soup she made tasted very strange?
Left alone in the room, he opened the window and looked at the sky after the snow, his eyes gradually deepening in color.
The person who had taken over his military power was like a mad dog. Unable to find his corpse, they would likely soon thoroughly investigate the refugees who had fled to nearby prefectures and counties.
He could fabricate a false identity, but he couldn’t forge household registration documents. If the Jizhou government also started investigating refugees without household registrations, he would soon be exposed.
According to the current dynasty’s laws, if one married into a family, they could change their household registration to that of the family they married into.
This was the real reason he agreed to the fake marriage.
As for that woman…
His gaze unconsciously fell on the pig lung soup placed nearby.
He had already granted her a wish, and she also had her motives for the fake marriage, so he didn’t owe her anything more.
Recalling her matter-of-fact statement “You’re good-looking,” his handsome brows furrowed involuntarily.
Huh, how shallow.
He put his fingers to his lips and blew a clear, high-pitched whistle. In no time, a pure white gyrfalcon swooped down from the sky and landed steadily on the windowsill.
Xie Zheng handed the bowl to it: “Eat it.”
The gyrfalcon looked at the cooked pig lung slices in the bowl with its black button eyes and stubbornly turned its head away.
Xie Zheng gave it a look, and the gyrfalcon reluctantly picked up a piece of pig liver and swallowed it.
As luck would have it, just as Fan Changyu had agreed to the fake marriage, Constable Wang secretly sent someone to inform her that Fan Da had indeed found someone to write a petition to the county yamen, and the case would likely be heard in the coming days.
When the old Zhao couple heard this news, they were so anxious that blisters formed on their lips. Fan Changyu, however, remained calm and said, “We’ll keep the wedding simple. We’ll just invite the neighbors for a meal to let everyone know I’ve taken in a husband.”
To avoid worrying the old couple too much and to prevent others from noticing any flaws, she hadn’t told them yet that this marriage was fake.
Madam Zhao worried, “There’s no time to make wedding clothes…”
Fan Changyu didn’t think it was a big deal: “Wearing red clothes should be enough, right?”
The money she had from selling pork and the compensation from the gambling house incident added up to only three taels of silver. This small amount needed to be spent wisely.
However, while she had new clothes to wear, the man who was preparing to marry into her family didn’t. His original clothes were tattered and torn, and during his recovery, he had been wearing a loose undergarment with one of Carpenter Zhao’s old jackets. On the wedding day, he would need at least one set of new clothes.
Fan Changyu gritted her teeth and spent half a tael of silver to buy a bolt of dark red fabric from the cloth shop. She asked the seamstress who lived in the alley to make a set of new clothes for him.
Fan Changyu had chosen this dark red fabric with consideration. It could serve as wedding attire on the day of the ceremony and could also be worn as ordinary clothing on regular days.
When the seamstress heard that Fan Changyu was getting married, she said some auspicious words with a smile. Knowing Fan Changyu’s family circumstances weren’t easy, she refused to accept any payment for her work, saying that making this wedding outfit would be her wedding gift.
However, she still needed to take measurements.
Fan Changyu had wanted to ask Uncle Zhao for help, but he had gone out to buy various items needed for the wedding. She had no choice but to go up to the attic herself: “You don’t have any suitable clothes for the wedding day, so I’m here to take your measurements for a new set of clothes.”
Xie Zheng nodded compliantly.
To get more accurate measurements, he didn’t wear Carpenter Zhao’s old jacket, only wearing an undergarment and exposing his back to Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu spread her thumb and index finger, measuring from his left shoulder to his right shoulder. Through the thin layer of the undergarment, her fingertips could feel the warm, firm muscles.
Although she had touched him before when he was seriously injured and coughing blood, helping him pat his back to ease his breathing, at that time it was a matter of life and death, and she had no distracting thoughts. But now, perhaps because neither of them was speaking and the room was so quiet that their breaths could be heard, she inexplicably felt somewhat embarrassed.
She tried to minimize physical contact with him, fearing he might misunderstand her intentions again, while also trying to ignore the warmth transmitted through her fingertips, focusing on remembering the measurements.
“One foot and five inches.” After taking the measurements, she hurriedly handed the old clothes back to Xie Zheng for him to put on, seemingly eager to avoid him.
She couldn’t help but wonder to herself, this person looked thin but unexpectedly had broad shoulders and back. His clothing size was almost the same as her father’s.
Before leaving, she told him about the general process for tomorrow’s wedding: “The wedding is set for tomorrow afternoon. Since it’s inconvenient for you to go downstairs, Uncle Zhao will carry you down at that time.”
“Wedding” sounds similar to “dusk” in Chinese, so dusk was considered an auspicious time.
For some unknown reason, he refused firmly: “No need, I’ll use a crutch to go downstairs myself.”
Fan Changyu worried, “Won’t that tear open your wounds?”
“It’s fine.”
Seeing his insistence, Fan Changyu let it be and went home to continue preparing for the wedding.
Hosting a banquet for guests was unavoidable. She took out one tael of silver to buy a pig. Madam Zhao, who was in charge of cooking, helped her visit the neighbors and invited skilled aunties to come help tomorrow.
They also needed to prepare some wedding candies and pastries.
Although they said everything would be kept simple, when all the expenses were added up, the three taels of silver she had on hand were completely spent without a single coin left.
Fan Changyu was busy until the hour of Hai (9-11 pm) without a moment’s rest. Madam Zhao, who had no children of her own, helped her prepare for the wedding as if she were arranging it for her daughter, bustling about with her.
After Chang Ning had fallen asleep, Madam Zhao mysteriously handed her a small booklet.
Fan Changyu glanced at it and quickly closed it, half embarrassed and half flustered: “He’s injured like that, this won’t be necessary…”
Madam Zhao glared at her: “There will come a time when it’s needed.”
Fan Changyu had to reluctantly accept the booklet.
The seamstress was skilled and had finished a set of wedding clothes by that night and brought them over.
Fan Changyu had originally only intended to have clothes made for Xie Zheng, but unexpectedly, the seamstress had managed to save enough fabric and had made a matching set for her as well.
The seamstress said with a smile, “How can newlyweds wear different clothes on their wedding day? I saw there was enough leftover fabric to make another set for you, so I worked hard to make it. Please don’t mind if the craftsmanship isn’t good.”
Fan Changyu had had clothes made by the seamstress before, so her measurements were on file.
Fan Changyu felt a mix of emotions: “Thank you, Aunt Fang.”
The seamstress urged, “Quickly try it on and let me and your aunt see. If it doesn’t fit well, we can still make alterations now.”
Due to the limited fabric, the seamstress had cut the wedding clothes in a very simple style, not much different from ordinary clothes, but the design was elegant and unadorned.
Fan Changyu went into the room to change and came out. Madam Zhao and the seamstress both said she looked good. The seamstress teased, “Tomorrow with the veil on, you’ll be a beautiful bride!”
Fan Changyu asked, “Since he’s marrying into my family, shouldn’t the veil be for the groom?”
The seamstress and Madam Zhao burst into laughter: “You silly girl…”
Fan Changyu was simply curious; if that man truly came to marry her, she feared he might turn on her right then and there.
Speaking of the groom, the seamstress grew intrigued. “I heard your betrothed was rescued from mountain bandits at Hu Cha Kou by you. Is he handsome?”
Before Fan Changyu could respond, Lady Zhao chimed in, “You’ll see him at the wedding tomorrow!”
The seamstress laughed in agreement, teasing a bit more before heading home.
When Lady Zhao spoke privately with Fan Changyu, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness, thinking about how her daughter would soon be married. “Those daughters from wealthy families are carried down from their embroidery rooms on the day of their weddings, riding in bridal palanquins with music playing to their husbands’ homes…”
Fan Changyu didn’t feel sad; instead, she recalled her conversation with Yan Zheng, when she had asked him to carry her downstairs the next day and he had coldly refused.
Was that his reason for rejecting her?
That night, the lights in the Fan household burned late, as did those in the neighboring Song household.
Song Mu woke in the night and noticed a light still shining in her son’s room. She knocked on the door, saying, “Yan, it’s so late. You should get some rest.”
A calm voice responded from within, “I’ll finish this scroll and then sleep.”
Half feeling pity for her son and half feeling pride, Song Mu told him, “Just don’t stay up too late,” before returning to her room.
Inside, the candlelight flickered brightly, but Song Yan held the scroll without turning a single page. The inkstone and brush lay toppled on the floor, creating a mess in the room.
His hand, clutching the scroll, was tense enough that his knuckles turned white.
She was getting married?