Li Mu was stunned and slowly furrowed his brow.

“Who told you about some Bajun beauty?”

Luoshen struggled to push him away forcefully, raised the back of her hand, and quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. She said angrily, “Sun Fangzhi! Today at the birthday feast, in front of so many people—would he make things up out of thin air?”

She sneered coldly, turned her face away, not wanting to see this increasingly detestable face of his anymore.

Only then did Li Mu understand what had happened.

He guessed that today Sun Fangzhi had drunk several cups of yellow wine and couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Taking advantage of Li Mu’s absence at the birthday feast, he had bragged wildly, causing this trouble for him.

Seeing her in such a rage, how dare he be negligent? He hastily turned her face back toward him and explained, “Don’t listen to his nonsense! Earlier, a local chieftain did send over a dancing girl, but how could I keep her? That very night I had someone send her away!”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but curse inwardly.

This Sun Fangzhi must have only mentioned the first half of the story without mentioning the second half, getting him into this predicament where he couldn’t even sleep in the bed.

Luoshen stared at him, “Really?”

“Absolutely true! If you don’t believe me, I’ll have someone summon him right now for you to question as you please!”

Luoshen snorted, “Do you take me for a fool? If you summon him, would he dare speak ill of you?”

Li Mu smiled bitterly.

After thinking for a moment, he said again, “A’Mi, you must trust me. I, Li Mu, dare not call myself a gentleman, but having already married you as my wife, how could I go and entangle myself with other women? If you don’t believe me, I can swear to you.”

Although she had heard it said that men’s sweet words and vows of eternal love should never be taken seriously.

But at this moment, truly hearing him make such earnest promises to her, every limb and bone in her body, every tiny pore, still felt as if a warm breeze had passed over them, gradually becoming comfortable.

The hatred and anger that had been churning in her heart for half the day finally slowly dissipated, though her heart still carried a few traces of melancholy.

Comparing the two situations, she felt even more infinitely dejected.

In his eyes, just how utterly bland had she become?

She increasingly suspected that his marrying her had ulterior motives.

But this question that she had once blurted out without getting an answer—now for some reason, she no longer dared to ask it.

She closed her eyes and said, “Forget it, no need for flowery words in front of me. Just remember it yourself.”

Li Mu saw that she was finally willing to let this matter go and sighed with relief. But hearing her cold tone and seeing her closed eyes, she appeared somewhat weary. He hesitated for a moment, then covered her with the quilt and said gently, “I’ll remember. If you’re tired, then sleep.”

Luoshen gave a faint “mm” and turned over, her back facing him.

Her temper was truly like the weather in June—a child’s face that changed at will.

Fortunately, it came quickly and left quickly too. Just moments ago she was furious, and now she was ready to sleep.

Li Mu watched her back for a while, sighed quietly to himself, extinguished the lamp, and lay down as well.

That night, both had their own thoughts that could not be spoken aloud.

Luoshen’s mind wandered chaotically, her tender heart tied in knots. When she opened her eyes at dawn, she found that Li Mu had already risen.

On the sword stand in the corner of the room, his sword was also gone.

He had a habit of rising early to practice martial arts—at this hour he was probably practicing swordwork again.

Luoshen slowly climbed up, disheveled and listless. She sat on the bed, staring blankly at the bedding on the couch outside the curtains that she had moved out last night but hadn’t had time to put away.

Mother had said she should use methods to make her husband completely obedient.

What exactly were these methods?

Could it be that she, Gao Luoshen, would really have to lose face to the point of asking A’Ju for advice?

Suddenly, the sound of pattering footsteps came from outside. A’Ting had come early in the morning.

She had seen her brother go to the back courtyard to practice swordwork. Since she was just learning to play the flute and was at the height of her enthusiasm, having felt she had made some progress these past two days, she came early in the morning with her flute, wanting to play for her sister-in-law to hear.

Luoshen heard her talking with the sweeping maid outside, roused her spirits, got out of bed, tidied her hair, put on her clothes, opened the door, and smilingly invited her in.

A’Ting happily entered, saying she would play the flute for her sister-in-law to hear and asking for guidance.

Luoshen naturally smiled and nodded, hurriedly rolling up the bedding on the couch and asking her to sit down.

A’Ting sat cross-legged, cleared her throat, puffed out her cheeks, and began to play.

She was quite clever at reading, but her comprehension of music was limited. Having studied for some time, what she produced was still a series of whining sounds with the melody wandering terribly. This caused several maids outside to secretly cover their mouths and giggle, though she herself was quite pleased with her performance. After finishing one piece, she eagerly asked how it was.

Although Luoshen had started the morning troubled, she was also amused by A’Ting’s otherworldly flute melody. Seeing her looking at her expectantly, she suppressed her laughter, first encouraged her, then patiently gave some guidance. A’Ting nodded continuously and played whining sounds again. Suddenly hearing footsteps outside the door, she turned to see her brother returning with his sword. Knowing she shouldn’t stay any longer, she jumped down from the couch and left with a smile.

The early morning weather was still quite cold, yet Li Mu wore only a single shirt, his back soaked with sweat. Seeing him enter to wash up, Luoshen was too lazy to pay attention to him and summoned someone to help her wash and arrange her hair.

While the couple each attended to their own affairs, A’Ting went to Lu Shi’s side to help her comb and pin up her hair.

Lu Shi laughed, “I heard you whining away on that flute again early this morning. Be careful not to disturb your sister-in-law’s sleep.”

A’Ting said with a smile, “I won’t! I just came back from sister-in-law’s place. Brother went to practice swordwork, and sister-in-law was alone in the room. She was already awake and even taught me for a while!”

Lu Shi shook her head, “You! Fortunately your sister-in-law has a good temperament and doesn’t find you clumsy and bothersome.”

A’Ting pouted, “Sister-in-law wouldn’t find me bothersome! Anyway, brother will be leaving in a few days. Mother, I want to move in and sleep with sister-in-law. Is that all right?”

Lu Shi shook her head, “No. You sleep restlessly and might disturb her.”

“Mother, I won’t!”

A’Ting pleaded, and suddenly remembered the bedding she had seen on the couch this morning that seemed to have been slept in. Her eyes lit up.

“Mother, this morning I saw bedding on the couch in sister-in-law’s room. If that won’t work, I could sleep there! I just want to live in the same room as sister-in-law. Please agree, Mother! Sister-in-law will definitely agree!”

A’Ting was straightforward and spoke whatever she saw. Her unintentional words, reaching Lu Shi’s ears, carried a completely different meaning. She was startled and asked, “Bedding on the couch? You didn’t see wrong?”

“How could I see wrong?” A’Ting said, “It looked like someone had slept there last night, just spread out there. When brother leaves, why not let me sleep there!”

Lu Shi frowned slightly and said no more. As she was pondering, she suddenly heard footsteps outside and knew her son and Luoshen were coming together. She quickly put on a smile. After the two entered and they all had breakfast together and chatted briefly, when the two were about to take their leave, Lu Shi kept her son behind.

Luoshen left first. Left alone with Li Mu, he stepped forward and asked, “Mother kept me—is there something?”

Lu Shi ordered him to close the door. When he returned, she frowned and said, “This morning I heard A’Ting say that there was bedding on the couch in your room that seemed to have been slept in last night. What’s this all about? Could it be that you two had a quarrel and are sleeping separately?”

Li Mu was startled and couldn’t help but regret that he had rushed out to practice swordwork this morning, forgetting to put away that bedding. It had fallen under A’Ting’s eyes and caused this trouble.

He hurriedly said, “Mother is overthinking. Your son and A’Mi are doing well. Last night it was just initially cold, so we added an extra quilt. Later when it got hot, we put it on the couch. That’s all—there’s absolutely nothing else.”

Lu Shi was silent for a moment, then said, “That’s good then. You must treat A’Mi well and not let her feel even the slightest bit hurt.”

Li Mu repeatedly agreed.

Lu Shi, seeing she could get nothing more from questioning and knowing he had other matters, dismissed him. She herself went to the spinning wheel as usual, sat down to spin thread daily, but the knot in her heart that had formed from A’Ting’s words that morning could never be dispelled.

Her eyes could not see, but her other senses were much more acute than ordinary people’s.

The Gao family daughter had married down to their family, and moreover, though she hadn’t understood the details at the time, she vaguely knew that her son had used some methods to marry her. So since Luoshen’s arrival, Lu Shi paid particular attention to her emotional changes in daily life.

During these days of constant contact, Lu Shi had already sensed that Luoshen seemed to have something on her mind. She had been secretly speculating, and this morning A’Ting’s remark had awakened her, so she directly called her son to question him.

Though his response was flawless, once Lu Shi had become suspicious, how could she easily dismiss it? She hesitated, just thinking of going to probe her daughter-in-law’s intentions, when she heard footsteps outside. It was exactly Luoshen coming, saying Li Mu had gone out again on business and she had nothing to do, so she came to keep her company while spinning.

Lu Shi smilingly asked her to sit beside her, dismissed all the servants and maids, and while making the spinning wheel hum, chatted idly with her.

After talking for a while, she asked, “A’Mi, does Mu’er treat you well?”

Luoshen was helping her wind thread and paused momentarily, “Well.”

“Have you two had any unpleasantness recently? I feel you seem to have something on your mind.”

Luoshen continued winding the thread but slowly began to daydream.

If Mother knew that Li Mu still hadn’t touched her, what would Mother think?

Would she think she was useless?

Luoshen felt a bit panicked and immediately shook her head. Suddenly realizing Lu Shi couldn’t see, she quickly added with emphasis, “Mother, I don’t have anything on my mind!”

“Last night you two slept separately, didn’t you?”

Just as she opened her mouth, she heard Mother ask this question and couldn’t help but be startled.

Before she could decide whether to admit it or deny it, she saw Lu Shi stop her spinning hand, turn her face toward her direction, and say with a gentle smile, “If Mu’er doesn’t treat you well and you’ve suffered grievances, don’t keep it bottled up inside. Whatever it is, you must tell Mother. Mother will stand up for you!”

Luoshen stared blankly at the kind Lu Shi, thinking of the grievances in her heart that she couldn’t tell anyone. Her nose gradually became sour.

Lu Shi immediately keenly sensed her emotions and pulled her into her arms.

“You two really slept separately last night?”

How dare Luoshen really mention last night’s events in front of her? She shook her head glumly, “No…”

Lu Shi sighed with relief, but thinking again, she felt something was wrong, “Then why are you so melancholy? Could it be that Mu’er doesn’t treat you considerately enough?”

Luoshen continued shaking her head.

Lu Shi kept guessing.

Luoshen kept shaking her head.

Lu Shi became anxious.

“A’Mi, don’t hide anything. If you have grievances, tell Mother everything!”

“Mother, I really have nothing…”

Luoshen felt utterly wronged, her voice carrying a crying tone, but she just buried her face in Lu Shi’s arms, motionless.

Lu Shi coaxed from left and right, but just couldn’t get her to speak. Anxious and helpless, she had to give up.

After a while, A’Ting came looking for Luoshen to learn the flute, so Lu Shi sent Luoshen back. As soon as she left, Lu Shi immediately summoned A’Ju to ask about her son and daughter-in-law.

She sighed, “I can hear that A’Mi has grievances. But no matter how I ask, she just won’t say. I was thinking that you are someone close to A’Mi, so I called you here to get to the bottom of this.”

A’Ju hurried to the door, looked around to make sure no one was there, closed the door, then returned to Lu Shi and whispered, “Since Madam honors me so, I’ll speak. If I haven’t guessed wrong, Li Langjun has yet to consummate the marriage with our young mistress. The young mistress feels wronged in her heart too. But she’s thin-skinned and a woman—how could she go around talking about such things? Even when I ask her, she won’t speak. I’m just guessing myself. Whether it’s true or not, I dare not say for certain.”

Lu Shi was greatly shocked.

Originally she had only been worried that when her son forcibly married the Gao family daughter, though he had brought her home, there might be friction in their daily interactions. Both were young, and she didn’t know how they got along behind closed doors.

Just now when Luoshen was present, she had clearly heard her grievance and had been wondering and guessing endlessly.

But she never would have imagined that the New Year had passed and it was nearly the end of the first month, yet her son still hadn’t consummated the marriage with his wife!

No wonder Luoshen had seemed ready to cry in front of her just now, yet wouldn’t utter a single word!

Her anger instantly flared up.

In front of A’Ju, she forced herself to hold back, only saying, “Could such a thing really happen? Very well, when Mu’er returns, I’ll question him again about what exactly is going on!”

Before coming to Jingkou, A’Ju knew that Eldest Princess had acknowledged Li Mu as her son-in-law and had received instructions. Additionally, knowing that Li Mu had secretly helped Eldest Princess resolve the matter of accidentally killing Zhu Shi, she was grateful to Li Mu and her attitude had naturally changed. Seeing that Luoshen and Li Mu still seemed the same as before, not having consummated their marriage yet, while her young mistress’s attitude was completely different from when she had just married, that Li Mu didn’t know what he was thinking—going out early every day to practice swordwork on his own. She had long been anxiously worried in private.

Finally having an opportunity to bring this matter before Li Mu’s mother, she sighed with relief and respectfully took her leave.

…

Li Mu returned home in the evening. As soon as he entered the main gate, he saw A’Ting standing by the screen wall looking around constantly. Seeing him, she quickly ran over and said Mother was calling for him to see her immediately.

Li Mu didn’t know what was the matter, but seeing his mother seemed to be waiting urgently, he didn’t dare delay and went straight to the north room first.

As soon as he entered, he saw her sitting coldly on the couch with a disciplinary ruler beside her. The atmosphere was very unusual. Startled, he then smiled and said, “Mother, what did you summon me for?”

“Close the door!” Lu Shi said coldly.

Li Mu did as told and closed the door. Returning to his mother’s side, he hesitated for a moment and was about to speak again when he heard her shout, “Kneel down!”

Li Mu had no choice but to kneel down and said, “Mother, what wrong have I committed to make Mother so angry? Please tell me so I can correct it.”

Lu Shi said resentfully, “Tell me honestly—since your marriage, have you still not consummated it with A’Mi?”

Li Mu was stunned, “Mother, whose words did you hear…”

As soon as Lu Shi heard this, she knew it was true. Her anger immediately exploded.

“Never mind whose words I heard!”

Lu Shi grabbed the disciplinary ruler and banged it on the couch beneath her, gritting her teeth, “If I hadn’t found out and asked, were you planning to just marry her and keep her at home to accompany this blind old woman for her entire life?”

Li Mu hesitated.

“When you married her, I felt something was wrong! With her background, the difference between us is like clouds and mud—how could she willingly marry down? Originally I was extremely worried. Fortunately A’Mi’s temperament turned out to be so good—obedient and understanding! Your ability to marry her is due to ancestral virtue, the blessing you cultivated in your previous life! Yet you treat her this way? No wonder I’ve always felt she had something on her mind these days. I thought it was something else, but it turns out to be you—treating her poorly to this extent! I can’t understand—if you don’t like her, why did you marry her in the first place?”

Li Mu had no words to defend himself and could only keep admitting his fault, saying he was wrong and asking his mother to calm her anger.

But Lu Shi’s anger grew fiercer. Thinking of the scene of Luoshen’s sadness in front of her this morning, she picked up the ruler, ordered him to turn around, and mercilessly struck his arms and back with sharp crack after crack.

While striking, she scolded, “Are you deliberately trying to anger me to death? Poor A’Mi—this morning in front of me she was so wronged! You married such a good person and you don’t treat her well! I might as well beat you to death and be done with it, rather than let you ruin her entire life!”

…

A’Ting had just waited for her brother to return and delivered the message. Seeing him go to see Mother, she wandered over to her sister-in-law’s side, saying brother had just returned but Mother had urgent business with him, so he went over.

After returning from Lu Shi’s place this morning, Luoshen had felt uneasy, always feeling as if something bad was about to happen.

Now hearing A’Ting say this, that ominous feeling grew even stronger. How could she sit still? She hurriedly crept quietly to Lu Shi’s room.

Before she even reached the door, she could faintly hear Lu Shi’s scolding from inside. Startled, she quickly held her breath and tiptoed to crouch by the window. Through a gap that wasn’t tightly closed, she looked inside and saw Li Mu actually kneeling on the ground while Lu Shi struck him with the ruler.

That ruler was as wide as her palm and thick too. Stroke after stroke fell solidly on his arms and back, making crisp sounds of striking flesh. The cracking sounds continued endlessly.

Luoshen watched in stunned amazement and was greatly frightened.

She had never seen Lu Shi this angry before.

Watching her grow angrier and angrier, scolding while the ruler fell more and more harshly, with Li Mu kneeling there motionlessly letting his mother beat him, only admitting fault and begging her to calm down—her heart pounded rapidly. She wondered if she should go in to intervene but hesitated indecisively.

Just as she was at a loss, suddenly Li Mu seemed to sense her movement and turned his head abruptly, his gaze sweeping toward her direction.

She didn’t know if her eyes were playing tricks, but she actually felt his gaze was sinister and somewhat frightening.

Luoshen felt a chill down her back. How could she dare go in now? She hastily turned and quickly snuck back. Upon entering her room, she felt flustered and confused.

Though she told herself this had nothing to do with her—she hadn’t done anything wrong!—she still couldn’t control her desire to find somewhere to hide herself first.

After such an incident, she really didn’t want to face him again.

Just as she was beside herself with worry, she suddenly heard a maid calling “Li Langjun” outside. Poking her head out to look, Li Mu had actually returned and was striding toward this direction. In a panic, she quickly closed the door, swiftly barred it, and hid behind the door herself, not daring to breathe.

“Is Madam in the room?”

Luoshen heard him speaking with the maid. His voice sounded quite calm.

“Madam is in.”

The maid replied.

The door was pushed from outside.

Luoshen didn’t move.

Two more “thud” “thud” knocking sounds came.

“Madam must have fallen asleep.”

Another maid said.

It became quiet outside the door.

Just as Luoshen was slightly relieved, she saw a sword extend through the door crack. The sword tip pressed against the door bar, pried twice, and the bar opened.

The door was pushed open, Li Mu stepped inside with one foot, and casually barred the door behind him.

Luoshen was greatly shocked. Wanting to hide on the bed and pretend to sleep, it was too late. Seeing his two gazes sweep toward her, she retreated while waving her hands vigorously, “It really wasn’t me who said anything! This morning when Mother asked me, I didn’t say anything! You can’t blame me for getting beaten…”

Li Mu said nothing, his expression gloomy and dark, completely different from usual.

His gaze fixed on her, his sight slowly moving from her face to her neck, chest, and abdomen, then lower…

Luoshen instantly felt a chill of terror and hastily turned to run toward that door. Reaching out to pull the door bar, Li Mu had already caught up from behind, seized both her hands, lifted her up in his arms, turned and strode inward, throwing her onto the bed.

Luoshen’s eyes widened to their fullest as she watched him remove his clothes, revealing the body marked with red swollen stripes from the ruler beating. Then he pulled down the bed curtains with one sweep and climbed onto the bed.

He reached out to grab her and pulled her over forcefully.

She became like a small fish pressed onto a chopping block.

Luoshen was flustered and confused. Knowing there were people outside the door, how could she dare cry out? She only closed her eyes tightly, striking at him randomly with both hands, kicking wildly with both legs.

As they struggled, suddenly her lips felt warm—he had actually lowered his head and kissed her.

The moment their four lips met, Luoshen felt as if something had frozen her entire being. She instantly lost her strength and forgot to struggle.

The patch of skin swept by his burning breath quickly sprouted a layer of fine goosebumps.

Luoshen kept her eyes tightly closed, her long lashes trembling wildly.

Just as she held her breath until she was about to faint, he finally released her, but his lips moved along her face and slowly came to her ear.

“A’Mi, if it hurts, tell me.”

She heard him say this in her ear, his voice carrying restrained depth, extremely hoarse, with a hint of an instructional tone.

With a “thump,” the blood throughout Luoshen’s body surged, and her heart beat so fast it seemed ready to burst from her chest.

She closed her eyes tightly, curled up beneath him, motionless, as if she had fallen asleep.

…

The sky gradually darkened.

In the latter half of the night, the lamp in the room that had been lit for most of the night still remained bright, never extinguished.