Wang Daxia didn’t want to wear high-collared clothes. How could fine brocade robes be worn for night travels? He absolutely had to show off this love bite for everyone to see!
Wang Daxia said: “Commander Lu wears high-collared clothes all year round. I don’t want to imitate him – it looks hot. The neck feels constricted and I can’t breathe.”
Actually it was already autumn, so wearing a high collar wouldn’t be hot. Wang Daxia’s excuse wasn’t very good.
What a troublesome fellow. Wei Caiwei, considering that he had just recovered from poisoning and his body was still weak, didn’t want to scold him. She chose to take a step back and said: “Then you stay in your room and don’t go out.”
She asked again: “That dream of yours… what was that about? You actually pulled me onto the bed earlier.”
Don’t think that just because I bit your neck until it bled, I’ve forgotten to settle accounts with you! At such a young age, what indescribable things are you thinking about all day!
Wang Daxia’s face reddened. The softness from beneath him was still imprinted in his skin’s memory. Though he hadn’t actually kissed her, he had taken quite a bit of advantage. He stammered:
“I… I thought it was still that dream. Dreams are flights of fancy – I can’t control them. Dreaming… no matter what absurd dreams you have, it’s not a crime, right? Never mind bridal chamber dreams – even if I dreamed of ascending the throne as emperor, you couldn’t say I was plotting rebellion. Don’t you think that’s reasonable?”
However, seeing Wei Caiwei’s gradually darkening expression, Wang Daxia immediately changed his tune: “Of course, dreaming can’t be an excuse for taking liberties with you. When you do wrong, you must admit it. I’m not the kind of person who shirks responsibility. Actually, my feelings for you have never changed. Since we’ve already had intimate physical contact, I’ll take responsibility to the end. When we return to the capital, I’ll make things clear with my father and marry you with proper matchmaking and six rites.”
Wang Daxia was actually making his second confession less than two months after his first failed attempt, showing quite a spirit of perseverance despite setbacks.
You were born before I was born; when I was born, you were already old. I carry memories of a previous life and have been reborn, having experienced the vicissitudes of life and knowing deeply what love is, while you’re still an innocent young man just awakening to love.
Wei Caiwei was excited inside but appeared calm on the surface: “You only had such dreams because you were drugged. That medicine probably had aphrodisiac effects too. When you’re sick, you take medicine – treat the symptoms with the right remedy. Don’t treat lifelong matters as antidotes. Just consider what happened earlier as a dream that didn’t really occur. Don’t speak of it to anyone – this is a secret between you and me.”
With that, Wei Caiwei turned to leave. Wang Daxia was unwilling to let his second confession fail like this. He hurriedly ran on his long legs to block the doorway: “Why do you always reject me? You obviously care about me so much. On the night Hong Xiu Zhao was bombed, you risked your life to walk into Jishuitan to find me. You do like me, and I like you too. Lovers should become married couples. Why won’t you agree?”
“I—” Even with Wei Caiwei’s experience from two lifetimes, her heart at this moment was like a small boat on stormy seas, thrown up by the waves to the clouds, then beaten down and pressed under the waves. “I already explained the reason last time – you’re still too young—”
Wang Daxia interrupted: “I’m no longer that wastrel who only ate and lazed around waiting to inherit my family’s hereditary position. I’ve already been enfeoffed as a Centurion, working steadily up the official ranks and living properly. I work hard to save money, finding various reasons to have Commander Lu sign off on all my expenses for reimbursement. I haven’t touched a single coin of my monthly salary – I’ve saved it all. I am young, but I’m not immature anymore. In the capital, there are plenty of men who marry and even become fathers at fourteen. Why can’t I? What exactly do I need to do for you to nod your head? Give me a straight answer, and I’ll do exactly as you say.”
After his first confession was rejected, Wang Daxia reflected on himself, feeling that Wei Caiwei had reason to reject him. Yes, why should she agree to me?
Am I too young and small? Do I earn too little?
If that’s the case, then I’ll change.
Wang Daxia transformed from a wastrel living off inheritance to someone working hard for promotion and wealth – even a blind person could see his transformation.
Especially after being promoted to Centurion, Wang Daxia felt he was now a big man who could support a small family.
As they say, when fed and warm, one thinks of a wife. Having been promoted and grown wealthy, Wang Daxia quickly began his second confession, and this time he was more “aggressive,” not giving Wei Caiwei any chance to refuse.
You can say no, but you have to tell me exactly what to do so you’ll say yes. Someday you will say yes. Wang Daxia was determined to succeed.
Boys change greatly at fourteen, and Wang Daxia was growing too fast, even changing from passive to active, making it hard for Wei Caiwei to handle.
“You are very good,” Wei Caiwei said. “If you continue like this, you’ll surely achieve great things in the future. I reject you not because you’re not good enough, but because of my own problems – it has nothing to do with you.”
Wang Daxia said urgently: “What problems do you have? I’m unmarried, you’re unwed, we both have feelings for each other – a proper matchmaking and marriage. You’re a fake widow, and the memorial tablet of your deceased husband at home is just for show. There’s no need to observe three years of mourning. Why can’t you marry me?”
Wang Daxia firmly believed that Wei Caiwei liked him. Even though she rejected his first confession, she still liked him and would even risk her life to save him – she just thought he was too young and it wasn’t time to marry yet.
Wang Daxia was just that confident.
This cornered Wei Caiwei. Facing Wang Daxia’s passionate and devoted gaze, which compared to the previous life had an additional innocence and clarity without a trace of gloom – like the azure autumn sky – this was what she worked hard to protect and was also intoxicated by.
She couldn’t look into such eyes and say something against her heart like “I’ve never liked you.”
She couldn’t bear to hurt him in the slightest. Her miraculous rebirth was to protect him from the suffering and torment of the previous life.
But Wang Daxia, completely unaware that he and his whole family had escaped a great calamity, was trapped in emotional torment. He loved but couldn’t have, and the person causing him this pain of unrequited love was herself.
Wei Caiwei was caught in a dilemma and could only say: “I have a mental block (you’re still too young) that I can only slowly resolve myself (wait for you to grow up). No one can help me (can’t force seedlings to grow). You’re already very good now – you don’t need to change anything. Don’t keep looking for problems in yourself.”
Wang Daxia said: “But you keep rejecting me. If I can’t marry you, what’s the point of changing? I might as well go back to the past and be a carefree, worry-free wastrel – relaxed and comfortable.”
This was the truth. To marry Wei Caiwei, Wang Daxia was willing to leave the comfort zone of being a wastrel, stop wasting his days, and begin studying promotion, wealth, official careers, economics, and pursuing advancement. His upward climb was hard work, involving life-and-death situations and even being forced to sell his looks. He was tired but happy because these days had hope – he was one step closer to marrying Wei Caiwei.
This left Wei Caiwei with no escape route. Though she spoke dismissively and appeared calm, she had been restraining herself all along. Wang Daxia was the treasure in her palm – couldn’t be blown on or touched, carefully protected. What if she rejected him again and he went to extremes, returning to his old ways as one of the four scourges of North City, giving up completely?
Moreover, he was at an age prone to extremes – in the previous life, he had castrated himself with a knife in grief and indignation.
No matter what, she had to give him an answer today.
Wei Caiwei said: “Three years. Give me three years to resolve this problem. After three years, if your feelings haven’t changed, no matter how others gossip and mock, I will marry you.”
Just like in the previous life when we became paired food husband and wife – marrying a dead eunuch meant people would laugh, mock, and point fingers behind your back for life. But so what? We two had a lifetime of love and sweetness, not caring what others said.
After three years of struggling in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Wang Daxia should be able to grow into a man. In the previous life, Wang Daxia also grew to seventeen before living off her support.
Wang Daxia: “Three years?”
Wei Caiwei: “Three years.”
Wang Daxia was overjoyed and happily went to flip through the almanac: “Today is the twenty-third of the eighth month. Three years from today, I can bring matchmakers to your door?”
Wei Caiwei nodded: “If you haven’t changed your mind by then. If you dare to marry, I dare to be married.”
Wang Daxia still couldn’t believe it: “After three years, as long as I propose marriage, you’ll agree? What if I’m like my father and get schemed against by political enemies and stripped of my position? Or fighting the White Lotus sect, lose an arm or leg, or simply die—”
Wei Caiwei reached out to cover his mouth: “Don’t talk nonsense, cursing yourself. You’ll be fine. Since I’ve made this promise, I’ll definitely keep my word. No matter what happens to you, I’ll wait for you. Even if we encounter the worst situation – the memorial tablet at my home can still be used after a little wiping.”
The memorial tablet of deceased husband Wang Erlang. It’s always been you.
Can it be used this way? With his mouth covered, Wang Daxia couldn’t speak and could only nod.
Wei Caiwei had always been straightforward and decisive, never dragging things out in speech or action. But Wang Daxia hadn’t expected Wei Caiwei to so definitively set this three-year agreement. That phrase “the memorial tablet at my home can still be used after a little wiping” seemed like a joke, but he understood this sentence was more resolute than any oath like “until mountains crumble and heaven and earth unite, only then would I dare part from you!”
Wei Caiwei released her hand: “Also, during these three years, you must treat me with propriety – express feelings but stop at ritual. You can’t drag me to bed and get handsy like you did this morning.”
Wei Caiwei’s vow came so quickly that Wang Daxia thought he was still dreaming. He bit his own arm – it hurt – then rubbed his hands together like a fly, pacing back and forth in the room. Finally, he stopped by the desk, spread out paper and brush, added water and ground ink, saying:
“Verbal promises are unreliable. You must write a document, write a marriage contract. Three years from today, I’ll take this marriage contract to your door to propose. You can’t reject me again.”
To let Wang Daxia focus on his career peacefully during these three years and not go to extremes, Wei Caiwei took up the brush and wrote a marriage contract:
“Today I make a three-year vow of lifelong devotion with Wang Daxia. Once this contract is made, we shall be eternally bound in marriage. In future years, may our descendants multiply and prosper. This is witnessed. Wei Caiwei, thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, twentieth day of the eighth month.” (Note 1)
Wei Caiwei gently blew the ink dry and handed it to Wang Daxia: “Are you satisfied now?”
Wang Daxia pushed for more: “You need to put your fingerprint on it.”
Wei Caiwei thought to herself, I’ve been spoiling you too much! Feeling slightly annoyed but still going along with his wishes, she looked for red ink pad. This was the post house of Baoding Prefecture government office – the room had no ink pad. Wei Caiwei took out red lip rouge, dipped her finger in it, and was about to press her fingerprint on the marriage contract when she remembered something and stopped in mid-air.
Wang Daxia’s heart, which had flown to the clouds, suddenly plummeted: “Why aren’t you pressing it? Are you backing out?”
Wei Caiwei applied the rouge from her finger to her lips, then with a soft kiss pressed them to the marriage contract, leaving a complete red lip print.
In the previous life, she and Wang Daxia were shameless paired food husband and wife with all seven emotions and six desires, indulging in pleasures of the flesh, creating tools when natural ones weren’t available for all manner of bedroom delights. In this life, talking about pure love with the still tender Wang Daxia, with accumulated love from two lifetimes, Wei Caiwei’s skills in romance had only increased.
Author’s Note: I’m late today, so I’m sending a sweet chapter plus 100 red envelopes to comfort those who waited.
Note 1: Adapted from a Republican-era marriage contract: “Two surnames unite in marriage, making a contract in one hall, eternally bound in good fortune, matched in equal称. See this day’s peach blossoms blooming brightly, suitable for home and family. Divining future years when descendants multiply and prosper. Respectfully with this vow of lifelong devotion, written on fine paper, recording this red leaf alliance in the mandarin duck register. This is witnessed.”