From that night on, the white walls of the study became home to numerous shadow insects. Invisible during the day, they transformed into various shadows at night – flowers, birds, insects, fish, grass, trees, and animals – creating a lively scene.
If ordinary people were to see these suddenly appearing shadows in the middle of the night, they might be frightened out of their wits. However, Wu Zhen and Mei Zhuyu treated these shadow insect projections as a shadow play to enjoy. Occasionally, Wu Zhen would enthusiastically weave stories based on these shadows. As she narrated, Mei Zhuyu’s role was simply to praise the brilliance of her tales.
Several more days passed in this manner. Suddenly, Wu Zhen became busy. Mei Zhuyu noticed she was nowhere to be seen each day and no longer visited the Ministry of Justice. One day, before leaving for work, he couldn’t help but ask, “Has the demon market been busy lately?”
Wu Zhen shook her head and smiled, “It’s not about the demon market. It’s Cui Jiu, that smiling young man who often plays with me. He’s getting married in a couple of days, and he’s been so busy that he asked for my help.”
Mei Zhuyu knew Cui Jiu – the most amiable and smooth-talking among Wu Zhen’s group of young friends. Having received an answer, he nodded and left for work.
Three days after getting this answer, on Cui Jiu’s wedding day, Mei Zhuyu happened to be off duty. Early in the morning, Wu Zhen dragged him to the Cui residence. Due to the joyous occasion, the mansion was bustling with activity. Servants wore happy expressions as they prepared the hall and the bridal chamber. Wu Zhen, not considering herself an outsider at all, took Mei Zhuyu to see the wedding canopy set up in the Cui mansion.
“Look, it’s smaller than the one at our wedding, right? When we got married, I watched the servants set it up and specially asked them to make it larger,” Wu Zhen said with a smile, swinging the horsewhip she usually carried.
Mei Zhuyu wasn’t very clear about these customs and rituals. During his wedding to Wu Zhen, his emotions had been in such turmoil that he barely remembered anything except Wu Zhen’s smile. Hearing Wu Zhen’s words now, he carefully examined the canopy, trying to recall their own. However, all he could remember was Wu Zhen in her bridal attire, suddenly smiling in the candlelight. He couldn’t recall the appearance of their canopy at all, but he still nodded, affirming Wu Zhen’s statement.
“Come on, let’s go find Cui Jiu. That guy has been nervous for two days. Who knows where he’s hiding now? What a wimp!” Wu Zhen’s tone was a bit eager, wrapped in a bundle of mischievous intentions.
Mei Si, Young Lord Zhao, and others also arrived at the Cui residence at this time. Seeing Wu Zhen and Mei Zhuyu, they ran over laughing and asked, “Where’s Cui Jiu? Today is his big day, we must congratulate him properly, haha~” Their tone was as mischievous as Wu Zhen’s.
“Don’t know where he went,” Wu Zhen grinned, revealing her white teeth gleaming in the sunlight. She waved her hand, “Go find him and drag him out for me!”
The group of young men cheered and shouted. After a while, they dug Cui Jiu out from under some bushes in a corner and brought him before Wu Zhen. Cui Jiu smiled bitterly, surrounded by the group. Everyone patted his shoulders and teased, “Cui Jiu, we had an agreement before, you can’t back out now!”
Cui Jiu’s face grew even more bitter. He bowed to everyone around him, his expression helpless, “Brothers, please spare me.”
Everyone burst into laughter. Young Lord Zhao patted him sympathetically, “We’d like to spare you, but your bride won’t let you off. Jiu Lang, just accept your fate.”
The crowd erupted in another round of laughter, eager to see the show.
The reason for Cui Jiu’s bitter expression had a backstory. The bride Cui Jiu was marrying was Miss Sun, one of the two young ladies who often played with Wu Zhen’s group, known for her skill in perfume making. Cui Jiu and Miss Sun were childhood sweethearts from families of equal status and had been betrothed early on. They had a good relationship, playing together since childhood until now.
Two years ago in autumn, when Wu Zhen and her friends went hunting in the Western Mountains, Cui Jiu made a bet with his fiancée Miss Sun. They wagered on who could hunt more and better game. The stakes were high – if Cui Jiu won, they would marry that winter; if Miss Sun won, their wedding would be postponed for a year, and Cui Jiu would have to wear the bride’s green dress at their wedding, meaning the newlyweds would exchange attire.
Cui Jiu’s riding and archery skills were not bad, second only to Wu Zhen in their group. He was confident when making the bet, certain he would win and marry his bride soon. However, some mischief-makers, led by Wu Zhen, secretly helped Miss Sun hunt a large tiger after learning of the bet, firmly defeating Cui Jiu.
So, honoring the bet, today Cui Jiu had to wear the bride’s long dress. While Cui Jiu was still struggling in his last-ditch effort, Wu Zhen waved her hand again, “Take him down and change his clothes!”
At her command, Cui Jiu was carried away to change, his face full of despair. Wu Zhen, in high spirits, then took Mei Zhuyu to the Sun residence to see the bride.
The Sun residence was right next to the Cui residence, just past a long wall and through a door. When Wu Zhen entered Miss Sun’s room, she saw the bride standing gracefully, surrounded by a circle of young ladies teasing her. The room was filled with laughter and giggles.
Dressed in a groom’s wedding attire, Miss Sun appeared even more beautiful and elegant. Usually outgoing, the rare blush of shyness on her face was particularly charming. Seeing Wu Zhen arrive, her eyes lit up, and she asked with a smile, “Sister Zhen, how is it?”
Wu Zhen tapped her horsewhip against her palm, “Don’t worry, he’ll wear it obediently.”
Miss Sun burst into laughter, lowering her head. Her expression was a mix of anticipation and deeper shyness, though she tried hard to appear calm and didn’t ask further about Cui Jiu’s miserable state.
After chatting with Miss Sun for a while, Wu Zhen left the room. She stood with Mei Zhuyu in the garden, watching servants bustle about. In the sultry summer air, a thick atmosphere of joy seemed to float.
Wu Zhen pulled Mei Zhuyu to a wall and suddenly pointed at it with a smile, “The other side of this wall is the Cui residence. When they were children, Cui Jiu and Miss Sun often climbed this wall to play at each other’s houses. Cui Jiu was very timid as a child, always crying. He’d cry if he fell, cry if someone scolded him loudly. He didn’t dare climb such a high wall, so most of the time it was Miss Sun climbing over to see him. Miss Sun was very brave as a child, fearless, quite like me in my younger days.”
Mei Zhuyu thought: That must have been quite impressive indeed.
Chuckling with a sigh, Wu Zhen’s voice became somewhat nostalgic, “I don’t know when, but they both grew up. Now, contrary to their childhood, it’s always Cui Jiu protecting Miss Sun in everything.”
Watching two little kids fall in love was quite interesting. When Miss Sun climbed over this wall with her little bottom sticking out to see the crybaby Cui Jiu, Wu Zhen would squat on the wall top to cheer the little girl on. After all, where else would little Miss Sun have learned to climb walls?
After talking for a while, Wu Zhen looked at Mei Zhuyu. Mei Zhuyu stared at her for a long time before saying, “You weren’t much older when they were children.”
Wu Zhen laughed, placing a hand on her husband’s shoulder, “I’m five years older than them. What’s wrong with saying I watched them grow up?”
Mei Zhuyu: … Although Wu Zhen was a few years older than them, he increasingly felt that deep down, she was still just a willful little girl.
As he thought this, he suddenly reached out to touch a strand of hair by Wu Zhen’s cheek, saying softly, “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Wu Zhen looked at his calm gaze and suddenly clicked her tongue, asking suspiciously, “Why do I feel like you’ve been talking to me as if coaxing a child lately, husband?”
Mei Zhuyu: “…” Mei Zhuyu keenly sensed that this was not the moment for honesty, so he remained silent.
On this day, everyone noisily celebrated the wedding of their childhood sweethearts. Finally, out of kindness, Wu Zhen allowed the loving couple to be alone together.
After the excitement, everyone gathered to drink. Mei Si suddenly put down his cup and sighed, “Cui Jiu is married now. I heard his family has already prepared for him to take up a position at the Court of State Ceremonial after the wedding. He won’t be playing with us anymore in the future.”
“Yes, Sister Zhen doesn’t often join us after getting married, and now Cui Jiu is leaving too. It feels like things will be much less interesting in the future,” Young Lord Zhao also felt a bit melancholy, tilting his head back to take a big gulp of wine.
The group of young men who had been jubilant earlier now all became filled with sorrow. Only Wu Zhen put down her cup and said carelessly, “What’s the big deal? You’re all at that age now. You’ll get married too, then enter the court as officials and do some real work.”
These young men all came from excellent family backgrounds, with generations of officials in their lineage. From birth, they had received a good education, destined to follow the same path as their elders. Even though they were young and arrogant, considering themselves carefree dandies, when they reached a certain age, they would inevitably have to truly grow up and start shouldering their responsibilities.
Wu Zhen held a special position in this group. Since childhood, she has loved to gather friends and play everywhere. Without realizing it, she had made friends with a group of peers of similar status and age. As time passed, these friends began to establish families and careers, spending less and less time on leisure activities, and thus having fewer opportunities to meet with her.
However, as her peers began to take on responsibilities, they entrusted their younger siblings and children to her care. So, as Wu Zhen bid farewell to one batch of friends who were older or the same age as her, she began to lead a group of youngsters, taking them out to play.
From childhood to adulthood, she had always been surrounded by a lively crowd, never lacking friends.
Although many people called them a group of spoiled young masters, the fact that their families were willing to let their children run wild with Wu Zhen was, to some extent, an acknowledgment of Wu Zhen’s guidance of these young men and women. If they were truly incompetent good-for-nothings, unable to be helped, they wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Wu Zhen’s pace.
Wu Zhen had already watched too many friends come and go, from familiarity to gradual estrangement. In the past, many people loved to be with her, sticking close to her, but slowly, they all developed their own lives. Wu Zhen never felt there was anything wrong with this. When friends came, she would invite them to drink and play; when friends left, she would continue living her own happy life.
However, these inexperienced young men, lacking Wu Zhen’s detached attitude, would still feel low-spirited for some time.
Wu Zhen didn’t say much more. She and her husband leisurely led their horses home.
Mei Zhuyu, possibly influenced by hearing Mei Si and the others’ words, unusually spoke a long sentence to Wu Zhen on the way: “Everyone has their own life. Your friends are all good people. Even if they don’t keep in touch often in the future, they will remember you.” As he said this, Mei Zhuyu recalled that rainy day when they entered that household, and the two people who were so delighted to see Wu Zhen.
Seeing the hint of worry and comfort in her husband’s eyes, Wu Zhen laughed dryly, shaking her head and sighing, “Do you think I’m a child? I don’t have the same sentimental feelings as Mei Si and the others. Honestly, I’d rather those married folks didn’t seek me out anymore. You don’t know how annoying they can be.”
Mei Zhuyu, hearing her words at this moment, thought she was joking. Little did he know that the very next day, he would witness firsthand what Wu Zhen meant by ‘annoying’.