Zhu Quan was originally a servant of the Wei family. He had been attending to Wei Yan’s daily needs since childhood. When Wei Yan married and moved out of the Wei family home at seventeen, Zhu Quan followed him. A year later, Wei Yan lost his wife and never remarried.
In terms of military affairs and border management, Wei Yan was undoubtedly skilled in commanding troops and maintaining strict border control, beyond reproach. However, after becoming single, he began living a dissolute private life, being quite open in matters of men and women, with women coming and going like a revolving lantern. He didn’t spend many days in Yuyang in a year, like a rootless duckweed. Madam Xu, concerned, would sometimes summon Zhu Quan to inquire about various aspects of Wei Yan’s life. After returning, Zhu Quan would occasionally advise Wei Yan to remarry, saying that only then could he settle down.
Wei Yan usually didn’t get angry, just dismissing it with a smile.
This time, Wei Yan had set off for Dai Commandery somewhat hastily, and on the day of his departure, he had also dismissed his concubines. Zhu Quan recalled that Wei Yan had seemed somewhat depressed lately compared to before when he returned home, which made him uneasy. Earlier, when an old acquaintance invited him for a drink, he couldn’t refuse and followed him to a tavern a few streets away. After just a few drinks, he noticed people running in one direction outside the tavern, shouting “Fire!” He went out to check and saw flames rising in the distance from the direction he had come. Worried, he hurried back. As he reached the street corner, he saw from afar that it was indeed his residence on fire, the blaze not small, flames soaring into the sky.
Zhu Quan was shocked and hurriedly called for people to put out the fire. However, the summer days in the north were already dry and scorching, and although autumn was approaching, the weather was still hot. Moreover, it hadn’t rained for many days, and the fire had already started burning, so how could it be contained? He could only watch helplessly as the great fire gradually engulfed the entire house. Fortunately, Wei Yan was solitary and had chosen a house away from neighbors when selecting his residence, so the fire didn’t spread. By the time the fire finally diminished and was extinguished, the house was already unrecognizable, the roof collapsed, leaving only an empty shell. All the furnishings and household items inside had been burned to ashes.
Zhu Quan remembered that before he left, there had been no fire source left in the house. He didn’t know how the fire had started. The only possibility was that some remaining embers in the stove hadn’t been properly covered, leading to the spread of the fire.
Zhu Quan was filled with regret, blaming himself for going out to drink and neglecting his duties. While he was cleaning up the fire scene, he also sent someone to report to Madam Xu.
…
When Wei Shao left early in the morning, he and Xiao Qiao were affectionate and reluctant to part, agreeing that he would return for dinner in the evening.
By evening, Xiao Qiao had just finished bathing and changed into a new light gauze dress in primrose color, lightly scented. She applied a touch of fragrant rouge in front of the mirror.
The person in the mirror had eyebrows as if trimmed, autumn waves in her eyes, a face like a lotus, and a complexion that put clouds and sunset to shame. Even she was pleased with what she saw.
Xiao Qiao began waiting for Wei Shao to return. She waited until it was dark, past the agreed dinner time, but Wei Shao still hadn’t returned.
Xiao Qiao gradually became worried. Thinking that the government office wasn’t far, she was about to send someone to check when one of Wei Shao’s guards arrived with a message saying that the Marquis had some business and wouldn’t be returning for dinner, telling the Lady not to wait any longer.
Wei Shao was usually busy with affairs, and it was common for him to have unexpected matters come up. Xiao Qiao didn’t suspect anything and went to eat dinner by herself.
Wei Shao was sensitive to cats. Although the kitten hadn’t been sent away yet, Xiao Qiao had bathed and didn’t dare to play with it at night, fearing that she might accidentally get cat hair or saliva on her and cause Wei Shao discomfort. After returning to her room, she had no desire to do anything else, so she sat down to continue copying scriptures.
The room was quiet, with only the occasional soft crackling sound of the lamp wick.
Xiao Qiao focused her mind, holding the brush in her right hand. As the brush tip moved, delicate and beautiful characters gradually filled the fine white silk. When she wrote “Just as one person scooping water from the vast ocean may exhaust its depths after eons, so too will a person with utmost sincerity in seeking the Way, progressing tirelessly, surely attain the fruit. What wish cannot be fulfilled?”, her eyes fixed on this line, she slowly stopped writing. Finally, she put the brush on the rack, rested her chin on her hand faced the candlelight on the desk, and gradually became lost in thought.
Wei Shao undoubtedly liked her. Recently, he had even begun to show signs of infatuation. As for whether he liked or was infatuated with her face and body or her as a person, to be honest, Xiao Qiao didn’t know. Because when they were together, even during the day, what Wei Shao did most with her was just to fondle her and do those few things that men and women do.
Besides this, Xiao Qiao couldn’t think of any other content they had talked about.
Sometimes, in moments of intense emotion, she wanted to ask but didn’t dare to do so. She had even less courage to test: would there come a day when he would spare the Qiao family?
Xiao Qiao knew this thought was both naive and laughable. Hoping that a man would let go of his hatred because of a woman – how great would this woman have to be to dissolve the hatred in a man’s heart that was originally viewed as irreconcilable?
Perhaps only the Buddha would have such great power to save all living beings.
“The heart constantly dwells on the way to save the world. Among all things, it is free and at ease.”
She remembered copying such a line from the scripture a few days ago.
She was but an ordinary person, not knowing what it meant for the heart to dwell on the way to save the world, but she constantly reminded herself to keep her heart dwelling on the way to save herself. If she could save herself, then perhaps it wouldn’t be too late to think about lifelong matters with this man.
…
Wei Shao still hadn’t returned.
Late at night, Xiao Qiao left a lamp on in the room and went to bed herself.
She was somewhat worried about Wei Shao, sleeping fitfully, waking and sleeping, sleeping and waking. It continued past midnight, probably already the hour of Zi when she hazily dreamed of Da Qiao and Bi Zhi.
The dream was fragmented and scattered. She woke up, opened her eyes, and unexpectedly met a pair of eyes glowing faintly.
Wei Shao had somehow already returned to the room without making any noise. He didn’t get into bed but was standing by the bedside as if he had been staring at her like this for a while.
Xiao Qiao was startled. She lightly patted her chest, let out a breath, and sat up from her pillow. Looking at him, she complained with a slightly coquettish tone, “Are you trying to scare me to death? How did you come back without making any sound?”
Wei Shao withdrew his gaze from her, turned around, and began to undress, saying, “Seeing you were asleep, I didn’t wake you. Just go back to sleep.”
He took off his clothes and went to the bathroom. He came out shortly after. Xiao Qiao asked if he was hungry, but he said he wasn’t. Then he blew out the lamp and got into bed.
When he had turned around earlier, Xiao Qiao had noticed that his expression was somewhat unusual. It was completely different from when he left in the morning.
Now, with him acting like this, Xiao Qiao felt even more that he was a bit strange. Lying beside him for a while, she didn’t see him embrace her as usual. He just lay there on his back, as if he had fallen asleep, which was extremely abnormal. Finally, she couldn’t help but ask, “Did something happen at the government office today? You couldn’t even come back for dinner.”
“Just some minor matters. They were complicated, so it took some energy,” Wei Shao replied.
Xiao Qiao could hear that his voice seemed to carry some fatigue as if he had something on his mind. After hesitating for a moment, she moved closer to him and asked softly, “What’s wrong? You seem unhappy. You weren’t like this when you left this morning.”
“It’s nothing,” Wei Shao said, “Just a lot of work today, and I’m a bit tired now. It’s late, you should sleep early too.”
Xiao Qiao could tell that he didn’t seem to want to talk much with her at the moment, so she fell silent.
That night, Xiao Qiao had some extra thoughts on her mind and slept lightly. Wei Shao, however, remained motionless throughout the night, unlike before when he would reach out to touch or hug her even in his sleep. She didn’t know if he was sleeping too deeply or what. The night passed without a word, and the next morning, they both got up. Xiao Qiao felt a bit lacking in energy, and looking at Wei Shao, his complexion didn’t seem good either. After they were both ready, they went out to visit Madam Xu. As they were walking down the steps, the kitten that was temporarily being kept in Chun Niang’s room came running happily along the corridor, reaching Xiao Qiao’s feet and diving under her skirt, rubbing against her and meowing softly in a coquettish manner.
Wei Shao stopped in his tracks.
Xiao Qiao saw his eyes fixed on the kitten, as if remembering something, his expression showing some stiffness. She suspected he was allergic to it from last time and felt disgusted by the cat.
However, this disgust, just like his silence after returning to the room last night, came somewhat out of the blue, leaving her puzzled.
He hadn’t been like this a couple of days ago.
Xiao Qiao quickly picked up the kitten and handed it to a maid who had caught up, instructing her to take good care of it.
Wei Shao had already started walking forward. Xiao Qiao followed him. They arrived at the north room together.
Today was the fifteenth. Madam Zhu had also come, arriving slightly earlier than Wei Shao and Xiao Qiao. She had already paid her respects to Madam Xu and was about to leave, but seeing her son arrive, she stayed.
After entering the north room, Wei Shao finally changed from the silence he had maintained since returning last night and began to act normal. When interacting with Madam Xu, he even smiled. He and Xiao Qiao paid their respects to Madam Xu, and after some casual conversation, Madam Xu said, “You probably don’t know yet, but last night your cousin’s house somehow caught fire. Zhu Quan said it burned to the ground. Fortunately, no lives were lost, and it didn’t spread to the neighboring houses. When he returns in a couple of days, let him stay here. I was never happy about him moving out, and now that this has happened, it’s a good opportunity for him to come back.”
Xiao Qiao felt a bit surprised. She glanced at Wei Shao beside her. His face showed no expression. His eyes were slightly lowered, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Madam Zhu, on the other hand, showed a look of disgust when she heard that Wei Yan would be coming back to stay. Although she tried her best to conceal it, her brows and eyes couldn’t hide it completely.
Madam Xu gave her a cold glance. She then looked somewhat embarrassed and lowered her head.
This scene didn’t escape Xiao Qiao’s notice. She also felt somewhat touched.
Having dealt with Madam Zhu, her mother-in-law, for so long and interacted with her many times, Xiao Qiao had more or less figured out Madam Zhu’s temperament.
A person’s perspective and mentality are greatly related to their background and the education they received in childhood due to that background. But this is not inevitable. If one has an open mind, the narrow perspective caused by a lack of background and education can gradually open up with later experiences. After accumulating to a certain point, a person will inevitably transform.
Unfortunately, Madam Zhu was not like this. Even now, she seemed to have never found the right positioning for her identity as the Marchioness.
Of course, Xiao Qiao had no right to pity her. She didn’t detest this mother-in-law to the point of utter loathing either.
She just didn’t like her, that’s all.
“In a couple of days, it will be the Luli Assembly. I heard your brother is also participating in horseback archery?” Madam Xu turned to ask Xiao Qiao, seeming quite interested.
Xiao Qiao smiled and replied, “Yes. I didn’t expect him to show off at that time. It’s rare to encounter such a grand event, and young people inevitably yearn for it. So I didn’t stop him.”
Madam Xu smiled and said, “Why would you stop him? Young people should have a competitive spirit. Only through competition can one achieve victory. I usually attend in person every year. This is your first year in our family, you should also make an appearance. Come with me then.”
Xiao Qiao bowed in thanks under Madam Zhu’s gaze.
“By the way, does your brother-in-law have a suitable mount?” Just before they were about to leave, Madam Xu remembered and asked Wei Shao, “If not, choose a good one for him, and let him practice intensively in the next two days.”
“Grandmother, cousin has already gifted him a blue-gray horse,” Wei Shao replied, his tone flat.
Madam Xu was relieved and nodded with a smile, “I knew he was attentive to details. When your brother-in-law first arrived those couple of days when you weren’t here, he took care of everything for you. Once everyone is less busy after this period, you should thank your elder brother properly.”
Wei Shao smiled slightly.