The bright red celebratory candles burned hot and melted, the wax just flowing down before cooling again—just like most marriages in large mansions. Yet in this room where even red dates and lotus seeds were scattered in the bedding, where everything emphasized auspiciousness, no one over thousands of years had discovered that celebratory candles were actually not auspicious at all.
Mo Zi stared at that pair of wrist-thick golden-red candles, her mind wandering again.
Seeing the maids didn’t seem to take seriously her words about not wanting to consummate the marriage, Qiu Sanniang spoke again. “If you don’t help me think of some good ideas, I’ll just drive him out directly.”
“Miss?! You’ve been joking since earlier, right?” Rarely did Bai He fail to take her mistress’s words seriously. “Madam Tang said that early tomorrow morning, old women and matrons will come to take…”
As she spoke, she walked to the wedding bed, gently lifted half of the wedding quilt embroidered with lotus buds and green leaves, and indeed saw that square of white silk. She sighed heavily, turned back and pointed with her hand. “Miss, please look at this. This is the capital’s prince’s mansion, where rules are observed everywhere. Tomorrow morning, old women will come to collect this silk. If they see there’s no… maiden blood on it, Miss, then everyone will know you’re not favored by the young master. What will Miss do in the future?”
Seeing that white silk, Mo Zi couldn’t help but shudder. What kind of barbaric custom was this? It was said some families even specially stored the white silk in boxes as treasures.
Though Qiu Sanniang didn’t feel the modern person Mo Zi’s wave of nausea, seeing the white silk made her feel even more uncomfortable.
“I heard some people use chicken blood or duck blood to fake it.” Mo Zi thought ancient people weren’t that pure either—there were women who tasted forbidden fruit before marriage, then found ways to deal with the wedding night, including pricking their thighs and such.
“Mo Zi, can you be a bit dumber tonight?” Bai He truly had a terrible headache. She was desperately trying here to dismiss Miss’s absurd notions and have her obediently become a wife, but over there was someone full of ideas, thinking up one after another, making her efforts futile.
“Mo Zi, can chicken blood or duck blood work? Or how about you several prick your fingers and collect a cup for me?” Qiu Sanniang was ruthless.
Lu Ju’s face paled with fright. “Miss, stop it, okay? I’m afraid of blood.” Before they could prick her hand, she would definitely faint.
“Believe me, Miss. Chicken blood, duck blood, or human blood—without special methods, people can’t tell them apart.” And these special methods required very advanced instruments. This era absolutely didn’t have them. As for that blood recognition ritual of dripping blood on dead bones to see if it would merge in—that had no scientific basis whatsoever.
“Should I catch a chicken?” Xiao Yi, just entering, actively sought this “glorious” task.
“Have you all had enough?” Bai He felt like she was facing a group of playing children. “Chicken blood, duck blood, or our blood—none of it is useful. Do you think the young master is a fool?”
“A sober young master might not be foolish, but a drunk young master definitely won’t be clever.” Mo Zi was getting addicted to this game. “When he wakes up in the morning and sees a blood-stained handkerchief, he won’t think of anything else and will definitely assume he consummated the marriage.” Know why ancient young ladies found even chasing butterflies interesting? Because life was too boring—they had to create things to do. Similar to her current psychology.
“Mo Zi, what if the young master isn’t drunk?” Hearing the possibility of using her own blood was low, Lu Ju immediately perked up.
“Right, exactly. If the young master is very sober, how do we fake it?” Bai He finally found a rebuttal point.
“So!” Qiu Sanniang wanted to finish stating the problem. “I don’t want to fake it. Help me think of a way to prevent him from having the opportunity to consummate the marriage. That way, the responsibility is on him, not on me.”
Qiu Sanniang’s intention to avoid consummating the marriage couldn’t be more serious.
As a woman, Mo Zi understood her. If it were herself, engaging in “the act of love” with a man she was meeting for the first time—that would truly be terrible.
“Bai He, Xiao Yi, Lu Ju, Mo Zi.” She called them one by one. “Whoever thinks of a good method, I’ll reward her ten taels of silver.”
No one spoke.
Bai He naturally wouldn’t make Qiu Sanniang’s future favor difficult for ten taels of silver. Lu Ju quite wanted to earn this silver, but her brain wasn’t cooperative. Xiao Yi neither cared about silver nor liked using her brain. Mo Zi felt that expending brain cells for ten taels of silver wasn’t worthwhile.
“Too little?” Qiu Sanniang said this because she was only watching Mo Zi’s reaction. “Twenty taels?”
Mo Zi sensed Qiu Sanniang was pinning her hopes on her. “Miss, consummating the marriage is simple—just close your eyes. Don’t be too nervous. The young master will do the rest anyway.” Mo Zi actually had no experience either. She’d always served in the military, had no boyfriend, and was utterly conservative.
“Mo Zi, you help me, I help you.” Seeing this, Qiu Sanniang knew she had to offer a heavy enticement.
“Miss’s meaning?” Mo Zi made a sound of interest, not concealing her intrigued expression.
“If you help me this time, I’ll reduce another year. How about that?” Qiu Sanniang knew what Mo Zi wanted most.
Bai He and Lu Ju didn’t understand this meaning, but Mo Zi was very clear. Since last time when she obtained three hundred taels of silver, the ten-year contract had become nine years. And she’d followed Qiu Sanniang for nearly a year, leaving eight years. Now, if she did well, she could reduce another year.
Qiu Sanniang was someone who truly did things according to her whims. Therefore, in business, she succeeded half the time and failed half the time. But interestingly, she cared about money yet didn’t care about success or failure—unless she was determined to do something, otherwise failure didn’t particularly upset her. In a word, she truly did as she pleased, genuinely being herself. When stingy, she wouldn’t let go of a single coin. When in a good mood, she casually gave away a year of freedom. Not letting Mo Zi redeem herself, three hundred taels returned one year. Now, just for not consummating tonight, she took out another year as enticement.
Sometimes Mo Zi thought Qiu Sanniang should have lived in Wu Zetian’s era, when princesses and empresses acted willfully and arbitrarily, not caring what others said, seeking only momentary joy and laughter.
“Miss, if we’re talking about ideas, I truly don’t have one.” Mo Zi expended some brain cells. For those three hundred sixty-five days of that year, she only came up with one idea—posting a sign on the wedding chamber door saying “New grooms and dogs not allowed.” However, the consequences of that would be too severe.
“I never thought such a small matter could stump you, Mo Zi.” Qiu Sanniang had also thought it over—no solution.
“The matter looks small, but it can’t be handled carelessly. We could have Bai He put croton beans in the refreshments, or have Xiao Yi knock the young master unconscious, or say Miss isn’t feeling well. None of these methods can shift the responsibility for not consummating to the young master. If done poorly and people discover we tampered with things, how will Miss face the elders?” All imperfect methods.
“Good Miss, good Mo Zi, you two just stop tormenting yourselves, alright?” Bai He was about to cry.
Just then, they heard the night watch drum—third watch. The banquet up front was probably dispersing.
“One whole year.” Qiu Sanniang hadn’t given up on Mo Zi’s clever mind. Just as Mo Zi understood her, when she was determined about something, she absolutely had to accomplish it.
Stimulated by that one year, Mo Zi’s mind truly turned quite fast. A method to make the groom forget about consummating the marriage while sober was—
“That Third Young Master Xiao is a great talent even the Emperor admires. Versed in ancient and modern learning, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. His chess skill is so good he could play three days and three nights with the abbot master of Tianen Temple. The Tianen Temple abbot’s chess skill is renowned throughout the realm…”
Suddenly, Li Shi’s words jumped into Mo Zi’s mind.
Qiu Sanniang didn’t want to consummate the marriage—delaying was probably the best method. And to delay reasonably, they’d have to use something Third Young Master Xiao didn’t reject and might even be enthusiastically interested in. People of this era didn’t enjoy idle chat. Though Qiu Sanniang read extensively, poetry and verse weren’t her strong suit. If she tried to engage Third Young Master Xiao in composing poetry, he could defeat her with one poem. But Qiu Sanniang excelled at music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—her chess skill in Luo Zhou was hard to match, though she didn’t know how formidable this Third Young Master Xiao truly was.
Thinking this, Mo Zi spoke without much confidence. “Miss, I heard the young master loves chess.”
“He likes playing chess?” Qiu Sanniang hadn’t forgotten to think about the delaying tactic. “Nowadays, any talented scholar can play a few moves.”
“Yes, but some people play one game for three days and nights.” Mo Zi thought to herself, never mind—if the method works, she gains a year of freedom early. If it doesn’t work, she loses nothing.
Hearing this, Qiu Sanniang understood too. “The abbot master of Tianen Temple has excellent chess skill. Five years ago when I went to the temple to burn incense, I watched him play against someone. I think five years later, I might be able to match him for one game.”
“Winning or losing doesn’t matter—just don’t know if Miss can delay for one whole night?” With go, if you’re skilled, you can delay.
“That depends on Xiao Yong’s chess skill level.” Qiu Sanniang wasn’t blindly confident.
“Also depends on our ability to distract people.” Mo Zi, once she had an idea, could perfect it herself. “Have Bai He serve a midnight snack, eating for half a shichen; have Lu Ju break some porcelain, taking half a shichen to sort out; we night-duty maids change shifts, a mid-game break for one shichen, plus the time for playing chess—it’ll be daybreak.”
Delay, delay, delay—delay until this newlywed couple’s eyes couldn’t stay open, with no energy left to consummate the marriage.
The method was crude, but if effective, that was enough.
Qiu Sanniang thought, Third Young Master Xiao had a history of playing chess for three days and nights—the elders could only be helpless. Delaying past the wedding night meant passing the optimal time. Afterward, it would depend on whether little bird Jin Si’s charm could keep Third Young Master Xiao from ever setting foot in Mozhi Residence again.
“Someone’s coming.” Xiao Yi’s divine ears announced the wedding night moment’s arrival.
Bai He knew once Qiu Sanniang’s mind was decided, it couldn’t be changed. Biting her lip, she smoothed the bedding again, turned back, picked up the red veil from the table, and called out “Miss.”
Qiu Sanniang looked at Mo Zi and smiled. “If this plan is useful, I shall fulfill my promise.”
Then to the other three maids she said, “Maids, tonight I won’t be easy to talk to. Listen to Mo Zi’s arrangements.”
Bai He and Lu Ju said yes, Xiao Yi nodded.
“Such a great responsibility.” Mo Zi smiled back at Qiu Sanniang. “Looks like none of us will sleep well tonight.”
“Third Master has arrived—” The courtyard was so large they couldn’t hear the door opening, but the junior maid’s announcement followed footsteps from far to near.
Shortly after, Xiao Yong entered the wedding chamber with a smile.
The entire room’s red light flickered. The bride sat upright before the bed, two senior maids serving on either side, with two more maids standing by the window. All four simultaneously curtsied, their crisp voices making him comfortable.
“Greetings, Young Master.”
Little did he know, the long night was only beginning.