Chapter 2
Chapter 2
That night was truly chaotic. Only after the Zhao family’s people and dowry were sent to the Gu family did the bridal chamber begin all over again.
Seeing how wooden my brother looked, Mother actually dragged me to crouch under the window and listen.
My legs went numb before I finally heard the two logs inside say their first words.
My brother said, “If… if you are unwilling, I will sleep on the couch. I understand. I am a rough man. I am different from all of you.”
Miss Qiao did not speak.
After a long while, there came a soft smack, the kind of sound I made when I kissed a little kitten.
Then Miss Qiao began to stammer too, saying in a tiny voice, “D-Do you understand whether I am willing now?”
Whether my brother understood, I did not know. But Mother definitely did.
She pulled me up, and only after we had walked far away did she laugh out loud. “Good, good, good. This daughter-in-law is a good one. Your brother grew so tall for nothing. He is not even as decisive as a girl.”
If Mother was happy, I was happy.
But before we had gone far, we heard words that were not so pleasant.
They came from the two attendants beside my sister-in-law.
The maid was called Cuihuan. She puffed out her cheeks and said, “Miss truly has a bitter fate. Young Master Gu was so elegant, and now she has to be matched with a mud-legged brute. Look at this chaotic residence. Just now when we went to the kitchen, they did not even know to keep hot water ready. We had to boil it ourselves.”
Mama Tao scolded her. “Mind your manners. What do you mean, this residence? From now on, this is Miss’s residence too. The son-in-law, the old madam, and the young lady are also our masters. Keep that mouth of yours under control. Do not bring trouble on Miss.”
After scolding her, even Mama Tao sighed. “What else can be done? Miss does not have a single dowry chest. That is the greatest handle against her. From now on, her food and clothing all depend on this family. She will not even have the confidence to speak loudly.”
I wanted to say they were wrong. My brother had said he would never let his wife suffer. Our family had money now, and we could afford to feed and clothe her.
But Mother would not let me speak. She pulled me back to the room and counted gold for half the night.
That gold had been given by my brother.
My brother said that after he became a vanguard, every time they won a battle, the great general would divide the spoils taken from the enemy according to merit. My brother did not understand jewels or ornaments, so he always asked for gold of equal value.
On the day Mother first arrived, he had moved all of it into her room, because Mother had once said that if she could sleep on gold in this lifetime, she would not have lived in vain.
My brother remembered that wish, so he had saved a great deal of gold for her.
Mother divided the gold into three shares. She pointed to one share and said to me, “This is for your dowry. I can see it now. People in the capital care about these things. If a girl does not bring enough dowry to live on for the rest of her life, people will point at her back and gossip. Look at your sister-in-law. She is so much better than your brother, but because of her dowry, she is afraid our family will criticize her.”
I liked this sister-in-law, but I liked my brother even more. Hearing that, I said unhappily, “My brother is not bad either. He is a little dark, but he is handsome. Since we were little, the girls in the village all loved to gather around him.
“He is no good at scholarly things, but you saw him this morning. He looked so impressive practicing with his blade in the courtyard. Those maids’ eyes went straight.”
Mother chuckled. “Of course. He is my son. How could he be bad?”
Then she pointed at the other two piles of gold and said, “One of these is for your brother, and one is for daily household expenses. I want to hand both of them to your sister-in-law to manage, so she can feel at ease. Do you agree?”
I nodded. “Brother earned it anyway. It is only right to let Sister-in-law manage it.”