Chapter 4

“We know, husband,” I said. “Go outside first. We need to wash.”

“I’ll help Diao’er wash.”

“No need. He’s shy.”

My husband went out.

I watched Dadiao rise gracefully and take his time choosing clothes.

They were all mine.

Just thinking of him wearing my clothes.

His hot skin pressed against my garments made me itch with longing.

He chose a pink skirt.

It didn’t fit.

He frowned.

“The seamstress will have your clothes ready today,” I said quickly. “Wear yesterday’s for now.”

He lay down again. “I don’t wear clothes I’ve already worn.”

I hugged him from behind, draped myself over him, breathed him in deeply a few times, and kissed his lips. “All right. Stay here and sleep. I’ll fetch you breakfast and hurry the seamstress along. How’s that?”

He ignored me.

I loved how vigorous he was in bed, tireless and utterly commanding, and how, out of bed, he was cold, quiet, and looked down on the whole world.

I patted his bottom. When his gaze cut toward me like a knife, I hurried away.

I was still a little sore down below.

When my husband heard that Dadiao refused to get out of bed because he had no fresh clothes, he was distraught.

He wanted to send Dadiao more fabric and silver.

But my mother-in-law had the keys to the storeroom.

She held all the household power.

Luckily, I had my own dowry to spend. It wasn’t much, but if I was careful, I could get by.

My mother-in-law was displeased. “What sort of family do you think we are, spending money on lowly creatures every day? There’s no money! A concubine is a servant. She won’t wait on us, and now we’re supposed to wait on her? The world has turned upside down!”

She picked up a feather duster and went to teach Dadiao a lesson.

That old countrywoman was remarkably nimble.

My husband and I hurried after her.

The moment we entered, we found her sprawled on the floor, groaning.

Meanwhile, my husband and I stared at Dadiao, lying languidly in bed with his long hair loose.

Without thinking, I stepped over my mother-in-law and asked anxiously, “Diao’er, are you all right?”

“Diao’er, my mother doesn’t know any better,” my husband said. “Did she frighten you? Come here. Let your husband hold you.”

Dadiao kicked him to the floor too.

I quickly pressed his head to my chest and soothed him softly. “There, there. Were you frightened? We’ll ignore them. Does your leg hurt?”

Dadiao turned his head away, regal and chilly.

My husband angrily scolded my mother-in-law. “Mother! How could you hurt such an innocent, kind girl? She’s the person I love most. If you want to hurt her, kill me first!”

My mother-in-law burst into wailing. “There’s no justice! My own son scolds his mother over some vixen! What have I got to live for? I’ll go and die right now! Ah! I don’t want to live!”

I was soothing Dadiao in a gentle voice.

My husband stood beside us, anxiously saying, “Don’t be angry. I’ll send someone to buy you new clothes right away.”

Neither of us paid any attention to my mother-in-law.

After a while, my husband said, “From now on, Jingniang will keep the storeroom keys. Mother, you’re old. Managing the household no longer suits you.”

Before this, he had told me how hard his mother had worked to pay for his education and insisted she must run the house.

Now, for Dadiao’s sake, he didn’t even want his mother anymore.