Chapter 3
Three peaceful days passed before Xiao Ye accompanied me home for the customary bridal visit.
The sight of me twisted my father’s face. The feather duster in his hand trembled.
He said to Xiao Ye, “My worthy son-in-law, please wait in the rear courtyard. I have private words for this useless s—daughter of mine.”
“Of course.”
The instant he left, Father seized my ear and dragged me into a room. “Why is it you? Where is your sister?”
“She fell for a scholar and eloped with him.”
“What scholar could possibly catch her eye? For that matter, what scholar would let her catch his?”
I paused. “Good point. But she cried, and I thought, I’m the man of this family. I have to protect her…”
“When has your sister ever cried? When has she ever needed your protection?”
I paused again. He was right. She had tricked me again. “Well, she definitely didn’t want to marry Xiao Ye.”
“And why did you marry Xiao Ye? Did you want to marry him?”
“Of course not! I only meant to stall for a few days. By the time Xiao Ye found out, she would be long gone.”
“You just wanted to humiliate him.”
No one knew a son like his father.
Xiao Ye had been the child every parent compared theirs to, known as the capital’s foremost young gentleman.
Father was always saying that if I had half Xiao Ye’s ability, Duke Zhenguo’s house would prosper for three more generations. Then he buried me in lessons.
Xiao Ye excelled at music, chess, calligraphy, painting—everything. Even the girls who chased him outnumbered those who chased me. All my damned lessons had been for nothing.
If I could ruin his marriage, I would be delighted!
I had pictured the truth coming out and the whole capital learning that Xiao Ye was a widower abandoned by his wife on their wedding night. No woman would ever marry him again.
“His Majesty chose a bride for his imperial brother. You swapped in a cat for a prince under his nose. Do you think the Emperor will ignore this?”
“Surely he won’t execute our entire family. Xiao Ye and I are husband and wife now. A day as husband and wife earns a hundred days of grace. He even calls you Father-in-law.”
Father paced, grave-faced. “Looking the way you do, hasn’t he suspected anything?”
“What do you mean, looking the way I do? He said with his own mouth that I was the most beautiful woman in the capital.” I puffed out my chest proudly. “He still thinks I’m my sister. Every day he gives me jewelry, takes me wherever I want, and buys me whatever I ask for. He dotes on me.”
“This is fucking uncanny,” Father muttered.
At that moment, Xiao Ye knocked. “Have Father-in-law and Little Qiao finished speaking?”
“Finished! Quite finished!”
Father shot me a meaningful glance. “Do not let him learn you are a man dressed as a woman. Stall as long as you can.”
“Obviously. I won’t even let him sleep in my room.”
Only then did Father relax.
We sat together in the garden. Father lifted his cup and said guiltily, “My worthy son-in-law, allow your father-in-law to offer you a toast.”
“Please.” Xiao Ye drank calmly, then glanced around. “Why have I not seen Yuling today?”
Father and I both nearly lost the tops of our skulls.
“Come to think of it, I have not seen Yuling since my wedding day. He did not even attend to offer his congratulations.” Xiao Ye lowered his head in thought.
“He left. On a long journey. He won’t be back for a year or two. Ha! Ha-ha… Never mind him. Let us talk about you newlyweds. Are you getting along?”
Grievance slipped into Xiao Ye’s smile. “Everything is well, Father-in-law, save for one thing. My wife will not let me through the door of her room.”
The table fell utterly silent.
Father tossed the problem to me without mercy. “Well… if my daughter has decided so, she must have her reasons.”
I chimed in, “The main reason is that we have only been married for three days. I barely know you.”
“Understandable. Though I often visited Duke Zhenguo’s estate, I spent my time with Yuling…” Xiao Ye paused. “Father-in-law, you said Yuling had traveled far. Where did he go, and when will he return? If official business takes me that way, I could seek him out for a drink.”
Father opened his mouth, but no lie came. He turned to me with paternal gravity.
“On second thought, refusing him your room is rather unfair.”
I stared at him.
“If my wife and I lived in harmony, I would not need to roam the streets looking for Young Lord Qiao to drown my sorrows with,” Xiao Ye said, laughter gleaming in his eyes.
“You have to open the door,” Father declared, joining his side.
“I need a private word with Father.”
“Of course.” Xiao Ye did not mind.
I dragged Father aside and began conspiring in broad daylight at the top of my lungs. “What’s wrong with you? We agreed to keep him out. Why did you suddenly switch sides?”
“Isn’t it obvious? If you don’t sleep in the same room, he will go looking for you.”
“We were never close enough for him to drown his sorrows with me, yet now I have to sleep with him!” I slumped against a tree, feeling terribly persecuted by fate.
“Don’t worry. Your father has a trick guaranteed to keep him honest and well behaved.”
The old man leaned close and whispered his scheme.
That night, I sat on the bed with my long hair loose around my shoulders.
Xiao Ye entered carrying a pillow, tall and elegant. The moment he saw me, his lashes dipped and his eyes turned soft.
He moved to climb onto the bed.
“Wait.”
He obediently stepped back.
“A son-in-law of the Qiao family must answer three questions before he may share the bed. For every correct answer, I will give you one lock of my hair. Only when you possess three locks will you be my husband, bound to me by our hair.”
Xiao Ye, the eternal star pupil, had no fear of examinations. “Ask away.”
“First: why did you choose me as your wife?”
“Because I like you, naturally.” His gaze burned into mine. “Little Qiao, you are innocent and lovable, lively and kind, honest and straightforward, loyal and bold. The sight of you makes me happy. Every moment beside you brings me joy. I can never spend enough time with you. I want to steal you away and hide you, to spend the rest of my life at your side, hearing every morning bell and evening drum together. To me, only a life spent hand in hand with you, seeing all the world’s wonders, would be a life truly lived—one I could leave without regret.”
He delivered the entire speech without pausing for breath. Even I blushed. “Do you… know me?”
“Of course.” Xiao Ye lowered his eyes. “I have admired you from afar for a very long time.”
Oh. From afar.
Naturally he had heard of my sister. Who in the capital did not know that prodigy?
Smart people were drawn to other smart people after all.
Depressed, I snipped a tiny bit from the end of my hair, tied it with red thread, and handed it over. “You pass the first question.”
“And the second?”
I demanded with perfect righteousness, “Why should I like you?”
“Now that is difficult. I can only say that I am imperial blood and my family possesses mountains of gold and silver. Whatever you desire, I would pluck the stars and seize the moon to give it to you. But you are the cherished daughter of a ducal house. I imagine wealth and status mean little to you.”
“They mean a little.” Hugging the quilt, I held up one honest finger. “Even I know marrying beneath oneself ends badly. I come from a great house, and you are an imperial prince. That fits nicely. But beyond family, character is extremely important.”
Xiao Ye smiled. Bracing his hands on the bed, he leaned over until I was caged beneath him. “Only time reveals a person’s heart. It is easy to say, ‘I like you, and I will treat you well.’ Living those words is hard. When being with me truly makes you happy, you can give me your little tail.”
“It’s not a tail! It’s my hair!”
“Yes, yes.” Xiao Ye spread his bedding on the floor without complaint.
“I haven’t asked the third question, and you’re already lying down?” I rolled onto my stomach and watched him, chin propped in one hand.
Moonlight pooled across the floor, making him look as though he lay in the middle of water.
“I have not passed the second question. There is no need to consider the third yet. What is meant for me will come. I am in no hurry.”
“Hmph. Who says I’m meant for you?”
We talked and laughed a while longer, voices gradually fading. I closed my eyes and prepared to sleep.
Half dreaming, I heard a clear, mellow voice beside my ear. “Little Qiao. Little Qiao.”
“Mm?”
“I am afraid of the dark.”
“What?”
“Sleeping alone on the floor frightens me. Could you spare one hand for me to hold? Otherwise, I keep imagining something under the bed and cannot sleep.”
“Don’t scare me too!”
I hurriedly thrust my hand into his.
The night was cool as water, but his palm burned.
He laced his fingers through mine and drew my hand against his chest, as if I spent the whole night pillowed upon his heartbeat.
By the time I woke, Xiao Ye had dressed for court. His coronet rested before the mirror, and he held a pair of scissors.
“Does the imperial Xiao family also have a custom of giving hair to a new bride?” I asked.
My family’s “custom” had been invented by my drunk father yesterday.
“Naturally.” Xiao Ye spoke without a flicker of shame. “I simply adore my little one too much to set you questions. I will give mine freely.”
He cut off a remarkably thick lock, tied it in red thread, and handed it to me. “Keep it safe.”
I accepted it and stared at him.
“What is it? Do you want to give me your second lock?”
I hugged the pillow and shook my head. “I’m wondering whether cutting that much at once will make you bald.”
Xiao Ye froze—then reached over and tickled me!
While I gasped helplessly with laughter, he pinned me down and bit my cheek.
“The Xiao family has another rule. Disobedient little ones must be kissed.”
“I’m grown! I turn twenty later this year! I’m not little!”
At last Xiao Ye left. I sulked on the bed for a while and wondered when my sister would return. She was a year older than this man!
I had no idea how long Father’s three questions could hold Xiao Ye at bay.
Leafing through the invitations sent to me, I realized Young Lord Qiao had vanished from the capital for too long. I needed to appear in public and patch the glaring hole created by Prince Shu’s consort and Young Lord Qiao never being seen at the same time.
That evening, dressed in brilliant riding clothes, I had barely stepped into Canghua House when someone shouted, “Prince Shu is here!”