Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The window was open, and a breeze gently lifted the hem of my skirt, carrying the scent of pear blossoms through the room.
When I turned my head, I could just make out through my bridal veil the pear tree outside the window, its branches full of white blossoms.

That late night, my elder sister, the legitimate daughter, had brought up this pear tree again and again.
She said that when she first entered the Marquis’s Mansion, Shen Xiu had stood with her before the window to admire the flowers, and the two of them had once buried pear blossom wine beneath the tree.
Only later, when she heard from another woman that this pear tree had been planted by her husband to make that woman happy, did she wish she could dig it up on the spot.
She spoke with such bitter hatred, such bone-deep pain, yet I could not understand even the slightest bit of what she felt.
To me, it was only a pear tree.

I turned back, lowered my eyes to the eastern pearls dangling from my shoes, and quietly waited for the wedding night to pass.

Light footsteps sounded outside the door. Before I could raise my head, my bridal veil had already been lifted.
Shen Xiu was still in the front courtyard. The person who had come was a beautiful young woman.

The moment she saw me look up, her eyes reddened.
“I just wanted to see what the wife he married looks like.”

I tilted my head and reminded her, “Now that you have seen me, you should leave. Barging into the bridal chamber of the legitimate son of the marquis on his wedding night is punishable.”

She paused, still wanting to say something, when an old matron suddenly hurried in after her.
“Good heavens, Young Cousin, how did you end up here? Come along, quickly.”

The matron bent to apologize to me, then briskly dragged the woman away.

The door closed. I bent down and picked up the bridal veil that had been thrown aside.
Before I married over, the etiquette matron had warned me over and over that on the wedding night, a bride’s veil had to be lifted by her own husband, or else she would not be happy for the rest of her life.
I did not believe such things.
For a single veil to decide whether the rest of one’s life would be happy or not was far too absurd.

I was in no hurry to sit back on the bed. Instead, I sat at the table and picked through the pastries.
I had not eaten a single bite all day. How could that tiny piece of pastry Shen Xiu had handed me possibly be enough?

Only after filling my stomach did I return to the bed.
I do not know how much time passed, but just as I was growing drowsy, unsteady footsteps sounded outside the door.
Then a fair hand lifted my bridal veil outright.

I looked up and saw Shen Xiu’s face. At the same time, I caught the flash of amazement in his eyes.
He reached his hand out to me, his voice even gentler. “Don’t be afraid.”

The bright red wedding clothes were taken off, and the candlelight swayed.
He had fresh water brought in twice. Only when I gave a soft sneeze did he finally hold me and restrain himself.

Perhaps we had been tangled together for too long, because by then the wine had worn off and he could not sleep.
I could feel him winding the ends of my hair around his fingers. Half-asleep, I heard him ask, “Did someone come here tonight?”

I gave a vague murmur of assent and said the matron had taken her away.

The last thing I heard before falling asleep was him saying, “You were wronged.”