chapter 2
chapter 2
After my coming-of-age ceremony, I married into the Fu family as promised.
On the night before the wedding, both my father and Fu Zi’en’s father came to speak with me.
Father said, “Xinyan, we have wronged you. The debt of the entire family has fallen on you alone.”
He sounded exactly like my sisters.
I shook my head. “I am marrying Fu Zi’en of my own free will. The life-saving debt I am repaying is my share, and mine alone.”
Father stared at me in shock. He had never expected such an answer.
At last, he nodded. “You are not like your sisters.”
No, I wasn’t. My sisters and I calculated the value of a life in very different ways.
Someone had spread the story that none of them had been willing to marry the son of our family’s savior. Their reputations suffered terribly. Their dreams of marrying ideal husbands were badly shaken, and the noble young men who had once shown interest began to hold back and watch.
Mother was kindhearted, yet even she took a secret satisfaction in their misfortune. She believed my marriage to Fu Zi’en would make me miserable, and she blamed my sisters for that misery. Seeing them suffer too made her feel that justice had been done.
Grandmother said nothing and made no attempt to stop the rumors. Father did nothing either.
I understood it as a temporary punishment for my sisters and an answer owed to me. Once I was married, they would surely intervene. After all, Father could hardly show his face if he had a whole brood of daughters no one would marry.
Lord Fu came to tell me the truth about Fu Zi’en.
“Xinyan, you may have heard certain things about my son. I worried that false rumors might prejudice you against him and damage your marriage. After much thought, I decided it would be better to tell you everything honestly.
“People say Zi’en is stupid. That isn’t true. His reactions are simply slower than other people’s, and he was not born that way. His mother lacked the strength to deliver him. He was trapped too long in the womb and came out blue all over. It took a great deal of effort before he finally cried. The physician said his brain had been injured, leaving him slow to respond.
“I am telling you this so you can rest assured about having children with him. His condition is not hereditary. I also hope you will be patient with him.
“Others say he was poorly raised and is unbearably crude. That is not true either. He lost his mother young, but I kept him by my side and taught him myself. I am a man and was never particularly delicate, so a woman may find him rough around the edges. I ask you to be forgiving and teach him how he ought to treat you.
“Zi’en may be slow, but he has virtues other young noblemen lack. First, although he is twenty, he has never been with a woman. There are no complications waiting for you in that regard. You may decide for yourself what sort of inner household you wish to build. Second, he is obedient. I have already told him that he must listen to you. Xinyan, the man Zi’en becomes from now on will be yours to shape.”
Comparison was a dangerous thing. Set beside Father, Lord Fu outshone him completely.
My respect for him rose at once.
“Thank you for speaking so candidly, Lord Fu,” I said. “Since I have chosen to marry Zi’en, I will treat him well. I will remember everything you have told me. Please be at ease. I will cherish him.”