Chapter 3
Chapter 3
My wedding dress was a rush job, yet it fit perfectly.
It was the finest garment I had worn in three years.
However, as I traced the embroidery on the sleeves, a familiar worry quickly set in.
I wondered if the young master of the Shen family would charge the cost of this dress to my account.
I was just estimating how much the dress might be worth when my veil was suddenly lifted. The candlelight flickered, and I saw a pair of familiar eyes, brimming with warmth and laughter.
I felt a strange sense of kinship with those eyes, though I couldn’t immediately recall where I had seen them before.
A cup of nuptial wine was held out to me, emitting a rich, mellow aroma.
I had heard Cui Ning say that the fine wines in the Cui Family cellars could sell for a hundred gold pieces a jar, and even then, they were often impossible to find.
Not knowing how expensive this wine was, I didn’t dare drink it.
Seeing me gripping the cup with my head bowed, silent and hesitant, Shen Qinghe suddenly seemed to understand. He hurried over with a small tray piled with shimmering silver ingots.
“This thirty-three taels of silver is your betrothal gift, Miss.”
I counted it three times. It was clearly forty taels.
Noticing my confusion, Shen Qinghe looked at my face and scratched his head, appearing somewhat unsure of himself.
“Thirty-three taels… that should be exactly right, shouldn’t it?
“Or did I remember wrong? Was it three hundred taels?”
It dawned on me then. Shen Qinghe was exactly as Matchmaker Liu had described-a muddled man who couldn’t keep his accounts straight.
But even if he was confused, I couldn’t take advantage of him.
I pushed seven taels of silver aside and looked up at him earnestly.
“You’ve given too much. My mother’s zither only costs thirty-three taels.”
Shen Qinghe shook his head with a gentle smile.
“It’s not too much. I gave it to you on purpose.
“In case the shop owner raised the price… it’s so cold out, I was afraid you’d have to stand there waiting.”
I remembered where I had seen him before!
Two years ago, I had caught a cold and borrowed money from Cui Ning to buy medicine.
But that day, the price of cassia twigs had happened to go up.
Fearing Cui Ning’s displeasure and dreading another page being added to my debt ledger, I hadn’t dared go back to borrow more money from him.
I had stood there at the medicine counter, clutching my purse in embarrassment, unable to leave and unable to stay.
Shen Qinghe, behind the counter, had seen my predicament. He had suddenly looked up and slapped his forehead.
“How silly of me! Since the price of cassia twigs went up today, I’ll just sell you yesterday’s stock at the old price.”
When word of that foolish remark spread, Shen Qinghe became the laughingstock of the local merchants during their tea breaks.
I was just about to thank him for those few grams of cassia twigs when he, seeing me dazed and thinking I was refusing the gift, insisted on pushing all the silver into my arms.
“A woman marries to be clothed and fed. Take it and spend it!
“Besides, I have something I need to trouble you with.”
He didn’t look like he was just being polite.
The warmth blooming in my heart felt so foreign it was like a dream.
I touched the seven taels of silver in my lap, lowered my head, and quietly bit back a smile.
Before I could say thank you, Shen Qinghe leaned down and respectfully presented a brand-new ledger with both hands.
“Then I’ll have to trouble Miss Xiaoyu with the bookkeeping from now on.”
The smile on my face froze.
Shen Qinghe turned away, carefully surveying the bedroom as he thought aloud.
“Two taels for the wedding dress, fifty copper coins for the dragon and phoenix candles, thirty coins for the wedding nuts…
“Xiaoyu, help me think. Did I miss anything?
“Oh, right! The nuptial wine!”
It turned out that the Shen family and the Cui Family-Shen Qinghe and Cui Ning-were no different after all.
Those seven taels of silver weren’t a gift for nothing; they were being tallied up the moment he turned around.
Fighting back tears, I pointed at the wine on the table and pleaded for myself in humiliation.
“I didn’t drink that cup of wine. Can you please not record it in the ledger?”
I… I really had no more money left…
Shen Qinghe refused me decisively.
“No, no. It must be recorded.”
I stopped speaking and lowered my head further and further.
The tears blurring my vision made it impossible to see the grids of the ledger-or the ring of keys Shen Qinghe was holding out to me.
…
What did this mean? Was he pressuring me to pay him back?
Terrified of staining the ledger with my tears, I wiped them away forcefully and spoke with a strained voice.
“I don’t have that much money right now, but I will pay you back slowly over time.”
Seeing me cry, Shen Qinghe panicked, waving his hands frantically.
“You’ve misunderstood! This is to record our future household expenses. From now on, you’ll be in charge of the family’s money.
“These are the keys to our shops. One set for you, one for me.”
He made it sound so wonderful, but I didn’t dare take them.
Because Cui Ning had also been a very good person once.
Six years ago, he had also placed tallies and keys into my hands, just like this.
But later, he had mocked me for feigning ignorance, calling me greedy for clinging to the Cui Family and refusing to let go.
Back then, I had blushed out of shyness.
Later, I blushed out of shame.
Shen Qinghe didn’t know what to say to make me believe him.
“Since we are husband and wife, we are family. I will definitely treat you well, and I don’t want you to keep accounts to pay me back!”
Closing the ledger, I shook my head gently.
“Young Master Shen, I know you are a good man.
“But if you don’t keep accounts, I won’t know how much the rice in my bowl costs, and I won’t be able to eat in peace.”
Shen Qinghe stared at me blankly. I didn’t know what he was thinking in the silence, or what he had guessed.
But only a fool refuses to take advantage of a good deal.
Shen Qinghe wasn’t a fool. After a long pause, he nodded hesitantly.
“Then… I’ll do as you say. But will you eat in peace?”