Chapter 3

After that episode,

whenever Pei Shuyuan ran into me alone, his greeting was stiff and awkward. He mumbled “Sister-in-law” as though the words burned his tongue.

He wouldn’t meet my eyes, and the tips of his ears were always red.

Even his retreating back looked flustered.

Shen Zhiyan went to stay with another friend for a while.

For the next few days, there were only the three of us at home.

At mealtimes, my husband kept trying to persuade Pei Shuyuan.

He talked himself hoarse, going on and on about how wretched old age would be without a child.

While he spoke, I sat beside him eating with my head modestly bowed.

Pei Shuyuan’s answers were always subdued. No, he couldn’t. A cousin’s wife deserved the same respect as a mother. He would never agree.

After several refusals in a row, my husband stopped trying to persuade him.

One day, after an in-depth study of his invaluable guide to conception, he said, “Forget it. Nothing gets through to that cousin of mine.”

Don’t forget it, I thought. Try a little harder.

But that was hardly something a traditional woman like me could say. I was struggling to find the right words when he added,

“We’ll try one last time. If he’s still unwilling, we’ll leave it at that, and I’ll look for someone else.”

I ventured slyly, “If the child turns out ugly, finding a marriage match might be difficult.”

“Don’t worry, my darling. Naturally, I’ll choose someone handsome.”

That was a relief.

On a rainy night, my husband once again knocked Pei Shuyuan unconscious with a club and carried him to the bed.

“We’d better hurry,” he said. “Once he wakes up, he’ll be harder to hold down than a pig.”

My husband and I sat on either side of Pei Shuyuan.

“Husband… you… I… aren’t you leaving?” I asked timidly.

Instead, he said, “My darling, do you remember all the positions?”

I thought about it. In these circumstances, it would have to be the phoenix above and the dragon below. But I couldn’t possibly say that aloud.

My husband simply produced his treasured, fraying book and turned the pages for me.

“Do you think this one would work?”

I bowed my head and pretended to be too shy to answer.

It would.

I had seen enough when my husband pulled down Pei Shuyuan’s trousers last time to know he was equipped for it.

My husband turned a few more pages and asked whether those would do.

I kept my head down demurely, thinking, Yes. All of them.

Suddenly, the room was quiet except for the rustle of turning pages.

Then my husband put the book down. “Why don’t I help you?”

“What? You’re going to stay?”

I had been nervous enough already. Now I didn’t know what to do with my hands or feet.

“Let’s forget it. I don’t want to do it like this.”

I started getting off the bed.

My husband stopped me. “No, no, I’ll go. You’ll be all right on your own, won’t you?”

With that, he left.

Long after the door closed, I reached a trembling hand toward Pei Shuyuan’s belt.

I was terribly nervous.

Halfway there, I snatched my hand back.

I jumped off the bed and lay on the floor. Only after making sure there was no one underneath did I climb back up.

When I undid Pei Shuyuan’s belt, his clothes slipped open, revealing his well-built chest.

He looked so scholarly and slender. Who would have thought he was so broad-chested beneath his clothes?

I couldn’t help staring for a little longer.

Then, to my surprise, a drop landed on a raised point of his chest.

Oh, heavens…

I hastily wiped the saliva that had escaped from the corner of my mouth, then reached to wipe it off him as well.

As I wiped, my hand lingered, moving over him.

I liked the feel of him far too much.

Perhaps I imagined it, but his body seemed to tremble faintly beneath my hand.

The wind and rain grew stronger.

A gust made the window rattle sharply.

It brought me back to my senses a little.

I withdrew my hand and reached for the tie at the waist of his trousers.

It was a simple slipknot.

But whether from nerves or something else, I tugged it this way and that until it became a hard knot.

The more I tried to undo it, the tighter it got.

The tighter it got, the more nervous I became. I was terribly afraid Pei Shuyuan would wake up and run away.

Suddenly, I heard a sigh.

It seemed to come from beneath the hood.

I listened more closely, but heard nothing else.

Deciding I had imagined it, I paid it no more attention and went on worrying at the knot.

All at once, the wardrobe door banged open.

My husband hurried to the bed in a few long strides and, while I stared in disbelief, asked why I hadn’t started yet.

But I had seen him leave. When had he got into the wardrobe?

Seeing the knot in Pei Shuyuan’s trouser tie, he joined in trying to undo it.

In the end, we both gave up.

“Forget it,” my husband said. “He really must be unwilling. He even knotted his trousers shut. He was guarding against us.”

All I could do was smile and let it go.

Just as my husband was about to carry him away,

Pei Shuyuan suddenly sat up.

At some point, he had freed the hands that had been bound behind his back.

Without looking at us, his face wooden, he removed the hood, pulled his clothes together, got off the bed, and left.

My husband and I looked at each other.

There was a thud.

Pei Shuyuan had “accidentally” knocked the sewing basket off the couch.

A gleaming pair of scissors fell out beside it.

“Shuyuan really doesn’t want to,” my husband said. “He’s knocking things over in a temper now.”

“Never mind. Let’s stop troubling him.”

By the door, Pei Shuyuan checked his stride and seemed to stumble.