chapter 9
The room fell silent.
He meant to use his power to force us.
The Tang family in the capital had that right, but this was Longxi.
My brother turned sideways and calmly brushed out his sleeve.
“Brother Tang studied beside me for several years. You know better than anyone how fiercely I protect my own.”
“Here, within the territory under my jurisdiction, do you still intend to bully my little sister before my very eyes?”
Tang Su’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
My brother smiled with thorns in it and invited him to speak in private.
As he passed me, my brother whispered, “Xiaoshu, before–in the past, your brother failed to protect you.”
“Leave everything from now on to me.”
I blinked away the shine of tears and answered through the tightness in my throat.
My sister-in-law had her fists. My brother had his tongue.
They argued with Tang Su for four hours.
They even summoned an elder of the Tang clan stationed in Longxi to preside.
I caught fragments of their discussion.
Titles, wealth, imperial dignity.
Countless concerns tangled together, and one move could shake the whole structure.
The Tang family’s century-old foundation would never indulge his recklessness.
When the words grew sharpest, Tang Su nearly drew his sword, only for my sister-in-law to force him back down.
In the end, he conceded defeat.
To prevent further trouble, the Nan family mobilized a hundred servants and began preparing the wedding at breakneck speed.
Servants in the courtyard hurried to bake wedding cakes and paste up scarlet characters of double happiness.
Shen Miaoyi stood among them, white-faced. No one treated her kindly.
This journey seemed to have wounded her in both body and spirit.
As the orphan of a fallen general, she had always been respected and celebrated. Never before had she been ignored as she was today.
When she saw me, she smiled wearily.
“My parents protected every soul in the Liangzhou Guard, but in the end, not one person can protect me.”
I turned my face away and replied without expression, “Why would you say that?”
“You are crowned in honor and have held the title Lady Yu’an since childhood. My parents dote on you as well. When have you ever suffered the slightest hardship?”
Shen Miaoyi curved her lips sadly.
“Who cares about any of that?” She looked up at the sky. “If I had a choice, I would give up everything to have my real parents beside me.”
“Living beneath another family’s roof leaves one forever afraid of gaining and losing.”
Mother stood behind her. No one knew how long she had been listening.
A faint light shifted in her eyes, unable to hide her pain and disappointment.
I had no wish to say more. Today was my wedding day, and if not for my brother’s sake, I would have thrown them out long ago.
As I turned to mount my horse, Mother’s unfamiliar hand caught mine.
Her lashes trembled.
Abruptly, she offered me a bracelet from her own dowry–the one she had given Shen Miaoyi in my last life.
“My child, your mother was wrong.”
“This is too precious. Madam should save it for the Zhou family’s daughter.”
Her hand froze in midair.
With a crisp crack, the bracelet fell to the ground and broke in two.
The woman, no longer young, looked suddenly lost.
She reached out to me. “Could you… let Mother have one good look at Shu’er on her wedding day?”
I turned away.
The tassels of my bright-red wedding dress swept across the back of her hand, refusing her without a sound.
Pomegranate blossoms blazed while wedding music rang.
Longxi was twice as far away as Bashu. In this lifetime, we never met again.
I was going to fetch the husband who would marry into my family.
Ten li of red silk lined the road. Pear blossoms fluttered, and spectators packed the entire avenue.
I rode high in the spring breeze, flushed with triumph.
As I waved in every direction, my gaze suddenly met Tang Su’s in the crowd.
Several people restrained him, preparing to tie him up and take him back to the capital.
Tears shone in the young man’s eyes. His thin lips moved soundlessly.
I could read the words.
“Ningshu, wait for me.”
“One day, I will take you back.”
I smiled in mockery.
Everyone knew it was impossible.
Even if he inherited his title and amassed merit in the future, his reach could not extend thousands of li into Longxi.
Just as, in our previous life, he had been unable to touch Shen Miaoyi in distant Bashu.
Separated by a vast distance, affection had grown between them, leaving a lifetime of regret.
I went peacefully to welcome my live-in husband.
A red bridal veil covered his eyes, and his youthful lips pressed tightly together.
The Nan family had many sons. When they sent him away to marry into my household, every one of them caused a noisy fuss and crowded around me.
Old Madam Nan was so enthusiastic that she entertained the idea of sending me two extra sons with the first.
There were clever ones, capable ones, and devastatingly beautiful ones.
One after another, they stood upstairs waving handkerchiefs at me.
Nan Jingche lifted one corner of his veil and bared his teeth at them.
“Do not look at my lady wife!”
“Keep looking and I will gouge out your eyes. Hmph!”
Suppressing my laughter, I took his hand and helped him into the bridal sedan.
Dusk melted into gold. We rode side by side, hand in hand, a husband and wife both blessed with youth.
…
The morning after our wedding night, my brother and sister-in-law pressed themselves against our door.
“Have those two ever read the proper books? I wonder whether everything went smoothly.”
“It is nearly noon and they still have not risen. Was the charcoal fire so strong that they fainted last night?”
Fearing the worst, my sister-in-law eased the door open a crack.
She found me draped in a bedsheet, spreading my arms with majestic authority.
“You stand before a celestial maiden. Why have you not knelt?”
Nan Jingche dropped respectfully to his knees.
“Celestial Maiden above, accept this humble one’s bow.”
“The kitchen has sent tribute in the form of a bowl of bird’s-nest soup. May the Celestial Maiden graciously partake.”
The crack in the door silently closed again.
My brother leaned anxiously over his wife’s shoulder. “Well?”
My sister-in-law waved an expansive hand and laughed.
“Those two share one quilt. Their days will never lack amusement.”
“Truly?”
My sister-in-law swept him up around the waist.
“Truly. Marriage is a strange thing. Sometimes, however odd the match may look, it turns out exactly right.”
My brother nestled into her arms, remembering something.
Then he smiled shyly.
“Perhaps the Old Man Under the Moon tied their red thread carelessly and wound it around both their brains.”