Chapter 3

Chapter 3

His face flushed crimson, and he took the opportunity to undress and slip beneath the covers.

I hadn’t expected it. He looked so thin, yet he was surprisingly strong.

Afterward, he even braved the cold to get up and wring out a towel for me, wiping me clean.

To me, this was a husband sent from the heavens, a match made of gold and jade.

Before we fell asleep, he kissed my lips and murmured, “So this is what the books mean by warm fragrance and soft jade.”

Blushing, I shrank down under the quilt. Then, all of a sudden, images flashed through my mind.

A young man gave him a stick of ink, and he used it in the examination hall.

In the next scene, an examiner was reading the papers. The moment he unfolded Ji Songzhu’s, he was seized by a fit of sneezing, tears and mucus streaming down his face.

So he skimmed it in a hurry, then placed the paper into the pile of failed exams.

In another scene, Ji Songzhu stood dejectedly at the entrance of the prefectural school. The light drizzle seemed heavy enough to bend his spine.

I shuddered.

Ji Songzhu smiled. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t bother you anymore. Sleep.”

I was utterly exhausted and soon sank into a deep sleep.

“Mother, she’ll be all right, won’t she? Why hasn’t she woken up yet? I’ll go call her.”

My mother-in-law lowered her voice. “Why wake her? It’s all because you didn’t know your limits last night…”

“Her own mother treats her no better than a stepmother would. She’s suffered enough. Let her sleep properly.”

The bright white snow outside reflected the sunlight, casting a dazzling glow into the room.

The heated brick bed was still warm and cozy.

It was nothing like when I lived with my birth family. My room had been far from the stove, so the bed was never warm. The quilts were stiff, and the bedding was forever icy cold.

I turned over and got out of bed. Ji Songzhu immediately pushed the door open.

After giving me a quick glance, the tips of his ears reddened. “If you’re tired, sleep a little longer.”

I braced myself against the bed and stood. “I’m not tired. I often do farmwork. I’m plenty strong.”

My mother-in-law wouldn’t let me touch cold water.

“If you don’t take care of these hands of yours, those chilblains will never heal. Once night falls, they’ll itch so badly you’ll want to claw your heart and lungs out.”

During the day, Ji Songzhu studied with great focus. At night, he inevitably made mischief with me for a while.

Perhaps because my mother-in-law had spoken to him, he restrained himself much more.

Before we slept, he would, as usual, kiss me.

Those fragmented images in my mind filled in, bit by bit, day after day.

That classmate was called Zhou Li. His family owned a shop selling brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones…

Someone called the grading official Old Xu.

After half a month of eating and drinking well, I found that my old clothes actually felt a little tight.

At night, Songzhu held me in his arms. “Jiaojiao, you’ve finally put on a little weight.”

The weather was still bitterly cold at the end of February, and Songzhu was about to leave for the prefectural examination again.

The night before his departure, my mother-in-law said, “Songzhu, you’ve been clever since childhood and can remember almost anything after one look. If you still fail this time, then it is fate. From now on, you and Jiaojiao should simply live your days well together.”

Songzhu slowly picked at his rice and answered heavily, “Mm.”

The candlelight flickered. His expression was grave and weighed down with gloom.

Thinking of the images that had appeared in my mind over the past few days, I couldn’t help asking, “Do you have a classmate named Zhou Li? His family owns a shop selling brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones?”