Chapter 2
Husband put the long rod back on the table and picked up two little cups.
“How old are you?” he asked.
I shook my head from side to side, making my ornaments jingle. Laughing, I answered obediently, “I turned fourteen last month.”
Husband stopped in his tracks. Still holding the cups, he turned toward the door.
I blinked as he kicked it. “Get the hell out of here, all of you.”
He sounded fierce. It frightened me.
A man’s laughing voice came from outside. “Boss, they want to tease the bride and groom.”
I didn’t understand what that meant, but Husband’s thick eyebrows drew together. He seemed to dislike it very much.
Nanny was like that sometimes too. There were things she disliked but didn’t dare speak up about.
I rose from the bed and pattered over to the door, my headdress weighing me down. Pretending to be angry, as I always did for Nanny, I shouted, “Husband doesn’t want you teasing us! Go away!”
But instead of leaving, the people outside only laughed harder.
I grew flustered and looked helplessly up at Husband beside me.
When the maids bullied Nanny, they always ran off if I scolded them that fiercely. My sisters would certainly punish me afterward, but I still thought it was worth it.
Husband glanced at me, then leaned against the door and said very quietly, “Tomorrow I’ll throw every one of you to the wolves.”
Wolves?
I shrank back in fright.
If you didn’t listen to Husband, he’d throw you up the mountain for the wolves!
The people outside were just as frightened as I was. They hurried away. But I couldn’t run. I still had to share his bed.
Husband set the two cups back on the table and turned to me. “Your father didn’t tell me you were so young.”
I was frightened enough already. At that, I burst into tears. “I’m not little! Nanny says I’m grown up. Please don’t throw me to the wolves, Husband.”
He frowned, and I cried harder.
In a few strides, he was in front of me. He lifted me easily into his arms and patted my back stiffly with his big hand. “Who said anything about throwing you to the wolves?”
Through my tears, I blinked up at him.
He sat on the bed with me in his arms, sighed, and patted my head. “Don’t cry.”
I stopped at once and sniffled. “Will you throw Father to the wolves, then?”
He stared.
“No.”
Then I could stop worrying. I wrapped my arms around his neck and planted a loud kiss on his cheek. “You really are a good man.”
He stared again. Then he looked me over from head to foot and gave another deep sigh.
Before the wedding, my second sister had sneaked into my courtyard. She said that if I didn’t want to marry, she could help me.
I asked why I wouldn’t want to marry.
She said the man I was marrying was the very worst sort of villain.
I’d thought she was trying to trick me again. Now it was clear that she had been.
I lay down beside Husband. He didn’t hold me as Nanny did. His back was turned, and I couldn’t tell if he was asleep.
“Husband,” I whispered.
He didn’t answer. He must have fallen asleep.
I carefully pushed myself up and leaned toward his ear. “Husband, I’ll tell you a secret.
“Yinyin is stupid.”
Nanny and Father had both told me not to tell him, but I didn’t want to lie.
He was asleep now. If I told him and he didn’t hear, I wouldn’t have lied, and he still wouldn’t know.
But suddenly Husband opened his eyes.
I was so startled that the arm supporting me gave way, and I fell onto the bed.
Ouch!
“Husband…” I blinked, not knowing what to do.
He turned over and looked at me. “Who said that?”
“Hm?”
“Who said you were stupid?”
“Everybody.” I tugged at the quilt. Memories rushed over me like a flood, filling me with sudden hurt. “They say I was born too early. They say I’m stupid, and I killed Mother too.”
The more I said, the more I wanted to cry.
But Husband reached out and drew me into his arms. He felt different from Nanny: hard, and very broad.
His hand patted my back in an uneven rhythm. “You’re not stupid. You just haven’t grown up yet.”
“Really?” My eyes lit up as I looked at him.
He smiled and nodded. “Let me take care of you. You’ll grow.”