Chapter 2
After we married, my help meant that Leng Yushu no longer needed to gather herbs on the mountain. He began studying medical texts at home.
When he had time to spare, he would take my hand and bring me to the market.
We were like any other ordinary married couple.
If he spotted a pretty hairpin, he would tuck it into my hair. “My wife, this looks lovely on you.”
During temple fairs, he would take me to the temple said to grant the most prayers and draw a fortune stick for our marriage. “Duye Temple never fails, my wife. With this marriage fortune, you and I are sure to grow old together in love.”
When we passed the sweet, fragrant candied hawthorns, we would buy a skewer each and eat them on the way home.
Two uneventful months went by like this. Then, one morning, the moment he opened his eyes, he took my hand and sighed.
“My wife, I dreamed of my father again. If he hadn’t gambled away the family fortune, I ought to have a clinic of my own by now. The Leng family’s medical knowledge has been passed down for a hundred years. I know I could do so much good!”
“What a shame we have no money to open a clinic… If only I could open one…” As he spoke, he stole a glance at me.
Two months in the mortal world had taught me a little about its ways. I understood what he meant.
But his wish had been to marry me. I was under no obligation to open a clinic for him. Looking at him, I asked calmly, “Is that your second wish?”
His expression shifted, a trace of displeasure in his eyes. Faced with my indifference, he could only grit his teeth in the end. “Yes.”
I conjured gold and silver with a wave of my hand, then found him premises in the busiest part of town.
The day the sign for Shuhan Hall went up, he was beside himself with excitement. “My wife, we have a clinic!”
I looked up at the three gilded characters on the sign: Shuhan Hall. Leng Yushu had spent a month thinking up the name.
It was his clinic, not “ours.”
Once it opened, business thrived.
Leng Yushu treated patients and gave away medicine. His reputation soon spread, until he was the celebrated Doctor Leng of Licheng.
He saw the patients, and I brewed the medicine. We became the city’s model of a loving couple.
Ten years passed this way.
Ten years of mortal life, of sharing our days and nights, left me a little dazed. I even began to think that Leng Yushu was rather good, and life in the mortal world rather good too.
Until an unconscious young girl appeared outside the clinic.
She had no name and had collapsed there alone. Leng Yushu saved her.
When she woke, she said she remembered nothing of her past. Yet she gazed straight at me, her eyes red, and declared that she should repay her savior by offering herself in marriage.
I pointed calmly at Leng Yushu beside me. “He’s the one who saved you.”
He grew flustered and shook his head repeatedly. “No, no. I already have a wife.”
The girl stole a glance at me. Finding my sharp gaze fixed on her, she hurriedly changed her words. She had nowhere to go now, she said, and hoped to stay at Shuhan Hall doing odd jobs to repay his kindness.
Leng Yushu agreed at once. He said her eyes were like clear autumn water and named her Qiushui.
Qiushui stayed at Shuhan Hall. She worked hard and took a keen interest in medicine. In his spare time, Leng Yushu was happy to teach her a thing or two.
She was young and learned quickly. Before long, she had learned to measure out herbs and brew medicine alike. I was glad of the leisure and grudgingly treated her a little more kindly.
Leng Yushu, however, could not have been more pleased with his pretty young apprentice. Every day, he praised her intelligence and diligence. He also said it had been unfair to make me manage our home and help at the clinic all these years. Now that Qiushui was here, I should go home and have a good rest.
I readily agreed, leaving the two of them to run the clinic.
Only, whenever I brought food over, I often found them together in the same room.
When the winter snow had passed and the peach blossoms were in bloom, I made Leng Yushu’s favorite peach-blossom pastries and went to find him. There, inside Shuhan Hall, was Qiushui in his arms.
“When are you going to marry me, like you promised?”
“There’s no hurry. I haven’t persuaded Hu Li yet. Shui’er, why do you smell so lovely? There’s always this faint sandalwood fragrance. All I ever smell of is bitter medicine.” He buried his face against her neck.
Where he could not see, Qiushui’s brow creased, though her voice remained soft and sweet. “What sandalwood? You and that nose of yours.”
Her teasing rebuke seemed a reward to him. He raised his head, about to kiss her.
I chose that moment to clear my throat. “Ahem.”
Seeing me, Leng Yushu pushed her away in a panic.
Qiushui glanced at me, lowered her head, and hurried off.
His expression stiffened; his voice turned cold. “What are you doing here? That wasn’t what it looked like. Qiushui tripped. I was only helping her.”
I handed him the pastries. “The peach blossoms are out. I made you some peach-blossom pastries.”
When I asked no further questions, he let out a long breath and softened his expression.
“In future, have a servant bring little things like this. You needn’t come yourself, my wife.”
I said nothing, merely nodding my agreement.
He took the pastries and ate absentmindedly.
Looking at the crumbs caught in his beard, I suddenly realized that he had long since ceased to be that inexperienced, youthful seventeen-year-old herbal apprentice.
“Do you like Qiushui? If you do, you could marry her…”
Before I finished, he flung down the pastry and pointed at me in fury. “There is nothing improper between Qiushui and me! Don’t you dare sully the bond between master and apprentice!”
I smiled, unbothered. “Very well.”
Since he wanted to hide it, I would leave it unspoken.
A month later, Qiushui was found to be pregnant. Beside himself with joy, Leng Yushu hurried to discuss bringing her into our household.
“My wife, this is all my fault. But now that Qiushui is carrying my child, I’m afraid I must ask you to bear with it.”
His earlier attitude gone, he came shamelessly begging.
“Don’t worry. I’ve spoken to her. She asks for no formal standing. She only wants to enter the household as a concubine.”
I nodded, too disinclined to investigate whether Qiushui truly wanted no formal standing, or whether he simply wished to preserve our reputation as a loving couple.
Three days later, a small pink sedan chair carried her in through the back gate.
Dressed in red wedding robes, her eyes bright and shifting, Qiushui gracefully offered a cup of fragrant tea. “Please have some tea, Elder Sister.”
That softly spoken “Elder Sister” could set a heart fluttering. No wonder Leng Yushu had lost his head.
I nodded, accepted the cup, and took a sip. Then I slipped the bracelet from my wrist and put it on her myself.
“This bracelet is your gift. See that you serve our husband well.”
She murmured her assent. With that, she had entered the household.
They were newlyweds. Even with Qiushui pregnant, Leng Yushu spent every day lingering in her room.
He behaved as he had when we first married, only more so. Every day, he either took her through the markets or brought her up the mountains to enjoy the views and the spring countryside.
Until, one stormy night a month later, as I sifted through the dwindling jewelry in my dressing case, he burst in carrying her.
“My wife, save Qiushui. Please!”