Chapter 3

Chapter 3

What kind of miserable life was I living before this?

When I woke up, Xie Tingshu was already fully dressed, looking as if the sky were about to fall.

“Your parents are going to beat me to death, aren’t they?”

Though I felt a bit weary, I still pulled myself together to coax him.

“My mother dotes on me.”

“You’re talented and handsome, and you even helped ease my illness. When she meets you, she’ll definitely be pleased.”

Xie Tingshu gave a low “Mm.” He couldn’t help it-his lips curved into a small smile.

Once there was a first time, there was a second.

I coaxed him along and “treated” my illness in all sorts of ways.

The little stick-in-the-mud was so mortified he practically wanted to die.

“Then… what are we, exactly?”

I smiled faintly and pressed a finger to his lips.

“Don’t ask. Keep going.”

Xie Tingshu: “…”

Dr. Xie truly worked miracles.

My illness was completely cured.

After that, he clung to me even tighter-so much for a scholar’s sense of propriety.

At the end of October, my mother-in-law wrote to me, asking me to return to the Capital and spend the New Year with her.

Of course I agreed. I wasn’t about to leave a lonely old woman by herself in the Marquis Estate.

I told Xie Tingshu, “I have to go back and keep my mother company for a while. I’ll probably return after the start of spring.”

He was crestfallen, but he couldn’t exactly stop me.

He sank into a slump for days, and I spent days coaxing him.

It wasn’t until I was on the road to the Capital that I suddenly remembered I’d forgotten to do what my mother-in-law asked.

I hadn’t brought back any local specialties.

But I’d already left.

So I could only go back to the residence, feeling guilty.

I never expected to see a strange man there.

He was tall and slender, strikingly handsome.

In looks, he was no worse than Xie Tingshu, but his presence was sharper-like a blade.

I was dumbstruck.

Did my mother-in-law arrange for me to leave because she wanted to sneak around in the Capital?

Before I could make sense of it, my mother-in-law waved at me with a bright smile. “This is Yanzhi.”

“Seems like you two haven’t met yet.”

My legs went weak.

I almost dropped dead on the spot.

Why did nobody tell me?

This dead husband of mine wasn’t dead at all.

Wei Yanzhi had been working for the Crown Prince and faked his death. Now the Emperor was gravely ill, the Crown Prince was acting as regent, and he could finally return.

My mother-in-law hesitated. “I told you.”

Did you?

When Wei Yanzhi “died,” I cried my eyes out. A good marriage had vanished, and I was going to be left to my father and the favored Concubine Liu all over again.

My mother died early, and my biological father doted on his concubine and cast aside his wife. Only this marriage could shelter me.

I had no one to pour my heart out to, so I clutched Wei Yanzhi’s memorial tablet and sobbed. That dead husband couldn’t hear it, but my mother-in-law did.

She wiped my tears and sighed. “Yanzhi isn’t dead. He’s just gone to a very far place on business.”

It was too important, so she didn’t dare say more. I thought she was only saying it to comfort us-that the next line would be that Yanzhi would be watching over us from the heavens.

The more I thought about it, the worse I felt.

After hearing about my childhood, my mother-in-law pitied me greatly.

“In the end, it’s Yanzhi who has wronged you.”

“How about this: you marry into the household as planned. As for his estate, the two of us will spend it together.”

“We’ll talk about everything else later.”

My mother-in-law was shrewd, but she often miscalculated. So I insisted on entering the Wei Mansion.

I kept widowhood for Wei Yanzhi and served my mother-in-law; she treated me like her own daughter.

A year ago, I even fell ill from pining too hard for my “late husband” and had no choice but to go to Jiangnan to recuperate.

That was what everyone in the Capital said.

Wei Yanzhi had been away for so long, but he’d heard the rumors, so naturally he believed it too.

He looked at me-his brows and eyes sharp, yet his expression unusually gentle, like ice and snow melting away.

“Suyi, I never imagined you’d be willing to do this much for me. I’ve wronged you.”

I froze.

He strode forward, dipped his head, and pulled me into a full embrace, speaking with heartfelt sincerity.

“From now on, there won’t be anything like this again.”

He was moved.

Me? I didn’t dare move a muscle.

His being dead had been perfectly settled-so how was it that he’d gone and gotten better instead?