Chapter 4

“Shen Zhiyu, you went to great lengths to get me here!”

Wei Jinfeng spoke through clenched teeth, but he did not dare defy his mother’s order.

I removed my hair ornaments before the mirror and answered with contempt, “If I wanted you here, why would I need to go to any trouble?”

He remembered being locked in my room on our wedding night, unable to leave, and his face darkened.

If I wanted him, I could simply have him tied up and carried over. Why bother with schemes?

After that wedding night, Concubine Zhen avoided me whenever she could. She knew I was not a conventional mistress of the house and no longer dared provoke me.

Wei Jinfeng had been sleeping in her courtyard every night, keeping her on edge. When she heard he had to come to me, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“You want me to consummate this marriage? Never! Not unless I die first!” he shouted.

How admirable. A true paragon of male chastity.

I shrugged and pointed toward the outer room.

“Leave if you want. If you stay, you sleep there.”

Wei Jinfeng stamped his feet and paced like a headless fly. At last, he flung his sleeves and stalked to the couch in the outer room.

He had stayed even after I dismissed him so rudely. His mother must have given him an absolute command.

She truly was willing to sacrifice anything to stop my morning visits.

For good measure, the next day a sign appeared outside her courtyard in large, unmistakable characters:

THE COUNTESS IS UNWELL. BY ORDER OF THE IMPERIAL PHYSICIAN, NO ONE MAY DISTURB HER EARLY IN THE MORNING. ANYONE WHO PERSISTS SHALL BE DEEMED UNFILIAL.

Not only was I excused from paying respects, but every younger member of the family was free as well.

All the daughters-in-law and grandchildren who hated rising early secretly thanked me. The heir’s wife truly was a wonderful person.

Some rejoiced. Others suffered.

I no longer had to visit my mother-in-law’s courtyard, but I still had to train.

Now the person who could not sleep through the morning was Wei Jinfeng.

At first, he stormed about and accused me of tormenting him on purpose.

When he realized I paid him no attention, he gradually resigned himself to it.

Since he was already awake, he decided not to waste the morning. He dug out a long-neglected sword that had nearly rusted through and practiced in the courtyard.

Sometimes, when my maids and I were sparring, he found it interesting and joined us for a few exchanges.

I judged matters on their own merits and did not punish one person for another’s crimes, so I patiently traded several moves with him.

A little over a month later, Wei Jinfeng suddenly realized he felt light and healthy. The slight softness about his figure had vanished, leaving him tall and elegant as he had been in his youth.

At the capital’s polo match at the end of the month, he played for two full hours without tiring. When ladies young and old cast admiring looks his way, delight crept into his eyes.

“I suppose marrying you was not entirely without benefit.”

After that day, he spent more than half of every month in my rooms without any order from his mother.

On the couch in the side room, of course.

To outsiders, our marriage seemed to be growing more affectionate by the day.

Naturally, someone else could no longer sit still.