The Beauty Within the Gates
Chapter 87
The young lady’s shocking words were far too unexpected. Not only was Ming Wanrou inside stunned into a red-faced, dazed goose, but even the two young masters outside were shaken.
The fist Xie Shao held clenched behind his back unconsciously loosened, and without changing expression, he slowly let out a breath.
Zhou Kuang turned his head to look at him, his eyes filled with admiration. As expected of Brother Xie. From the time they had met until now, no matter the matter, he was always walking ahead of the four of them, truly worthy of being a model and example to the other three.
Fearing his little wife might go on stringing out such pearls of wit and let someone else’s ears benefit for free, Xie Shao pulled Zhou Kuang back to the outer room. They sat down on the floor cushions to continue their tea, waiting for the young ladies to freely speak their minds and slowly finish discussing.
Earlier, when Zhou Kuang had spoken with Xie Shao about the rebellion in Fengcheng, his expression had been heavy.
Only now did a trace of ease finally appear on his face. After arriving in the Eastern Capital and hearing that Xie Shao had been seriously injured, he had come to visit before even having time to enter the palace. It had also been inconvenient to tidy himself along the journey; traces of fresh stubble now lingered on his face. Even when he smiled, he looked a few degrees more mature than before.
He teased, “Thinking back to when Brother Xie first married and saw that it was the Second Young Lady Wen, your soul was nearly frightened out of you. Who could ever have guessed it would come to such bliss and contentment as this?”
Indeed, he had not expected it.
He still remembered, even now, his little wife’s face on their wedding night, even more astonished than his own.
Seeing Zhou Kuang’s face full of envy, Xie Shao felt quite pleased in his heart. He had not expected his little wife to give him such an ample face, allowing him now to straighten his back and speak with confidence. “Your wedding banquet is next month, isn’t it? You needn’t be anxious. Very soon, you too will have your bliss and contentment.”
“Brother Xie is right. Good things are worth the wait.”
Young ladies had their whispered secrets, and men also had their own lofty discussions. Zhou Kuang smiled, then leaned closer and said, “Do you remember back then, when the four of us made a bet on who would marry first and be the first to bring a beauty home. That fellow Cui Nian bragged shamelessly, declaring that he would certainly be the first one to steal a kiss from a young lady. Who would have thought that now, he hasn’t even found a girl he likes? Brother Xie took first place after all. As for this unworthy one, I took second.”
Xie Shao’s eyelid paused. He swept a glance over and stared at Zhou Kuang’s smugly curved lips. Hearing that tone of his, he asked, “You kissed her?”
Under such a look from him, Zhou Kuang’s expression turned somewhat awkward. In the end, he still shamelessly nodded.
On the road, he had been unable to resist and had pressed her head down to kiss her. Though he had taken a punch to the chest for it, that was all part of the little pleasures between lovers and did no real harm.
There were some things where, even if one was doing well oneself, one did not necessarily want to see others doing well too. Xie Shao suddenly found Zhou Kuang’s showing-off face rather unbearable. How had he managed to kiss her before they were even married? Thinking of how much effort he himself had spent just to kiss his little wife…
Just kissed?
The two of them had traveled together all this way, a lone man and a lone woman, unmarried at that. With Shizi Zhou’s impatient temperament, it was hard to say.
Swallowing the sour taste in his heart, Xie Shao spoke with perfect seriousness. “A young lady’s reputation is more important than anything. The wedding banquet is only a few days away. Shizi Zhou should still observe propriety.”
On matters of country, perhaps one day in the future, he might kneel before Zhou Kuang and bow his head as a subject. But in such private matters, he could not lose.
The fact that Zhou Kuang had been able to follow behind him like a tail all these years was precisely because he understood Xie Shao’s character.
Though Xie Shao appeared unruly on the surface, in truth, he was someone who greatly valued propriety and loyalty. Zhou Kuang had always admired him deeply in his heart. Hearing him say this now, he nodded. “Brother Xie can be assured of that. I still know where the boundaries are.”
Xie Shao lifted his teacup and took a sip. He had put on airs just now and acted petty for once, but knowing that Zhou Kuang had not yet completed the matter, his heart felt balanced again. He asked, “When are you entering the palace?”
“In any case, I’ve already arrived in the Eastern Capital. There is no need to rush over this very moment.” Zhou Kuang looked at the Eastern Capital sunlight shining across the threshold, and alongside the anticipation in his eyes, a touch of melancholy appeared. “I originally thought I would spend my whole life carefree and happy with Brother Xie in Fengcheng. Who could have imagined that one day, I would come to this Eastern Capital together with Brother Xie?”
“This is destiny. Shizi Zhou was never meant to be ordinary.”
Zhou Kuang looked at him and saw that his expression was serious, no longer carrying the playful grin he had always worn when facing him in the past.
The price of growing up was that some simple, beautiful things suddenly and quietly disappeared. For some reason, his heart felt a little hollow.
As for his own father becoming Crown Prince, he had also been very surprised.
“Brother Xie, you know me. When it comes to eating, drinking, and having fun, I have eight hundred clever little ideas, but ambition is the one thing I don’t have. Now that a duck has been forced onto the perch, my whole Jing Wang Mansion has come to the Eastern Capital, and we must shoulder the great responsibility of inheriting Great Feng. I don’t even know whether I have the ability to establish myself here. If I could choose, I would still want to return to the days before. But no matter what the road ahead becomes, I am still the same Zhou Kuang from before. I hope Brother Xie will treat me the same way, too. We’ll eat when we should eat, drink when we should drink. The two of us, plus Pei Qing and Cui Nian, will still be four brothers. Our days won’t change.”
Though he said this, both of them knew in their hearts that they could no longer return to the past.
He was no longer the wastrel Xie Shao on everyone’s lips, and Zhou Kuang was no longer the willful, reckless young hothead from before.
Now that Zhou Kuang had arrived in the Eastern Capital, the burdens on his shoulders would only grow heavier. Once he entered the palace, he feared he would never again return to those carefree days.
“The bond between brothers doesn’t need wine and meat to sustain it. Shizi Zhou may rest assured. My wife at home has great ambitions, so I’m afraid I can no longer return to the past either. I have already made up my mind to devote myself wholeheartedly to serving the court from now on. If I am fortunate enough to establish merit alongside Shizi Zhou and seek blessings for the people under heaven, that will be my honor.”
Zhou Kuang froze, then looked at Xie Shao for a long while. His eyes grew brighter and brighter. For a moment, overcome with emotion, he raised the teacup on the table. “Today, I borrow Brother Xie’s cup of tea to toast you. When Brother Xie’s wound has healed, I’ll prepare wine and dishes, and we brothers will gather properly.”
—
Compared with the heaviness of the two men outside, the conversation in the inner room was much lighter.
After Wen Shuse said that sentence, Ming Wanrou’s face flushed red as cinnabar. Yet in her heart, she was also extremely puzzled. In the end, she truly could not help asking doubtfully, “Can that sort of thing really be… enjoyable?”
Wen Shuse, like an old Daoist tugging an ox by the nose, had been spouting nonsense for quite a while. She herself did not even know whether what she said was right or not. If Ming Wanrou kept asking, there was an eighty-percent chance she would expose herself. So, she threw the question outward. “That depends on Shizi Zhou.”
Ming Wanrou was even more confused. “It still depends on the person?”
Wen Shuse nodded.
Ming Wanrou drew in a breath and carefully chewed over her words. A moment later, she shifted forward on the seat, lifted her eyes to glance at the maidservants in the room, who were standing quite far away, then looked back at Wen Shuse. Her expression was somewhat awkward.
After steeling herself for a while, she murmured, “Then… then what special skill does Young Master Xie have?”
Wen Shuse was startled. She lifted her eyes and stared in astonishment at Ming Wanrou’s bright red face. The two of them froze, then both looked away at the same time.
It was far too embarrassing.
If it were anyone else, Ming Wanrou definitely would not have asked such things. It was precisely because this was Wen Shuse, her close friend with whom she could speak of anything, that she dared open her mouth. Turning her head aside, she pinched her fingers and explained, “I… I’m just afraid of suffering that pain. You know me. Since childhood, I’ve always been afraid of pain…”
It was not that Wen Shuse wanted to hide anything. But she was like a rabbit pulling a cart, not understanding the work, yet still bouncing and hopping around. This describes exactly someone like her. After boasting wildly for a while, she had finally created a problem for herself.
Special skill? What special skill could there be…?
After thinking for a while, she said, “This matter between husband and wife is not very convenient for me to explain…” In truth, she could not explain it at all. “It is a mystery that can only be understood but not conveyed in words. Even if I told you, Shizi Zhou might not necessarily comprehend it.”
Ming Wanrou did not need her to worry about that. She leaned a little closer to her. “Gao Xian, just say it. Don’t look at Zhou Kuang’s foolish appearance. In truth, he is quite clever. If Young Master Xie can manage it, then he should be able to as well…”
As long as it did not hurt, anything was fine.
When she had first married, Wen Shuse had propped a ladder against the wall and, in front of Ming Wanrou, had practically wished to belittle Xie Shao until he was worth less than a single copper. But once she had fallen for him, everything became entirely different. Her elbows no longer bent toward her good friend’s side, especially since the other party’s future husband and her own husband were brothers. Inevitably, a damned desire to win arose.
Hearing Ming Wanrou say this, Wen Shuse felt somewhat disapproving and advised, “Actually, I don’t think you need to worry.”
Ming Wanrou looked at her in confusion.
These words were far too explicit. Even with A’Yuan, Wen Shuse found them difficult to say aloud. She covered her own mouth with her hand, leaned close to Ming Wanrou’s ear, and whispered, “Do you still remember the storybooks we looked at before? Didn’t they say that for some people, it’s only a light poke, like being bitten by an ant, and doesn’t hurt at all?”
Ming Wanrou froze, her face both red and startled. “Then, then you…”
Afraid that she would keep asking endlessly, Wen Shuse simply followed her words and comforted her. “I did hurt quite a bit.”
These words stirred Ming Wanrou’s limited understanding into even greater confusion. Puzzled, she muttered, “How can it be both pleasurable and painful at the same time…?”
Seeing that she was about to be exposed, Wen Shuse hurried to change the topic. “I heard people say that for some couples, it’s just like that. Just a little prick like a needle, and then it’s over. It doesn’t affect having children at all… A’Yuan, do you still remember what Shizi Zhou said back then? Later, didn’t he explain it clearly to you? He said he wouldn’t disappoint you. Perhaps he belongs to that sort… A’Yuan, don’t worry anymore. Being able to marry Shizi Zhou is your good fortune.”
Ming Wanrou half understood, and half did not. Hearing her say this, she finally let out a breath of relief. Wen Shuse was also completely freed and quickly changed the subject. “What are your plans coming to the Eastern Capital alone? Has Second Young Master Ming found a place to stay? If you don’t mind, why not stay here with me…”
“I’d like to. I wish I could go stroll around the Eastern Capital with you. But Shizi Zhou’s wounds haven’t healed yet, and he can’t be without someone at night. I have to enter the palace together with him.”
Wen Shuse gave her a strange look. With so many imperial physicians in the palace, did Ming Wanrou really need to worry about him…?
She did not expose it. She could not bring herself to beat apart a pair of mandarin ducks. “All right, then you enter the palace first and look after Shizi Zhou. Once Shizi Zhou has recovered, we’ll have a proper reunion.”
Outside, the two husbands drank another two or three cups of tea before the young ladies finally finished talking and came outside side by side.
The men on the floor cushions rose to their feet as well.
Seeing that Shizi Zhou was already waiting for her, Ming Wanrou did not delay any longer. Reluctantly, she said goodbye to Wen Shuse. “Wait for me. In a few days at most, I’ll come visit you…”
“You truly won’t stay for a meal?” On this side, Xie Shao also stepped forward to see Zhou Kuang out.
Shizi Zhou had come here first as soon as he arrived in the Eastern Capital, while Madam Zhou had already entered the palace. He could not delay too long. “Seeing that Brother Xie is all right, I’m relieved. Brother Xie need not ask me to stay. Another day, I’ll come uninvited.”
He turned back to look at Ming Wanrou. Ming Wanrou released Wen Shuse’s hand and trotted over to stand behind him.
Xie Shao wanted to step forward and see them off, but Zhou Kuang stopped him. “Brother Xie is injured. Please stay. Rest well at home and recover quickly.”
Then he turned to Wen Shuse and nodded politely. “Sister-in-law, I’ll take my leave first.”
“Shizi Zhou, do come often.” Wen Shuse walked one step after them, standing with Xie Shao outside the threshold as they watched the two figures disappear beneath the corridor opposite.
Once they had gone, and could no longer be seen at all, the two turned their gazes back toward each other. The moment their eyes met, each was carrying private thoughts.
“What did you talk about for so long?” Xie Shao concealed the part where he and Shizi Zhou had eavesdropped from outside and deliberately probed her. “You couldn’t have been speaking ill of me again, could you?”
After all, he had only heard one part of it. He was not certain whether his little wife had held firm in her position or sold him out again.
Besides, on the surface, his little wife’s words seemed to have boosted his pride, but only he knew the bitterness within them. He was a living, breathing man, sharing the same roof with his little wife and sleeping in the same bed. Yet in the end, she still had been forced to make up lies.
As a man, this was a devastating blow. The only thing that could make up for it now was to make his little wife’s words come true and double her pleasure.
Wen Shuse was, for once, of one mind with her husband, equally anxious and burning with urgency.
She had boasted so boldly, made such grand claims in front of Ming Wanrou. But in the end, it had all been empty theory. She didn’t even know if what she’d said was correct. Once Ming Wanrou’s wedding night passed, she would know everything too.
What if Ming Wanrou turned around and came back to question her? How would she clean up the mess then?
The only solution was to truly consummate the marriage with her husband before that.
On the sixth day of next month, how many days will be left?
Today was the tenth.
There were still more than twenty days.
Could her husband’s wound fully heal before then?
Somewhat distracted, she heard her husband say this and guessed that, most likely, he still remembered what she had said to Ming Wanrou last time when she climbed the ladder. “Before, I was shortsighted and failed to see Husband’s virtues. Now, in my eyes, you surpass even the immortals in the heavens. There is nothing my husband cannot do. You are the best at everything. I only have praise for you. How could I possibly speak ill of you…?”
There was meaning hidden in her words. How could he fail to understand?
As soon as he entered the room, he instructed Minzhang, “Has the medicine on this wound worn off yet? Remove the gauze and apply another layer.”
The medicine had only been changed that morning, not even an hour ago. Minzhang still had not figured out what had happened, but the young lady beside him was extremely enthusiastic. “Then I’ll go brew Husband’s medicine.”
Medicine meant to be drunk three times a day was drunk five times, and the gauze on his wound was changed two or three times as well. It was clear that the young lady was truly anxious this time. Every time the dressing was changed, her eyes were practically glued to his shoulder. “How is it? Does Husband feel a little better?”
With his little wife so anxious, how could he pour cold water on her? Besides, he himself also wished he could recover immediately. Blindfolding himself and coaxing his own nose, deceiving himself as well as others, he said, “It seems much better than this morning.”
The young lady loved hearing these words and became even more considerate. “From now on, Husband only needs to lie properly on the bed and must not move again. Leave everything else to me.”
The next morning, when the imperial physician arrived, the two of them were both somewhat nervous. Their eyes were fixed on the physician as he removed the gauze. Before the physician could speak, Wen Shuse asked first, “Lord, how is it? How much longer until he’s fully healed?”
Xie Shao immediately followed up, “How much longer until I can exert force?”
The imperial physician looked at the two of them in surprise.
When he had first begun seeing him, Xie Shao had even disliked him for being long-winded and chased him back to the palace. Now, Xie Shao was anxious instead. But the imperial physician was no longer anxious. While stepping forward to examine the wound, he said slowly, “For injuries to tendons and bones, one hundred days are needed. Commander, you should simply rest and recover in peace.”
The moment his words fell, the young lady opposite him suddenly changed expression, like an eggplant wilted under the sun.
One hundred days. Her lifelong reputation was about to be utterly ruined.
“I’m afraid I can’t wait that long. Lord, is there any method to recover faster?” Her husband was also unwilling to hear this. One hundred days? He would rather fight a bloody battle.
“If I had a better method, would I still hide it from the Commander?” The imperial physician did not continue frightening him either. “The congealed blood has already been cleared out. The wound is healing quite well. In another four or five days, you’ll be able to move your arm. But if the Commander wants it to heal completely and properly, waiting a hundred days would still be the safest.”
Xie Shao and the young lady only heard the part about four or five days. Everything after that went in one ear and out the other.
Once the physician left, the young lady gave him the most meticulous concern. “Is Husband hungry? I’ll go stew some soup. You should drink some…”
Xie Shao did not stand on ceremony either and accepted his little wife’s feeding. Within one day, the two of them worked toward the same goal without prior agreement.
By night, his stomach had already been filled to the brim. He lay there without moving. In the quiet of the deep night, his little wife had not moved for a long time. She should have fallen asleep.
He turned his head and saw two bright, wide-open eyes.
She wasn’t asleep at all…
Seeing him look over, the little wife asked with a burning gaze, “How does Husband feel? Does it still hurt?”
His arm did not hurt much. His stomach, however, seemed to be burning a little.
With her looking forward to it so eagerly, yet him unable to move, it was truly enough to kill a person. At this point, both of them understood clearly in their hearts, and there was no need to keep pretending. He turned his head and asked, “Does Wife know how to consummate the marriage now?”
For him to suddenly ask such a thing made his little wife somewhat shy. She pulled the quilt up to cover half her face, leaving only a pair of eyes showing, then once again dropped a thunderbolt of a sentence.
“It’s just… that one place. Surely my husband can’t miss the mark.”
The young lady would not stop until her words shocked people to death.
Poor her husband, blood suddenly surged straight up to his head. Before he could react, the tip of his nose abruptly grew warm, as if something had begun to flow out.
There was still a lamp left lit in the outer room, and the young lady saw it at once. She sat up in panic, heartbroken and almost tearful. “Husband, your arm hasn’t even healed yet, and now your nose is bleeding too. When will you finally recover? Tell me honestly, what other ailments do you have? When the imperial physician comes tomorrow, if there are illnesses, we should hurry and treat them all together…”
Xie Shao’s forehead throbbed again and again. Taking a deep breath, he pressed a silk handkerchief to his nose while weakly stopping her mouth. “I am perfectly well. It’s you who’ve over-nourished me.”
Just how many ginseng roots had she stewed into today’s soup?
Wen Shuse looked innocent. “I only stewed three. One root per pot of soup. Is my lord so unable to withstand a bit of nourishment? It seems your body is still too weak…”
His little wife had clearly come to anger him to death.
He propped himself up and sat on the bed, miserably wiping away the nosebleed. After using two silk handkerchiefs, he finally managed to stop it. He truly could no longer withstand any further stimulation from his little wife.
Haste makes waste. He could only first think of a way to divert his little wife’s attention and let her spare his body for now, exerting her efforts elsewhere instead.
Reaching back beneath the pillow, he took out that booklet and handed it to her. “If Wife can’t sleep, light the lamp. We can first get used to it.”
Wen Shuse froze, then reached out and accepted it. “What is this?”
Her husband answered casually, “A magical treasure.”