Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Keep It Down

Yu Zhu paused and asked: “Sister Chun Zhi, you didn’t marry Brother Lu?”

She had always thought Chun Zhi and Lu Jing Yun would surely marry.

Chun Zhi had once thought so too.

But now things were different.

“This is a long story,” Chun Zhi said softly to Yu Zhu: “After Lu Jing Yun became the top scholar in the imperial exams, he married the chancellor’s daughter.”

Yu Zhu understood at once.

It was yet another tale of a man who rose high, then threw away the one who had suffered with him.

She looked Huo Qi over and saw that his looks were fine and his bearing stood out. She could not tell why he was working in a tiny tofu shop. She stepped forward and called him: “Brother-in-law.”

Huo Zheng nodded to her and started toward the house.

“Come with me for a moment,” Chun Zhi said as she grabbed Huo Qi and pulled him into her own room.

Once inside, Huo Zheng said with no expression: “Why did you pull me in here?”

Chun Zhi said: “That was Yu Zhu, my best friend when I was little. She will live here for a while. I cleared your room for her, so for the next few days you will share a room with me.”

Huo Zheng gave a short laugh and said: “You refuse to take responsibility, yet you want me to share a room with you?”

Hearing that, Chun Zhi covered his mouth and whispered: “Keep your voice down.”

Huo Zheng stared at her and said: “Chun Zhi, you dare to do it but don’t dare to admit it.”

“I…” Chun Zhi started.

[It is true. I dare to do it, but I don’t dare to own it.]

Huo Qi was not wrong.

She did not plan to argue and said: “Say what you like. Either way, I cleared your old room for Yu Zhu.”

He was so annoyed he almost laughed.

Seeing this, Chun Zhi asked in a low voice: “You left without breakfast. Are you hungry?”

Huo Zheng said nothing.

“I’ll make you something,” she said, “sit and rest a bit.”

He still did not speak.

When Chun Zhi stepped out, Yu Zhu leaned close and whispered to her: “Brother-in-law looks too refined to be from a common family.”

Chun Zhi lit the stove and smiled as she said: “So you’ve learned physiognomy?”

“It isn’t that I know physiognomy,” Yu Zhu said, “it’s that he carries such a noble air, unlike ordinary folk. Sister, how did you end up marrying him?”

“This is not a short tale either.”

Chun Zhi told her how, on a rainy night when she was pushing a handcart home, she crashed into Huo Qi and had no choice but to bring him back.

As for how a girl who turned eighteen but stayed unmarried would be forced into a match by the magistrate’s office, she only brushed past that in a single line.

She kept the fake marriage secret.

Then she suddenly thought of something and asked: “By the way, Yu Zhu, you turned eighteen this year too. Did the household you serve arrange a marriage for you?”

At this, Yu Zhu’s face changed a little.

“What is it?” Chun Zhi saw her look and joked half-seriously: “Don’t tell me the master’s household picked someone awful, so you ran away?”

Yu Zhu said: “Once I turned eighteen, the master’s household should have chosen a husband for me. But, but…”

Seeing tears rise in Yu Zhu’s eyes, Chun Zhi quickly handed her a handkerchief and asked gently: “But what?”

Tears clinging to her lashes, Yu Zhu said: “Two months ago, the eldest young master I serve got drunk and did something foolish with me. He is usually the most upright of gentlemen, but that night he was like another person. Afterward he kept searching for the woman and said he would take her as a concubine.”

Chun Zhi was struck speechless for a moment.

“My mother made me swear before she died that no matter how poor or hard my life became, I must never be a concubine,” Yu Zhu said. “I cannot be the eldest young master’s concubine. But my monthly time hasn’t come for two months. I secretly saw a physician and learned I am with child.”

Her tears spilled over.

To be used by the master while he was drunk and lose her purity was already a sudden disaster.

And now there was a child.

Yu Zhu dared not stay in that house. She begged the madam for mercy, used the silver she had saved over the years to buy her freedom, and ran.

But their old home had been sold, her mother had passed away, and her brother was studying at the academy. She had nowhere to go, so she came to find Chun Zhi.

As she spoke, she could not stop crying.

“Don’t cry, Yu Zhu. Crying too much is bad for the baby,” Chun Zhi said, then asked: “What do you plan to do about the child?”

After Chun Zhi left the Lu clan, she was alone in this world. She longed for a child, someone tied to her by blood.

But Yu Zhu was different.

Wiping her tears, Yu Zhu said hoarsely: “I… I can’t keep this child.”

This was the eldest young master’s blood. He had not married yet. The household would never allow him to have children by a concubine before he had a principal wife.

When Yu Zhu redeemed her freedom and left, the madam did not know she was the very girl the eldest young master was searching for. If the madam had known Yu Zhu carried his child, she would not have let her go.

Chun Zhi understood. “The child is yours. Think it through and decide for yourself. My little courtyard is simple, but you can stay as long as you like. Don’t worry about anything.”

“Thank you, Sister Chun Zhi. If not for you, I…” Yu Zhu choked up with gratitude and could not find more words.

“Enough,” Chun Zhi said warmly, “wipe your tears, wash your face, then go rest. I’ll call you when supper is ready.”

Yu Zhu nodded and went inside.

With one more person at home, Chun Zhi made a richer supper than usual.

Huo Zheng’s face had been blank at first, but as he ate the hearty dishes, his look softened.

For all her faults, Chun Zhi’s cooking was too good to fault.

Yu Zhu kept praising her cooking too.

Chun Zhi was pleased. Huo Qi always said only that it was “acceptable.” At last someone knew how to praise.

After the meal, Yu Zhu rushed to wash the bowls. The two sisters had not seen each other in years and talked for a long time.

It was late at night when Chun Zhi finally returned to her room.

Huo Zheng lay on the bed reading. Even when she entered, he did not lift his eyes.

Chun Zhi sat at the dressing table, took off her hairpins, let down her hair, and slowly combed her waist-length hair before walking to the bed.

Huo Zheng turned a page without looking at her.

She had planned to sleep on the floor, but then she thought of the night before. [After last night, there is no need to sleep apart.]

Huo Qi lay on the outer side, so she climbed onto the bed and moved over him.

Her faint scent filled his nose. His breath paused, his hand holding the book stilled, and for a moment the words on the page meant nothing.

When he said nothing, she pulled the quilt over herself and inched inward.

Huo Zheng closed his eyes.

Yet the moment he did, his mind filled with her shy yet eager look from the night before.

And here they were again, the same room, the same red gauze canopy.

Chun Zhi lay right beside him.

After a while, he could not lie still. He rose and went out into the yard.

Chun Zhi sat up and asked: “It’s the middle of the night, where are you going?”

Huo Qi did not answer.

Worried, she went to the window and saw Huo Qi fill a basin with cold water. He stripped down and poured the water over himself.

His broad chest and strong waist were bared in the moonlight, and Chun Zhi saw everything clearly. Her face burned…