A Fierce Wife, A Gentle Husband - Chapter 2

The husband Mother had found for me was Shen Wei, the youngest son of the wealthy Shen merchant family.

According to Mother, the Shens had been merchants for five generations. Every one of them had more schemes in his head than a sieve had holes, and their fortune could have filled the city moat.

This generation had produced five sons. The first four were abacuses in human form.

As for the youngest… an abacus could shatter against his face and he still would not know how to use it.

Stories about him had spread all over the city.

People said Heaven had taken its time with his face, carving him as carefully as fine jade, only for the King of Hell to attach his mouth as an afterthought.

He had red lips, white teeth, and eyes like autumn water. Every time he stepped outside, women showered him with flowers and scented handkerchiefs.

Once, a bold young lady stopped him in the street and asked with a blush, “Young Master Shen, what do you think of me?”

He studied her earnestly for a moment, opened his mouth, and ruined her day.

“You don’t stand as straight as the stone lion by the gate.”

Worst of all, he sounded completely sincere.

Another girl shyly offered him a sachet she had embroidered, plainly hinting at her affection.

He accepted it and spent a long while studying the crooked stitches. Then he looked up and asked with genuine concern, “Miss, do your hands tremble? I know an old physician who is very good with acupuncture.”

With that, he returned the sachet, his clear eyes brimming with sympathy.

The finest story came later, when two girls fought over him.

He crouched nearby and carefully observed which one threw a rounder punch.

Truly, he had a clever face and an empty head.

All his spirit had gone into his looks. None remained for his brain.

As Mother put it, “Perfect! He can marry into our family. If your children take after you, they’ll be sturdy. If they take after him, they’ll be beautiful!”

“More importantly, he’s simple and easy to manage. When you start cutting people—no, when you take charge of the household—he won’t dare object!”

I did not know about taking charge.

But he truly was beautiful.

The red wedding candles burned high as I studied the face Heaven had supposedly carved with such care. For once, the rumors had not exaggerated.

Suppressing the urge to test just how well he could take a beating, I remembered an important matter.

Before entering the bridal chamber, I sent Little Zhuzi a bag of wedding candy.

Inside was a note.

*Handsome. More handsome than Yun Zhi.*

With that settled, I rubbed my hands together and advanced on my new husband.

Shen Wei had a pair of bewitching peach-blossom eyes, faintly red at the corners.

Yet his gaze was as guileless as a young deer’s. The contradiction made him so lovely that my fingers itched to make him cry.

He was trembling, so I imitated the courtesan’s lilting tone.

“Are you co~old?”

He sniffed and looked at me with reddened eyes.

“Wife, I—I need to relieve myself. I’ve been holding it in for ages, but I was afraid to say so.”

I stared at him.

“…”

When he returned from the privy, he no longer seemed quite so frightened.

I watched him for a while and remembered the old soldiers I had seen breaking horses in camp.

No matter how fierce the horse, one had to approach first, stroke its coat, and let it grow accustomed to one’s scent.

I edged a step closer and tried to start a conversation.

“I heard you were the one who asked to marry into my family.”

“Mm-hm.” He nodded. Those clear eyes met mine with pure earnestness. “I told Father I wanted to live with you.”

“Why?” I was curious. “They say the women who want to marry you could form a line from the south gate to the north.”

His beautiful brows drew together.

“They always speak in circles and expect me to guess.”

“I can never guess right. It makes me anxious.”

“Then, at a banquet once, I heard you tell someone, ‘I don’t understand you. If you keep talking in riddles, I’ll cut you down.’”

At that, Shen Wei’s eyes brightened.

He looked at me and offered an exceptionally sincere conclusion.

“I thought you were wonderful. Everything you say is clear. I understand you the moment I hear it.”

The conversation had begun, and we wandered from one topic to another, from feeding pigs to raising chickens.

But no actual progress was made.

I grew restless.

This was more exhausting than chasing a brother-in-law around the city three times with a blade. Night had deepened; surely we could not sit here until dawn.

Carrying on the family line sounded time-consuming. We had better get started.

I steeled myself, stripped off my outer robe, blew out the candles, and climbed under the covers.

The body beside me went rigid as iron.

In the darkness, I heard Shen Wei’s quick breaths, desperately muffled.

“Sleep.”

I closed my eyes and reached out, gathering him into my arms the way I hugged a bolster in the barracks.

He stiffened from head to toe and stopped moving altogether.

Hmm.

He was surprisingly comfortable to hold: warm, soft, and faintly fragrant.

Just as I began to drift off, the rigid body in my arms slowly—ever so slowly—relaxed.

Then a cool hand settled cautiously at my waist.

Shen Wei tipped up his face and clumsily caught my lips with his.

After a long moment, he drew a ragged breath and whispered, “Wife, does this count as carrying on the family line?”

I stroked his burning cheek, picked up a longan, and popped it into his mouth.

“At most, this counts as a practice lesson.”

Shen Wei’s eyes shimmered.

“Now that we’ve practiced… is it time for the real lesson?” With the longan pit still in his mouth, he leaned closer and brushed his nose against my cheek. “Could you teach me personally, Wife?”