My Wife, the General - Chapter 2

I had assumed the great general’s promise to replace my clothes was a polite remark, nothing more.

Instead, he not only found out where I lived, but sent cartload after cartload of clothing to my house.

Changfeng picked up an outfit and held it against my shoulders.

“Oh! Just the right size. You’ll look splendid in this, Master!”

I waved a hand without even looking up. “Send it back.”

He didn’t understand, but he obeyed.

A few days after the clothes went back, invitations arrived from the Xie household. Every few days, Xie Yu asked me over.

I declined them all: poor health, troublesome legs, pressing business.

After several rounds of this, Changfeng and the general’s messenger were almost sworn brothers. I still hadn’t accepted a single invitation.

One day, Changfeng asked in bewilderment, “General Xie pacified the lands north of the desert. He’s rendered a great service to the court. The capital’s nobles are lining up to court his favor. Why do you keep avoiding him?”

My expression darkened.

“I’m only a merchant. I can’t afford to get mixed up with officials and generals.”

Changfeng dared ask no more.

He had only entered my service after I rebuilt my fortune. He didn’t know that, in the year I lost everything, my parents had died and my household had been destroyed. I had survived only by hiding my name.

All of it thanks to the court.

Seeing my displeasure, Changfeng tried to cheer me up.

“There’s a new teahouse in the East Market, Master. Very lively, they say. Shall we go tomorrow and take your mind off things?”

The next day, at the teahouse, music and dancing filled the stage, while every seat below it was occupied.

Changfeng and I found a secluded spot to drink our tea.

Then several men in fine clothes walked in. Tall and distinguished, they immediately drew the eyes of the other patrons.

The man at their head happened to glance my way.

I pretended to sip my tea, using my sleeve to cover my face.

“Changfeng,” I whispered, “we’re leaving. Now.”

For all his usual foolishness, Changfeng could be remarkably quick when it mattered.

He saw my expression, snatched a hat from a nearby patron, put it on my head, and hauled me out through the teahouse’s back alley.

But I was still lame. I couldn’t match his pace, and my foot twisted beneath me.

Changfeng caught me around the waist before I fell.

“Careful, Master!”

Still shaken, I regained my footing and looked up.

Over Changfeng’s shoulder, my eyes met Xie Yu’s.

Xie Yu was in ordinary clothes today. Tall and fair-faced, he was more beautiful than a figure in a painting.

The figure in the painting spoke slowly.

“Young Master Shen. We meet again. What a coincidence.”

I hastily pulled away from Changfeng’s arm and forced a laugh.

“Yes. Quite a coincidence.”

How strange. I hadn’t stolen or robbed anyone. Why did I feel guilty?

Xie Yu gently waved his paper fan.

“So you’re no longer unwell, your legs are no longer troubling you, and your business is no longer keeping you occupied?”

He’d caught me out enjoying the entertainment quarter. Could I possibly claim to be busy?

“That’s right. Ha, ha…”

“Excellent.” He strolled over. “I, too, am neither unwell nor troubled by my legs nor occupied with business. Why don’t we have a little chat at my residence?”

I could barely maintain my smile.

Changfeng stepped in front of me, sword held across his body, his stance guarded.

“My master doesn’t wish to go.”

Xie Yu’s fan stilled. His gaze cooled.

“Your household rules seem rather lax, Young Master Shen. Your guard not only puts his hands all over his master, but makes his decisions for him as well.”

Xie Yu’s attendant drew his saber.

“Insolence! How dare you speak to the general that way!”

“General?” Changfeng paused, then put a hand on his sword hilt. “And what if he is?”

Before he could draw it, I clamped my hand over his.

“My guard is young and foolish. Please forgive his impertinence, General!”

Xie Yu stared at our overlapping hands.

“So you do know how to care for someone.”

Before I could work out what he meant, he snapped his fan shut.

“For your sake, I won’t hold a mere guard’s conduct against him. Will you do me the same courtesy and visit my residence?”

How had we circled back to this?

I pressed my lips together and desperately searched for an excuse.

Then a sharp pain shot through the sole of my foot.

In my rush to escape, I had cut it on a sharp stone. Looking down now, I saw blood seeping through my white shoe.

Both Xie Yu’s and Changfeng’s expressions changed.

Xie Yu moved to bend down and examine it, but Changfeng got there first.

Forget the proprieties between master and servant. Changfeng simply pulled off my shoe.

“How could you be so careless, Master?”

Feeling inexplicably guilty, I glanced at Xie Yu.

Sure enough, his fair face had gone almost black.

Changfeng noticed nothing.

“You won’t be able to walk with a wound like this.”

“My carriage…” Xie Yu began in a low voice.

Changfeng squatted in front of me. “I’ll carry you home, Master.”

Given a choice between sharing a carriage with my nemesis and riding on my guard’s back, naturally I chose the latter.

Changfeng was a skilled fighter. Even with me on his back, he made excellent speed.

And yet I couldn’t shake the chill running down my spine.