Spring in Twin Streams - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Li Chengming was in love with my beautiful younger concubine-born sister.

Unfortunately, my father was born contrary.

He agreed readily enough to the match, then turned around and shoved me into the Li family bridal sedan.

On our wedding night, Li Chengming lifted the veil and discovered the goods did not match the order.

He flung the nuptial wine cups down coldly and declared he was going to beat the grievance drum and confront my father in court.

At that, I paled in alarm. “Can we consummate the marriage first?”

I had no desire to be returned intact and become the laughingstock of all my sisters.

Thankfully, Li Chengming had a reputation to consider.

The Li family had produced high officials for generations, a clean and scholarly household, and he was the pampered legitimate son besides.

Naturally, he refused to become the joke of the entire capital over one marriage.

The bride had been swapped, and he could only swallow it.

Holding back his anger, he picked the nuptial wine cups back up.

And drank with me.

Then he pulled down the red gauze curtains and, still fuming, consummated the marriage with me.

Puffed up above, and puffed up below too.

The moment dawn broke, he withdrew and left without the slightest attachment.

His chilly attitude told me, clear as day:

Even if I had obtained his body, I would never obtain his heart.

Fortunately, I obtained my mother-in-law’s heart.

She liked that I was proper and steady, that I knew the bigger picture. I had the makings of a virtuous wife.

With her protection, no matter how much Li Chengming loathed me, he could not mistreat me. He had to sleep in my rooms every night.

In front of outsiders, he also had to put on the appearance of a loving couple with me.

But seven years passed in the blink of an eye.

Li Chengming and I still had no children.

Meanwhile, my younger concubine-born sister had already given birth to three with her husband.

When I saw her again, she was still as beautiful as ever. Cradling an infant in swaddling clothes, she had gained an even richer charm.

Two children clustered around her, babbling as they learned to speak, unbearably adorable.

Li Chengming felt unbalanced all over again.

After we returned to the manor, he sneered and mocked me. “Seven years of marriage, and I still have no heir. How can you be so useless?”

I looked at him with pity.

I really couldn’t bear to puncture that pitiful little pride of his.

My mother-in-law had invited many famous physicians to examine me, and none of them found anything wrong.

Then she had the doctors examine Li Chengming’s concubines.

Nothing was wrong with them either.

My mother-in-law nearly blacked out. “Could it be my son…”

Yes.

I had taken seven concubines for Li Chengming, all girls from respectable families.

Seven years had passed, and not one of them had conceived.

Clearly, the problem lay with the seed.

I had no intention of quibbling with Li Chengming.

Yet every word he spoke struck like a gem. “No wonder your father insisted on shoving you onto me.”

“So he knew all along that you had this chronic defect and would be hard to marry into a good family, which is why he used such a method to get you married off!”

How was he this confident?

How could he be so single-mindedly convinced that I was the problem?

In the end, he and I had a huge fight.

By accident, I gave him a slap in return.

Li Chengming was furious. Bearing a bright red palm print, he knelt before my mother-in-law and said he wanted to repudiate me.

My mother-in-law was shocked. “Absolutely not!”

She spoke with earnest gravity. “My son, who would want a money-losing good-for-nothing who can’t lay eggs? You must understand, a man who can’t have children-”

Li Chengming swiftly clapped his hands over my ears.

He sighed. “Even if Ruwan cannot bear children, Mother, must you say it so harshly?”

Me: ?

My mother-in-law: ??