The Substitute Fiasco - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Absence makes the heart grow fonder; it wasn’t until the third watch that the storm finally stilled.

Shen Wen carried me to the rear courtyard. A night breeze blew, and I sneezed several times.

He wrapped the cloak tighter around me, his face dark as thunder.

I really hate it when he looks like that. They say couples make up before the bed’s cold, and I’d already sacrificed so much, yet he still wore that dead-fish expression.

“Shen Wen, what exactly are you angry about?”

His lips moved, but he swallowed the words with a look of forbearance.

Forget it! I don’t care anymore! I’m dead tired-wasn’t staying up this late just to patch things up?

If he won’t cooperate, what’s the bloody use? I’m going to sleep!

I pinched his chest hard, buried my head in his arms, and slept soundly.

In a daze, I felt myself soaking in warm water. When I half-opened my eyes, he was bathing and wiping me down.

Mm… sleepy…

This time, at least there was some good: although Shen Wen remained sullen and inscrutable, he moved back to the rear courtyard to live.

Spending every day together, I refuse to believe I can’t pry his mouth open.

What on earth makes him so resentful of me? Did he find out about my writing steamy novels?

Too ashamed to associate with me?

That shouldn’t be… He doesn’t seem that petty.

Lately, my husband has been acting strange again, suddenly giving up his scholar’s robes to wear close-fitting martial attire all day.

Though his tall, jade-like figure looks even more dashing in it, he never used to dress like this.

Even in the sweltering heat, he refuses to take out his folding fan, and his favorite books have turned to military manuals.

Seeing his foul mood, I didn’t dare cross him. After a few days, he switched back to his usual appearance.

A wide-sleeved cyan robe, graceful and elegant, a jade pendant at his waist, and no other adornment.

His gaze toward me held a touch of melancholy, his faint frown tugging at my heart.

Seeing him more normal, I finally approached to coax him.

But his eyes reddened, and he shed tears: “I’ve changed back. Don’t distance yourself from me.”

Goodness… With that delicate, coquettish look, how could I bear to distance myself?

His teary-eyed expression was so alluring-give me a kiss.

I pinned him against the wall and kissed him nonstop. For some reason, he cried even harder.

Tears clung to his lashes, softening his features, as if a thousand unspoken words brimmed in his eyes, full of tender affection.

Though I knew he carried worries, I suddenly felt no rush. They say a woman’s tears are fatal, but a man’s tears-they’re just as deadly.

Whenever I see him cry, I just want to press him down onto the bed. Beauty leads me astray…

One morning, I rose extra early and went all out with powder and brow paint, trying on several outfits.

“Are you going out?” He’d just returned from court and caught me heading to the door.

I waved my round fan with a smile: “Qingzhi is hosting a poetry gathering and sent me an invitation.”

His expression suddenly darkened: “Gu Qingzhi?”

Yes, my bosom friend-he knows her well enough.

He seized my wrist: “You are not to go to the Gu residence.”

Shen Wen, are you kidding me? Two years of marriage and I only now discover you’re a male chauvinist?

I’m going to make a scene.

“Why won’t you let me spend time with girls?!”

“Shen Wen, are you sick?!”

I struggled but was no match as he slung me over his shoulder and carried me back.

His face was grim, and mine was no better.

I bit his shoulder several times; he showed no reaction, but my teeth ached.

“Shen Wen, explain yourself clearly: why won’t you let me go out?”

“I only go out a few times a month! You forbid me, but what have I said when you drink and carouse with colleagues?”

The more I spoke, the wronger I felt, and I began to sob. He pulled me into his arms: “Don’t sling mud at me. That was a banquet for subordinates, and it was at Xian Ke Lai. I only host one table every two or three months; even my subordinates call me stingy.”

I continued to whimper: “I don’t care. You go out every single day, and I only go out once in a blue moon, yet you still forbid me.”

“In any case, you can’t go to the Gu family!”

“What’s wrong with the Gu family?! I used to go often and you never said a word. Why can’t I go now?”

Shen Wen’s jaw was set, and he didn’t speak for a long time.

I fake-cried for a bit, sneaking a glance at him, then stole another.

He remained unmoved. Damn, his mouth is sealed tight.

I unilaterally declared a cold war and ignored him for two days.

On this day, he finally came humbly to coax me, dressed in a white overcoat, a belt emphasizing his slender waist, a jade pendant hanging from it-oh, the very one I gave him.

“Please don’t be angry anymore… I’ll go out with you.”

My husband is handsome, his face like carved jade, refined and gentle. In his youth, he was the capital’s unrivaled beauty, long desired by every woman in the city.

Later, when he rose to chancellor at a young age, even more women threw themselves at him.

But he remained unmoved like an old monk in meditation, staying single until twenty-three. Mother-in-law was beside herself, burning incense daily and praying to Buddha nightly. In the end, he relented and married me.

Otherwise, I might have mistaken him for a cut-sleeve…

I draped my arm over his shoulder and said aggrievedly: “You can’t mean to forbid me from going out alone from now on?”

He avoided the question, kissed my forehead, and bent down to put on my shoes for me.

Such fawning obedience only infuriated me more. Did he think that by lowering his head and coaxing, I’d just let it go?

He won’t even say why, and expects me to accept such bizarre behavior.

Shen Wen, you’re really something. You’d better never explain in this lifetime.

When leaving the city, I spotted a beggar by the roadside and tossed him a silver ingot.

“Madam is still so kind-hearted.”

Mm, I’m very kind-hearted indeed. Inside the silver is a cloth strip with a message; my spy will deliver it to the Duanrui Prince’s Mansion.

I’m a Commandery Princess, after all. Why would they think… I’m powerless?

Father the prince received the message and came with twenty attendants.

I descended gracefully from the carriage. Shen Wen grabbed my wrist, his expression fragile and pained, his eyes red-rimmed unnaturally: “Susu, don’t go. Don’t leave me.”

I gave him a strange look. I was only returning to my maiden home because I was angry-did he think I was asking for a divorce?

But in front of everyone, my Commandery Princess dignity was already in place.

I pulled my hand back and turned away, noble and cool.