When My Older Husband Saw the Comments - Chapter 1

I had just used my drunkenness as an excuse to cling to him. When he pushed me away, I tumbled onto the bed.

I looked utterly insensible with drink.

“What? I didn’t say anything…”

“You must have misheard, Master Wen. It’s an inn. People coming and going, thin walls…”

Wen Wuchen let out a relieved breath, his voice noticeably gentler.

“Perhaps I did.”

“Xiaoling, you shouldn’t have drunk the wine at Master Lin’s house tonight. If I’m ever absent like that again, refuse anyone who offers you a drink. Do you understand?”

“Master Lin was showing me a portrait of your brother,” I mumbled. “I wanted another look at what you were like before you turned ten…”

Wen Wuchen took off my shoes so I could rest.

At that, he paused for a second.

He lowered his eyes and said quietly, “Cui Ling, I entered the Taoist order as a small child. Su Qing is not my brother.”

“Young men tend to be reckless. You needn’t concern yourself with him.”

He paused, finding himself a suitable excuse.

“We’re going to Suicheng in Lingnan, to the lair of the desire ghost. Only by subduing it can we cure the poison in your body.”

“We won’t be staying in Qingzhou long.”

“Getting attached to the people or things here will do you no good.”

[Oh, please. Our male lead is going mad with jealousy inside, and he’s still pretending.]

[Imagine if he knew he hadn’t misheard her. That was the wine talking—and the truth. Wouldn’t he explode?]

The man saw the comments and knitted his brows.

I looked at his rosy lips and remembered how soft they felt.

It was as though ants were crawling all over me.

“But the desire ghost’s poison gives me these cravings. You can ease them. We’re husband and wife…”

His gaze sharpened. Once again, he refused.

“No.”

“Your life is no longer in danger. Those things must wait until we’ve bowed together in marriage with my master as witness.”

I didn’t pester him as usual or spout nonsense like, “Then let’s get married this instant.” Instead, I accepted it calmly.

“I was only joking. Of course I wouldn’t make you be my antidote!”

He froze.

“Why…?”

The comments clamored over one another.

[Our Taoist’s powers of obliviousness are unmatched. He still hasn’t noticed anything wrong? Our girl doesn’t like him anymore!]

[Didn’t you see how relieved she looked when he turned her down? She was only going through the motions to keep his guard down.]

[She only wants Su Qing, her true love, to give her the antidote!]

Wen Wuchen’s head snapped up, red gathering at the corners of his eyes.

“If you don’t want me to be your antidote, who do you want?”

I closed my eyes to avoid meeting his gaze.

“Mm… I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ll find the desire ghost and get the cure.”

“So sleepy. I’m going to bed.”

[She’s so obviously faking being drunk. Does she think she can bluff her way through?]

[Actually, something just occurred to me. They haven’t held the wedding ceremony yet. If our girl leaves him, they won’t have any ties at all.]

Wen Wuchen saw that, for all my drunken act, my hands were clenched nervously into fists. I was clearly sober.

He tried to get me to admit it myself.

“You don’t want me to be your antidote because of Su Qing?”

I let just the right amount of alarm show, protesting in a panic.

“No!”

“It’s because—because you don’t want to give me the antidote. Of course I wouldn’t force you.”

He bent down and kissed me.

“What if I’ve changed my mind?”

Holding back my body’s clamoring desire, I pushed him away hard and looked appalled.

“Don’t joke.”

“Let’s talk about it when we see your master.”

[He always used his old master at the Tianyan Sect as an excuse to reject our girl. Now she’s giving him a taste of his own medicine.]

[Surely he can tell his wife’s heart isn’t in it now? She just doesn’t like him anymore. Doesn’t want him touching her at all.]

Wen Wuchen’s expression changed completely.

“Xiaoling, something is very wrong with you.”

I pulled up the quilt, shrank into a corner, and shook my head furiously. “Nothing’s wrong!”

Seeing me pull away made his chest ache.

“…All right.”

He lay down beside me fully dressed.

I rolled over, turning my back on him.

His breath caught.

[When she liked him, our girl wanted to stick to him every second. Now there’s a border down the bed. She’s really lost interest.]

[If this wooden-headed Taoist won’t satisfy her, why shouldn’t she get her fill somewhere else?]

[They look almost the same. How’s an old man supposed to compete with a twenty-year-old? She’s already complaining that he smells old.]

Wen Wuchen normally slept as straight and stiff as a man laid out in a coffin. Suddenly, he rolled onto his side and slipped an arm around my waist from behind.

His breath brushed my nape, making it tingle.

His voice, always clear and pleasant, took on a coaxing warmth.

“Xiaoling…”

I cut him off before he could finish.

“Don’t disturb me. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Don’t you usually fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow? What’s keeping you awake tonight?”

I pulled his hand off me.

It froze in midair.

When he lay back down, his face had gone faintly pale.

An hour passed.

I turned over. “Master Wen?”

He kept his eyes closed, pretending to sleep, and didn’t answer.

His expression had eased considerably.

A few times before, when the discomfort grew unbearable in the middle of the night, I had climbed onto him while he slept and helped myself.

Sure enough, I straddled his knees.

The corners of Wen Wuchen’s mouth curved almost imperceptibly. He slowed his breathing so I wouldn’t realize he was awake.

But I didn’t linger as he expected.

I climbed straight over him and got out of bed.

My warmth abruptly left him. His lips trembled.

The comments kept flashing past.

[How can he sleep? Do old people need that much rest? She’s already gazing at a keepsake and thinking of someone else!]

[Sleep on, sleep on. A sleeping husband—you know how that goes. /]

[She’s looking at her sweetheart’s portrait. Must really miss the man she fell for at first sight, huh?]

[It was only when Master Lin invited her to look at portraits of the examination candidates from the past few years that she found out: the man who held an umbrella for her on that bridge at Mount Fengming was Su Qing, the Taoist’s younger brother.]

[They look so alike, but their personalities are completely different. Wen Wuchen is cold and wooden; Su Qing is warm and free-spirited. She’s spent all these years loving the wrong man.]

I unrolled the painting in the moonlight.

Looking down, I studied the young man in it, brimming with the confidence of success.

Their personalities certainly were completely different…

Just then, Wen Wuchen’s voice sounded behind me without warning. Usually so steady, it was now chilling.

“What are you looking at?”