Chapter 4

Zhang Yanqiao and I had been apart for almost a year.

I had thought seeing him again would make me cry.

But when he walked through the crowd, the light falling on him as it always had—gentle, courteous, unreachable—my heart went still, as empty as a dead sea.

Everything had come full circle.

The long dream was over. I was back where I belonged, outside his world.

And in that moment, something in me loosened. The knot I had carried for years seemed to dissolve on the wind.

He saw me, too.

His steps faltered. After a few quiet words from him, the people around him politely withdrew.

He came toward me.

I stood and watched, just as I had before we had ever been anything to each other.

Sunlight gleamed in his eyes.

“Xiao Ci. What are you doing here?”

“A friend invited me for tea.”

He nodded, then frowned faintly.

“Why are you so thin?”

His gaze dropped to my hands.

“What happened to your hand?”

I smiled and held back my tears.

“I burned it a little while preparing medicine for Grandma.”

“I remember you scar easily.”

He took my hand as naturally as ever and studied the injury, his brow drawn.

“I’ll have someone send you some scar cream later.”

I withdrew my hand.

“Thank you… Young Master.”

His face darkened.

“How many times have I told you not to call me that?”

I went still.

Yes. He was still Zhang Yanqiao.

But he was no longer my husband, Zhang Yanqiao.

He never mentioned the past, as though nothing had ever happened between us.

That gentleness hurt more than coldness could have.

As his sister had said, none of it mattered anymore.

What was I to him?

Nothing.

Only a meaningless marriage.

“Young Master, I’m grown up now. Things are different. I know where to draw the line.”

He watched me in silence, his gaze still gentle and a thousand miles away.

“My friend is waiting. I should go.”

He nodded.

I looked at him one last time.

“Take care of yourself.”

As I turned, he called after me.

“Wait here when you’ve finished eating.”

I smiled and nodded.

“All right.”

Then I left without looking back.

But I knew he kept watching until I disappeared from sight.

Of course I didn’t wait.

On the way to the airport, I felt as still as water. Only when the plane took off did my tears begin to fall, silently, without warning.

***

Three months after I returned, Grandma fell into a coma.

I accepted Song Jiahao’s proposal beside her hospital bed.

In one of her rare lucid moments, she urged us to marry soon. She was afraid that once she died, mourning would delay my marriage again.

Everything was rushed. We held a simple wedding in town, and an auspicious date was carefully chosen for the marriage registration. Jiahao even tried his best to buy me a very large diamond ring.

Once again, I wore a wedding dress and an embroidered dragon-and-phoenix bridal jacket. Neither could compare with the splendor of my first wedding, but Grandma smiled more this time. She was happier.

Holding my hand, she said, “I may not have much education, but I know there’s sense in marrying your equal. We’re ordinary people. An ordinary life is the safest kind for us. With Jiahao to look after you, I can close my eyes in peace.”

I couldn’t speak. I only cried.

I couldn’t bear to let her go.

When she died, I would be alone in the world.

Jiahao was a good man, but his mother didn’t seem to like me. His four sisters had already begun dropping hints that I must give him at least three sons.

The road ahead didn’t look smooth.

So even an ordinary life was almost impossibly hard for someone like me.

***

Lately, Zhang Yanqiao had felt that something was very wrong.

First came the rumors of his wedding to He Jiayi, the He family’s eldest granddaughter, known as the shipping heiress. The news was everywhere, and his family seemed to be deliberately feeding it.

Then one day, he found something in his study.

A sheet of xuanzhi paper tucked among some old documents.

The same poem had been copied twice. One version was in his own strong, orderly hand. The other was awkward, almost childlike.

Signed: Shen Ci.

When had she been in his study?

When had they copied the same poem together?

He couldn’t remember. Not at all.

Over the years, they had scarcely seen each other. When they did meet, they exchanged little more than polite greetings.

Why was this here?

And why did looking at it make his heart ache?

He remembered their recent meeting: her gentle composure, the sadness in her eyes.

Afterward, she hadn’t stayed to meet him as he had asked.

His instincts had always been sharp. Something must have happened between them.

He thought of the accident. His head injury.

Could the impact have taken his memories of her?

He immediately called his secretary and ordered a review of every relevant record. Then he summoned the second young lady to his study.

Of all the Zhangs, this sister was the easiest to make talk. She was also the most afraid of him.

Ever since he had caught her making her sister-in-law serve tea the previous year, her legs shook whenever she saw him.

“Brother… you wanted me?”

She stood as straight as a schoolgirl called to the board.

Zhang Yanqiao said nothing. He simply stared.

She grew more frightened by the second. In those few minutes, every misdeed of her life seemed to pass through her mind.

Then he slammed a hand against the desk.

“Tell me. What are you hiding?”

“Brother… I…”

She almost dropped to her knees.

At last, it all came tumbling out.

“I saw Sister-in-law at the airport! I mean Shen Ci! She looked so pitiful that I brought her to see you…

“And afterward I took her straight back to the airport. Really!

“I swear, that’s all! I haven’t hidden anything else!”

Sister-in-law.

The words thundered through him.

So Shen Ci had been his wife?

Why had no one in his family told him? Why were they rushing to arrange another wedding?

He fought down his anger.

“Chen Yantong. You have one chance. Hide so much as half a sentence, and I’ll freeze every account in your name.”

***

My wedding to Song Jiahao was simple, but his family had many guests. There was no avoiding the exhaustion.

A few unpleasant remarks came during the tea ceremony for his parents. Still, the ceremony itself went smoothly.

Grandma was cheerful and alert. That eased my mind a little.

By the evening banquet, Jiahao was very drunk.

He drew me toward our room while his friends crowded around, laughing and teasing. Their crude jokes made me blush.

Jiahao didn’t stop them. He only held me tighter.

Then a commotion broke out in the main hall.

“Who’s that? What an entrance!”

“Must be one of the groom’s guests.”

“I heard the bride has no family left. They’re all dead…”

“Does his family know someone that important?”

“Rolls-Royces, and more than a dozen Maybachs behind them!”

“Don’t tell me he’s here to steal the bride?”

“No way. She’s pretty, but she’s hardly the most beautiful woman in the world…”

“Here he comes!”

Everyone surged toward the door.

Jiahao frowned.

“A-Ni, ignore them. Let’s go to our room.”

But I stood frozen.

As the crowd parted, Zhang Yanqiao walked toward us, his face cold as frost.

Jiahao saw him, too. He straightened, trembling, suddenly sober.

Two lines of bodyguards cleared a path.

Zhang Yanqiao stopped in front of me.

“Shen Ci.”

His voice was low, each word heavy as stone.

My throat closed. I couldn’t speak.

The stunned Song family hurried forward.

“Mr. Zhang! To think you’d honor our little celebration…”

“We’re truly honored…”

He didn’t look at them. A slight lift of his hand silenced them at once.

Jiahao’s father forced a smile and pushed his son forward.

“Our Jiahao worked under you for two years. We never imagined you’d still remember him!”

Zhang Yanqiao glanced at him, his expression composed and cold.

“Do you know who you’re marrying today?”

Jiahao stumbled over his words.

“O-of course. A-Ni. Her grandmother worked as a housemaid for your family for over twenty years…”

Zhang Yanqiao’s eyes darkened.

“And her other identity? Do you know that?”

“Wh-what identity?”

“She is my lawful wife. The Zhang family’s daughter-in-law. Its future mistress.”

The noisy hall fell utterly silent.

There was only him and me.

He sat down, his voice frighteningly calm.

“Was I too clumsy? Did I not know how to please you? Or was every word about loving me a lie?”

My face burned.

Those were words I had said on our last night at the hot springs, foolish words blurted out while I was drunk.

I hadn’t thought he would remember.

But my embarrassment soon gave way to hurt.

What right did he have to blame me?

He had never come looking after I left. When we met again, he hadn’t even asked why.

“Yes. You were clumsy. You didn’t know how to please me. And loving you was only a lie.”

“Why are you here? Jiahao and I have already bowed before my grandmother’s altar.”

“Shen Ci!”

For the first time in his life, Zhang Yanqiao lost control.

He came toward me, his eyes red, breathing hard.

Frightened, I took half a step back. But he only stood there, watching me for a long time.

Then he pulled me into his arms.

“Shen Ci. I’m sorry. It was my fault. I came too late.”

My tears spilled over. Still, I tried to push him away.

He held me tighter and gave a soft laugh.

“Not so hard, A-Ni. If you knock me over and I hit my head, I might forget you again.”

“What?”

I went still.

He took my hand and placed it against his head. Beneath my fingers was a long, raised scar.

I burst into tears.

“Why is it so deep? Zhang Yanqiao, how could you get hurt so badly?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Though that push just now did make it ache a little.”

He smiled and drew me closer.

“Hold still. Let me hold you for a moment. The doctor says too much excitement can make me dizzy.”

I held my breath, afraid to move.

After a while, I whispered, “Better now?”

He shook his head, smiling.

“A kiss might help me recover faster.”

I laughed through my tears and pointed at my wedding clothes.

“I can’t. It’s my wedding day.”

He opened his phone and showed me a video.

Surveillance footage. Several recordings.

“A-Ni. Song Jiahao arranged that accident.”

“He’s wanted you since before you came of age.”

“How could a man like that deserve to be your husband?”

I stared.

After a long time, I managed, “But… aren’t you about to marry Miss He?”

“That’s false.”

“Everyone believed it because my family spread the rumor.”

“A-Ni. I know everything now.”

He tightened his hold on my hand.

“Before coming here, I went to see Master Bailong. I asked him how to break this supposed fate that brings disaster upon my wife.”

“I couldn’t bear to find you only to watch you suffer because of me.”

“I’m not afraid…”

“But I am.”

His fingers closed tightly around mine.

“Shen Ci. I want to spend my life with you. Let me bear every misfortune in your place.”

He had knelt before a sacred statue all night, asking that every calamity fall upon him, if only his wife could be safe for the rest of her life.

“I don’t need wealth or glory. I only need you.”

“From the day I married you, I knew I would have only one wife. You.”

I threw myself into his arms, sobbing. All the hurt, the pain, the torment finally dissolved there.

When my tears subsided, I asked quietly, “But I’m only a housemaid’s granddaughter. Your parents…”

He cut me off, his gaze unwavering.

“If I can’t decide how to live my own life or protect the woman I love, what right do I have to call myself a man?”

“But…”

“No buts.”

“When we were little, so many girls wanted to play weddings with me.”

“Do you know why you were always the bride?”

I pressed my lips together.

“I was too young to understand…”

“I stopped wanting to play that childish game when I was four.”

“But you smiled so happily. That made it worthwhile.”

He bent to kiss my forehead.

“Now come somewhere with me.”

“Where?”

“The hot springs.”

“What are you planning?”

“To repeat that night.”

I blushed and chided him softly.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away again?”

He nipped lightly at the corner of my mouth, his voice husky.

“Shen Ci. No more contraception. Have a daughter with me. Sweet and lovely, just like you.”

I gave him a little glare.

“That hurt.”

He laughed.

So did I, tears slipping down my cheeks as I answered in a trembling voice.

“All right.”

The End

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