Gentle as Spring Rain - Chapter 2

The marquis and the marchioness called me outside.

“Now that you’re married, there’s no undoing it,” the marchioness said. “You’ve seen the state my Shaojun is in. Since his injury, his moods have been impossible. We’ve already replaced his attendants three times.

“I’d hoped Jintang might soothe him once they were married. Instead, this has made everything worse.

“I’ve met you before. You’re a good girl too. From now on, I’m entrusting Shaojun to you. If he recovers, you may be certain we will reward you generously.”

She slipped the jade bangle from her wrist and put it on mine.

I curtsied. “Please rest assured, my lady. As your daughter-in-law, I will do everything I can.”

Then I returned to the bridal chamber.

The moment I stepped inside, Xie Yu glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

“Who gave you leave to come in?”

I let his words pass in one ear and out the other. I found a handkerchief and a strip of cloth, stuffed the handkerchief into his mouth, and bound his hands with the cloth.

I slept very soundly.

When I woke the next morning, his eyes were red, the skin beneath them dark, and his voice hoarse.

“Shen Suhe, how dare you treat me like this! You won’t get away with it.”

I looked up at him. “I won’t? You can’t even stand. What makes you think you can threaten me?”

He went wild with fury.

“Drag this woman out!” he shouted toward the door. “I don’t want to see her!”

I walked over and bent down. “Save your strength, my lord. Everyone out there knows I took my sister’s place and that you hate me for it. Shout all you like. They won’t come in, and they certainly won’t exchange me for her.

“My sister doesn’t want you anymore.”

Xie Yu cried.

At noon, the physician came to examine him.

“How is he today?” the marchioness asked anxiously.

The physician stroked his beard. “Remarkable! Before, the young lord had all the signs of a dying man. Today there’s a little life in him, like a shoot breaking through the earth.”

The marchioness wept with excitement. Taking my hand, she said, “Suhe, you truly are our lucky star!”

I lowered my head and smiled.

In truth, I had spent several nights weighing the matter before deciding to take my sister’s place.

Father and his wife truly loved Jintang. They had found her an excellent match: a handsome fiancé, accomplished in both scholarship and martial arts, born into a marquis’s household. His parents were reasonable people who did not mistreat their daughter-in-law.

Best of all, the household was peaceful. No concubines, no bedchamber maids, no children born to either.

I’d done the sums. It was an excellent bargain.

If Xie Yu died, I could fly far away. If he lived, I would be the only young mistress of this household.

Profit either way. Not a chance of losing!

Xie Yu hated me.

He said a donkey must have kicked me in the head for me to volunteer to be the substitute bride. He said I would spend the rest of my life a widow, with nobody to care for me in old age.

I waved my fan and answered unhurriedly. “As ill as you are, my lord, there’s no need to worry about me. My parents have promised that if you die, they’ll give me money and let me marry my cousin.

“He’s handsome, eight chi tall, broad across the shoulders, narrow at the waist, with legs like a mantis.”

I smiled. “I don’t imagine children will be a problem.”

Xie Yu was beside himself.

“Shen Suhe! Have you no shame?”

I looked him up and down. “You need someone else to pull up your trousers. Which of us ought to be embarrassed?”

The veins on his forehead stood out enough to play a tune on.

That night, after relieving himself, he managed to pull his trousers up with his own trembling hands.

His manservant burst into tears on the spot.

“His lordship can pull up his trousers! His lordship can pull up his trousers!”

I couldn’t help laughing.

When I turned, I met Xie Yu’s face, flushed scarlet and thunderous all at once.

“Shen Suhe!” he said through clenched teeth. “Don’t you laugh!”

…

Xie Yu could be maddeningly stubborn. He refused to follow the physician’s instructions and do his exercises, saying treatment was pointless: he would never stand again.

He even told his parents to hurry up and have another child instead of wasting any more effort on him.

The marchioness was frantic and furious, forever wiping away tears in secret.

I put a hand on her shoulder.

“Mother, don’t worry. I have an idea.”