Gentle as Spring Rain - Chapter 3

The physician said that when the weather was fine, we could wheel Xie Yu out for some sunshine.

He refused to go.

I knew why. He was afraid of being seen like this.

“Only into the garden,” I said. “Not outside the grounds. Mother has given me this task. If I don’t manage it, she’ll scold me.”

He gave a little laugh. “Scold you? What happened to that clever tongue of yours?”

For once, I didn’t answer back. I lowered my head in silence, then glanced up at him, a mist of tears in my eyes.

He looked away.

“Fine, we’ll go! Happy now?” he snapped. “Such a nuisance.”

The garden was large, with a pond neither especially shallow nor especially deep. I pushed his wheeled chair to the edge.

“Stand up.”

He turned in astonishment, frowning hard.

“What did you say? Shen Suhe, I was kind enough to come out with you. Did you bring me here just to mock me?”

He turned the wheels. “Back! I want to go back!”

Back?

Not a chance.

I raised my foot and kicked him into the water.

He struggled instinctively. “Shen—glug, glug—have you lost your mind?”

I crouched on the bank and held out a pole.

“Hold on.”

He did. But I didn’t pull him out. For half the time it took to drink a cup of tea, I swished him about like vegetables in a hotpot.

Once he was out, Xie Yu cursed eight generations of my ancestors.

“You’d better pray I never stand again. If I do, I won’t let you get away with this!”

I squatted in front of him, my chin in my hands.

“Before you take revenge on me, you ought to find Shen Jintang.”

He frowned. “Why?”

I held back a laugh. “To ask why she abandoned you.”

He tried to hit me. I bolted.

He was so angry that he actually staggered to his feet.

A passing maid ran to spread the news.

“His lordship can stand! His lordship can stand!”

The marchioness wept for joy when she heard. Clasping my hands, she said, “My dear girl, I don’t know how to thank you. Here…”

She found a deed.

“This is the deed to Luling Estate outside the city. It’s yours now!”

An unexpected windfall.

I took it carefully. “Thank you, Mother.”

She looked as if she wanted to say something more.

Having accepted her generosity, I could hardly refuse to oblige. “Please, Mother, say whatever is on your mind.”

She leaned close. “I’ve been worried about whether my son can still perform his duties as a husband.”

My face grew hot.

“I know you’re young and shy, and embarrassed to try such a thing,” she added. “But you are husband and wife, after all. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

I nodded faintly.

“Then… I’ll try.”

That night, Xie Yu glanced sideways at me from his rocking chair.

“Why is your face so red? Are you ill?”

I didn’t answer. I walked slowly toward him.

He frowned. “What’s that look for? What are you planning?”

Biting my lip, I took off my outer night robe, leaving only a pale mauve dudou—a little cloth bodice tied over my chest.

His eyes widened. His throat worked.

“You—you…” he stammered.

I leaned against his legs and began stroking upward from his knee.

Sweat beaded on his forehead. He looked thoroughly distressed.

“Shen Suhe, stop that!”

He tried to stop me, but he had not fully recovered and wasn’t even as strong as I was.

“Don’t be frightened,” I soothed. “I only want to check… whether you were injured there.”

The veins rose in his neck.

“You—you really are shameless!” he ground out.

Then he squeezed his eyes shut and stopped resisting.

Giving myself courage, I reached up to touch him.

So hot.

A heavy gasp sounded clear in the darkness.

He opened his eyes, his teeth clenched.

“Finished feeling me up? Well? Satisfied?”

I came to my senses and hastily withdrew my hand. Not knowing where to look, I rose stiffly, fumbled my robe back on, and retreated into bed.

A soft laugh reached me from outside the curtains.

“Shy now? And here I thought you were so bold.”

I pulled the quilt over my head.

It had taken every scrap of courage I had to do that. Now that I thought about it properly, I was mortified.

But Xie Yu would not leave me alone.

“Asleep already? Haven’t you forgotten something?”

I rolled over and peered at him, showing only my eyes.

He raised his brows. “Come and help me. I want to go to bed too.”

Resigned, I got up and shuffled over. I took his arm and helped him toward the bed.

Just as we reached it, his foot turned, and he fell straight onto me.

Our eyes met, our faces inches apart.

I pushed at him. “Get up!”

He didn’t move. His gaze dropped to a certain place, his expression turning rakish.

“You’re not bad yourself.”

Heat swept from my neck to the tips of my ears. Embarrassed as I was, I refused to lose the last word.

“You’re poking me, my lord. Everyone says you’re a model of self-restraint. Yet here you are… unable to control yourself.

“I thought you only had eyes for my sister.”

My lips parted softly.

“Brother… in-law.”

His expression darkened. He rolled off and lay beside me.

Freed of his weight, I scrambled to the inside of the bed and tucked myself under the quilt.

Behind me, I heard Xie Yu mutter, “I really ought to sew that mouth of yours shut.”