Chapter 3

There was nothing more to weigh. Even if only to keep my parents safe, I had to marry him.

I sent word through the matchmaker. A few days later, Butcher Zhou came to make the formal proposal.

It was a second marriage for us both, so we held no grand wedding feast. We invited the matchmaker and a few respected village elders to share a meal and witness our marriage. Then we made our wedding bows and entered the bridal chamber.

Only when he lifted my veil did I see his face clearly.

He was tall and powerfully built, rugged and unpolished, with a stern, fierce look about him. Nothing like the elegant young scholar Qi Mingzhi.

I was a little frightened. I opened my mouth, but no words came.

He sat down opposite me.

“Zhou Chen.”

I blinked. “Zhao Yuerong.”

He nodded and offered me the nuptial wine.

Father had been right. He was a man of few words.

After the wine, we went to bed.

Perhaps because he believed I couldn’t conceive, Zhou Chen was especially rough in bed. Even though this was my second marriage, I slept right through the next morning and didn’t wake until after noon.

I hurried to wash and dress, then rushed into the main room. His mother, Old Madam Li, was there, soothing a baby in her arms.

“Mother, your daughter-in-law pays her respects. I was so tired after the wedding yesterday, I—”

She smiled and cut me off. “It’s all right. If you’re tired, Yueniang, you should sleep a little longer.”

She wasn’t angry?

Old Madam Qi had never been so kind. Every day, she would hammer on our door at the mao hour to get me up to cook and clean. Even a fever was no excuse.

One bitter winter, I had been ill and stayed in bed until the chen hour. She had dumped a basin of cold water over my bedding.

Yet Old Madam Li was so gentle.

I collected myself and stepped forward to take the baby. The little boy, no more than six or seven months old, looked up at me with a finger in his mouth.

“This is Chen’s little boy, Musheng,” she said.

She pointed to a small girl outside the door. “And that’s his eldest, Shui’er.”

Shui’er peered at me from behind the door with bright, curious eyes.

That was the Zhou household: Zhou Chen, who went out early and came home late to earn a living; his kind old mother; and two small children.