Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The room insulation was poor, and with Cui Zishu being so agitated, I could hear every word she said clearly.

She was listing all her grievances against me from these past few days-how I had suddenly downgraded their meals, failed to buy her favorite eight-treasure rice, and even teamed up with my younger brother to bully her.

The doors and windows were closed, so I couldn’t see what was happening inside, but I heard Cui Shao’s voice. It was devoid of much emotion.

“You don’t need to make things difficult for her. She… won’t be staying for long.”

“Then Brother, just divorce her! Kick her out already! I’ll help you write the divorce papers!”

Before she could finish, I pushed the door open.

Cui Zishu was about to snatch the brush from Cui Shao’s hand. Seeing me enter, her eyebrows shot up in anger. “Why didn’t you knock?! Lack of manners-add that to the list!”

I began tidying the bed, not even looking up. “This is my home, and my room.”

Cui Shao said nothing. He merely glanced at Qingshan, who had failed to stop me. Qingshan kept his head down and eyes averted, refusing to meet his gaze.

“What kind of home is this? It’s a hovel. Then again, how could someone like you have any real taste?”

“Wherever the family is, that is home.”

“Well, it’s not your home! Brother, hurry up and divorce her!”

Cui Shao spoke up. “Get out.”

“Brother…”

“I said, get out.”

Cui Shao was looking at a sheet of paper in his hand. He didn’t look up, and though his face remained expressionless, I knew he was angry. Cui Zishu huffed at me, turned, and stormed out.

The sound of two sets of footsteps echoed outside; Qingshan had left as well.

Only Cui Shao and I remained in the room.

“You want to divorce me?”

Cui Shao paused, then shook his head.

“Then why did you say I won’t be staying for long?”

Cui Shao’s fingers tightened, crinkling the paper. “Though my ‘crimes’ were not capital offenses, the current situation is merely a way for the Imperial Court to save face. They won’t just let me go, nor will they let the Cui Family go. Now that the Cui Family has fallen to commoner status, all they lack is an opportunity to finish us off.

“Furthermore, I am now nothing more than a cripple who sells his charms to serve others. I will only be a burden to you.

“This is a letter of separation. You should go. I will give you a sum of money, enough for you to return to your hometown and open a small shop…”

Cui Shao held out his hand. The paper he held was actually a letter of separation, and in his other hand was a bulging pouch of silver coins-money he must have saved up from his work after leaving the Cui Family estate.

I took the silver. As the weight vanished from his palm, Cui Shao’s hand remained empty in the air for a long moment before he pulled it back.

“I’ll take the silver. I can open a shop anywhere; I don’t necessarily have to go back to my hometown.”

Cui Shao looked up, his usually calm gaze now burning with intensity.

“What do you mean?”

“I went to the banquet at the Zhang Manor. I saw you. You play the zither quite well.”

I hadn’t been able to sleep that night, my mind filled with images of Cui Shao and that greasy man. Even though I knew there was nothing I could do, I had braved the wind and snow to go to the Zhang Manor.

Guests had been streaming through the gates. Through the main entrance, I could see the bustling hall. Just as I was searching for Cui Shao, a gust of cold wind blew aside the silk curtains of the hall. Cui Shao was sitting behind the screens, playing the zither.

How could I have forgotten? Aside from his scholarship, status, and looks, he was famous throughout the Capital for his peerless zither skills.

I just hadn’t known why he was hiding it from me. It turned out he wanted me to give up and leave.

For once, a flash of panic crossed Cui Shao’s face. He started to pull back the hand holding the letter of separation, but then, as if realizing it was futile, he rested it in front of him again.

“There’s no such thing as being a burden. If I hadn’t married you and had stayed with the Chen Family, I would have been sold off, or married off to some random servant. At best, I would have become a concubine to some guest or minor official of Master Chen, wasting my life away or dying young of a broken heart, just like my mother.”

“If there ever comes a day you regret this, I… I have to go out tomorrow. I won’t be back for a month.”

In the end, Cui Shao crumpled the letter of separation into a ball and shoved it into a drawer. “The deposit for this job is quite substantial. I’ve placed it in the brocade box on the bookshelf. You can be more generous with the food; there is enough money. Don’t take Zishu’s behavior to heart. She just isn’t used to this yet. She was the only legitimate daughter of the Cui Clan for many years, so her personality is inevitably overbearing. However, she’s no match for you in an argument.”

Cui Shao actually smiled. It was the first time I had seen him smile without any defenses or burdens. I realized then that he had a slight snaggletooth; when he smiled, his eyes sparkled just like my younger brother’s.

I tilted my head and stared at him until he became a bit self-conscious. “What are you looking at?”

“I’m looking at how much you seem like a man from an ordinary family now-a husband caught in the middle of a spat between his wife and sister, trying to play peacemaker. You finally seem a bit more human.”