On Our Wedding Night, I Came Clean to My Cousin—and Nearly Died of Kidney Deficiency - Chapter 2
Life at my aunt’s side was such fun—until my mother summoned me home to discuss marriage.
Only then did I realize my life was not in my own hands.
My aunt remained calm. “I can’t bear to part with you, so marry your second cousin. Then we can live exactly as we always have.”
Thinking of his frosty manner, I shuddered.
My second cousin had returned the previous year after placing third in the imperial examinations.
He was supposedly meant to place first. But the emperor prized good looks. The original third-place candidate was a fifty-year-old man, and His Majesty decided an older man possessed more tact and experience, so he awarded the old man first place and my cousin third.
My second cousin’s name was Xie Jin.
Soon after returning to the capital, he became its newest sensation because he was very handsome. Truthfully, every time I saw him, I could not help drooling a little.
But traveling with my aunt had broadened my horizons. I had even visited courtesan houses and establishments with male entertainers, so I was content simply to admire him.
After he placed third, matchmakers nearly wore out our threshold. My aunt refused them all on the grounds that my uncle must return and decide.
I certainly never dared dream of marrying him. He was cold as frost and never smiled. Sometimes, when he came to pay his respects while my aunt and I were laughing, he would actually frown at us.
He deeply disapproved of our loud laughter.
Unable to stand his grim face, my aunt once asked, “Jin’er, why are you frowning? Is something wrong with your brow?”
I burst out laughing again.
My cousin made an example of me for her benefit. He told his mother, “Your son is not ill.”
Then he turned to me. “Cousin, a woman must mind her conduct. A lady should smile without showing her teeth and preserve her decorum. Laughing wildly while lolling all over the place is utterly improper.”
I whined to my aunt, “Auntie, just look at him…”
She snapped, “This is why I told you not to bury yourself in books. Too much studying has made you an idiot! There are rules for how to laugh—should there be rules for using the privy too? You’re sick in the head!”
My second cousin truly could not stand me.
If I went out with my aunt, he interfered. “Cousin, you are unmarried. What do you think you’re doing, spending every day outside?”
I made a face at him. “What business is it of yours?”
If I ate too much, he stopped me. “Cousin, you’re a young woman. Don’t eat so much. Imagine how awful you’d look with a waist like a barrel.”
Furious, I called for my aunt again, and she viciously rapped him with a chopstick.
If I dressed beautifully, he called me gaudy and immodest. If I wore men’s clothes, he said I should not disguise myself as a man. If I rode or hunted, he said it was dangerous and girls ought to stay away.
Eventually, I took to avoiding him from afar.
Who would want to marry my second cousin? Only someone who did not know him could be so foolish. His face might be gorgeous, but the rest of him could freeze a person to death.
And yet my aunt wanted me to marry him.
