The Courtesan's Crown - Chapter 7

Waking, the rain had stopped.

Shen Huinian sat beside me, gazing into the distance, lost in thought.

I rolled over, touched his forehead. The fever was down.

This time, he didn’t avoid my touch.

I smiled. “Good, the fever broke. You owe me thanks.”

Shen Huinian had been listless. I often tried talking, but mostly monologued.

“Surviving disaster brings good fortune. Shen Huinian, you’ll be blessed.”

“See? They say the north has heavy snow, but we only encountered rain. Heaven knows your hardship, helping you.”

“I padded your cangue and shackles with cloth. They won’t chafe now.”

I ached all over but kept talking to distract him from his grief and dark thoughts.

“Jiangwan, really not leaving?” he asked abruptly.

I affirmed again. “I’m not leaving.”

“What do you want? I don’t love you, can’t give you wealth or status.”

“No? Then why keep the love knot I gave you?”

In our third year, on his birthday, I gave him a love knot. He examined it and sneered, “Jiangwan, many give me such things.”

I understood and retreated to my place.

But years later, I found that love knot in his personal clothes.

Frequent handling had frayed its edges.

The day I gave it, the weather was fine. Shen Huinian’s amber eyes seemed to sparkle. I thought it was sunlight, but perhaps it was tears.

He didn’t despise my status but dared not show affection due to his family’s doomed fate.

“You’re truly foolish, risking everything for elusive love.”

“Foolish then.”

Shen Huinian suddenly held me tightly, voice fierce: “Jiangwan, you chose this.”

I encircled his waist. Seeing that love knot, I knew I could never leave him.

From then on, Shen Huinian shed his cold aloofness. He occasionally replied when I spoke, shielded me from leering prisoners, and we huddled for warmth at night.

He loved kissing me, his burning lips constantly seeking my warmth, confirming my presence. After losing his family, he became possessive, not letting me leave his sight.

I didn’t mind. I had no family either. I liked being remembered.

Finally, four months after leaving the capital, amidst flying snow, we reached Yan Country’s far north-Yecheng.

Everything was white, devoid of life. The head guard handed us over to Yecheng guards. Leaving, he sincerely told Shen Huinian: “Treat her well. She’s a good woman.”

Shen Huinian nodded.

I surveyed Yecheng-unfamiliar, desolate, vast, rugged, savage. Northern barbarians raided often, burning and killing. The people lived in poverty but with tenacity, surviving stubbornly.

This was our new beginning.