Chapter 30: Their marriage was exposed so soon after they were caught in a secret...

By the moonlight, Zeng Zhengqing bent down to untie the ties of her blouse. He grabbed both ends and pulled, only to find that Qingduo had tied a knot that was impossible to untie. He tried his best to calm himself down and focus all his energy on the small knot. However, the unique bulge on the left side of the woman's face was right next to his, and his eyes were fixed on it, rising and falling with her breath, unable to look away.

"Can't you untie it? Maybe we should just give up..." Qingduo's hesitant voice rang out from above.

“Yes,” Zeng Zhengqing replied immediately. He sat up and met his wife’s shy eyes with his burning gaze. His gaze gradually moved to her lips, then down to her neckline.

He reached out and grabbed the collar from both sides, pulling it outwards with a jolt. "Hiss—" The clothes that couldn't be untied were torn in two.

"You!" Qingduo exclaimed in shock, covering her chest with her arms.

Under the moonlight, everything was shrouded in a thin veil, hazy yet clearly discernible. All around was utter silence, yet the surging sound of the waves could be heard. Zeng Zhengqing, in his youth, had accompanied his father to watch the Qiantang River tidal bore, admiring the brave warriors battling the tide. While he marveled at the courage and spirit of the surfers, he also felt a sense of detachment from their lives, a sentiment incompatible with his own self-disciplined and cautious nature. Only when he himself experienced the thrill of riding the waves did he realize that indulging in it was human nature.

He stroked her long, jasmine-scented hair, gently kissed her damp eyelashes, and murmured, "Ah Zhao..."

She eventually became his real wife.

No, in his heart, she already was.

All their restlessness subsided, and they fell asleep in each other's arms. The next morning, the blinding sunlight fell on their eyelids, and Zeng Zhengqing subconsciously raised his hand to shield his eyes before slowly opening them.

The sunlight streamed down my face, bringing warmth, but in stark contrast, my lower body felt icy cold.

Zeng Zhengqing reached out blankly, but then recoiled as if his fingers had been burned by the sticky substance. He lay there motionless, letting the real sorrow overwhelm and eclipse the joy of his dream.

His heart fell into a dry well, leaving only a muffled thud.

Conversely, "tap tap tap tap," someone approached with light footsteps. "Qingqing, you're awake! You woke up so late this morning." Qingduo, oblivious to his dejection, chattered on, "Get up, I'll help you get dressed!"

“Madam…” Zeng Zhengqing covered his face with his arm, “Starting tonight, I will move to the study.”

"Why?" Qingduo asked in surprise.

Zeng Zhengqing never expected that Tang Li's instructions would become a prophecy in his life. He replied in a muffled voice:

“…cultivate oneself, rectify one’s mind, restrain oneself and return to propriety.”

*

The Zeng family's carriage stopped in front of Lu Nong's house. Qing Duo jumped off the carriage, dragged out a large cloth bag, knelt down with her back to it, patted her shoulder and said, "Fang Qing, help me put this on my back!"

Fang Qing exclaimed in shock, "No, no! How can we let the young mistress do such dirty and rough work!" She got out of the carriage, picked up the cloth bag by the opening, and pulled it hard onto her back. "Let me do it!"

"Oh dear, it's just a bag of apricots. I used to carry a full bucket of water back and forth several times without breaking a sweat! This is nothing!" Qingduo snatched the bag, slung it over her shoulder, and once the whole bag was on her back, she used her lower back to straighten up and took one step, then two.

This bag is heavier than I expected!

The boast was already out in the open, and there was no going back. She gritted her teeth and moved forward shakily, step by step. Her hands, which were holding onto the cloth bag, could no longer hold up and became increasingly weak.

"Help, I can't carry you anymore..." she groaned in pain as she half-squatted in place.

"Young Madam!" Fang Qing and the coachman, seeing this, lifted the cloth bag together and unloaded it on the ground. Qing Duo straightened up, rubbing her shoulders, and said breathlessly, "I'm so weak!"

"Ha! I thought it was something heavy!" Zhu Yi walked out of the house with his arms crossed, glanced at her sideways, picked up the bag with one hand as if it were just a light piece of clothing, and easily slung it over his back. "Little girl, this is nothing!"

Qingduo exclaimed in surprise, following closely behind, and said admiringly, "Brother Zhu, you are born with superhuman strength, you are incredibly strong!"

"Divine strength? Hmph, I earned it all through hard work, punch by punch." Zhu Yi piled the cloth bag against the wall and went to pick up the next one.

"Where did you get so many apricots?"

"Oh, it's from my garden," Qingduo said casually. She was more concerned about the "divine power." When she was a child, she secretly taught those brats a lesson, and no one dared to laugh at her for being poor anymore.

Life experience taught her that arguing with bad people is less effective than resorting to physical violence.

She leaned forward, flattering him, "Brother Zhu, could you teach me boxing? Ever since I became a young mistress, I can feel my strength greatly diminishing! This won't do! Being weak makes you vulnerable to bullying, while strength makes you invincible. I want to use this strength to protect myself and the people I care about, and to be a chivalrous hero like you!"

“You are the wife of the Zeng family, who can bully you?” Zhu Yi said, easily moving all the apricots from the carriage into the garden.

Qingduo tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't budge, even using the rule of "men and women shouldn't touch each other" to brush her off. He picked up the basket and shook the dried apricots inside into his backpack: "I'm not talking to you anymore, little girl. Lu Nong is selling dried apricots at the market, waiting for me to come over."

Just as Qingduo was feeling discouraged, she suddenly heard the name "Lu Nong" and an idea popped into her head. She sighed deeply and deliberately said, "What a pity, what a pity! I originally wanted to drag Sister Lu Nong along to learn boxing with me to improve my health..."

The "splashing" sound stopped abruptly. Qingduo looked at Zhu Yi triumphantly, but seeing him staring at her with wide eyes, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She said with a regretful expression, "I was thinking you could take this opportunity to get closer to Sister Lu Nong. Oh well, everyone has their own ambitions, and we can't force it!"

“I suddenly realized,” Zhu Yi immediately interjected, “I happen to have a set of boxing techniques that are suitable for you women to learn.”

"This—how could I possibly accept this?" Qingduo shook her head dramatically. "Men and women—should not touch each other!"

"No, no, no!" Zhu Yi hurriedly explained, "I know my limits, I won't touch her! How could I possibly disrespect Miss Lu Nong!"

Qingduo glanced at him sideways. What did he mean? He couldn't "desecrate" Sister Lu Nong, but touching her would be fine? That was even worse! She was "You Qing Zhi Duo"!

Seeing Zhu Yi's expectant gaze, she frowned and sighed, stroking her chin as if she had a beard. With a "worried face," she said, "Hiss—after thinking about it carefully, I think what you said makes sense. No one dares to bully me!"

"Are you going to learn or not?" Even the most confused person could see something was off. Zhu Yi said irritably, "Tang Qingduo, are you kidding me?"

"I'll learn, I'll learn!" Qingduo knew when to stop, and she flattered him with a smile, "With the famous 'Hidden Hero' teaching me, of course I'll learn."

"Once I master the martial arts, I can roam the martial world with you," she said longingly. "Then, I'll give myself a title, hmm... I'll call myself... I'll call myself..."

What should I call her? Qingduo's brows furrowed into a knot. She used to have a nickname in the "jianghu" (江湖, the martial arts world), but it wasn't very elegant. She couldn't let them know about such a shameful nickname!

Got it!

“Your name is ‘Suspenseful Hero,’ so I’ll give you a name that’s similar to yours—‘Safe Hero,’ how about that?”

Zhu Yi was utterly puzzled: "My 'Black Tiger' is a majestic divine tiger, how is it similar to your 'steadiness'?"

Qingduo suddenly realized: "Ah! It's not the unreliable 'hanging'?" She said with relief, "I was wondering why you gave yourself such a self-deprecating nickname, but then I realized that Brother Zhu is straightforward and honest, so there must be a reason for calling you that. Oh, I see!"

Two flames gradually ignited in Zhu Yi's bewildered eyes, and his angry voice startled the birds perched on the apricot tree:

"You, you, you are the one who's 'almost dangerous'! Your whole family is 'almost dangerous'!"

*

The wooden tray rested steadily on his arm, the roast chicken on the porcelain plate inside glistening with golden oil. The waiter climbed the steps to the private room at the end of the second floor, gently knocked on the wooden door, and only pushed it open after hearing "Please come in" from inside.

"Young Master Liu, Young Master Zeng, we've kept you waiting!" He bowed and smiled broadly. "This is Fuyuanju's specialty dish, 'Fuji Roasted Chicken.' Our manager specially instructed us to serve you two freshly roasted chickens. Look, they're still steaming hot!"

"Please thank your manager for me." Zeng Zhengqing placed a piece of silver on the tray and said gently, "Take this and have some wine."

The waiter was overjoyed and kept bowing, saying, "Thank you, Young Master Zeng! Thank you, Young Master Liu!" He left with profuse thanks and closed the door behind him.

After the man left, Liu Ke continued, fanning himself, "Since the 'Ten Thousand Green Mountains' painting in my hand is not an original but a posthumous work of my mother-in-law, there is no use for me to keep it. I might as well return it to my younger brother and sister-in-law to comfort their longing for their mother."

"Thank you for your generosity, Gongzhi." Zeng Zhengqing took out a silver note from his pocket and placed it in front of Liu Ke, "Consider it a small compensation."

"Hey, why are you arguing with me?" Liu Ke closed his fan, not even looking at it, and pushed it back with the tip of the fan. "Just consider it a gift from me to my sister-in-law."

“If you really feel bad about it,” he leaned closer and whispered, “I’d like to see Tang Li’s painting, ‘Ten Thousand Green Mountains.’ I wonder when I can come to your house to feast my eyes on it?”

“This…” Zeng Zhengqing recalled the flamboyant “I was here” graffiti on the scroll, an embarrassing incident that Qingduo hadn’t told Liu Ke. He pondered for a moment, “There’s something I can’t say about this. I need to discuss it with my wife and see what she thinks before I can give you an answer.”

"Oh?" Liu Ke unfolded his folding fan to cover half his face and laughed, "Is it an 'unspeakable secret,' or 'a husband following his wife's lead'? This is too fast!"

“As expected, Brother Liu is different now that he got married early,” Zeng Zhengqing said casually, picking up a chicken leg and placing it on Liu Ke’s plate. “He has a deep understanding of ‘the husband follows the wife’s lead’.”

"Who truly understands this?" Liu Ke immediately became agitated. He couldn't stand this and shouted, "I just didn't want to stoop to her level. My forbearance brought harmony to the family. I was being magnanimous!"

"I only bought a painting! I only cuddled it and slept alone in the study for a few days! But Wanwan actually moved all my things into the study and even sent a maid to tell me that she wished me and the painting 'to live happily ever after' and 'to have a long and happy marriage.' What kind of talk is that!"

He picked up his wine glass and downed it in one gulp, then slammed it down on the table. He sighed bitterly, “Ah, Yuanbai, you have no idea how desolate, miserable, and lonely it is to suddenly have to spend the night alone in the study with someone you’ve shared a bed with for so long!”

He picked up the wine pot again and poured wine for himself and Zeng Zhengqing, then sighed and said, "If you ever suddenly have a change of heart, take my experience as a warning! Leaving is easy, but going back is hard!"

Zeng Zhengqing's face darkened slightly. His fingers traced the rim of his glass, as if toying with a regretful thought. Across from him, the one who had stirred up his emotions was chugging down her drink, whimpering, "Wanwan—"

"No matter how many paintings there are, they are all just passing through; you are the only one!"

"Alright!" Zeng Zhengqing's head ached from his wailing. He rubbed his temples and said, "You should go back and say these confessions to your 'Wanwan'!"

He helped Liu Ke downstairs and waited for the carriage at the door, as the lively atmosphere of the street enveloped them.

"Tofu—salt brine tofu—"

"Sweet Lotus Root Starch Rice Balls - piping hot lotus root starch!"

"Freshly dried apricots! Sweet and sour dried apricots!"

As soon as Liu Ke moved, the mere mention of "dried apricots" made his mouth water, and he wanted to eat something sour to relieve his dizziness. Just then, he heard Zeng Zhengqing instruct him, "I'll trouble you to put in more effort regarding the calligraphy and painting shop we were discussing earlier."

“Leave it to me.” He leaned his head on Zeng Zhengqing’s shoulder and weakly pointed toward the source of the voice: “Yuanbai, I have a headache and I want to eat some dried apricots. Buy them for me.”

His gaze followed the finger, and after a moment, he exclaimed, "Huh?" He suddenly looked up, staring intently in that direction, then wiped his eyes with his other sleeve, asking in confusion, "Isn't that my sister-in-law?"

Upon hearing this, Zeng Zhengqing immediately looked in the direction Liu Ke was pointing, and was taken aback. The sunlight shone obliquely like a sharp sword, and he even wondered if he was seeing things. He squinted to take a closer look:

Tang Qingduo, the wife of Zeng Zhengqing, squatted down next to the dried apricot stall, her feet firmly planted in a horse stance, her hands clenched into fists, and she made left and right attacks in the air. Next to her stood a young man with bulging muscles in his arms, holding a tree branch and pointing at his wife.

Liu Ke's eyes widened in shock. The sudden discovery jolted him out of his drunken stupor, his mind instantly clearing. It was hard not to have all sorts of wild thoughts. He stole a glance at his friend beside him, seeing the other's face as dark as a storm cloud, and thought to himself: No way, no way, they've only been married a short time, and I've already stumbled upon a secret?

As his compassion arose, he felt a sense of relief: compared to Yuan Bai, what were his own grievances?

-----------------------

Author's note: Qingduo nodded seriously: My family is quite "mysterious", how did Brother Zhu know?

Tang Li coughed: Cough cough, what do you mean by "mysterious"? We are free and open-minded!

[[Chin resting on hand] My collection of stars hasn't increased in value in a long time.]