Chapter 4 Insomnia: His Eccentric Wife, Her Unlucky Husband…

He welcomed his beautiful wife home, but they were unaware of their marriage. The bed curtains were hung high, but the bridal chamber was kicked open.

If this day were to become a proverb in the future, it would be: Zeng Zhengqing's wedding—a series of ups and downs.

He was nervous about being a groom for the only time in his life. However, his new wife helped him relax.

Although it involves pain.

"Are you alright?" Tang Qingduo hurriedly got up, forgetting that she was naked, and knelt down to look at his head.

Zeng Zhengqing faced the other kind of "fluctuation" before him, his pupils dilated slightly, and he turned his face away, saying, "It's nothing."

"That was a loud noise! ​​Are you really alright?" Qingduo looked closely and, after confirming there were no wounds, felt relieved and knelt on her lap. She glanced at Zeng Zhengqing, who was turning his face away, not daring to look at her. Looking down, she saw that she was completely naked. She gasped and pulled the blanket over herself.

Zeng Zhengqing glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and saw that she had wrapped herself in the quilt before turning to face her. He saw that even her ears were red and her eyes revealed a sense of self-reproach. He comforted her, "It only hurt for a moment. It doesn't hurt now."

"Then...where did I kick just now?" Qingduo asked in a low voice. Her gaze went to his left rib that he was covering, and her eyes widened suddenly when she saw something.

Seeing the horror on her face, Zeng Zhengqing followed her gaze down to the thing hanging down her body. His mind went blank, and he grabbed a piece of clothing to cover it.

This red dress is a little small.

Zeng Zhengqing frowned and looked closely. Why were there flowers embroidered on it?

He had just taken off his clothes under the bed, so these things on the bed… He was horrified and stared up at Tang Qingduo. She stammered, “Those are my undergarments…”

silence.

A deathly silence.

It's destined to be the main theme tonight.

Zeng Zhengqing was taught from a young age to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of his family. Even when his father was still alive, he was already capable of handling things on his own. He had dealt with all kinds of people in business and considered himself to be very capable. However, he felt helpless in the face of the current situation. He silently pulled the bed curtains over his lower body and whispered, "I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

"I should be the one apologizing for hurting you," Qingduo said quickly. She thought for a moment, then tilted her head. "How about we call it even?"

"……good."

"So what's next?" she blinked her eyes.

Given the current situation, he was incapable of doing anything. Zeng Zhengqing suggested, "Shall we sleep?"

She visibly breathed a sigh of relief. If she had known the other woman was unwilling, she would have preferred just resting from the start; at least she wouldn't have had to take a kick herself, Zeng Zhengqing thought to herself.

The two put on their nightgowns and lay down, Zeng Zhengqing on the inside and Qingduo on the outside. Sharing a bed with a stranger was not an easy way to fall asleep.

"Are you still in pain? Do you need any medicine?" Qingduo asked.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," he lied.

"Sigh, that kick was too hard; it'll probably leave a bruise."

Zeng Zhengqing paused for a moment, then said, "You are very strong."

"It's probably because we always have to fetch water at home."

"Fetch water?"

“Yes, there’s only one well in the village, and my house is quite far away. To fill the water tank at home, I have to carry two buckets of water at the same time, making three or four trips!” Qingduo’s words contained a hint of barely perceptible pride.

If that incident hadn't happened back then, she would probably be living a life of luxury, just like him. Even so, at their first meeting, he still felt a bright radiance emanating from her.

“That’s remarkable,” he praised sincerely. Just then, his wife’s soft laughter came from his right.

Zeng Zhengqing drifted off to sleep, half-awake and half-asleep. He found himself in a place shrouded in mist, unable to see clearly. He knew he was lost and didn't know which way to go. Suddenly, he saw a graceful figure in the distance, carrying a shoulder pole with two buckets of water on either side. In an instant, he remembered Qingduo's words and felt that the person was Qingduo. He called out:

"Madam! Madam!"

The woman kept walking forward, carrying two buckets of water, but her pace quickened. Zeng Zhengqing refused to let go of the only clue, chasing and calling out, but she wouldn't turn back. A whistling wind whistled past his ears, and something seemed to come hurtling through the air. He looked up and saw a giant foot reaching out from the sky, kicking towards him. He was stunned, standing motionless, realizing there was no way to dodge…

He suddenly snapped awake, the fear from before still lingering in his mind. He was covered in sweat, and gradually realized it was a dream. His wildly beating heart returned to calm.

Strange, it's clearly a dream, but why do I feel pain in my body?

He looked down and saw that one of the lady's legs was straddling him.

Zeng Zhengqing understood; this was the origin of the "flying giant legs" in her dream. He gently tucked the "original" back into the blanket, so as not to disturb her sweet dream.

Bathed in moonlight, her sleeping face resembled a dandelion in spring, white and fluffy, with a smile, as if she were having a beautiful dream of riding the wind.

She doesn't resist sharing a bed with him, so why does she react so strongly to marital relations?

Was my action too forceful and scared her? Or is it that I'm not good at this and displeased her?

He pondered this over and over again, his heart heavy with sorrow, until dawn broke, and only then did he close his eyes.

The next day, when the relatives saw that Zeng Zhengqing's eyes were dark, some of them gave meaningful looks.

It's truly a case of "a mute being kicked by a donkey—unable to express their suffering."

*

The Zeng family was a large clan with so many relatives, both near and far, that Qingduo couldn't remember them all. But whenever someone gave her a gift, she would smile sweetly and repeat the way Zeng Zhengqing addressed her, saying auspicious words. After going through all the relatives, she only remembered two, but when it came to which gifts others had given her, she knew them by heart.

One was Zeng Zhengqing's uncle, who was also the head of the Zeng family. Judging from his serious expression, Qingduo knew that he was the opposite of her father. The other was Zeng Zhengqing's younger brother, Zeng Zhengji, who was a year younger than her. His eyebrows and eyes were similar to Zeng Zhengqing's, but he looked a little immature, and his every move exuded the spiritedness of a young man.

“Yuanbai, now that your niece-in-law has met your family, why don’t you take her to see your mother?” said Zeng Ke, Zeng Zhengqing’s uncle.

"Yes." Zeng Zhengqing replied respectfully, leading his younger brother Zeng Zhengji and Qingduo out. The servants had already prepared a carriage and horses. Zeng Zhengqing and Qingduo rode in the carriage, while Zhengji rode a horse.

The carriage was spacious, and the space between Zhengqing and Qingduo was also quite "spacious." After what happened last night, the two of them chose to keep their distance without prior arrangement; he leaned to the left, and she leaned to the right.

"Where are we going? Didn't we just say we were going to see your mother?" Qingduo asked, puzzled.

“Go to Jiyue Nunnery, my mother is a nun there,” Zeng Zhengqing said calmly.

Qingduo's eyes widened, and she was about to ask why, but seeing that Zeng Zhengqing didn't want to talk about it, she remembered her "dignified and virtuous" image and knew that she should be understanding and change the subject.

"Why did my mother become a nun?" she was still too curious.

Zeng Zhengqing looked at her for a moment and said, "My mother and father were not on good terms, so she gradually began to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures. Later, she did not want to live under the same roof as my father anymore, so she returned to her hometown alone and became a nun at Jiyue Nunnery."

"Your mother and father don't get along?" Qingduo frowned slightly. "I heard from my father that your parents have always had a good relationship!"

Zeng Zhengqing closed his eyes and remained silent. Qingduo sullenly shrank back to her right corner. She peeked at Zeng Zhengqing and, seeing that he kept his eyes closed, secretly lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and looked out through the gap.

The spring sunshine was brilliant, the willows were shrouded in mist and the cherry blossoms were in bloom. The brightness and freedom of all things transformed into radiance, adorning her eyes with a clear and pure light.

Just as I was engrossed in watching, I suddenly heard a voice behind me say, "Hang up the curtain."

Qingduo was startled and subconsciously turned around to look. Zeng Zhengqing had opened his eyes at some point and was looking at her. Qingduo didn't move for a moment. She had heard that women from wealthy families were not allowed to have their faces seen when they went out. Zeng Zhengqing seemed to have heard what she was thinking and said, "It's alright. There are fewer and fewer people after we leave the city. There's no need to worry."

Qingduo smiled sweetly, hung up the curtain, and enjoyed the view. A gust of east wind rose, and cherry blossoms fell like rain. Qingduo reached out to catch them, some petals drifting away through her fingers, others falling between her fingers. In a daze, she felt as if she herself had melted into the spring.

Zeng Zhengqing saw all of this.

His wife was still an innocent and romantic young girl who didn't understand the ways of the world.

Then a thought flashed through my mind:

Therefore, it shouldn't be his problem.

*

Upon arriving at Jiyue Nunnery, they first went to pay homage to the Buddha, and then prepared a vegetarian meal and performed good deeds at the nunnery. The servants they brought with them took care of the cooking, and the three of them only needed to distribute the food as alms.

Zeng Zhengqing's mother had not returned from her trip, so the three of them waited quietly in the house while drinking tea. The tea smoke curled up and the birds chirped softly. The Zeng brothers felt like they had nails to their backsides, and Qingduo was restless. She couldn't sit still any longer, so she got up under the pretext of going to the toilet, but actually wanted to take a stroll in the yard.

Zeng Zhengqing was worried that she would get lost since she was new to the place, so he asked a nun from the nunnery to accompany her. Qingduo secretly groaned, but had no choice but to respectfully follow behind.

Fortunately, after relieving herself, she went out and found that the nun had disappeared. Qingduo was overjoyed and planned to stroll around the garden before going back. If Zeng Zhengqing asked why she had been delayed for so long, she would blame it on the nun and say that she had gotten lost.

Tang Li wasn't a Buddhist, and neither was she. After wandering around for a short while, she found the place utterly boring—just a Buddha statue here, an incense burner there. Qingduo wanted to go back, but the courtyard was so densely packed that she didn't know where she'd come from. She vaguely recognized the side gate on the west side, stepped over the threshold, and after a few steps, she slipped on something—

"Thump!" He sat down hard on the ground.

"Ouch!" Qingduo cried out in pain. After the sudden, sharp pain, she felt a wetness below.

"Bleeding?" She was startled, but then she smelled a citrus scent and quickly reached down to touch something soft and sticky.

She trembled as she pulled out the item. The flattened orange was bleeding, its juice dripping from her fingertips onto her shimmering dress.

Qingduo was overcome with grief: "Ah! My misty pearl gauze skirt wrapped in branches!"

Looking around, she noticed several oranges scattered on the ground; she had slipped on them and fallen. A surge of anger welled up inside her, and she yelled, "Who was so blind! They didn't even pick up the oranges scattered all over the ground! They made my bottom fall and got my clothes dirty!"

“It’s me,” one person said calmly.