Chapter 203 The Hesitant Couple
In the past few months, he had also gone to the battlefield with Prince Heng several times, mostly at night. The enemy chose to launch surprise attacks at night. Whenever the night was deep and quiet, and life and death were hanging by a thread, the only people he could think of were his family and Zhang Yumo. He was even glad that he had not consummated his marriage with her, because he was afraid that dying on the battlefield would harm her.
He got so drunk on their wedding night that when he woke up the next day and faced her, he felt nothing but shame.
The next day, he suddenly received a message from Prince Heng that war was about to break out on the border and that he should be prepared to leave the capital at any time. After thinking it over, he still did not consummate the marriage with her.
Once inside the bedroom, Zhang Yumo said, "I'll go run the water first."
"Okay." He let go of her hand and went to the inner room alone to find clean clothes to change into.
His clothes were neatly arranged by Zhang Yumo, and she had also taken out his winter clothes and added some new ones.
He thought to himself: Did his mother make these, or Zhang Yumo? She probably doesn't know his size!
Zhang Yumo suddenly walked up to him and smiled, "I don't know if you'll like it or not. I made some with my mother when I had nothing to do. Why don't you try it on and see if it fits? If it doesn't fit, I'll alter it."
"Okay, thank you." Jiang Jinyan said politely.
The more polite he was, the more Zhang Yumo felt pain in her heart, which meant that he didn't really like her. She forced a smile and said, "Mother did most of the cooking. I only helped out. I'm not very good at it either."
Jiang Jinyan didn't say anything. He knew it wasn't his mother's handiwork, because his mother's needlework wasn't good, and such good embroidery skills couldn't have been done by his mother. He didn't expose her, and chose clothes of the same color as her skirt, taking both the inner and outer garments.
There were even underpants, all new. His face grew increasingly red, and he dared not look at Zhang Yumo's face. From childhood to adulthood, apart from his mother, no other woman had ever prepared such intimate clothing for him. He felt only embarrassment.
Zhang Yumo didn't see his embarrassment. She just felt that his politeness meant he didn't like her. She comforted herself, thinking that it was fine this way. At least they could be husband and wife with mutual respect. She had a place to settle down, because she had no other home besides the Jiang family.
She kept these words buried in her heart, not daring to show the slightest bit of negative emotion.
The couple were preoccupied with their own thoughts. Jiang Jinyan blushed and his heart was pounding, so he ignored Zhang Yumo and went to the bathroom with her clothes. He closed the door and bolted it shut.
Hearing his actions, Zhang Yumo felt a chill in her heart; he really didn't like her.
She took a step back, unsure whether to leave or stay. If she went out now, her mother and Fenghua would definitely ask questions, and she wouldn't know how to answer. So she simply sat down in front of the dressing mirror, looking at her own worried face in the mirror. She practiced smiling and practicing calling out "husband."
In the bathroom, after an unknown amount of time, Jiang Jinyan finally cleaned himself up. He thought to himself that he was disgusted with himself, and if Zhang Yumo saw him like this, she would probably think that he was not worthy of her affection at all.
Jiang Jinyan changed the water three times, using up all the hot water in the room. He even felt embarrassed in his own room.
He dried his hair, shaved, and put on his clothes. More than an hour had passed.
He opened the door expecting to see Zhang Yumo, but the house was quiet and dark as night fell. He assumed Zhang Yumo had already gone to the dining room.
He groped in the dark to find a tinderbox to light the oil lamp, but the next moment he touched a warm body, and Zhang Yumo woke up instantly, "Ah!"
"It's me. You didn't leave?" he asked. It turned out that Zhang Yumo had fallen asleep on the table.
Zhang Yumo was woken up and quickly said, "How did I fall asleep here? Is it already dark? Husband, are you done washing up?"
She stood up and bumped into Jiang Jinyan's arms again.
She was so startled that she tried to jump away, but Jiang Jinyan suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his embrace. His voice was deep as he whispered in her ear, "Mo'er, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Zhang Yumo was stunned, her heart pounding. "It's okay, let's go out to eat! They must be getting impatient. It's all dark, I'll find some candles to light it!"
Smelling the fragrance of her hair, and being so close to her, with her soft, warm body in his arms, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. When she moved, his lips even brushed against her cheek, making her instantly freeze in place, too afraid to make a sound.
After a moment, she tentatively called out to him, "Jinyan."
"Didn't you just call me husband?" She had never called him that before.
Zhang Yumo then remembered that she had been practicing calling him "husband" in front of the mirror, but she had lost confidence and sat at the table to wait for him. She fell asleep while waiting, and then unconsciously called him "husband" in the dark.
But if he didn't truly love her, could she call him husband?
He added, “Actually, I had already thought it through when I was at the border. If I could come back, we would live a good life together. You are my wife now, so it is only right that you call me husband.”
She was so nervous that she dared not move or speak. It was pitch black all around, and she knew her face was as red as a ripe persimmon.
Seeing that she didn't speak, he was at a loss, unable to understand the woman's thoughts. Zhang Yumo liked him, but she avoided him at every turn. She guarded her own space and didn't let him get close. He had felt this way when they first got married.
"I've heard about what happened to your grandparents. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you during your most difficult time..."
Zhang Yumo suddenly covered his mouth. When her grandparents were mentioned, tears welled up in her eyes again. She leaned against him and sobbed, feeling very sad.
Jiang's parents treated her even better than their own daughter. She wasn't lonely at all; she just missed them terribly and dreamed about them every night. She didn't even dare to show her true feelings in front of Jiang's mother.
She clung tightly to his waist, refusing to let go, as if she wanted to release all her longing through tears.
At that time, she really missed Jiang Jinyan, but he didn't write her a single letter or give her a single word.
She was angry, but when she saw him, she couldn't stay angry anymore, so she didn't want to talk.
Jiang Jinyan panicked too. He hadn't bullied her, so why was she crying like this? She must miss her grandparents terribly. All he could do was reach out and hug her to comfort her. Maybe she wouldn't be so sad after she vented her emotions!
Seeing that he had stopped crying, Zhang Yumo asked him, "I've been crying, why aren't you comforting me?"
"Please accept my condolences." he said.
Zhang Yumo was stunned. "Jiang Jinyan, have you gone stupid from reading too much? You used to be so eloquent and charming, attracting countless young women in Shengjing. Now, when I ask you to comfort me, you only give me four words to brush me off."
Jiang Jinyan saw that her expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book, crying on cue and laughing on cue, and said, "I'm not just saying that to appease you, I'm being sincere."
Just then, Jiang Zhiqin's exasperated sigh came from outside the window, "Brother, are you stupid? How can you comfort someone like that? In the stories, you would hug and kiss your sister-in-law at this point! Calling you stupid is too kind. What good is being good at studying?"
Then came the voices of the three Jin siblings.
"Oh dear, Auntie is crying. You need to find a way to stop her from crying. How can you just stand by and do nothing?" Jin Mingxia, a precocious child, offered his advice.
“My uncle is bad. He bullies my aunt. I’m going to tell my grandmother,” said the youngest, Jin Mingdong.
Zhang Yumo was completely dumbfounded after hearing this. "Why is Fourth Brother out here? This is so embarrassing!"
Jiang Jinyan shouted sternly outside, "Jiang Zhiqin, are you asking for trouble again? Don't come to me next time you're broke."
"Jin Mingxia, who did you learn all this nonsense from..." He himself felt embarrassed.
When Jiang Jinyan opened the window, there was no one outside. Jiang Zhiqin had already escaped with the three little ones.
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