Facing each other
He saw the truth in the man's memory. Ah Wan suddenly disappeared for more than a month. When she returned to the village, the birthmark on her face had disappeared, and she became more and more beautiful. However, in just a few years, Ah Wan's face had completely changed into a different person.
After reading it, Cha Suxun finally felt relieved that he had not mistaken the person. But Ah Wan must have some connection with Li Wan, or perhaps some old acquaintance of Li Wan.
For the next few days, Cha Suxun had nothing to do. He watched his father torture Qi Heng during the day and visited his beloved at night. Every day was very fulfilling. As usual, Abang and Ayi would send him a report every morning on Awan's behavior the previous day, but there was nothing unusual.
This kind of life continued until the day they got married.
The wedding ceremony of Chi Li and Chi Xun had been planned by the entire village for over a decade, so today, every household had sent carefully prepared gifts. The villagers spontaneously decorated the entire Jiwang Valley, with red silk wedding characters everywhere, creating a lively atmosphere.
The ceremony took place beneath a centuries-old tree in the village. In the shade, invisible to mortals, several ghost messengers who had previously been close to Ah Li joined in the fun, holding umbrellas to avoid being seen.
Before the wedding, Cha Suxun ordered people to place many large red lanterns in the wedding hall. Those lanterns were half a person's height and hung high between the tree branches.
The secret of the lantern is only known to him and his father.
After completing all of this, Cha Suxun cleansed himself, burned incense, and donned the wedding attire he had long prepared. His fingers gently stroked the smooth fabric, carefully smoothing every detail. Looking in the bronze mirror, his heartbeat in this mortal body raced with excitement, yet at the same time, he trembled with nervousness.
Although I had married her once in my dream, that was all a false illusion, and this was a real life.
Chi Yu, who was also there to welcome the bride, looked at him in such a state and couldn't help but jokingly asked, "Are you planning on putting on some rouge and powder?"
"Is it necessary?" Cha Suxun asked seriously, then turned back to continue looking in the mirror, wondering, "I saw that Ah Li's spirits did improve after putting on lip balm. But, is this still a custom at weddings?"
Chi Que was somewhat speechless, but still patted his shoulders with both hands and encouraged him, "That's not the custom. Be more confident. You look very dashing and elegant today. Ah Li will like it."
"Really? Will she really like it?"
"Yes, she will. If I were a woman, I would adore you. I don't know what to worry about with a face like yours."
"Won't you be this nervous when you marry Sister Chi Yao?"
"Of course, I'm even more nervous than you. I'm so nervous that I don't know where to put my hands. I keep thinking about the process in my head, afraid of making a mistake and making her regret it. But I can't show it, she must be more nervous than me. So, I understand your current thoughts too well. I'm an experienced person. Believe me, the more nervous is yet to come, which will make you feel numb all over..." Chi Que joked with a smirk on his face.
Although Cha Suxun had never had any intimate relationships with women, he had been around for so long that he knew the ins and outs of the situation. Therefore, he seemed to understand what Chi Que was saying immediately, and his face flushed all the way to his neck.
"You're not that bad." Chi Lu leaned close to his ear and whispered, "You haven't never been in contact with other women, have you?"
Cha Suxun shook his head in response, and Chi Que asked, "Then you haven't learned any skills beforehand?"
When asked this question, Cha Suxun still shook his head.
Without hesitation, Chi Yu pulled out a booklet from her bosom and stuffed it into his arms, saying proudly, "I guessed that you were so devoted to Ah Li that you only knew how to catch insects and pick herbs, so you wouldn't have the time to study these things. So, I prepared it for you in advance. The wedding will be held for a while, so you should hurry up and study so that your wife won't dislike you tonight."
Cha Suxun flipped open the book, took a quick look, then immediately closed it and returned it to him. Seeing this, Chi Que pushed it back to him, affirming, "Trust me this time! Okay? If you don't learn, how can you please Ah Li with your dull appearance? So you can tell at a glance that the guy in the capital is not as good at pleasing women. That capital, that capital, has so many new tricks..."
Chi Jiu has a quick tongue and doesn't control his words, so he says whatever he wants. By the time he realizes he has said something wrong, he has already said too many wrong things.
"That's not what I meant. I'm not saying that you are not as good as that boy. Think about the imperial capital, the imperial capital... it's so chaotic, those people, they, they are obsessed with romance all day long..." Chi Que didn't like to practice calligraphy or read books, and he forced himself to explain something that made no sense, using almost all the words he knew that sounded cultured.
Thinking was truly exhausting, so Chi Que gave up struggling and admitted his mistake, saying, "I shouldn't have brought up such a matter. It's a happy occasion, so don't bother with me, a crude person. I sincerely hope that you two will have a good relationship. Anyway, I think the teachings in this book are very useful."
"I know, I'm not angry. You're doing this for my own good. I know."
Although Cha Suxun said this, he actually still cared about that sentence, so he opened the booklet given to him by Chi Que and looked for moves that might be suitable for use tonight.
"Don't you like practicing calligraphy or reading? Do you recognize all of these?"
"I recognize some characters, but for those I don't recognize or can't understand, I go to the back mountain to find Chi Huai. He understands them, and he teaches me and explains them to me."
"Do you like Sister Chi Yao so much? Why didn't you marry her earlier?"
"I only dare to have anything to do with her if her conditions are better. Otherwise, wouldn't that be unfair to her? You said she is so beautiful, so capable, so understanding, so gentle and kind..."
Chi Yu was still gushing over his beautiful bride, while Cha Suxun was already immersed in his book. When Ami knocked on the door and called for the bride, he was so engrossed that he was frightened and slammed the book shut, as if he had been caught doing something bad.
Seeing that he didn't come out, the people outside the door urged him with a smile: "Brother Chi Xun, hurry up, don't miss the auspicious time, the bride must be waiting anxiously."
"I'm coming." Cha Suxun responded and stood up. He hurriedly hid the book under the cushion, then adjusted his clothes and appearance, showed it to Chi Que and asked, "How is it?"
"Okay, okay, let's go."
They were both from the same family, and according to marriage customs, all they had to do was take Ah Li from her house to Chi Xun's house. It was such a short distance that Cha Suxun was so nervous that his palms were sweaty.
It was not until A'li sat in the sedan chair he had prepared that Cha Suxun felt that this beautiful dream finally had some sense of reality.
Taking Ah Li across the brazier, Cha Suxun walked towards the front of the hall step by step. He walked slowly, fearing that she would not be able to see the whole road because of the red veil, and would fall because of the complicated and long wedding dress.
During the three wedding ceremonies, he performed each of them with utmost piety, and during each ceremony he could not help but glance at her frequently out of the corner of his eyes.
He sent her back to the bridal chamber, sat on the same couch with her, and lifted her veil. Ali looked at him shyly, then quickly looked away, her eyes full of shyness.
The grandmother, who had the most offspring and the longest marriage in the clan, brought some dumplings, picked up a piece and fed it to Ah Li, asking, "Are you going to have a baby?"
"born."
Raw dumplings aren't tasty, and my mother never taught me whether to swallow them or spit them out. Everyone was making a fuss, so no one seemed to care. Thinking it was only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I simply swallowed it in one gulp.
Just as she was about to swallow it, Cha Suxun put his hand to her mouth, motioning her to spit it into his palm, just like he usually did with her fruit pits. But it was covered in her saliva, and perhaps because of her obvious difference in status, she felt a little embarrassed to spit it out today.
The mother-in-law looked at it and joked, "Wow, this newlywed couple is so close. It seems that I was slow to reach out, but it turned out to be the right thing to do. Madam Young Master, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. You should spit out what you give birth to."
A'li did not choose to spit into his palm. She was not that delicate. Instead, she chose to reach out and interlock her fingers with his to take his hand away, then lean forward and spit into the bowl handed to her by her mother-in-law.
After the wedding wine, Cha Suxun was urged to go out for a drink, reluctant to leave. The people in the village drank freely, and tonight was a happy night. After a round of drinking, Cha Suxun was a little drunk.
My father ordered someone to help him back. Before leaving, he raised the wine to toast the tree and gave it a provocative and boastful look of a winner.
But in the eyes of everyone, they just thought it was his final toast to everyone before returning to the house, and they all raised their glasses in response.
Back in the bridal chamber, Ah Li was still sitting on the couch. He sniffed the alcohol on himself and sat down at a distance from her.
"My lady, you are so beautiful, as beautiful as the brightest star in the night."
The sudden sweet words made A-li a little shy. Her mind was full of the things that her mother and aunts and mothers-in-law taught her. Looking at this face that was so familiar, A-li really couldn't bring herself to do it.
It was the first time for Ah Li to undress him as a wife. Just as she reached out to grab his belt, Cha Suxun immediately held her hand and the belt firmly in place and said in one breath, "Wait a minute, don't be impatient. I'm not ready yet."
Ah Li thought that he was unhappy, and felt a little disappointed, and the grip on his belt loosened.
"If Axun doesn't like it, then you can do it yourself."
Cha Suxun quickly explained: "No, I like it, I like it, I like you to be close to me, I'm just afraid that you will regret it."
"What do I regret? I was the one who forced myself to take responsibility for you and marry you. You're acting like this, and it makes me feel like you're going to regret it."
"I will never regret it. Being able to marry you and have this lifelong relationship with you is the blessing I have cultivated in three lifetimes."
Yuanli looked Cha Suxun up and down, staring at him until he felt uneasy. She asked dissatisfiedly, "Then why are you sitting so far away?"
"I smell too much of alcohol, I'm afraid it'll stink you up." Cha Suxun even held out his arm for her to smell, just in case she didn't believe him. "I don't know how to explain this to you, but I really have something I can't tell you, and I'm really afraid you'll regret having physical contact with me."
"You... have a hidden illness?"
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