Chapter 199: United as One
Cheng Zhao sat under the lamp reading.
Half an hour passed without her turning a single page, her mind elsewhere.
“...Still waiting for the Duke?” Nanny Li asked her. “Perhaps you should go to bed first and have the night watch keep an eye on the door.”
Zhou Yuanshen had not yet gone to the Jingyi Camp.
That afternoon, he had sent someone back to pass along a message—he would be dining with Fan Xiao that evening and might return rather late.
He had only told Cheng Zhao not to wait dinner for him, yet instructed that the door be left unlatched for his return.
The hour was still early; Cheng Zhao was not sleepy. Nanny Li saw her staring blankly into space, uncomfortable just sitting idle, and thought it better for her to lie down.
“I’ll do some needlework,” Cheng Zhao said.
This way, she could keep thinking while her hands stayed busy.
Nanny Li fetched the sewing basket.
At the start of the hour of Hai (around 9 PM), Zhou Yuanshen returned.
He bore no smell of wine, though there was a faint sheen of sweat at his temples.
“What’s the matter?” Cheng Zhao asked.
Zhou Yuanshen: “Nothing major—my maternal uncle shared some Northwest intelligence reports with me.”
“I assumed you were in a hurry,” said Cheng Zhao.
Zhou Yuanshen wiped his brow: “I was afraid of being too late and delaying your sleep, so I rode back at full gallop.”
Cheng Zhao: “...If the night patrol caught you, they’d impeach you.”
Zhou Yuanshen rarely curved his lips in a smile: “I took the back alleys.”
He went off to the washroom.
After the couple lay down, Zhou Yuanshen let down the bed curtains and turned to find Cheng Zhao propped against a bolster, still not asleep.
“Something on your mind?”
“Mother uncovered a secret today,” Cheng Zhao said.
She then recounted how Second Madam had gone to the Qingfeng Courtyard and how First Madam had revealed Huan Qingtang’s hidden secret, telling Zhou Yuanshen everything.
She also shared her own analysis with him.
She believed that before Zhou Yuancheng passed away, he and Huan Qingtang had been deeply at odds, their marriage fractured in spirit.
“...You see, she schemed endlessly to step on you and marry into the Duke’s mansion, yet even she has no real glory on the surface. She has her own recompense,” Cheng Zhao said.
Cheng Zhao was not testing him. Zhou Yuanshen was a man of honor, and being used so calculatingly—even the gentle Zhou Yuancheng could not tolerate it, let alone a man like him.
He would never share a dual inheritance marriage with Huan Qingtang.
Zhou Yuanshen, however, frowned.
He shared Second Madam’s attitude toward this: what filthy gossip deserved to pass through his ears? He had even heard it twice—last time, the Emperor had told him.
Cheng Zhao glanced at him again.
She had brought this up to show him that “good and evil are each repaid,” to comfort him.
The irritation in Zhou Yuanshen’s heart instantly dissolved: “First Madam dragging out such filthy matters is truly excessive.”
“She’s at her wit’s end now—why would she care about appearances?” Cheng Zhao said.
“Mother wasn’t tricked into revealing anything, and even managed to pry out a secret?” Zhou Yuanshen asked.
Cheng Zhao: “I was pleasantly surprised as well.”
“Very well—Mother is increasingly showing the shrewdness of a seasoned matriarch,” Zhou Yuanshen said.
The couple talked of other things.
As they chatted, the night grew deep.
Cheng Zhao grew drowsy. She swept her hair over to the right side, and just as she was about to lie down, Zhou Yuanshen leaned in and kissed her earlobe.
Cheng Zhao didn’t shy away.
But the next moment he took her earlobe into his mouth, grazing it lightly with his teeth.
Cheng Zhao pressed against him: “It’s very late!”
“How about we take a day off tomorrow and sleep until the sun is high?” he whispered.
Cheng Zhao: “...”
“My uncle also said that the day after tomorrow we’re going to play polo, and he’s invited your fourth brother. Cheng Zhao, let’s go together.” He continued—covering his actions with words, distracting her attention, his hand slipping beneath her garment.
Cheng Zhao found his palm scorching hot.
That warmth melted her, and she softened in his arms, murmuring his name: “Zhou Yuanshen...”
“Mm?”
“If we never have children, don’t blame me,” she said.
Zhou Yuanshen paused: “Why would I blame you?”
“Because I’m about to offend the Bodhisattva of Fertility,” Cheng Zhao said.
Zhou Yuanshen didn’t understand.
Cheng Zhao wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself close to him, and silenced his question with a kiss.
The storm within the bed curtains did not subside for a long while.
After a simple rinse, Zhou Yuanshen held her, dressed in soft under robes, against his chest: “What’s this about the Fertility Bodhisattva?”
Cheng Zhao, sated like a cat basking in the sun, had no desire to exert her mind, only wanting to stretch and unwind.
She answered offhandedly: “Zhou Yuanshen, I want to move into the Chengming Hall.”
“...Let me do my part too,” Zhou Yuanshen said, tightening his arms.
Mother and Fifth Brother had both helped.
“Alright,” Cheng Zhao nodded. “With your help, it’ll be twice as effective.”
“But I’m leaving for the Jingyi Camp in a few days—will we have enough time?” he asked. “If it’s too rushed, we can find another way.”
Cheng Zhao thought it over.
She ran the entire plan through her mind once more, then nodded decisively: “These few days should suffice.”
Zhou Yuanshen asked whether she wanted to tell him everything now, or wait until after they woke.
Cheng Zhao let out a soft “Mmm,” wanting to doze off, and leaned against him to sleep.
She nestled obediently in his arms.
Zhou Yuanshen pressed a kiss to her brow. Thinking back to the Fertility Bodhisattva earlier, and linking it with her previous words, he vaguely grasped what Cheng Zhao planned to do.
The next morning, Nanny Li knocked at the appointed hour.
Cheng Zhao was already awake.
With something heavy on her mind, her sleep was light, and she woke at the usual time.
The maids came in to help them both dress.
“Cheng Zhao, you were born in the Year of the Pig,” Zhou Yuanshen said.
Cheng Zhao gave him a puzzled look.
He didn’t seem to be asking a question.
Ever since Zhou Yuanqi had given her a five-catty golden pig as a birthday gift, the entire Duke’s mansion could no longer forget that the Third Young Madam was born in the Year of the Pig.
“Grandmother was born in the Year of the Sheep,” Zhou Yuanshen added.
Cheng Zhao instantly understood what he meant.
He glanced at her.
Their eyes met and intertwined, and Cheng Zhao smiled: “Understood.”
“I’m off now. I’ll be back by noon,” he said. “If you’re not too hungry, you can wait for me to join you for lunch.”
Cheng Zhao said yes.
After Zhou Yuanshen left, Cheng Zhao slowly washed and applied her makeup, then went to the Jiangyun Courtyard to have breakfast with her mother-in-law.
After the meal, she headed to the Chengming Hall.
At the entrance, Cheng Zhao encountered a young maid.
The maid was trembling, peeking around furtively. Huan Qingtang and her personal maid had arrived first.
Seeing the young maid, Huan Qingtang’s maid barked: “Which quarters are you from, skulking about here? Do you want to die?”
The maid started in fright and hastily knelt: “Please spare me, sister.”
“Fool—this is First Young Madam,” Huan Qingtang’s maid snapped.
The maid turned to Huan Qingtang: “First Young Madam, please spare me. This servant is from the Yujin Courtyard, here to seek Third Young Madam.”
The Yujin Courtyard housed a newly installed concubine, one bestowed upon Zhou Yuanshen by the Emperor.
Huan Qingtang’s sidelong glance had already spotted Cheng Zhao.
Cheng Zhao stepped down from her small carriage, Suyue following beside her.
Without asking anything, she simply said to Suyue: “Take her aside and find out what’s going on. If you can handle it, do so; if you can’t decide, go back and ask Nanny Li.”
That is—she didn’t need to be consulted for a verdict; Suyue and Nanny Li could handle it on their own.
Suyue acknowledged and said to the young maid: “Come with me.”
Cheng Zhao gave Huan Qingtang a smile: “Sister-in-law, after you.”
The two sisters-in-law stepped into the Chengming Hall together.
Huan Qingtang looked at the main residence of the Chengming Hall, bathed in the brilliant golden autumn dawn, and her heart stirred. She turned her gaze to Cheng Zhao.
And Cheng Zhao, at that same moment, was also looking at those few main rooms.
Their eyes met once. Neither spoke, but it seemed each saw straight through to the other’s heart.