Cui Yunchu clung tightly around his neck, her eyes holding a complex, tender ache at an angle he could not see.
"I am also so fortunate to have become joined in matrimony with Lord Shen."
The two held each other close, and the room was so utterly quiet that only the crackling and popping of the burning candle drifted to their ears from time to time.
Cui Yunchu never once mentioned what had happened during the day, as if those events had never taken place at all.
She loved both him and her grandmother deeply, and each of them was someone she could not bear to lose.
Shen Xiabai slid one arm under the crook of Cui Yunchu's legs, lifted her up, and carried her toward the bed. Cui Yunchu kept her arms wrapped tight around his neck, pressing soft kisses to him every now and then that stoked a fiery heat in Shen Xiabai's veins.
"Lord Shen," Cui Yunchu's voice was very low, "I trust you. I will always trust you."
……
Deep into the night, the commotion in the room finally died down. Cui Yunchu lay draped over Shen Xiabai's bare chest, her dazed eyes fluttering open just a crack, a few stray strands of hair falling across her cheek.
Shen Xiabai held her by the shoulders, his pad of his finger brushing back and forth over her smooth, porcelain-white skin. "A Chu, the arrangements for your father and brother's death anniversary—let the steward handle them."
It was a long moment before Cui Yunchu let out a soft hum from her throat. "That is indeed the right thing to do."
It was already more than gracious of the Shen family not to hold grudges against her. To ask her, the daughter of their enemy, to preside over the memorial rites for their departed loved ones would be nothing short of improper, no different from a deliberate humiliation.
It was only natural that Shen Xiabai felt uneasy about it—if their positions were reversed, he would feel the exact same way.
Cui Yunchu understood all of this perfectly on a rational level. "It is getting late. Let's sleep."
She rolled over, pressed her back to the wall, curled up under the quilt, and closed her eyes.
Not long after, Shen Xiabai's warm body pressed up against hers, his arm draping over her waist. "A Chu, you said you would trust me."
For the two days that followed, Cui Yunchu never brought up the death anniversary arrangements again. She did not even care if she attended or not, spending all her days cooped up in her room flipping through all sorts of random romance storybooks, much to Xing'er's frantic worry.
"Madam, you are the lady of the Shen household. If you do not show up to the memorial rites, what will people outside say? Those gossips will surely have a field day mocking you!"
For the main wife of the family to be absent from the ancestral rites was nothing short of inviting ridicule. All those people who had long looked down on her young lady would seize the chance to whisper behind her back again, and Xing'er felt like the straight back she had finally managed to hold up was about to slump over in defeat.
Cui Yunchu lifted her eyes from her book, glanced sidelong at Xing'er, then rolled over and went back to reading, ignoring her completely.
"Young Lady!!"
"When was the last time your young lady wasn't the target of gossip that you're already getting out of practice?"
"..."
Cui Yunchu had long since adopted a devil-may-care attitude. "Let them laugh. It's nothing new to us, is it?"
Whoever wanted to laugh could laugh all they liked—just don't do it to her face, or else now that Cui Yunchu was no longer the helpless girl she once was, she would not hesitate to slap them so hard their teeth would go flying.
"..."
Xing'er stared at her hopelessly unmotivated young lady in distress, grabbing at her own hair in frustration.
Cui Yunchu chuckled at the sight of her. "Look at how easily you panic. If you're that eager to go, I can have Yu Feng take you along with him."
"What good would it do for a servant like me to go when Madam isn't there?"
"But I don't want to go," Cui Yunchu pouted. "If I showed up to offer incense, I'd probably rouse the dead right out of their graves. What if they find out I'm the daughter of the man who killed them and come back to haunt me as vengeful spirits?"
Xing'er fell silent for a long moment before saying, "What Young Lady said actually makes a fair bit of sense."
If she put herself in their shoes: imagine her son marrying the daughter of the person who murdered her, then bringing that girl over to kowtow before her grave and pray for her blessings. That would shatter even a ghost's heart, like the sky itself had fallen apart.
The mistress and her maid said no more on the subject. Time passed quickly, and the day of the memorial rites arrived.
Shen Zilan, as a member of the Shen family, was called back to the manor too. Cui Yunchu sized him up from head to toe so many times that Shen Zilan grew visibly uncomfortable. "Little Aunt, is there something wrong with how I look?"
"How are things going between you and Miss Chen?"
"..." Shen Zilan pressed his lips together and said nothing, but the hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he hung his head.
"We..."
"Did you send Miss Chen the betrothal gift for her wedding?"
"..." Shen Zilan looked up at her in a daze, a big question mark practically spinning over his head.
"You didn't?" Cui Yunchu raised an eyebrow. "That day you rushed after her in such a hurry, I thought you'd run off to give her the wedding gift. Zilan, don't be so stingy. After all, the two of you were once engaged, and you're still friends, aren't you?"
Shen Zilan felt a lump rise in his throat, and for a long while he could not squeeze a single word out.
"Looking at the calendar, Miss Chen's wedding day is just a few days away, isn't it? Time flies so fast, the turn of events has caught everyone off guard. Just a few months ago, she even begged me to give your little uncle up to her."
"Little Aunt, that was all nonsense she said because she was scared of being punished by her family," Shen Zilan blurted out in a daze. Cui Yunchu's way of speaking was so sharp it made his mind lag behind.
"You're right. Soon she'll be the wife of another family."
Every word she said was like a sharp knife, stabbing right at the vital points, leaving Shen Zilan completely at a loss for how to respond.
"Little Aunt, where's my uncle? Isn't he in the manor?"
"He's busy preparing for the memorial rites. What is it? You can tell me just as well as you can tell him."
"..."
Shen Zilan really did not want to say it, but knowing his uncle's temperament, he would never get things done without his little aunt's help.
"I... I..."
"Oh, I get it now. You don't have enough money, do you? Don't worry, I'll have the accountant advance you the funds. The proper rituals must be followed, we can't let people say the Shen family is cheapskate. Is a hundred taels enough? Any extra can count as compensation for the girl."
That hundred taels of yours is so generous, Shen Zilan thought, who's the real cheapskate here?
Shen Zilan stared blankly at Cui Yunchu, as if he was seeing her for the very first time. The image of Sister Peach Blossom was slowly fading in his mind, that ethereal fairy who could never adapt to the trivial, messy daily life of the mortal world.
"I'd still rather go find my uncle," he said, turning to leave.
"Your little uncle has said that I hold full authority over everything in the Shen residence," Cui Yunchu called after him.
Shen Zilan spun back around, lifted his robes, and dropped to one knee. "Nephew wishes to marry Chen Miaohe. I hope Little Aunt will grant your permission."
"What?" Cui Yunchu let out a sharp, disbelieving exclamation. "You mean to say you snatched the bride away from her wedding?"
Shen Zilan, "..."
Could you keep your voice down? Is that something to be proud of?
"You..." Cui Yunchu pointed a finger at Shen Zilan, ready to keep laying on her deceptively sweet, cutting remarks, when Xing'er hurried in with a report. "Madam, stop playing around. All the arrangements for the memorial rites are ready. It's time to leave."
"Oh." Cui Yunchu curled her finger back and turned to Shen Zilan. "I can't help you with this. Go find your little uncle."
"But Little Aunt, you just said my uncle gave you full authority over the household," Shen Zilan said in shock.
Cui Yunchu scoffed. "Do you really think this is a matter we can keep behind closed doors in the Shen family? The Chen family, and that household in the Ministry of Civil Affairs—are we just supposed to brush them off? Do you think I can march over there and make them not slap me in the face? No one else in this family can sort this out except your little uncle."
She waved her hand at him dismissively. Shen Zilan was so stunned he could not say a single word. He had knelt down so hard and so sincerely just a moment ago, and all that effort had been for nothing.
"Hurry along now, or you'll be late." Word has it that once the noon hour passes, the King of Hell won't let any spirits return to the mortal realm.
Shen Zilan got to her feet, the corners of her mouth tugged down as she looked at Cui Yunchu.
Xing'er spared a pitying glance for the young master who was being toyed with so thoroughly by her young lady. She'd only stepped out for a little while, and now he'd even dropped to his knees. Her young lady really had no sense of propriety at all when she was amusing herself at other people's expense.
Cui Yunchu glared at her, and said in a domineering huff, "What are you staring at? Watch it, or I'll tattle to your little uncle and make sure you don't even get to lay a finger on Miss Chen."
Sister Peach Blossom, how could she be this kind of elder sister?
