At the long table, Yizhi Wei sat at the upper head position, Madam Wen sat in the position to his right, and Niangzi Shuang took her seat below Madam Wen. The two vacant positions remaining on Yizhi Wei’s left were naturally reserved for Yunchan Wei and Jinshu Fu.
The secondary-wife-born second young master Haiyuan Wei, third young master Zewen Wei, and fourth young miss Tingyu Wei were seated in the positions below Niangzi Shuang.
A single long table displayed the strict hierarchy of the legitimate and secondary branches within the Wei estate with crystal clarity.
Looking at the dishes upon the table, the delicacies that Yunchan Wei favored would invariably be placed neatly at Yunchan Wei’s seating place, and now with an additional Jinshu Fu, how could Niangzi Shuang swallow this bitter grievance?
Presently, the time for the evening meal had long since passed, yet Yunchan Wei and Jinshu Fu were nowhere to be seen. The entire family waited on empty stomachs, but Yizhi Wei did not flare up, simply asking Cuiyun, the maid beside Madam Wen, “Why haven’t the Young Master and Young Madam arrived yet?”
Cuiyun had just returned from delivering a message at the main courtyard. Hearing Yizhi Wei ask thus, her cheeks flushed scarlet, and lowering her head, she whispered, “Replying to Lord Husband, the Young Master and the Young Madam are, bathing.”
As these words left her mouth, the expressions of several people at the table shifted in various ways.
Yizhi Wei gave a light cough, picked up his chopsticks, and instructed, “Tell the kitchen to send their evening meal to their room, we won’t wait, let’s eat.”
Even the young girl Tingyu Wei understood the meaning behind Cuiyun’s words, and bashfully muttered a silent criticism against Jinshu Fu and Yunchan Wei in her heart, shameless, it wasn’t even fully dark yet!
Madam Wen ate with a distracted mind, thinking that perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder, and she had inadvertently struck a match that caused the two children to be unable to restrain themselves. Once the evening meal concluded, she summoned Fentao to the kitchen to prepare a bowl of red date and lotus seed soup.
“Send this to the Young Madam later.”
“Yes.”
Calculating the time and waiting an extra half-shang of incense until after the kitchen had sent the meal over to Yunchan Wei and his partner, Fentao followed right behind to deliver the red date and lotus seed soup.
Curiously, the only person eating at the table was Jinshu Fu, while Yunchan Wei was nowhere to be found.
“Young Madam, this is the red date and lotus seed soup that Madam had this servant brew for you, remember to drink it later.” Fentao set the items down and asked with concern, “How come the Young Master isn’t seen dining with you?”
Jinshu Fu raised a hand to point toward the inner quarters, signaling to her that Yunchan Wei was sleeping inside.
Seeing that his face was flushed like peach blossoms and his lower lip had a small bruised split, and recalling Yunchan Wei’s body which had just recovered from a major illness and was still undergoing recuperation, Fentao felt her earlobes burn with heat as she reminded Jinshu Fu, “Young Madam, the Young Master has expended his primordial essence… please trouble yourself to look after his physical condition tonight, and tomorrow morning this servant will send over pigeon and ginseng soup for you and the Young Master to nourish yourselves.”
Jinshu Fu only caught the part about sending soup tomorrow morning, while everything else like “primordial essence” and “nourishing” left him completely in a fog—what on earth was primordial essence? If Yunchan Wei needed nourishment that made sense, but why on earth did he need it too?
Fentao departed, and Jinshu Fu finished his meal, picked up the bowl of red date and lotus seed soup, and took a couple of sips. It was sweet and cloying, a taste he quite fancied, so he polished it off entirely.
The moon hung high, and Jinshu Fu climbed into bed as well. The newly replaced pillow carried a clean scent of lye soap, and Jinshu Fu habitually turned onto his side, pressing close to Yunchan Wei’s side.
Due to Yunchan Wei’s lack of cooperation, Jinshu Fu had ultimately been forced to cast a spell rendering him fast asleep. He poured the Yellow Springs Water into the bathing tub, then channeled his magical power to begin purging the rooted illnesses accumulated within his body.
Throughout this process, Yunchan Wei would not experience the slightest bit of pain, because the Yellow Springs Water was one of the most effective medicinal cures in existence, also known by the alias “Water of Forgetting Sorrows.”
In the underworld Ghost Realm, only nether ghosts who practiced good deeds and accumulated virtue during their lifetimes or died a proper death could receive the reward of the Yellow Springs Water. Once nether ghosts drank the Yellow Springs Water, they could forget all the worries and pains of their past lives, and upon reincarnation, they would likewise attain a healthy body and an absolutely carefree existence.
Yet if this water were to be utilized for mortals, it could not be ingested directly, and one could only rely on external force to infuse the divine power of the Yellow Springs Water into their body.
The entire procedure consumed over an hour of Jinshu Fu’s energy, which explained the peach-blossom-like flush observed by Fentao; as for that small split on his lower lip, it occurred because when Jinshu Fu was carrying Yunchan Wei out of the bathing tub, a sidelong glance caused him to be startled by Yunchan Wei’s anatomy. Since he was not as tall as Yunchan Wei, amidst his sudden start, his head struck Yunchan Wei’s chin, knocking a split onto his own lower lip.
Presently, the Yellow Springs Water had already begun taking effect. Jinshu Fu picked up Yunchan Wei’s hands, which had been covered in raw wounds just hours prior; at this moment, those injuries had entirely scabbed over and continued healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Within seven days, Yunchan Wei’s physical foundation would be completely reshaped, and by then, practicing a mere archery routine would pose what difficulty whatsoever?
Recalling Yunchan Wei’s reply of “an absolute mess” earlier that day, Jinshu Fu was able to keenly capture the self-deprecation and disappointment hidden within it.
It was truly bizarre; regarding matters of “affection,” no matter what form of affection it was, Jinshu Fu had always remained dull or even bewildered. Yet facing Yunchan Wei, he could discern a thing or two regarding the other’s emotions.
Perhaps, when Grand Master Jiuji proclaimed them to be a “predestined match decreed by heaven,” it genuinely held its reasoning.
Jinshu Fu closed his eyes, and Yunchan Wei unconsciously rolled over, scooping him into his arms, the sound of the other’s heartbeat echoing beside Jinshu Fu’s ear.
Thump, thump, thump.
Yunchan Wei was awakened by heat, which in itself constituted a rare occurrence.
His hands and feet were cold year-round, and even after sleeping in the same bed with Jinshu Fu later on, there was only a mild warmth, never yielding this sort of dripping-wet perspiration.
Yet today, his entire undergarment was indeed drenched through by sweat.
Opening his eyes and casting his gaze downward, Jinshu Fu was curled up tightly inside his arms, dark hair scattered across the pillow, long and curled eyelashes casting tiny shadows upon his porcelain-white face, the red mole between his eyebrows and the red lips beneath his nose complementing each other splendidly, save for an obvious wound resting upon those lips.
Yunchan Wei raised a hand to lightly touch the wound on his lower lip with his thumb pad, and Jinshu Fu seemed to sense it, turning over to face away from Yunchan Wei while continuing to sleep soundly.
“Quite the temper he has.” Yunchan Wei brushed aside the hair Jinshu Fu had tossed over to his side, and abruptly paused as he stared at his own palm.
The palm that was still covered in wounds just yesterday had recovered completely today, to the extent that not even a single trace of a scar could be found.
Yunchan Wei sat up from the bed, and this movement made him feel even more astonished. If on the day Jinshu Fu returned from falling into the lake he felt his body had grown much lighter, then today he felt entirely unobstructed throughout his entire frame without a single block.
He even sensed a surging vitality leaking outward from his body.
Bizarre, yet enough to make one wild with joy.
Following his ecstatic joy came calmness, directing his investigative gaze toward Jinshu Fu resting beside him.
Was it truly just returning home to visit family these past few days?
Why did he insist on making him close his eyes yesterday?
He had no recollection whatsoever of how he drifted off to sleep last night; after he fell asleep, what exactly did Jinshu Fu do?
Clouds of suspicion swirled thickly within Yunchan Wei’s mind, though he understood these questions could not yield answers overnight. Jinshu Fu arrived from unknown origins and possessed a mysterious background, but what Yunchan Wei could affirm was that he was definitely not an ordinary country child in the eyes of his parents.
A demon?
If he truly were a demon, he might just be a foolish pig demon.
Using demonic arts to save people while acting with such blatant audacity. Or was it that during the lake incident last time, his act of playing dumb and acting ignorant gave Jinshu Fu some misconception, making him think he genuinely knew nothing?
Or perhaps, even if he believed I knew, he figured I wouldn’t do anything to him anyway?
Yunchan Wei could not fathom Jinshu Fu’s thoughts, nor did he know the reason why the other came to his side, married him, and expended such painstaking effort to assist him.
Regardless of what it was, the one benefiting right now was himself.
As for what Jinshu Fu wished to obtain from him, Yunchan Wei cared not a whit.
Jinshu Fu had granted him a new body, a vibrant, healthy, vitality-filled body.
No matter what Jinshu Fu might demand in the future, Yunchan Wei was willing to give it.
This was a transaction he deemed guaranteed to yield profits without any losses.
After washing up, just as Yunchan Wei emerged from the room, he ran into Fentao arriving to deliver the pigeon soup.
Fentao bowed to him, and seeing that Yunchan Wei’s complexion today was visibly radiant with an exuberant, spirited vigor shining through his entire being, she smiled and said, “The Young Master looks glowing today, so I suppose you must have slept exceptionally well last night.”
Fentao had accompanied Madam Wen for many years and had likewise watched Yunchan Wei grow up. Within this estate, Fentao held the status and standing of a senior head maid among servants. The relationship between Yunchan Wei and her did not resemble ordinary masters and servants; he still respectfully addressed her as “Aunt,” lacking much of the strict hierarchy and estrangement.
Sensing the subtext hidden within her words, Yunchan Wei responded with a composed expression, “Mn, quite well. What brings Aunt over here so early in the morning?”
Fentao carried the soup tureen into the room: “This servant brewed pigeon and ginseng soup for you and the Young Madam to nourish your bodies, please trouble the Young Master to call the Young Madam up to drink a couple of bowls.”
Sent on an inexplicable whim early in the morning with such a heavy nourishing dish like pigeon and ginseng soup, Yunchan Wei was not as dull as Jinshu Fu, and questioned, “Why did Aunt suddenly send over this soup today?”
Although Fentao was well past thirty, she remained an unmarried maiden, and hearing this inquiry caused her cheeks to burn red. Believing Yunchan Wei was likewise clueless about these matters, she suppressed her embarrassment and explained, “Madam is concerned that the Young Master and Young Madam experienced carnal pleasures for the first time, and your bodies cannot endure the strain.”