Li Zhaoji had grown to adulthood without being a spendthrift, yet he had never once worried about money. This was the first time someone had spoken to him so bluntly about it.
After his initial surprise, Li Zhaoji actually relaxed. In recent days, Tang Jiayu had shown unwavering devotion, but a thread of tension had been pulled taut in Li Zhaoji's heart all along—they had only met three times. Could anyone truly fall so deeply in love that quickly? Now that Tang Jiayu was proactively asking him for gold, that thread in Li Zhaoji's heart finally found its anchor.
This was how a normal person ought to react, and it made Tang Jiayu feel more real to him. Li Zhaoji stopped being polite and said directly, "Fortunately, you haven't been foolish beyond all redemption."
Tang Jiayu lifted her chin high and declared proudly, "I'm not foolish at all! See, wasn't I right? Father caved in after all. Since I was little, I've never failed to get what I wanted."
Having said that, she shot Li Zhaoji a glare and chided, "Don't just talk without acting—where's my gold!"
Li Zhaoji had never intended to take a woman's money anyway. He had indeed brought those gold ornaments to the Tang residence, planning to return them to her when the opportunity arose. But this courtyard had been tidied by the servants, and as Li Zhaoji swept his gaze around, he truly had no idea where the ornaments had been placed.
Li Zhaoji had no choice but to say, "They're in the room, but I've forgotten where I put them."
Wedding night candles, spring night all too brief—Tang Jiayu and Li Zhaoji rolled up their sleeves and rummaged through trunks and cabinets in the bridal chamber. It was, in its own way, a novel way to spend a wedding night. Tang Jiayu complained as she searched: "Your room is so cold."
Li Zhaoji's sleeves were bound up, revealing the long, sturdy lines of his forearms, showing no sign of fearing the chill. He glanced at Tang Jiayu, who was perched on a trunk eating fruit and had contributed almost nothing beyond moving her mouth, and couldn't help saying, "It's because you're too frail. Look at the flesh on you—it's all soft."
Tang Jiayu didn't care for that remark. She bit off the last piece of fruit and tossed the pit at Li Zhaoji: "This is what they call warm fragrance and soft jade, ice-skin and jade-bones! What do you know!"
Li Zhaoji looked at the fruit pit on the floor. He didn't know anything about warm fragrance and soft jade, but Tang Jiayu didn't seem to know anything about virtue and propriety either—he'd never seen a lady of any household behave the way she did.
Li Zhaoji opened a drawer and caught sight of a familiar color. He breathed a sigh of relief: "Found them."
Tang Jiayu quickly jumped down and ran over to inspect: "Let me see… How did you turn my cloak into this!"
Li Zhaoji looked at the woman's cloak he had used as wrapping and saw nothing wrong with it: "What's the matter? Didn't you shove it at me?"
Tang Jiayu shot him a fierce glare, then picked up her Shu brocade cloak with heartache and complained, "When a beauty gifts you clothing, shouldn't you hang it up properly, burn incense day and night, and gaze upon it to think of her? And you used it to line the bottom of a trunk?"
Li Zhaoji laughed at the very idea and deliberately asked, "A beauty? Who?"
Tang Jiayu glared at him in fury, puffing out her cheeks as she inventoried her treasures. With her cheeks puffed up like that, she looked exactly like a kind of pika from the grasslands. Li Zhaoji's hand suddenly itched, and he poked her cheek. Tang Jiayu looked over in surprise, and Li Zhaoji withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened, saying, "Put them away properly from now on. Don't do anything this foolish again. Fortunately, you ran into me—if it had been anyone else, you'd have been swindled down to your last scrap."
"I already told you I'm not stupid." Tang Jiayu turned her face away in displeasure. She looked at the thing in her hand and suddenly burst out laughing.
"What's wrong with you, crying and laughing at the same time?"
"No wonder the plays say a moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold." She picked up the cloak and waved it in front of Li Zhaoji with a smile. "It really is worth a thousand gold."
After Tang Jiayu came in, she either bickered with him or indulged in self-pity. Li Zhaoji retorted to her as he would to a man—relaxed and at ease, not feeling anything special. But after she said those words, Li Zhaoji's breath caught slightly, and he realized she was not a man after all.
Tang Jiayu, however, seemed unaware. She rummaged through a pile of jewelry and took out a pair of golden sparrows holding jade hairpins. She handed one of them to Li Zhaoji. "This is my favorite pair of hairpins. Golden sparrows side by side, never to be separated. This one is for you. As long as the gold does not break, this love will not waver."
Tang Jiayu's fingertip touched Li Zhaoji's palm. He seemed startled by the coolness on it and quickly withdrew his hand. "What do I need jewelry for? Keep it for yourself…"
Tang Jiayu grabbed his wrist and forcefully stuffed the Golden Sparrow Hairpin into Li Zhaoji's hand, clenching his hand tightly. "We are husband and wife. In the future, we will even share a tomb, let alone a pair of hairpins. I have to go back now. See you tomorrow."
After Tang Jiayu left, the room finally became quiet. Li Zhaoji stared at the hairpin in his palm, Tang Jiayu's words lingering in his ears for a long time.
Husband and wife share the same quilt in life and the same grave in death. Except for lifespan, they share everything. Yes, he wished she would treat him that way.
She only needed to tell him the secret of The Lingyun Chart, and that would be enough.
Li Zhaoji casually tossed the Golden Sparrow Hairpin into a drawer, telling himself it was only to complete the mission, that he would play along when necessary, and that accepting this golden hairpin was merely to win her trust.
If he handled it personally, at most a month would be enough to extract the secret. After that, each would go their own way and they would never meet again.
·
On the second day of the wedding, the bride was to perform the tea ceremony, but Tang Jiayu had arranged a uxorilocal marriage, so she had to go with Li Zhaoji to pay respects to Pang Cheng.
Tang Jiayu faced the mirror, carefully comparing the placement of her floral ornament. Zhexia stepped forward for the third time and said tactfully, "My lady, it is time to serve tea to the lord."
Tang Jiayu glanced at them in the mirror and said matter-of-factly, "We are in our own home. What is the rush? In a moment, just say I was late because I was doing my makeup. Can Father find fault with me? This floral ornament does not suit today's makeup. Bring another set."
Zhexia wanted to speak but hesitated. Tang Jiayu gazed at herself in the mirror, completely immersed in her own world, not listening to anything they said at all. Zhexia had no choice but to droop her brows and go outside to ask the Young Lord to wait a little longer.
Tang Jiayu caught a glimpse of her leaving from the corner of her eye and gave a soft hum in her heart. She wanted Li Zhaoji to fall in love with her, but that did not mean she had to lower herself into the dust to please Li Zhaoji. She would not do such a foolish thing. She had to make Li Zhaoji adapt to her and cater to her.
Step one: starting with the rule that no one was ever allowed to rush her while she did her makeup.
Li Zhaoji sat in the outer hall. Seeing Zhexia come out hesitantly, he already knew the result. He was so angry he no longer even had the energy to be angry. Tang Jiayu was the first person who dared to make him wait this long.
Early that morning, Tang Jiayu had sent someone to Songfeng Pavilion to pass along a message, telling Li Zhaoji to come to the bridal chamber so the two of them could go pay respects to her father together. Li Zhaoji thought the request was reasonable. As soon as he received the message, he came to the bridal chamber. Who would have thought Tang Jiayu was still not ready and told him to wait in the outer hall, that she would be ready soon?
Li Zhaoji had heard that women took a long time to prepare themselves, so he assumed that after waiting for one cup of tea, Tang Jiayu would surely appear. Yet after four or five cups had gone by, she was still saying "almost ready!"
Li Zhaoji stood up, unable to endure it any longer, and said coldly, "Since she isn't ready, I'll go ahead without her…"
"Bingwen."
Li Zhaoji turned around in anger and saw Tang Jiayu fluttering over to him like a butterfly. She raised her hand and spun around in a circle. "Do I look pretty?"
Li Zhaoji found himself unable to unleash his anger, yet also unable to suppress it entirely. He kept his expression cold and said nothing, wordlessly conveying his displeasure. Fortunately for him, he was handsome enough that even with a frosty face he looked rather striking. Tang Jiayu smiled and hooked her arm around his, saying, "Sorry for the wait. Let's go!"
Her movements were so natural that Li Zhaoji's body stiffened. Before he could collect himself, Tang Jiayu was already pulling him forward. To shake her off now would seem overly deliberate. Li Zhaoji pressed his thin lips into a tight line, thinking to himself—grappling and dragging like this, what a scandal! He would let it slide this once, but next time, he absolutely would not let Tang Jiayu take his arm.
No—next time, he wouldn't even come to wait for Tang Jiayu to finish preparing herself. He would never do something this foolish a second time!
In the Hall of Humble Virtue, Pang Cheng and Wei Chengjun had also been waiting for quite some time. They exchanged wordless glances and could only sip their tea in awkward silence. The longer Wei Chengjun waited, the more resentment brewed within him. In the military, time was a command. Li Zhaoji had never once been late, yet today he was nowhere to be found—who would believe it wasn't intentional? He had graciously come to the Tang residence to cooperate with Li Zhaoji's scheme, but Li Zhaoji, who was supposed to be playing his part, had instead deliberately given him a humiliating display of dominance in front of others.
If Li Zhaoji was already this petty and narrow-minded while Li Jichen was still alive, then once Li Jichen passed away, where in Hedong would there be room for Wei Chengjun?
Seeing Wei Chengjun's grim expression, Pang Cheng gave an awkward cough and instructed an attendant, "Go to the new chambers and see why the young lady and young lord haven't come."
The moment his voice faded, Tang Jiayu's chattering voice sounded from outside the door: "Father, we're here!"
She entered the room, caught sight of Wei Chengjun, and paused slightly before a smile broke across her face. She pulled Li Zhaoji forward and said, "Cousin, you've come too. Bingwen, this is my cousin. Cousin, this is my husband."
Then, as if suddenly recalling something, she tapped her head with realization. "Oh, I almost forgot—you two already know each other. In fact, it was Cousin who first introduced Bingwen to me."
Li Zhaoji looked at Wei Chengjun. According to the script of their charade, he and Wei Chengjun were not well acquainted, so Li Zhaoji maintained a distant, aloof demeanor and gave only a slight nod. "Cousin."
Wei Chengjun's gaze swept over their overlapping sleeves, and he forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Cousin."
Tang Jiayu leaned smilingly against Li Zhaoji's side, making no effort to hide her closeness to him. At such a sight, who could possibly tell that Li Zhaoji and Wei Chengjun were the true maternal cousins? Tang Jiayu's smile deepened. She didn't even need to sow discord between them—the rift between these two already existed. She only needed to fan the flames a little, and the next generation of Hedong's leadership would be torn apart.
With an innocent, guileless expression, Tang Jiayu said cheerfully, "How wonderful. The Tang family has never had many members, and it's always been so quiet here. Now that we have one more family member, I'm sure it will grow livelier and livelier. Father, don't you think so?"
Pang Cheng swept his gaze across the faces of the Young Lord and the cousin, not daring to offend either, and could only respond with an awkward "Indeed, it will be so."
A maidservant brought in the tea set. Tang Jiayu and Li Zhaoji stood side by side, offering tea to their elders. Pang Cheng had already been sitting on pins and needles—how would he dare actually let the Young Lord kneel to him? The moment the two of them began to move, Pang Cheng hastily stopped them: "No need for such empty formalities among family. The floor is cold—get up quickly."
Li Zhaoji unhurriedly straightened up, and Tang Jiayu naturally grabbed his arm, using him as a human crutch to support herself as she rose. Tang Jiayu smoothed her dress and, as if no one else were present, whispered to Li Zhaoji: "Bingwen, you see I was right, wasn't I? Father isn't that kind of pedantic person—he won't make things difficult for us."
Pang Cheng caught sight of Tang Jiayu's movements and finally found his opportunity. With a stern face, he erupted: "Jiayu, stand properly! Have you learned nothing from all your etiquette lessons? Tugging and pulling like that—people will laugh at you."
The more Pang Cheng said this, the more Tang Jiayu insisted on tormenting their Young Lord right in front of them. Tang Jiayu firmly hugged Li Zhaoji's arm and said petulantly: "This is my own home, and there are no outsiders here. Am I not even allowed to be close to my own husband?"
Pang Cheng's face darkened: "Jiayu!"
Over the years, under the guise of doting on his daughter, Pang Cheng had been instilling in her the notion that a woman's lack of talent was a virtue, hoping Tang Jiayu would grow into a stupid, incompetent good-for-nothing with no ambition. Tang Jiayu would let them see what a spoiled young lady was really like.
Tears immediately welled up in Tang Jiayu's eyes. She pulled Li Zhaoji and headed out recklessly: "I knew you've always been prejudiced against Bingwen. You won't let us share a room, and even when I get close to him you criticize me. He is the one I love—how can he suffer such indignity? Bingwen, let's go. This Tang residence isn't worth living in anyway!"