“Stop her quick!” Old Madam Xu shrieked.
Wang Cuilian rushed forward and threw her arms around Li Xuemiao. Xu Manjiang had already lain with her; out of past affection, he could not bear to see Li Xuemiao take her own life, so he ran over and dropped to his knees before her.
“Xuemiao, it’s all my fault! I got drunk and mistook one person for another. I’m the one who truly deserves to die please, never do anything reckless!”
“That’s right, Xuemiao! Where there’s life, there’s hope. Rest assured we will make things right!”
Li Xuemiao took advantage of their concern to back down from her threat. She collapsed into their arms and wept loudly.
Fang Yao watched her hypocritical display, then shifted her gaze to Xu Qingzhou. Earlier, out in the courtyard, he had plainly been furious. Yet now his expression had smoothed to calm, his gaze level and unruffled as though he were watching a play that had nothing whatsoever to do with him.
He feels nothing for Li Xuemiao yet, Fang Yao thought to herself. That is why he has put it all aside so quickly.
She stepped forward and faced Old Madam Xu squarely. “Grandma Xu, there is one thing about tonight I cannot understand. Xu Manjiang was intoxicated but Li Xuemiao was perfectly sober. Even if she was sent to the wrong wedding chamber, surely she would recognize her own husband? When I entered my cousin’s room, I knew at once something was amiss.”
“Well…” Old Madam Xu turned to look at Li Xuemiao.
Li Xuemiao clutched the hem of Wang Cuilian’s jacket. She had deliberately turned off the lights so as to seal the truth of her relationship with Xu Manjiang and she had been the one to initiate everything. Xu Manjiang had soon realized something was wrong, yet he had been drawn in by her advances and could not stop.
She had already prepared her excuses.
Lifting her tear-streaked face, she looked up at Old Madam Xu with an air of deep grievance. “Xu Qingzhou serves in the military year-round. Since our engagement, I have met him only twice. It was your household that sent me to the wrong chamber how can you turn around and blame me for failing to tell him apart? Waaah!”
“Indeed Qingzhou is rarely home. It was our oversight that placed Xuemiao in the wrong room, and she has suffered unjustly because of it.” Regret flashed in Old Madam Xu’s eyes.
Li Xuemiao promptly buried her face back into Wang Cuilian’s embrace and wailed that she had no wish to live.
Fang Yao curled her lips into a cold, knowing smile and stepped forward once more.
“Very well say she has been wronged. But I was also formally wedded into the Xu family through proper rites. Now Xu Manjiang has committed adultery with Li Xuemiao; the very thought turns my stomach. I cannot spend my days as his wife any longer! I am sure Elder Madam and the rest of you… would never accept a woman whose virtue has been defiled?”
Fang Yao’s gaze shifted to her right. Xu Qingzhou’s expression remained composed only his eyes, as they met hers, held a glint of scrutiny and quiet amusement.
Wang Hua was about to speak up in her family’s defense.
But Wang Cuilian beat her to it. She grabbed Xu Manjiang’s face swollen and bruised nearly beyond recognition and snapped, “If you cannot bear it, then leave! As if our family is so desperate to keep you! We have told you my son was drunk and entered the wrong chamber. Yet you beat him half to death the moment you opened your mouth! We must have been blind ever to have taken a liking to you!”
“Who is truly blind here?” Fang Yao retorted icily. “Xu Manjiang swills wine and cannot tell his own bride apart. And Li Xuemiao before the guests had even departed, she could scarcely wait to share his bed! Are they so consumed by lust that they could not even spare a moment to turn on the lamp?”
Wang Cuilian was struck speechless, her face burning crimson with rage.
But Fang Yao had no intention of letting the matter rest. In her past life, she had struggled to conceive, and Wang Cuilian had taunted her day after day, forcing her to endure all manner of so-called ‘folk remedies’ that had tormented her body and soul.
In this life, she would repay every grievance, with interest.
“If what Li Xuemiao says is true that Xu Manjiang lay with her believing he was her fiancé does that not count as forcing himself upon her? Reported to the authorities, that would be rape. Is that a crime serious enough to earn him a bullet?”
Wang Cuilian turned pale with fright. The last traces of drunkenness vanished from Xu Manjiang’s mind; he shot to his feet and blurted out in his own defense, “I did not force her! Li Xuemiao came on to me tonight! I called out for Fang Yao at first and she did not resist!”
Li Xuemiao’s mind rang with a deafening crash.
Xu Manjiang had betrayed her just like that!
She shrieked, “I cannot live anymore!” and threw herself headfirst against a pillar. Blood trickled from her cut forehead; then her eyes fluttered shut, and she slumped as though unconscious.
Old Madam Xu could bear it no longer. She hurriedly ordered Wang Cuilian to fetch a doctor.
Fang Yao stood apart, cold and impassive, watching to see how the shameless pair would answer for their actions.
By the time the commotion subsided, it was the dead of night. Li Xuemiao had already shared Xu Manjiang’s bed; Wang Hua refused to acknowledge the union and would not allow Li Xuemiao into her quarters.
Wang Cuilian had no choice but to tell Xu Manjiang to carry Li Xuemiao to the wedding chamber. Yet to save her son’s reputation, she pressed the entire household to agree on one version of events: they would brand Li Xuemiao a loose woman, so desperate for a husband that she had thrown herself at any man.
Fang Yao remembered well Wang Cuilian’s cunning from her past life. Where her son’s interests were at stake, the woman was like a hen guarding her chicks stopping at nothing to get her way.
Now even if Li Xuemiao wished to turn back, she would have no choice but to marry Xu Manjiang.
When Old Madam Xu had finished clearing up the mess Xu Manjiang had made, she returned to her chambers, utterly exhausted.
She came over and took Fang Yao’s hand weakly. “Grandma knows your heart is sore. But Manjiang and Xuemiao have already become one. As you yourself said, you cannot go on living with him. And then there is Qingzhou… Grandma knows this is most unfair to you. Yet since things have come to this will you not consent to let them be together?”
“If that is Grandmother’s wish, then I ” Fang Yao had been about to agree to dissolve her betrothal to Xu Manjiang. They had not yet registered their marriage; parting ways would take no more than a word and she would use the moment to demand compensation.
But then Xu Qingzhou silent since he first stepped through the door spoke, cutting her off.
“I have no objection to letting them be together,” he said, “yet my mother has labored this past year arranging this marriage for me. To have her future daughter-in-law stolen away at the very last moment how is she to bear such a thing?”
“Then what would you have me do?” Old Madam Xu wailed, beating her thighs in distress. “Surely you would not have me drive your brother to his death!”
Xu Qingzhou let out a low scoff and turned his gaze toward Fang Yao.
“Xu Manjiang may marry Li Xuemiao. But then I will take her as my wife.”
At his words, Old Madam Xu’s weeping ceased abruptly. Her eyes red and swollen, she turned to Fang Yao. “Yes! That is right, child! Our Qingzhou is no less of a man! Since you cannot bear to remain with Manjiang, why not let this mistake stand? Marry our Qingzhou instead!”
Before Fang Yao could speak, Wang Hua seeing her chance stepped forward and took Fang Yao’s hand in hers. “Fang Yao, it is far too late to travel home tonight and we would never feel easy letting you make the journey alone. Stay with us tonight. And think on what we have said consider marrying our Qingzhou.”
Wang Hua, desperate now that she stood to lose the daughter-in-law she had hoped for, grasped at this lifeline and cast urgent glances at Xu Qingzhou.
Xu Qingzhou stepped forward, took Fang Yao firmly by the hand, and strode purposefully toward the rear courtyard.
The door to the new quarters swung open then shut and Fang Yao found herself brought inside.
Xu Qingzhou untied the large red blossom pinned to his chest and set it casually upon the desk, leaving only his gleaming military medal visible. He stood before her, hands planted firmly on his hips.
He stood nearly six feet three inches tall, straight and sturdy as a pine not overly bulky, yet far from gaunt. His frame was powerful and well-proportioned, his limbs long and strong. And when he stepped closer, his face striking and calm, Fang Yao found herself unconsciously swallowing hard.
“I was to marry Li Xuemiao at my mother’s behest to give her peace of mind,” he said, seating himself at the edge of the bed and keeping a respectful distance. His voice was deep and resonant, like the steady toll of an ancient bell. “I may not be so greatly better than Xu Manjiang but I am certainly no worse than he. There is only one thing you should know…”
He looked her straight in the eye.
“I will always, and forevermore, be faithful to the woman I take as my wife.”