“Feng Che!”
Gao Zhi hurriedly stopped his train of thought from going off in the wrong direction.
“Mother, Father isn’t a child anymore. Surely he can handle this little matter himself.”
Gao Zhi stubbornly refused to leave.
“His legs are fine.”
Madam Shao looked at her daughter speechlessly.
“Huh?”
Gao Zhi froze.
“He’s fine.”
Madam Shao repeated, “You can go without worrying. It’s just that, as his mother-in-law, I want to have a private word with my son-in-law. Surely you can trust me with that.”
Hearing this, Gao Zhi instinctively looked at Feng Che.
Their eyes met, and the man was the first to look away. There was a hint of awkwardness in his voice.
“Princess Consort, I’ll talk with your mother for a while. Go help your father first.”
“Oh…”
Gao Zhi cleared her throat. Only then did her hanging heart relax a little.
“Then… I’ll go over first.”
Only after her daughter had left did Madam Shao return to her seat.
“Doctor Shi already told you about the condition of your legs, didn’t he?”
“He did.”
Feng Che nodded. He glanced toward the direction Gao Zhi had left in and, after making sure she was gone, finally spoke.
“Doctor Shi said that if my legs can’t be healed within a year, they’ll be crippled for good.”
“That’s also what I found when I examined you just now.”
Madam Shao silently studied him for a moment.
“What do you plan to do?”
Feng Che paused. He quickly understood what the woman meant.
After remaining silent for a long while, he answered seriously,
“Mother-in-law, rest assured. If my legs truly become crippled, I will never drag A-Zhi down.”
“What do you mean by not dragging her down?”
Madam Shao’s words were like a freshly sharpened blade, so sharp they left no room to breathe.
“Divorce her? And make her return to the situation she faced five years ago, when everyone turned against her?”
Feng Che looked directly at the woman and said solemnly,
“When that time comes, I will give everything I have and make sure no rumors or gossip can trouble her.
“If she wants to marry someone else, I will do my best to find the best possible man for her. If there is something she wants to do, she can use every resource I have at my disposal, and I will help her.
“If there are people or things she cannot stand, I will still deal with them for her, just as I did before.
“My treatment of her will not change in the slightest simply because our marriage has ended.
“You may not believe me, Mother-in-law, but my heart has never changed. All I want is for her to be well.”
“Heh.”
Madam Shao let out a cold laugh and slammed down the teacup she had just picked up.
“Does that promise carry the same weight as the one you made five years ago?”
Feng Che’s breathing stopped for several moments when he heard those words.
His memories seemed to turn back five years in an instant.
The young girl had been carried back to the Gao residence by him, only to run straight into Madam Shao, who questioned his decision to go to war before their wedding.
He had made a promise before his father’s sickbed that he would go to war and pacify Da Liao. That had been the price he paid for earning his engagement to A-Zhi.
All he could do was promise Madam Shao that he would definitely return alive.
Return to marry his A-Zhi.
Return?
Yes, he had returned.
But he had come back dragging a crippled leg, accompanied by three children whose origins were unknown to outsiders.
If their positions were reversed, and Feng Che were in Madam Shao’s place today, he wouldn’t be able to accept his daughter marrying a man like this either.
“Mother-in-law…”
Feng Che drew a deep breath. His throat felt as though a red-hot iron had lodged itself inside it, leaving him unable to speak.
In Madam Shao’s eyes, he was the one who had broken his promise. No matter what explanation he gave, in front of a mother who loved her daughter so deeply, it would sound like nothing more than an excuse.
A mother was a powerful guardian who instinctively protected her daughter.
Yet this young man who had suddenly appeared halfway along the road of her life only cared about expressing the sincerity of his feelings, forgetting that the most convincing proof of love meant nothing in the eyes of such a guardian, and that he stood at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Feng Che understood how Madam Shao regarded Gao Zhi as the most precious thing in her life.
He felt the same way.
That was why he didn’t dare speak of his feelings before such an imposing figure. He was afraid she would take his words as a provocation and never take them seriously.
“Blockhead.”
Seeing the young man remain silent, Madam Shao couldn’t help cursing him.
“Gao Zhi really has terrible taste.”
Feng Che froze.
Before he could say anything, Madam Shao had already left the main hall.
Although everyone sat together for dinner, most of the conversation was between Gao Zheng and Feng Che, while Madam Shao and Gao Zhi chatted among themselves. After the meal, Gao Zheng pulled Feng Che into a discussion about the court’s investigation and purge of corrupt officials, while Madam Shao went to Gao Zhi’s room.
“Have you gotten used to staying at the Prince’s residence these past few days?”
Madam Shao sat beside the bed. Seeing that her daughter looked as healthy as ever, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief before adding,
“Are you enjoying being someone else’s stepmother?”
Gao Zhi laughed.
“Mother, how can you put it like that?”
“How else am I supposed to put it?”
Madam Shao was still holding back her anger.
“I heard that after your wedding night, Feng Che moved out of the main residence.”
Gao Zhi’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Seeing her daughter’s expression, Madam Shao immediately knew it was true.
“You really think the matrons I sent to serve you are useless? You might be able to hide it from other people, but you can’t hide it from me.”
“Mother, you misunderstood.”
Gao Zhi moved her lips and explained,
“The court has been purging corrupt officials and investigating embezzlement lately. Father knows about it too. Feng Che was appointed to investigate the matter.
“He leaves early and returns late every day, and he was worried about disturbing my sleep, so he temporarily moved into the study.”
Madam Shao snorted.
“You’d better not defend him. Someone who has never been a mother will never understand how a mother feels when she knows her own daughter is being neglected.”
“Mother, you’re overthinking it.”
Gao Zhi blinked at the woman.
“Your daughter is a mother now too, so how could I not understand how you feel?
“Besides, the truth isn’t at all like you’re making it sound. Feng Che has me in his heart.”
“If he didn’t have you in his heart at all, would I have let you marry him?”
Madam Shao’s tone remained unpleasant as she poked her daughter on the head.
“I think you simply like him too much.”
Gao Zhi stuck out her tongue.
“Not at all.”
“Gao Zhi, let me give you one piece of advice. No matter how much you love someone, always leave three parts of your heart untouched. That is what keeps you rational.”
Madam Shao spoke to her seriously.
“If you only focus on loving someone and neglect yourself, the person you love won’t cherish you very much either.”
“I understand.”
Now that Gao Zhi had been reborn, hearing Madam Shao lecture her like this made her nose sting. She leaned against her mother’s shoulder and acted spoiled.
“I know you’re doing this for my sake.
“But don’t be so hostile toward Feng Che either. He isn’t a bad person. You watched him grow up, so you know what kind of person he is.”
“…”
Madam Shao shook her head and stood up to leave. When she saw her daughter come out to see her off, she took her hand and lowered her voice.
“Silly girl, if you really want to win someone’s heart, you have to take the initiative at the right time.”
Gao Zhi froze.
“Huh?”
“What are you huh-ing about?”
Madam Shao pinched her daughter’s cheek.
“You just said it yourself. I watched Feng Che grow up. That man has a blockhead for a brain.
“If you act aloof too and insist on putting on airs, the two of you might not get together until the Year of the Monkey.”
Gao Zhi never expected her mother to say something like that. By the time she came back to her senses, Madam Shao had already left, and Feng Che happened to return to the courtyard.
The two looked at each other across the courtyard.
After a long moment, Feng Che was the first to look away.
“I… just finished talking with your father.”
“Mm.”
Remembering her mother’s advice, Gao Zhi said to Cang Zhu, who was pushing Feng Che’s wheelchair from behind,
“Push your Master into my room.”
Feng Che hurriedly said,
“I’m sleeping in the study tonight…”
“My study hasn’t been used in years.”
Gao Zhi interrupted him.
“There’s more dust piled up in there than the snow that covered Mount Yuelu five years ago.”
“Then I can sleep somewhere else…”
She interrupted him again.
“This is the Gao residence. Everyone here works for my parents. This isn’t your Prince Huai’an’s residence. If you and I sleep in separate rooms tonight, tomorrow we’ll have to answer to them.”
Feng Che was stunned and remained silent for a long while.
“Then… then what do we…”
“I already told you.”
Gao Zhi raised an eyebrow.
“Tonight, you’re sleeping with me.”
Feng Che’s eyes trembled. His lips pressed tightly together, and Cang Zhu, seeing that his Master remained silent, made the decision for him.
“Princess Consort, rest assured. We’ll come right over.”
Before Feng Che could react, he was already being pushed into Gao Zhi’s room.
The warm, elegant room was filled with the delicate fragrance unique to a young woman. The carved dressing table, the pearwood bed frame, the crimson bed curtains, the golden-thread embroidered pillowcases adorned with entwined flowers… Every detail seemed to leave one dazed and make one’s heart race.
Feng Che suddenly felt the beating in his chest fall into disarray.
“Feng Che, tonight you can just…”
“No!”
The man nervously lifted his head. His lips were tightly pressed together, flushed a deep red, and his cheeks were just as red, as though blood might drip from them at any moment.
【The more it’s like this, the more… the more I have to restrain myself.】
【A-Zhi doesn’t understand these things. I can’t be the one who doesn’t understand either.】
【Even if she has some improper thoughts about me, I absolutely cannot… I absolutely cannot give in to her.】
【Relax…】
【As long as I explain things clearly to A-Zhi, she… she should give up, right?】
Gao Zhi’s mouth fell open. She stood there dazed for a long while before finally stepping toward Feng Che.
But before she could get close, Feng Che hugged his chest and, too embarrassed to raise his head, stammered,
“N-no… don’t take off my clothes.”
“…Huh?”
Gao Zhi was so stunned by his words that, for a moment, she almost truly imagined herself as some bandit in the mountains who had committed every imaginable evil, breaking into an innocent family’s home to force herself upon an innocent young woman’s chastity.