9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Mu Fanqing
Sorting through the bridal gifts and deciding what to send on ahead to the Xiao Manor and what to pack to take with me, consumes most of my days, although I do make the time to meet with Ehuang at the local tea shops we used to visit when we were younger, before I went off to be a cultivator and she began to follow in our father’s footsteps.
Except for at night, I rarely see Shu. He seems to keep himself busy and in the very least keeps himself out of my hair.
The servants are all respectful and listen to my every word as if it is a command to be honored.
I’ve never been the lady of a household before, that role always belonged to my mother.
I must say, I can get used to it.
If I’m completely honest with myself, married life isn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be. If only if it didn’t have to come with killing my aspirations for the future, then I would not resent it so much.
But then, these are also my thoughts now while I’m still in the Imperial City surrounded by familiar sights and people and my family who live only a short distance away.
I’m unsure how suited I will be to rough all the travel and living off the road that comes with Shu’s duties as a spirit catcher.
Nor do I know how I will feel when it will be just him and me having so much alone time.
I reach out, picking up the kettle and pouring some tea before I take a sip, savoring the taste.
I doubt I will be able to enjoy such quality of tea while on the road.
I wonder how much of Shu’s life he spends on the road and how much allows for him to stay at his home.
I know that he doesn’t come to the Imperial city very often, hence why he has been so busy these past two days tying up affairs he doesn’t usually get to handle in person.
I also know that he is the only active spirit catcher right now.
At one point in time, when I was far younger and didn’t pay much attention to such things, there were many Xiaos who worked as spirit hunters.
Even if not every Xiao actively hunted spirits, they were all trained up in it, just like those born to military families are raised holding a sword.
There was never a shortage of spirit hunters and now Xiao Shu bears the sole responsibility for that role.
The one cousin I heard survived the Xiao family massacre must serve the empire in a different field.
Being the last spirit hunter cannot lead to a very leisurely lifestyle.
Ehuang is kneeling across from me, snacking on a small cake and our maids have gone off a bit of a distance to catch up with each other as sisters do even after being apart for only a day.
I glance over the rim of my cup and study Ehuang as she pointedly chews her cake, keeping each bite in her mouth far past the point of chewing. Her eyebrows are furrowed together as if she is in deep thought.
“Is there something on your mind?” I ask at last as I set my teacup down. It’s always a dangerous question because it usually leads to me learning too much about various plants and their medicinal properties.
She also sets her cake down and turns to me so quickly that I find myself blinking in surprise.
She rests her hands on her lap as she leans forward.
“Have you decided if you like brother-in-law yet? Because I don’t know if I should address him as simply your husband or if I should call him your scoundrel husband. ”
“You can call him a scoundrel if you want,” I say with a sniff. “He probably deserves it.”
Ehuang nods once accepting that before she launches into a very animated story. “I went to the Ministry of Justice with father this morning and I found out who I have been partnered with to work this case. You’re never going to believe it!”
Desperately my mind begins going through acquaintances who might be associated with the Ministry of Justice.
“Ren Shang!” Ehuang bursts out before I have a chance to take a guess.
I find myself blinking in surprise. “Ren Shang?”
He was our neighbor growing up, Ehuang’s and my chief playmate when we were children. He became a cultivator around the same time I did, but he had to leave about halfway into our studies when his father fell ill, and he was needed to support the family.
Ehuang nods enthusiastically. “Yes, Ren Shang, can you believe it? After all these years we are connected to him again. But that isn’t all, because you will never believe who he has been with this whole time and who is our investigative partner on this case.”
I can hardly think of anyone being more surprising than Ren Shang, so I simply settle for saying, “Who?”
“Your scoundrel of a husband’s cousin!” Ehuang bursts out so loud that several of the patrons of the tea shop turn and look at us. I hold up my hands shushing her, immediately regretting giving her permission to call Shu a scoundrel. I just didn’t expect her to do it so loudly.
It’s fine if we think of him as a scoundrel, but the rest of the world? As Shu’s wife, it’s my job to work to turn around his ill reputation, not add to it.
“It really is fate that ties us with Ren Shang after all. A cruel twist of fate though. I can’t believe that we finally come into contact with him after you have already been married and that all this time he has been working with the cousin of the man you married.
You know, I always thought that if you married someone it would be Ren Shang. ”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say with a shake of my head.
“Well, it’s ridiculous now,” she says shaking her head. “Poor Shang Shang, I wonder if he has heard that you’re married.”
“I doubt it would matter that much to him,” I reply with a dismissive snort.
“That shows how much you know,” Ehuang murmurs as she pours herself a cup of tea. She doesn’t bother elaborating on her cryptic statement. She sets her cup down and looks up at me. “So, tomorrow is your homecoming and then you set out?”
“Almost immediately afterward.”
“That sounds so exciting though,” Ehuang says.
“To hunt spirits, at least you will be able to use your cultivation. It seems far more necessary a skill than hunting a smuggler. Do you know how long Ren Shang and Xiao Wen have been on this case before I was assigned to it? Almost three years! It’s as if this is the case people go to in order to never actually be able to accomplish anything.
” She throws herself across the table dramatically, almost upsetting her tea.
“I think someone in the ministry doesn’t like me. ”
“Good,” I murmur pushing to my feet. I dust off my skirts.
Ehuang leaps to her feet. “What do you mean, good?”
“I mean exactly that. Perhaps hunting this smuggler will actually keep you out of trouble. Do you have any idea how worried I would be if you were supposed to apprehend a killer? At least this way, you can gain some much-needed experience in the investigative field.”
Ehuang leaps to her feet, threading her arm through mine as we start back through the tea shop. “You never let me have any fun,” she sulks as she rests her head against my shoulder.
I smile as I pat her arm. That’s my duty as the elder sister, I’m afraid.
Suddenly a name spoken in an animated conversation catches my ear. “Did you hear, the Fourth Lord has been wed?”
I pause, glancing toward the table the women kneeling there discussing it. I have never seen either of them before but from their elaborately piled up hair and bright lipstick, I place that they must be in the wealthier classes. Perhaps the wives of some officials.
The second lady, dressed in a shimmering peacock green gown, places down her cup and leans forward. “The Fourth Lord as in Xiao Shu?”
The first woman nods enthusiastically; she is dressed in a rosy color that reminds me of a sunset.
“Indeed, what sort of woman could marry such a powerful man? I heard he even turned down a general’s marriage proposal from a higher family!
I always thought he had his eyes on marrying one of the princesses. ”
I straighten slightly, wondering at the strange sense of pride I feel filling my core.
It swirls around, mixing with confusion.
Shu didn’t marry a princess; he married the daughter of an eight-rank official.
I’m not sure what exactly that says about me, or any princesses, or Shu for that matter.
Except perhaps as a bitter reminder that none of our lives have ever been in our hands.
The peacock girl shakes her head. “I pity that girl. Imagine what it would be like married to a cold, cruel man like that.”
Now it is the rosy girl’s turn to lean forward, her eyes wide. “What do you mean?”
“Did you not hear how he treated his cousin, who was his last remaining relative? He cast him aside, refusing to even teach him the Fourth Family techniques on spirit catching and leaving him to have to join the Ministry of Justice, as a member of the Fourth Family! I hear all he cares about is power. I have no idea how a man like that could treat a wife well. He is probably just using her for her family’s connections. ”
“You—” I begin softly about to take a step forward, but Ehuang tightens her arm around me.
“Some people don’t know what they are talking about,” Ehuang mutters as she tugs on my arm. “Come on Fanqing. Let’s get you home.”
I bite down on the end of my lip as we start walking.
Inwardly, I am furious though. After only a few short days, I’ve come to realize that Shu doesn’t live up to even half of his reputation.
He doesn’t strike me as a power-hungry individual either.
And the women’s words even contradict themselves.
If he really turned down a higher up proposal, then how could the only thing he care about be power?
Obviously, he had principles or other reasons to refuse moving up in the lord’s houses.
Nor does he seem to resent me for being from such a low rank family.
If all he cared about was power, would he not hate me for not helping him attain it?