9. Chapter Nine #2
But I think what makes me the most furious is that they paint Shu’s wife as a helpless victim in all this. Someone to be pitied, who has no idea what she is in for. I’m silent the whole rest of the way to the manor, and fortunately Ehuang does not press me.
It’s dark by the time Shu returns home. I’m sitting in front of the low table, running a comb through my hair as Shu steps into the room. He pauses when he sees me, surprise flickering across his face before he moves to slide the door shut. “Why are you still up?”
I push to my feet, my silk nightgown flowing around me as I stride over to the bed, climbing into it and pulling the blanket up. “I wanted to ask you a question. How is your relationship with your cousin?”
One eyebrow shoots up, arching over his dark, intelligent eyes that sparkle with confusion. “With Wen? It’s fine. Why do you ask?”
I pull my leg up, hugging my knee as I study Shu in the dim candlelight.
He is taciturn and unsociable—I have managed to piece that much together.
He’s more worried about propriety and keeping the distance between us than even I am.
And he is purposefully rude to create the poor reputation that he carries.
I believe that he uses it as a way to keep people away.
I wonder what it must have been like for him to be thrust into the position of the head of such a powerful family at such a young age.
I’m sure there were no limits to the number of people who vied for his favor and tried to use him to their own ends.
But I cannot imagine him robbing his own family of opportunities.
“I just heard something and wondered,” I say at last, running a ringer over a fold in my night dress. If Ehuang is really paired with his cousin, it is important to make certain that they don’t actually have bad blood.
He nods once. “Ah, so you have heard the rumors circulating about us. How I never even bothered to teach him the family skills of cancelling magic.”
He says it so casually. I suppose he is used to people talking behind his back.
Meanwhile, I’m still fuming over those women at the teashop painting me to be a type of person that I’m not.
And that’s without anyone even knowing who I am beyond “the mysterious woman who married Xiao Shu”.
I suppose that once my position as a lowly eighth-rank official’s daughter is known, they will have much worse things to say about me.
I look at Shu, waiting for him to explain himself but he doesn’t rush to defend his honor. I blink once. “Is it true?”
Shu sighs, seeming to realize that he isn’t getting out of this conversation. He plants his hands on his hips before he nods. “It is.”
I feel my eyes widen before he adds. “And it isn’t.”
I adjust my position so that my arm is resting on my knee as I lean forward, my tiredness forgotten as my brain starts whirling trying to piece together what Shu is saying between his words.
“So… you never taught him the magical technique, but you did it for a reason?” I rub the pad of my finger against my thumb as I try to figure out a reason why he would not teach his cousin the technique.
The only thing my mind comes back to is to protect him.
After all, Xiao Wen is Shu’s only living relative, and with the brutal way the rest of his family was massacred, he likely feels very protective of him.
“You did it to protect him. To keep him from being a spirit catcher.”
Shu holds up his hand, pointing to me. “You’re quite clever,” he says sounding impressed.
I straighten, glowing at his praise. My mind has always been the part of me that I’m the most proud of.
Shu heaves a sigh as he reaches up and runs a hand down his face.
“Since you have already figured it out, yes, I never taught Wen’er technique to protect him.
If he knew it, he would be forced to be a spirit catcher alongside me and that was something that he had no interest in.
So, I made a great show of refusing to teach him it.
For fear of angering me and losing his only functioning spirit catcher in the realm, the emperor sided with me and deemed it a family matter that he would not meddle in.
That as the patriarch of the family, I had the right to make that decision.
And just like that my cousin was free to live the life he preferred, and I earned the reputation of one who would betray his own family.
But what others think of me doesn’t really matter, does it?
Wen’er and I are as close as brothers, I would do anything for him. ”
Shu goes over to the rack and begins getting ready for bed, seeming to believe that the conversation is now over.
“Is it true that your cousin has been heading an investigation against a smuggler and a possible smuggling operation?”
Shu pauses in removing his belt and glances at me out of the side of his eye. “What of it?” he asks suddenly a bit defensive.
I wonder why he is suddenly shifting his mood.
Shu pulls off his outer robe, now far more comfortable than he was on our wedding night. I stifle a laugh, remembering him climbing into bed, still fully dressed with hair still bound up and everything. I think now we are both just trying to settle into our new norm.
“Because my younger sister Ehuang has apparently been assigned to the same case as him.”
Shu exhales, seeming a bit relieved as he moves over and climbs into bed. He lies down on his pillow. After the first night, he had his servants deliver a few extras into our room. I reach across grabbing the two pillows we now use as our small wall and put them in place.
“Yes, I heard that from Wen’er as well,” Shu says, he scoots a bit adjusting the pillow I just set between us. On top of extra pillows, he now has his own blanket which is fortunate because it kept getting caught under the pillow wall.
“Would you mind asking your cousin to keep an eye on my sister during the duration of this case?”
Shu blinks and glances at me. He studies me for a long moment before he nods against his pillow. “Of course, after all, Ehuang is my family as well now. I already made certain to tell him to take care for her.”
I smile, feeling my shoulder slump in relief. “Thank you.”
Shu grunts. “It’s simply a family matter. Speaking of… is there anything I should prepare in advance for the meeting with your parents tomorrow?”
I settle into my pillows and find myself frowning as I consider his question. “I don’t think so, my parents are a reasonable sort. My mother is the real head of the house, anything she says goes. My father is unconfrontational in all aspects of his life, including his marriage and family life.”
I feel the bed shift underneath me and suddenly Shu is sitting up, he braces his elbow on the pillow wall. “Can you go on?” he asks softly.
I feel my eyebrow rise in surprise.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had something resembling a family. I want to see if I remember what it feels like,” he whispers mournfully. His eyes flick to me. “Now through you, I suppose I have a mother and a father again.”
“You will be able to meet them tomorrow,” I say as I roll onto my side and rest my cheek on the palm of my hand.
I smile softly as I think back to my parents.
“My father is a member of the Ministry of Justice; he has never sought to raise his position and even turned down promotions when he believed them to be too strongly sought after. My mother would always nag him telling him that we could have a better house and clothes if he only tried a little harder, but he always said that the court officials who get hauled off to jail for embezzlement are always the ones with the finest clothes, the largest houses, and the most nagging wives.”
Shu chuckles and I look up surprised. I think this is the first time that I have ever heard him laugh. It’s a rich but quiet sound. It makes me wonder how much of an opportunity he has had to laugh, living such an isolated life.
“Something tells me that I will like your father,” he says as he lies down, I can see the tip of his nose and the hint of a smile over the pillow as he lies on his back. “Please continue.”
So, I do, I wrack my mind to find stories of my family to tell him about and succeed in making myself especially homesick in the process.