Chapter 3: The Warmth on the Lips

“There’s no need to test me. I have never thought of leaving. I didn’t in the past, and I certainly won’t in the future.”

Pei Zhouwu’s answer was unusually resolute.

If he said he wouldn’t, then he absolutely wouldn’t.

“Why?” Liu Fuying truly couldn’t understand. Being imprisoned alone in such a place for too long would surely drive anyone mad. “You clearly could leave. Don’t you want to?”

Pei Zhouwu didn’t answer. He only set down the walking stick in his hand.

Then, he stepped back into the water.

“If you want to report me, go ahead and have them fill in this lake.”

With those words, he plunged beneath the surface with a splash and swiftly disappeared from sight.

“I…” Liu Fuying didn’t even have time to finish her sentence.

How could she possibly report him?

If the lake were filled, how would she ever find him again?

After pondering for a long while, with no further movement from beneath the water, Liu Fuying picked up the walking stick and used it to steady herself as she stood. Her mind drifted back to the scene moments ago when he had shared his breath with her underwater.

She raised a hand to touch her red lips, as if a certain warmth still lingered there.

She didn’t descend the mountain.

Instead, after leaving the woods and finding a familiar path, she climbed back up to Changmingguan. There, she borrowed a set of robes from the female Taoists in the eastern courtyard and asked someone to go down the mountain to send word and arrange for her to be picked up.

Her clothes were tattered and torn, so it wouldn’t be proper for her to go down the mountain and enter the city, attracting stares and gossip.

By noon, people from the foot of the mountain arrived.

Jin Li, the maid who had grown up with her, brought clean clothes. With red-rimmed eyes, she helped Liu Fuying freshen up and asked where she had been. It had started raining shortly after Liu Fuying left Changmingguan the previous day. Because she hadn’t brought an umbrella, Jin Li had turned back to the temple to borrow one. By the time she returned, Liu Fuying had already fallen off the cliff.

Once she was tidied up and had rested for a while, they took a carriage down the mountain in the afternoon.

By the time they returned to the Shen Family, several hours had passed.

A physician came to examine her, prescribed some medicine, and left. By then, it was already dark.

“Has the General eaten dinner yet?” During the evening meal, Liu Fuying asked about her husband, Shen Xiunian.

Originally, she and Shen Xiunian had lived their own separate lives, rarely thinking of each other unless necessary.

Today, she brought him up specifically because she had been thinking of Pei Zhouwu.

“I’m not sure about that, Madam. I heard he’s been in his study all afternoon. I don’t know if he’s eaten yet. But why should you care about him, Madam? Yesterday, when I returned to the estate to report that you were missing, he didn’t show the slightest concern—not even a word of worry. It was the Old Madam who sent people into the mountains to search for you.”

As for Shen Xiunian’s indifference, Liu Fuying truly didn’t care in the slightest.

She continued eating calmly, replying only with a faint, “Then I’ll go to the study to see him later. By the way, how is Mother-in-law? Has she not woken up yet?”

“No, Madam. The Old Madam was already ill, and yesterday, when she heard you were missing, she was so worried she stayed up all night. If we hadn’t stopped her, she might have gone into the mountains herself to look for you. She held on until the afternoon but finally couldn’t take it anymore and fell into a deep sleep. She still hasn’t woken up.”

Liu Fuying nodded.

If there was one person in the Shen Family she genuinely liked, it was Shen Xiunian’s mother.

Her right hand was inconvenient, so Jin Li had to feed her.

After the meal, once the table was cleared, Liu Fuying saw Jin Li take out a shoe from the inner room.

“What are you doing?” Liu Fuying called out to stop her.

That shoe was the only one left from the pair she had been wearing when she fell off the cliff the day before.

“Madam, this shoe no longer has a pair. So, I thought perhaps it could be thrown away.”

“Don’t throw it away.” Liu Fuying gestured for Jin Li to come back, then added, “Just wash it clean and put it away. There’s no need to discard it.”

Since she insisted, Jin Li couldn’t say anything more.

Liu Fuying sat lazily in the armchair. Ever since returning from Xiangshan, her mind kept drifting back to Pei Zhouwu. The more she thought about it, the more feasible her plan seemed.

After resting for a while, she had Jin Li help her to Shen Xiunian’s study.

She knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside.

Probably knowing it was her, Shen Xiunian couldn’t be bothered to reply.

Liu Fuying steadied her breath and pushed the door open directly.

Shen Xiunian, seated behind the desk, showed no reaction to her arrival, continuing to write something with his brush.

Liu Fuying did not approach, only taking a seat at a distance.

To be fair, Shen Xiunian was indeed an outstanding figure. For someone so young to hold the rank of a second-grade General spoke volumes about his talent. While his looks fell short compared to Pei Zhouwu, he could still be considered handsome. In terms of qualifications, he was a good match.

Unfortunately, he was not the right match for Liu Fuying.

“Has the General considered the proposal from Second Uncle’s branch? Are you truly willing to hand over the family fortune to others?”

Shen Xiunian remained silent, keeping his head down and his hands busy.

“Surely the General hasn’t forgotten what you promised me before our marriage?”

Still, Shen Xiunian gave no response.

But he had always been like this, and Liu Fuying was long accustomed to it.

“The laws of our dynasty forbid women from inheriting family property. Even though I am nominally your wife, after your passing, I cannot inherit the Shen Family’s wealth on your behalf. Your father passed away early, and you have no other sons. According to the law, the family fortune will then fall to Second Uncle’s branch. This was something I hadn’t considered before our marriage, but it’s not too late to think about it now.”

This world was always unfair to women.

But unfair as it was, what was rightfully hers, she would not yield. That was what Shen Xiunian had promised her.

Otherwise, she would never have married into the Shen Family to live as a widow in name.

The predicament now was that even if Shen Xiunian personally wrote in black and white that he intended to leave the family property to her, it would still hold no weight in court.

Thus, she must have a son of her own, even if she had to resort to unscrupulous means.

“I suppose the General has no intention of bearing children with me either. In that case, I can only follow your earlier suggestion and find a man outside.”

What Shen Xiunian had previously suggested was allowing her to keep a lover outside, not to have children with another man.

Raising another man’s child was an entirely different matter.

“Does the General understand what I mean?”

Shen Xiunian was no fool. Of course, he understood, but he remained silent, continuing to write with his head lowered.

“But I imagine the General has no choice either. You surely wouldn’t want to hand over the family fortune to Second Uncle.”

Once, Shen Xiunian had a heart and a soul. In the past, he had loved a woman, said to have been met on the battlefield, and he brought her home, utterly infatuated.

At that time, Shen Xiunian was away fighting wars, and his mother was in poor health. The family’s shops and assets were entrusted to Second Uncle’s branch for management. Suddenly seeing Shen Xiunian bring a woman home, perhaps fearing the loss of wealth and power, his Second Uncle schemed to drive her away.

Unexpectedly, that departure became their final farewell.

The woman died, and Shen Xiunian’s heart died with her.

In recent years, he had acted recklessly, disregarding his own life. Just half a month ago, he nearly died on the battlefield and was carried back.

Second Uncle’s branch once again used this as an excuse to bring up the matter of the family fortune, claiming they feared Shen Xiunian might not have time to settle his affairs if something were to happen to him, urging him to make preparations in advance.

Since Second Uncle had schemed to cause the death of Shen Xiunian’s beloved, he naturally had no desire to hand over the family fortune to Second Uncle’s hands.

“If the General has any objections, you must bring them to my attention as soon as possible.”

Meaning that if he did not object, she would proceed with matters concerning heirs.

She spoke at length, yet Shen Xiunian did not even bat an eyelid.

“Rest assured.” Liu Fuying stood up and walked briskly toward the door. “As promised, I will take good care of Mother.”

Once outside, Liu Fuying instinctively gazed toward the direction of Xiangshan.

Shen Xiunian’s lifeless demeanor increasingly reminded her of Pei Zhouwu.

She wondered what Pei Zhouwu might be doing at this moment.

“A Yin!”

Outside the courtyard, someone called her name loudly.