Wedding Night

The earthquake continued until the sun set before it finally subsided completely.

After night fell and everyone in the residence had gone soundly to sleep, Jiang Fu'an finally found the time to test the cultivation effects of the Azure Spirit Fruit.

He took two glossy green fruits from his robes, handed one to Stone beside him, and instructed in a low voice:

"This is a spirit fruit. Eating it can speed up your cultivation quite a bit. Once you finish it, immediately circulate your cultivation technique. Don't delay."

Stone's eyes immediately lit up. He hurriedly accepted it and turned it over and over in his hands.

He looked up and asked curiously:

"Dad, where did you pick up such a treasure?"

One look at his expression told Jiang Fu'an that the boy had gotten ideas of seeking it out himself in the future. He immediately warned him:

"That place is extremely dangerous. Don't even think about it. Stay home obediently and cultivate properly."

Stone had already bitten into the fruit. He could only chew while nodding hard.

Jiang Fu'an picked up the remaining fruit himself and swallowed it in two or three bites.

As the fruit flesh entered his stomach, a warm current slowly spread through him.

About an hour later.

Jiang Fu'an circulated his cultivation technique through one full cycle and carefully sensed the newly formed thread of spiritual power in his Qi Sea. Compared with the sensation after taking a Qi-Nourishing Pill—

There was practically no difference!

Overjoyed, he made his decision on the spot:

He would eat all the remaining Azure Spirit Fruit raw like this.

He knew that if the fruits were refined into pills, their effects would likely be even better.

But his cultivation was still weak. Taking them out to trade rashly would be like a child carrying gold through a crowded market—the risk was far too great.

This time, he had picked eighty-one fruits in total. Stone possessed a four-attribute Spiritual Root, and his cultivation speed had always been a notch faster than Jiang Fu'an's Five-Element Spiritual Root.

He would not need to eat too many. Thirty should be enough.

If the remaining fifty-one were used for his own cultivation, then in a little over a year, he should be able to break through to the Qi Refining First Layer.

By then, he could truly begin attempting to draw talismans...

At the thought, Jiang Fu'an's heart burned hot.

He did not waste any more time. Closing his eyes again, he focused and circulated his cultivation technique.

The spiritual energy from that Azure Spirit Fruit had not yet been fully converted. He had to seize the time.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

That day, bright red silk hung throughout the Jiang Family residence, and large red "Double Happiness" characters were pasted everywhere.

Beneath the eaves, a pair of red lanterns swayed gently in the breeze.

Today was the day Miao Ruolan was to be married.

Ordinarily, taking a concubine did not require a grand celebration, and Jiang Fu'an had never liked making a spectacle of things. Thus, he invited no outside guests. He merely slaughtered a half-grown spirit pig and laid out two tables of food in the courtyard.

The twenty or so people seated around them were all members of the household.

As darkness settled, the wedding feast came to an end.

A faint flush of intoxication colored Jiang Fu'an's face as he stepped into the newly decorated bridal chamber.

Red candles burned brightly within, their light casting a warm, soft glow over everything.

Miao Ruolan sat properly at the edge of the bed, a crimson bridal veil covering her head. The large-sleeved, cross-collared scarlet robe she wore made her slender figure appear all the more graceful.

This scene was not unfamiliar to Jiang Fu'an.

After all, this was already his third time entering a bridal chamber.

Yet when he walked to the bedside, he unexpectedly discovered that the seated figure was trembling ever so slightly.

She was nervous?

Jiang Fu'an found it rather surprising.

Where had the boldness gone—the nerve she had shown when she wore that nearly transparent gauze dress to seduce him?

He reached out, his fingertips brushing the smooth tassels beneath the veil, then gently lifted it.

The veil slid away, revealing Miao Ruolan's carefully made-up face.

The bead strings of her phoenix crown swayed lightly before her forehead, making her skin seem white as snow.

A faint sweep of rouge dusted her cheeks, while pale vermilion lip color adorned her lips.

Around her snowy neck, an exquisite silver Heavenly Official Lock rose and fell faintly with her somewhat hurried breathing.

Under the candlelight, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

Yet Miao Ruolan only darted a quick glance at him before hurriedly lowering her eyes. Even the tips of her ears had turned crimson.

Amused, Jiang Fu'an extended his index finger and gently lifted her delicate chin, forcing her to raise her face.

Looking at those shimmering, evasive eyes, a teasing smile curled at his lips.

"Why has your courage gotten so small today?"

His words made Miao Ruolan's face redden further, pink spreading all the way down her neck.

Her eyes wandered, and her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"I... I'm just scared. Scared of you touching me, scared of sleeping in the same bed as you."

Jiang Fu'an raised a brow and pressed her:

"Didn't you want me to help you have a child?

"If I don't touch you and we don't sleep together, is the child supposed to fall out of the sky?"

Miao Ruolan bit her lower lip. After hesitating for quite a while, she finally squeezed out a voice as faint as a mosquito's hum:

"Then... maybe we shouldn't have one yet..."

That answer greatly exceeded Jiang Fu'an's expectations.

He almost suspected that the bashful bride before him was some never-before-seen twin sister of Miao Ruolan's.

But the thought only flashed through his mind.

The brows, the eyes, the expressions, the tiny gestures she made when speaking—she was clearly still the Miao Ruolan he knew.

These past days, she had been the one constantly drawing close, teasing him until he could barely avoid her.

Why had she gotten cold feet when it came to the real thing?

Could it be that the balance of attack and defense was to reverse tonight?

Still, before "enjoying" this fine feast, there was another proper matter to attend to.

He turned and walked to the table.

A vermilion-red gourd and a dagger had long been prepared atop it.

He held the gourd steadily in his left hand and drew the dagger from its sheath with a sharp shing in his right.

A flash of cold light swept out. With a flick of his wrist and a soft crack, the gourd was split cleanly down the middle into two even halves.

Meanwhile, the left hand holding the gourd remained entirely unharmed.

Jiang Fu'an nodded with satisfaction.

After practicing without cease these days, his Wind-Thunder Saber Technique had finally entered the stage of minor mastery.

He placed the two gourd halves side by side on the table, picked up the wine jug, and slowly poured the clear liquor into both halves.

Then he picked up one half and handed it to Miao Ruolan, who was still seated at the bedside.

He took the other half himself and held a mouthful of wine in his mouth.

A moment later, he turned his head and spat it into the basin beside the bed.

The ritual of sharing the bridal gourd here differed somewhat from the cross-cup wine ceremony he knew from his previous life.

There was no need to link arms and drink, nor was the wine meant to be swallowed. It was merely used to rinse the mouth symbolically, signifying "sharing sweetness and hardship, beginning in purity."

When Jiang Fu'an married for the first time, he had made a fool of himself by actually drinking the wine.

Fortunately, Wang Lanhua, his bride at the time, had been so nervous that she was completely at a loss herself and made even more mistakes.

Neither laughed at the other. Instead, that shared embarrassment diluted the tension of their first time.

Once Miao Ruolan had rinsed her mouth in the same manner, Jiang Fu'an took the half-gourd from her hand and joined it with his own. Taking a red cord prepared beforehand, he wound it around and around them, binding them tightly together.

Then he hung it high on the carved wooden frame at the head of the bed.

With that, the ceremony was complete.

He turned back, his gaze falling upon Miao Ruolan.

"Alright, the rites are finished. It is time for us to rest. Wife, would you be willing to help your husband undress?"

Miao Ruolan, who had been staring at her fingertips, startled so hard that her shoulders shrank as she blurted out:

"Ah! We're going to bed so early?"

Seeing her like a startled rabbit, Jiang Fu'an decided it would be better to do it himself.

Without saying more, he crouched down and gently clasped Miao Ruolan's slender ankle in his palm.

"Ah!"

Miao Ruolan let out a soft cry, instinctively trying to pull her foot back.

But the shameful things her mother and several aunts had taught her during the day suddenly rushed into her mind.

Those instructions caused her foot to freeze halfway through withdrawing.

That was right. On a wedding night, these were things one was meant to do...

There seemed to be no reason to refuse.

Biting her lip, she stopped moving and allowed those warm, large hands to remove the embroidered shoes from her feet, each stitched with twin lotus blossoms.

As the shoes came off, they revealed a pair of jade-like feet, white and tender as cream. Even her ten tiny toenails had been carefully painted a vivid red to match her wedding dress.

Jiang Fu'an found that he could not tear his eyes away...

Scalded by his gaze, Miao Ruolan hurriedly drew both feet back and hid them beneath the brocade quilt.

Jiang Fu'an was in no rush. He merely smiled faintly, rose to his feet, and began untying his own sash.

The night was long. He had all the patience in the world.

That night, the candles in the bridal chamber never went out.

Faint, intermittent sounds drifted low through the window—like sobs, like soft sighs—over and over, until dawn broke.