After parting with Tang Xiang, Cui Wan returned timidly to Orchid Courtyard, her heart full of apprehension. The bridal chamber that had been covered in "double happiness" characters and hung with red silk last night had already changed.
Several nimble servants were climbing ladders, carefully taking down the red silk and lanterns hanging overhead. Others carried basins of water, wiping the remaining traces of celebration from the doors and windows. Still others bustled in and out of the room, moving trunks and furnishings.
Last night's splendor and bustle seemed like a dream that had hastily faded, leaving only a somewhat disordered reality behind.
Qiaoju was directing two young maids as they put things away. Seeing Cui Wan return, she hurried forward, curtsied properly, and reported, "Second Madam, I've finished sorting the trunks and belongings you brought from the Cui family. Your clothes, jewelry, and everyday necessities have all been put in the cabinets in the side room. Is there anything else you would like added or rearranged?"
Cui Wan looked at the neatly arranged side room, pressed her lips together, and gave Qiaoju a faint, somewhat strained smile. "Thank you for your hard work," she said softly.
Qiaoju hurriedly demurred. Cui Wan's gaze shifted to the servants carrying things outside. What they were moving did not seem to be her dowry trunks. From their appearance, they looked more like a man's clothes and personal belongings, along with some books and ornaments. Puzzled, she asked, "Those... what are they moving?"
Qiaoju followed her gaze. A barely perceptible hesitation crossed her face as she chose her words carefully. "Second Madam, those... belong to the young master. This... this main room was originally his bedroom. The old madam ordered it made into the bridal chamber..."
Her voice dwindled, as though she found it difficult to continue. She stole a glance at Cui Wan's expression, afraid the new madam might feel humiliated or grow angry.
Cui Wan froze for a moment, then understood-Chu Moqi was moving his belongings out. He did not want to share a room with her, or even... stay in this room anymore.
So... it was not merely that he had refused to stay last night. He intended to live in separate rooms from now on.
A faint sense of loss rose in her heart. Although she was full of fear toward Chu Moqi and no longer expected marital affection or to share his bed, being rejected so plainly, having a line drawn so clearly between them, still left her feeling embarrassed and... lonely in her lack of acceptance.
Seeing that Cui Wan merely remained silent and showed no anger, Qiaoju relaxed a little before timidly adding, "The young master... he instructed us to move him into the side room next door... It really isn't far, just next door..." Afterward, she looked at Cui Wan uneasily again.
Cui Wan nodded to show she understood. Suddenly remembering Chu Moqi's unusually pale, exhausted face when she had seen him at the gates that morning, she felt something stir and blurted out, "Then... what about last night? Where did the young master... sleep last night?"
Qiaoju had not expected that question. After hesitating, she said quietly, "After leaving this room last night, the young master went straight to the study... It seems... he rested there. Guard Yan... stayed outside the door the whole time."
Rested... in the study?
Cui Wan froze again. This main room in Orchid Courtyard had been Chu Moqi's own bedroom, yet rather than share it with her, he had gone to make do in the study for the night? That study... probably did not even have a proper bed, did it?
Had he... "driven" himself out of his own room?
That realization added a thread of inexplicable... absurdity to the strange mixture of loss and bewilderment in Cui Wan's heart.
This man had a bad temper, cold eyes, and hurtful words. But... he did not seem to reserve his harshness for others alone. Toward himself, he seemed rather... awkward, and rather... unforgiving too?
He had not wanted to marry, but had been forced into it; unwilling to enter the bridal chamber, he had hidden elsewhere; unwilling to live with his bride, he had simply moved out all his belongings, preferring to sleep in the study...
It was as though he was using every ounce of his strength to resist everything forced upon him, even if that resistance made him look all the more wretched and alone.
Standing in the room as it gradually returned to its plain appearance, Cui Wan watched the servants come and go, removing the traces of Chu Moqi. Without her noticing, the slight sense of loss born of his rejection quietly transformed into another, more complicated feeling.
She seemed... to be beginning to understand what Sister-in-law Tang Xiang had meant by "he suffers deeply, and there are many hurdles he cannot get past."
This young general who had once shone so brilliantly was now trapped in a broken body and endless suffering, like a wounded, caged beast, snarling savagely at the world while licking his bleeding wounds alone in unseen corners.
And she, Cui Wan, was merely a blade of grass swept unwittingly into this storm, met with his indiscriminate loathing and resistance.
What on earth should she do...?
Over the next few days, Cui Wan lived cautiously, as though treading on thin ice.
She stayed in the main room of Orchid Courtyard, while Chu Moqi moved into the side room next door. Though they lived in the same courtyard, an invisible wall seemed to separate them completely. Chu Moqi spent almost all day in his room or the study and rarely appeared. Whenever Cui Wan happened to encounter him in the courtyard, she lowered her head from afar and held her breath. Only when the dull sound of his wheelchair and that icy pressure had faded completely did she dare breathe freely again.
He never spoke to her and seldom even looked her in the eye. The loathing and distance in his gaze were even greater than on their wedding night.
Cui Wan knew he disliked her; perhaps he found even her presence an eyesore. That knowledge left her both sad and frightened. She tried to recall Sister-in-law Tang Xiang's words, telling herself that he was merely "suffering inside" and needed time. Yet every time she faced his forbidding indifference, that small comfort seemed pale and powerless.
Qiaoju, at least, served her diligently, making thoughtful arrangements for all her daily needs. But Cui Wan could sense that, like the other servants in Orchid Courtyard, Qiaoju deeply feared the mercurial second young master. The entire courtyard was therefore shrouded in oppressive gloom. Even the servants walked on tiptoe and spoke in hushed voices, terrified of angering the master next door.
Cui Wan felt like a wandering spirit who had strayed into someone else's territory, utterly out of place and with nowhere to go.
The days flowed slowly through cautious silence. Only five days had passed, yet the summer heat was already gradually receding, and a hint of early autumn's chill had entered the air.
One morning, after Cui Wan woke, Qiaoju helped her wash and dress as usual. The instant the window opened, a sweet, fresh fragrance came wafting in on the slightly cool morning breeze.
Cui Wan's eyes brightened, and she could not resist leaning out to look.
Sure enough, the luxuriant osmanthus tree in the courtyard had quietly put forth specks of gold. Clusters of buds the size of rice grains dotted its dark green leaves. Though not yet fully open, their rich sweetness was already refreshing to the heart. In the perpetually somber, oppressive Orchid Courtyard, this touch of brightness and fragrance was undoubtedly a rare source of vitality and delight.
"It's flowering. How lovely," Cui Wan said happily. Even her anxiety of the past few days seemed somewhat diluted by the fragrance.
As Qiaoju pinned up her hair, she suggested with a smile, "Yes, it's blooming early this year. Madam, shall I accompany you for a stroll in the courtyard?"
Of course Cui Wan wanted to go. In the days since marrying into the marquis's household, she had barely left her room except to pay her respects in the main courtyard and see her mother-in-law off. She had long wanted to take a walk, but she was not quite used to having someone follow her everywhere.
"No need." She smiled with her lips pressed together, a little embarrassed. "I'd like... to walk by myself. Just in the courtyard, not far."
Seeing her insist, Qiaoju did not press further. She merely draped a thin cotton outer garment carefully around her and reminded her, "Then take care, madam. The autumn morning dew is heavy. Don't stay out too long and catch a chill."
"All right," Cui Wan answered, then ran out with light steps, like a little bird finally released from its cage.
The courtyard was quiet, with only the rustle of wind through the leaves and indistinct sounds of sweeping drifting faintly from elsewhere. Cui Wan walked beneath the osmanthus tree, tilted her head back, and breathed deeply. The sweet fragrance instantly filled her lungs, making the corners of her mouth curve of their own accord.
Rising onto her toes, she gently pulled down a branch thick with flowers and leaned close to sniff them, her whole expression relaxing.
"So fragrant..." she murmured, thinking that in a few more days, once the flowers bloomed more fully, she could ask Qiaoju to help pick some. Back at the Cui house, Aunt Yue had often made osmanthus cakes, and they were delicious. Once the cakes were made, she must send some to her sister-in-law too. She was sure to like them.
Thinking of those sweet, soft cakes and imagining Tang Xiang's gentle smile upon receiving them, she could not help smiling to herself, her lips pressed together and her eyes sparkling as though filled with fragments of sunlight.
Just then, steady footsteps sounded from the covered walkway. Cui Wan instinctively looked toward them and saw a tall figure approaching. It was Yan Qin.
Before Cui Wan could put away her smile, she hurriedly released the flowering branch and stood properly, looking a little embarrassed at being caught.
Yan Qin came up to her and saluted with cupped fists, his voice steady. "Madam."
He looked up again, remembered that Cui Wan had been smelling the blossoms, and added casually, "The young master and the eldest young master planted this osmanthus tree when they were boys."
Cui Wan nodded somewhat bashfully in acknowledgment. She recognized him as Chu Moqi's personal guard, almost always at his side. Since he was alone now, did that mean Chu Moqi was not nearby? She felt curious, but also a little afraid. What if Chu Moqi was nearby after all?
She glanced in the direction Yan Qin had come from and asked casually, "Guard Yan, are you... going somewhere?"
Yan Qin lowered his head. "Madam, the young master summoned me."
Oh, Chu Moqi had called for him. Cui Wan felt inexplicably relieved, along with a faint, indefinable sense of loss. She nodded. "Then... you'd better go."
Yan Qin saluted again, turned, and strode away.
Only after he had gone far did Cui Wan turn her gaze back to the osmanthus tree. Yet much of her simple joy seemed to have faded. She recalled Yan Qin's words-Chu Moqi and his elder brother had planted this tree together as boys.
So... this tree held their childhood memories. They must have been happy then, mustn't they? Planting a tree together, practicing martial arts together, dreaming of the future together... just like the silver-armored youth in her memories, radiant and dazzling beneath the sun.
But now? The tree remained, flowering year after year, while of those who had planted it, one had died on the battlefield, and the other was confined to a wheelchair, his temperament utterly changed.
An indescribable sense of loss and sorrow rose in Cui Wan's heart. Facing that tree full of golden buds, she could no longer smile.
As she stood staring blankly at the osmanthus tree, her thoughts drifting, another voice suddenly came from behind, carrying a somewhat deliberate reminder:
"Madam, are you looking at this osmanthus tree? The young master and the eldest young master planted it together when they were boys. The young master treasures it dearly."
Cui Wan froze.
That voice... sounded so familiar. And the words... were exactly the same?!
She spun around, her eyes widening-Yan Qin?! How... why had he come back?! And hadn't he just said that?
Yan Qin stood a few paces behind her, tilting his head, seemingly puzzled by her excessive reaction.
"You... you..." Cui Wan clutched her hem, her voice trembling. "Why are you here again?"
Yan Qin looked even more confused. Frowning, he thought for a moment, then said innocently, "I haven't, madam. When was I here before? Haven't I only just seen you?"
Cui Wan found it stranger still, and a chill crept up her spine. Forcing herself to stay calm, she reminded him, "Didn't... didn't you just say the young master had summoned you?"
"The young master summoned me?" Yan Qin recoiled a step in fright, his expression instantly turning panicked as he waved his hands repeatedly. "No! I didn't hear him summon me! Is that really true? Madam, please don't frighten me!"
He did not appear to be pretending.
Cui Wan was completely bewildered, and fear began spreading through her heart. What... what was happening? How could one person appear in two places, say the same things, yet have no memory of what had just happened? Could... could she have remembered wrong? Or... had she seen a ghost in broad daylight?
Seeing her pale face and how close she seemed to tears, Yan Qin suddenly appeared to remember something. He slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh!" as though it had dawned on him, then stepped forward to explain. "I know, madam! No, that was..."
To Cui Wan's terrified eyes, his step forward was no different from a "ghost" lunging at her! Scared out of her wits, she did not dare listen to his explanation. Only one thought remained in her mind-run!
"Ah!" Cui Wan gave a short scream, turned, and ran! She bitterly regretted not having Qiaoju accompany her. Was this courtyard really haunted?
In her panic, she fled blindly, charging straight ahead with her head down. Her foot caught in her own skirt, and she lost her balance, crying out as she pitched forward!
The expected pain of falling onto cold stone never came.
She crashed into an embrace that held body warmth yet was exceptionally stiff. Her cheek buried itself directly in soft, thick, furry fabric, and her nose brushed an unfamiliar scent mingling faint medicine with the crisp fragrance of pine and cypress. Terrified, she flailed her hands and clutched the furry material tightly, trembling all over as she shut her eyes and cried in a tearful voice:
"Ghost! There's a ghost!!"
Dead silence surrounded her.
There was only the sound of her own breathing and heartbeat.
The expected sensation of being seized or attacked by a "ghost" never came.
After trembling for a while, Cui Wan gradually sensed something was wrong. It was too quiet. And... though this "ghost's" embrace was stiff, it had warmth, and... a heartbeat?
Trembling, she cautiously raised her head, little by little.
First she saw a black lapel, then a sharply defined jaw, tightly pressed thin lips, and finally... she met a pair of eyes cold enough to freeze the air.
Chu Moqi!
He sat upright in his wheelchair, his face darker than usual and his brows tightly knitted. Undisguised disgust and impatience churned in his eyes, along with a trace of... absurd anger at being crashed into, then having his clothes clutched while she shouted about a "ghost."
Cui Wan instantly forgot to breathe, and even forgot to cry.
Chu Moqi looked at the foolish girl who had plunged headfirst into his arms and was still trembling like a frightened quail, shouting about a "ghost." Through gritted teeth, he coldly forced out two words:
"Get up!"
His voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable command and an intense pressure.
Cui Wan snapped out of her daze, her face flushing scarlet before instantly turning deathly pale. Flustered, she released the blanket over his legs and scrambled out of his embrace, stumbling upright with her head lowered, not daring to look at him.
Only after steadying herself did she belatedly notice that the thick blanket over Chu Moqi's legs had been knocked askew and mostly dislodged by her "collision" and "clawing." It was nearly falling to the ground, exposing the somewhat unnatural contours of the legs beneath it.
Cui Wan panicked and instinctively said "I'm sorry" again. Forgetting her fear, she reached out to cover him properly and smooth the blanket.
But the moment her hand touched its edge-
A cold, powerful hand abruptly clamped around her wrist! Its grip was so strong it nearly crushed her bones!
"Ah!" Cui Wan cried out in pain.
The next instant, that hand flung her away!
Cui Wan stumbled, retreating several steps before finding her footing. Her wrist burned, and tears instantly welled up. Hurt and frightened, she did not understand why he was so furious when she had only wanted to fix his blanket.
"I... I only..." she tried to explain, her voice thick with tears.
But Chu Moqi did not listen at all. Without even looking at her, his face dark, he rearranged the blanket himself, slowly and methodically yet with suppressed fury, smoothing every crease.
Only after finishing did he look up again and sweep Cui Wan with a cold gaze, his tone full of mockery and irritation. "A ghost? Open your eyes and look carefully. Which one is a ghost?!"
Cui Wan shrank at his shout. Through tear-blurred eyes, she timidly raised her head and followed his gaze around her.
At that look, her eyes went perfectly round and her mouth fell slightly open. She even forgot to cry.
Two... two Yan Qins?
Right before her stood two tall men side by side, almost identical in build, appearance, and dress!
Frightened, Cui Wan retreated another step, looking from one to the other, her mind in utter chaos.
Seeing this, one of them hurried forward and explained with an honest, awkward air, "M-madam, did you... mistake me... for my older brother?"
B... brothers?
Cui Wan's mind was a tangled mess. At a loss, she looked toward Chu Moqi, as though seeking confirmation from him, or as though this sudden turn had left her so utterly bewildered that she could only rely on the one person present who looked "normal."
Though... he was very fierce...
Watching her foolish, dazed, frightened expression, Chu Moqi found that, for some reason, the nameless anger in his heart burned less fiercely. His tone remained cold and hard, however. "Have you never seen twins?"
Twins...
Cui Wan stared blankly at the pair, then at Chu Moqi's face, black as the bottom of a pot. The tangled threads in her mind finally seemed to yield a loose end-twins?
She had heard before that some twin brothers looked so alike they were difficult to distinguish. But... she had never seen any herself!
Cui Wan hastily nodded, then realized that was wrong and hurriedly shook her head, explaining incoherently, "My... my father and my third uncle... were twins too. Only... my third uncle died young, before he turned twenty. I... I never met him... I... I didn't know..."
Her voice grew quieter as she spoke, and her head sank lower and lower.
Something shifted faintly in Chu Moqi's eyes, but they quickly returned to cold stillness. He said nothing more, merely snorted coldly and raised his hand in a gesture.
Yan Qin immediately stepped forward and silently began pushing the wheelchair away.
The other took advantage of Chu Moqi turning away to slip over to the still-dazed Cui Wan. Lowering his voice, he spoke quickly with a mischievous smile. "It's all right, madam... The young master isn't angry. He just lost face... Remember, madam, I'm Yan Huai. I'm a little more handsome than my brother!"
Before Cui Wan could react, he darted off after the wheelchair, which had already gone some distance.
Cui Wan stood blankly in place. Her wrist still hurt, and her fright had not entirely subsided, yet Yan Huai's parting words, "a little more handsome," left her unsure whether to laugh or cry.
With Yan Qin pushing him, Chu Moqi moved away along the covered walkway at an unhurried pace.
His back was ramrod straight, his expression still dark. The chaotic farce just now, particularly Cui Wan's foolish appearance as she crashed into his arms and clutched his clothes while shouting about a "ghost," left an irritation in his heart that would not fade.
Her scent... had been a little sweet, as though touched by the fragrance of osmanthus, mixed with the clean scent of soap pods peculiar to a young girl. It had rushed into his nose all at once, and even now seemed to linger faintly.
Chu Moqi's brows tightened almost imperceptibly.
Just now... most of the blanket had slipped off.
Had she... seen his legs?
Although clothing and the blanket had covered them, that crooked corner might still have exposed something of their unnatural contours. An ordinary person, seeing them suddenly, would instinctively avert their gaze even if they showed no disgust. Yet she... her first reaction had actually been to apologize, then try to cover him properly?
Was she truly so foolish that she knew no taboos, or... was she deliberately feigning innocence and harmlessness to win sympathy or lower his guard?
Chu Moqi sneered inwardly. He knew perfectly well what the Cui family was scheming by sending her here. What could a half-grown child understand? Most likely, someone had coached her in a few superficial tricks.
Then he remembered Cui Wan's later reactions-frightened pale, speaking incoherently, her eyes brimming with tears after he flung her away, and finally staring openmouthed at the two brothers, looking so foolish it was as though her soul had fled beyond the heavens.
Was she really... that foolish?
An inexplicable trace of indescribable... absurdity mingled with the nameless anger in Chu Moqi's heart, along with the faintest hint of... curiosity, which even he was unwilling to acknowledge.
He had seen all sorts of people: fawning, fearful, sympathetic, scheming... yet never anyone like Cui Wan.
Call her timid, yet she dared wander about alone at night; call her calculating, yet the bewilderment and terror on her face truly seemed unfeigned; call her a wealth-seeking social climber, yet in the days since marrying him, she had done nothing but hide from him or sit lost in thought, never even offering a decent word of flattery...
Chu Moqi's thoughts were somewhat disordered. Unable to resist, he turned his head slightly and, screened by a corridor pillar, stole a quick, distant glance from the corner of his eye at the slender figure still standing woodenly beneath the osmanthus tree.
Cui Wan had her head lowered, seemingly examining her reddened wrist. Her little face was scrunched up, and she looked thoroughly pitiful.
Chu Moqi swiftly withdrew his gaze. That faint ripple in his heart instantly stilled, covered once more by an icy shell.
Utterly stupid.
He gave a cold inward sneer.
Were Yan Qin and Yan Huai that frightening? They seemed perfectly ordinary. Did the two... look so alike? Why could he tell them apart at a glance? Yan Qin was steadier, his gaze sharper; Yan Huai always had a somewhat frivolous, indolent air, and his eyes were livelier.
With such obvious differences, that foolish girl had actually mistaken them for each other and frightened herself like that?
She really had seen nothing of the world, with less courage than a rabbit...
The wheelchair rounded a bend in the walkway, cutting the figure beneath the osmanthus tree completely from view. Chu Moqi closed his eyes and leaned against the backrest, reining in every trace of outward emotion, becoming once more that cold, gloomy cripple who kept everyone a thousand miles away...