Chapter 8

They had bowed to their parents, paid respects to Heaven and Earth, and the emperor had personally granted her an  imperial edict. The world knew she was the Duchess of Jiangxia, his only wife.

Chen Yue thought that after three years of marriage, Tangxiu should trust him.

But she didn’t.

She had kept everything from him, not letting him know anything. She had completely excluded him.

Chen Yue looked down at Tangxiu.

They were so close that he could simply raise his arm and encircle her, holding her close like he always did. But he didn’t move. He just stayed close, waiting for her reaction after she held her breath.

Chen Yue knew he was right.

He also knew that she might have hesitated, might have been doubtful, but ultimately, she was still worried that the events of her dream would play out in reality. That’s why she hadn’t told him anything and had left on her own.

He also knew that even so, he couldn’t do anything about it.

He had had a smooth sailing life, his career was also considered successful. He was adept at playing politics and scheming, but the only time he stumbled was because of Tangxiu.

He had liked her from the moment he first saw her.

He liked her so much that when he learned she loved good food, he found almost lost recipes and had them sent to the Tang Mansion to be made for her. After they married, when he learned that she collected rare woods, he found almost extinct wood, had it polished, and sent it to her to play with.

Whatever she wanted, he gave it to her. Even if she didn’t ask, if he could think of it, he gave it to her. Chen Yue believed that he had done more than enough in the past three years, but why wouldn’t she even tell him about a dream?

Did she trust him so little?

Shouldn’t husband and wife be inseparable, sharing the joys and sorrows of life? But why…

“No.”

Finally, Tangxiu spoke.

Just two simple words, but they made Chen Yue feel as if he had fallen off a cliff, a piece of his heart missing.

He instinctively grabbed Tangxiu’s hand, gritting his teeth, and asked word by word, “No what? You don’t recognize me as your husband?”

Three years of marriage, and it meant nothing to her?

Chen Yue couldn’t accept that answer for a moment. He was gripping Tangxiu’s hand so tightly that even his fingertips were straining, but Tangxiu seemed to feel no pain. She shook her head and repeated, “No.”

She seemed to think of something. Her expression, which had been calm and composed even as Chen Yue pressed her, suddenly changed. It was as if a fierce fire was burning inside her, consuming her, causing her great pain. Her lips trembled slightly, and her breath was shaky, but her voice was firm as she said, “It’s not that.”

Chen Yue felt a pang of relief.

That was good.

Then, Tangxiu pulled her hand away from his and even pushed him back.

Chen Yue didn’t resist. He stepped back half a step, following her force.

This half-step created distance between them, and Tangxiu breathed a sigh of relief. The emotions that had been on the verge of breaking down quickly returned to normal.

Close call.

She had almost given in and told him.

But she had seen that dream so many times. Tangxiu knew that the last person who should know was Chen Yue.

She couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

Because the dream wasn’t just about his guess. There was also…

“Go.”

Tangxiu finally held on, using a cold tone to dismiss him. “It’s getting late.”

Chen Yue remained silent.

The setting sun had completely disappeared, night had fallen, and the silver moon had risen. The soft moonlight bathed the hot spring, creating ripples that somehow felt cold. Tangxiu’s shoulders seemed to have gotten cold from being exposed to the water for too long. She shivered slightly. Before Chen Yue’s mind could catch up, his body instinctively moved towards the shore. He picked up a new towel and wrapped it tightly around her.

After wrapping her up, his hand lingered on her shoulder. He hesitated, then stubbornly asked again, “Are you really not going to tell me anything?”

Tangxiu didn’t look at him. She just hummed softly.

He asked again, “Is it that you won’t tell me, can’t tell me, or dare not tell me?”

“…”

Did it matter?

She wouldn’t choose any of them.

“Why do you have to pry so much?” Tangxiu asked back. “What good would it do you to know? Are you so eager to join me in sleepless nights?”

“Yes. I’d rather be sleepless with you.”

He said it decisively, as if they were a couple sharing the joys and sorrows of life together. But Tangxiu was speechless.

She had finally fallen asleep without him. She didn’t want to repeat that experience.

She slapped Chen Yue’s hand away and pulled the towel tighter around her shoulders. Without looking up, she said, “Then you can stay sleepless every night.”

Chen Yue was speechless.

This woman was truly heartless.

She was impervious to both soft and hard tactics, and neither threats nor inducements worked. Chen Yue had to change his approach. “Then when you’ve had enough of staying here, I’ll take you back to the Marquis’s Mansion.”

“I won’t go back.”

Her tone was even colder.

“Then I’ll go to the palace and get the divorce papers back.”

“Don’t.”

“I’ll go get them.”

“Don’t you dare.”

She was not only heartless, but also domineering. She pushed him back again and said that Liucai would be here soon, so he should leave.

Chen Yue remained unmoved. “What if Liucai sees me?”

Well, there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Maybe Liucai already knew he was here.

Under the moonlight, Tangxiu glanced at the path leading to the hot spring entrance. It was dark and quiet, with no one in sight. But she still urged Chen Yue, “Go quickly.” She even kicked him in the water. “Men and women should not be intimate. I don’t want my reputation to be ruined.”

Chen Yue wanted to say that from the moment he arrived, their innocence was already gone, but he finally gave in to her wishes. He stretched out his long arm, grabbed his wrinkled robe, and went ashore to leave.

“Wait.”

Hearing Tangxiu’s words, Chen Yue stopped.

Chen Yue wasn’t stupid enough to think she had suddenly changed her mind and wanted him to stay.

Sure enough, “Leave the same way you came. Don’t use the main gate.”

Chen Yue said he knew. He leaped over the wall onto the rockery beside the shore and was about to leave.

Before leaving, he turned back. “Don’t soak in the hot spring for too long. Be careful of dizziness.”

Tangxiu said, “You talk too much.”

Chen Yue jumped over the wall and left.

As soon as he left, Liucai arrived at the hot spring.

“Miss.”

Liucai looked at the high wall behind the rockery, seemingly unintentionally. She had indeed known since someone had just arrived.

Chen Yue hadn’t even tried to be discreet.

He wanted the whole city to know that he was looking for Tangxiu.

“Do you want to continue soaking?” Liucai asked. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

Tangxiu said no. Her shoulders were no longer cold, and if she stayed in any longer, she would get dizzy.

Liucai helped Tangxiu get out of the water.

Then she asked cautiously, “Miss, if the Marquis comes again, should we stop him?”

“No need. If he wants to come, let him come. Don’t bother with him,” Tangxiu said casually. “Besides, who in the world could stop him? It’s not worth the effort.”

Liucai thought, that was true. If someone was strong enough to stop the Jinyi Guards，it would probably be impossible to stop the Commander.

Then she thought again. Maybe Miss hadn’t even considered stopping him, otherwise, she would have called her.

Liucai felt a little helpless when she realized this.

It was clear that Miss and the Marquis were willing to play this game. What could anyone else say?

As long as Miss was happy.

After dinner, Tangxiu took a walk to digest her food and then went back to her bedroom to wash up. Seeing Liucai take out the incense she had brought from the Tang Mansion, including some calming and soothing incense that her grandfather had prepared for the estate, Tangxiu said, “Don’t rush to light it. Let’s see if I can sleep in a different place before we do.”

Liucai put the incense aside for now.

Strangely enough, even though she hadn’t lit any incense, Tangxiu was able to sleep for most of the night this time. She only woke up because the birds chirping at dawn made it impossible to sleep, not because she was startled awake by a nightmare.

Tangxiu hugged her blanket and pondered whether it was the hot spring or Chen Yue’s visit that had made a difference.

She was too used to Chen Yue.

Whether it was his scent or his warmth, she could recognize them with her eyes closed. Naturally, her body also recognized him. The familiarity he brought her was inexpressible.

But the hot spring seemed to be effective too…

Tangxiu couldn’t figure it out, so she stopped thinking about it. After all, she had only soaked in the hot spring once. She would have to soak more before summer arrived.

And so, she spent her days meditating and drinking tea like Feng Jingrong, reading Taoist scriptures when she had nothing to do, or going to the nearby fields to watch people farm, or taking a walk on the nearby mountain. When it got dark, she would return to the estate and soak in the hot spring. Day after day, Tangxiu’s sleep did improve. At least, she could sleep through the whole night without waking up.

But because of this, Tangxiu still didn’t know whether she had slept that night because of the hot spring or Chen Yue.

She still hadn’t found the answer to this question even when Du Xiangling returned to the capital and came to the estate to see her.

“Tangtang, I heard on the way here that you divorced the Duke of Jiangxia. What happened?”

The familiar, upward inflection in her voice reached Tangxiu’s ears. She put down her scriptures and looked up to see Du Xiangling, dressed in her usual attire, enter.

She had obviously come straight here after bringing her merchant caravan into the capital, otherwise, she wouldn’t have been wearing such dusty clothes without changing.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Tangxiu had a wealthy merchant grandfather and a mother with a keen business mind, so she had never lacked money. She always spent lavishly. Du Xiangling, her close friend of over a decade, also loved to spend money. She was still unmarried and spent her days traveling all over the country with her merchant caravan, all for the sake of earning more money to spend.

In ordinary families, daughters wouldn’t be allowed to be so visible and not get married. Du Xiangling was also fortunate in her family background.

Du Xiangling’s father was the Duke of Xiping. Since Du Xiangling lost her mother when she was young, the Duke of Xiping didn’t know how to raise children, so he married a second wife. Unfortunately, his second wife was always cautious and timid, and she wouldn’t let Du Xiangling do this or that. So, when Du Xiangling grew up, no one in the Duke of Xiping’s Mansion could control her.

The Duke of Xiping had thought about reasserting his authority and trying to mold Du Xiangling into a proper noblewoman, but he saw that she had a talent for running a merchant caravan and that she always earned enough money to make the emperor praise him when he donated to disaster relief. Over time, he simply turned a blind eye and let her do as she pleased.

After all, if she was unhappy, she could easily cut off his monthly allowance. He used the money she gave him for drinking, tea, entertaining guests, and socializing.

Therefore, Du Xiangling was also the boss in the Duke of Xiping’s Mansion, similar to Tangxiu in her own way.

Du Xiangling and Tangxiu had been friends for so long that even though they hadn’t seen each other for months, their relationship was still the same. There was no awkwardness or estrangement. Tangxiu didn’t even pretend to get up to greet her. She sat still and said, “Which kind of rumor do you want to hear? I’ll make one up for you.”

Du Xiangling burst out laughing. “You mischievous Tangtang, you always know how to tease me.”

She sat down next to Tangxiu, treating it like her own home and ordering the maids to pour her some tea. She had been on the road all day and was thirsty.

Tangxiu dismissed the maids and poured her some water herself.

She said, “Other people beg me to tease them, but I don’t even want to.”

Du Xiangling raised an eyebrow. “Other people? Oh, I understand. It’s definitely other people.” Before Tangxiu could explain, she changed the subject. “Speaking of other people, I ran into that other person on the road. He asked me to give you a prescription. Here you go.”

Du Xiangling took a piece of paper from her sleeve, held it between two fingers, and waved it in front of Tangxiu’s eyes, smiling mischievously.

“It’s from someone else. Do you want it?”