Chapter 47

After finishing the case notes, the old Chinese doctor looked up.

Her tone was gentle. “There’s nothing much wrong with your body. Your foundation is still all right. Sharing a bed after marriage is fine. Getting pregnant, though, won’t be easy.”

“Is it because of cold in the womb?” Ye Wanqing’s heart tightened.

“You could put it that way.” The old doctor asked, “You just said you suffered from cold. Was it from being frozen, or from seeking coolness yourself?”

Ye Wanqing bit her lip. “When I was six or seven I worked with the other children, scooping duckweed in the pond. Over time my knees would hurt every autumn and winter. I thought I might have caught cold.”

In fact this was not a guess. In her previous life she had gone a long time without conceiving and had seen doctors. The Chinese doctor then had said it was cold in the womb. On top of that she had been older then, which made conceiving even harder.

Now she wanted to regulate her body early.

“Foolish!” The old doctor clearly disapproved.

Never mind that the child had been too young and going into the water was dangerous—girls also needed to keep warm from a young age, or they easily caught cold, which was bad for pregnancy.

But it was already too late to say that now.

The old doctor said, “Your body isn’t suited for having a child right now. Cold in the womb makes it hard to conceive. Even if you do conceive, you’re prone to miscarriage and arrested fetal development. Even if you force the pregnancy to continue… forget it. I don’t recommend that. Even if you try to keep the pregnancy, the situation won’t be ideal. Better to regulate your body first.”

“Mm.” Ye Wanqing nodded. “I’ll listen to you.”

“If you want to regulate, I’ll prescribe six months of Chinese medicine to condition your body.” The old doctor wrote quickly again. “Five packets a month. Start taking them on the fifth day of your period. One packet is decocted three times. Mix the three decoctions together and take them morning, noon, and night.”

Ye Wanqing nodded.

The old doctor handed her the slip. “If you have time, you can also apply the dregs to strengthen the effect. There’s leftover potency in the dregs. After you finish decocting, wrap the dregs in a cloth and apply them hot to your belly. When they cool, steam them in a pot to heat them again, squeeze out the moisture, and apply them below the navel. The temperature doesn’t need to be too high—around thirty or forty degrees is enough.”

“All right.” Ye Wanqing nodded.

The old doctor gave a few more instructions. Ye Wanqing noted them one by one.

Before leaving she spoke a little shyly again. “That…”

The old doctor smiled and took the reading glasses off the bridge of her nose. “At eighteen the body is already mature. You can get a marriage certificate. What’s there that you can’t share a bed over? I said at the start that sharing a bed is still fine. Just be careful not to get pregnant. Also—congratulations on your wedding.”

Ye Wanqing’s cheeks flushed scarlet. She lowered her head, said thank you, and walked out of the clinic in embarrassment.

She walked in a daze for quite a stretch before patting her own cheeks. Only then did she feel the heat on her face drop a little…

So they could share a bed…

Then that someone was probably going to be overjoyed.

Thinking of it, a sweet smile also rose at the corners of Ye Wanqing’s lips.

What she did not know was that the moment she stepped out of the clinic, Ge Yuan stepped in right after her.

More than ten minutes later he came out of the clinic, restlessly raking a hand through his hair, his eyes full of frustration. The melancholy in his heart had nowhere to go.

He walked onto the street with a cold face. Pedestrians immediately scattered like startled sparrows.

“Mama, that uncle looks so scary…”

“Don’t talk. Let’s go quickly!”

Ge Yuan was tall and powerfully built. His black eyes were deep and cold. His short hair was hard as steel needles. Even when he was neither smiling nor angry he looked like a hard case, let alone now when his mood was bad.

At this moment his irritable look really had a fierce, frightening quality. It was no wonder pedestrians who were afraid of running into bad luck all gave him a wide berth.

Ge Yuan: “…Fuck!”

—

August 17.

The weather was clear, not a cloud for ten thousand li.

Ye Wanqing got up first thing in the morning, took a bath, then changed into the red dress Wei Hong had made with her own hands.

The dress fit beautifully and outlined her figure well, making her look even more graceful and upright.

Once she was dressed and standing in front of the mirror, thinking of a certain someone’s foolish nosebleed that day, Ye Wanqing pressed her lips and showed a shy smile, a little slyness in her eyes. Mm… she wondered whether tonight that someone would get excited again?

Possibly.

She was a little expectant.

On the dressing table were the skincare products and makeup Ge Yuan had bought long ago. There were not many cosmetics in this era. Ye Wanqing only drew her brows a little and put on some lipstick, and that counted as makeup.

Her skin was good—smooth as jade, luminous as snow. She could carry it even without powder. At the fine age of just eighteen, even without makeup, youth and freshness were the greatest beauty.

“Sister, there’s still about an hour left. Get ready!” Wei Hong knocked on the door and poked her head in from outside, her face full of teasing. “Let me tell you, I hid the wedding shoes especially well. When the time comes, if Brother-in-law doesn’t give me a few extra red packets, I won’t let him take you away that easily.”

Ye Wanqing was helpless. “You’re afraid I’ll ‘betray’ you, aren’t you? You won’t even tell me.”

“That’s right.” Wei Hong puffed out her chest proudly. “I’m counting on this to get rich. None of you can stop me!”

Standing behind her, Wei Lan tapped her on the head. “You’re the only one who’s so cheeky.”

Wei Hong giggled, delighted.

While they were still laughing and making noise, talking and laughing came from the courtyard gate. Ye Wanqing looked out the window and saw that Jiang Lili, Jiang Wen and the others had arrived.

She quickly stood up, her eyes full of joy.

“Wanqing, we’re here!” Jiang Lili waved excitedly, hurried up to Ye Wanqing, took her hands, and her eyes were full of amazement. “Wah, you look so beautiful today. Yuan-ge is definitely going to stare until his eyes fall out!”

She took out a gift box as if presenting treasure and said mysteriously, “Don’t open it now. Sneak a look before you bathe tonight.”

Ye Wanqing shot her a look. “…”

Something to sneak a look at before bathing—she felt it was definitely not anything proper!

“Congratulations, Classmate Ye.”

“Happy wedding.”

Jiang Wen and the other boys from evening self-study also offered their blessings and presented their gifts. Only one person was someone Ye Wanqing had never expected…

Chen Yuming.

The young man, as fine as orchids and jade trees, walked up to Ye Wanqing and openly offered a red envelope. “Happy wedding.”

He had once liked the girl in front of him very much. Even now his heart still moved… But as a man, at this moment he only had blessings.

To keep anyone from minding, he had not sent any gift that would make people overthink. He chose the most conservative red envelope to send his blessing and hoped Ye Wanqing would accept it.

If she minded, he would also…

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips and smiled, then accepted it generously. “Thank you.”

In both her previous life and this one she had no fate with Chen Yuming. To avoid suspicion, they would certainly not have especially close dealings in the future either. But she was willing to accept his blessing…

As for social courtesy, when he got married later she would send a gift in return. There was no need to make both sides awkward now.

“Come, come, come. Have some tea.”

While Ye Wanqing was talking with Jiang Lili and the others, Wei Lan had taken Wei Hong to brew ginger-salt tea. The moment the tea was brought out, the little awkwardness caused by Chen Yuming vanished as if it had never been.

Wei Hong was a few years younger than Jiang Lili, but they hit it off at first sight—birds of a feather.

Because she got along so well with Jiang Lili, Wei Hong very generously revealed where she had hidden the wedding shoes, drawing a burst of amazement from Jiang Lili, who praised her as a young woman with ideas. Wei Hong was delighted beyond measure.

It was almost eight. The groom’s side was coming to fetch the bride—and then a little traitor appeared in the “enemy” camp.

“Pretty Sister-in-law, Big Brother is coming to steal the bride. I came to protect you!” Ge Yue rushed up to Ye Wanqing hugging her little tin bucket, her face tense. “Just now I secretly heard Big Brother and them say they want to climb the wall. I’m good, right?”

She had gone to a lot of trouble, bringing all her treasures to find Pretty Sister-in-law!

Ye Wanqing could not help laughing. Everyone else burst out laughing too.

Ge Yue hugged her little tin bucket with a puzzled face. Seeing how happily the others were laughing, she also smiled sweetly, nestled against Ye Wanqing’s side, cute and adorable.

Ye Wanqing ruffled the little one’s head, laughing and then unable to help sighing. This little kid who sold out her brother—who knew whether Ge Yuan would spank her little bottom once he found out.

At eight sharp a lively burst of firecrackers went off. Then a roar of voices came over, and someone started knocking on the door.

Ye Wanqing heard her own man’s voice.

“Wanqing, I’m here!”

“Hurry and open the door.”

“Open up, open up, there are red packets!”

Jiang Lili and the others refused to yield, chattering, “Too few red packets! Where’s the sincerity?!”

“Damn, they’re really climbing the wall. Quick, poke them down with bamboo poles!”

“Only three? Don’t you know good things come in pairs? At least four… no, six red packets!”

“Make it nine red packets—lasting as long as heaven and earth!”

Even the steadiest Zhou Zhao joined in. “Jiang Wen, what was the hardest part of high school math? How about we give the groom a problem at the extra-credit difficulty of the college entrance exam and let him solve it?”

Ge Yuan: “…”

This pack of bastards. He had blown electric fans on them for so long for nothing!

They were definitely jealous that he could marry such a beautiful, gentle, lovely, kind, generous… wife so quickly!

Hmph…

As a little hoodlum and the county town’s top dog, at this moment he had nowhere to use all that fighting power. Ge Yuan could only be glad his financial power was more than enough.

Red packets opened the way. They smashed through like splitting bamboo!

Once he had shown enough sincerity, while Jiang Lili and the others were greedily counting red packets, the little courtyard’s gate was finally breached…

But there was still a room door.

Ge Yuan had finally gotten into the courtyard and was already sweating heavily. He wiped the glistening beads from his forehead. His sharp black eyes looked through the half-open window toward the room where Ye Wanqing was staying. He wished he could just jump through the window.

The brothers around him held cloth bags stuffed with red packets and shouted with the arrogance of the rich, “Come, come, come, red packets are here. People in the room, hurry and open the door.”

With the “great enemy” at the door, Ye Wanqing’s heart was pounding like a drum, yet she still sat steadily on the bed. Wei Hong, on the other hand, was spinning in circles at the doorway, even more nervous than the bride herself.

Ye Wanqing looked at her, amused. “What are you spinning around for? You’re making me dizzy.”

“I’m afraid I’ll go soft and hand the wedding shoes to Brother-in-law after only a few red packets. Aaaaah… I hate that I’m such a conscientious person!” Wei Hong suddenly leaned in. “Sister, do you have any good way to bully Brother-in-law a little?”

Ye Wanqing thought for a moment and held back a laugh. “…How about you make him do punches?”

Only the three Wei siblings were guarding the room. Wei Lan and Wei Jun were both shy. After taking two red packets they were already too embarrassed to keep making a fuss. They had almost no fighting power at all.

Wei Hong glared at her older sister and brother as if they were hopeless metal that would not turn into steel, took four red packets in a huff, and then… also got embarrassed.

But she had not forgotten her mission!

“Brother-in-law, I heard you can do punches. Do a set for us!”

Ge Yuan outside the door: “…”

Do punches?

He guessed at once. It had to be his naughty little woman’s rotten idea. Otherwise… who else would know he liked to throw punches whenever he got excited?

Thinking of the two times he had made a fool of himself before, a few threads of grievance passed through Ge Yuan’s black eyes. Still he walked honestly to the middle of the courtyard.

So annoying. But for the sake of marrying a wife…

Monkey clapped and heckled blindly. “Brother Yuan, come on, show your manly vigor!”

Flower Shirt and the others also howled, wildly excited.

Ge Yuan: “…”

These people—did they still remember they had come to help him steal the bride?

Useless brothers. Couldn’t be counted on!

If he was going to punch in public, Ge Yuan naturally would not do it sloppily.

He was tall and long-legged, solidly built. Wearing a short-sleeved white shirt and black suit trousers, standing in the middle of the courtyard he looked like a straight young pine. People could feel the firmness and unyielding will on him. His presence was full.

He had once been lucky enough to learn a set of military punches from an expert. He had practiced punches since he was small to train his body and had hardly slacked off. He did them very well.

Under everyone’s eyes he went through the set with fierce vigor. The wind of his fists was strong. The people around cheered loudly, the response enthusiastic.

When he finished the set, his clothes were a little damper with sweat. He collected his stance and stood still, instinctively looking toward the room where Ye Wanqing was—only to find that the window had already been opened at some point.

His little woman was standing quietly by the window looking at him with a smile, fresh and lovely as new peach blossoms just grown on the branches in March, vivid and moving, as if she had bloomed straight out of his heart.

“Monkey, scatter all the red packets!” Ge Yuan shouted, and his whole body had already lunged toward the window.

Ye Wanqing instinctively stepped back. Ge Yuan braced one hand on the window ledge, flipped nimbly into the room, and stared straight at her with burning eyes.

To the side, Wei Jun and Wei Lan looked at each other and muttered, “Should we do something?”

“Throw him out the front door?”

“Aren’t you afraid Brother-in-law will beat you?” Wei Hong suggested nimbly. “How about we go out and grab red packets first? After we grab them we can come back and supervise Brother-in-law looking for the wedding shoes?”

That could work!

They had taken the red packets. He had done the punches. The groom had already been made to suffer enough…

Leave this small space in the room to the two of them. They did not want to be sandbags!

Seeing the Wei siblings leave one after another, Ye Wanqing smiled and glared at Ge Yuan in mock complaint. “Look. You scared them all off.”

Better that they were scared off!

Ge Yuan broke into a grin, showing a mouthful of white teeth.

After he shaved off his stubble he had baked hard in the sun for a while. Skin that had once counted as fair had been tanned a healthy wheat color, losing a little handsomeness and gaining a little roughness. That original fierce flavor had come back a bit, making him look even more manly.

Add his thick brows and large eyes, a pair of eyes especially bright and coldly sharp, and the full presence on his body—he really was a little frightening.

But a big man like this—however Ye Wanqing looked at him, she liked him.

She sat down smiling at the edge of the bed, her two feet swinging in midair, and said lightly and playfully, “All right. Time to look for the wedding shoes?”

Ge Yuan: “…”

He accepted his fate and started looking.

He looked for a while and found nothing. Who knew where that brat Wei Hong had hidden the wedding shoes. So tightly!

Ye Wanqing still would not let him off. “Comrade Ge Yuan, as the groom, your little darling betrayed you, and your brothers were very happy heckling you while you punched. May I ask how you feel?”

Ge Yuan’s eyes narrowed. He stared at the smiling little woman for a few moments, then suddenly walked to the window and shouted, “Jiang Lili, where’s that ten-yuan piece of information I asked you to find out?”

Jiang Lili, who had been playing happily, turned to look and jumped up in delight. “Mission complete! The wedding shoes are hanging under the bed board!”

Wei Hong let out an “ah” of tragic cry and flew toward the room, shouting as she ran, “Jiang Lili you traitor!”

“Ahahaha, didn’t expect that, did you?” Jiang Lili planted her hands on her hips and laughed.

Ye Wanqing: “…”

Ge Yuan raised a brow in triumph, boldly pinched her cheek, and said, “Be good and come with me!”

“What if Jiang Lili hadn’t listened to you?” Ye Wanqing asked curiously.

Ge Yuan looked even more pleased, speaking with plenty of hoodlum air. “Then I prepared another pair of wedding shoes. Monkey’s carrying them. If we can’t find these, she can wear those! If it really doesn’t work, we just snatch them. Anyway nobody can beat me!”

“…” Ye Wanqing held it in, then could not help laughing.

By the time Wei Hong burst in, Ge Yuan had already found the shoes. Wei Hong felt she could not breathe and could only draw warmth from the red packets.

Ge Yuan crouched in front of Ye Wanqing, first carefully wiped off the dust she had picked up from stepping on the ground, then clumsily put the little red leather shoes on her. Before she could react he suddenly scooped her up from the bed in one motion.

His face was full of delighted smiling. “Let’s go!”

Wei Hong could not care about anything else. She quickly tossed the red packets aside and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Brother-in-law, you have to treat my sister well!” After shouting, Wei Hong’s eyes turned red, but her face still wore a blessing smile.

“All right!” Ge Yuan did not look back and strode off in long steps.

—

Ye Wanqing was marrying out of the little courtyard. If they went straight to the Ge family’s little courtyard, at most it was only a few dozen meters of walking. A wedding of course could not be that simple.

Ge Yuan had gotten more than ten bicycles. Every bicycle was tied with red silk flowers and looked very festive at a glance.

His bicycle was naturally first in line. After lifting Ye Wanqing onto the crossbar to sit, he swung his long legs over the bicycle. Taking the chance to adjust the handlebars, he kissed her once by the cheek.

After the stolen kiss he coughed once and called to the people behind him with a straight face, “Let’s go. We’re setting out!”

Ye Wanqing reached out and pinched his waist. He laughed twice.

“Set out!”

“Setting out!”

Monkey and the others rang their bells and answered loudly.

Not only that, they also took out several red banners, shook them open, slipped them onto thin bamboo poles, and held them in their hands.

Once the bicycles started moving, the bright banners rose in the air, especially eye-catching.

Blessings like “a hundred years of harmony” and “may you soon have a noble son” counted as quite proper. But the last three bicycles actually seized the chance to sneak in private goods. It was extremely arrogant.

Those last three banners read: “My brother is getting married,” “But I’m still single,” and “I’m pretty good too.”

Between the lines they were full of the bitterness and longing of single dogs.

More than ten bicycles set out from the little courtyard in a grand procession, heading in the opposite direction from the Ge courtyard. They would loop around the main streets and then reach the Ge courtyard from the other end of the alley.

A procession like this on the main street naturally caught pedestrians’ eyes.

People first saw the handsome, hard-edged groom, then the delicate, beautiful bride in his arms. Then they saw the red banners in Monkey and the others’ hands. At first they watched with smiles. By the last banners they sprayed laughter and started pointing and commenting.

Ge Yuan still did not know what good deed his brothers had done. He proudly showed off to Ye Wanqing. “See? Pretty good idea of mine, right? So lively. Everyone’s looking at us!”

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips and smiled, then secretly poked her man’s abs. “I’ll reward you tonight.”

Ge Yuan: “…”

That sensation at his abdomen was tingling and numb, as if a fire had started burning from there. He… he… wanted to throw punches again!

—

The procession looped around half the county town, soaked up plenty of attention, and headed for the Ge family’s little courtyard.

Once through the gate, Ge Yuan and Ye Wanqing followed the emcee through a simple set of rites. The last step was offering tea to the elders of both sides.

Old Zhong’s hands trembled with excitement. He drank a sip of tea, his eyes full of feeling.

He was an old man whose relatives had either died or gone missing. He had never expected that in his lifetime he would still sit in an elder’s seat and drink a cup of respectful tea.

He gave a thick red envelope. “Live well. I hope you can be harmonious and smooth, support each other for a lifetime, and raise your children to become people of ability.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

Ge Yuan and Ye Wanqing bowed seriously.

Then they offered tea to Wei Huainong and Liu Lixiu. The couple did not know what to say. They were so excited they downed a whole cup of tea, making the people around laugh helplessly.

Wei Huainong wiped his mouth in embarrassment and also took out a red envelope, saying awkwardly, “We don’t have much good to give you. This is a little token of our hearts. Don’t look down on it.”

“Thank you, Father. Thank you, Mother.”

Ge Yuan and Ye Wanqing bowed seriously again, their attitude not different in the slightest.

Since it was all a token of the heart, this token was priceless.

The ceremony was complete.

The two straightened up and looked at each other. Ge Yuan tightened his hold on Ye Wanqing’s hand. Anyone could see the excitement and agitation in his eyes. Unfortunately… it was still early in the day. They could not enter the bridal chamber yet.

Under so many eyes, they could not even kiss.

Ge Yuan secretly sighed in his heart, feeling this kind of process was simply too inhumane… There was still a whole afternoon to hold back, with no chance to kiss or touch. For a hot-blooded man it was far too unfriendly.

Ye Wanqing smiled and glanced at him, then pinched his palm. “Let’s go rest in the room for a bit. The banquet will start soon, and then we’ll have to toast again.”

“…” Ge Yuan’s eyes lit up at once. “All right!”