Chapter 48

“But we still can’t go too far. There are so many people waiting outside. If we make too much of a scene it won’t look good.” Facing her man’s bright, shining black eyes, Ye Wanqing still reminded him in a low voice.

She knew perfectly well what state the big man was in today.

When the two of them sat on the bicycle, her body had leaned lightly against him and she had clearly felt how worked up he was, never mind when they were alone…

Quite a few people had come to the banquet today. They could not stay out of sight for too long. She was afraid that if this fellow got going, he would lose his head.

“All right, I know!”

Ge Yuan agreed readily, but that was not what he was thinking.

Once they went into the room and shut the door, he could kiss as many times as he wanted. When the time came it would be his word that counted! Today everything he did was legal. They were married!

Happy!

Unfortunately, his perfect plan fell through.

They had barely entered the room when a tide of people surged in after them.

“Congratulations!”

“The groom is handsome, the bride is beautiful. Truly a pair made in heaven.”

Fatty Wang’s mother led the way, her eyes squeezed into slits from smiling. Paired with her round, plump face, she looked extra festive. The people following her were neighbors from around them, all coming to offer congratulations.

They could not exactly chase people out. Ye Wanqing could only quietly pinch Ge Yuan’s hand to send him out to receive guests while she stayed to chat with these sisters-in-law and aunts.

Ge Yuan looked back every three steps, wishing he could stuff his little woman into his pocket and carry her off.

“Wanqing, do you know how to do the wedding night? There’s no elder at home now. Do you want an auntie to talk it over with you?”

“What does it matter if she doesn’t know? As long as the man knows.”

“I’m just afraid the Ge family’s boy is too rough. Don’t let him find the wrong place when the time comes. Then the woman will suffer. Wanqing is delicate and pretty. Don’t let her take a loss.”

“If he finds the wrong place, he probably can’t get in anyway, right?”

“Don’t even mention it. There really are fools like that! Last time I heard my sister-in-law from my natal family say that in their village a newlywed couple were in the bridal chamber. The man had no experience and went straight through the wrong door. The bride had to lie on the bed for half a month before she recovered!”

“There’s actually something like that? Hurry and tell it in detail.”

Ye Wanqing: “…”

She could not get a single word in.

The era was conservative, but once a group of married women got together they had little restraint. One sentence after another, they successfully teased Ye Wanqing—whose face was not even that thin—until her cheeks were scarlet and she was too embarrassed to lift her head.

Good heavens.

This was too explosive!

They were simply… even less reserved than she was.

—

The banquet was set to start promptly at 10:58.

Breakfast was eaten early at this time of year, and by noon it was hot again, so they settled on around eleven.

The sun was not that fierce yet. There was a cool awning overhead, basins of ice under the tables, and electric fans blowing from all around. Sitting in the courtyard was not that hot.

These days there was no emcee at banquets. Usually they invited a general manager to coordinate everything, and they generally asked someone experienced and well-respected to take the role.

Ye Wanqing had invited Jiang Wangjun, the village head’s eldest son from Hongxing Village. Jiang Wangjun was a man in his forties with a hearty smile and a quick, efficient way of doing things. He greeted guests with real warmth and kept the banquet running in good order.

When the time came, Jiang Wangjun raised his voice.

“Honored guests, today is the happy wedding day of our groom Ge Yuan and our bride Ye Wanqing. It is also the promotion banquet for our bride Ye Wanqing, who has been admitted to university…”

His speech was short. First he offered congratulations on Ge Yuan and Ye Wanqing’s marriage and wished Ye Wanqing a journey of ten thousand li. He led the guests in sending sincere blessings to the newlyweds. Then he looked ahead to a fine future and promptly announced that the banquet would begin.

Amid blessings and heckling, the banquet started.

Dish after dish flowed onto the tables and immediately drew wave after wave of amazement from the people seated.

The banquet was simply too solid, too honest.

Before the main courses they first served a plate of melon seeds and peanuts, a plate of cut fruit, a plate of assorted candies, and a plate of cigarettes.

Children loved these most. The family elders divided the melon seeds, peanuts, and candies and put them into little bags for them. The children howled with joy, their faces full of delight.

Fruit was not easy to take away. The adults ate some themselves and fed the rest to the little ones, who ended up with juice all over their faces.

Once those were cleared, eight hot dishes and six cold dishes came up at once, almost too many to handle. They filled the table completely, plates stacked on plates just to fit.

The eight hot dishes included braised pork hock, beer duck, and hand-shredded chicken, plus two simply stir-fried vegetables.

The six cold dishes included a large platter of mixed braised meats, smashed cucumber, and sour-and-spicy wood ear fungus.

The little ones cheered again. “I want that, I want meat!”

“Mama, Grandma, I want meat!”

Ye Wanqing had not cooked these dishes herself, but she had taught the two hired cooks the methods and ingredients, so the food on the tables not only looked good but tasted good too.

Color, aroma, and flavor were all there.

Banquets at this time emphasized value. Most people did not have Ge Yuan and Ye Wanqing’s means to do it this well. Ordinary banquets had only one or two hard dishes and already counted as quite decent.

But today’s banquet—just one solid pork hock set on the table was enough to surprise people.

Never mind that even households with good circumstances who held banquets and were willing to spend still did not pay that much attention to flavor. Or rather, as long as the ingredients were in place and there was enough oil, that was the best flavor for people of this time.

This banquet, though, not only used very solid ingredients. The flavor was a deliciousness no one had ever tasted. After eating this meal and going home, they would savor it for days and show it off to relatives and friends for days.

Besides these hard dishes, each table also had several bottles of beer so the men who liked to drink would not lack something in their cups.

For little ones and women who could not drink, each person was given a cup of fragrant, sweet iced fruit tea, extremely fresh, and that taste was truly sweet.

Quite a few people began weighing in their hearts whether the gift money they had originally planned to give was a bit too little… After all, the banquet was done so well. If the gift was too light, it would be embarrassing.

Ye Wanqing had not worried much about the banquet. Big and small matters had basically been handled by Ge Yuan, with the Wei family helping from the side… When she went around toasting with Ge Yuan and looked over the tables, she could not help smiling.

Her big man was truly capable. Everything he handled was excellent.

The two of them first toasted the elders, then thanked their teachers, then thanked neighbors and friends.

After round after round of toasts, Ye Wanqing was a little tipsy. Ge Yuan still looked full of energy, pouring cup after cup into his mouth, refusing no one.

When the toasting finally paused, Ye Wanqing planned to go into the room to rest a while. Wei Hong, however, slipped to her side.

“Sister, someone outside is looking for you…”

“Who?” Ye Wanqing frowned.

“It’s…” Wei Hong shook her head helplessly. “Go see for yourself.”

Guessing it might be something hard to handle, Ye Wanqing followed Wei Hong quietly out the courtyard gate, passed the two banquet tables set outside, and saw several strangers standing in the alley.

These people were all around forty or fifty, ordinary-looking, dressed ordinarily as well, but every one of them had a firm face and a straight back. There was a very particular air about them. One look and you knew they had come out of the army.

Thinking of Ye Xiangdang, Ye Wanqing fell silent.

She walked up to them. “May I ask who you gentlemen are…”

The men glanced at one another. One in a dark gray cloth shirt stepped forward and explained, “We are your father’s comrades. We originally came to drink your wedding wine. Although there was a little accident… this is a small token of our hearts. Please accept it. We wish you well.”

He held out a red envelope. From the thickness it was not small. It should have been given by several of them together.

“Thank you.” Ye Wanqing first thanked them, then shook her head. “But I can’t accept this.”

“We made a special trip…”

“I’m sorry. I really can’t accept it.” Ye Wanqing smiled and refused politely. “You uncles have probably been here for several days already. You should know what happened between me and the Ye family, and you should know I have now returned to the Wei family and no longer have any connection with the Yes. That being so, I shouldn’t accept courtesy from the Ye family’s side.”

Not a single Ye family member had come to her wedding today. Even Ye Mingzhu had not appeared. Although Ye Xiangdang’s comrades had come, she still did not want to accept the gift.

However…

“I don’t know whether you gentlemen have eaten lunch. Why not come in and have a simple meal?” Ye Wanqing said.

She would not take the gift, but she also did not want these men to be so embarrassed. Inviting them to a meal was still all right.

Although she did not like Ye Xiangdang, she had no objection to his comrades. On the contrary, she respected these upright soldiers very much.

“No need.” The man in the dark gray cloth shirt waved a hand helplessly. “Since that’s the case… we won’t disturb you further.”

The men were about to leave. Ye Wanqing did not force them to stay.

She lowered her head and said a couple of words to Wei Hong. Wei Hong quickly ran into the courtyard and brought out several farewell gifts. In each gift was a good-quality towel, an enamel cup, and a portion of little biscuits Ye Wanqing had baked in advance.

“Thank you for your blessings. I’m sorry you made a special trip. Please do accept this small token of mine.”

After some pushing back and forth, the men seemed unused to this kind of occasion. Though their faces were a little awkward, they still accepted Ye Wanqing’s farewell gifts.

Before leaving, the man in the dark gray cloth shirt said, “Your fa—he has already woken up. But he’s still in the hospital and can’t get out of bed, so he couldn’t come.”

He did not say anything about asking Ye Wanqing to visit. Those were decisions she would have to make herself.

Ye Wanqing nodded silently, showing she understood.

The matter was like a small stone breaking the water’s surface. It only stirred a little ripple and quickly went still again.

Ye Wanqing went back to the room to rest a while. When she came out again her eyes were once more full of smiles. She talked and laughed with people as if nothing were different. She did not even plan to mention it to Ge Yuan, feeling there was no need.

What was past was past. It would not affect her.

—

After a happy noon meal, most of the guests scattered, cheerfully taking their leave with abundant farewell gifts. Only close family and friends remained in the courtyard.

Sitting around doing nothing was dull. A group of people cleaned up the courtyard, set the tables again, and opened several tables of cards in the rooms.

Eating fruit, with fans blowing—it could not have been more pleasant.

No one played for money. Each person had a handful of melon seeds and a handful of peanuts in front of them as stakes.

If they were too lazy even to count those, they just stuck slips of paper on the losers’ faces or made them crawl under the table. Laughing and making noise, they whiled away the afternoon.

Ye Wanqing had drunk a bit too much at noon and did not join the games. She lay on her side on the bed to rest.

Ge Yuan actually wanted to nap with her too. Even if they could not do anything else, stealing a little closeness and a couple extra kisses would have been good.

Unfortunately, everyday brotherhood was all plastic. He wanted to take an afternoon nap with his newly minted wife, but Monkey and the others simply would not let him go and insisted he play cards with them.

Furious, Ge Yuan awarded each of them a good kick, but he still had to sit and play.

Otherwise those grandsons would make even more trouble at night!

What he did not know was that watching him look so aggrieved and unsatisfied, Monkey and the others were secretly delighted. Even if they could not beat him at cards and were forced to crawl under the table, they were still happy.

Who told this man to be the first among the brothers to leave the single life?

He had to be taught a lesson. A hard lesson!

Only this “peaceful and harmonious” scene was quickly destroyed when Ge Yuan happened to notice a red banner Ge Yue was playing with.

“What’s that?” Ge Yuan narrowed his eyes.

The little kids running around the courtyard had banners draped over them like capes. Written on them was…

Oh.

“My brother is getting married”?

“But I’m still single”?

“I’m pretty good too”?

Where did that confidence come from?!

Ge Yuan swept his eyes around. Monkey and the others immediately jumped three meters away, extremely wary.

“That’s all the truth!”

“You married such a good woman as Sister-in-law, and we’re still bachelors. Can’t we advertise ourselves a little?”

“We’ve already saved enough bride-price!”

Ge Yuan tilted his head dangerously. His knuckles cracked. He put in the effort and beat those plastic brothers until they cried for their fathers and mothers.

“Still want to advertise yourselves, sneaking private goods into my wedding, hmm?”

“We want women too!”

“Aowu, Brother Yuan, stop hitting! Have Sister-in-law introduce us a few girls!”

Ge Yuan: “…”

Forget it. He would not argue with a pack of wife-less fools. His status was different from theirs now. He was a man with a family!

—

Night closed in.

The evening meal was only two tables. After close relatives and friends finished dinner together, what remained was Ge Yuan and Ye Wanqing’s private space.

Tonight the Ge family’s little courtyard was especially quiet.

To give the couple space, the Wei family and Old Zhong had all moved over to the little courtyard where Ye Wanqing used to live. They squeezed together, or laid bamboo mats in the courtyard for one night, all to create the best environment for the newlyweds.

Tree shadows swayed in the moonlight. The sound of wind moving the leaves sounded especially clear, never mind the cicadas and frogs.

Ge Yuan was very satisfied with this and expressed great thanks.

The moment the courtyard gate shut, Ge Yuan pulled Ye Wanqing into his arms and kissed her hard on the cheek.

He had held back a whole day. Finally he got to kiss her.

Ever since he saw his little woman in that delicate, quiet look in the red dress, he had not slept well these two nights. The moment he slept he tangled with her wildly in dreams, dreaming he tore that dress off like a lychee husk and exposed the fragrant, soft fruit inside.

So beautiful. So sweet…

It made him want to bite down and taste whether that juice could ease the thirst in his heart.

Ye Wanqing was a little ticklish from him and could not help dodging, laughing. “What are you doing? We haven’t even gone into the room yet.”

“Doesn’t matter…” Ge Yuan kissed her hard again, gripping her slim waist and pressing her into his arms, kissing as he said aggrievedly, “I held back a whole day. I’m about to go crazy!”

He held her for a while and was not satisfied. He roughly scooped her up sideways and strode toward their bridal chamber.

Wasn’t it just going into the room?

In!

Caught off guard, Ye Wanqing let out a short “ah.” After she recovered she laughed softly, wrapped her arms around her man’s neck, and buried her face against his chest, laughing low.

The room Ge Yuan used to live in had some furniture and furnishings changed and had been arranged as their bridal chamber.

Walking into the room, a pair of red candles stood on the dressing table beside the canopy bed, not yet lit, waiting quietly for someone to light them.

Big red double-happiness characters were pasted on the windows and the mirror. On the bed, laid with a water-bamboo mat, sat a pair of pillows covered with red pillow towels. The bright red mosquito net hung on both sides from silver hooks, soft as sunset clouds at the edge of the sky.

It looked especially festive. The whole room seemed to ripple with waves of red.

Ge Yuan gently set the little woman in his arms on the bed. His black eyes stared at her without blinking. The next moment he wanted to lean down and kiss her lips.

“Wait!” Ye Wanqing quickly stopped him.

Ge Yuan halted, dissatisfied. He said nothing, but his eyes were full of grievance. He did not understand why Ye Wanqing would not let him get close.

There was nobody left!

Ye Wanqing glared at him in mock complaint, her boneless-looking hand braced against his chest. “Fool. No matter how much you want… want that, you still have to let me take a bath first, right? You may not mind me, but I mind myself a little.”

There were only the two of them left. There was no rush at this moment.

It was high summer. They had sweated through the banquet. Although she had found a chance to wipe herself down during the afternoon nap, it still was not as refreshing as a proper bath.

Tonight… no matter what, she was going to clean herself up.

It was their first time in this life. She wanted to give him her best self. At the very least she wanted to smell sweet.

“Oh…” Ge Yuan instinctively sniffed her, drew in a deep breath, and as if possessed wanted to kiss her neck and taste what her fragrant sweat was like.

Then he sniffed himself and immediately frowned.

He felt his little woman still smelled sweet. Even if she had sweated, he was willing to worship her body inch by inch with his lips and tongue, kiss her, and knead her into his bones and blood.

He did not mind at all. He liked it intensely. Just thinking of that scene made his breathing quick and his heartbeat so fast it seemed about to leap from his chest. But… he himself was another matter.

A rough man, stinking of sweat—better not scare his little woman.

For the sake of a happy life later, he had to leave her a decent impression.

Using enormous self-control he pushed himself up. His Adam’s apple slid up and down. He nodded with a straight face. “You’re right. I should go bathe too, or I’m afraid you’ll mind me.”

“Mm.”

“How about we bathe together?”

“…” Ye Wanqing slanted a look at him, smiling without quite smiling. “Are you sure that if we bathe together, you won’t be unable to hold back in the bathhouse?”

Ge Yuan rubbed his nose. “At most I’ll touch a little and kiss a couple of times.”

“I don’t trust you at all.”

She glared at the big man coquettishly and went to the wardrobe for a change of clothes.

While taking clothes she happened to see the gift Jiang Lili had given. Her thoughts stirred, but with a slip of the hand she still picked up her everyday clothes.

There was already water heated in the kitchen. Mixing it to a warm temperature and carrying it to the bathhouse was enough for a bath.

After they built a bathhouse in that other little courtyard it had been very popular and practical, so they had built one in the Ge courtyard too—the same layout, and very convenient to use.

While Ye Wanqing was bathing she heard several angry roars through the door, and faintly some voices begging for mercy.

She did not know what had happened and quickly finished rinsing and came out. She arrived just in time to see Ge Yuan slamming the courtyard gate shut in a temper and roaring fiercely at the outside, “If you make trouble again, believe it or not I’ll hang you from a tree and whip you tomorrow!”

Outside came Monkey’s faint howl. “Aow, Brother Yuan you’re too ruthless. My leg…”

“I went easy on you. Otherwise I’d have hit your third leg!” Ge Yuan snorted coldly.

Ye Wanqing walked over and asked, “What happened?”

Ge Yuan: “…”

He raked a hand through his hair, a little embarrassed. “Those grandsons were actually crouched in our courtyard one after another, waiting to listen through the wall when we… when we that. Simply rotten!”

Ye Wanqing: “…”

This was simply impossible to guard against! Her face flushed scarlet. She flew toward the room and felt not the slightest sympathy for Monkey and that pack.

They should be whipped. Whipped with a whip!

Watching her fleeing back, Ge Yuan split into a grin and laughed out loud.

A man’s fire was high. He could not be bothered to walk to the bathhouse.

Ge Yuan carried a bucket of water out of the kitchen, mixed in some well water, and stood right in the courtyard pouring it over himself.

He did not take off his trousers. He worked some soap over his body, reached in to wash the important parts, and remembering that tonight there would be some rather intense activity, he washed rather carefully.

White foam ran down his trouser legs, washing away the sweat. He felt clean and refreshed. Recalling the time his little woman had peeked at him, his mood soared and he could not help whistling.

That time he had not been prepared. Tonight he was fully prepared!

Whatever happened, the advantages he could get, he was definitely going to get.

After a hurried combat bath, Ge Yuan wiped himself down, changed clothes, and walked toward the room in dripping-wet slippers. The closer he got, the faster his heart beat.

The moment the door opened, his burning gaze fell on the figure in the room and he froze.

Ye Wanqing: “…”

She had not been able to resist opening Jiang Lili’s mysterious gift and found it was a bright red slip nightgown. Jiang Lili had a young aunt in Shanghai. She had gone there to play not long ago, so sending a gift like this was not strange.

In her previous life Ye Wanqing had worn similar nightclothes. She did not find this gown especially revealing. Instead she felt it suited tonight quite well, so she put it on.

Only she had just put it on when the room door was pushed open.

She had not expected the man to arrive so suddenly. Startled, she looked toward the doorway a little flustered, her heart suddenly tense.

Ge Yuan: “…”

He strode into the room like a hunting beast, quickly closing on his prey. He lifted a hand, seized Ye Wanqing’s wrist, and pulled her hard into his arms.

Warm, fragrant, soft jade entered his embrace. Ge Yuan was slammed into by his own woman hard enough that his bones nearly came apart.