It was the third day after their wedding, and for the first time, Xin Mei didn’t wake up early to wash her hands and prepare soup. When Lu Qianqiao finished his routine physical training on the high platform and returned to the bedroom, he found her still maintaining her original position, hugging the blanket and staring blankly into space.
The general, who had been eagerly anticipating eating a passionate and energetic breakfast prepared by his wife’s own hands, felt a bit disappointed. He walked over and gently touched her disheveled hair, asking softly, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Xin Mei’s vacant gaze wandered aimlessly in a circle before finally settling on his face, and immediately her eyebrows scrunched up.
“Lu Qianqiao,” she pouted, “you lied to me!”
He was stunned.
“On our wedding night, what did you promise me?”
Lu Qianqiao touched his burning ears. That day… that day he had said many things, but they had all happened in a very special, very confusing environment. At that time, if she had asked him to pluck the moon from the sky, he probably would have agreed without thinking. Now that she was asking like this… how should he answer?
“You promised me that the next day you’d let me be on top! But you broke your word!”
Last night, she had excitedly waited for him to fulfill his promise. After bathing, she directly pounced on him, pushed him down, climbed on top, nibbled and touched him… She had also thoughtfully opened the “Orchid Musk Delicate Pistil Collection” to that particular page, spreading it beside the bed for immediate reference and practice.
Just as she was grinding and rubbing, passion surging, blood boiling, preparing to perform the most crucial next action, he suddenly reached out unbearably to hold her waist, rolled over, flipped again, and she unwillingly became the one underneath.
“You… you can’t do this! You broke your promise! Liar! You… if you come any closer, I’ll call for help!”
Xin Mei struggled desperately, defending her chastity with a resolve to die rather than submit.
Lu Qianqiao swept away that troublesome “Orchid Musk Delicate Pistil Collection” with one hand. It fell to the floor, tearfully listening to the man on the bed who had lost most of his reason speaking the same old lies: “Next time… definitely next time…”
Having lived for several hundred years now, the “Orchid Musk Delicate Pistil Collection” had witnessed countless romantic encounters between men and women throughout those centuries. Based on its rich experience and seasoned judgment, it determined that this cold-faced handsome general, though appearing reserved and restrained, was absolutely the type who would not be content to remain “beneath a woman.” Poor thing… you’re just a decoration…
“I’m really going to call for help!” A certain young lady was still struggling desperately.
“Don’t make a fuss, don’t make a fuss… even if you scream your throat raw… no one will save you.” The general had completely lost his reason.
“Throat raw! Throat raw…”
Indeed, no one saved her, and a pure and innocent little wildflower quietly withered away.
Xin Mei withered all night, woke up during the day to continue withering and fuming. Now she had finally waited for Lu Qianqiao to return, and her withered anger could no longer be suppressed.
“You don’t keep your word!”
Lu Qianqiao touched his burning face again, extremely troubled. This… how exactly should he explain this?
“Xin Mei, every time you… I can’t help myself…”
She would always rush forward so eagerly, like igniting a towering fire, but then at the crucial moment she would stop, hesitating indecisively. He would have to be a saint to endure that.
“I’m trying to learn!” She thought for a moment, then added, “You should study hard too!”
…
【Three days after the wedding, the bride was dissatisfied with the groom’s bedroom skills and angrily left home.】—”Anecdotes of the Qiong Imperial Tomb” recorded by Official Zhao
Xin Mei rode Qiuyue back to Xinxie Manor. She wanted to find her father to properly complain. Lu Qianqiao was good in every way, except he was too domineering in certain matters, and moreover… moreover, bedroom affairs didn’t seem as soul-stirring as those books described… She was uncomfortable most of the time. Was it his problem or hers?
However… this kind of thing wasn’t appropriate to discuss with her father, especially with that father who always suspected she had been abandoned by a man.
As soon as Qiuyue landed, seeing Xin Xiong’s expression develop from surprise to horror, Xin Mei sighed. His first words would inevitably be—
“You’ve been thrown out by your son-in-law again?!”
She didn’t even have the energy to refute, so she just nodded, “Mm, I was thrown out. Clean up the room and let me stay for a few days.”
After waiting a while with no response from her father, Xin Mei curiously looked up to see him wearing the painful, shocked expression of someone struck by heavenly thunder. Immediately after, his eyes rolled back and he fainted cleanly and decisively.
Xinxie Manor was once again thrown into chaos.
She felt like she was truly a sinner, already married yet still constantly giving her old father such shocks.
After Xin Xiong woke up, he ignored everyone and ran to the ancestral hall to cry with his deceased wife for the entire afternoon, until Xin Mei rushed over to admit her mistake: “Father, I misspoke. I just missed you and mother, came back to visit, and will return tomorrow.”
Xin Xiong wiped his tears with his sleeve, looking at her timidly, murmuring: “…Really?”
She nodded vigorously: “Absolutely true!”
Xin Xiong raised a trembling hand to point at her head: “Then… then why are you still wearing an unmarried girl’s hairstyle?!”
Qiong Kingdom was unlike those few eastern countries with open customs, where married women could still pursue novelty and beauty by wearing unmarried girls’ hair buns. Here, marriage was marriage – from clothes to hair buns to speech and demeanor, everything was distinctly different from that of unmarried young ladies. In Xin Xiong’s view, his daughter had been married for some time yet still wore her hair loose with bangs covering her forehead – this was absolutely abnormal! Abnormal indeed!
Xin Mei rolled her eyes: “No one taught me how to style a married woman’s hair bun!”
Being able to arrange her hair into a decent shape that wouldn’t collapse was already quite an achievement for her.
Xin Xiong immediately felt relieved: “It’s father’s fault for not being thorough enough. Your mother passed away early, and I didn’t think to hire a matron to teach you before the wedding.”
He lowered his head in thought for a moment, then said, “Dear treasure, stay home for a few days. Tomorrow I’ll have someone invite your eldest aunt over.”
The eldest aunt was Xin Xiong’s elder sister.
Xin Mei’s impression of her was of those eternally bright and delicate clothing colors. Even though wrinkles bloomed like flowers on her face, from a distance the eldest aunt still appeared graceful and elegant like an eighteen-year-old girl.
Upon seeing Xin Mei, she immediately smiled, came over to grasp her hands, and spoke in a delicately soft voice: “Little Mei, married women cannot keep this kind of hairstyle. Come, eldest aunt will teach you how to arrange a proper hair bun.”
Xin Xiong gave her a meaningful look from afar. The eldest aunt blinked to show complete understanding, and he then went out contentedly to tend to his precious spirit beasts.
“Little Mei, is your husband not treating you well?”
The eldest aunt asked gently while arranging her hair in front of the mirror.
Xin Mei shook her head: “No, he treats me very well.”