When Qi Yue woke up, it was already broad daylight. The air around her retained the lingering atmosphere of their passion, and she reached out to feel around—the man wasn’t beside her.
Men really had more energy. Even after all that, he still got up on time every day to exercise. Wasn’t he tired? He seemed to get more energetic every day!
Qi Yue yawned and hugged the quilt, closing her eyes to continue sleeping.
She dozed drowsily for a while before being woken by Chang Yuncheng.
“You can’t skip meals,” he said, carrying the freshness of a bath and the vigor of post-exercise.
“Excessive desire harms the body” was really nonsense…
Qi Yue muttered, not getting up but reaching out to pull the man over and nibble on his face.
“Getting you all slobbery! You’re dressed up so smugly—what do you want to do!” she snorted, getting up just as Chang Yuncheng was about to enthusiastically reciprocate, calling for A’Ru at the same time.
Chang Yuncheng laughed heartily, kissed her once, and stood up.
A’Ru and Qiu Xiang entered with red faces and lowered heads to help Qi Yue get up.
“We’re going to the Great Buddha Temple today,” Chang Yuncheng said while watching her eat.
Qi Yue looked at him with her chopsticks raised, making Chang Yuncheng somewhat uncomfortable.
“Hey, are you really going to accompany me to play through everything one by one?” she asked with a smile. “Why such a rush? We have plenty of time in the future.”
She laughed as she spoke.
“You’re being unnaturally good to me,” she scrutinized him again. “And Mother too—she’s not even causing trouble… When things are abnormal, there must be demons…”
Chang Yuncheng darkened his face and put down his bowl.
“Do you only feel normal when I hit and scold you?” he glared.
“Try it,” Qi Yue smiled.
Chang Yuncheng glared at her, then picked up a piece of meat and put it in her bowl.
“Eat more!” he said.
After eating, Chang Yuncheng went to tell Madam Xie they were going out, while Qi Yue had the maids help her choose clothes for the outing.
“Young Madam!” Que Zhi shouted as she rushed in, startling them both.
Behind her was A’Hao, looking panicked.
“What’s wrong?” A’Ru asked hurriedly.
Qi Yue also turned around to look.
“Why do you look like that?” she asked, seeing the two maids’ pale faces.
“Young Madam, we seem to have heard…” A’Hao hesitated and was about to speak, but before she could, Que Zhi dropped to her knees with a thud.
“Young Madam, the Lord is taking a wife!” she shouted.
The room immediately fell silent.
Qi Yue looked at Que Zhi.
“What are you saying, girl? You call me Young Madam—how can he take another Young Madam?” she laughed, then looked at A’Ru.
A’Ru’s face also showed surprise.
“I just saw the wife of Deputy Inspector Yang coming over,” Que Zhi said hurriedly.
What wife? Qi Yue didn’t understand.
“This lady loves playing matchmaker most. By count, she’s arranged eighty-six marriages through her hands—accumulating good deeds and virtue. Everyone calls her Bodhisattva Grandmother,” A’Ru quickly explained. After finishing, she looked at Que Zhi again. “What about Madam Yang? What are you shouting about?”
Several young ladies and masters in the household were of marriageable age, so having a matchmaker come to the house was normal.
“Maybe we heard wrong,” A’Hao couldn’t help saying timidly, pulling Que Zhi’s arm. “I said to speak slowly, but you just shouted it out…”
It turned out that the two of them had gone to the storehouse to get silver to pay for the wood for Qianjin Hall’s expansion. Passing by the household storehouse, they encountered a maid from Madam Xie’s side with an unfamiliar maid, who was introduced as Madam Yang’s maid. They wanted to borrow a screen for decoration.
Originally, it was nothing special, but as they passed by, they heard Madam Yang’s little maid joking and laughing with Madam Xie’s maid about something about “a new daughter-in-law entering the house.” Que Zhi couldn’t help but ask playfully which new daughter-in-law. Madam Yang’s maid, seeing Que Zhi’s fine dress and the storehouse matron’s respectful and flattering attitude toward her, mistook her for one of Madam Xie’s trusted people and said it was for the Lord. Que Zhi was shocked. When she tried to ask more, the maid was interrupted by meaningful glances from Madam Xie’s maid.
“When I asked again, she wouldn’t say, just smiled,” Que Zhi said, looking anxious. “Young Madam, she… she… how could the Lord marry a new wife again?”
“Right, how could he possibly marry a new wife?” Qi Yue smiled. “That maid must have misspoken.”
“Perhaps it’s about arranging a marriage for Third Young Master,” A’Ru said. “Third Young Master will surely pass the imperial examination this time, attracting all those families to compete for him.”
This made sense too…
Que Zhi stood up, hand on her chest.
“Oh my, I was so scared my heart was pounding—I almost fainted. I couldn’t hear clearly what that maid was saying after that. So we heard wrong…”
She looked at A’Hao again. “Didn’t you listen carefully either?”
A’Hao also looked distressed.
“I… I was also scared…” she said. “Now that I think about it, she probably wasn’t talking about the Lord but Third Young Master…”
Qi Yue frowned slightly, her hands stopping as she arranged her clothing.
Had they heard wrong? If they had simply misheard, could it frighten two maids like this?