Chapter 612: - Warm Sun on a Winter Day

The wind bears floral fragrance through the bridal chamber;
Daylight strikes the mirror, its brightness flashing to the beams.
In the warm grass of the rear garden, twin butterflies bask;
Before the hall, dust settles as paired swallows wheel.

The first to wake was Fourth Lady.

She turned onto her side and looked at the Master lying beside her.

There was no disappointment.

No uncertainty.

And certainly no sugary-sweet, sweet-sugary nine-turn corridor of romance.

Her gaze was simply as clear as water.

Pure.

Things like love and affection were, to a Demon King, sentimental affectation piled atop sentimental affectation.

Put plainly, what supported human morality and ethics was the ordinary span and texture of human life.

Ordinary people reached the age to study, then the age to seek a match, then the age to have children, then the age to bury their elders, and finally the age when they themselves became the elders being sent away.

Every stage of life had already been arranged clearly enough.

Not everyone in the world fit this pattern.

But it undeniably described the majority.

And when the majority did things that way, it became convention.

Take one more step, and convention became morality.

But the span of a Demon King’s life and experience had long since exceeded ordinary logic.

Fourth Lady had once said that no man in this world could truly move her heart anymore.

She had seen too much.

Experienced too much.

Often, below her there would be noise and revelry, crowds surging, men and women flirting.

Beneath even that lay filth and ugliness, powdered bones and painted tears scattered everywhere.

And she would sit on a rooftop, or lean beside a railing, perhaps with a cigarette between her fingers, perhaps holding a jug of wine.

Like someone inside a painting, and yet also like someone standing outside it, admiring the painting.

Just as she was now, looking at Marquis Zheng.

This man...

One thing could not be denied.

His bearing had become more flavorful with every passing year.

In this life, between martial training and war, there was nothing to criticize about his physique either.

Add the few scars that sat in exactly the right places, and they became the finest seasoning, bringing out precisely the right amount of masculine vigor.

But if you asked whether she liked him, whether she longed to be intimate with him, whether she urgently wanted something to happen between them...

No.

Not really.

So when he said he wanted her, she finished her work first and only then came back.

Truthfully, when a woman became sufficiently independent and powerful, a man really could become nothing more than an optional accessory.

But if one truly had to name a man in this world who could touch her body without making her feel disgust or revulsion, then it was him.

Not love.

Not tenderness.

Simply... no rejection.

At that moment, Zheng Fan woke.

He opened his eyes, saw Fourth Lady watching him, and said:

“How did you wake before me?”

“Is Master disappointed?”

“I was hoping I’d wake first, then lie here and look at you still sleeping because I wore you out too badly. That would have fit the proper visual style.”

“It was this servant’s oversight.” Fourth Lady lay back down. “This servant is exhausted. My body feels completely limp. Please forgive this servant for being unable to attend Master while he washes and dresses this morning.”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan laughed.

Then asked:

“So? How did it feel?”

Fourth Lady shook her head.

“I can’t really say.”

“That bad?” Zheng Fan pressed his lips together, suddenly a little nervous.

“I have nothing to compare it against. How am I supposed to compare?”

“Fair.”

“But it was comfortable.”

“That’s enough.”

Zheng Fan got out of bed.

Fourth Lady rose with him.

Zheng Fan’s legs trembled slightly.

When he stepped down, his body swayed.

Fourth Lady immediately reached out and supported her man with a strong arm.

“A little weak.”

Marquis Zheng looked somewhat embarrassed.

Fortunately, before Fourth Lady, this particular embarrassment did not feel shameful.

There was no passionate romance between them.

But there was something extremely pure.

Neither of them needed to disguise anything from the other.

Perhaps this was the legendary highest realm of marital harmony?

“Three times was still too many,” Fourth Lady complained.

“Wasn’t I afraid you might not get enough?”

Marquis Zheng sat down.

Fourth Lady dressed, then brought water over.

While Zheng Fan washed, Fourth Lady stood before the mirror combing her hair.

“People always say a woman gets an obvious peach-colored flush afterward. Why don’t I see one?”

“There should be... one, right?” Marquis Zheng did not sound very certain.

“Perhaps it is like those civilian officials Master always mocks for writing military manuals. Every other line says ‘love the soldiers as your sons,’ then the next tells you to suck pus from a soldier’s sore. Perhaps these things are made up too? Just like Master saying he wanted to wake up and see this servant lying there exhausted.”

Fourth Lady smiled faintly.

“Since ancient times, how could the ox that plows the field really compete with the field over who got worn out?”

Marquis Zheng nodded.

“So people who write things like that are usually describing what they themselves could never achieve, and filling in their regrets on the page?”

“Stories are the same as reality. If all you wanted was to look at yourself, why read a story? You could just look in a mirror.”

“Excellent.”

“But perhaps this servant’s constitution is simply different. Ruqing has experience already, so there is nothing to observe there. When Master favors Liqing, however, this servant would rather like to watch from the side.”

“From the side... and watch?”

“Master dislikes the idea?”

“That escalated rather quickly, didn’t it?”

“Entirely up to Master.”

“Mm...”

Zheng Fan finished washing and stood.

Fourth Lady had finished arranging her hair too.

She did not ask Zheng Fan what he wanted to wear.

She simply opened the wardrobe, selected the clothes herself, and began matching them for him.

Asking a man how he wanted his clothes coordinated was usually a tremendous waste of time.

More than half of Zheng Fan’s wardrobe had been personally made by Fourth Lady during her free time.

And as his official rank rose, the wardrobe naturally kept upgrading along with him.

Fourth Lady herself wore a simple red dress.

Clean.

Grand.

Truthfully, whether clothes looked good mostly depended on the person wearing them.

“This outfit...”

“What is it, Master?”

“It gives you a little of Brigitte Lin’s Dongfang Bubai flavor.”

“I remember Master seemed to prefer Joey Wong in A Chinese Ghost Story.”

“We can change again tomorrow.”

“Indeed.”

Once they were dressed, Zheng Fan was about to say something else.

Fourth Lady spoke first.

“Master, there’s no need to suddenly act so distant. It isn’t as though we will never share a bed again. Besides, one time may not be enough to conceive a child.”

“Hahaha. True.”

Marquis Zheng walked out of the bedroom.

Outside, the sun was already high.

He looked back at the bedroom door.

For some reason, Marquis Zheng suddenly felt as though he had been the bride last night.

Facing the sunlight, he drew a deep breath.

His legs were no longer weak.

His entire body felt clear and refreshed.

When he reached the middle courtyard, the Sword Saint stood there watching Zheng Fan approach.

“Nothing happened last night,” the Sword Saint said.

Zheng Fan nodded gravely.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“I keep feeling something is wrong.”

“There are certain things I cannot conveniently explain right now.”

The Sword Saint frowned slightly.

Zheng Fan continued:

“I only wanted the safest arrangement possible. You know how it is. There are so many refugees in eastern Jin still counting on me to keep them alive.”

“You are very strange today.”

The Sword Saint’s sixth sense really was frighteningly sharp.

Generally speaking, true experts, especially those who had opened the threshold of the Second Grade and nearly reached the state of unity between Heaven and man, already possessed some limited ability to sense fortune and danger.

“Perhaps. After all, I’ve been made Marquis. Back then, when I only had a small household and made a little trouble, it didn’t matter. Now the family estate is large, and only then do you understand how heavy the burden is.”

“Who exactly wants to move against you?”

“Cannot say.”

Before the Sword Saint could ask further, Zheng Fan raised one hand and lightly pointed west.

It was an ambiguous answer.

An answer with almost no logic behind it.

And yet it happened to fit the atmosphere perfectly.

The Sword Saint sighed.

“I won’t ask.”

“Good.”

“Because I have a feeling that if I keep smashing the pot and asking what is at the bottom, I may eventually be unable to stop myself from stabbing you to death.”

“Mm... truly hard to imagine why you would harbor such a dangerous thought.”

The Sword Saint turned away and waved a hand as he prepared to leave.

“Remember. Build me a proper chicken coop in the courtyard. And leave me one small vegetable patch.”

“Want a little pond too? I can stock a few koi for you.”

“You dare!”

...

“So where exactly is that bottle of wine I was saving?”

Inside the ice cellar, A’Ming frowned.

At that moment, Liang Cheng entered.

“You took it?” A’Ming asked.

“What?”

“The red wine.”

Liang Cheng shook his head.

“Was it valuable?”

“A private bottle from a Chu noble. The sort of private bottle he took into his ancestral tomb.”

Liang Cheng frowned slightly.

“You’re disgusted by it?”

A’Ming looked as though he had discovered something extremely entertaining.

“You’re a zombie. And you’re disgusted by something taken out of a coffin?”

“Am I not allowed?”

“It just feels strange.”

A’Ming stretched lazily.

“Aren’t you supposed to be training the new recruits?”

“I came back to transfer troops. I’m going to escort the Blind Man and the others over.”

“You need to go personally? Just send Jin Shuke.”

Clearly, Jin Shuke had already become one of their own even in the eyes of the Demon Kings.

“Master issued a troop order last night. Jin Shuke spent the whole night guarding outside Master’s residence.”

“Mm? What happened?”

“I don’t know. You don’t either?”

“I’ve been buried in workshop business. You have no idea how high the backlog of orders has piled up. Yesterday part of the perfume workshop caught fire. I went over to put it out. I came back planning to ask Fourth Lady to stitch up and clean this wound for me.”

As he spoke, A’Ming pointed at his back.

Ordinary injuries he could deal with himself.

But sand and soil had obviously been used while fighting the fire.

So the wound needed to be cleaned properly first.

Otherwise, once it healed, the skin across his back would remain pitted and ugly.

That would not do.

Liang Cheng and A’Ming left the cellar together.

Outside, Xue San and Fan Li stood in the garden.

Xue San sat on a vine trellis, merrily “swinging three oars.”

Fan Li crouched nearby, holding a roasted potato and peeling away the skin.

“Well, what a coincidence,” A’Ming said.

With everyone so busy these days, it was rare for them to gather like this.

Xue San said:

“Fourth Lady sent someone to call us back. She said Master wants everyone to have lunch together.”

“What happened?” A’Ming asked.

Xue San shook his head.

“No idea. A’Li and I went to see Fourth Lady just now. She only said we’d eat together later. Didn’t explain why. I think it’s good anyway. Everyone’s been working nonstop these days. We need a day off to breathe.”

At that moment, Fan Li, still crouching on the ground, bit into his roasted potato.

He closed his eyes.

Raised his face toward the sky.

And while chewing, began to lament the preciousness of grain:

“Hoeing grain beneath the noonday sun...”

[End of Chapter 612]