The carriage rounded the corner completely, hiding the candied hawthorn vendor from view. Knowing she would not get to eat any, Jiang Lingzhi gave up on the idea.
Yet... he refused to even buy her a string of candied hawthorns—how could she possibly agree to his unreasonable demand just like that?
Jiang Lingzhi replied, "I suppose I could, but you have to ask me. If you're willing to part with some silver, I'll agree to it."
Jiang Xun let out a scornful laugh, as if to say she truly was hopeless trash from the gutter. He thought for a moment, reached down to unfasten a jade pendant from his waist, and tossed it backward into the carriage carriage-box.
His tone was calm, as if discussing a business transaction: "I have a jewelry shop on Yongan Street called Lancui Pavilion. Business has always been good, and the manager is capable, so you won't need to trouble yourself with running it. The profits will be more than enough for your expenses. I'm giving it to you today, so don't go back on what you promised me."
Jiang Lingzhi uttered an "oh," picked up the jade pendant, and turned it over in her hand. The jade felt warm to the touch, carved with intricate, exquisite patterns, bearing the character "Lan" engraved upon it.
She marveled inwardly: for the sake of Jiang Lingyuan, he was parting with an entire jewelry shop just like that—he certainly was generous!
She accepted the jade pendant with complete peace of mind. One needed silver to live a comfortable life; only a fool would turn it down. Besides, since her elder brother was treating her so meanly, what was wrong with taking a bit of compensation?
As for his talk of her swallowing her grievances and enduring everything—well, she was terribly sorry, but she couldn't stomach even a fraction of it.
With great interest, she toyed with the pendant and offered a sincere piece of flattery: "Second Young Master Jiang really is a good brother."
Jiang Xun assumed that her "good brother" remark was a sign of surrender and coquetry on her part, and his scorn deepened. His tone was full of utter disgust: "It's just a shop. You're simply so ignorant of the world that you were stupid enough to agree to a marriage swap to marry Xiao Jingyi."
Jiang Lingzhi paused her movements and earnestly corrected him: "Marrying him is quite good." Thanks to him, she was well-fed, warmly clothed, had servants at her beck and call, and was even addressed respectfully as Fourth Madame.
"He's good?"
Jiang Xun instinctively wanted to recount just how terrifying Xiao Jingyi truly was, but the words halted on his lips. The man was practically dying; what was the point of saying all that? It would only look like kicking a man while he was down.
Not knowing what else to say to her, he simply drove the carriage in silence.
Xueying and Yunrou had overheard the entire conversation between their mistress and Second Young Master Jiang, and neither dared to utter a word. Jiang Lingzhi, however, remained all smiles. After stepping down from the carriage, she bade Jiang Xun a most nonchalant farewell.
Jiang Xun let out a scornful snort, though for some reason, mixed in with his disdain was a strange, nagging sense of irritation.
***
After returning to the Duke Estate, Jiang Lingzhi encountered quite a few people along the way, every single one of them wearing a pleasant expression. This instantly put her in a thoroughly cheerful mood. She even found herself thinking—though her surname was Jiang, her true home was wherever her heart found peace.
Upon returning to Shun Garden, she devoted herself entirely to the task of weaving the wheelchair. Most of the materials had been prepared the previous day, so now it was simply a matter of weaving and assembling them.
As the setting sun sank in the west, the great enterprise was finally completed.
She had put a lot of thought into the wheelchair she wove. It resembled a reclining chair mounted on wheels, allowing a person to sit half-upright while supporting every part of the body comfortably. With a gentle push of her hand, the wheelchair glided forward a good distance with effortless lightness.
"Di Hong," she called out softly, unable to hide her triumph. "Come here. This is the wheelchair I made for the General. Have a look and see how it is."
"Yes!"
Di Hong had followed Xiao Jingyi through life and death on the battlefield, holding a complex, hard-to-pin-down attitude toward Jiang Lingzhi, this newly acquired General's wife. In his view, a rustic country woman was naturally unworthy of their brilliant and mighty General.
Yet now that the General was unconscious and had little time left, this young woman showed not a single trace of resentment. She was even willing to bear children to continue the General's line and had personally taken the trouble to weave a wheelchair for him.
And this wheelchair was truly striking. Not only was the structure ingenious, but the bamboo weave was both flexible and breathable, smooth to the touch without a single splinter. Lightweight and easy to push around, it was simply marvelous.
Human hearts were made of flesh and blood. From the bottom of his heart, Di Hong felt a measure of gratitude and respect: "You've worked hard, Madam. On behalf of the General, this subordinate thanks you."
Jiang Lingzhi smiled. "Don't speak of such formalities. While it's still early, let's go help the General up and let him sit in it to try it out."
"Yes."
Jiang Lingzhi pushed the wheelchair toward the rooms, with Di Hong following close behind.
***
Having lain in bed all day, Xiao Jingyi was nearly driven out of his mind. He was both shocked that his niece-in-law had become his own bride and devastated that he was now reduced to a useless cripple, unable to move.
The maids and pageboys serving in the room seemed to have been disciplined by Di Qing and Di Hong, as not a single one of them ever dared to speak out of turn. It was so quiet that he could not even tell whether it was day or night.
Faintly, he heard footsteps approaching outside, followed by a familiar female voice—it was Jiang Lingzhi speaking: "...put the General in this wheelchair so we can push him around during the day, let him bask in the sun and breathe some fresh air. It will surely help him wake up sooner."
To his own surprise, Xiao Jingyi felt a faint stirring of joy.
Finally, someone who liked to talk had arrived.
Yet the very next moment, a vague sense of unease crept over him...
Just as Jiang Lingzhi reached the doorway, Di Qing stopped her with a look of panic: "Madam, please wait!"
She halted her steps, slightly perplexed: "What is the matter?"
Di Qing wore a hesitant expression, looking back into the room with troubled eyes where a pageboy was currently wiping him down and changing his clothes.
To Xiao Jingyi, his heart felt as though it were being roasted in a frying pan. The mere surge of excitement a moment ago had caused him to lose control of his bladder. Paralyzed and unable to move, he was nonetheless agonizingly aware of how wretched he looked at this moment.
If it were only Di Qing watching the servants tend to him, that would be one thing, but for that country girl to witness it... She would surely be sneering and mocking him in her heart right now.
He desperately wanted to open his mouth and bark at her to get lost.
Yet despite mustering all his strength, he could not force out the slightest sound.
He could only listen as Di Qing covered for him: "Madam, the General... he broke out in a sweat. We are changing his clothes; it will be finished very soon..."
"It's fine," Jiang Lingzhi said, stopping in her tracks and speaking in a gentle voice. "In this life, who can guarantee they will never fall ill? The General is sick right now; many things are beyond his control. Once he gets better in the future, naturally he won't have to be like this."
Naturally, she knew what was happening inside the room. There was nothing here that she couldn't accept. On the day of the marriage swap, she had already known what his condition was. During their consummation, she had seen and touched him all over, so she had long since crossed that psychological hurdle.
Now that she was relying on his power to eat her fill, how could she possibly turn around and despise his wretched state?
It was simply that Di Qing, being meticulous, wanted to shield his General's pride.
Jiang Lingzhi was willing to accommodate his intentions and did not force her way inside. Besides, she figured that if Xiao Jingyi was conscious at this moment, he would likely desire some dignity and face.
Hearing Jiang Lingzhi stop and speak those words, Xiao Jingyi felt a surge of poignant, aching warmth in his chest.
This little country girl seemed quite considerate. It dispelled quite a bit of his overwhelming, suffocating shame and anger.
A look of astonishment crossed Di Qing's face, as if he had not expected this new mistress to be so compassionate toward the General. His eyes grew red with emotion: "Yes, Madam."
The servants worked with brisk efficiency, quickly changing his clothes and thoughtfully dressing him in an outer robe. Di Qing helped Xiao Jingyi sit up, and together with Di Hong, they supported him on both sides, hoisting him into the woven bamboo wheelchair. They then carried the wheelchair over the threshold and placed it in the courtyard.
Jiang Lingzhi pushed the wheelchair, taking charge as she described the scenery of the courtyard to Xiao Jingyi.
"Husband, it is spring now, and the flowers are all blooming. I heard that you like the pear tree in this courtyard the most."
Xiao Jingyi caught the extremely faint, sweet fragrance in the air.
Jiang Lingzhi continued, "The sunset today is also magnificent. The evening glow fills the sky like a blazing fire."
Xiao Jingyi could not see it, but he remembered having watched the evening glow in this courtyard in the past.
"And this breeze—" Jiang Lingzhi was chattering on when suddenly, Xiao Yan came charging over from afar with an aggressive air.
Standing at the courtyard gate, his gaze landed on Xiao Jingyi seated in the wheelchair. He was startled at first, shrinking back in cowardice, but realizing that his uncle's eyes were tightly shut and he remained completely motionless, he regained his courage.
He immediately began his frenzied interrogation: "Jiang Lingzhi, look at the good deed you've done!"
Jiang Lingzhi was in the midst of brushing a fallen flower petal off Xiao Jingyi's shoulder and didn't even raise her head: "What did I do?"
She was truly completely in the dark.
"You stole Lingyuan's dowry! Now my mother refuses to go to the Jiang family to propose marriage. Hurry up and return the dowry!" Xiao Yan glared at her with bitter resentment.
Everything had been fine yesterday; his mother had explicitly stated she would go to the Jiang family to propose. But when he returned from work today, he had run into a weeping Jiang Lingyuan, who told him about this matter. He had rushed right over to settle accounts with Jiang Lingzhi!
Xiao Yan raged, "You simply want to ruin my marriage with Lingyuan! Since you were unwilling to marry me that day, why are you still entangling yourself with me now? You—"
"Let me give you a slap to wake you up!"
Jiang Lingzhi stepped forward and delivered a fierce, resounding slap across Xiao Yan's face. "What kind of dog barking are you doing? I married your fourth uncle, and the dowry the Jiang family gave me is naturally mine to take away. That's stipulated by the law!"
Pbah! She was just taking her own dowry, and he dared to accuse her of entangling herself with him? He ought to take a piss and look at his own reflection to see what kind of pathetic wretch he was—enough to make anyone sick at the sight of him!
"Ah!!"
Struck unawares by a slap, Xiao Yan instinctively reached out to grab her and retaliate: "You shrew! Ill-mannered country shrew, how dare you hit me—"
Di Hong reacted with lightning speed. He flashed forward, blocked Jiang Lingzhi, and grabbed Xiao Yan's wrist with a cold, fierce expression: "First Young Master, please show some self-respect and do not cause a disturbance in Shun Garden!"
Driven mad with rage, Xiao Yan struggled furiously. He finally yanked his wrist free, but lost his footing, stumbled a few steps, and crashed to the ground.
Looking down at him from above, Jiang Lingzhi said indifferently:
"If your mother wants her new daughter-in-law's dowry, you can either persuade your mother to show some decency, or have Lingyuan get the Jiang family to give a bit more. But if you insist on making a scene here in Shun Garden, I'll have no choice but to inform the Duke and the Old Madame to properly discipline you."
***
Jiang Lingzhi was a woman of her word.
After pushing Xiao Jingyi back inside to settle him in, she immediately dragged Xiao Yan off to Rongan Hall to lodge a complaint.
The Duke and Old Madame Xiao were furious. They severely reprimanded Lady Lu, dragged Xiao Yan off to the ancestral hall to receive twenty cane strokes of family discipline, and sentenced him to kneel in repentance for five days.
Only then did Jiang Lingzhi finally vent her frustration.
After finishing her evening meal, she headed to the bathing quarters to wash. Time was tight and her task was heavy; she was busy producing an heir with the General, so she had no leisure to deal with trivial nonsense!
She scooped up a ladle of petal-infused water to pour over herself, and before finishing, she made sure to remind Xueying to get another pot of wine from Doctor Mu. Tonight, she was going to tend to the General.
In the main bedchamber, Xiao Jingyi appeared completely motionless, but in reality, he had been mulling over every word he overheard in the courtyard that evening.
From Xiao Yan's fragmented words, it wasn't difficult for him to figure out the truth behind his niece-in-law's remarriage to him. It must have been that bastard nephew of his who wronged her, having an illicit affair with her stepsister right where she caught them, prompting her to choose the humiliation of a marriage swap to marry him instead.
While condemning Xiao Yan as a reckless little rabbit for such outrageous conduct, he also felt a prickle of unease. Although he bore the surname Xiao, the Duke Estate's behavior toward an innocent young woman was truly disgraceful.
Jiang Lingzhi had gone from marrying a scumbag to swapping places to marry an unconscious cripple—jumping from one fiery pit into another.
Yes, having regained consciousness for barely a day, all his arrogance had already vanished. From the moment he lost control over his bodily functions, he had faced reality: he was now nothing more than a helpless cripple at the mercy of others.
He had even considered biting his tongue to end his life. But when he placed his tongue between his teeth, a wave of unwillingness washed over him. He was not willing to die in such a muddled fashion. He had yet to investigate whose hand was behind the ambush. He had yet to avenge the wronged soldiers who died in battle; how could he die of cowardice? He feared the spirits of those soldiers would find no peace in the netherworld.
In the end, he had calmed down and accepted everything—including this new bride.
He figured that if he ever woke up in the future, they would simply live as mutual guests. He had his own matters to attend to.
Having finished her bath and stepped out of the bathing quarters, Xiao Jingyi immediately caught the sound of her footsteps. He heard her enter the inner chamber, followed by her instructions for all the servants to leave.
Then came the rustling sound of her sitting down by his bedside, accompanied by the faint, delicate rhythm of her breathing.
At that moment, Xiao Jingyi felt a faint sense of pride—pride that despite being paralyzed, his keen hearing remained intact. But the next instant, he felt foolish, like some peeping pervert eavesdropping in secret.
Jiang Lingzhi sat by his bedside and, chatting with him as if they were old acquaintances, recounted how the household had handled the matter of Xiao Yan, before moving on to the casual gossip of her return visit to her maiden home.
The more she spoke, the more resentful she became: "...What kind of person is he? Making me call him Second Brother, yet refusing to even buy me a stick of candied hawthorns. Tell me, isn't he full of himself?"
Hearing her complain with such a tone of grievances mixed with reliance, Xiao Jingyi inexplicably felt a pang of pity.
It was just candied hawthorns; who hadn't eaten them as a child? He used to buy them for his own younger sister. Young girls simply liked eating exotic little snacks; they weren't asking for the stars in the sky. That Second Young Master Jiang was truly too stingy.
As she spoke, Jiang Lingzhi reached out to take his hand: "If we have children in the future, we will certainly never let them end up like me—unloved, uncared for, and ignorant of the world."
Xiao Jingyi: "......"
It seemed she really was heartbroken to the point of talking nonsense. With him in this state, how on earth could they ever have children!
Immediately afterward, he heard the voice of the maid Xueying ring out at the door: "Fourth Madame, the wine you asked for has been delivered."
"Leave it there."
"Yes."
Xiao Jingyi couldn't help wondering: what did she want wine for? Could she be planning to drown her sorrows in alcohol?
When he thought about it, she truly was a pitiable creature. Her mother had died at birth, and her biological father had abandoned her in the countryside. Just as she managed to get married, she was humiliated on her wedding day, only to end up swapping brides to marry a dying, unconscious cripple. And then, during her return visit home, she was treated with such harshness by a biological second brother she had never even met.
It was indeed quite tragic.
Yet... he still wanted to persuade her that drinking alcohol when one was sad was harmful to the body.
He felt the soft palm pull away, the footsteps recede, the wine vessel picked up and set down again, and then the footsteps returned to his side, halting by the bed.
Right after that, he heard the sound of a wine cup dropping to the floor.
Next, he felt his chin lifted by warm, slender fingertips, and his nose pinched shut. Deprived of oxygen, he instinctively parted his lips.
Immediately, his lips were captured. A tingling sensation, like a bolt of lightning, surged from the soles of his feet straight to his crown.
She was kissing him.
And she was daring enough to pass the wine from her mouth into his.
Xiao Jingyi: "......"
Audacious!
...Ah well, she was his wife in name, after all. Seeing as she was so pitiful, wronged, and helpless, he would just keep her company and drink a little with her.
If Jiang Lingzhi knew what was going on in his head, she would undoubtedly roll her eyes so hard they'd fall out of her head.
Borrow wine? Drown sorrows?
She genuinely just thought he couldn't get it up!
The wine Doctor Mu brewed based on his pulse wouldn't harm his body, which was why she wanted him to drink some. As for all that idle chattering earlier, she merely wanted to make herself feel more familiar with him so she could relax more when doing *that* deed.
How could Xiao Jingyi know any of this? He could only feel the kiss on his lips growing deeper by the degree.
He felt her nimble tongue lightly sweep across his upper palate, bringing another wave of strange, pleasurable sensation. Yet, instinctively, he felt a flicker of anger—was she really acting this reckless just because she'd had a little wine?
Before he could dwell on it further, that unscripted, chaotic kiss roamed wildly across his teeth and lips, making it impossible for him to tell whether he was resisting or longing to seize the initiative.
The kiss then drifted to the tip of his nose.
His forehead and Adam's apple were not spared either, followed closely by his earlobe.
A bizarre sense of anticipation welled up in Xiao Jingyi's heart. In the past, when he rode the battlefield with spear in hand, facing a hundred foes alone, no outsiders could ever breach his personal space. But now, blind and immobile, he didn't even know where her next kiss would land.
Amidst his anticipation came the inevitable worry: surely she wasn't going to do anything else, was she?
She answered him with actions, proving that indeed she would.
She pulled open his clothing, kissing his collarbone. Her hair scattered loosely, and the fine, tickling sensation across his chest made goosebumps break out all over his skin.
Naturally, Jiang Lingzhi did not miss his physical reaction.
She hurriedly stopped, asking him with delight: "You have feeling in you, don't you?"
Not only did she ask, but she also reached out to gently poke his chest. Sure enough, a new wave of goosebumps erupted.
Her joy multiplied: "Since you have feeling, you'll definitely wake up!"
It seemed Doctor Mu hadn't been lying at all—intimacy in the marriage bed truly did help him.
With that thought, she decided she needed to work even harder. Who knew, maybe one day she'd hit the jackpot with a double blessing: conceiving an heir while waking the General.
Joyfully, she dropped the bed curtains, immediately stripped off her own clothes, and set to work unfastening his.
Her mood was simply too wonderful.
So much so that her actions grew much bolder and wilder. Her restless fingers roamed all over his body, mimicking the techniques taught in the illustrated manual, practicing them with unbridled abandon.
Xiao Jingyi: "......"
Was she really going to go through with this?
Her response was her continued, albeit green yet resolute, movements.
Oh well, he thought. He would simply treat it as fulfilling his duty as a husband; he couldn't possibly let her live like a widow while he breathed.
And with that, his last bit of resistance vanished.