Chapter 67: Husband and Wife…

They were a proper, wedded couple now. Since their marriage had been consummated, moving into the same room was only natural.

Still, Qiu Yurou hadn’t expected him to be that impatient.

But since he had already tidied up his room, she couldn’t very well go out and stop him so she could only let him be.

That night, the young couple made love twice more.

After washing up and getting ready to sleep, Qiu Yurou thought they were finally done for the night. But Su Yunting still felt itchy with desire. Remembering that it had only been her first time the day before, he worried she couldn’t take too much and forced himself to hold back. Wrapping his arms around his wife, he fell asleep with her in his embrace.

The next morning, Qiu Yurou woke at her usual hour. Just as she was feeling grateful that Su Yunting hadn’t pestered her again like yesterday, she found that he was already awake.

It wasn’t that Su Yunting didn’t want to touch her again; he did. But this time, he reminded himself that he wanted to live a long, healthy life with the woman he loved. For that, he had to take care of his body and not indulge his desires at dawn every day.

Seeing her awake, Su Yunting smiled. “There’s nothing urgent today. Sleep a little longer.”

Qiu Yurou blinked. “How is there nothing to do? Yunche’s vacation is over so he has to return to the academy today.”

Su Yunting chuckled. “He’s not a three-year-old. He doesn’t need you to walk him there.”

Qiu Yurou glared at him. “Listen to yourself! What kind of brother are you? You took ten days off, but you only let Yunche take five! When we stayed an extra two days at the ancestral home, I told Ping’an to go to the academy and ask for another two days off for him but you insisted he return exactly on schedule! We’ve only been back  for one day. Who knows if he has even recovered from the trip yet!”

As his wife scolded him, a thought crossed Su Yunting’s mind: A doting mother spoils the child.

The way she treated his younger siblings, she was more like a mother than a sister-in-law.

When Qiu Yurou noticed that he wasn’t talking back, she turned and saw him smiling at her.

They had gone straight to sleep after washing up last night, so now, waking up in each other’s arms, they were completely bare.

Her face flushed red. She yanked the quilt up to cover him from head to toe, then wrapped herself in another and hurried to the wardrobe to get dressed.

Behind her came the sound of his quiet laughter. Qiu Yurou clutched her quilt and turned to glare at him. He was already sitting up, the quilt only covering him to the waist. “Don’t look!” she snapped.

Su Yunting laughed again. He had wanted to tease her some more, but realizing it would only end with him tormenting himself, he lay back down obediently. “Alright, alright, I won’t look.”

When Qiu Yurou finished dressing, the cook had already prepared breakfast, and Yunche had just come out of his room.

“Are you feeling well?” she asked him. “If not, you can take another couple of days off.”

She always felt that Yunche had carried too many burdens for his age. Now that her husband was healthy again, she couldn’t help but want to make up for the carefree youth Yunche had missed.

Yunche smiled brightly. “Don’t worry, sister-in-law! I didn’t do much at home, and I was already fine before. After resting yesterday, I feel great now!”

Seeing that he truly looked energetic, Qiu Yurou said nothing more.

After Yunche left for the academy, Su Yunting still had three days of leave remaining. He didn’t go out, spending his days practicing martial forms, organizing books, and practicing calligraphy; doing his utmost to maintain the persona of a “delicate scholar with weak health.”

Everyone knew he wasn’t in the best of health. His siblings all knew that their eldest brother had only recently recovered from a serious illness, so it was natural for him to rest longer.

After three leisurely days, Su Yunting’s leave ended, and he was to return to the academy the next morning.

Using that as an excuse, he coaxed and tempted his wife until they made love for the third time.

Qiu Yurou had long lost track of time. When he once again brought her to the peak of pleasure and still showed no sign of tiring, she began weakly patting his shoulder. “I can’t… I’m too tired!”

Su Yunting held her close, showering her with kisses and gentle words, until he finally released. This was the first time since their wedding that he’d allowed himself to completely indulge.

He fetched warm water to clean them both, for Qiu Yurou was so drained she couldn’t even lift a finger. They had been intimate enough times by now that there was no awkwardness between them. She had meant to clean herself, but utterly spent, she could only let him do it.

Once he had wiped them both clean and changed the sheets, he carried her back to bed, holding her close and soothing her until she fell asleep.

Since their consummation, Su Yunting had wanted her twice every night. But for Qiu Yurou, each of his “once” left her trembling with two peaks of her own.

Though she often felt tired, her sleep afterward was deep and peaceful. Every morning she awoke refreshed and glowing.

But today, after three rounds, she was truly exhausted. She murmured breathlessly, “Just go back to the academy already. If you keep being this ‘frail’ at home, I’ll be drained dry before you recover!”

Su Yunting promised earnestly, “Alright, tomorrow I’ll behave. You can rest well tonight, okay?”

“No,” she countered faintly. “From now on, there must be at least two days gap between… each time.”

Her strength was returning, so Su Yunting fanned her gently with a folding fan and suggested another arrangement. “How about this, just twice every other day and then, on my rest days, you’ll let me have one extra. Is that fair?”

Qiu Yurou began to think it over, but he didn’t give her the chance. “Good wife, have mercy. In our last life, we didn’t even meet before you were gone. I spent a whole lifetime alone. Now that Heaven has reunited us, can’t you let me love you a little more?”

At the mention of their previous life, her heart softened. After all, he only got one rest day every ten days, and twice every other day wasn’t too much, she could manage that.

As for letting him have “one extra” every ten days, well, if she rested before and after, it shouldn’t be too bad.

Counting her monthly breaks, it averaged out to about once every two days anyway.

When she finally agreed, Su Yunting’s heart melted. His girl was far too soft-hearted, it made him want to protect her for life and love her even more deeply.

—–

In early July, Su Yunting’s mourning period finally ended, just in time for him to participate in that year’s autumn provincial examination. There was less than a month between his return to the academy and the trip to the prefectural city.

The instructors at Mingshun Academy all had faith in his scholarly abilities. What worried them was his health.

While they urged other students to study late into the night, they always spoke to Su Yunting in gentle tones, sending him home to rest as soon as the hour grew late.

In truth, Su Yunting’s health was perfectly fine; Physician Zhang could have staked his decades-long reputation on it. But since Su Yunting had already established himself as the “frail scholar,” and no one bothered to ask the physician otherwise, everyone continued to believe he was delicate.

So, while his classmates stayed up night after night, nerves stretched thin, Su Yunting spent his evenings wrapped in his wife’s arms, their affection as deep and fluid as water.

Knowing he’d have to travel to the prefectural city for the exam, Su Yunting had bought a young servant boy early that year to attend him.

Still, Qiu Yurou wasn’t at ease sending only the boy along. She sent Ping’an to their village to ask Uncle Shuncai’s son, Da-fei; Su Yunting’s childhood friend to accompany him as well.

Su Yunting only laughed at her worries.

But Qiu Yurou couldn’t tell him the real reason that she’d seen enough “stories” of scholars falling ill during the autumn provincial exams. Some survived to play their part in the tale; others simply… didn’t.

Now that her husband was about to sit for the real thing, she couldn’t help but fear for him.

Clutching him tightly, she whispered, “No matter how you do on the exam, promise me you’ll come back safe.”

Feeling her unease, he hugged her back and reassured her softly, “Don’t worry. I’ll return safe and sound. Nothing is more important than staying healthy, I won’t forget that.”

No matter how anxious she was, the day of departure still came.

Qiu Yurou had heard about the examination cells used in the autumn provincial exams were small, narrow wooden cubicles where each scholar was shut in for three days, three times over.

And the exams were always held in February or August; either bitterly cold or sweltering hot. Examinees had to bring their own food and bedding, but weren’t allowed anything with hidden compartments, so even quilts had to be single-layered. Nights were freezing, and half the scholars caught colds by the end.

Naturally, she asked what he had brought with him in his previous life.

Su Yunting listed the items. Back then, the Sun family, a prominent clan in the county had prepared everything for him. With generations of scholars among them, they knew exactly what was needed.

After hearing his list, Qiu Yurou made him write it all down. Then she asked, half-teasingly, “They went to such lengths for you and you didn’t promise them anything in return?”

Hearing that, Su Yunting instantly realized she was jealous. There was no real way to explain it, so he simply set his brush down, leaned over, and kissed her breathless.

When he finally let her go, his own body burning with desire, he asked hoarsely, “How long have you been holding that question in your heart?”

She swatted him weakly. “I asked first and yet you haven’t even answered! Don’t change the subject!”

Her blows were so light they only fanned the fire in him.

He drew her tightly into his arms. “In our last life, you left me all alone. I was a widower with nothing but my promise to serve the Sun family once I became an official. What other value could I have possibly offered them?”

At the mention of the Sun family’s young lady, the one who had once harbored feelings for him, Qiu Yurou’s heart twisted. He had been single then; his “wife” had never even entered his home. That girl would surely have been bolder around him…

Just thinking about it made her uncomfortable. Still, she couldn’t very well be angry at him for being admired by others. She had only asked because the Sun family’s name came up.

Before, she hadn’t cared much about what had happened in his past life. But love was, by nature, possessive.

Feeling a little embarrassed at her own jealousy, she murmured softly, “I shouldn’t have asked you that.”

Her easy forgiveness didn’t make Su Yunting smug but it made him feel even more unworthy of such a pure-hearted girl.

He kissed her tenderly, with such gentleness that she melted against him. When he finally pulled back, his voice was low and rough. “Even if you doubt my words, you at least know this much that I had no experience before you, right?”

Qiu Yurou blushed. “I was asking about your heart, not that!”

He met her gaze steadily. “My body, my heart, they’re both yours, entirely.”

Looking into his eyes and hearing that sincere tone, all her lingering unease melted away.

Then, with a soft smile, she whispered back, “And my heart and body are all yours too.”

In that moment, he felt a happiness deeper than any pleasure; something beyond even the purest love itself.