I Really Like the Male Supporting Character (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 12

The next day, bird chirps gently roused Ah Luo from her sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the embroidered red canopy above her, adorned with symbols of prosperity and fertility. It took her a moment until she fully woke up.

She turned her head and saw the bed beside her was already empty.

As she began to sit up, the curtains were lifted from the outside, and a smiling face peeked in. “My lady, you’re awake. Do you feel unwell anywhere?” (1-26)

“Where is the marquis’ heir?” Ah Luo asked.

Qing Yuan, the maid she had met the previous day, came over to help her up. “The marquis’ heir practices martial arts every morning. He is at the training grounds now. He instructed us to call for him once you woke. Please wait a moment, my lady.” 

Ah Luo got down from the bed and said, “No need to call him. I’ll go see him myself later.”

Qing Yuan nodded respectfully and began tidying the room. She cleared away the remnants of the previous night—burned candles, empty wine cups, and the crumpled white silk handkerchief by the bed, now bearing faint traces of red.

As Ah Luo was being attended to by her maid Chun Xi, she caught a glimpse of the handkerchief and felt her face flush bright red.

Chun Xi giggled. “Miss—no, you are the heir’s wife now… My lady, I was worried that the heir married you only because of the rumors. But now, I can rest easy.”

Ah Luo silently scoffed to herself. It was indeed because of the rumors. If she hadn’t used both sweet talk and persistence, who knew when the consummation would have happened? 

She recalled the original storyline, where the female protagonist and Wenren Jin had been married for three years and still hadn’t consummated their marriage. What a waste that was for the female protagonist, she thought.

Ah Luo couldn’t help but recall some scenes from last night in her mind.

Wenren Jin, despite his usual gentle and respectful demeanour, wasn’t as stiff as she had expected. He hadn’t been the type to ask for permission at every step, but it was clear he was inexperienced. He knew very little about such matters, and Ah Luo had mostly taken the lead.

As a result, Ah Luo found herself more than satisfied with the experience.

Her elegant and refined husband had sweated. His face had flushed, and his body had trembled with restraint. He had refused to continue unless she gave him permission and held back until she urged him on.

Ah Luo was so tired that she fell asleep right after. In her half-dreaming state, she had felt him gently wiping her down. When she woke up that morning, refreshed and clean, she realized it hadn’t been a dream after all.

Because of Wenren Jin’s tenderness, Ah Luo barely felt any pain, aside from a slight soreness in her waist. All things considered, it had been an ideal first night.

After finishing her morning routine and donning another celebratory red dress, Ah Luo saw that it was still early. She decided to ask Qing Yuan to take her to the training grounds to find Wenren Jin and, along the way, take in the surroundings of the marquis’s estate.

She had heard that, when the previous emperor had stripped Wenren Jin’s father of his military power, he had granted him many benefits, including this grand residence. The entire estate was magnificent, with an air of grandeur and elegance to it. As Ah Luo walked through a vast garden, she spotted a tranquil lake surrounded by greenery before finally reaching the training grounds.

The training grounds were spacious, and as soon as she entered, she saw a lone figure in white darting gracefully across the field. His movements were swift and fluid. 

His white robes billowed in the wind, and the gleaming silver sword he wielded caught the light, casting sharp reflections. The sword’s movements stirred the air and kicked up dust as it sliced through the air. The usually gentle and composed Wenren Jin looked fierce and imposing, and he exuded a powerful, unyielding aura.

This side of Wenren Jin was unfamiliar but surprisingly captivating to Ah Luo. It was as if the man she thought she knew—calm, serene, and harmless—had suddenly revealed a dangerous and commanding side. The stark contrast between these two facets of his personality was undeniably alluring.

Ah Luo stood at a distance and fixed her eyes on him. Her heartbeat quickened with every movement that he made.

However, not long after she had started watching, he abruptly stopped moving.

Wenren Jin sheathed his sword and stood still. His sharp gaze turned in her direction. As he looked at her, his amber eyes still carried a cold intensity that had yet to dissipate.

“Who’s there?”

Wenren Jin was highly sensitive to being watched. He had felt the weight of someone’s gaze on him for a while, and the bold and unrestrained stare was simply impossible for him to ignore.

Rather than continuing his practice, he paused to ask, but then a voice called out to him. The wind carried the voice to him.

“Husband!”

The sweet, clear voice belonged to none other than Ah Luo. The moment she addressed him with that intimate title, Wenren Jin was instantly reminded of their night before, of her soft whispers in his ear as the warmth of the bridal chamber enveloped them both.

She had called him ‘husband’ then, too—each time stronger and more tenderly than the last. It had melted his heart into a pool of molten desire.

The second Ah Luo spoke, she noticed Wenren Jin’s ears turning bright red. The cold aura surrounding him dissipated in an instant, and he reverted from a fierce swordsman back to the gentle, elegant nobleman she was familiar with. The transformation was so swift that it left her in awe.

Wenren Jin walked towards her with his sheathed sword still in his hand. He stopped before her and asked, in a soft voice, “Wife, why didn’t you call for me when you woke?”

His tone was casual, but his jade-like ears remained flushed with a deep shade of red.

Ah Luo inwardly clicked her tongue and suppressed a grin. Outwardly, though, she maintained her composure and gently replied to him, “I didn’t want to trouble you. Besides, as your wife, I want to learn more about you.”

She could see the redness spreading from his ears to his face. His amber eyes shimmered with a mixture of bashfulness and suppressed emotion. His lips pressed tightly together and he seemed to struggle to form words. 

Ah Luo was feeling kindhearted and merciful, so she changed the topic. She said, “I didn’t know you were so skilled in martial arts.”

Wenren Jin exhaled. He was visibly relieved as he gently replied, “I was weak as a child. Many physicians said I wouldn’t live past fifteen. However, I met my master, who taught me martial arts to strengthen my body. That’s why I am as I am today.”

Ah Luo nodded thoughtfully. “Your master—is he the Daoist priest from Changyun Temple on Tianmen Mountain, Daoist Qing Yi?”

“Yes,” Wenren Jin confirmed.

Daoist Qing Yi was a renowned figure, famed for his fortune-telling and his mastery of Daoist arts. He was said to be able to predict a person’s fortune and misfortune, including the matters of their life and death. He was also known for his longevity and vitality, and so was often called a living immortal.

Thinking of this, Ah Luo suddenly remembered a rumor that she had once heard.

“Husband, I’ve heard people say that when you were younger, Daoist Qing Yi foretold that you should never marry. Is that true?”

Wenren Jin’s expression stiffened at her question. He handed his sword to a servant and asked, “Wife, have you had breakfast yet?”

Ah Luo blinked in surprise. “No, I came to find you as soon as I woke.”

Wenren Jin didn’t seem surprised by her answer. He stepped closer and gently took her hand in his. There was a soft smile on his lips as he said, “It’s getting late. Let’s go have breakfast. Father is probably waiting for us.”

Huh? Was he… changing the subject?

Ah Luo lowered her head to look at their joined hands, then looked up at his refined profile. Finally, she concluded that he was, indeed, avoiding the question.

“Husband, you haven’t answered me yet,” she said.

Ah Luo kept pace with him as the two of them walked back together. Teasingly, she scratched the palm of his hand. She was determined not to let this subject go.

The young man in white sighed softly. As he replied, his tone carried a hint of helplessness but also something else—an unmistakable fondness.

He tightened his grip on her hand as he began to explain.

Daoist Qing Yi had indeed foretold Wenren Jin’s fate when he was young, but the prediction wasn’t as people had come to believe. The Daoist had seen that Wenren Jin’s fate held a tribulation, and this tribulation would come through his marriage. 

If he never married, he could avoid this hardship.

If he married, though, his life might be filled with loneliness and hardship.

That being said, Daoist Qing Yi had also explained that a person’s fate wasn’t set in stone. Predictions were often imprecise, and the future could not be fully predicted. He didn’t need to fear or shy away from marriage.

In truth, the Daoist had simply advised Wenren Jin not to worry and that marriage was still an option for him. However, Wenren Jin had spread the rumor claiming that his master forbade him from ever marrying.

“Husband, why did you do that? Were you afraid of your fate?” 

Ah Luo thought back to the original storyline. Daoist Qing Yi’s prediction was accurate; after Wenren Jin married the female protagonist, his life had indeed been one of loneliness and hardship.

However, she had rewritten his fate now, so that prediction no longer mattered. What intrigued Ah Luo was why Wenren Jin had chosen to start such a rumor.

Wenren Jin shook his head slowly. His steps were unhurried as they walked through a peach orchard. The branches above them were heavy with green fruit, and their fragrance mingled with the scent of grass beneath them.

“No, it wasn’t fear. I simply… didn’t want to burden anyone.”

His warm, gentle voice continued, “I am blind. I have a disability, which means I cannot care for other people as I should. Instead, I would need someone to accommodate me. If I took a wife, I wouldn’t be able to see her face, understand her expressions, or know when she needed comfort. If she were in danger, I might not even realize it in time.

“If someone like me married… wouldn’t that mean shackling someone else to a life of hardship?”

Wenren Jin was tall, and Ah Luo had to tilt her head up to look at him. Even then, she couldn’t fully make out his expression.

She tightened her grip on his hand and stopped walking.

He halted as well and turned his head in her direction as if to ‘look’ at her.

Finally, Ah Luo could see his face. As she’d expected, he was calm and his expression was serene—indifferent, even. There was a hint of curiosity, though, in his expression; he seemed to be wondering why she had stopped.

“Wenren Jin.”

Even though Ah Luo knew that he couldn’t see it, she still put a serious expression on her face as she called him by his full name.

Wenren Jin’s confusion seemed to deepen. “Yes, Wife?”

“Listen carefully. I’ll only say this once. You say you have a disability and can’t care for a wife, yet you’ve been taking care of me all along. You say you can’t see your wife’s face, yet you’ve already ‘seen’ mine. You claim you can’t tell if your wife needs comfort, but you listen to me, and I can tell you what I feel—you don’t need to guess. And you worry that if your wife were in danger, you wouldn’t realize it, but you were the one who saved me from the lake.

“The most important thing is… do you know what it means to be a husband?”

Wenren Jin’s heart was stirred by her words. Suddenly, he felt like his throat was very dry, and he swallowed. Then, he murmured, “What does it mean?”

“A husband and wife are one. They are two halves of a whole, and they are two people meant to walk through life together while sharing everything. They’d even lay together in the same grave one day. A husband cannot say that he is dragging down his wife, and his wife cannot say that she accommodates him, or the opposite, because that isn’t how things work in a marriage.”

Ah Luo interlaced her fingers with his and pressed her palm against his. Her voice softened. “Since I chose to be your wife, you need to believe that you are worthy—that you are enough for me.”

Wenren Jin remained silent for a long moment before asking, “Even compared to the crown prince?”

His question stunned Ah Luo for a moment. However, when she responded, she did so without any hesitation. She said, “Of course!”

“I’ve heard many say the crown prince is dashing, distinguished, and charismatic.”

Ah Luo laughed and said, “I’ve heard people say that Wenren Jin, the heir of the marquis of Yuanting, is as graceful as bamboo and is incomparably handsome. He is a true gentleman, who is warm and noble…”

When Wenren Jin sensed that she intended to continue, he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.

“Wife,” he said. His voice grew solemn, and he said, “I will always remember your words today.”

Ah Luo smiled and led him forward once more. The two figures—one in red and one in white, walked down the stone path in the grove. As they walked, their shadows overlapped.

From somewhere in the breeze, Ah Luo’s teasing voice could be heard, saying, “Husband, just now, were you a little… jealous?”

“…”