I Really Like the Male Supporting Character (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 14
It was almost unheard of for guests to visit a newlywed couple’s house for three days after their marriage. The purpose of this custom was to give the couple time to enjoy each other’s company as husband and wife without the burden of social obligations. Only after the bride’s return to her family would the couple rejoin society. [1]
However, the second day after Wenren Jin and Ah Luo were married, the marquis of Yuanting’s residence received a shameless guest who had no regard whatsoever for this custom.
Ah Luo received a report from her servants who said that a certain Miss Zhao Qiuchen had come to visit.
At that time, Ah Luo was enjoying the scenery with Wenren Jin in their garden. To be precise, she was enjoying the scenery, while Wenren Jin played a musical instrument, the guqin, for her by her side.
It had been an unexpected but pleasant discovery. While organising her belongings the day before, she had unpacked her guqin and Wenren Jin had idly plucked a few notes. However, those few notes had sounded better than anything she’d produced in ten years of practice, much to her astonishment.
From his elegant calligraphy to his remarkable musical skills, Wenren Jin was an inexhaustible treasure chest of talents.
As Su Taifu had once said, he was gifted in all six arts—he was a truly perfect, all-rounder of a man.
Had he not been blind, she mused, he might have been considered otherworldly.
As expected of a male supporting character. Male supporting characters were indeed all-powerful, and they could do anything and everything; the novels hadn’t misled her about this!
For now, however, Ah Luo’s attention was firmly fixed on how to diplomatically send her unwelcome visitor away.
Zhao Qiuchen interrupted before Ah Luo could finish listening to a song that Wenren Jin was playing. Besides, Ah Luo had little interest in meeting with Zhao Qiuchen, let alone wasting time that could otherwise be spent listening to her husband’s playing.
Besides, she would be losing out on a wonderful sight and look at Zhao Qiuchen’s face instead. Indeed, the sight of the handsome and graceful young man in white, bowing his head and playing the guqin, was a wonderful sight. He seemed otherworldly when he played the guqin, and the music he played sounded as though it were woven from the threads of the heavens themselves. Indeed, he made for a top-notch audio-visual feast!
Ah Luo might say that she was enjoying the scenery. In truth, her sight was transfixed on the person playing the guqin next to her.
Perhaps because her gaze felt too heavy on him, Wenren Jin suddenly stopped and gently said to her, “Ah Luo, since Miss Zhao has come by in person, perhaps it’s for something important. Would you like to invite her to join us?”
Important? Ah Luo doubted it.
She suspected Zhao Qiuchen was simply here to satisfy her curiosity about Ah Luo’s marriage, even perhaps to see if things were going poorly so she could secretly gloat.
Still, it didn’t seem appropriate to ignore a guest entirely, regardless of how annoying that guest was. After all, Zhao Qiuchen had indeed come all the way to her residence.
“Please show her to the pavilion here,” Ah Luo instructed the servant. Then, she turned back to Wenren Jin and added, “Ah Yu, shall we play a duet together?”
Wenren Jin’s gaze softened. A smile appeared on his lips, and he warmly said, “Of course.”
Zhao Qiuchen was led through the estate, feeling somewhat surprised by the invitation.
She knew well that coming on the second day after the wedding was a breach of propriety, but she’d always been one to disregard such rigid rules.
She had been driven by curiosity and had impulsively decided to see how Su Luoyan was doing.
To her surprise, she had not been turned away.
As she neared the garden, some different thoughts began to drift through her mind. She wondered if Su Luoyan was unhappy with her marriage—after all, she had once been destined for the exalted role of crown princess, only to be married to a marquis’s heir who was blind. Surely, Zhao Qiuchen thought, there might be some frustration there.
Moreover, the two of them did not know each other before. The marquis’ heir was also forced to marry her against his master’s orders. Perhaps the two newlyweds had a stiff relationship…
She made many guesses along the way, but as she approached the pavilion, she began to hear music—soft, warm notes weaving into a love song that tugged at the heart. She recognized it as the famous piece, ‘A Phoenix Seeks His Mate,’ a song that was filled with unspoken longing and affection.
The music drifted over from behind a screen of mountain rocks and reached her as she entered the pavilion. Zhao Qiuchen blinked in bewilderment as she saw two figures seated close together.
The servant gestured to the pavilion. “Miss Zhao, the marquis’ heir and his wife are expecting you.”
Uncertainly, Zhao Qiuchen wondered, could Su Luoyan be the one playing?
She stepped closer and opened the gauze curtain to walk in. There, she saw a couple that could only be described as radiant, seated in harmony before a single guqin.
The man wore white robes. His hair was as dark as ink, and his expression was serene yet affectionate. He exuded an effortless grace and composure, a gentleman in every sense. Beside him sat a woman with bright eyes and red lips. Her bearing was elegant yet spirited, and she was the portrait of a refined young lady. Together, they made a striking pair—their union seemed utterly perfect.
The two played the guqin in perfect synchrony, moving as one, without speaking, though one of them could not even see. Even so, every movement they made was laced with unspoken tenderness, and the tenderness was enough to make any onlookers’ face flush.
As the song came to an end, Zhao Qiuchen murmured, “Had I known this would be the scene, I wouldn’t have come. All my worries were for nothing.”
Ah Luo invited her to sit and asked, “Miss Zhao, is there something that brought you here today?”
Wenren Jin noted that they had begun to chat and rose from his seat. He carried the guqin and sat on the other side of the pavilion, some space away, to give them some privacy.
“Oh, so I need an excuse to come visit you now?” Zhao Qiuchen replied airily.
Ah Luo nearly rolled her eyes. She was barely managing to restrain herself.
Zhao Qiuchen took great delight in teasing Ah Luo. She relished the moments when she could push her to the brink of irritation, only for Ah Luo to hold her composure. It was amusing, but if she pushed too far, she’d be shown the door. It’d be a pity to lose such a source of amusement, so Zhao Qiuchen held back.
“I know the two of you have just gotten married, but have you forgotten what today is?”
Ah Luo looked at her blankly. “What day is today?”
Zhao Qiuchen gave her an odd look. “The crown prince is getting married today. Haven’t you heard the drums and firecrackers outside?”
Ah Luo frowned and said, “What does that have to do with me?”
Zhao Qiuchen’s eyes widened. “Seems like you really are over him.”
At this, Ah Luo noticed Wenren Jin’s fingers pausing slightly over the guqin, though he kept his face serene.
“I never once claimed to like him,” Ah Luo said evenly. “I was only close to him because we were betrothed. When that betrothal was dissolved, I ceased having anything to do with him. In the future, you needn’t bring him up with me.”
“Fine, fine,” Zhao Qiuchen teasingly said with a grin on her face. “Clearly, you have someone else on your mind now. I won’t bring him up again.”
After a moment, she sighed and said, “Watching the two of you, I can’t help but look forward to marriage myself.”
With that, Ah Luo’s interest was piqued. She said, “Oh? You’re getting married?”
Zhao Qiuchen was about to turn sixteen this year. Indeed, she should’ve been betrothed to someone long ago. However, her grandfather had passed two years ago, and partly due to both her filial piety and partly due to her notoriety, the matter of her betrothal and marriage had been delayed.
Thanks to her very caring and powerful father, though, Zhao Qiuchen didn’t have to worry about getting married. As such, her family had allowed her to enjoy her youth.
However, her period of mourning was about to pass, and Zhao Qiuchen was already fifteen. She couldn’t put off the matter any longer, and so the matter was put back on the forefront of her family’s attention.
“Yes, to the seventh prince,” Zhao Qiuchen replied.
Ah Luo was taken aback. “The seventh prince?”
Zhao Qiuchen misinterpreted her surprise and explained, “If not him, then it would have been another prince. My father’s rank makes it impossible for me to marry elsewhere, so I’m bound to enter the imperial family, one way or another. If not for the emperor getting too old for me, I might have ended up in his inner court instead.”
She didn’t know that Ah Luo was thinking about something else. In the original line, Gu Qilou—the seventh prince, had been the crown prince’s most formidable rival on his path to the throne.
Gu Qilou was sixteen years old this year. He was the son of the emperor and his beloved Consort Rou, and he was also the emperor’s favourite son. Despite his young age, he was a man of exceptional intelligence and kindness, with strong principles and righteousness. All in all, he was a very outstanding young prince.
His mother, Consort Rou, was also the emperor’s most favoured concubine. Sometimes, he acted as if they were a normal family untouched by imperial strife, where Consort Rou was his only wife and Gu Qilou was his only son.
The novel even mentioned that if Gu Qilou hadn’t died, the throne might never have passed to the crown prince.
However, he had tragically died at the age of eighteen due to an accident.
Gu Qilou’s sudden death had devastated the emperor and caused his already weakening body to deteriorate even more. This set off the fierce struggle for the throne among the rest of the princes.
Ah Luo hadn’t expected that Zhao Qiuchen would be betrothed to Gu Qilou.
So, in two years, she would be left widowed.
Ah Luo felt a pang of worry. She actually got along quite well with Zhao Qiuchen. Many of her friends had distanced themselves from her since her engagement to Wenren Jin, but Zhao Qiuchen had stayed just as she’d always been.
Zhao Qiuchen was a person with no evil intentions. Although she might be very rude and annoying sometimes, it was only because she was simply frank to a fault. Although she occasionally got on Ah Luo’s nerves, her heart had always been in the right place.
Perhaps Ah Luo should help Zhao Qiuchen. Perhaps she should warn her against marrying the seventh prince, or try to prevent the accident that would take his life.
The latter option seemed better. Marriage arrangements in noble families were difficult to cancel, and even if she told Zhao Qiuchen, it was unlikely she would believe such a prediction. Besides, letting someone die when she had the power to help didn’t sit well with Ah Luo.
As for the male and female protagonists’ story—well, Ah Luo didn’t care if it changed. Her task was solely to assist the supporting characters; to her, plot details didn’t matter at all.
While she was thinking this, she watched Zhao Qiuchen prepare to leave.
There were still two years left until the accident would happen, so Ah Luo felt no immediate need to act. She and Wenren Jin walked Zhao Qiuchen to the gate and bid her farewell.
On the way back, Wenren Jin turned to her and said, “After tomorrow’s return visit to your family, I plan to make a trip to Tianmen Mountain to see my master.”
Ah Luo understood. She only asked, “To bring him news of your marriage?”
He nodded. “It’s a long journey, so I’ll be gone for some time. Please wait for me here. I promise I’ll return soon.”
Ah Luo: ‘…?’
The smile slipped from Ah Luo’s face. She asked, “Ah Yu, are you not taking me with you?”
Wenren Jin stayed silent, as if he was quietly confirming it.
“Why won’t you take me? Your master knows you’ve married, so wouldn’t he be disappointed if you didn’t bring your wife along to meet him?”
Wenren Jin gently replied, “My master is a generous man. He won’t mind. I’ll convey your regards to him, so there’s no need to worry.”
Ah Luo frowned. “Are you concerned I can’t handle the journey? I’m more than capable of handling it. Your master is important to you, so it’s only right I meet him—”
“Ah Luo.” Wenren Jin’s voice was soft, but firm, as he interrupted her. “Stay here and wait for my return, alright?”
Ah Luo raised her head and studied him carefully. She had insisted that he look at her whenever he spoke to her. He had gotten used to doing it now, even though his transparent eyes often gave away his feelings that he hid behind his guarded words.
She asked, “Ah Yu, what are you afraid of?”
His lashes fluttered, and he bit his lip but said nothing.
Ah Luo pressed on. “Are you worried about your master’s prophecy? Are you afraid he won’t approve of our marriage, or that he won’t like me?”
Wordlessly, Wenren Jin wrapped his arms around her in a gentle but firm embrace. His voice was almost pleading as he said, “No… it’s none of that. Please… let me go alone. I promise I’ll be back soon.”
His only fear was losing her.
His master had predicted he would live a lonely life, unmoored and alone. If this journey confirmed his fate was unchangeable, wouldn’t it mean that one day, Ah Luo would leave him one day?
Though they had been married for only days, the mere thought of her absence filled him with a dread he could not ignore. For the first time, he was beginning to worry about his fate—something he hadn’t paid much attention to before.
His arms tightened around her, and she could clearly feel his love, desperation, and fear in his embrace.
Ah Luo could not see his face, only the graceful line of his neck. She tightened her hold on his waist and rose on her toes to press her lips close to his ear.
“No.”
Wenren Jin froze. At the next moment, he felt her warm breath brush against his ear. Her lips brushed his skin in a soft kiss.
“Husband, take me with you… please?”
The poised, noble man, tall and elegant as bamboo, finally closed his eyes in surrender.
“…Very well.”
Translator’s Note:
[1] In Chinese traditions, the bride and the groom would visit her family three days after their wedding. The bride’s family would welcome the couple with a mini banquet and the groom would bring a roasted pig as a gift. (Brides)