The Wife of a Loyal Servant - Chapter 2

Just as the stool was about to crash down on the man’s head, in that split second, he shot out a hand and caught it squarely.

“You shameless scoundrel! Bullying the weak! Let go!!” Ling Yu yanked hard, trying to wrench the stool back, but the man’s strength was overwhelming. She pulled and pulled, yet it didn’t budge an inch.

Her hands were useless, so she relied on her legs. She launched a flying kick with all her strength, aiming straight for his crotch, vowing to kick such a villain to the point of cutting off her children and grandchildren just to make them understand she wasn’t someone to mess with!

But to her surprise, he narrowly dodged the blow.

Undeterred, she swung her leg for another kick—only to be stopped by a low, urgent voice cutting through the air:

“Xiao Yu, what are you doing?!”

Xiao Yu?!

Ling Yu was stunned by this long-forgotten name. In that brief moment of daze, the man threw down the stool, swept his arm around her waist, and held her firmly in his embrace.

“Let go! If you don’t let go, I’ll call for help!” Ling Yu snapped back to her senses and struggled with all her strength.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Let go! Let go of me!” She cried, both afraid and furious, pounding against him with all her might.

“Xiao Yu, it’s me—I’m Shaotang, Cheng Shaotang!”

Seeing her struggle so fiercely, the man hurried to speak, afraid she might make a scene and wake the household.

When the words “Cheng Shaotang” reached her ears, her movements froze for a moment.

He turned her around in his arms, letting his face fall under the dim moonlight. “Do you see clearly now? I’m Shaotang, your husband, Cheng Shaotang!”

Ling Yu looked toward the man’s face in the moonlight, and when it came clearly into view, her pupils widened in shock.

“So I really fell to my death…” she murmured.

The next instant, her vision went black, and she fainted again.

“Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu…”

When Ling Yu awoke once more, she found the room softly lit. A tall figure sat by the bedside. When he saw her eyes open, he exhaled in quiet relief.

“Do you feel unwell anywhere?” he asked gently.

She instinctively avoided his hand as he reached to check her temperature, staring at him with wary eyes.

Of course, Cheng Shaotang noticed her guardedness. Full of confusion, he thought for a moment before explaining.

“This trip guarding the convoy went smoother than expected, so I returned a little earlier than planned. I was delayed a bit on the road during the day, which is why I arrived so late. I didn’t mean to frighten you; it’s my fault.”

It would startle anyone to find someone entering their room in the dead of night, especially a young woman like Xiao Yu.

Thinking of this, Cheng Shaotang felt even more guilty.

Ling Yu fixed her gaze on him. After a long moment, she slowly lowered her eyes. On the ground, two clear shadows appeared, and her delicate brows tightened even more.

Shadows? Did that mean she had survived a major disaster? But what about Cheng Shaotang? A man who had been dead for years suddenly appeared; was she seeing a ghost? But would a ghost even have a shadow?

Her mind felt close to short-circuiting. After a brief pause, she asked cautiously, “Are you really Cheng Shaotang?”

Cheng Shaotang was somewhat bewildered, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but still replied helplessly, “Yes, I’m Cheng Shaotang, the real Cheng Shaotang!”

“But… but…” Ling Yu grew even more bewildered.

Her husband had clearly been dead for many years!

Suddenly, a child’s cry drifted in from outside. She flinched and saw Cheng Shaotang rise to his feet. “Sounds like Little Shitou woke up and is crying. I’ll go take a look.”

“Wait…” Ling Yu wanted to grab him and ask what was going on, but Cheng Shaotang was eager to see the son he hadn’t seen in nearly three months and hurried off without noticing her words.

Ling Yu hastily slipped on her shoes and followed him out.

As she walked, her steps gradually slowed and then stopped without her realizing it; her eyes filled with disbelief.

It was because she realized that the place she was in was indeed the home located in Cheng Family Village!

She pinched her arm hard—hiss—and the sting told her it wasn’t a dream.

“Mother, is Little Shitou awake?” Over on the other side, Cheng Shaotang stood outside Madam Wang’s door and asked in a low voice.

Madam Wang recognized him and was startled; his son had actually returned. But looking at the grandson in her arms, his little mouth smacking and his nose red from crying, she could only swallow her joy and respond through the door, “He’s about to fall asleep. Go back to your room and rest first! Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow.”

Cheng Shaotang answered and turned, only to meet his wife’s complicated gaze.

“Xiao Yu?”

Ling Yu felt everything before her was unbearably strange.

She had fallen and should have died, yet she unexpectedly awakened, unscathed, and found herself in the very home that was supposed to have been destroyed in the chaos of war. Her husband, who had been dead for many years, was calling her “Xiao Yu,” and from the next room came her mother-in-law’s voice and her son’s cries.

But her son was clearly already ten years old!

Could it be that her fall had somehow thrown her back to several years ago? Or perhaps she really was supposed to die, but for some unknown reason at the hands of the King of Hell, she neither drank the Meng Po’s soup* nor was allowed to reincarnate and was instead sent straight back to the past. (*In Chinese mythology, this is a soup that souls drink before reincarnation to forget past lives.)

That explanation could make sense… or so she tried to tell herself, yet the moment the thought formed, it felt utterly absurd.

Cheng Shaotang couldn’t quite read her thoughts. Seeing her slightly dazed expression and her slender, fragile silhouette under the moonlight, he felt a wave of tenderness rise in him. His voice softened even more.

“It’s late. You must be exhausted. Go back and sleep for now, we can talk about anything tomorrow, alright?”

Ling Yu hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Forget it, forget it, just sleep first. Maybe when she wakes up tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.

She used that thought to comfort herself.

The two returned to the room one after the other. Ling Yu sat at the edge of the bed, watching this ‘resurrected’ Cheng Shaotang rummage for a clean set of clothes from the cabinet and take out his sweat towel. Perhaps sensing her gaze, he turned around.

As their eyes met, she heard him say, “I’ve been on the road all day. I’ll go wash up first, you go get some sleep.”

With that, he stepped out of the room.

She watched the door open and close softly, then slowly lay back on the bed. Eyes fixed on the canopy above, trying to make sense of what had happened to her.

She remembered with perfect clarity the searing pain when something hard pierced the back of her head. Could anyone survive with a hole through their skull? Yet she had lived. Not only had she lived, but she had also awakened in an unbelievable place and encountered people she should never have seen again.

“Cheng Shaotang…” She murmured the name that had lain buried in her heart for so many years.

Just then, Cheng Shaotang stepped in, still damp with moisture. He happened to hear his wife murmuring his name. It was just three simple characters, yet when she spoke them, they carried a depth and complexity that was full of emotional layers in his heart.

He narrowed his eyes a little, gazing at the faint rise and fall behind the bed curtains. Maybe it was just the hazy night playing tricks on him, but something about his wife felt different tonight. And yet, when he tried to pin down what exactly had changed, he couldn’t say.

A shadow drifted across his vision. Ling Yu snapped back to herself, turned her head, and saw the man’s tall, upright figure.

She instinctively drew back a little, her heartbeat quickening on its own. Cheng Shaotang caught the small movement, and that strange feeling in his chest only deepened.

“You—”

“You—”

They both spoke at once. Startled, Cheng Shaotang cleared his throat and said, “You go first.”

Ling Yu clutched the thin quilt and ran her tongue over her dry lips. “Are you going to sleep here?”

The moment the words slipped out, she jolted back to her senses and wanted nothing more than to smack herself.

What kind of foolish question was that?!

Cheng Shaotang hadn’t expected such a line from her either, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond. He gave a quiet “mm.”  After thinking for a moment, he still couldn’t help but ask, “Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

Ling Yu was still berating herself for being an idiot, but the moment she heard him offer her an excuse, she nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, I feel a little dizzy. Maybe I caught a chill, and I don’t want to pass it to you.”

Cheng Shaotang let out an enlightened, “Ah… so that’s it.”

As he spoke, he reached out to check her forehead. The man’s large, warm hand, roughened with calluses, covered her forehead, and only then did Ling Yu realize what was happening.

“It is a bit chilly. Tomorrow I’ll go to the county and get you a prescription. After taking a few doses, it should be fine.”

After speaking, he skillfully tucked the thin blanket around her again. Before Ling Yu could respond, he lightly patted her through the thin blanket, as if soothing a child to sleep.

“It’s late. Rest now.”

Being taken care of like this felt foreign to her. She drifted for a moment, and then the oil lamp went out, plunging the room into darkness. A heartbeat later, someone lay down beside her.

She instinctively drew back, trying to put distance between herself and the man. Her hands were clenched tight as she repeated to herself again and again, he won’t hurt her… he won’t hurt her…

Even so, the same scene kept flickering through her mind. In the darkness, a stranger lunged at her with a vicious grin, ripping her sleeve, forcing her down beneath him…

Without realizing it, she began to tremble even harder.

When strong, steady arms suddenly circled her waist, her heart nearly stopped, and she almost let out a terrified scream.

“Xiao Yu?” 

She was trembling so violently that there was no way he could miss it. Thinking she was cold, Cheng Shaotang quickly drew her into his arms and realized that her whole body was rigid. Startled, he bundled her together with the blanket and held her tightly.

Ling Yu kept shaking, her fingers clenching harder and harder as she reminded herself in silence, he is her husband, he is not a bad person, he won’t hurt her…

She had no idea how much time had passed. A gentle warmth slowly seeped into her body, and someone lightly patted her back through the blanket. Maybe she really was exhausted. Little by little, without realizing it, her breathing steadied and her tension eased. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she finally slipped into sleep.

A steady, even rhythm of breathing rose from his embrace, and at last, Cheng Shaotang’s tightly furrowed brow loosened. In the faint moonlight, he glanced at the sleeping face nestled against him. Thinking back on her strange behavior tonight, his expression deepened in thought.

Could it be that, during the more than two months he’d been away, a thief had somehow slipped into their home?