Lady of Fortune, Jiao Niang

Sending her back to her maiden home is equivalent to sending her back to eat dirt.

The divorce paper he prepared couldn’t be handed at all. Qi Yun sat straight in the chair, watching Ye Jiao eating snacks on the plate little by little.

They didn’t move the wedding wine on their side—neither the peanuts and longans that were neatly arranged in the box. 1

Ye Jiao didn’t understand these customs at all, and Qi Yun also seemed to forget about it. He only looked at Ye Jiao, and his eyes gradually became warm.

The woman in the wedding dress ate with enthusiasm. When there were only two pieces left on the plate, she patted her hands and leaned on the back of the chair with a delighted smile on her face.

Probably because she spent too much time in the soil in her previous life, Ye Jiao was easily satisfied.

She couldn’t help but look at Qi Yun. “I’m full, what should I do next?”

As Qi Yun heard this, he gestured towards the bed with a relatively gentle smile on his pale face. “Go to sleep.”

He didn’t expect that in the next second, he would see Ye Jiao’s eyes shining.

The little ginseng spirit cheered in her heart. It was great to be able to sleep in bed. She had already had enough of being buried in the ground!

‘It is good to be married!’

However, Qi Yun didn’t understand Ye Jiao’s joy. In the end, he could only attribute it to the fact that she had a bad life at the Ye family’s house. She probably didn’t even have a soft bed.

As expected, how would someone who can sell her for two silver taels treat her nicely?

The room was originally Qi Yun’s bedroom, and the bed was his bed. Nonetheless, Qi Yun knew that he was sick, so he had ordered someone to place another soft couch in the outer room.

It’s just that his previous thought was that he would sleep on the bed, and she would be on the couch, but now it was the other way around.

Qi Yun blew out the candles. He coughed lightly and took off the bright red suit, then got into the quilt to wrap himself tightly.

Ye Jiao was lying on the bed, tossing and turning. It’s already late when she went to sleep because of excitement.

This allowed her to sleep until the sun was bright on the next day.

Her body was already thin, and she often couldn’t get enough food to eat. Also, the process of getting married was extra complicated. It was inevitable that she would get tired. This sleep has not only cultivated her spirit, but also gave the little ginseng a chance to have a good rest and to wholly integrate the original body’s memory.

She was a little lucky. Fortunately, she had the memory; otherwise, she would not be able to understand many things.

What surprised Ye Jiao was: when she woke up, Qi Yun was still asleep.

She lifted the quilt and got out of bed. Ye Jiao walked to the couch where Qi Yun was asleep and squatted down. She rested her chin on both hands and stared at the man.

Qi Yun, who was still asleep, was pale. He was a little thin and looked like he was born with health issues.

Nevertheless, Ye Jiao now understood that she was married to him.

Yesterday Ye Jiao didn’t know what marriage was, but after a night of memory fusion, Ye Jiao now understood that a marriage means a man and a woman being tied together. From now on, they will share any honor or disgrace.

Ye Jiao was very satisfied with marrying Qi Yun.

In her memory, Ye Ersao would always give Ye Jiao leftovers, and just only a little at that. She would always say that a girl could not eat too much. But in fact, she gave all the delicious food to her son.

The little ginseng spirit who had finally become a human was naturally more willing to stay here with Qi Yun. As long as she could eat two bites of last night’s snack every day, it would be good. She would not have to go back to the Ye family to fight for food with a child.

However, Qi Yun’s body is not good. Ye Jiao felt that she had to think more about how to keep this man, who was willing to feed her, alive.

At this moment, Qi Yun’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and then he slowly opened his eyes.

Seeing the bright sun outside, Qi Yun was a little surprised.

His body was not well. He usually has a lot of dreams at night, only sleeps lightly, and would wake up with a little noise.

But yesterday, he surprisingly slept well. He sleeps comfortably until the sun became bright outside, which was the first time in many years.

Qi Yun couldn’t help but want to see if his bride had gotten up, but when he turned his head, he saw Ye Jiao leaning on his bed.

Seeing him awake, Ye Jiao smiled brightly at him, which dyed Qi Yun’s ears red.

The woman only wore underwear and trousers. The thin straps of her undergarment crossed the back of her neck, revealing her white and soft shoulders and arms. Qi Yun could see the woman’s long slender neck and delicate collarbone even only after a glance.

For ordinary couples, it’s not a big deal to dress like this.

But for Qi Yun, this is too much of an excitement.

He immediately diverted his gaze away to face the wall, and mumbled, “Go get your clothes on.”

His tone was a bit rough. Even after he told himself over and over again yesterday not to treat this poor little girl with his usual bad temper. However, now he was faced with a dilemma which made his voice sounded harsh. Qi Yun felt a pang of regret the moment he uttered those words.

But Ye Jiao didn’t care about this. She reached out and touched Qi Yun curiously, “Why are you talking to the wall?”

After a while, she heard Qi Yun’s voice, which was much softer than before, “I told you, go get your clothes on.”

Ye Jiao looked at the wall again and made sure that there was no one there. Then she got up obediently and went to pick up the clothes that were placed next to the cabinet yesterday and put them on. Then, she put up her hair according to the hairstyle of married women in her memory.

After failing twice and finally succeeding in the third time, the little ginseng silently praised her ingenuity in her mind.

However, this rustling sound caused Qi Yun’s ears to start to have a fever again.

When he couldn’t hear any movement, Qi Yun slowly got out of the quilt. He tried to keep his face as usual, but at a glance, he saw Ye Jiao sitting at the table and was about to continue eating yesterday’s leftover snacks.

Qi Yun hurriedly said, “Don’t eat that. You won’t be able to eat lunch later.”

As soon as Ye Jiao heard this, she knew that lunch would be better than this snack. She immediately gave up the bad snack that she had considered as treasure just a minute ago and happily urged Qi Yun to eat lunch.

She rushed Qi Yun, so he put on his clothes quickly, and then took Ye Jiao to rinse her mouth and clean her face. Then they both left the room.

As soon as he left the room, Ye Jiao saw two people running away from them like rabbits.

She turned her head and asked, “Who are those?”

Qi Yun glanced at them and said, “That’s Tie Zi and Xiao Su, the children of my family’s tenants, who usually help around here.”

Ye Jiao couldn’t help but laugh. “Why are they running?”

Qi Yun lowered his eyes slightly, and his voice was calm. “In this house, anyone who sees me runs away.”

Because Qi Yun was often sick and dying, his temper was a little cold. His face was pale all year round, and his eyes were gloomy. Everyone in this family was afraid of him or disliked him. Qi Yun had long been used to it.

After hearing this, Ye Jiao turned her head and thought for a while. When she passed through the small garden, she quickly walked two steps forward. She was no longer following Qi Yun, but walked on Qi Yun’s side.

Just when Qi Yun felt that her action was strange, he felt a soft hand squeezed into his palm.

It is warm, soft, and smooth like fine satin.

Qi Yun paused and looked down at their intertwined hands. His gaze slowly moved to Ye Jiao’s face.

He wanted to ask her what she was doing, but he couldn’t ask anything when he saw Ye Jiao’s smile.

Qi Yun pursed the corner of his pale lips and suddenly realized that he is now married, and it was only natural for him to hold his lady’s hand.

Besides, the Ye family maltreated her. They sold her, didn’t let her sleep peacefully, and made her eat dirt. She would not be able to go back, so he should treat her better.

‘This is my lady, my lady, my lady…’

After working on his own psychological construction, Qi Yun carefully tightened his hand and continued to walk.

While continuing their stroll, Qi Yun didn’t realize that something was different this time. He usually had to pant after a few steps. But today, he walked slowly and smoothly to the hall. Although his face was still pale, he didn’t even sweat.

Ye Jiao shook their joined hands with satisfaction.

This person is weak. For the time being, she doesn’t know what medicine in this world looked like. Fortunately, the essence of the ginseng spirit had a nourishing effect, so let’s use herself to supplement his health.

Healing his disease started with holding hands.

—

Footnotes

During the Chinese wedding night, the bride and groom would drink cross-cupped wine as a symbol of sharing joy and sorrow. Peanuts and longans are other traditional customs, which usually spread over the newlyweds’ bed before the wedding by a “lucky” woman (someone who has healthy children of her own, usually the mother-in-law) to wish the new couple good luck in their marriage. Peanuts are symbols of health and good fortune. The word for peanut sounds like 生, pinyin: shēng, meaning born or give birth to. Longans are believed to be good luck at weddings, as they are associated with having many sons traditionally.