The Prisoner of Beauty

Is he really going to formally take Zheng Shu as his concubine?

Xiao Qiao had not been in the Wei household for long, but from the second day onwards, she knew that the servants in the east wing treated Zheng Shu as Wei Shao's concubine.

In other words, although Zheng Shu had not officially moved to the west wing yet, it was only a matter of time.

For Xiao Qiao, Wei Shao taking Zheng Shu as a concubine was naturally not something that would bring her any benefits. But given the current situation, it couldn't be considered a significant loss either, except that it might make her, the newlywed bride who hadn't even been married for three months, look a bit bad.

However, the current situation was already much better than what Xiao Qiao had initially anticipated. Contentment is precious. Moreover, since she had no say in the matter, was it necessary for her to pour cold water on a man's enthusiasm for taking a concubine and make things difficult for him? That would clearly be making trouble for herself.

"Is that so? That's wonderful."

Xiao Qiao smiled and turned around, "Actually, I knew about you and Zheng Shu just a couple of days after I arrived. At that time, I was puzzled for a few days seeing her staying in the east wing. Now it's settled, right? Have you chosen a date? I'll go and arrange the room tomorrow. By the way, I think the east wing of the courtyard is quite nice. It's spacious, has plenty of yang energy, and is fully equipped with a bathroom and side rooms. You can go and take a look tomorrow. If it's good, I'll arrange the room. Whatever we have here, there will be no less over there."

The east wing of the courtyard was indeed a nice empty room, and the best part was that it was a bit of a distance from the room she lived in, with an inner door in between.

After speaking, Xiao Qiao looked at him with a smile. Seeing him just staring at her, expressionless and without any reaction, her smile gradually faded. Finally, she hesitated and tentatively asked, "What's wrong? Are you dissatisfied with the arrangements?"

......

Wei Shao stared at Xiao Qiao, watching her cheerful demeanor, and suddenly felt a sense of disinterest.

......

He had no interest in sleeping with Zheng Chuyu, nor did he want to ruin his cousin's life because of himself. Previously, because Zhu Shi had been pressing him hard, he simply ignored it and didn't feel any guilt. Unexpectedly, tonight Zhu Shi suddenly changed her attitude, which made Wei Shao feel somewhat troubled.

Wei Shao understood his mother, knowing that her vision was limited, and she tended to be stubborn, lacking the magnanimity of a great family. He also didn't believe that his grandmother was deliberately making things difficult for her as she claimed. But no matter what, she was still his mother. She had been good to him, and Wei Shao always remembered that. He actually harbored deep feelings for this widowed mother and, deep down, was quite a filial son.

Earlier in the east wing, Zhu Shi had said so much, complaining about his grandmother, accusing the new bride, and so on. The only thing that truly struck a chord with him was Zhu Shi's lament about her usual loneliness, with only Zheng Chuyu to keep her company and cheer her up.

He was often away, constantly at war, and having chosen this path, there was no turning back. He didn't know when it would end, and with the unpredictability of weapons, he might one day meet the same fate as his father and brother. His grandmother and mother were estranged. This newlywed wife, at first glance, was clearly not someone who would please his mother. If Zheng Chuyu could really replace him in being filial to his mother and making her happy, then taking her as a concubine would be a trivial matter for him.It was with such hesitation that he returned to the west chamber. Upon entering, he saw that she had clearly fallen asleep on her own again. On the surface, she appeared respectful towards him, but in reality, she didn’t have the slightest regard for him as her husband.

Wei Shao had lived for over twenty years and never realized that he could be such a petty and nitpicking person. When it came to this newly married daughter of the Qiao family, for some reason, he wanted to ignore her, but she always seemed to be in his sight. Looking at her, he found fault with her from every angle. Except for her face, which was somewhat acceptable, there was almost nothing about her that satisfied him. He didn’t know where this pent-up frustration came from, but after getting into bed, he remembered Zhu Shi’s complaint about her and casually brought it up, wanting to remind her that his mother, her mother-in-law, would never tolerate such disrespect.

Her response gave him a very sufficient reason—she said she didn’t know how to cook.

It was simply unbelievable.

In this day and age, even daughters from noble families, like his grandmother, who never needed to cook after marriage, were still taught the basics of cooking before they married. Yet she had the audacity to say she didn’t know how to cook. Strangely, after hearing her pitiful expression, even though he suspected she was putting on an act for him, he couldn’t bring himself to scold or hit her. He just felt helpless and even more frustrated. Then he recalled the teasing about having children during the day at the birthday hall and couldn’t help but blurt out his intention to take Zheng Chuyu as a concubine.

In truth, Wei Shao hadn’t fully made up his mind about this matter. Even if he had, he hadn’t planned to bring it up with her.

But the words were already out.

...

“Husband?”

Xiao Qiao called out softly again, noticing his strange expression.

Wei Shao snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at her. “You don’t know how to cook, you sit with your legs stretched out—utterly lacking in wifely virtue. But when it comes to not being jealous, you’re quite the virtuous one.”

His tone was casual, as if he were just chatting with her, but the underlying meaning was clear.

The incident Wei Shao referred to as “sitting with legs stretched out” had happened a few days ago.

During the afternoon, Wei Shao never returned to their room. But yesterday afternoon, Xiao Qiao and Chun Niang were in the room together. Chun Niang was doing needlework, and Xiao Qiao was helping her draw patterns. Since there was no one else around, Xiao Qiao sat on the couch with her legs stretched out for comfort. Unfortunately, Wei Shao happened to come in at that moment. Xiao Qiao quickly retracted her legs, but it was too late—he had already seen her.

At the time, he had just given her a brief glance, said nothing, took what he needed, and left. Chun Niang was both self-reproachful, feeling she hadn’t taught Xiao Qiao properly, and worried. She was relieved that he hadn’t said anything and repeatedly reminded Xiao Qiao afterward never to sit like that again.

Xiao Qiao had thought Wei Shao didn’t care about it. She hadn’t expected him to remember and bring it up now to criticize her.

This posture of sitting with legs stretched out, which seems perfectly normal to modern people, was considered highly improper at the time. Hundreds of years ago, Mencius’s wife was seen sitting like this while alone at home by Mencius himself. He immediately went to his mother and said he wanted to divorce her. When his mother asked why, the sage simply said one word: “Ju” (sitting with legs spread). This shows just how serious a matter it was.Xiao Qiao listened as he brought up past grievances, lowering her head and speaking softly, "I know my virtues as a wife are lacking, but not being jealous is both my duty and comes from my heart."

Wei Shao chuckled, "From the way you speak, it seems I’m fortunate to have married such a virtuous wife?"

"It is my fortune to have married into the Wei family," she replied.

The room fell into silence.

Wei Shao was momentarily at a loss for words.

He suddenly felt that he had spoken too much to her tonight, which was beyond his original intention.

"Alright, let's sleep. It's late," he finally said, glancing at her once more.

Xiao Qiao hummed in agreement, blew out the lamp, climbed back into bed, and finally settled down to sleep.

...

The next morning, Xiao Qiao was still asleep when she vaguely sensed movement beside her. She opened her eyes slightly and saw that Wei Shao seemed to be getting up.

But it was still pitch dark outside, and the candles in the room were still lit, so it was probably just past the fourth watch.

Suppressing her reluctance, Xiao Qiao forced her heavy eyelids open, yawning as she prepared to get up with him. Just then, she heard him whisper in her ear, "It's still early. I have some business to attend to outside. You can go back to sleep."

Relieved, Xiao Qiao closed her eyes and immediately fell back onto the pillow.

Wei Shao glanced at her, then got out of bed and stood outside, dressing himself piece by piece. Once fully dressed and ready to leave, he instinctively turned his head to look at Xiao Qiao on the bed.

She had already buried her head under the blanket, leaving only her dark, cloud-like hair exposed.

Wei Shao hesitated for a moment, then turned back, leaned over the bed, and gently tapped the edge of the bed with his knuckles.

Xiao Qiao was awakened again by him and finally pulled the blanket down, slowly opening her eyes to see Wei Shao leaning over the bed, one leg resting on the edge, looking at her.

"My lord... what is it?" Xiao Qiao rubbed her eyes, still not fully awake.

"After thinking about it last night, I decided that taking Chu Yu as a concubine is ultimately not appropriate. I don’t have time to go today, so as my wife, you should go and inform my mother for me," Wei Shao said, his lips curling into a half-smile before he turned and left.

Xiao Qiao was stunned for a moment before she came to her senses, her drowsiness completely gone.

What did he mean? One moment he wanted to take a concubine, the next he didn’t. Not taking one was fine, but wasn’t this just making her suffer again by going to the east room to face his mother?

...

When Wei Shao finished getting ready and left, he seemed to be in a good mood, his steps light and carefree.

But Xiao Qiao was in a terrible state.

He left before the fifth watch, and the sky was still dark. After he left, Chun Niang came in to help Xiao Qiao extinguish the lamp.

The spring night was perfect for sleeping, especially since there was no one else in the bed to take up space. She could sleep however she wanted.

But after Wei Shao left, she couldn’t fall back asleep.

She lay awake until dawn, finally getting up and washing. Chun Niang, seeing her distracted state, initially thought she had displeased Marquis Wei again. But then she remembered that Marquis Wei’s expression when he left in the morning was the best she had seen in a long time, so there shouldn’t be any issue. She asked Xiao Qiao what was wrong.Xiao Qiao recounted to Chun Niang the dramatic reversal regarding Wei Shao's decision to take a concubine that had occurred in just one short night. Finally, with a mournful expression, she threw herself into Chun Niang's arms: "Wei Shao did this on purpose. He knew his mother doesn't like me, yet he still made me go and reject the concubine for him..."

"My dear heart—"

Chun Niang was startled and quickly covered her mouth, "Can you just casually call out Marquis Wei's name like that? Be careful someone hears you!"

Indeed, one must not casually call out such a distinguished name. Unless it's an elder, only adversaries or enemies would directly call someone by their name to express contempt or insult.

Xiao Qiao closed her mouth.

But then, a look of joy appeared on Chun Niang's face: "Marquis Wei not taking Zheng Shu as a concubine is a great thing, why isn't the lady happy? As for rejecting Madam..."

She thought for a moment, then leaned close to Xiao Qiao's ear and whispered something.

Xiao Qiao's eyes lit up, and her mind finally cleared.

It was all because of that Wei Shao (repeated a thousand times here), from the very first meeting, he had either been scowling at her, mocking her, or interrogating her like a criminal. Every moment spent living with him, she had been on edge, carefully navigating, afraid that the next second she would unknowingly offend the great young master Wei. That's why her mind had been in a fog, even forgetting about the great presence of Madam Xu in the north house.

Xiao Qiao's mood immediately improved, and she hurriedly changed her clothes to go over.

Yesterday was the birthday celebration, and Madam Xu should have been tired, but she still got up very early this morning.

Probably also not wanting to meet her daughter-in-law Zhu Shi too often, Madam Xu had long ago exempted Zhu Shi from the morning greeting ritual. If at home, Zhu Shi only came to pay her respects on the first and fifteenth days of the month. So when Xiao Qiao went over, she didn't encounter Zhu Shi.

She asked the servant to announce her, and after waiting for a moment in the corridor outside the door, she was almost immediately summoned in.

Madam Xu, who went to bed early and rose early, had a very regular lifestyle. She looked in good spirits. Dressed in casual home clothes, she was sitting on a low couch, drinking millet porridge. In front of her on a small table were a few dishes of sauce and pickles, a simple meal served in coarse pottery utensils, clean and with an ancient style.

Xiao Qiao knelt to pay her respects. Madam Xu had her rise and asked Zhong Ao to add another set of bowls and chopsticks, inviting Xiao Qiao to dine with her.