Chapter 2: Home-style Tofu (Part 2)
Jing Yi couldn't process it immediately. "Under my... wedding bed... what's there?"
Leng Yue stood up and circled the living room, making sure all the windows and doors were tightly shut before lowering her voice and repeating Xiao Jin Yu's words syllable by syllable, "Charred corpse. The kind of body that's been roasted over open flames, charred on the outside but tender inside. Isn't your nose better than a dog's? Didn't you smell the roasted meat scent in the room when you woke up this morning?"
He actually had smelled it...
Not only had he smelled it, but he had also deeply, intoxicatingly, and vigorously inhaled the scent for quite some time...
A subtle churning sensation rose in Jing Yi's stomach, followed by the reflux of last night's alcohol. Unable to suppress it, he covered his mouth, turned around, and leaned over the chair back, dry heaving repeatedly until tears welled up in his eyes.
So something really had happened last night...
Xiao Jin Yu's forehead also seemed to darken slightly.
What kind of description was that...
Leng Yue, however, breathed a sigh of relief. "Your Highness, look at his condition. I told you he wouldn't be capable of such a thing even in his next lifetime."
Jing Yi raised his head and gave Leng Yue an extremely grateful look—not for her affirmation of his character, but because she hadn't let him eat a single bite of food from morning until now. Otherwise...
Just thinking of the word "eat" made Jing Yi dry heave again.
Xiao Jin Yu nodded silently.
"Very well... This case may temporarily not be reported to the Capital Prefecture, but a complete case file must be submitted before the autumn assizes conclude."
Leng Yue was delighted and curtseyed to Xiao Jin Yu. "Thank you, Your Highness, for your understanding!"
What exactly had His Highness understood about her?
After everything that had happened today, Jing Yi had grown accustomed to not knowing many things.
Some things were truly better left unknown...
The servants Leng Yue called tried to help him back to his room to rest, but Jing Yi adamantly refused and insisted on returning to the study. Lying on the study couch, he slowly endured the wave of violent dry heaving that felt like morning sickness in the third month of pregnancy before finally dozing off. He didn't wake until Leng Yue came in, shook him awake, and handed him a bowl of millet porridge.
It was completely dark outside, and a single lonely lamp in the study cast an orange-yellow glow that made Leng Yue's originally displeased expression appear exceptionally gentle.
"Finish eating and go back to your room to sleep. It's already the second watch."
Jing Yi hugged the porridge bowl and leaned back on the couch. "Did you make this?"
Leng Yue hummed in affirmation, and only then did Jing Yi pick up the spoon. He took a mouthful of porridge, gently pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes slightly, and slowly swallowed.
Hmm...
It was indeed made by her own hands—there were still uncooked hard rice grains in it.
Leng Yue was excellent at cooking meat, but whenever she made anything besides meat, it turned into a complete disaster.
Jing Yi finished every last drop of this bowl of disaster. After eating, he licked the corner of his mouth, set down the bowl, and raised three fingers toward the ceiling beam. "I, Jing Yi, swear to the beams: The person under the bed was not brought back by me, not raped by me, not killed by me, not roasted by me, and not hidden by me. If even one word of this is untrue, may every beam above me break one by one."
"I know it wasn't you."
Jing Yi clasped his hands together formally. "Thank you for your trust, my lady!"
"It was a man."
"A man... If it was a man under the bed, then why did you make me copy the Biographies of Exemplary Women?"
Leng Yue raised her slender eyebrows slightly, narrowing her phoenix eyes as she looked at this rather wronged man before her. "Why would it be appropriate for you to copy the Biographies of Exemplary Women if it were a woman under the bed?"
Jing Yi suddenly felt a chill run down his spine."Hehe, hehe, hehe... Actually, I think copying texts is a way to review the old and learn the new. No matter the circumstances, copying a few more times is always excellent..."
Leng Yue ruffled his fluffy head twice. "Stop thinking useless thoughts. Go back to your room and sleep. If I ever find a woman under your bed, I'll make you copy 'Biographies of Martyrs.'"
"..."
Jing Yi slid down and curled up on the couch again. "A real man keeps his word and stands by his actions. Until I finish copying 'Biographies of Exemplary Women' seven times, I have no face to return to my room to sleep... Let me just sleep in the study."
Leng Yue rolled her eyes. Sleeping in the study on the second night of their marriage—what was he thinking?
"Is it that you have no face to return, or no courage to return?"
Jing Yi shook his head candidly. "Neither."
"It's just a dead person. While you were out drinking last night, I already moved the body away. The person is dead—what is there to be afraid of?"
To this day, she couldn't understand: with Jing Yi's rabbit-like courage, even the Old Master of the Jing family said he wasn't cut out for judicial work, so why did Prince An insist on recommending him to the Emperor to serve as the Deputy Chief of the Dali Temple?
Even more unbelievable was that he had been working at the Dali Temple for over half a year and still hadn't been scared into developing any issues.
Jing Yi nodded slightly, let out a shallow sigh, and said profoundly, "Although the person has departed, the lingering fragrance of his unyielding, wronged soul still remains in the room. I fear it will linger for three days without fading..."
"..."
Unbelievable things indeed seldom last.
Leng Yue stared at him, wide-eyed, for a long while. Unable to bear his sorrowful and persistent gaze, she finally compromised with a sigh. "Fine... if you want to sleep here, then sleep here."
"Thank you, my lady, for your understanding."
Jing Yi turned over, closed his eyes peacefully, and settled in.
Leng Yue walked toward the door with the empty bowl, hesitated for a moment before stepping out.
Hmm... she still didn't want to sleep alone.
She turned back, walked to the couch, and poked Jing Yi on the back. "I just remembered... there's something I need to tell you."
"Hmm?"
Leng Yue pursed her red lips. "I'll tell you, but you mustn't spread it around."
Jing Yi, who had been growing drowsy, suddenly became wide awake. He sat up properly and looked at Leng Yue seriously. "Okay."
What else about her did he not know?
Leng Yue pursed her lips again. "After you hear it, you must stay quiet. No crying, no laughing, no making a sound."
Jing Yi nodded vigorously without uttering a word.
Leng Yue lowered her voice slightly. "Do you know where I moved that charred corpse?"
"...?"
Leng Yue lowered her voice even further. "It's in the large chest next to your desk, the one where you keep calligraphy and paintings."
"...!"
Leng Yue was a beat too slow. Before her outstretched hand could cover Jing Yi's mouth, he had already let out a howl.
And that wasn't all—he then sprang up from the couch like a monkey climbing a tree and threw himself onto her. Caught off guard and off-balance, Leng Yue stumbled, and the two of them tumbled to the ground in a heap with a loud "thud."
By the time the guards rushed over, following Jing Yi's ghostly wail, the two still hadn't managed to get up from the floor.The lead guard, leaning on a stick, stared dumbfounded at the two people rolling on the ground. "Master, Madam... what happened?"
"Madam, she..." Leng Yue gave Jing Yi's thigh a hard pinch, and his tongue swiftly changed course. "...hurt me!"
"..."
"Then..." The lead guard struggled for a long time, his face turning red, before stammering out, "M-Madam, enjoy your meal. I'll take my leave now."
"..."
Once the guards had left, Jing Yi nimbly got up from the ground, pulled Leng Yue—whose forehead was dark with anger—to her feet, and dashed back to their bedroom. He bolted the door from the inside, leaned against the latch, and let out a long sigh.
This is no way to live...
"Madam... can't we just send him to the magistrate's office?"
Leng Yue sat calmly before the dressing table, removing her jewelry with equal composure as she replied, "No."
"Madam, look... you always say the deceased should be respected. Right now, he's the most important person in our residence. Keeping him confined in a box is inappropriate, don't you think?"
Leng Yue glanced at Jing Yi through the mirror. "Are you suggesting we take him out for a walk?"
"No, no... I mean, in our home, he's the only one who isn't breathing. He's so special, yet he's left alone in a cold box. He must be terribly lonely. The magistrate's office morgue has beds, bedding, incense, lamps, and plenty of his kind... Couldn't you just take pity on him? Please?"
"No."
"Then take pity on me..."
"I'll take pity on you when you stop breathing."
If crying would work on her, Jing Yi would have burst into tears right then. Unfortunately, he had tried that many times as a child—to no avail.
"Can we really not discuss this further?"
Leng Yue removed the last silver hairpin, letting her dark tresses cascade down, then turned her head and cast him a sidelong glance. "The prince assigned this case to me. I'll keep the body wherever I please. If you're so against me keeping it in your study, I'll move it back here tomorrow."
"...I'm fine with it!"
Satisfied, Leng Yue turned back, her voice softening slightly. "Then tomorrow, you'll continue copying the Biographies of Exemplary Women in your study. Until this matter is cleared up, I don't trust anyone in the residence. I'll feel more at ease with you staying there."
Jing Yi stared blankly at Leng Yue, who had finished removing her jewelry and was now combing her hair.
Did she mean...?
"You had me copy the Biographies of Exemplary Women... to make me guard the corpse?"
"Not entirely... It was also to give you a reason not to eat. Otherwise, you would have thrown up even worse today. What if you hurt your stomach?"
Damn it all...
Who taught his wife to be so wicked!
Leng Yue combed her waterfall-like hair strand by strand, continuing nonchalantly, "And it also served to starve the others in the residence. When they were sufficiently hungry, I gathered them all in the kitchen and made them watch me roast a lamb leg from raw to done. I had each of them eat a plate. A few reacted rather unnaturally. I looked into their backgrounds this afternoon and plan to question them tomorrow. If you're interested, I can bring them to your study for you to see."
By the time Leng Yue had finished combing her hair, changed her clothes, and slipped into bed, Jing Yi was still standing there, hesitating.That bed... after all, had been used as a coffin lid...
Leng Yue turned over in the soft, smooth quilt, facing inward and exposing half of her fragrant shoulder to Jing Yi. "If you don't want to sleep on this bed, you can sleep under it."
"..."
Compared to sleeping inside a coffin, he'd rather sleep on the coffin lid.
Especially when the coffin lid was currently occupied by the wife he had just married yesterday.
This was the precious wife he had been longing for over a decade without even getting to hold her hand, yet who had suddenly insisted on marrying him immediately yesterday morning.
The happiness had indeed come somewhat abruptly, but Jing Yi had never been one to question good fortune. As long as the present situation was peaceful and wonderful, he couldn't be bothered to investigate the reasons behind it.
The present situation...
Except for the one who wasn't breathing, everything was perfect.
Jing Yi changed clothes, got into bed, extinguished the lamp, and let down the bed curtains. Groping in the darkness toward the source of warm fragrance, he embraced her and murmured as if talking to himself, "It's so wonderful to be able to call you my wife..."
Before he finished speaking, the silky sensation under his hand vanished, and his forehead was struck hard by a slap.
"Ouch..."
While Jing Yi's head was still ringing, a neither cold nor warm voice came through the darkness. "Didn't you feel sore all over when you woke up this morning?"
Jing Yi was momentarily stunned, rubbing his throbbing forehead as he answered honestly, "Well... yes, sore."
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere hurts..."
"Does it feel like your entire skeleton was disassembled, reassembled, and then disassembled again?"
"Um... yes..."
"And do you feel like your back and waist ache as if your bones were broken?"
"Mhm..."
"Do you know why you're in pain?"
"Huh?"
"I beat you up badly."
"..."
"Remember why I beat you?"
"I don't remember..."
Leng Yue remained silent in the darkness for a long while before suddenly turning over and sighing.
"Your mother was right - you really do remember eating but forget the beating."
"..."
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