Chapter 6

Editor: DarkSapphire, Uncia

In the early morning of the second day, Yan Xixia brought Xiao Lian to his parents’ memorial tablet to burn incense. Yan Xixia remembered Xiao Lian’s words from yesterday and said to Jiu Si: “Go enjoy breakfast, my wife will take care of me.” 

Jiu Si faced the two: “Understood, master and madam, this one will take his leave.”

Xiao Lian was a little unaccustomed to others treating him respectfully, so he nodded in response: “Alright.”

Yan Xixia tilted his head and looked in Xiao Lian’s direction: “I will have to trouble the madam to light the incense.”

“Of course.” Xiao Lian picked up the incense on the altar, lit it carefully with the candlelight on the side, and handed it to Yan Xixia. 

Thinking that Yan Xixia couldn’t determine the position of the incense, he stretched out and took Yan Xixia’s hand with a blushing face, and placed the incense in his hand: “You got it?”

Yan Xixia nodded: “Thank you, madam.”

Xiao Lian took three more incense sticks and lit them, leading Yan Xixia to the praying mat. The two knelt together and bowed three times. Although Yan Xixia could not see, the two were surprisingly in sync as they inserted the sticks into the incense burner in front of the memorial tablet.

This ritual was for Xiao Lian to meet Yan Xixia’s parents. When they stood up, Xiao Lian led in front and supported Yan Xixia’s arm. They entered the dining hall and before they sat down, Xiao Lian saw a woman in a purple dress approaching them. As if Xiao Lian was not present, she walked straight to Yan Xixia and stretched out her hand to hold Yan Xixia’s arm: “Brother Xixia, why isn’t Jiu Si with you?”

“I have my wife accompanying me.” Yan Xixia pulled his arm away. “I have said many times: I am a man, Zimian needs to keep this in mind.”

Zimian pursed her mouth and said in displeasure: “We were so much closer when we were kids.”

“We’ve grown up now.” Yan Xixia chuckled and said to Xiao Lian next to him: “Madam, this is our housekeeper’s daughter, Yan Zimian.”

Xiao Lian nodded towards her: “Hello, Lady Zimian.” 

Zimian stared at Xiao Lian with lips so puckered an oil bottle could be hung on them. Because he was married into the family as a wife, she viewed him as annoying and anger filled her face. Zimian ignored Xiao Lian’s greeting and humphed.

Xiao Lian looked at Zimian. She  was obviously younger than him, so he didn’t take her attitude to heart. Instead, he went to sit down with Yan Xixia, but Yan Xixia did not move. He gripped tightly on Xiao Lian’s hand and said to Zimian: “Zimian, Xiao Lian is my new wife, don’t be rude. From now on, he will be the other master of the Yan Family, and I hope you treat him like me.” Yan Xixia was still smiling but his tone was serious.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Xiao Lian uttered nothing to stop his husband. The fact was: he wasn’t angry, but Zimian not respecting him was also true. Yan Xixia made the request for him, so why should he stop the kindness that Yan Xixia so generously gave.

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Zimian didn’t reply. She bit her lips and looked at Yan Xixia with red eyes, but Yan Xixia couldn’t see her displeasing appearance. Zimian repeated: “The Xiao Family bullied you. They gave you a raccoon dog disguised as the crown prince. They used a concubine’s son to fool you.”

“Xiao Lian is not a ‘raccoon dog,’ and the other Xiao is not a ‘crown prince’ either.” Yan Xixia laughed at the comparison. “Considering this, even if I get a raccoon dog in place of the crown prince, the raccoon dog is more precious than the crown prince. I am very satisfied with the agreement.”

His words went in one ear and out the other. Zimian argued: “Anyway, I don’t think he is worthy of you.”

“You say that, but for me, I think I am the one who is unworthy of him. Our family is not as good as before. He is a man with a great future, yet he was paired with a blind man like me.” 

After hearing this, Xiao Lian held Yan Xixia with his other hand: “No, you are wrong, you are worthy.”

Yan Xixia turned his head in Xiao Lian’s direction and blinked slowly, saying with a smile: “Also, a marriage shouldn’t be based on worthiness between the two. Marriages calculated based on a person’s worth would only result in error.”

Xiao Lian looked at Yan Xixia’s eyes which had obviously lost their vigor, but Xiao Lian could swear he spotted glimmers of light.

Yan Xixia turned his head towards Zimian: “Maybe you will understand it when you grow up. Zimian, I see you as part of my family. I hope you could accept him from the bottom of your heart. If you can’t accept him, I hope you could at least respect him.” 

Yan Xixia already spoke his mind, and Zimian’s dogmatic appearance seemed like it was from her inexperience. She turned toward Xiao Lian and apologized, “Madam, please forgive my rudeness.”

Xiao Lian looked at her upset expression, as if looking at his own sister and smiled: “It was nothing.”

As soon as Xiao Lian finished, a child rushed over and hugged Yan Xixia like a cannonball: “Big brother!”

Yan Xixia touched Yan Xidong’s head: “Xidong, you didn’t greet your older brother’s husband.” 

Yan Xidong turned his head to look at Xiao Lian, saying with a crisp voice: “Hello, older brother’s husband!”

Xiao Lian looked at Yan Xidong, who looked similar to Yan Xixia, and smiled: “Hello, Xidong.”

At this time, the housekeepers arrived, and everyone took their seats after a short greeting. Yan Xidong sat beside Yan Xixia like a little adult and asked: “Big brother, what do you want to eat? Today there are vegetable pancakes, peony cake, hibiscus cake, and meat patty.”

“Xidong, you enjoy yourself, your brother has a wife to care for.” Yan Xixia turned to Xiao Lian while holding the tableware: “I would have to trouble the madam again.” 

Xiao Lian knew Yan Xixia was helping him be more comfortable with the Xiao Family and tried his best to behave well: “Naturally, what would the husband like to eat?”

“I would like to make a request for a meat patty.”

Xiao Lian stretched out his chopsticks to pick the food up. He thought Yan Xixia, with his temperament,  would request something like peony cake or hibiscus cake. Xiao Lian smirked, feeling that the impenetrable air around Yan Xixia’s body had lessened. He felt closer to Yan Xixia.

“Thank you, madam.” 

Housekeeper Yan smiled at the way the two were getting along, looked at Xiao Lian’s familiar features, and suddenly remembered: “Weren’t you the one who was standing by the door the other day?”

He didn’t say which day, but Xiao Lian knew what he was talking about and nodded in embarrassment: “Yes, please excuse my discourtesy.”

Housekeeper Yan laughed twice: “Not at all, you stood there all morning. Now I think about it, I should have invited you, I should have been more considerate. Then you wouldn’t have stood outside for days.”

When this matter was brought to the table, Xiao Lian choked on the porridge and started coughing. Yan Xixia reached out and patted Xiao Lian’s back: “Uncle Yan, let’s change the topic, madam gets embarrassed easily.” 

Housekeeper Yan smiled and said: “A good child, a good child indeed.”

Zimian sitting beside him thought otherwise, as her expression wasn’t good, but she didn’t say a word.

After the meal, Yan Xixia brought Xiao Lian to the backyard. The bamboo forest and maple trees in the backyard were divided in half, making the intertwined beauty between the red maple and green bamboo even more visible. There was a two-story wooden shed in the middle, and a bluestone path paved toward the door.

Yan Xixia walked into the shed without Xiao Lian’s help, completely at ease with the layout of his own backyard. There was a bamboo table and a few bamboo chairs inside. A tea set and a chessboard rested on the bamboo table. Yan Xixia touched the chessboard and said: “This is where my classmates and I usually enjoy tea and chatter. When the weather is not cold, we would always study on the second floor. Madam, would you be interested in seeing it?” 

Xiao Lian couldn’t wait to see where Yan Xixia usually socialized: “Yes, I am.”

Yan Xixia took Xiao Lian’s hand, led him to the second floor, and walked toward a desk: “Madam, do you believe that I can still write?”

“I believe you can.”

“Then, madam, can you trust me to write as well as before?” 

“Yes, I do.”

“What does the madam not believe?”

“I believe in anything you say.”

Yan Xixia smiled brightly. He seemed to be pleased by Xiao Lian’s answer as he took and spread out a sheet of fine writing paper: “Would the madam help me grind ink? I’m afraid I would make a mess.” 

Xiao Lian stepped forward to grind the ink. Yan Xixia took a pen and dipped it in the ink to write. Xiao Lian watched the neat writing come to life from Yan Xixia’s pen. Words appeared one by one. It was better than anything he could have written, and he couldn’t help but admire his husband a bit more.

Yan Xixia wrote and asked Xiao Lian: “Aren’t you curious how?”

“I am a little curious.” Xiao Lian said seriously: “But when I remembered the person was you, I don’t think it is strange at all.”

“I’m not an immortal.” Yan Xixia smiled: “You might laugh at me if I tell you.” 

“Not at all.” Xiao Lian asked again: “How is your writing so neat?”

“Before, my teacher would punish me by making me copy texts. After I copied it for a long time, I would sometimes start dozing off from fatigue. In the beginning, the writing would be messy, but as my punishment increased, my writing became better.”

Xiao Lian was surprised: “Your teacher punished you?”

“Can’t you tell? I was very mischievous during my younger years.” 

“Well, I can’t tell at all.”

Yan Xixia smiled and told Xiao Lian other interesting things about himself. Xiao Lian thought Yan Xixia must have realized his uneasiness as a new member of Yan Family, so he talked to make him happy. Xiao Lian could feel that Yan Xixia was shortening the distance between them. He could finally slowly relax as his mood brightened.

Translator has something to add:

I might or might not have made up the food name, please don’t google them.