Chapter 4: One More Wife

"Mother, are you sure you won't acknowledge me as your son?"

Zhan Zeye pushed the door open, looking at his own mother with great dissatisfaction.

Mother Zhan didn't react at first; if it hadn't been for Tang Qiyue's exclamation, she might still have been stunned.

"Oh my, my son! Why are you back?"

As she spoke, Mother Zhan began to check Zhan Zeye's body.

Aside from a circle of gauze around his abdomen, there were no fatal wounds like the ones she had imagined.

It wasn't just Mother Zhan who was shocked; Tang Qiyue was also full of curiosity. In the memories of her first life, Zhan Zeye had truly been injured, otherwise, her sister wouldn't have fled the marriage.

"Didn't Tang Chunlan say you couldn't come back, and that you were seriously injured?"

Mother Zhan still remembered that when she first received the news, she had wanted to visit her son, but was blocked by the young soldier who brought Tang Chunlan over. He said Zhan Zeye had been sent to a higher-level hospital for treatment and it wasn't convenient for visitors at the time.

Zhan Zeye glanced at Tang Qiyue: "She was lying!"

A single "lying" changed everyone's fate; Tang Qiyue found it ironic.

"Who is she?"

Zhan Zeye didn't want to continue the previous topic and pointed at Tang Qiyue to ask. Mother Zhan slapped her thigh, only then remembering that she hadn't told her son about the Tang family swapping the bride.

Before Mother Zhan could explain, Zhan Chunying heard the commotion and ran out. Seeing her little brother had returned, she excitedly lunged toward him. Fortunately, Mother Zhan pulled her back quickly, otherwise, Zhan Chunying would have crashed into Zhan Zeye's chest, likely bursting his stitches.

"Little brother, why are you back today? If you had come back a day earlier, you could have seen a great show!"

Yesterday, although Zhan Chunying had changed her opinion of Tang Qiyue quite a bit, she still held a lot of resentment toward the Tang family.

Following closely behind, the eldest brother's family all came out. Seeing the noisy courtyard, Mother Zhan told Zhan Chunying to take Zhan Zeye's luggage into the room where Tang Qiyue was sleeping, then instructed Tang Qiyue: "You go to the room and stay with Chunying!"

After shooing away the eldest son's family who were looking for excitement, Mother Zhan pulled Zhan Zeye into her own room.

With only the two of them in the room, Mother Zhan finally told him about Tang Qiyue.

Zhan Zeye frowned deeply.

"Mother, I wasn't even home, how did you agree to let someone into the house?"

He had originally intended to return to call off the engagement. This marriage had been introduced by his old superior. At the time, he had no interest in marriage; he had met Tang Chunlan twice but felt nothing, and he didn't want to delay her.

As a result, because he was injured while on a mission, Tang Chunlan had visited him in the name of his fiancée, leading his old superior to misunderstand that he had agreed to the marriage and set the wedding date directly with Father Tang.

When he woke up from his coma, he learned he had inexplicably gained a wife. He rushed back to clarify things with his family before his wounds had even healed, never expecting to be a step too late.

That was the cause, but the consequence was something he hadn't anticipated.

The area where he was injured was too sensitive; the doctor had only said that having children might be difficult in the future, but Tang Chunlan heard it as him being infertile and fled the marriage. For the sake of their reputation and to maintain ties with the old superior, the Tang family had actually found another woman to marry in her place.

Seeing her son's darkened face, Mother Zhan felt a bit awkward.

"Your father-in-law insisted on 'warding off bad luck' for you. Besides, you were injured over there without anyone to take care of you. If you married a wife, at least there would be someone to wash your clothes and cook for you!"

Mother Zhan's explanation was met with an even darker expression from Zhan Zeye.

"I have hands and feet of my own. I can wash my own clothes, there's a cafeteria for meals, and there are nurses in the hospital—I don't need anyone to take care of me!"

Mother Zhan understood these words, but since the wife had already been married into the family, she couldn't slap her own face and send her back.

Seeing her son's displeasure, Mother Zhan's stubborn temper flared up: "Then what? Are you going to be a bachelor for the rest of your life? The wife is already married in; whether you acknowledge it or not, you have to!"

Zhan Zeye:...

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Facing his elderly mother, he truly couldn't be as hard-nosed as he was with his soldiers.

"Mother, I didn't bow in marriage with her, so how is she my wife?"

He attempted to awaken his mother's reason, only to see his eldest nephew run in from outside holding a rooster.

"Little Uncle, you did bow! Yesterday, Little Auntie held you and kowtowed to Grandma!"

The child was young and at an age where he spoke without thinking.

Zhan Chunying and the eldest brother, who had been eavesdropping outside, also walked in.

Zhan Chunying looked at her little brother's face; she had never seen him look like this in all the years she had known him.

"Holding who?"

Zhan Zeye stared at his eldest nephew and asked. Mother Zhan instinctively wanted to get up and leave, but she didn't succeed because her somewhat thick-headed daughter pointed happily at the big rooster in her little grandson's arms: "That one! But the rooster had your birth date and time pasted on it, so it counts as you, little brother!"

This was a custom for warding off bad luck—using a rooster full of "yang" energy to stand in for the groom, meant to borrow "yang" lifespan for the groom.

Zhan Zeye looked at the rooster trying to break free from his nephew's arms and felt that his whole world was not right.

This was the most absurd thing he had ever heard in his life.

The nephew was young and couldn't withstand the murderous aura Zhan Zeye exuded. He let out a "waa" and was scared to tears. The rooster took the opportunity to break free from his arms, flapped its wings, and flew straight at Zhan Zeye.

Reflexively, he reached out and grabbed the rooster. With a twist of his fingers, the previously energetic rooster tilted its neck and kicked the bucket.

Zhan Zeye disgustedly threw the rooster toward the door, intending to toss it out to avoid the eyesore, but as luck would have it, the dead rooster landed right in the arms of Tang Qiyue, who was just entering.

Out of instinct, Tang Qiyue reached out and caught the rooster.

She had been waiting in the room with Zhan Chunying, but Zhan Chunying couldn't sit still; she ran out as soon as she dropped the luggage, and soon after, the nephew came in and grabbed the rooster that had been tied to the bedpost.

Although she didn't know what the aunt and nephew were doing, intuition told Tang Qiyue she should go out and see.

She never expected to be stunned by being hit with a bird.

The room was deathly silent.

The eldest brother saw the atmosphere was wrong, grabbed his son by the ear, and went out to discipline him. Zhan Chunying shrank her neck and ran away too. Mother Zhan couldn't run, so she could only brace herself and remind Zhan Zeye: "Anyway, the wife is married in. No matter the process, you have to acknowledge it!"

Mother Zhan pushed Zhan Zeye: "Since you're back, go keep your wife company. Mother is going to cook!"

Mother Zhan slipped away as well.

The rooster in Tang Qiyue's arms was snatched away by Mother Zhan, who said that since it was dead anyway, it was perfect to stew for the whole family to eat!

Zhan Zeye stared at Tang Qiyue for a few seconds before lifting his feet to walk toward his room. However, after two steps, he didn't hear any movement behind him. He turned his head, raised an eyebrow, and prompted: "Aren't you coming?"

Only then did Tang Qiyue react. She followed Zhan Zeye into the room, but as soon as she entered, she was blocked at the door by Zhan Zeye. In her shocked gaze, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace!

(End of chapter)