Chapter 2: An Uninvited Guest

From where Wei Zijun was standing, she could clearly see the grave expression on her husband’s face.

She had sensed other anomalies in the house, but because he was inside, she walked in without hesitation.

Stepping through the doorway, Wei Zijun saw a person standing on either side of the door. Although one of them was dressed as a man, Wei Zijun was certain that it was a woman in disguise.

"Huai-ge, who are these people? Is everything alright?" Clearly sensing that the two strangers—the man being very guarded against her, and the woman in disguise looking at her with undisguised hatred—Wei Zijun walked straight to her husband’s side. She set her basket on the table and asked in a low voice.

"Huai-ge?" the woman drawled, her strange, mocking tone making Wei Zijun feel an immediate dislike.

"You two, get out. Go further away," Huai-ge said coldly.

The man immediately responded and walked out. The woman was unwilling and reluctant to leave, but seeing the look on Huai-ge’s face, she dared not disobey. As she reached the door, she shot a vicious glare at Wei Zijun.

With only the couple left in the room, the suddenness of the situation and her husband’s failure to respond to her earlier question left Wei Zijun at a loss for words.

Looking at her husband’s expression and his slightly furrowed brows, she felt a sense of foreboding.

After they had moved in here together, she had asked him his name and where his home was.

But he had said that after suffering a blow to his head, he couldn't remember anything.

He didn't know his own name, nor did he know where he came from.

So, Wei Zijun had given him a name: Lu Huai.

"Lu" was a homophone for the "lu" in "roadside," and "Huai" was because she had found him under a large locust tree. When she asked if he liked the name, he said it was good, so he became Lu Huai.

Wei Zijun had fetched mountain spring water for him to wash up. When she saw him again in clean clothes, she hadn't expected that the person she had picked up on a whim would be so fair-skinned and handsome.

Even wearing the coarsest cloth garments distributed by the government, he could not hide his extraordinary temperament. No matter how one looked at him, he didn't seem like a simple young master from a wealthy family.

After living together for a few more days, Wei Zijun suspected that his claim of having amnesia from an injury was merely a form of self-protection.

She wasn't angry that he had hidden things from her or deceived her. Even if she didn't look at it from his perspective, she thought of herself—didn't she also have a true identity and background that she couldn't be honest about?

Hadn't she also failed to treat him with complete sincerity?

The name she had told him was also a fake one she had made up on the spot.

Both had their own unavoidable circumstances, so of course, she had to understand. Besides, their relationship at the time was nothing more than helping each other out and finding a place to live.

However, Wei Zijun hadn't expected that people have feelings; living together day and night, affection would eventually grow.

Three months after they moved into the same wooden cabin, Wei Zijun went to gather firewood and returned late because she got lost. Not far from the house, she saw him, covered in dust, anxiously looking in her direction.

Seeing that scene, she was deeply moved. At the very least, there was someone who worried about her and cared for her. But when he heard her footsteps, he rushed over, first pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly, then scolding her loudly for returning so late.

After he finished scolding her, he anxiously asked if she had fallen or been injured.

That night, after half a bowl of homemade buckwheat wine, he asked if she was willing to be his wife.

Wei Zijun was stunned. In the months they had spent together, she hadn't failed to consider the possibility of being husband and wife with this man, living here for the rest of their lives, away from the world's strife—that would be quite nice.

But every time she thought about how they couldn't even be honest about their true identities and names, how could they take their relationship further and become husband and wife?

Wasn't the most basic foundation of a marriage mutual trust? If they couldn't be honest with each other, that was a lack of trust. Could such a marriage be stable? How long could it last?

However, when she truly heard him say it, when he asked her that, Wei Zijun hesitated for a moment, thought about it, and found her answer.

She liked this man. She had never liked a man before, and she didn't understand much about romantic love, so she didn't know if this feeling she had for him counted as love.

But the way he was nervous and concerned for her touched her deeply. She liked this feeling, so she agreed to be his wife.

Did it really matter who he was?

As long as he was right in front of her, in the present, and he had her in his heart and cared for her, that was enough.

That night, in the courtyard, they bowed to heaven and earth under the bright moon and became true husband and wife.

The simple wooden bed she had made for him in the room was dismantled the next day and sawed into two chairs.

In the days after their marriage, up until this very moment, Wei Zijun had never pressed him or tried to fish for his real name or identity.

She told herself that he was her husband, and "Huai-ge" was enough.

In the half-year since their marriage, their feelings for each other had grown deeper with each passing day.

He would secretly wake up early every day to practice martial arts. Wei Zijun knew this clearly, but she always played dumb. Only when she heard him finish and enter the room would she stretch, as if she had just woken up.

She didn't think there was anything wrong with this. She hoped that the rest of her life could always remain like this.

Of course, she had also worried that because of her identity or his, this happy life might one day be forced to an end. But every time, she comforted herself not to dwell on unhappy thoughts that would ruin her good mood.

If being his wife was just a beautiful dream, then she was willing, even if the dream were to wake one day in the future.

As long as the dream hadn't ended, she was happy for one more day—wasn't that a gain?

But she hadn't expected that this day would come so quickly.

The person who interrupted their happy dream had come from his side.

It seemed his people were more capable; her own family and those on her side were no match!

The couple in the room remained silent, so quiet that they could hear the wind blowing through the treetops outside.

Wei Zijun hoped he would respond to her previous question, but after the silence, she became afraid of him speaking. She feared that if he spoke, some things would be said, and the outcome of some matters might be set in stone, impossible to reverse.

"Sanniang, I..." Lu Huai finally spoke.

"Huai-ge, you haven't eaten lunch yet, have you? I'm hungry too. I'm going to go make lunch." Wei Zijun felt a panic in her heart and blurted out the words to interrupt him. She picked up the basket, went out, and entered the kitchen that the two of them had built later.

Once inside the kitchen, Wei Zijun closed the door and leaned against it. She let go of her hands, and the basket slid to the floor. The wine jar inside rolled out and stopped by the firewood.

At this moment, Wei Zijun’s heart was in chaos, and her thoughts were a mess. Leaning against the kitchen door, she tried to calm herself down after a while.

She realized why her heart was in such a state: the fact that his people had found him wasn't the point. The point was that he was now hesitating to speak to her; he was in a difficult position.

Why would he be in a difficult position? It was obvious—it was because of her existence...