Chapter 3: 003 The Precious Man Who Is Stingy With His Words

Suddenly feeling a bit foolish, Su Zhirui turned around in embarrassment to look at the man behind her. She didn't know him at all, yet just because of his cold attitude, she had followed him here. She hadn't truly considered that she would actually marry this man—was she really going to give herself away?

Her mind whirled for a long while. She struggled with her thoughts, pausing for a moment before suddenly opening her eyes and staring earnestly at the man who had been waiting for her answer.

"Name."

"Yihuang," the man replied.

"Age."

"Twenty-three," the man answered again.

"Parents."

"No need for you to worry about them," the man remained perfectly calm.

"Other relatives."

"No need for you to take care of them."

"Let's get married then." No need to serve parents-in-law, no need to look after relatives—why wouldn't she agree to such a good deal? In for a penny, in for a pound; Su Zhirui dashingly signed her messy name, which looked less like a name and more like a cluster of chicks pecking at rice.

Seeing him changing his clothes, she picked up the "Double Happiness" character he had prepared and stuck it on the wall. She stared at it for a long time, feeling that something was off, though she couldn't figure out what kind of script it was written in. The man behind her saw it and his mouth twitched, but he didn't say a word.

The "Double Happiness" character was upside down!

The slender red candles cast a faint light, stretching their shadows across the walls and bed until they were distorted and long. After the wedding ceremony, she still didn't feel the least bit nervous. She pulled off her bridal veil and sat down at the table laden with food and wine, her eyes gleaming with hunger.

Yihuang kept his handsome face cold, seemingly unbothered by her lack of decorum. He sat down in a chair as well, simply watching this woman, whose table manners were atrocious, gulp down strong liquor. She had already given him quite a few surprises throughout the day.

Once she was full, the next order of business was naturally sleep, but looking at her surroundings, Su Zhirui frowned.

"Um... Master, where can I bathe?"

"Just open the door," Yihuang replied indifferently.

"Oh, then... I'm not a fish." Realizing what he meant, Su Zhirui couldn't help but put her hands on her hips; he was clearly talking about that pond.

"Go out, turn right, second room." This time, Yihuang gave a proper answer.

"Then I..."

"The water comes from the pond, the bucket broke this morning, and the firewood is all gone." Seeing her about to leave, Yihuang spoke up again.

"So you mean I should just jump into the pond to wash," Su Zhirui said, feeling a bit stifled. "Just you wait."

Shedding her red robes, Su Zhirui walked out the door with a sense of righteous indignation. Feeling the slight chill, she had no choice but to wash hastily in the pond under the moonlight.

*Damn it, this place is too poor,* Su Zhirui gritted her teeth.

Returning to the room feeling awkward and hesitant, she realized that tonight was supposed to be their wedding night. Although she had never been particularly shy about such things—men and women being together was natural enough—it was still a bit strange to be doing it with a stranger for the first time, wasn't it? Uh, what was even stranger was that she was very curious about the man's expression; would he be just as cold and icy in bed?

Walking into the room, she realized she had been overthinking it; the man was already lying quietly on the bed, asleep. She climbed onto the bed on tiptoe and quickly dove under the covers. Even though it was summer, it was still quite chilly out here in the wilderness. The most annoying part was that there were truly a lot of mosquitoes, so she huddled under the quilt, head and all, until she couldn't stand the heat anymore. Only then did she poke her head out, take a deep breath, and roll over, only to discover that, at some point, the man had lowered the mosquito net.

Why didn't he tell her? Holding her breath, she glared fiercely at the back in front of her.

She stared for a long time until a loud boom from the sky brought her back to her senses. The red candles in the room were blown out by a sudden gust of wind. Accompanied by a flash of lightning, she froze, curled her body up, and clung desperately to the back that remained completely motionless.

Heaven is my witness, she wasn't afraid of the thunder; it was just that the thunder made the wooden shack shake so violently it felt like it was about to collapse at any moment...