Chapter 547 - 285: Wedding Night
For a moment, Zhang Huai felt like he was in a dream as he gazed at his new bride. The rash he’d expected to see was gone! If not for her familiar eyes, he would have doubted this was even Juhua.
His mind went blank, and he didn’t know what to do. For a long moment, it all felt unreal. He blinked, then peered closely at the face before him—still no rash!
Juhua watched him with a gentle smile, remaining silent as he stared off in a daze. ’I’ll tease him a little,’ she thought, waiting for the look of pure joy she expected. But then, she suddenly realized something was wrong. Huai Zi wasn’t overjoyed. After staring blankly for a moment, a look of fear gradually crept onto his face. That’s right—fear!
He suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders—squeezing so hard her delicate shoulder blades ached—and asked in a trembling voice, "Your... your face is healed?"
Juhua didn’t understand his reaction. ’Is he angry?’ she wondered. ’Angry because I tested him a couple of years ago?’ She nodded and explained, "It’s healed. Huai Zi, it’s not that I didn’t trust you. When I tested you back then, I just wanted to see if you had truly made up your mind..."
Before she could finish, Huai Zi cut her off. She heard him mutter, "No wonder... What are we going to do?" He pulled Juhua into a tight embrace, holding the body he had longed for so many times. But his heart felt no thrill of excitement—only alarm and fear.
He finally understood why Qingmu had been in such a hurry, and Uncle Zheng and Aunt Zheng, too. Everyone had been anxious, except for him. In that instant, he found himself wishing Juhua’s rash would grow right back.
Juhua now understood what Huai Zi was worried about. She struggled to tilt her head up from his embrace—he was holding her so tightly she could barely breathe—and said, "Huai Zi, don’t you worry. I have a reputation for being ugly, so people aren’t likely to pay me any mind, especially now that I’m a married woman. Besides, if the rash can fall off, we can just make it grow back!"
She had to say it twice before Zhang Huai was shaken from his stupor. He loosened his grip slightly and asked, stunned, "Make the rash grow back? How?" With a complex expression, he gently touched her cheek with his slightly rough fingers, as if afraid of hurting her. He leaned in for a closer look, whispering to himself, "There’s still a faint mark, but it’s almost invisible... You can’t even tell unless you look really closely."
Juhua smiled. "I’ll make a fake rash to put on my face, just like last time. Even you couldn’t tell, so it’s even less likely anyone else will notice."
Huai Zi thought about it, then said hesitantly, "Last time, I didn’t know the rash on your face was gone, so naturally I wasn’t suspicious and didn’t look too closely. But what if someone who’s never met you before sees this fake rash? Won’t they stare right at it?"
Juhua shook her head and sighed. "Don’t you worry, I have a way. You’re all just panicking because you care too much. Think about it: they’re here to pick out beauties. Why would they waste time staring at an ugly girl like me? Have they got nothing better to do? Unless I go out of my way to show my face to strangers, it shouldn’t be a problem."
Zhang Huai realized she was right, and his heart eased slightly, but he remained tense. He couldn’t bear to imagine life if Juhua were taken away. He held her close, his eyes darting about as he tried to come up with a foolproof plan, something that would keep her completely out of harm’s way.
Seeing him lost in thought, Juhua’s heart ached with a sudden sorrow. ’Life is so unpredictable. When I had the rash on my face, my life was filled with all sorts of unhappiness because of it. Now that the rash is gone, there is still unhappiness—and this time, it’s potentially catastrophic. It is just as it is said in the works of Zhuangzi: "The straightest tree is the first to be felled; the sweetest well is the first to run dry."’
She leaned quietly against Huai Zi, letting her thoughts drift. ’From my past life to this one, has there ever been a single situation completely free of worry? The only way is to let things take their natural course, to not blame heaven or fault others. Only then can one find true contentment.’
After a while, she gently roused Huai Zi from his thoughts, smiling at him. "Back when we were poor, we had plenty of disappointments. Now that our lives are better, we have plenty of worries, too. Believe me, when Yangzi becomes an official—even a high-ranking one—his troubles won’t get any smaller. They’ll only be more numerous than ours are now."
Huai Zi blinked, gazing at her intently. "What are you trying to tell me? Just say it plainly. I’m a bit slow, so I don’t really understand what you’re getting at."
Juhua rolled her eyes at him. "I’m saying we shouldn’t get so trapped by our worries. We’ll deal with problems as they come."
Huai Zi fell silent at her words, holding her tighter without speaking. After a long moment, he asked softly, "Are you tired? Do you want something to eat? My mother made plenty of food. I can go get you some."