The carriage drew up outside the Ning residence.
Uncle Chai was waiting at the gate with the others to receive them.
A servant brought out the mounting stool, and Ning Chen handed Yudie and Zisu down from the carriage.
“Let me introduce you. My women. Yudie and Zisu.”
Yudie’s smile was serene, gentle as still water.
Zisu’s smile was radiant, sweet the moment it broke.
Uncle Chai and the others bowed. “Greetings, Miss Yudie. Greetings, Miss Zisu.”
“Zisu, Yudie, this is Uncle Chai. He has always looked after me, and he is the household’s steward.”
“Greetings, Uncle Chai.”
Zisu and Yudie said it softly, with a graceful bow.
Uncle Chai smiled until his eyes narrowed to slits. The Fourth Young Master really did have a gift — these two girls looked like they had stepped down from heaven.
“This is Gu Yichun. The household’s safety is his to answer for.”
With the introductions made, Ning Chen said, “Come on, let’s go home.”
Uncle Chai looked deeply awkward. “Fourth Young Master, which door do these two young ladies take?”
He had been there last night when Eunuch Quan delivered the edict.
The place of principal wife was being kept for the Ninth Princess.
And only a principal wife could enter by the main gate.
Yudie and Zisu were certainly to be concubines from now on… to walk in by the main gate would be overstepping.
In this world a concubine’s standing was low, not much above a servant’s.
To put it unkindly, even when a household was found guilty and the punishment spread to the family, it never reached as far as a concubine.
Yudie said quietly, “Ning, dear, why don’t we take the side gate?”
She would never put Ning Chen in an awkward spot.
Ning Chen did not hesitate. He took Yudie’s hand in one of his and Zisu’s in the other.
“This is my house, Ning Chen’s house. So long as she is a woman of Ning Chen’s, she walks through the Ning family’s gate… what happens outside is not mine to answer for, but inside this house, there is no high or low.”
“Come on. Let’s go home.”
Ning Chen held both their hands and walked in through the main gate, openly, without a shred of hesitation.
Yudie and Zisu exchanged a look, their faces blooming into smiles, their eyes full of feeling.
This man really was different from other men.
Everything went smoothly, except that where they would sleep turned into a disagreement.
Ning Chen proposed that Yudie and Zisu both stay in his room.
His reason was that the house had many people and few rooms.
Yudie naturally had no objection.
But Zisu was not willing, and saw through Ning Chen’s intentions at a glance.
If he thought he was getting the blessing of the man of Qi, he had another thing coming.
“There really aren’t any rooms to spare in this house!”
Ning Chen said it with a perfectly straight face.
Zisu gave an indignant little snort. “Never mind. I’ll move out to an inn.”
“An inn isn’t safe at all… Let’s just squeeze in together here. I can protect you both up close, too.”
Yudie nodded in agreement. “Sister Zisu, just stay… Ning Chen is far too much for me these days. I can’t manage him alone.”
Zisu was left utterly speechless.
She glared at Ning Chen. “You just want to be up close, don’t you? Staying here is a lot more dangerous than any inn… Forget it, I really am moving out to an inn.”
“You walked through the Ning family’s gate, and now you want to move back out? Dream on.”
Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly as he said it. “You wouldn’t happen to have something wrong with you physically, would you?”
As it happened, the words struck a nerve, and her eyes went red on the spot.
Ning Chen’s heart gave a start. Could Zisu really have something wrong with her body?
Zisu’s spirits sank. “I really should move out after all!”
Ning Chen quickly stopped her. “I was only joking with you. Your room has been ready all along!”
“Uncle Chai, take Zisu to her room.”
Uncle Chai led Zisu away.
Ning Chen looked at Yudie, baffled. “What’s the matter with her?”
Yudie pressed her lips together, hesitating over whether to say.
“Tell me, quickly. What’s going on?”
Yudie’s whole face was full of reluctance. “Ning, dear, promise you won’t be angry if I tell you?”
Ning Chen nodded.
Yudie said quietly, “There really is something a little wrong with Sister Zisu’s body. I only just found out myself. She wouldn’t let me tell you.”
Ning Chen asked, curious, “What’s wrong?”
Yudie leaned in close to Ning Chen and whispered a few words in his ear.
Ning Chen went blank!
Yudie panicked, her eyes going red with worry. “Ning, dear, please, don’t drive Sister Zisu away. I’m the only family she has left.”
Ning Chen came back to himself, and all at once burst out laughing.
Yudie stared at him, blank.
Ning Chen said, laughing, “So that’s why she wouldn’t be man and wife with me?”
Yudie nodded, still blank.
“Ning, dear, you’re not angry?”
Ning Chen said, laughing, “Why would I be angry? I’m too pleased for that… This isn’t some ill omen at all. It’s a rare treasure. It’s a sign of good fortune.”
He had wondered whether something was wrong with Zisu’s body. He had even wondered whether she was still a maiden.
But it had never once occurred to him that the reason Zisu had always refused to be man and wife with him was that she was a white tiger. (TL Note: A “white tiger” is a woman believed by old folk custom to be marked from birth with a physical trait — bareness where hair grows on other women — taken as a sign that she would bring misfortune to any man who took her to bed.)
The people of this world thought a white tiger was an ill omen, that it would bring a man bad luck.
The ignorance of it!
Little did they know, this was a rare treasure, one in ten thousand.
“I’m so glad Ning, dear, isn’t angry. I have to go tell Sister Zisu the good news.”
Yudie caught up her skirts happily and ran off.
Zisu had moved to a side room and sat alone on the edge of the bed, sunk in gloom.
It was not that she did not like Ning Chen, and it was not that she did not want to be man and wife with him… it was only that her body had a flaw, that she was marked with bad luck, and that if they were man and wife in fact, she would bring that bad luck down on Ning Chen.
She had even wondered whether Ning Chen’s being reduced to commoner was somehow her doing.
She had decided that once they reached Xiuzhou and she had made her offerings to her father, she would slip away quietly.
“Sister Zisu…”
Yudie ran in happily, skirts caught up in her hands.
Zisu raised her head and forced a smile.
Yudie said happily, “Sister Zisu, I told Ning, dear, about your body.”
Zisu was startled, her face changing color, panic starting to show in it.
Would Ning Chen think her unlucky and drive her out?
“Was he — was he very angry?”
“Not at all. Ning, dear, was happy!”
Zisu froze. “Happy?”
Yudie nodded. “Ning, dear, said it’s a perfectly normal thing, and that it isn’t an ill omen at all, it’s a sign of good fortune… Ning, dear, said Sister Zisu is one in ten thousand. Anyway, Ning, dear, was very happy, not angry in the least.”
Zisu stared at Yudie, blank. “He really isn’t angry? He doesn’t think less of me?”
“Only a fool would be angry, or think less of you.”
Ning Chen’s voice suddenly sounded from the outer room.
A moment later the curtain was pushed aside, and Ning Chen came in.
Yudie said happily, “Sister Zisu, you believe it now?”
Zisu looked at Ning Chen and asked, carefully, “You really don’t think less of me?”
Ning Chen walked over and gave her nose a little flick. “Here I was thinking it was something serious. Your situation is perfectly normal… you’re a physician yourself, you should know this kind of thing is either inherited or a matter of not enough female hormone. Either way, it has no effect at all on your health, or on married life.”
“As for it being an ill omen or bad luck, that’s complete nonsense.”
Zisu asked, curious, “What’s this female hormone you’re talking about?”
“Er… that’s not important. What’s important is that I like you!”
The sudden confession sent color rushing into Zisu’s small face, her whole expression turning shy.
Yudie was overjoyed. “Wonderful. Now Sister Zisu can wait on Ning, dear, together with me from now on!”
(End of Chapter 382)