Wife Doting Addiction：My Abducted Tsundere Husband

Chapter 50: The Marriage in the Mountain

 

Outside the city, at the foot of Yuhu Mountain, Zhao Sheng excitedly headed home with a bag half-filled with rice slung over his shoulder and a cloth bag in his hand.

By the time he returned home from Shengjing City, the sky was almost dark. Mrs. Zhao stood by the door. She greeted him when she saw him return and took the bag of rice. “How did you get so much rice for your timber?” she exclaimed.

Zhao Sheng laughed and handed her the cloth bag in his hands. “There’s this as well.”

Mrs. Zhao opened the cloth bag and saw that it was filled with nourishing medicinal herbs and a slab of cooked meat. She was even more surprised. “Where did you get the money for this?”

Zhao Sheng lifted the bag of rice and entered the yard. The wrinkles on his face deepened as his smile grew. “I was lucky today. A wealthy family was getting married just as I entered the city, and they were distributing handfuls and handfuls of cash. I managed to seize some silver pieces and some bronze coins. Combined, it was nearly a tael!”

She looked at him in disbelief. “It was really that much?”

“I bought rice, meat, and medicine, and I still have two coins left!” As he spoke, he reached into his clothes and fished out a small silver piece.

She grabbed the silver piece and said, “My son, one day you found a wife, and the next, money. At this rate, you’ll be rich!”

Zhao Sheng sat there, grinning sheepishly.

“Wait here, I’ll go cook for you.” Having gotten so much silver out of thin air, Mrs. Zhao was quite happy. She put the silver down, grabbed the rice and meat, and headed into the kitchen.

“Mother, how is my wife doing?” Zhao Sheng asked.

The young woman’s wounds from last time weren’t completely healed, and she had caught a cold as well. Zhao Sheng walked over twenty miles in the middle of the night to buy medicine in the nearest town, but to no avail. Afterward, he sat at her bedside the entire night. Fortunately, her fever subsided, and after more than ten days, she was still weak, but nearly back to health.

Mrs. Zhao glanced at the hanging curtains and let out a “humph.”

“This morning, after you left to go to the city, she tried to run again. I chased her back and told her that on such a cold day, she would either freeze to death or be caught by bandits. I think she was quite frightened. She hasn’t left the house the entire day!”

Zhao Sheng wrinkled his brow. “I’m going to take a look.”

He walked into the house.

There was no light inside. In the devastating darkness, a young woman covered in a blanket sat on the bed. She turned her head away when she saw Zhao Sheng enter.

Zhao Sheng sat down at the foot of the bed, looking rather angry. “Don’t try to run away again,” he said roughly. “If I catch you running away, I’ll throw you into the mountains.”

The young woman lifted her chin. “I won’t marry you!”

“Your life was saved by me! If you don’t marry me, who will you marry? If it weren’t for me, you would be dead!”

The young woman pursed her lips. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began to silently cry.

Seeing her cry, Zhao Sheng didn’t know what to do. He grabbed the corner of the blanket. “What are you crying about? I didn’t do anything to you. I even bought you some medicinal herbs for your health! I treat you quite well. What else do you want from me?”

“Go away! Go away, you disgusting low-class peasant! I’m a noblewoman! How can I possibly marry you?” the young woman sobbed as she threw a pillow at him.

Zhao Sheng felt both furious and humiliated. “If you don’t marry me then you’ll never go back home!”

The young woman started, and more tears began to fall. She collapsed onto the bed.

These past few days, she cried every day. In the beginning, he would attempt to comfort her. But this time, there were no words of comfort. Instead, he sat on the bed, silently angry.

The young woman grew weary of crying and stared blankly ahead.

She’d cried, thrown fits, and attempted to run away, but nothing worked. Zhao Sheng wasn’t a bad man. He never hit her or yelled at her, and always gave her the best food in his home. But he was like a rock. No matter how much she begged and cried, he remained steadfast.

She didn’t understand how this could’ve happened to her. Even after a month had passed, she was still in disbelief.

She was once the most cherished daughter of the Su family and had a marital agreement with Ji Manor. She was the most admired woman in the country of Daliang. Who knew she would encounter bandits on the way to Shengjing City, leaving everybody else dead and her, alone, alive? She was alive, yes, but she preferred death.

Why did Heaven treat her so unfairly?

Did her parents think that she was dead? Is that why they haven’t tried to look for her?

Was she going to be stuck there for the rest of her life, hungry and miserable?

“Don’t try to run away again. In the winter, the mountain is full of wolves hunting for prey. If you’re taken away by a wolf, even I can’t save you.” Zhao Sheng spoke with suppressed anger.

The young woman laid down on top of the blanket. Her eyes suddenly flashed, and she wiped away her tears. She said, coldly, “If I marry you, then you’ll deliver a letter to my family?”

Zhao Sheng immediately nodded his head. “As long as you marry me, I’ll immediately take your message to your family!”

“Very well!” The young woman’s face showed only determination. “I’ll marry you. But if you trick me, I’ll bash my head on the wall!”

“Don’t do that! I guarantee I’m not tricking you.” Zhao Sheng, in his excitement, squeezed his hands into fists. “You’re really going to marry me?”

Under the dim light, the young woman’s thin face looked pallid. “Go prepare.”

“Good, good! I’m telling my mother this instant!” He was so happy he didn’t know what to do with himself. He pushed aside the curtain and ran out.

The young woman’s eyes were cool, and she let out a cold laugh. If it meant that she could return home, then she would marry. She was no longer chaste, anyway. She didn’t care about marrying once more.

After she returned home, she would tell her father to kill this man and his mother. As long as they were dead, then nobody in Shengjing City would know what had happened.

And she would still be a chaste noblewoman!

She gripped the blanket tightly, fingernails digging into the cotton as a cruel look spread across her face.

Meanwhile, Zhao Sheng rushed to the kitchen to tell his mother the news. Mrs. Zhao was delightfully surprised. “She really agreed?”

Zhao Sheng nodded. “She agreed to be my wife. And I promised her, when she’s my wife, I’ll go to Fuyang City to deliver a letter to her family.”

Mrs. Zhao’s smile disappeared. She turned over the burning firewood with a stick. “You fool. Look at how sickly she looks. Do you think she’ll be able to bear children? And what if once she returns home, she refuses to acknowledge the marriage? You can deliver a letter for her, but you need to wait until after she’s pregnant!”

Zhao Sheng thought for a moment and then nodded his head. “Mother is right. What should I say to her?”

“You don’t need to say anything to her. Just promise her what she wants for now. After you’ve consummated the marriage, she’ll have to listen to whatever you say!” The light of the fire burning beneath the stove bounced off Mrs. Zhao’s face. Her eyes were filled with calculation and deceit. “It’s better to let the day choose you than for you to choose the day. How about you get married today?”

“Today?” Zhao Sheng started. He sniffled, excited but hesitant. “But it’s already dark outside, and we haven’t prepared anything.”

“What’s there to prepare? Hang up some drapes, set up a blanket, and consummate the marriage! It’s perfect! You already bought meat today. Go to the village and draw from wine from Old Man Li, and you’re good to go!”

Their family had originally moved there from elsewhere, and Zhao Sheng’s father had died an early death. Where they lived, at the foot of the mountain, was twenty miles away from the town, and two or three miles away from the nearest village. They didn’t have any close family or friends, so there was no need to invite anybody to the celebration. They needed only to bow three times, have a wedding feast, and the marriage ceremony would be complete.

Under the light of the fire, Zhao Sheng’s ears suddenly turned red. He smiled shyly. “Then… then I’ll go talk to her right now.”

And with that, he left the kitchen and quickly walked towards the room to the west.

Zhao Sheng told the young woman what he had discussed with his mother, and emphasized that everything was his mother’s idea.

The young woman, showing little excitement, nodded her head. “Very well. Today’s the day.”

It was clear she couldn’t run away. The earlier she got married, the earlier she would be able to return home. It was better that they kept the celebration minimal.

“Then… then I’ll go buy some wine!” Zhao Sheng didn’t even sit. He hurriedly rushed out the door.

His mother rushed over. “Sheng’er, where are you going?”

“I’m going to buy wine!” Zhao Sheng said with a grin as he panted.

“You’ve let happiness muddle your head! How are you going to buy wine without money?” Mrs. Zhao fished out the two coins from earlier, and said to him, “buy wine, and also buy two red candles!”

“Alright!” Zhao Sheng joyfully replied. He rushed out the door.