Chapter 596: Relighting the Wedding Candles (Part One)
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Fu Pei’s shouts were full of joy, and Fu Mingzheng couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. What were these children thinking? It was as if he had come to find his wife. After the embarrassment passed, he felt a bit happy. After all, he was already a married man.
The door curtain was lifted, but it wasn’t Li Shumei who appeared, but Sun Mama. Sun Mama smiled, “Fourth Master is back? Fourth Madam is feeding the medicine to the Madam.”
Fu Mingzheng entered the room and saw everyone gathered around Madam Cui’s bed, taking care of her. Li Shumei was wiping Madam Cui’s mouth with her back turned to him. He walked over, first subtly glancing at her, then asked Lady Qian seriously, “Elder sister-in-law, is mother feeling better?”
“Much better.” Lady Qian whispered to Madam Cui, “Mother, Fourth Brother is back. His wife has been taking care of you these days. Do you know?”
Madam Cui’s eyelids twitched, and Lady Qian signaled Fu Mingzheng to go over. He held Madam Cui’s hand and whispered, “Mother, are you feeling better?”
Madam Cui’s fingers moved in his palm, as if trying to hold his hand, but she couldn’t muster the strength. Fu Mingzheng was overjoyed, “Indeed, you’re feeling much better.”
“Isn’t it? Doctor Tang often comes over to give mother acupuncture, and let her massage and move her arms and legs. Before, it was often Mingzhu who did it. Since Fourth Sister-in-law came in, she’s been doing most of it. She’s stronger than us and does it really well. Mother is a blessed person.” Lady Qian sincerely held Li Shumei’s hand and instructed, “Fourth Brother has been tired for so many days and finally came back. Fourth Sister-in-law, quickly go back and make some good food for him. We’re here, you don’t need to worry about anything.”
Lady Su and Lady Ai also hurriedly ushered the two of them out, and even took over all the remaining tasks, leaving nothing for Li Shumei.
They made it too obvious, and Li Shumei blushed slightly, lowering her eyes and said, “Thank you, sister-in-laws.”
The couple left one after the other, Li Shumei didn’t wait for Fu Mingzheng, she walked ahead at a fast pace. Fu Mingzheng sent away her maidservant and maid, then casually followed up. He didn’t initiate a conversation with her, just walked alongside her. When there was no one around, he pretended to accidentally bump into her. Li Shumei stumbled a bit from the bump, and he naturally reached out to support her, saying, “I’m sorry.”
Sorry, he had wanted to say that to her for a long time. He owed her a grand and sweet wedding. With the rushed time, someone causing trouble, injuries in the family, and the house being destroyed, on their wedding night, he was out dealing with the aftermath and catching criminals. After that, according to Fu Cong and Yuwen Chu’s arrangements, he was busy everywhere, barely having time to come home. She didn’t make a fuss, she took care of Madam Cui at home, and even had someone send him food and clothes. Her generosity and tolerance were truly rare.
Fu Mingzheng said again, “I’m sorry.”
Li Shumei turned to look at him, asking seriously, “Are you leaving immediately?”
Fu Mingzheng shook his head, “Things have settled down. I can rest at home for a few days. Wherever you want to go, I can accompany you.”
Li Shumei asked again, “So you messed up your job, didn’t catch the bad guys, let the criminals go, and lost face?”
Fu Mingzheng shook his head again, “I did a good job.”
“Then you’re keeping a woman outside?”
Fu Mingzheng was startled, “Where did you get that idea? Am I that kind of person?”
“Then are you deliberately neglecting me?” Li Shumei walked into the house, drove everyone out, stood in front of Fu Mingzheng, raised her chin, looking fierce.
Seeing her like this, Fu Mingzheng’s heart warmed, he reached out and held her shoulder, saying in a deep voice, “Of course not, there hasn’t been a bridal chamber yet, it’s just because I think the wedding was rushed, the bridal chamber can’t be rushed either. I want to give you my best.”
Li Shumei’s eyes reddened slightly, and she said coldly, “Since it’s not your fault and not intentional, why do you keep apologizing to me? Are you going to apologize to me every day when we’re together?”
Deep inside, the hard shell in Fu Mingzheng’s heart suddenly shattered. Right, it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t mean it, so he didn’t have to feel sorry all the time. He hugged Li Shumei tightly, burying his head in her shoulder. Li Shumei slowly hugged his waist, neither of them spoke, but they felt like they knew everything, understood everything.
After a while, Li Shumei pushed him away gently, “Go wash up, what’s with this messy stubble? Do you think you married a lazy wife?”
Fu Mingzheng reluctantly let go of her, went to the washroom to bathe. Li Shumei tidied her clothes and jewelry in front of the mirror, then called the attendants and maidservants, “What dishes are there in the small kitchen? I’ll make something for Fourth Master.”
Her maidservant, Hu Momo, smiled, “Fourth Madam, don’t worry, the chef from the main kitchen has already sent over a table of dishes, along with good wine. It’s ordered by the Eldest Madam. It’s all hot and ready in the steam basket. Shall we bring it out?”
“Wait until Fourth Master finishes washing up.” Li Shumei felt warm in her heart. Lady Qian and the others were easy to get along with, and the nieces and nephews below were also respectful and polite. This family was much easier to deal with than she had thought.
“Go ahead.” Fu Mingzheng heard this from the washroom and immediately spoke out, “I’m starving, I’ll be out soon.”
With the banquet set up, Fu Mingzheng also finished tidying up and walked out. The banquet was very exquisite, with a pair of dragon and phoenix gold cups and a pot of fine wine, all arranged by Lady Qian with great care.
“It seems everyone is really concerned about us.” Fu Mingzheng saw that Li Shumei was sitting still, so he poured her a glass of wine, gestured for the attendants to all withdraw, and asked her to pick up her glass, saying softly, “I lit the candles for us.”
Li Shumei kept her eyes down, “But there are no joy candles.” She hadn’t left Madam Cui’s room since Fu Mingzheng took her there that day. She didn’t know when the joy candles had burned out, and neither did Fu Mingzheng.
Fu Mingzheng silently got up, took out a pair of brand new dragon and phoenix joy candles from the cabinet, lit them himself, and walked back, picking up his glass. He looked at Li Shumei, “This glass, I toast to you, thank you for taking care of everyone in this family so diligently. If you don’t want to stay there all the time, you don’t have to force yourself. I’ll talk to Eldest Sister-in-law, and they’ll understand.”
“They are also my family now.” Li Shumei clinked glasses with him and drank the wine in one gulp, saying, “Eldest Sister-in-law and the others have been very nice to me. I’m not tired, you’re hardly ever at home, but I have things to do and people to talk to there, it’s more interesting than staying alone here. So don’t worry.”
Fu Mingzheng’s good eloquence was useless at this moment, facing Li Shumei, he was silent, and they ate quietly together. Glancing at the sky, he saw that dusk had finally arrived, and said, “I’m tired, let’s sleep.”
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