Jun Jiuling

Fang Chengyu thought he had died already, otherwise he would not feel so comfortable.

This feeling should be comfortable. Fang Chengyu was not to sure about that since suffering had been his constant companion since he was five years old. Perhaps when he was younger, he had felt such a sensation, but he could not remember it.

For him, no pain was the most delightful feeling. Very comfortable.

He couldn’t help but exhale slowly.

Dying to him was a kind of freedom.

But as he sighed, he suddenly heard surprised voices.

“Chengyu!”

“Chengyu, you’re awake!”

Fang Chengyu opened his eyes and saw the pleasantly surprised faces of his grandmother and mother. There were tears on his mother’s face.

The King of Hell was an interesting match. If he said you would die on the third watch, no one could keep you till the fifth watch. Similarly, if it was not yet the third watch, you could not die. All you could do was wait. [1]

Wait.

Fang Chengyu’s face turned into a well-practiced smile.

“Grandmother, Mother, I’m fine,” he said. “I was possibly too tired yesterday, so I woke late today.”

Saying he was too tired yesterday on the day after he went to the bridal chambers had a complicated meaning.

Although they knew it was impossible, Old Lady Fang and Lady Fang looked past him.

The festive wedding decorations on the wedding bed had been taken off but organized tidily. The two quilts were also very neat.

They had come to visit earlier out of worry, but they were stopped by the servant girl Liu’er who told them that Young Miss was not yet awake. They hadn’t been waiting long when Miss Jun, who heard the noise, let them inside.

When they entered, they saw Miss Jun come out of the inner chamber wearing her inner clothes. She let them go in to see Fang Chengyu while she had Liu’er assist her in freshening up.

They saw that the bedclothes, although neat, obviously showed signs of two people sleeping on it last night.

“Ai, Old Lady, Lady, you already saw Young Master. Can’t you relax?”

Liu’er’s impetuous voice came from behind them, interrupting the two people’s stray thoughts.

They really were just stray thoughts. How was {that} thing possible?

Old Lady Fang shook her head and turned around to see that Miss Jun was not there yet. She couldn’t help but feel blank again.

“Young Miss… oh, right… Young Lady is tired. She is resting in the study,” said Liu’er. “Anything you want to say will have to wait for later.”

Shouldn’t they be talking about the things related to Fang Chengyu’s treatment?

Old Lady Fang and Lady Fang frowned.

“Fine. You go and take a rest first. What are you two doing lounging around a young married couple’s rooms?” Liu’er said impatiently.

This damned girl.

Old Lady Fang and Lady Fang’s brows jumped into their foreheads.

“From now on, you do not need to bother. Young Lady will take care of Young Master. You may live in ease and comfort,” Liu’er added with a giggle.

Lady Fang wanted to say something, but Old Lady Fang stopped her.

“She better give Chengyu the best care. If not…”

She hadn’t finished speaking when Liu’er interrupted her.

“If not, what then?” Liu’er was angry. “If not, you’ll blame my family’s young miss?”

“Haven’t you seen your family’s young master clearly?”

“So you always just really cared about my young miss’ matters?”

The angry little girl made a scene and chased out Old Lady Fang and Lady Fang. A good amount of people were paying much attention to the newlywed young master’s first night-after. Naturally, they saw this scene.

They didn’t know how Miss Jun had tormented Young Master Fang or whether he had lived or died. Anyway, everybody did see Lady Fang rubbing away the tears in her red eyes.

All the servants’ tongues wagged. This Miss Jun’s servant had a much bigger attitude than before.

Before she was a young miss of an bureaucrat family, wielding her father’s loyal reputation and able to tyrannize the Fang Family. Now, she had become the Fang Family’s young lady. In the future, she would become the Lady Fang, and then the Old Lady Fang. Naturally, she would be even more tyrannical than before.

With Miss Jun, the Fang Family really fell on hard times.

Fang Jinxiu and her sisters, similarly concerned about their little brother, rushed to hear the news.

When she heard Jun Zhenzhen did not allow family to look after him, keeping Fang Chengyu in her hands, Fang Jinxiu snapped a brush.

“She will take care of Chengyu? She could only take care of crap,” she cursed.

“Don’t say such vulgar words,” Fang Yunxiu warned her.

“She is even less than crap,” Fang Jinxiu corrected.

Fang Yuxiu scoffed.

“Little Sister, just wait and see,” she said.

“Wait? No need to wait for her stomach to get big; Little Brother will die first,” Fang Jinxiu spat out coldly.

……

“Mother, Chengyu does not look good.”

When they went back to their rooms and dismissed the servants, Lady Fang spoke with a face full of worry.

Old Lady Fang’s anger because of that servant girl’s words had already dissipated.

“He wasn’t well to begin with. And from now, he is supposed to only get worse,” she said. “Since it’s like that, there’s no need to be worried.”

Believe in Jun Zhenzhen.

This is what she meant, but she could not say such a thing out loud.

It was probably them believing in their last choice. What use would there be in not believing it?

Lady Fang fell silent.

“With that servant girl causing a big fuss there, she’ll be able to act more easily,” Old Lady Fang added.

“Yes, right now everyone knows that she is feeding Chengyu medicine, but if she were to announce that she could cure Chengyu, no one would believe her.”

Lady Fang smiled.

Old Lady Fang frowned.

“It’s just that that servant girl’s words are much too jarring,” she said.

“They may be jarring, but they’re useful,” Lady Fang said.

……

“Unassigned people are not allowed to enter.”

“Young Lady’s courtyard is not somewhere anyone can enter.”

“You guys who served Young Master, behave yourself.”

“Go prepare some medicine and go get some more. Young Lady said that the medicine is not effective enough.”

After driving out Old Lady Fang and Lady Fang, that girl had become much more high and mighty. High and low, it seemed that the courtyard was full of her voice.

Fang Chengyu, who was reclining on the bed, sighed.

Dying to him was a kind of freedom.

In the other room, Miss Jun had gotten dressed as she had always done. Though her face looked exhausted, her expression was still serene. Liu’ers voice outside seemed like a beautiful accompaniment. This voice suited her task as she wrote down one of Master’s old cases, stroke by stroke.

She was not worried or scared.

The Old Heavenly Father had definitely let her be reborn for her to have her justice.

The newlyweds’ second day passed this noisily. After nightfall, Miss Jun who hadn’t appeared all day, walked in.

Liu’er drove out the servants in the room.

“Get out, get out. Young Lady will take care of Young Master,” she said.

Take care? She hadn’t shown her face for the whole day, but then dared to boast that she would take care of young master.

Seeing young master in his wheelchair, acting like he hadn’t heard anything, the servants’ expression turned resentful and distressed.

“Go. Listen to Young Lady,” Fang Chengyu said with a smile.

How else could it be?

The servants sadly exited the room with their heads drooping.

[1] This was a reference from “Journey to the West”. Third watch, fifth watch refers to how the ancient Chinese divided the night into watches.