The Second Young Master’s Obedient Husband : Chapter 47

The evening the matchmaker returned from the Su family, Liang’s mother stood in the kitchen and boiled a whole pot of brown sugar eggs. She carried it to the main room, personally served a bowl to her son. Liang Yu took it and finished it in a few mouthfuls. A little sugar water remained at the bottom of the bowl, sweet enough to be cloying.

Liang’s father sat in the seat of honor holding his teacup, looking at his son with eyes much gentler than usual.

“Settled is good,” Liang’s father said, his voice a bit tight. “Settled is good.”

Liang Yu didn’t speak, and set the bowl on the table.

Liang’s mother sat down beside him, wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve, and chattered on about what needed to be prepared. The new room needed tidying, furniture needed making, the banquet needed ordering, clothes needed sewing, counting them one by one as if afraid of leaving something out. Liang Yu listened, occasionally nodding, his expression very gentle.

The night grew deep, and Liang Yu returned to his own courtyard.

Liang’s mother saw Liang Yu leave and stopped talking. She served herself a bowl of brown sugar eggs, sat in the chair eating slowly, looked at her old partner across from her, and suddenly sighed.

“Second son is finally settled this time.”

Liang’s father made a soft sound, holding his teacup without looking up.

Liang’s mother set down her bowl and said, “When he first came back two years ago, that state he was in, you didn’t see it.” Liang’s mother’s voice lowered. “Didn’t speak all day, went into the forest alone, staying two or three months at a time. He wouldn’t listen to anything I said, couldn’t be persuaded.”

Liang’s father set down his teacup and looked up at Liang’s mother.

Liang’s mother shook her head, the corner of her mouth carrying a bit of a smile. “Now it’s better. Since he got together with that Su family child, he’s settled down, doesn’t stay in the mountains so long. Comes back every few days, and even knows to help with work.”

Liang’s father picked up his teacup and took another sip, slowly saying, “That Su family child, not bad.”

Liang’s mother nodded, the smile on her face deepening.

“Good looking, good natured too. Known roots and known bottom, not like those…” She paused, not continuing.

Liang’s father glanced at her, knowing what she meant.

When Liang Yu first came back, matchmakers from inside and outside the village trampled the threshold. Liang’s mother had eagerly arranged things at first, but slowly grew cold. The calculation in those people’s eyes couldn’t be hidden. Liang Yu had compensation silver on him, was the village head’s son, and could earn money hunting himself. In those people’s eyes, he was a piece of fat meat.

One who had no sense of propriety asked on her first visit what rank Liang Yu held in the army, how much compensation he got, and who the family farmland belonged to. Liang’s mother still had a smile on her face then, but after that person left and the door was closed, her face sank.

There was also a wealthy family from town who sent someone saying they were willing to marry their daughter over, on the condition that they split off to live separately and buy a house in the county town. Liang’s mother hadn’t even opened her mouth when Liang Yu happened to come in from outside, heard an earful, turned and left.

Liang’s mother chased after him, but Liang Yu had already gone far, carrying his basket straight toward the mountains.

That departure lasted another month or more.

Later Liang’s mother stopped arranging things. If Liang Yu was willing to marry, he would marry; if not, so be it. A forcibly twisted melon isn’t sweet. Besides, she didn’t want that kind of short sighted person coming through the door.

Now it was better.

That Su family child, though the family was poor, was proper. Coming through such a great famine, both parents were decent people who raised the child to know manners and sense. Su’s mother’s embroidery skills, Liang’s mother had seen. That was real skill, not something built up in a day or two. Such a family, even if poor, had hard bones.

Not like those…

Liang Yu entered the inner room, lit the lamp, took out the handkerchief Su Qingyu had given him, reached out and touched the embroidery on it, and stared blankly for a long time.

When war was about to end, the evil of human nature would always burst forth like a spring, ugly beyond words.

Liang Yu remembered things from the battlefield, things he had never been willing to mention to anyone. When the fighting was nearly over, people’s hearts were more chaotic than during the actual fighting. He had seen his best brother turn and stab a companion, just to claim two more military merits. He had seen the hardest boned man kneel on the ground, licking boots, calling grandfather, just to survive.

Those faces, he had seen too many of them.

Some fawned on him, some curried favor with him, some nodded and bowed before him, then turned and cursed him for not knowing what was good for him. He had earned merit, become a squad leader, and those who had previously ignored him suddenly crowded over, smiling with faces full of wrinkles, saying things that sounded better and better.

Liang Yu was sick of it all.

Sick enough to give up the chance of promotion, resolutely leave the military camp, take his silver and leave without looking back. Returning to Mian Village, he had thought it would be quieter, but those matchmakers who came to the door, the calculating things in their eyes, were no different from those people on the battlefield. This family’s daughter’s father ran a shop in town, that family’s son’s uncle held a position in the county, speaking so splendidly, but in the end it was only about the silver in his hand, about his father being village head.

Liang Yu simply went into the mountains, staying two or three months at a time.

The mountains were quiet, no those faces, no those calculations. Hunting, chopping firewood, sleeping, life was simple. Occasionally coming down the mountain, he would enter the village before dawn and return to the mountains before dark, trying not to cross paths with people.

Mother always worried, father worried too, older brother and sister in law worried too.

Liang Yu knew.

But he didn’t know what to use to set their hearts at ease. He didn’t know what he wanted, or what he didn’t want. Life just went on, not good not bad, neither up nor down.

Until that snowy day.

Until he met that little one with red rimmed eyes on the mountain.

Liang Yu came back from his memories, lowered his head, and looked at his hands. Rough, knuckles distinct, calluses on the tiger’s mouth from years of gripping blades. These hands had been stained with blood, had killed people, and had also chopped firewood for someone, filled water vats, and pulled up blankets.

The feeling of the little one in his arms he still remembered, soft beyond words, carrying fragrance on his body, clearly trembling with fear yet still pressing himself into the embrace, showing full dependence after being given a little kindness, living so poorly himself yet using his best cloth to make shoes and clothes for him, willing to do anything, giving whatever was asked.

The next morning, Liang’s mother came over, holding a piece of cloth in her hand, dark blue, thick and sturdy. She held it up against her son’s body, nodded with satisfaction.

“Mother will make you another new set of clothes. Once you’re married, it will be your husband who makes clothes for you.”

Liang Yu stood still and let her measure. When Liang’s mother finished measuring, she put down the cloth and looked at him, then suddenly reached out and patted his shoulder.

“Your mother these years, my heart has been set on your marriage. Your brother married early, his children are already so big, but you, you went into the mountains and wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t call you out, couldn’t talk sense into you.”

Liang Yu kept his eyes lowered without speaking. Liang’s mother sighed, but her eyes held a smile. “Finally settled, settled is good. That Su family child, I’ve seen a few times, handsome looking, good natured too, one who knows how to live.”

Liang Yu made a soft sound.

“His mother is also a sensible person, widow and orphan not easy, raised her son so well. From now on, you’ll have a home, someone who knows your cold and heat by your side. Don’t keep going into the mountains for two or three months at a time, making me and your father worry.”

Liang Yu looked at the white hair at Liang’s mother’s temples, his gaze moving. Liang’s mother had suffered too in the past, and now life was better, her appearance looking young, but the white hair couldn’t be turned back.

After a while, Liang Yu nodded earnestly.

Liang’s mother smiled, took the cloth, and left.

Liang Yu stood in the courtyard, looking in the direction of the Su family, his heart steady and sure.