Outside, the snow stopped for a while, then started again.
Yu Tingwan and Wei Zhao had been in a standoff for a long time.
Said nice words, said harsh words—Wei Zhao just wouldn’t let her get close.
Yu Tingwan stopped discussing and directly made a move, undressed him to apply medicine.
In Wei Zhao’s eyes, from shock it turned to anger, and finally to that familiar dead-hearted despair.
Forget it.
He was a person about to die anyway.
Let her be.
Yu Tingwan’s strength wasn’t average. The current him couldn’t stop her.
Wei Zhao didn’t move at all, let himself be at her mercy.
Upper body bare, wide shoulders, narrow waist, the muscle lines flowing smoothly.
Didn’t cooperate, didn’t refuse, didn’t struggle.
Yu Tingwan was seeing a man’s body for the first time, but her face didn’t even turn red, only focused on applying the medicine: “Isn’t this much better?”
“Why did you reject me just now? I wasn’t doing anything else, not like I was taking advantage of you.”
Wei Zhao’s expression was indifferent: “You pulled my waistband the moment you came up.”
That’s right, that was what she did.
But Yu Tingwan didn’t feel she was wrong at all. Her movements quick, she applied the medicine, then switched to clumsily helping him put on clothes, to prevent catching cold.
“If blood stains the clothes and hardens, when you want to take it off later, it’ll be too late. You’ll have to tear off a layer of skin.”
Did Wei Zhao seem like someone who’s afraid of pain?
He wasn’t.
He was weak, didn’t even want to lift a finger.
“I don’t want to.”
Yu Tingwan: “I’m not even afraid to see you bare-chested. Can’t you be a bit more generous?”
Wei Zhao didn’t look at her. His eyes empty, his tone flat: “You force me.”
Yu Tingwan: …
The way you say it, I might as well press you down on the bed and see what else happens!
After Hui-niang came back, she put down the red fabric and went into Wei Zhao’s room, without noticing anything unusual between the two.
Wei Zhao was still that deathly appearance.
Yu Tingwan had a big heart.
Hui-niang called her: “Wan-niang, come here, auntie will take your measurements.”
Yu Tingwan remembered Hui-niang said she was going to pull some fabric to make her a cotton-padded jacket, so she didn’t think much of it.
The wedding date was soon set for five days later.
The entire Wei household was busy, except for the half-dead, half-alive Wei Zhao.
Time passed day by day, and the mountain roads weren’t easy to walk, so Yu Tingwan didn’t go up the mountain again.
On the third day, just as she arrived at the Wei household, Hui-niang brought out the wedding outfit that had been cooked up for three days.
People in the countryside didn’t know how to embroider, but they could still make simple clothes.
The wedding outfit naturally couldn’t compare to ones bought from outside, but the stitches were fine and close—it had been made with heart.
Hui-niang smiled: “What girl doesn’t want to wear a wedding dress when getting married? If your mother were still around, who knows how much her heart would ache.”
“Auntie doesn’t know embroidery, it can’t compare to hers. Just make do and wear it.”
Yu Tingwan hugged the wedding outfit tightly. She didn’t know if it was because mentioning Ah Niang made her sad, or if it was because the wedding outfit in her arms still held Hui-niang’s warmth, making her especially reluctant to let go.
For a moment, her eyes were a little hot.
Didn’t know what to say.
Hui-niang: “Right, there’s also A’Lang’s.”
She looked at the dazed Wei Zhao.
“Your cousin got married just half a year ago, this is what I borrowed from him.”
“A’Lang, quickly try it on, see if the size fits. If it doesn’t, Mother will alter it for you.”
Wei Zhao expressionlessly looked over.
Didn’t go pick it up.
“Why…”
He slowly said: “I get the used one?”
Yu Tingwan wore new; he had to make do with something someone else had worn.
Hui-niang: …
“You don’t care about anything normally, yet for this kind of thing you’re competing with your wife?”
She was angry and amused at the same time: “That’s a girl’s outfit, if you really like it, go ask Wan-niang if she’ll trade with you.”
She was speaking in a joking tone.
Wei Zhao directly stopped talking.
He didn’t have a hobby of wearing women’s clothes.
But someone took it seriously.
Yu Tingwan wasn’t willing to give up something so dearly—she silently hid the wedding outfit behind her back.
Wei Zhao: …Living really is such a drag.
After breakfast, Yu Tingwan didn’t stay idle. She sat by Wei Zhao’s bedside, cutting Xi [meaning “double happiness,” a traditional wedding symbol] characters of different sizes from red paper.
Windows, doors, cabinets… tomorrow they all have to be pasted.
It would definitely look extra festive.
Hui-niang also said, later they’d hang two red lanterns at the entrance of the house.
Her hands were nimble. Ka-cha, ka-cha, with each cut, the basic outline was already formed. Inside the room, the sound of cutting paper drowned out the soft breathing of the young girl.
The girl’s hands didn’t stop moving, yet she still had the leisure to glance over at Wei Zhao, who was brushing away the scraps of red paper blown onto him by the wind.
There were many scraps of paper.
Wei Zhao, weak and powerless, made a few attempts, then gave up and let it be.
He tilted his head back and looked at the canopy above the bed. His pupils had no focus at all—there wasn’t the slightest trace of someone who had come from the Wei Family Army.
Who didn’t know that General Wei was the most swift and decisive in his conduct, never allowing subordinates the slightest slack, always needing to stay alert for any movement outside?
Then what was with this “dead-faced” Wei Shen!
“Don’t know how you were even selected into the Wei Family Army in the first place. I heard that those who get chosen are all good seedlings for practicing martial arts.”
“Could it be that you…”
Yu Tingwan guessed: “Your cooking was delicious, so they picked you to be a cook soldier.”
Wei Zhao was in a daze.
Last time he got startled, so Yu Tingwan didn’t dare poke at him again.
She leaned in: “There’s nothing shameful about admitting it.”
“It’s not embarrassing.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Being a cook soldier is great. You ensure the food and drink of the warriors charging in front, no need to wield knives and spears, and you stay safe.”
No response.
Yu Tingwan couldn’t pry out another word from his mouth.
“You really…”
Yu Tingwan, helpless and discouraged: “So concerned about saving face.”
Wei Zhao was annoyed by her noise. His eyes dark, he stared at Yu Tingwan.
“The cook soldiers in the Wei Family Army are either aged and can’t charge into battle anymore, or they’re soldiers heavily wounded and no longer mobile. How could it be Wei Shen’s turn?”
Yu Tingwan originally thought he’d finally settle down a bit, but who knew this little girl would smile at him and say: “You’re actually quite serious.”
Yu Tingwan was very comforted.
This still had a bit of lively spirit—much better than being lifeless.
Wei Zhao: …
Speaking of this, Yu Tingwan again felt that something wasn’t quite right. Many questions had been pressing at the bottom of her heart for a long time.
Before, she hadn’t cared, and had thought there would be no intersection between them, so she never asked. But now, her identity had indeed changed.
She pressed her lips together: “The border is very far from Xilin Village. Since you were heavily injured, how did you make it all the way here?”
It was only the Wei couple who were immersed in the joy of losing and regaining, and hadn’t thought much about the strangeness within.
No one knew which word in her sentence made Wei Shen feel offended. His eyes unexpectedly flashed with intense emotion and irritation—even his tone was tainted with displeasure.
“Was carried here.”
Yu Tingwan fell silent.
No one knew how much time passed before she finally found her voice.
Very light, like it could be blown away by a passing breeze.
“Was it the tiger you mentioned last time that you were raising?”
Wei Zhao weakly: “Mm.”
Yu Tingwan didn’t believe it.
But she couldn’t argue about it.
After all, Wei Zhao’s brain was injured. If he insisted on imagining that he raised a tiger, then there was no helping it.
Yu Tingwan gave up.
Forget it, the person’s already back—some things don’t need to be pursued too deeply.
Wei Zhao was very annoyed. He had already mentally prepared for Yu Tingwan to keep asking this and that.
And indeed, Yu Tingwan did ask.
The girl was very serious.
Thinking about the things Wei Zhao had done to her in that scene.
Her eyes curved, her tone light and floaty, like she was casually asking what to eat for dinner.
“You say, will we have a boy or a girl in the future?”