REM • CH007

# Chapter 7

Shen Xinyan had never imagined that her husband, who never involved himself in household matters, would present her with such a grand surprise.

She gazed in silence at her husband, who had come strutting over to claim his credit, then slowly shifted her eyes to the young boy now stepping into the room. After a long moment, she let out a breath too quiet to be heard.

Had she not lived through her previous life, she would have been overjoyed. But having passed through death and back, she found she could no longer gauge how to be with her son. Those wounds had been real. She could convince herself to forget other people and other pains, but not this one. He was the son she had once poured herself into entirely.

If she were being honest with herself, she was even a little afraid of spending too much time with him again. She feared she might fall in once more as she had in the previous life, investing too deeply without meaning to. She feared too that at some unguarded moment, the hatred of that past life might take hold of her and drive her to do something she would regret against this child who was still so young.

Too close would not do, but too distant would not do either. A middle distance was best, enough to let her go on fulfilling her duties as his mother.

“Madam, are you… not pleased?” Wei Junhang could not read her at all, seeing her simply watching him without a word.

“No, I am pleased. Thank you, my lord.”

Well, it was what it was. He was her own flesh and blood. Could she really shut him out?

“Mother!” Wei Chenglin had no idea how much his mother had wrestled with herself in these few short moments. He stepped forward to greet her and asked with concern: “Is Mother feeling better? Has a physician been called?”

Shen Xinyan blinked, darted a quick glance at Wei Junhang, who was standing off to the side with an awkward expression and clasped hands, silently begging her pardon, and before she knew it, a smile had crept onto her lips.

“I am quite well now. Why have you not wiped away your sweat? The weather is turning cool. You cannot afford to be careless just because you are young and strong.” Seeing dampness at her son’s temples, she instinctively drew him closer and gently wiped away the sweat.

Wei Chenglin was briefly uncomfortable, but when his body leaned into a soft, warm embrace, he relaxed without meaning to and even unconsciously pressed a little closer.

Shen Xinyan felt him lean in and paused, lowering her eyes to conceal the complicated feeling in them. She then carefully wiped his hands clean before instructing Chunliu to bring her daughter and Xiahe to call for the meal.

Seeing mother and son pressed close together, Wei Junhang broke into a wide, delighted grin.

So that move of his had been the right one after all.

That midday meal in the main hall of Funing Hall was unlike any other. Gone was the usual silence at the table. From time to time the hall rang with a man’s easy laughter, a child’s soft wheedling, and a woman’s long-suffering gentle scolding, so that the maids waiting outside exchanged smiling glances with undisguised warmth.

“Mother, I don’t want the radish…”Little Yingzhi wheedled at her mother, and when her mother kept a straight face and refused to budge, she turned to appeal to her father instead. “Father…”

The moment that sweet, babyish voice rang out, the spineless father folded: “Alright alright, no radish then.”

“My lord!” Shen Xinyan glared at the someone who was already extending his chopsticks into his daughter’s bowl to deal with the offending radish.

Caught by that glare, Wei Junhang’s hand jerked sideways, and he dropped a piece of chicken into his son’s bowl instead, saying dryly: “Son, eat more, eat more.”

“Thank you, Father!” A flicker of amusement crossed Wei Chenglin’s eyes. He glanced at his mother’s stern face, then at his pouting little sister gloomily prodding her radish, and his amusement deepened.

“Children cannot be picky eaters. If you are, you will not grow tall,” Shen Xinyan said, having no choice but to scare the little girl.

“That’s not true! Big Uncle doesn’t eat radish either and he is very tall!” the little girl shot back confidently.

Shen Xinyan was stumped for a moment, pressing her fingers to her temple: “If your big uncle had eaten radish when he was young, he might be even taller than he is now.”

“I only need to be as tall as Big Uncle anyway…” the little girl muttered in dissatisfaction.

“Ying’er is a girl, and Big Uncle is a man. A man can grow as tall as Big Uncle does without eating radish, but Ying’er cannot. See, Elder Brother eats his radish too,” Wei Chenglin said, setting down his silver chopsticks and explaining seriously to his little sister.

The little girl peered into his bowl and sure enough, found a large piece of radish sitting there. Reluctantly, she conceded: “Fine, fine, I’ll eat it then.”

Seeing her obediently eat it up, Wei Chenglin smiled slightly and reached out to give her head a fond rub of approval.

Shen Xinyan watched this and fell briefly into a daze.

Perhaps because it had been so long, so long that she had nearly forgotten her two children had ever been this close to each other.

She quickly lowered her eyes to hide the redness at their edges, but her mind kept surfacing images from her previous life: her son shielding Zhou Guanning, sternly reprimanding her daughter again and again.

“Madam, try this. It’s quite good,” a pair of chopsticks suddenly placed something into her bowl. She looked up instinctively and found Wei Junhang watching her with a slightly ingratiating expression.

She pressed her lips together, then said softly after a moment: “Thank you, my lord.”

Wei Junhang laughed a foolish, contented laugh and began eagerly serving food into her bowl, leaving Shen Xinyan both amused and exasperated.

“My lord, that is enough. You must eat too.”

The two of them went back and forth serving each other, and little Yingzhi, who had been scraping her bowl, watched with bright, darting eyes. Finding it amusing, she copied her father and speared a piece of radish, dropping it into her mother’s bowl in a babyish voice: “Mother, you eat.”

Then she speared another piece into her brother’s bowl: “Brother, you eat too.”

“Father eats too!” She would of course not leave out the father who doted on her so.

Looking at the dish of radish, now empty, the little girl covered her mouth and giggled to herself.

A mother knows her child best, and Shen Xinyan could see plainly what the little schemer was up to. She gave the child’s nose a playful pinch: “Little menace, you’re full of tricks!”

The little girl dissolved into proud, ringing laughter, drawing amused smiles from everyone at the table.

The family of four finished the midday meal in warmth and contentment, then strolled through the garden to let the food settle. When she saw her daughter’s head beginning to droop and those large eyes struggling to stay open, Shen Xinyan called Granny Sun to carry the little girl back inside.

“Chenglin, go rest for a while too. You’ll need your energy for this afternoon’s lessons,” she added, taking the cloak from Chunliu and fastening it around her son herself.

“Yes, Mother. Father. This child takes his leave.” Wei Chenglin bowed properly before departing.

“This child is so stiff and proper about everything, utterly without any…” the Young Master murmured beside her, and the rest of his words died in his throat the moment his wife turned and gave him a reproving look.

The husband and wife returned to the room. Shen Xinyan hesitated for a moment, just about to bring up the morning’s incident to explain herself, when Wei Junhang spoke first: “About this morning, Madam, the fault was mine. I should not have lost my temper at you like that.”

Shen Xinyan paused, then said softly after a moment: “How is it the Young Master’s fault? It was I who handled things poorly.”

“No no no, it was my fault. No matter what, I should not have lost my temper like that.” Wei Junhang shook his head like a rattle drum.

Shen Xinyan gazed at him for a moment, then smiled and said: “Well, it has already passed. Let us not speak of it further. Only, since we are husband and wife and husband and wife are one, if you ever face difficulty, I may not be of much use, but I am willing to do whatever I can to share your burden.”

Wei Junhang’s mouth dropped open in surprise, while inwardly he was so elated he could burst.

His wife had said it herself. Husband and wife are one!

The more he thought about it, the more delighted he became, and the wider his grin stretched, until finally that brilliantly beaming smile of his was practically blinding.

Shen Xinyan felt a flush of embarrassed irritation at his grinning: “You, what are you laughing at? Stop laughing!”

“Alright alright, I’ll stop.” The Young Master obligingly tried to rein in his smile, though his eyes still blazed bright, fixed intently on her face.

“If you keep looking at me like that I shall be cross!” His gaze was too intense for her to bear.

“Don’t be cross, don’t be cross, I…” The moment she mentioned being cross, Wei Junhang panicked, and casting about quickly for a way out, changed the subject: “I am not short of silver at the moment. That hundred taels I withdrew from the common funds was lent to someone in urgent need.”

Sure enough, Shen Xinyan was redirected. She simply nodded upon hearing this, asking no further questions about who he had lent the money to.

It was Wei Junhang who felt somewhat sheepish, rubbing his nose and explaining: “I lent it to the third son of the Duke of Zhengguo’s household, Yan Henian.”

This time Shen Xinyan was genuinely surprised: “You are acquainted with Third Young Master Yan?”

How did she not know that her husband had ties to the man who would become the fearsome Iron-Faced King of Hell in the future.

『TL Note ♡︎』”Black-faced/Iron-faced Yan Wang” (黑脸阎王) is a reference to Yanluo Wang, the Chinese god of death and judge of the underworld, traditionally depicted with a dark face and stern demeanor. Shen Xinyan is using the title as a nickname, suggesting Yan Henian becomes a powerful and feared figure in her future memory.

“I would not say we are properly acquainted. We have shared drinks together. I saw he was a little short on funds and lent it to him,” Wei Junhang answered vaguely, his heart quietly anxious, fearing his wife might ask why Third Young Master Yan had needed to borrow money.

“I see.” Fortunately, Shen Xinyan had no intention of pressing the matter. She simply gave a slight nod, then seemed to think of something and shook her head, saying: “I was foolish too. You were still able to buy Ying’er that jade pendant, so you clearly were not short of money.”

Wei Junhang stammered: “Next, next time I’ll buy you jewelry from Linglongge, how about that?”

Seeing his wife still wearing that half-amused, half-composed expression, he hurried on: “And gowns from Nichang Pavilion, the most beautiful ones, one-of-a-kind! And the new pastries from Baiwei House too. If you like them, I’ll find a way to hire that head chef back for you…”

At this, Shen Xinyan could no longer keep a straight face. She gave him an exasperated look: “Do you take me for someone so shallow? Do I look like I pine for jewelry and gowns? And do not talk so big. Do you know who owns Baiwei House? You think you can just poach their head chef!”

Wei Junhang was thoroughly delighted by her scolding. He looked at his wife’s bright dark eyes, the slight pout of her lips, and found her utterly irresistible from every angle.

He scratched the back of his head with a foolish grin, a touch of pride creeping into his voice: “Others might not manage it, but that does not include me. That wretch Prince Ning owes me an enormous favor. Never mind a single chef, even if I asked for his beloved prized roosters he calls his great generals, he would hand them over without complaint.”

The two words “Prince Ning” reached her ears and Shen Xinyan’s brow unconsciously knitted.

Not that she could be blamed for her feelings toward Prince Ning. The man was a notorious libertine of the capital, taking concubines as casually as eating meals. No wife anywhere would want her husband keeping company with someone like him.

And yet that oblivious fool of hers prattled on with animated pride about the one “glorious” deed he had managed to pull off in his life.

“…that wretch Prince Ning was utterly bewitched, not a shred of alertness left in him, his very soul nearly carried off by that woman. If it hadn’t been for me noticing early on that something was off about that woman and taking precautions, Prince Ning might have woken up the next morning bare and dumped in the middle of the street. For a favor that great, you’d think that wretch would…”

“You went with Prince Ning to drink in that sort of filthy place?”

The self-satisfied voice came to an abrupt halt.

『TL Note ♡︎』Hi guys! TL here!

So “cross” here simply means angry or annoyed. It is a fairly old-fashioned way of saying someone is irritated or displeased.

The original Chinese word is 恼 (nǎo), which means annoyed or upset.

So the line:

“If you keep looking at me like that I shall be cross!”

Just means:

“If you keep looking at me like that I shall be annoyed/angry!”

I wanted to keep it because I realised it’s not a common word and it’s nice to share the knowledge with my lovely readers!

If you’re an English enthusiast like me, feel free to drop a like or comment your thoughts!!

TL out! ♡︎