Chapter 269: Husband and Wife Are Bound by Fate for a Lifetime

The county government offices usually closed at the hour of You, but since today was the birthday of Zhu Yiqing, the four-year-old son of Duke Cheng Zhu Yong, and the Zhu and Zhang families were long-time friends, Zhang Zhuo naturally received an invitation and had to prepare a gift to pay his respects. At the banquet filled with distinguished guests, he, as a mere seventh-rank official, was hardly notable, yet thanks to his surname, he was not treated coldly. Still, he was urged to drink more by those around him, and in the end, he even drank three cups with Zhu Yong.

When the banquet ended, he stepped outside and was hit by the night wind, feeling dizzy. Having arrived by horse, he now faced a dilemma. He planned to borrow a carriage from the Zhu family, but upon reaching the door, two attendants came to greet him. Only after asking did he learn that it was Mrs. Sun who had taken care to send a carriage to pick him up, fearing he might not return sober.

Even so, by the time Zhang Zhuo entered the back courtyard, the moon was already high in the sky. Mrs. Sun, who came out with her maids, saw her husband swaying under the influence of alcohol and immediately stepped forward to support him, scolding him impatiently, “Again drunk! They say cold wine harms the liver and hot wine harms the stomach. Sir, shouldn’t you take care of your health? Pearl, go check how the sobering soup in the kitchen is coming along. Luckily I prepared it in advance; otherwise, if you lie down like this, you’ll have a terrible headache when you wake up tomorrow!”

Though unsteady on his feet, Zhang Zhuo remained clear-headed. Observing his wife’s annoyed expression, he smiled and said, “They say a wise wife brings prosperity to the home. With you taking care of everything, what could possibly worry me? I drank a few more cups today, but it was because Duke Cheng was happy. After everyone else left, he kept urging me to drink more. You know, Duke Cheng also lost a son and a daughter earlier, and now he hopes to keep this son safe. It seems all parents love their sons in the same way.”

It would have been fine if his husband hadn’t brought this up. But as soon as he did, Mrs. Sun remembered what Sun Fengwei and Sun Fengjia had mentioned before. Just as she was about to speak, seeing Zhang Zhuo’s flushed face, she held back her words. At the door, a maid had already drawn back the bamboo curtains. She and Shao Yao helped carry Zhang Zhuo inside and laid him on a soft couch in the east room, complete with a backrest, cushions, and a pillow. Shao Yao bent down to remove Zhang Zhuo’s boots and handed a towel from a copper basin to Mrs. Sun.

Sun Shi was busy wiping Zhang Zhuo’s face when suddenly her right hand was tightly grasped. Seeing his dark, bright eyes fixed on her, her face flushed slightly, and she quickly tried to pull away. At that moment, Zhenzhen brought some soup to sober him up. She personally helped her husband drink it and sent a maid to change and clean Zhang Zhuo’s clothes, while she went to remove her own makeup. It wasn’t until Shao Yao carried out all those clothes still smelling of alcohol, and Zhenzhen along with the two maids quietly left that she spat in annoyance.
“We’re already an old married couple. Why weren’t you mature enough just now? You made the maids laugh at us for no reason!”
“What’s there to laugh about? You said we’re an old married couple. It’s only natural for husband and wife to be close. Besides, no one’s watching now!” Zhang Zhuo’s drunkenness had subsided a bit, but his desires surged. He gently pulled Sun Shi into his arms and said with a smile, “Do you really want to drive me outside to stand in the cold wind all night?”
Hearing this, Sun Shi became furious and pinched him hard, turning her already red face even redder. That night, after learning that Hongluan was pregnant, she angrily drove her husband outside. Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhuo stayed in the courtyard all night and caught a cold the next day. Panicked, she was busy taking care of him for over half a month, and she still remembered that embarrassing situation to this day. She glared at her husband viciously and muttered under her breath, “Who told you to be so stubborn back then? Since you already had a concubine in the house, couldn’t you have taken two more maids? Or at least spent the night in the study—why stand in the courtyard in the wind?”
Zhang Zhuo and Sun Shi were young married couple who had supported each other since marriage, enduring hardships together. Hearing his wife’s words, he knew full well she wasn’t sincere. Taking advantage of her distraction, he suddenly kissed her cheek and swiftly untied her belt.
“You’re going to kill me! How dare you do this here…”
At such a critical moment, Zhang Zhuo wasn’t willing to let go of her. His actions silenced all her words. What followed were the sounds of unfastening clothes, embarrassed breaths and moans, the creaking of the bamboo bed, along with the man’s triumphant laughter and the woman’s faint pleas for mercy. Eventually, the two maids waiting outside couldn’t bear it any longer and fled the room.

Bathed in the cool breeze outside and admiring the bright moon in the sky, Pearl and Peony’s flushed faces gradually faded. They were both maids carefully trained by Lady Sun, and now they had reached an age when it was time to get married. Though they were maids, they lived a life of comfort in the household, yet they couldn’t help feeling some fear about the future. However, Lady Sun and Zhang Zhuo were extremely affectionate for each other; one of their previous concubines had died, and the other, though pregnant, had an uncertain future, so they had never thought that Zhang Zhuo would take them as his wives.

At that moment, Pearl tried to start a conversation: “Lord and Lady are truly affectionate—still like this after twenty years of marriage.”

“Yes, it’s really enviable! Lady asked me earlier if I had anyone in mind, probably wanting to find a husband for us. The servants in the house are either foolish or slick—no good ones to choose from. But if we send them off, I won’t want to part with Lady. Sigh!”

“The first lady seems kind, but she’s always strict with the servants. As for the second lady, she’s even more picky—always finding faults. Compared to them, our lady is by far the easiest to serve. We’re both under a permanent contract; there’s no way we could be given to outsiders. Those men from lower families may seem nice now, but who knows how they’ll treat us later! It’s really fortunate for Amber and Qiuhen…”

Peony was playing with the willow branches in the yard, listening attentively to what was happening inside. When she heard Pearl mention Amber and Qiuhen, she became interested and quickly asked, “Although Lady initially intended for those two to serve the young master for life, it seems he never even touched them. Besides, the old lady has Lingxi under her control—who can get past her?”

“The young master values loyalty deeply. Lingxi may be favored by the old lady, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be well-received by the young master. Well, whether they’re fortunate or not depends on the future young mistress. If she can’t tolerate them, it’s hard to say what will happen.”

Pearl spoke with growing disinterest, but when she thought of what she had heard that day when accompanying Lady Sun to see Sun Fengwei and Sun Fengjia, her brows furrowed. Lord and Lady were always affectionate—if such a thing really existed, why hide it from Lady?

Meanwhile, the couple inside had also resolved their dispute. Lady Sun had intended to call the maids in to clean up, but Zhang Zhuo just held her close, so she had no choice but to accept it. Yet, she couldn’t suppress the words pent up in her heart. After struggling for a while, she finally gritted her teeth and said, “Lord, this afternoon, my elder brother brought a distant cousin to see me, and he asked me for a favor.”

Zhang Zhuo felt slightly drowsy and casually said, “Your elder brother has always been the type who takes advantage of others when things are going well. He didn’t come to visit for years and never brought you back to his place either. Now that things are improving, he shows up to take advantage of us. Anyway, he’s still your elder brother. If it’s not too difficult or involves a small amount of money, just agree to his request.”

“He’s not here to take advantage of us; the request he’s making is serious!” Mrs. Sun recounted in detail what Sun Fengjia had asked for before coldly adding, “Why didn’t you mention Yue returning to the capital? If he’s already back, why is he going to Qingzhou again? And how come I never knew you knew someone from the Jinyiwei?”

At that moment, the last traces of alcohol and indulgent thoughts vanished from Zhang Zhuo’s mind. He had no mind to reply to Mrs. Sun and kept racking his brains over the situation. He and Yuan Fang had been exchanging messages through reliable intermediaries just in case, so after a brief thought, he understood exactly what Sun Fengjia wanted.

Who would have thought that Sun Lianggan was actually his wife’s cousin? That was one thing, but the real problem was that his elder uncle had seen him eating with Yuan Fang! He hadn’t expected to pass the imperial examinations, nor had Yuan Fang expected to rise to become the commander of the Jinyiwei, so they hadn’t been as cautious in their communications. That wretched Sun Fengjia was a greedy and opportunistic scoundrel. If his mouth wasn’t silenced, he could cause great trouble in the future!

Seeing her husband frowning without answering her, Mrs. Sun grew angry and bit him hard on the shoulder. Then, in frustration, she turned away and started sobbing, “I knew you wouldn’t let me see the letters from Yue every time! You were deliberately hiding it from me. Yue is my only son. If anything happens to him, I won’t be able to live…”

“It’s okay, okay. If I had told you earlier, you’d have been worried every day. I just don’t want you to worry constantly,” said Zhang Zhuo, frustrated, as he turned her around and tried to comfort her. “Our son is capable and decisive, and he handles things methodically. Besides, he has noble people supporting him, so don’t worry at all. As for your cousin’s request, if I handle it poorly, I might lose my skin!”

Madam Sun was only upset by her husband’s concealment. Now that Zhang Zhuo had said those words, her thoughts immediately shifted from her son to her husband. She turned around abruptly, her face filled with panic: “Could there be more to this matter? It’s all my fault. If I had known, I wouldn’t have met them… But I’ve already told them it might not be possible. Otherwise, I’ll send someone to decline tomorrow…”
“The situation isn’t as simple as you think,” Zhang Zhuo said. He really didn’t want to reveal the other complexities and worry her, so he simply pulled her into his arms. “Yingru, if they ask to meet again, don’t agree nor refuse. Just have them come see me directly. There’s always a way when faced with a problem; we just need to respond accordingly.”