Chapter 539: Passion Like Fire

Could these be the words spoken by Du Zhen, the man with a cold expression? When did his mentor and father-in-law change his demeanor?
Seeing Du Wan’s face red as a ripe apple, Zhang Yue understood clearly that even if his delicate wife drank Shanxi aged vinegar, she would never recklessly use Du Zhen’s authority to overwhelm others. So, even though he found it hard to believe, he had to accept that these were indeed his father-in-law’s words. After standing there in daze for a while, he suddenly heard a strange sound. Upon listening closely, he realized it was his own stomach growling.
He really wanted to take his wife to the room to fulfill his father-in-law’s wish to have a child, but the first thing he did was take Du Wan’s hand and hurry back inside. Seeing several bowls and dishes neatly arranged on the small table in the main room—much more than usual—he noticed Ling Xi and the other two standing ready to serve. Waving his hand, he said, “We’re outside, so there’s no need for so many rules. You three, take away those dishes and ask Sister Li to prepare three bowls of noodles. We can eat them slowly in the west room. I’m fine with this bowl of noodle soup, egg pancakes, and porridge. After eating, we should get some rest so we’ll have energy for the festival!”
Du Wan wanted to say a few more words, but Zhang Yue held her hand tightly and wouldn’t let go, which made her a bit annoyed. When Zhang Yue carried the large wooden plate in one hand and pulled her toward the east room, she had no choice but to help pull back the curtain. Seeing him place the full plate on the table, she snapped, “They need to rest, and I’m tired too. I already had breakfast in the kitchen earlier; I can’t eat now. Why do you keep pulling me around?”
“If you’re tired, I’ll sleep with you later,” Zhang Yue said ambiguously. Seeing Du Wan lose her composure, he burst into laughter and naturally released her hand. “Alright, alright, who told you to scare me with your father-in-law’s words! But since it’s your father-in-law who sent you here, please make an effort to stay awake and have a meal with me. In these few months since I left, I’ve had very few chances to sit down and eat properly. During the toughest times, I’d just eat half-cooked flour or hard, unbiteable cakes.”

Sitting on the warm kang, Du Wan couldn’t help but observe this small room. Though the walls were unadorned, the few simple pieces of furniture were clean and tidy, and the bamboo chests used to store clothes beside the kang were neatly arranged. On a shelf in the corner stood a simple white porcelain vase, filled with bright yellow wintersweet, emitting a faint fragrance. Suddenly hearing Zhang Yue speak, her thoughts returned to the present. Even though she knew he was acting pitiful with his last words, she still softened immediately.
While she had been living in fear in the capital, he had been facing real danger!
“During those over half a month in Xinghe Fortress, my elder brothers kept that news hidden from me. It was the princess who told me.” Seeing Zhang Yue gobble down the noodles in his bowl, his behavior very different from before, she couldn’t help but move closer to the kang table. “You always wrote casually in your letters, and the military reports didn’t mention whether you were injured. When Xiao Wu came back, she said she couldn’t tell from external injuries, but you still wouldn’t let her examine you. I ask you—have your illness and injuries really healed?”
In Xinghe, the priority was to fill one’s stomach as quickly as possible. Even now in Xuanfu, Zhang Yue still hadn’t broken this habit ingrained from life-and-death struggles. In just a short while, he finished a bowl of noodles and an egg pancake, then downed most of a bowl of porridge in one go. Only when he noticed the angry look in her eyes as her face came closer did he quickly put down the bowl and look up.
“I was trapped in that icy place for over ten days. Once I finally relaxed, the cold invaded and I fell ill, but it’s nothing serious now. It’s the flesh wounds that take longer to heal. Even after all this time, I still have many scars and bruises on my body!”
Having been married for years, Du Wan knew full well that Zhang Yue liked to take everything on himself. So she didn’t believe his claim that it was “nothing serious.” But hearing him mention scars and bruises, her heart tightened immediately. Without thinking much, she grabbed Zhang Yue’s right hand and gently rolled up his sleeve, immediately spotting a light red scar on his elbow and several barely visible red marks on his lower arm.

Faced with this, Zhang Yue, who had initially meant to joke, hurriedly explained, “Ahem, after all, the Tartars have been besieging the city for so many days—it’s completely normal to suffer some minor injuries. Xiang Long and Liu Bao were even shot for my sake. My little injuries are nothing compared to theirs. It was all just accidental scratches while taking cover on the city walls; there were so many swordsmen and shields that collisions were inevitable. Plus, I’ve used crossbows and hand cannons myself—the recoil is so strong that it’s normal to get some bruises on the shoulders.”

Seeing Du Wan glaring at him angrily, Zhang Yue gently released her hand, pushed the table to the far edge, and then sat down right next to his wife, smiling and saying, “I know my dear wife is worried. I still haven’t had a chance to use the medicinal herbs that Father had Qiu Hen bring last time. I wonder where they got such good stuff. Since you’re here, could you apply them for me?”

If she hadn’t seen the injuries on Zhang Yue’s body with her own eyes, Du Wan would have spat in disgust at that moment. But now, she could only nod silently and turn to search through the bamboo chests. She had personally helped organize these items, and it was she who had put the wound ointment in, so she quickly found the two small bottles. But when she turned around, she saw that Zhang Yue had already taken off his outer clothes and was unbuttoning his undergarments. His quick movements made her instinctively think he was trying to trick her, but when she caught a glimpse of his bare upper body, she fell silent.

Over the two years since their marriage, they had been intimate countless times, and she knew every inch of his body well. Yet now, there was a large pale purple bruise on his right shoulder, with various other marks scattered across his body.

Taking the two small bottles, she glared at Zhang Yue fiercely before pouring some medicinal wine into her palm and gently rubbing it into the bruises. After months apart, she could clearly feel that the muscles beneath her hands had become firmer. The hardness made her grit her teeth and apply more force. The more she did this, the more strength she used, until she heard Zhang Yue cry out in pain. Then she dropped the bottle in her left hand and immediately embraced his strong neck.

“It’s all because of you! Do you know how scared I was back then? Father was in prison with an uncertain fate, the old lady’s illness kept flaring up and subsiding, and one problem after another arose at home. Yet you were trapped in Xinghe, with no news of your safety! I used to count the hours before going to sleep, afraid that bad news would come when I woke up. That day, Zhao Hu told me with a gloomy expression that the council decided no reinforcements could be sent right away—I almost couldn’t bear it! I didn’t want to lose Father, but I also didn’t want to lose you! At that time, I even thought that if I had been selfisher and made you pretend to be sick or injured, we wouldn’t have had to worry so much…”

It was the first time Zhang Yue had seen Du Wan express such emotions openly. Hearing her words, he couldn’t help but reach out and hold her tightly, letting her vent the pent-up emotions in her heart. After a while, noticing her voice growing softer, he gently removed the hairpins holding her hair back and began to stroke her smooth locks.

“Life always brings difficult times, but there’s always a reward for our efforts, just like this time. It was my first time seeing a battlefield filled with countless soldiers, and my first time encountering those Tartars. They were nothing like the envoys—completely different. At that moment, I even wondered if, twenty or thirty years later, it would be our descendants facing them on the battlefield, and whether we would win or lose… But I rarely had time to think like that. Most of the time, I thought simply about going back to see you and Officer Xiao Jing, going back to see my parents, grandparents, and other family members. But when the war finally ended, the first thing that came to mind was that the teacher should be released by now. So, fighting to the death was at least worth it.”

Feeling the person in his arms tremble slightly, Zhang Yue released her and moved back a bit. Facing Du Wan’s face, no longer as calm as before, he naturally leaned in and kissed her red lips deeply. Though he had kissed her countless times, it was only this time that he truly felt the passionate warmth from her lips. Unconsciously, he reached out to untie her clothes, and soon, her garments were scattered on the ground. In moments, all that remained in his hands was her warm, delicate body.

The moment they became one, he felt a pair of hands firmly gripping his back, and her delicate moans suddenly grew louder. As he kissed her red lips, cheeks, forehead, and neck, he simply didn’t want to let her go. The desire that had built up over months erupted at that moment, quickly pushing them to the peak. Unlike their previous tentative encounters, Du Wan was now demanding more and more. By the time he could no longer move, he didn’t even know how many rounds they had fought.
“Zhang Yue…”
They had called each other husband and wife, but most of the time they simply used “you” and “I.” In his memory, Zhang Yue hardly ever heard Du Wan call him by his name. It seemed to go from “Young Master Zhang” to “elder brother,” and then quickly to “husband and wife who would support each other for life.” So when he heard Du Wan call him softly unconsciously, he was momentarily stunned before tightly embracing her.