Returning to Before Husband’s Castration

Wei Cai Wei took a lantern, leading a wolf...no, leading her dead husband into the house, she placed the lantern onto the table, then lit another candle for light.

“Tonight sleep on this day bed, I’ll go get bedding from upstairs.”

“Many thanks.” Wang Da Xia somewhat rigidly sat on the day bed, it was his mother’s dowry, it belonged to him, yet he felt uneasy--- not an awkward uneasiness but that kind of vaguely excited uneasiness.

This young widow must have set her eyes on him!

Otherwise why would she have treated me to wontons the first time we met, especially as the bowl had just been offered to her husband?

Last night when I was beating the injustice drum at Shuntian prefecture yamen, it was she who called me to be look out for the cold arrow.

Manager Chen repeatedly warned her I am an unreasonable Ya Nei, she however surprisingly compared me to King Zhuang of Chu who amazed the world with a single brilliant feat, she’s always been nice to me, her gaze filled with appreciation.

No one has ever treated me in this way, she must have feelings for me…

Wang Da Xia let his imagination roam while sitting on the day bed, wicked thoughts arising.

She actively opened the door and welcomed me in, she gave me food, helped me get my bundle, and drew me inside the doors, to bed…

Wang Da Xia leapt up, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

He bent his elbow wiping the beads of sweat away, when he lifted his head he saw the memorial tablet on the incense burner table, under the candle light the words “Deceased husband Wang erlang” on the memorial tablet was faintly discernible.

Wasn’t this too much of a coincidence! Her deceased husband also had the surname Wang, and was the second son.

So she is so nice to me because she’s shifted her affection from her deceased husband, could her deceased husband also look like me? 

I’m just a substitute.

Seeing the memorial tablet, Wang Da Xia’s wicked thoughts disappeared, his bottom sat back onto the day bed.

However he wiggled about, he was unresigned, he again stood up, saying to the memorial tablet in a low voice: “I didn’t want to come in, your wife...she wanted me to come in. Your surname is Wang, my surname is also Wang, you’re the second son, me too, we have been brought together by fate.”

Wang Da Xia perked his ears up listening to the movements upstairs, he continued: “Brother, you must be a good spirit, it’s night curfew outside, I can’t leave right now, if someone sees me come out of a young widow’s house in the middle of the night, I am a wastrel, louse don’t bite me, not worried about debts, it makes no difference to me. However if her reputation is ruined, she won’t be able to remain in the capital, you understand what I mean, my staying overnight here is to protect her reputation.”

Wang Da Xia didn’t only lie to people, he even lied to ghosts.

He gave himself a dignified reason, spending the night at the young pretty widow’s house for the night with a clear conscience.

On the other hand, Wei Cai Wei carried a lantern upstairs, opening a trunk, only then did she realise she only had one set of bedding and bed curtains, and the fourteen years old Wang Da Xia could definitely not share a bed with her.

In her last lifetime, her relationship with Wang Da Xia was longer than how old the current Wang Da Xia was, that’s why she had instinctively said she would bring the bedding down just now.

Right now, let alone sleep together, she was a widow, she couldn’t give her bedding to a man to sleep in, but this had already come to be, she couldn’t go back down empty handed, Wei Cai Wei took a piece of winter clothing to fold up as a pillow, carrying her own pillow downstairs.

In any case it was summer, you could sleep without a cotton-padded mattress, she decided to just give him the pillow.

Wang Da Xia heard movements on the stairs, he leaned to the side to look, immediately he was stunned by the sight: A beauty in plain clothes with long hair down to the waist, a lantern in her right hand, a pillow in her left hand, the picture of someone who had just woken up.

A beauty under the light looked even more beautiful, his wicked thoughts which had just been extinguished, reignited again.

Wang Da Xia instantly recalled watching the play <Romance of West Chamber by Wang Shifu> at the playhouse, Cui Ying Ying carrying a pillow to meet Zhang Sheng at night, in his mind he thought about the song they sang when the two of them met: “Bashfully unable to lift up the head, directly lying on the mandarin duck pillow. Cloud knot on top of the head seemed to be weighed down by gold hairpins, the proper hairdo becomes askew.”

“I’ve undone the buttons, loosened the belt...why can’t you look at me?”

While Wang Da Xia was lost in his thoughts, Wei Cai Wei placed the pillow on the day bed, “There isn’t extra bedding in the house, you’re only here for the night, take your clothes out from the bundle and use them as a quilt.”

Wang Da Xia looked at the not old yet not new pillow, he then knew it was the one the young widow usually used.

Carrying a pillow in the middle of the night...was she hinting at me? This was sung in the play.

At this moment Wang Da Xia’s heart was like a frisky monkey, mind like a cantering horse, the Adam's apple which had just grown not long ago moved up and down, his finger touched the pillow, it was like a fuse, it sparked invisible fireworks in his mind.

Wei Cai Wei didn’t know Wang Da Xia was playing out the scene of Cui Ying Ying and Zhang Sheng in his mind, now under the candle light and lantern as the two of them had walked closer, only then did Wei Cai Wei see a large rip on his sleeve, scratches on his forearm, and they were covered in moss, dust and other things.

Wei Cai Wei pointed at his wound saying: “Take off your dirty clothes, clean up and change into clean clothes, I’ll go mix some medicine, the weather is warm, it’s easy for a wound to get infected by dirt.”

Wang Da Xia’s mind was filled with rumbling fireworks, Wei Cai Wei wanted to treat his wound, but the main thing he heard was “take off your clothes”, as well as “clean up”.

Wang Da Xia had been to those frivolous places like Hongxi, he hadn’t eaten pork before, but had seen pigs run, in the middle of the night, a woman and man alone treating wounds, it was certainly not as simple as treatment!

The other person was a single young widow, me and her deceased husband are somewhat similar, maybe there was a shift in affection, that’s why she treated me well the first time she saw me, and was the only woman in the city who believed I have the abilities of King Zhuang of Chu.

I’m sure from her eyes, when the young widow and I first met, she began to develop feelings for me.

All the little details of Wang Da Xia and the young widow’s interactions tonight flickered through his mind, from when he climbed over the wall to him falling over, the young widow opening the door and calling him in, everything was under the young widow’s accord.

She gave me watermelon, sugar deep fried cakes to eat, invited me to spend the night here, gave me her pillow to use, wants me to take my clothes off, clean up…

How can I be so stupid! The young widow was clearly very sentimental, she looks at me like her deceased husband, offering a pillow with the intention to have intercourse!

I’m so slow!

Of course as a young widow she couldn’t directly say it, hinting to me so many times yet I only just realised now, this really was a great thing!

Wang Da Xia took off his clothes at once, getting a bucket of water from the water jar in the courtyard, pouring it over him from head to toe, and sniffed his armpits for any strange odours. 

But with the cold water, Wang Da Xia’s excitement was cooled down, this young widow wasn’t bad, she only became unstable from longing, on an impulse she thought of me as her deceased husband wanting to have intercourse.

However, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to take advantage of a mourning young widow in a precarious position.

The young widow had saved my life.

Just because she can’t resist for a moment, I can’t lead her down the road of eternal damnation.

I am after all the son of a Qianhu, I need to succeed the title of Qianhu, I can’t marry a common young widow. 

Since I can’t marry her, I can’t touch her.

However, the young widow was so attractive, missing out on such a rare opportunity, it would be such a pity…

The man and Heaven in Wang Da Xia’s mind were fighting, he simply picked up another bucket of water, washing below his navel.

Wei Cai Wei finished making the medicine, she carried it back holding a lantern, Wang Da Xia was already dressed, sleeping on the day bed, and there was even the slight sound of snoring.

Of course Wang Da Xia was pretending to sleep, he thought this was a good way to wordlessly turn her down, since he had refused the young widow, he had completely turned his face away, just like this, the two of them could pretend nothing happened the next day, they were still friends.

Wei Cai Wei’s eyes brimmed with tears immediately, Wang Da Xia’s appearance when he slept was exactly the same as the last lifetime, him and her had spent around thirty years sleeping next to each other, the time they had been married together was twice as long as Wang Da Xia’s age, their relationship was deep.

For Wei Cai Wei, Wang Da Xia had passed away four days ago, no matter how she cried and called out for her deceased husband, her husband who laid on the bed kept as when he was alive, didn’t respond to her.

Now her fourteen years old husband was sleeping next to her, breathing steadily, full of youthful energy, even a single strand of hair was filled with vitality.

He wasn’t dead, so good, Wei Cai Wei was worried her husband’s wound would get infested, she gently removed the clothes Wang Da Xia used as a quilt, intending to roll up his sleeves to put some medicine onto his arm.

However she had just pushed aside the clothes when the sound of snoring immediately stopped, Wang Da Xia opened his eyes, promptly pulling the clothes to his neck, wrapping it around him, and curled himself up to hide on the day bed, “Don’t come over, if you pull down my clothes again, I’ll shout, you’re missing your deceased husband but you can’t take me as a substitute. Wake up, rein yourself in, don’t continue your blunder.”