Chapter 96: My Little Lamb

Tan Xueci sat on the bed, huddled under the blanket. Only her small face was visible, pale and gaunt. After a night of torment, it seemed even smaller than a palm.

She hugged her knees and waited, but the man still hadn’t returned. She grew drowsy and soon fell asleep, slumped on the bed.

When evening came, a servant brought a food box and called her to eat.

Outside, the night was deep and the moonlight lonely. She thought the man had finished teaching her and wouldn’t come again.

After bathing, she drowsily climbed onto the carved canopy bed, thinking that the city people’s bathtubs were bigger than the ones in the countryside. At the Lu family, she only had a small basin to wash herself.

But before she could finish, she suddenly noticed a dark shadow sitting on her bed. Under the flickering red candles of the old mansion, it looked like a ghost. She was terrified, almost screaming and falling off the bed.

“Madam, what’s wrong?” The man’s dark, peach-blossom eyes looked over, reaching out to catch her small bottom so she wouldn’t fall. His red lips parted, his face lit by the dim candlelight. He seemed surprised. “Don’t you recognize me? Why are you so frightened?”

Not only did he look like a ghost, but his tone sounded rather resentful.

Tan Xueci’s heart was still racing. She covered her chest and backed away.

After a moment to calm down, she saw the man sitting primly on the bed like a well-behaved servant. Finally relaxed, she crawled on her knees toward the man and pressed against his arm.

The Tan family had treated her poorly. She always thought of herself as evil, that maybe one day she’d become a tyrant and take revenge. But in truth, she was a bit clingy.

This old mansion made her feel stifled and afraid. She didn’t know anyone well, and she didn’t really know this man either. But since they’d already been intimate, she instinctively wanted to stay close.

He Xunye watched his little concubine, who looked on the verge of tears for some reason, then crawled over and pressed her small face against his arm.

He Xunye: “…”

So clingy.

He lived at Qilian Temple all year round and rarely came home. He hadn’t seen much of the other concubines in the He family. He wondered if they were all this clingy.

He figured those old geezers probably didn’t have such luck.

He Xunye reached out and pulled the person into his arms.

He still felt he didn’t need a wife, especially such a clingy one—a burden. But since she clung to him, he just casually held her.

Tan Xueci was suddenly hugged. She struggled but couldn’t break free. The man held her tightly as if unwilling to let go. Sensing something bad, Tan Xueci’s eyes widened. She looked up timidly and asked, “Do we still have to study tonight?”

The ghost-like man’s dark eyes lowered. His lips were red to the point of coldness. He looked at his little concubine, surprised that she had developed a taste for it and wanted more.

“I…” Tan Xueci grew nervous when the man didn’t answer. She mumbled, “I’ve already learned…”

Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she felt a bit wronged. Last night, the man had praised her for doing well. Why was he going back on his word now?

“It’s just as Madam thinks,” the ghost-like man said with a smirk. His eerie face leaned closer in the candlelight, like a male ghost from a Liaozhai story come to suck life essence, or like a husband in the middle of the night. “I can help Madam review.”

Tan Xueci: “…”

Tan Xueci let go of the man’s arm. She knelt on the bed and tried to crawl away, finding the man’s words annoying. It made her sound like she was craving it, unable to live without a man.

But before she could escape, the man dragged her back.

“I need to check on Madam,” the man said. His face was still handsome and flawless, but he seemed a bit anxious, though his tone remained affected. “Why make things difficult for me, a lowly servant?”

Tan Xueci was still trying to pry the man’s hands off. If the man hadn’t said that, she definitely would have refused. After all, she was so evil. But after hearing those words, she hesitated.

In this era, despite many progressive ideas, many households still treated servants like servants and masters like masters. Just like Lu Qi, who was born to be a servant, beaten and ordered around.

She actually hated Lu Qi. Lu Qi always stared at her face, wanting to sell her to the wealthy patrons who frequented the Paradise Club, hoping some rich man would take a liking to her, sleep with her, and then foolishly throw money at her to make her a star.

That way, Lu Qi would get rich too.

But they had squatted outside the Paradise Club for days. There were even club boys coming to welcome her, sizing her up, saying some gentleman inside invited her in. But Lu Qi never let her go.

Lu Qi sighed, took her to eat some braised offal, and even hired a rickshaw for her to ride for fun, spending a month’s wages. In the end, they both trudged back to the countryside.

Tan Xueci was evil, but the man before her was tall and strong. When he wasn’t smiling, his eyes were cold. He didn’t seem pathetic at all. Tan Xueci couldn’t imagine this man being bullied or humiliated.

He Xunye had only said it casually, expecting any response from Tan Xueci. But he never expected that after hesitating, Tan Xueci would actually undo her own clothes.

That day, Tan Xueci wore a red bellyband again, but this time it was embroidered with lotuses, so pure, unsullied by mud. But it covered her small chest, making one’s teeth itch inexplicably.

If he were a good person, he might have felt pity and refrained from bullying her. But He Xunye was a ghost—mean and sneaky. So he carelessly pulled off the bellyband, flipped the person over, and gave her a thorough inspection.

Tan Xueci’s face flushed red. She bit her lip and twisted her neck.

The ghost’s eyes darkened as he looked at her lips, red and swollen from being kissed and nibbled last night. They had done everything imaginable, stirring a hint of pity in his heart.

He reached out and touched those lips, his voice low and hoarse, enough to warm one’s ears. “How pitiful.”

Tan Xueci also felt very pitiful. Her eyelashes were drenched with tears. Tonight would be as hard as last night.

The man flipped her over and over. She felt like a fluffy little pancake. The man even took her sweat-drenched, snow-white arm and draped it around his own neck. Tan Xueci’s arm slipped weakly, but the man lifted it again. So she had to hold on tightly.

She was so flustered that sweat started beading on her nose. The man let out a low laugh and kissed the tip of her nose.

“…”

Tan Xueci was dazed, clinging to the man’s shoulders. This felt no different from having a husband. But this man wasn’t her husband; he was just teaching her the rules of serving a man.

She thought for a moment, her eyelashes fluttering. Biting her lip, she whispered, “What kind of person is your eldest young master?”

The ghost lowered his eyelashes. His shoulders and back were like cold jade, not a drop of sweat. Only his lips were red from the little concubine’s kisses. Instead of answering, he asked, “What does Madam think?”

Tan Xueci’s eyes turned dark. For a second, her face twisted in venom. A man who is dead but still needs a wife—lecherous, perverted. He probably plays rough. An old pervert.

She didn’t say it, but with the pleasure she was feeling, she couldn’t hide her expression. Anyone could see what she was thinking.

The ghost couldn’t help but chuckle. Rubbing his wife’s waist, his voice low and seductive, he coaxed, “Then Madam should study even harder, right? How else will you cooperate with the eldest young master?”

“Ah,” Tan Xueci sighed softly. Naively, she agreed, “You’re right.”

Even though the He family’s eldest young master seemed to be dead, who knew what really happened? Maybe there would come a day, and she needed to learn more, be prepared.

She had been shy before, just lying there stiffly. But now, with her own thoughts, she couldn’t help criticizing the man’s moves. Sometimes she complained it was too rough, sometimes not rough enough. Very picky.

She even copied Lu Qi’s way of scolding, telling the man he was acting like he hadn’t eaten. The man’s face darkened. Silently, he squeezed Tan Xueci’s waist hard. Tan Xueci screamed in fright, her pretty face turning angry and harsh as she called the man a brute.

She ordered the man around like she was commanding a human-shaped tool, her words full of disdain. Her fine lashes lowered as she muttered, discussing which parts of her body the other man might like.

The ghost gritted his teeth, his dark eyes unfathomable. He clearly didn’t want to hear any more about the husband in Tan Xueci’s mouth. He wished the husband would just die outside.

He covered Tan Xueci’s chattering mouth and got back to work. Tan Xueci finally stopped complaining and started whimpering.

Tan Xueci spent her days in the courtyard with the man. She heard there were many ghosts outside, but strangely, since arriving at the He residence, she hadn’t seen a single one.

The man sat her on his lap and showed her a book. With a faint smile, he said, “I don’t know many characters. Can Madam tell me what this book says?”

Tan Xueci bit her lip and frowned at the book. It had pictures, some kind of Western illustration. Her snow-white cheeks flushed red. She looked at He Xunye hesitantly.

The book showed a naked person, with several dark-skinned hands with bulging veins reaching toward them. The text below was in a foreign language.

She couldn’t understand it, but she felt it wasn’t anything good.

“Hm?” He Xunye saw she wasn’t answering, and his smile deepened. He squeezed Tan Xueci’s waist. “Didn’t Madam study abroad? Can’t you read English? Then which country did you go to?”

Study abroad?!

Tan Xueci broke into a sweat. She suddenly understood what “study abroad” meant. So that’s why she thought her brother Tan Yunning had also gone to herd sheep like her. She didn’t know they meant studying overseas!

How was she supposed to know which country Tan Yunning went to? She didn’t even know what countries existed in the world. Her eyes reddened, and with tears in them, she started biting her fingers.

The man frowned, seeming suspicious. He grabbed Tan Xueci’s wet, bitten fingers and asked casually, “Can’t Madam read it either?”

Tan Xueci didn’t yet know that the He family had already discovered she was a fake. She was terrified they would find out and drown her in the pond.

Her eyes darted around. She didn’t know any foreign illustrations. Suddenly, he remembered that the man seemed to really like her underwear. Every time he took it off, he would pick it up and sniff it, as if the dirtier it was, the better. Like something precious.

“Xunye…” Tan Xueci wrapped her arms around the man’s neck. She lowered her head, revealing her pale nape and reddened ears. With her other hand, she loosened her trousers a bit to show what she was wearing inside, clumsily seducing him. “Look what I’m wearing inside.”

“What?” The man seemed purely curious and also looked down.

Tan Xueci was wearing pure white silk underwear that day, just as short, hugging her smooth, white thighs. It wasn’t as sexy as the one on their wedding night, making her look more like a young lady, or a small lamb with white fur, though her heart was black.

Tan Xueci sighed in relief. This man must be really stupid to be fooled so easily.

She was carried to the bed, inevitably getting tangled up, but at least the man didn’t question her about English anymore.

He Xunye stroked her cheek, leaned in to kiss her, and murmured with a low laugh, “My lamb.”

Tan Xueci didn’t understand. She was just congratulating herself on being clever. People as clever as her were rare.

At first, Tan Xueci was afraid the He family would make her a burial sacrifice. But after they threw her in the back courtyard, no one bothered her.

The servants, though scared of something, still came every day to attend to her dutifully. But once they finished, they’d run off like they’d seen a ghost.

Tan Xueci curled her lip. She didn’t need them anyway. She had someone to keep her company.

But He Xunye wasn’t always there. He mostly came at night.

Tan Xueci had seen ghosts often since childhood, so she disliked the night. But now she started looking forward to it. As soon as it got dark, she’d light the candles in her room and wait for the man.

Sometimes, hearing the man’s footsteps from afar, she’d pick up a small lantern and wait at the dark courtyard gate.

The man was a bit surprised. He took Tan Xueci’s cold little hand and frowned. “Why did you come out?”

Tan Xueci was thin, her hands and feet always cold. Even though it was summer, the night was chilly. After just a short time outside, her hands were frozen.

He Xunye had intended to devour Tan Xueci. Whether she was cold or not had nothing to do with him.

“I was afraid you couldn’t see the way,” Tan Xueci said, holding up the small lantern, illuminating both their faces. She had meant to be clever, but immediately covered her mouth, her eyes wide.

Oh no. She’d let it slip that she hadn’t studied abroad, that she was just a shepherd.

Luckily, the man was dumb enough not to notice her country accent. He just laughed softly, leaning on Tan Xueci’s shoulder, and after a moment, led her back inside.

Tan Xueci wasn’t completely stupid. At first, she believed the man was teaching her. But after so many nights of “lessons,” she’d been thoroughly seasoned. What was there left to teach?

He just wanted to be with her.

But as a country bumpkin under the city man’s tutelage, she gradually started to enjoy it. She didn’t really object anymore, so she kept fooling around with the man.

The He family left her alone. Sometimes the man took her out to night markets. The city nights were lively. The man bought her lots of snacks and a new little lantern.

Tan Xueci silently cursed in her heart. This man who looked like a dead ghost seemed pretty wealthy, at least much richer than Lu Qi. So why was he hiding his money? Why didn’t he spend it on her?

But in practice, she was very obedient. She only bought one thing and didn’t act up, holding the man’s hand tightly for fear of getting lost.

The man even bought a cloth doll from an old lady and placed it on Tan Xueci’s shoulder.

That night, of course, he slipped into Madam’s bed again.

Tan Xueci, drenched in sweat, held onto the man’s shoulders under the blanket. Nearby was her husband’s memorial tablet. The feeling of adultery gave her a pang of guilt. She whispered, “Is this really okay? We can’t keep doing this.”

“What’s wrong with it?” The man’s voice was flat, without shame. As if he had cuckolded someone and was proud of it, he asked, “Why can’t we?”

Tan Xueci was at a loss for words. But her old-fashioned, small-minded attitude started acting up. She felt uneasy.

She used to think of herself according to her neighbors. Everyone said she was beautiful and would marry a good husband. She thought she would have a husband and kids and a warm hearth. But now, she had become someone else’s wife.

She was slowly getting used to being a wife, and having a cold man in bed seemed better than anything else.

Although this man wasn’t warm. He was cold as a dead person.

Tan Xueci frowned and touched the man’s arm. Then she cupped his face and looked at it, worried. “Are you sick? Have they been mistreating you?”

She thought about it. This man didn’t even have a proper name. He was sent to teach the young master’s concubine such things. The He family couldn’t have been kind to him.

Tan Xueci snuggled into the man’s arms. They were like two poor little mice depending on each other. Even her evil heart softened a little.

He Xunye was startled. The ghost usually wore a sarcastic smile, but now his face showed a rare trace of guilt. He lowered his head, rubbing his nose against his little wife’s soft palm, saying nothing.

Tan Xueci was a bit disappointed. She had wanted the man to elope with her. But then again, the man was just a servant. Running away with his master’s concubine would land him in big trouble.

Tan Xueci didn’t ask further. They just hugged and messed around, night after night.

He Xunye held his wife and kissed her lips, but his brows were furrowed. Something about that small, gloomy face weighed on his dead heart.

But Tan Xueci wasn’t thinking much. Sometimes she got lost in gloomy thoughts, other times she was carefree.

The next morning, she sneaked out to sell some of the jewelry the He family had given her, exchanging it for silver. She stuffed it in her pocket, planning to show the man at night.

She wanted to tell the man she had money to elope.

But as she happily ran into the courtyard, she saw He Wuling pointing a peachwood sword at the man, shouting his name. “He Xunye!”

The smile on Tan Xueci’s small face froze. Her steps faltered as she looked at the man in disbelief.

That was clearly the name of her dead husband.

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