It was the next morning.

Mrs. Huang combed Wei Changying’s hair and scolded her in a low voice, “First Miss, you are pretty violent. How did you scratch in-law like that?”

Last night, after sex, Shen Cangfeng ordered servants into the inner room to serve him and his wife. Maids saw hickeys all over Wei Changying’s skin but found it reasonable. Qin'ge and Yan'ge helped her wash the body, blushing.

On the contrary, servants who served Shen Cangfeng not far from Wei Changying were shocked by scratches and blood on his back and arms. It seemed that Shen had fought with somebody. One of the servants wanted to fetch the ointment for injuries but Shen stopped him. Qin'ge and Yan'ge were not calm any more. They hurried to dry Wei Changying’s body and immediately told Mrs. Huang what had happened. Mrs. Huang was speechless after she knew wounds in detail.

Now, when Mrs. Huang served Wei Changying, she naturally told her something, “It is a luck that in-law did not rub the ointment. Otherwise, when you serve the tea and people might notice the smell of the ointment, you would be asked by them. At the wedding night, you scratched your husband so severely that he had to apply the medicine the next day. Is it reasonable? How will you face people of the Shen Family?”

Wei Changying fiddled with a rouge box next to her, silent. She was agitated and thought in mind, “Women are rather poor. Am I not sore?”

Mrs. Huang knew that Wei Changying had been uncomfortable. She feared that if she said more, Wei Changying would feel unhappy when she saw her parents-in-law. Therefore, Mrs. Huang silently sighed and did not say anything more. She quickly helped We Changying make a bun and decorated it with a pair of bloodstone hairpins given by Madam Su and some bead flowers. When she stepped backward, she thought that decorations were not enough. At this time, Shen Cangfeng who had changed his clothes came here, beaming, and said, “You are pretty now.”

“In-law’s praise for pretty First Miss is true.” Mrs. He thought in mind. She saluted and said, “Yes.”

Wei Changying was gloomy now. She saw Shen Cangfeng in the bronze mirror and wondered why did he change clothes so quickly and look energetic? Although she had a bath, her body was still sore. She even had to see all the people of the Shen Family with full energy. Wei Changying could not help glaring at the reflection of Shen Cangfeng in the mirror.

Shen Cangfeng caught her anger. There was fun flashing in his eyes. Walking toward the dresser, he picked up a conch-shape pigment for eyebrows and fiddled with it on his hand. Looking at Wei Changying’s eyebrows, he grinned but did not say anything. Mrs. Huang thought that Shen Cangfeng wanted to draw Wei Changying’s eyebrows, so she not only happily stepped beside, but also winked at servants to let them stand beside. They did not want to sabotage the new couple’s pleasure.

Wei Changying felt something on her shoulders. Shen Cangfeng put his hands on her shoulders. He pretended to draw eyebrows for Wei Changying. Because Mrs. Huang and servants were in the room, Wei Changying bit her lip and frowned. She had to withstand what Shen Cangfeng had done. Unexpectedly, Shen Cangfeng bowed with his hands on her shoulders, filled in the eyebrows slowly with a conch-shape pigment for eyebrows. At this time, he whispered beside her ear with a smile, “Is your body still sore? Please bear it for a while. After serving the tea, we will come back to have a rest.”

“...” Wei Changying’s fair-skinned face became red because of Shen Cangfeng’s words and his breath beside her ear.

It was unknown whether Shen Cangfeng was deliberate or not. He murmured again, “I will support you to walk later.”

Wei Changying ground her teeth for a while and then smirked and turned her head aside. She whispered, “Anything wrong with your back?” It seemed that Wei Changying had cared for Shen Cangfeng. Actually, she had made fun of him.

“It is nothing serious.” Shen Cangfeng looked happy. He did not care about scratches on his back, but comforted Wei Changying in a low voice, “I have told servants not to talk about this thing. No one would know what has happened, don’t worry.”

Wei Changying was expressionless and asked, “Can you use rouge?”

At this moment, Shen Cangfeng had drawn her eyebrows, and casually fetched a box of rouge and opened it. He was close to Wei Changying and did not want to walk away. When he heard Wei Changying’s question, he felt a little embarrassed. Before he asked Mrs. Huang, he glimpsed his wife, beaming, and said, “Your face is as red as peach blossoms, why do you need the rouge?” He put the rouge box on the dresser naturally.

He continued, “Your mouth is red, and you do not need mouth rouge, either.” In fact, he did not know which was the mouth rouge among various makeup on the dresser.

He added, “You are so gorgeous. It is not useful for you to draw Ruihuang, a yellow flower on your forehead or Xiehong, a red mark on your temples. What about a cinnabar mark between your eyebrows?” As a man, how could he use these complicated makeup?

He finally said, “Look, I have drawn the cinnabar mark. What do you think of it? It is nice, isn’t it?”

Looking at his brilliant wife on the mirror, Shen Cangfeng was pretty satisfied.

Wei Changying was unwilling to say, “You only drew eyebrows and a cinnabar mark.” She complained that Shen Cangfeng had not used mouth rouge, rouge powder, Ruihuang, Xiehong and Xiaoye, a red mark on the dimples. How could he think that he had been good at makeup? Did he makeup me as a brilliant woman?

The truth was that she was naturally pretty.

Shen Cangfeng beamed. He gently touched his wife’s face with fingers and said, “My wife is naturally gorgeous, and why do you use rouge?”

Seeing that Wei Changying had clenched her fists, Mrs. Huang came to mediate the coming dispute. She urged Wei Changying to change clothes.

Shen Cangfeng and Wei Changying dressed well up. In the outer room, breakfast was ready by servants who had served Shen Cangfeng. Half of the meal was the flavor in Fengzhou for the sake of Wei Changying.

Wei Changying noticed that there were a few maids here. Two young maids who were busy now looked unfamiliar. Two old maids respectively wore a bun. They were ugly, actually. Wei Changying knew that Shen Cangfeng received great attention from his families, so there were few beautiful maids who would distract him. On the contrary, there were only two ugly maids serving him now.

What was more, two maids were clumsy and timid.

It seemed that Shen Cangfeng was not kind to his servants, but strict with them.

When Wei Changying guessed Shen Cangfeng’s character, Shen had added some meal with chopsticks into her bowl and asked with a smile, “How do you like the flavor of the meal?”

Seeing this, servants all chuckled with their sleeves hiding their mouth. Especially Mrs. Huang smiled with a comfort.

Wei Changying blushed and tried to become poised. She started eating breakfast and answered, “It is not bad.”

After breakfast, maids fetched a bowl of water. They served their masters to wash their hands and rinsed their own mouth. And then Shen Cangfeng said to Wei Changying, “Let’s go to serve the tea.”

“OK.”

When Wei Changying went out of the door, she found that the place she lived in was grand. It consisted of three courtyards. She and Shen Cangfeng lived in the second courtyard. There were various exuberant plants in the yard and a pond in the southeast part of it. There were piles of rugged stones covered with climbing figs. Wei Changying did not have much attention to look at other things in the second courtyard.

The buttonwood with a history of several hundred years Shen Cangfeng had once mentioned was not in the second courtyard, but in the first one. The first courtyard was vaster than the second one. The ancient buttonwood merely covered half of the courtyard. This place was prepared for training material arts. There was a row of wood piles aimed at training in one corner. A weapon rack was in another corridor. Expect a few swords and knives on the rack, it was almost empty. The weapons often used were not here.

There were almost male servants and a few old or common-looking female ones on the way to the eldest branch. Wei Changying bit her lower mouth and thought that people of the Shen Family had paid highly attention to Shen Cangfeng. On the contrary, although Old Madam Song treated Wei Changfeng as important as her life, maids serving Wei Changfeng in Liuhua Court, such as Biwu, were all beautiful.

There was a soft sedan outside the courtyard. Wei Changying who did not feel well was relieved.

On the way to the eldest branch, the beautiful scene was different from that of Fengzhou. It might belong to the feature of the Capital City or Western Liang. Now, Wei Changying did not look at it carefully. When Wei Changying and Shen Cangfeng reached their destination, servants in the doorway came to report their arrival. Wei Changying could not help taking a deep breath.

When she was upset, Shen Cangfeng approached her, holding her hand, and softly said, “Don’t worry.”

Seen by servants, Wei Changying tried to withdraw her hand. However, Shen Cangfeng tightly held her hand. So, she bit her mouth and said nothing. A few minutes later, servants welcomed them to enter the hall. Wei Changying and Shen Cangfeng walked into the hall with their hands crossed.

In the hall, Shen Xuan and Madam Su wore the curving-front garment and sat straight, waiting for their daughter-in-law who would salute them.

As Wei Changying entered the hall, she caught a glimpse of Shen Xuan, her father-in-law. He was a powerful man with piercing eyes as much the same as Shen Cangfeng. It was likely that Shen Xuan had aged and hid his power. Compared with Shen Cangfeng, he was not sharper but more serious in character.

Madam Su, Wei Changying’s mother-in-law was elegant. Although she looked not young, about thirty years old, she was still pretty. She was poised now. It could not tell whether she was happy or angry now.

Wei Changying and Shen Cangfeng knelt on the mats prepared by servants, bowed to their parents and served the tea. Shen Xuan and Madam Su took a symbolic sip and respectively inspired Shen Cangfeng and his wife with a few words. Their attitude was not enthusiastic, but gentle. Shen Xuan looked a little strange when it was time to give presents. He ordered servants to bring a pair of twin swords. Touching his long beards, he thought for a few seconds and said to Wei Changying, “I heard that you do well in material arts. ‘Lu Hu’ is a sword made on the basis of a man’s arm strength. I fear that it is not suitable for you, so I deliberately choose the pair of twin swords in the storage for you as a present. I hope you and Cangfeng could support each other and do not live up to this pair of swords.”

Wei Changying immediately replied, “Yes, I see. I will remember and follow your advice.”

When Shen Xuan gave suggestions to Wei Changying, many people, including Madam Su, in the hall smiled faintly. When Madam Su gave her gift to Wei Changying, she looked gentler. She fetched a pair of jade rings with a smile, and said, “I wish you and Changfeng could support each other and love forever.”

Wei Changying received her gift and bowed for thanks. The pair of rings was in the shape of a phoenix’s tail feather, which implied that Wei Changying came from Fengzhou. The jade was in good quality. If someone held it on the hand, he would feel it as soft as water. Small as the rings were, they were pretty invaluable.

From this point, whether Madam Su liked Wei Changying or not, she did not look down upon her.

Madam Su added, “Now, we are family, come to know your another families.”