Rebirth of an abandoned woman

Chapter 3: Offering Tea

Early the next morning, Sang Wan was woken up by Shi Fengju's nudge.

She really couldn't be blamed for being a late riser. In the past, she had been forgotten by the Shi family. Her mother-in-law disliked her, so she could only watch the family from the sidelines. Because of that, she had lost her sense of time due to only sleeping, eating, daydreaming, and being stifled.

"Yes?" Sang Wan rubbed her sleepy eyes before she looked at Shi Fengju. The blanket shifted and warmth from under the blanket escaped. It touched her skin as it rose and brought with it a light and delicate fragrance.

"Get up quickly. The maidservants will be coming in soon!" Impatient, Shi Fengju stared at Sang Wan in discontent. But as he stared at Sang Wan's innocent-looking face, his heart couldn't help but be swayed a little.

"Ah!" Sang Wan hastily crawled out of bed and pulled out a white veil that she had discarded previously. She cried out helplessly, "This... this... what should we do?"

Awkwardly, Shi Fengju rubbed his nose. Biting the bullet, he turned without saying a word and took a sharp, ruby-decorated hairpin from the dressing table. He then cut his middle finger shallowly and let his fresh, thick blood drip onto the veil. After a short moment, the white veil was dotted with red. The contrast of the distinct drops of crimson on the white background made it look stunning.

"Enough! Enough!" Seeing him stupidly drip his fresh blood on the veil, she hurriedly grabbed it from him. The veil only had to have a few spots of red! What was he thinking, was he trying to dye the veil red with his own blood?

Shi Fengju suddenly felt embarrassed and looked away from her as he waited for her to ridicule him for what he had just done. It was so awkward... really awkward...

"Get changed quickly. We've to offer tea to my mother, uncles, and aunties later to show our respect!" Shi Fengju coughed as he attempted to divert the awkwardness elsewhere. He succeeded, but not through his efforts. As the sentence sank into Sang Wan's head, knocks on the door from outside the chamber could be heard.

"Sir, Ma'am!"

The two of them couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

"Come in!" Sang Wan glanced at Shi Fengju before replying.

The maidservants entered slowly and, upon seeing the pair, bowed. Each of the maidservant took on a task: dressing, holding onto a towel, polishing jewelry, and many others. With all of the maidservants busy, only Liu Ya was left standing, clueless about what she should do.

Two graceful senior maidservants stepped forward and took the blood-stained veil from the young couple, only to notice the couple staring intensely and nervously at each other. The senior maidservants concluded that they must have done the deed, and giggled. The two senior maidservants then kneeled on the floor and congratulated the young couple. Seeing their signal, the other maidservants within the room stopped doing their tasks and bowed in front of the couple to congratulate them.

Awkwardly, Shi Fengju returned a smile to the maidservants. Stealing a glance at Sang Wan, who was also putting on an awkward smile, Shi Fengju helplessly gave a "Shǎng!" (TLN: Shǎng [赏] means reward), and the maidservants cheered joyfully.

After grooming, the couple was finally ready to meet the elders in the courtyard to offer them tea as a sign of filial piety.

To meet again! A face emerged from within Sang Wan's mind: a kind and amiable round face, long and narrow eyes, thin and pursed-up lips.

There were also Uncle Shi Guangyao, Aunt Mi Shi, many younger brothers and sisters, and also Shi Fengju's cousin, Gu Fangzi!

As she walked through the zigzagged corridor towards the courtyard, Sang Wan was in a trance. Faint images of her surroundings flashed in her head, as if she had walked through this corridor before. The scene in front of her... as the wife of the eldest son, she was supposed to be used to it in her past life. But due to living in her chamber for too long with little exposure to the surroundings outside except for a small courtyard, she was unfamiliar with the other areas of the property. She truly could not recognize them, maybe just a slight impression of them...