Chapter 1

Nan'an Hou Mansion, inside the bridal chamber on the eve of the wedding.

The two matrons of honor finished their assignments and took the maidservants of the Hou Mansion to file out of the inner room. They hadn’t even made it past the door before they were impatiently gossiping in whispers.

“I’ve already lived the greater part of my lifetime and I’ve never seen such a beautiful man.”

“It’s a pity he’s been married off to an invalid.”

“What do you mean ‘a pity’? He’s married to the Hou Mansion’s Young Master. If it weren’t for his Eight Characters managing to fit perfectly for a Chong Xi to Young Master Hou, would Master Hou and Madam Hou deign to even consider the son of a fifth rank Imperial Hospital Yuan Pan?”

“What you say is reasonable. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, only time will tell.”

......

In the middle of their conversation, the matron of honor arrived at the outer room. Before pulling close the two doors, she glanced inside. Amidst the festive, bright red, the young man, newly married into the Hou Mansion, with the bridal veil covering his face, sat quietly like a jade carving on the bridal bed.

The door slowly closed, leaving only the rejoicing newly-married couple in the bridal chamber.

The surrounding area became quiet, and Lin Qingyu’s back which had been stiff the entire day finally relaxed. He moved his body a bit and the tassels hanging on the bridal veil swayed along with him.

Wearing a bridal veil was really inconvenient. When a female bride is married, the bridal veil on her head must be lifted off by her husband. Presumably, this was also the case for when a male bride is married.

However, he was afraid that his husband was incapble of doing this.

His... “Husband”.

Lin Qingyu raised his hand to take the bridal veil off himself. His vision finally opened up. He looked around at the light gauze curtains, the red canopy and the warm quilts. Finally, he turned his attention to the sleeping man on the bed — Young Master Hou of Nan’an Hou Mansion, Lu Wancheng.

Under the candlelight, Lin Qingyu expressionlessly sized up Lu Wancheng.

Lu Wancheng had on a crimson wedding robe. His brows were like distant mountains. His lashes were long and thick, his cheeks were hallowed out and his lips were as pale as paper. Though his eyes were tightly closed and his body broken by illness, it could still be seen that he was gifted with extremely good-looking features.

From today onwards, this person was his husband.

Although he was a man, he became the wife of another man — He was the first male wife “formally and legally married” in the Dayu Dynasty.

How completely ridiculous.

He’d been preparing for the examination of the Imperial Medical Office for three years. If he were to pass the examination, he would become a medical officer just like his father. Even if he weren’t to enter the palace, he could open a pharmacy in the capital and be an ordinary doctor.

It was a pity that just as he was preparing to go all out for this major undertaking, the Empress called his father to appear before her and said, “I hear that you have a son, born on March 11, on the Year of Guiwei, at Chen Shi. Is this true?”

After getting the affirmative answer from Father Lin, the Empress asked the Emperor to confer a marriage upon the Lin Family and betroth Lin Qingyu to Nan’an Hou’s eldest son, Lu Wancheng.

The officials and the nobility in the capital all knew that Lu Wancheng was born ill and had been bedridden for many years. When he was born, Nan’an Hou specially invited the imperial physician to come see him. The imperial physician once asserted that Young Master Hou would not survive past the age of Weak Crown.

This year, Lu Wancheng was nineteen and his condition was getting worse by the day. Seeing that his days were dwindling and that the end was approaching, Nan’an Hou had no other choice but to write for help to the Dayu Dynasty’s National Teacher, who was said to have access to the Heavens and knew the ways of ghosts and gods. The letter the National Teacher gave him in reply contained only one line of Eight Characters, which was exactly: March 11th on the Year of Guiwei, at Chen Shi.

It was a crime punishable by death to disobey the Emperor’s order. Lin Qingyu thought it no great loss if his were to be the only death, but he had to protect his elderly parents and his younger brother. In this way, he became Lu Wancheng’s Chong Xi male wife.

More than ten years of hard study, all turned into a joke.

At this moment, Hai Shi had passed. The servant girl outside the door, who was keeping watch for the night, said, “Shaojun, the hour is here. Kindly serve Young Master Hou to bed.”

Lin Qingyu looked at his sleeping husband and clenched his fingers — she wanted him to serve Lu Wancheng? What a joke.

The rules and custom one needed to abide by after marrying into a wealthy family are always complicated and cumbersome. Although it had been a rushed Chong Xi, the Nan’an Hou Mansion still sent an instructor aunt to the Lin Mansion to teach Lin Qingyu on the so-called “Way of a Male Wife”. Before the wedding, he had his whole body washed clean, inside and out. Something like grease had even been applied.

Lin Qingyu was not a good gay man. He has never suffered such humiliation. If it weren’t for protecting the people in the Lin Family, he would have liked nothing more than to take Lu Wancheng to perish along with him.

Seeing that there was no movement in the bridal room, the servant girl urged once again, “Young Master, it’s time to go to bed.”

Lin Qingyu closed his eyes and pushed down on the upsurge of malice. He blew out the candles, leaving only one red candle in front of the bed. Lu Wancheng was still wearing the gold embroidered wedding robe, lying atop the quilt. Sleeping this way might be quite uncomfortable.

But then what did it matter to him? He longed for the day that Lu Wancheng slept forever.

Lin Qingyu pondered quietly. Lu Wancheng suddenly got better and it wasn’t that last radiance of the setting sun. It was a bit weird. He has never seen a similar case in any of the medical books.

Madam Hou was taken aback and asked, “Then is his illness about to get better?”

The doctor did not dare to confrim. He considered it and said, “At least, there is a gleam of hope.”

“Good, good...” Madam Hou burst into tears with excitement, “Wancheng, did you hear that? Your illness has taken a turn for the better.”

Lu Wancheng had no special reaction. He only said, “I heard.”

The doctor added, “Madam, Young Master Hou has just woken up and he still needs to rest.”

Madam Hou wiped away her tears, and said, “Then mother won’t interrupt your rest — What about Qingyu? Where is Shaojun?”

Everyone looked at each other. Lin Qingyu stepped forward and said, “Madam.”

Madam Hou held his hand and said with a smile, “Qingyu, as soon as you married into the Hou Mansion, Wancheng’s illness has taken a turn for the better. As expected, the National Teacher is gifted with divine strategy and wonderful planning. You are Wancheng’s savior. We shall be leaving our Wancheng in your care.”

Lu Wancheng raised his head and looked at Lin Qingyu.

Lin Qingyu said with a smile, “Do not worry, Madam. I will do my utmost to take care of Young Master Hou.”

The momo next to Madam Hou teased, “Ai, Shaojun shouldn’t be calling Young Master Hou the same way we do. You should call him ‘husband’——”

Everyone laughed and no one noticed that Lin Qingyu’s hands, hidden in his sleeves, clenched tightly.

Everyone dispersed and the peace in the bridal room was restored once again. The red candle was about to burn empty.

Lu Wancheng lay silent on the bed. His brows, sometimes furrowed and sometimes smoothened. It looked as though he was trying to remember something.

Lin Qingyu was too lazy to pay any attention to him. He stood by the window, looking at the strange moon outside, his body seemed to be covered with moonlight.

After an unknown length of time, Lu Wancheng let out a sigh. He said, “Buddy...oh, that’s not right — Beauty, come here.”

Lin Qingyu said coolly, “Who are you calling?”

Lu Wancheng smiled and said, “Is there anyone else here?”

Lin Qingyu turned around. The swaying candlelight dyed a trace of crimson blush on his cheeks. The teardrop mole in the corner of his eye turned as bright as a peony.

He was beautiful but didn’t seem to have a good temper.

Lu Wancheng coughed a couple of times and nodded at Lin Qingyu to sit. Lin Qingyu remained standing by the bed, keeping an arm’s distance from Lu Wancheng.

“I had just been sorting out the main threads.” Lu Wancheng’s tone was calm, without the agitation when he had first woken up.

Lin Qingyu said lightly, “And what has that got to do with me?”

“It’s got a little to do with you. Because what I was thinking about pertains to your main threads.” Having said just these few words, Lu Wancheng was already a little weak and pale, “If I’d come a few days earlier, I definitely wouldn’t have agreed to this marriage where you would only inevitably wind up as a lifelong widow.”

Lin Qingyu’s expression was numb. “What’s the use of you saying this now?”

“Indeed. Now we’re married, we’ve tied the knot, we’ve performed the wedding ritual and the whole capital knows that we are husband and wife.”

Lin Qingyu sneered: “No.”

“Huh?”

Lin Qingyu sneered, “We didn’t perform the marriage ritual. You were asleep the whole time. I performed the ritual with a big cock.”

Lu Wancheng scoffed. “That’s alright. It’s fine. If we didn’t perform the ritual, that’s good too. You don’t have to take this marriage seriously. I won’t live past half a year, so you’ll just have to be wronged for half a year. When I die, you can make off with my inheritance and return to the Lin Residence. This way you won’t suffer too much of a loss.”

Lin Qingyu was startled, and said suspiciously, ” Is there such a good thing? ”

“There is. But how much inheritance you can bring home depends on your own ability.” Lu Wancheng leaned back on the soft pillow, and said in a lazy tone, “With this broken body, I won’t be engaging in any domestic struggles. The waters run deep in Nan’an Hou Mansion. I can’t grasp it. I just want drift along, eat and wait to die. I want to be a salted fish.”

Does the story seem interesting? However, before you decide to proceed further, I would just like to warn that the MC, Lin Qingyu is no saint. He’s kind of wicked; the kind to exact payment for offenses. He fires no warning shots and his methods may seem excessive but given his weak position and his dangerous situation, I think it’s only...practical. He has to make sure that his first shot counts, after all, he might not get a second one.