Chapter 343: Stop Dreaming

Chapter 343: Chapter 343: Stop Dreaming

Guan Shan stood up and pressed his hand against the door.

"If you really manage to force it open, how will you explain it to people tomorrow morning?"

"Rules are rigid, but people are flexible, right? We’ll just say nature called and I had no choice."

She had even resorted to that excuse. Guan Shan was left speechless.

Ji Huan pushed him aside and used all her strength. She finally managed to pull open a crack wide enough to see the red silk cord, but not the knot. She couldn’t even fit her fingers through.

’What kind of impossible knot did Widow Xie tie?!’

She took a few deep breaths, then looked at the unhelpful Guan Shan.

"Why don’t you try? A man’s strength is greater than a woman’s, after all."

Guan Shan rotated his wrist at her. "When it comes to strength, I probably can’t compare to you right now."

Ji Huan choked. "Then do you have any other ideas? Didn’t you learn any lock-picking tricks in the army?"

Guan Shan’s answer was swift. "No."

Ji Huan furrowed her brow in thought for a moment. "How about this: you help me hold the crack open, and I’ll grab some scissors and try to snip the cord through the gap."

Guan Shan: "...My hand hurts."

’Did I marry Lin Daiyu?’

Ji Huan put her hands on her hips. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Guan Shan sat back down. "Forcing it open and cutting it open are two different things. If we use scissors on our wedding night, how will you explain it to your Aunt Xie tomorrow?"

"..." Ji Huan deflated.

After working up a sweat, she had no choice but to give up.

She returned to the kang bed and sat down, sulking.

"So we’re just going to stay like this?"

Guan Shan seemed sleepy. He placed his hands on his knees, his eyes half-closed. After a long moment, he uttered, "I don’t mind."

Ji Huan wanted to spit blood. ’Of course *you* don’t mind,’ she thought. ’It’s not like I’m going to do anything to you.’

Besides, that armchair had a seat cushion and a back cushion he could have leaned against, but he just had to sit there so formally, ramrod straight, without a clue how to relax.

But complaining aside, she knew in her heart that his habits—his speech, his actions, his posture—were likely all drilled into him in the army. Even though he was no longer a soldier, old habits died hard.

’Whatever. I’ll just put up with it for one night.’

"I know you’re not asleep. How about we talk for a bit?"

Guan Shan opened his eyes. "About what?"

Ji Huan sat cross-legged on the kang bed, propping her elbow on her knee and resting her chin in her hand as she faced Guan Shan. "How about we talk about weddings in your hometown? Are they very different from the ones in Dafeng Village?"

Guan Shan thought about it seriously, then shook his head.

"What does shaking your head mean? That they aren’t very different?"

"I have never experienced one, so I don’t know if there’s a difference."

"..." Ji Huan tried to keep her expression from cracking. "But surely you’ve at least *seen* a wedding, even if you weren’t in one? Before you joined the army, you never attended a wedding for a family member or friend?"

Guan Shan looked at her, silent once again.

Ji Huan said awkwardly, "Why are you looking at me like that? I don’t mean anything by it. I’m not trying to pry, I’m just curious."

Guan Shan averted his gaze. "I have not attended one."

Ji Huan’s eyes widened. "Were your parents really strict? They didn’t let you go out and play?"

This question seemed more difficult to answer. Guan Shan was silent for a long time before finally grunting in affirmation.

This further confirmed Ji Huan’s earlier suspicion—Guan Shan’s family background was definitely not ordinary.

If he were the son of a farming family, he would have run wild all over the mountains and fields. If he were the son of a town-dwelling family, he would have roamed freely through the streets and alleys.

To keep a child confined at home... besides aristocratic families, it could only be the rich and powerful. There was no other explanation.

’That’s not right, either.’

Only young ladies from wealthy families were expected to never step out the front door. Guan Shan was a man, so what was the deal with raising him in confinement?

Ji Huan was full of questions she couldn’t ask directly, so she had to beat around the bush.

"So what did you do at home?"

"Studied, and practiced martial arts."

As he finished speaking, his gaze swept over the kang bed.

Ji Huan immediately felt as if her secret thoughts had been exposed.

"That sounds so boring..."

’Sigh, another one with no childhood. No wonder he developed such a rigid and uninteresting personality.’

’Then again, what were his parents thinking? No matter how strict their standards were, they should have let their child have some freedom once in a while. Weren’t they afraid of driving him mad?’

’Wait, his family isn’t around anymore, are they...’

Ji Huan was curious, but Guan Shan wasn’t easy to fool, so she didn’t dare press further. She returned to their original topic.

"I’ve heard that in those prominent families, before the groom leaves to welcome the bride, he receives an instruction from his father, something like, ’Go forth to meet your bride, to carry on my family line. Lead her with respect, and let this be your constant rule.’ The bride also receives admonitions from her parents at home, things like, ’Be respectful and vigilant; day and night do not disobey the orders of your husband’s parents,’ or ’Be diligent and respectful; day and night do not violate the etiquette of the women’s quarters.’ It might be a bit tedious and old-fashioned, but I find the tradition and sense of ceremony in it all very interesting."

But to Guan Shan’s ears, her words carried a different meaning—Ji Huan’s parents were both dead, unable to teach her the ways of a wife or attend her wedding, and she was lamenting this fact.

However, he was not good at comforting people. Besides, the dead were gone; comfort was futile.

"If you want..." Guan Shan paused, then looked up at Ji Huan, his expression and tone solemn. "We can hold another one in the future."

Ji Huan was instantly amused.

’Guan Shan is certainly thinking long-term for me, but I’m afraid I won’t get that chance.’

"After you’re gone, if I marry again, it’ll be my second marriage. They don’t have big ceremonies for second marriages. If my new husband has also been married before, I probably won’t even get to wear a wedding dress. So..."

’Huh? Why did he turn away?’

"I’m not finished talking. Isn’t it a little..."

Before the word "polite" could leave her mouth, she heard Guan Shan’s stiff reply: "Go to sleep. And stop dreaming."

Talk about being completely baffled. That was Ji Huan at this very moment.

’We were just having a nice chat. How did he get angry all of a sudden?’

And what was that he said? ’Stop dreaming?’ Why is it a dream for her to get remarried?

Whether she wanted to marry again was one thing, but to have someone practically point at her nose and say she couldn’t was something else entirely.

"Don’t you worry! When I get remarried, I’ll be sure to send a letter to you, my sham of an ex-husband, to announce the good news!"

After her outburst, the more Ji Huan stared at Guan Shan’s back, the angrier she got. She finally turned her back on him. Out of sight, out of mind.

The conversation had completely broken down. The two of them, one on the kang bed, one off, one with a face as dark as iron, the other fuming with rage.

Silence spread between them until the small decorative candle burned out.

Ji Huan finally couldn’t hold out any longer.

She had woken up early and had been spinning like a top all day. By now, she was so sleepy her eyelids were fighting to stay open.

’But I can’t fall asleep.’

No matter how bold she was, she wasn’t bold enough to fall asleep in front of a grown man.

Ji Huan pinched herself a couple of times. Once she felt a little more awake, she sat up cross-legged and gave herself a silent pep talk:

’It’s just one late night, right? Just pulling an all-nighter? No big deal. In college, I was the all-nighter champion of my entire dorm. After I started working, I barely distinguished between day and night. I only need to use thirty percent of my power, and there’s no way Guan Shan can outlast me. Even if he falls asleep, I can stay up until dawn...’

Ji Huan opened her eyes. The sky wasn’t light yet, but she was a little dazed.

Why was she lying down? And covered with the large, red wedding quilt...

The moment she became fully conscious, Ji Huan shot up and, in a very cliché move, threw back the covers to check—her clothes were still on.

She pounded her head in frustration.

’Am I an idiot? I didn’t even know when he laid me down. Thank goodness it was Guan Shan. If it had been anyone else...’

’Right, Guan Shan?’

Ji Huan turned her head and saw Guan Shan sitting in the armchair, his head propped on one hand. He seemed to be asleep.

"Guan Shan? Guan Shan?"

No response. ’Is he really asleep?’

’What if he gets sick from the cold, sleeping like that? His clothes are so thin.’

’But I can’t just invite him to sleep on the kang bed, even though it’s wide enough...’

After weighing her options, Ji Huan got up, quietly opened the kang bed’s storage cabinet, and took out the thick quilt she had been using before. She tiptoed off the bed.

When she reached Guan Shan, she waved her hand in front of his face a few times and held her breath to listen to his breathing. He really was sound asleep.

Ji Huan moved carefully, unfolding the thick quilt and wrapping it around him.

’Sleeping hunched over like this must be uncomfortable, but he’s a man; he can handle it. Just one tough night, and he’ll be free tomorrow.’

After giving him a silent pep talk in her mind, she glanced at the large decorative candle that was still burning. She hesitated for a moment but decided not to blow it out.

Back in the warm quilt, Ji Huan thought, ’Looks like everyone was exhausted today. Not only did I pass out the second I hit the bed, but Guan Shan is also sleeping soundly.’

’This is good. Now I can fall asleep without worrying.’

Ji Huan closed her eyes, and before long, her breathing evened out.

But the man in the armchair lifted his eyelids.

His eyes were as clear as ever. Where was there even a trace of sleepiness?

Guan Shan stared for a long time at the quilt wrapped tightly around him. He turned his head, narrowed his eyes, and gazed at the tranquil sleeping face on the kang bed. The corners of his lips lifted in a fleeting smile.