It was already late, but Wei Shao had not returned. Xiao Qiao had nothing to do. Seeing that he was late, she went to bed again. After sleeping during the day and taking a bath, her body felt much more comfortable. But now she had no desire to sleep. She closed her eyes and thought about what was on her mind. It was nearly the end of the day when she heard Wei Shao’s footsteps returning.

“I will leave tomorrow morning.” After Wei Shao lay down, he suddenly said these words.

Xiao Qiao opened her eyes and turned her face toward him. She met Wei Shao’s eyes. A trace of darkness hid at the bottom of his eyes. He locked his gaze on her eyes.

“I figured that Husband should be leaving in these next few days. I wish you a safe journey. Tomorrow morning I will send you on your journey.” Xiao Qiao said softly.

……

Wei Shao let Gongsun Yang go to Bingzhou with the army at a regular speed while he traveled fast. He left Yuyang yesterday morning and arrived at Zhuo County to stop for the night, then continued to the west tomorrow. At this pace, it will take less than eight or nine days to reach Jinyang.

The current Zhuo County Magistrate had learned from his gatekeeper why the Marquis removed his unlucky predecessor from his post. The story goes that when the Marquis came to Zhuo County on official business, his predecessor sent a beauty to his room during the night. Although it was common practice, the Marquis was furious, the beauty ran out of the room in fear, and the next day, the Marquis abolished the Magistrate.

After this incident, Zhuo County people secretly spread the rumor that the Marquis did not lust for women but a man instead.

Having learned this lesson from the past, the current Magistrate will not do the same stupid thing again. He welcomed the Marquis, hosted a banquet, and sent him to the post house to stay. The Magistrate’s madam purposely let a reliable servant serve him. Neither sends beauty nor male, so there would be no mistakes.……

Wei Shao went to bed that night but had trouble sleeping. When he closed his eyes, the scene from two days ago appeared in front of him.

He still felt the rush of his heartbeat and sweaty palms, and a deep sense of shame with intense excitement seized his body.

……

Wei Shao admitted that he liked this woman. Sometimes he even felt he loved her to the bone, to the point where he turned his soul upside down.

He would be willing to compromise for her if those would please her. For example, a promise to allow her to hit him, but the Marquis also has his bottom line. He could not tolerate when she challenged his limit recklessly because of his kindness to her.

He felt embarrassed, angry, and a bit sad at the same time. So, from that night onwards, he decided to treat her coldly. He hadn’t touched her for a month, yet he managed to survive, and it went pretty well. But at that moment, the woman lying in bed was different from her usual sober appearance. She was drunk and unconscious, her eyes tightly closed, her eyelashes curled, and her face flushed. He leaned over and smelled her breath with a sweet fragrance in it.

Wei Shao originally was not interested in touching her again. It must be the smell of her breath that made him intoxicated. He could not control his hands and undressed her clothes. The jade body he did not see for a month lay in front of his eyes.

Very beautiful, he could not resist it.He could enjoy this jade body, and she wouldn’t know it. What could be a greater temptation than this? Besides, he was her husband, so why couldn’t he do it?

The Marquis no longer hesitated. Not only did he take her into his arms, but he also knelt in front of her, opened her legs, and did something intimate that he had thought in his mind more than once before but had been ashamed to do.

Wei Shao jerked awake from his sleep, feeling his heart beat faster, his mouth was thirsty, and his throat was burning. Without lighting a light, he climbed down from the bed. He touched the table before lifting the whole teapot and pouring half a pot of tea into his mouth in one breath. The tea was already cold but finally suppressed his thirst.

He took a long breath and then put the teapot back on the table. He was about to turn over and lie back again but glanced out the window. It seemed like a fire. He pushed open the window and saw a residential roof near the post house on fire.

Wei Shao immediately called the postmaster to tell the people to put out the fire.

A fire broke out in the middle of the night near the residence where the Marquis was staying. The postmaster was terrified. He called for people to put out the fire and then sent someone to inform the Magistrate. When the Magistrate heard the news, he didn’t even have time to put on his clothes and immediately sent a large team of men to rush there.

Fortunately, they discovered the fire early and rained a few days before. After half an hour, they could extinguish the fire, but a few nearby houses were still affected. In the late-night street, the noise kept going, interspersed with the faint sound of crying.

The Magistrate feared he had caused trouble for the Marquis. After extinguishing the fire, he immediately rushed over to apologize to him.

Wei Shao had already lost his desire to sleep and asked about the fire.

The Magistrate was covered in sweat, although it was already early spring. Wiping his forehead with his sleeve, he said, “A woman burned to death in the middle of the fire. Neighbors said the woman’s husband went out to do business and did not return for many years. The woman was alone at home and had committed adultery with a man. In the evening, some neighbors saw the woman invite the man to stay in the house. For some reason, there was a fire. We only found the woman’s burnt body in the fire. The man must have escaped ……”

When he saw Wei Shao’s gloomy face as he spoke, he panicked and said: “This woman took advantage of her husband’s absence to seduce a man and caught fire. Not only she burned her own house, but she also affected the neighbors and killed innocent people. I have sent someone to catch the man. He will be severely punished and rectify the morale ……”

Wei Shao stood and walked to the window, facing the darkness of the night outside, unmoved.