Crossing the Crowd to Chase Love

Chapter 8: The Night Has a Thick Atmosphere

Glossary

[1] 卯 | mao | one of the ancient Chinese two-hour periods; designated for 5-7 AM

At this moment, in a spacious room within another courtyard of the Yun residence, Madam Yun was being attended to by a group of her husbands. Even though she was a mother that had already birthed over ten children, she was only thirty-five years old but looked much younger as she has properly maintained her appearance. Her figure was not fat or thin–it was just right. Her face had not even one wrinkle. This was the age where a woman was most elegant and charming.

“All of you can leave!”

Madam Yun was drenched in sweat, gesturing for her secondary husbands to leave. Upon hearing her order, the secondary husbands glanced at each other before rising and dressing. Bowing, they all left the room.

“Are you all right?” Master Yun held a towel in his hand, preparing to wipe her body. Like his two sons, this husband was equally eye-catching. Although he was already forty years old, he still had an imposing appearance and a tall and straight physique from his many years of martial arts practice.

Madam Yun weakly sighed: “To be a female means satisfying all you foul men. If I show even the slightest bias, the inner courtyard will erupt again.”

“It is not as serious as you are making it to be.” Master Yun finished wiping down his wife and laid next to her, pulling the brocade quilt over them: “We have already been married for over twenty years now and our children have settled down. After two years we can transfer the household affairs to daughter-in-law to manage, leaving us to play with our grandchildren and enjoy being with the family. My biggest regret in this life was that we were not able to have a daughter. If only we had a daughter that was pretty like you, then all would be good.” Even if a secondary husband fathered a female child, he would not mind raising her as his own. A daughter that he raised from a young age was about the same as one that was his own flesh and blood. However, the Heavens continued to oppose him.

“Daughter-in-law is not bad. I think Zhu Zhu, that child, is very good. Appearance is beautiful, mouth is sweet, she really is from my maternal family.” After saying this, Madam Yun sighed again: “Us not having any daughters is something that cannot be changed just because we demand it to. Speaking of, I am also envious. My eldest brother’s family has eight children, of which three are female. Our family just isn’t as blessed.”

Master Yun swept aside his wife’s hair on her forehead: “It is not too late to have another child. Let us try for a daughter!”

“You think it’s that easy to have a daughter?” Madam Yun side-eyed him. “What happens if it’s a son?”

“A son is also fine. Shi Yi and Shi Wei[a] having a full brother is also very good.” Concubine-born children will forever feel estranged from legitimate-born children so their feelings towards each other will differ by quite a bit.

“They are all my children.” Madam Yun was not pleased with his choice of words.

“I know. I just merely want to have children with you.” Master Yun lost his smile as his thoughts turned. Frowning, he asked: “There is another thing. Is it not time Zhu Zhu accepted another secondary husband?”

“They’ve just married. Why are you so anxious?” Madam Yun looked at him, flabbergasted.

“Did you forget how your last concubine entered our family?” Master Yun’s eyes flashed with melancholy. “I do not want my sons to be unhappy like how we were.”

The ‘last concubine’ Master Yun was referring to is Fifth Husband Zhao. Before he became a secondary husband of the Yun family, he already had had an affair with another woman so his reputation was not good. Although he was already twenty-five years old, there were not many that were interested in him. It was precisely because he had some kind of a familial relationship with Lan Zhou’s prefectural magistrate that the latter forcibly made him enter the Yun family. Madam Yun was unable to refuse his entrance and could only blame her bad luck. Furthermore, because of the national law, she was forced to birth his children no matter how unwilling she was.

Tian Chu’s national law stipulated that every female had to have at least five husbands in her lifetime. If by the time she was twenty and had yet to meet the requirements, the local government office would send her the remaining men necessary. At the upper levels of society, this policy was implemented very well, but the government offices rarely paid attention to the impoverished women at the lower rungs of society. If they did notice, they would at most only send local men that were either extremely poor, suffering from illness, or even ones near death’s door. The results were even worse. Some of these sent men would then be forced by their female counterparts to engage in strenuous physical labor, causing them to die early deaths.

Madam Yun hesitated: “They are still only newly wed. It’s not good to accept another secondary husband this fast. Besides, Zhu Zhu is only fifteen years old.”

“Anyhow, we still have to be cautious. The year Fifth Husband Zhao was sent over, you had yet to reach twenty years of age. Rather than being conferred an unknown man with low status, they will be better off selecting a pure man from a good family.” Master Yun brought his wife into his arms and lowered his head to plant kiss after kiss on her chest. Raising his head, he asked: “Do you still want to?”

Madam Yun was toyed with until her whole body was burning up once again. Smiling, she nodded her head.

Following that, the two of them rolled in the sheets again. At the end, Master Yun was satisfied and drew her into his embrace: “My biggest blessing in this lifetime was being married to you, my wife. Our family has grown larger and our sons have also married. Shi Yi is mature but Shi Wei’s temperament makes me worry. Fortunately, he has followed his brother and will not suffer any grievances. He has been given the position of a secondary husband, so just let him be a secondary husband. With his disposition, if he was the legitimate husband, it would be quite troublesome if he was to be ignored by the wife one day.”

“Didn’t you originally think of this, which is why you placed the two brothers together?” Madam Yun yawned. “Let’s sleep. It’s the busy spring season and there’s still a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

“Nn.”

……………………

Wutong Building.

Ruan Zhu was not used to rising early. In her previous world, it was even possible for her to sleep until noon on days off. But here, that was not possible. At the time of mao[1] (6 AM), she was woken by the night watch signaling the time. Slowly blinking her drowsy eyes, she desperately wanted to go back to sleep but then suddenly remembered that she had crossed over. She immediately sat up but then found herself being tightly held by Yun Shi Yi.

“Eldest Cousin, hurry and let me go. I’m going to be late…..ah, no….” Ruan Zhu wanted to bite off her own tongue. “I mean… I should hurry and pay respects to Mother.”

This was the case in the ancient eras with daughter-in-laws paying respects to their mother-in-law. She knew of this custom from seeing it portrayed on TV shows. Although the country of Tian Chu is unfounded, many of its practices were similar to ones found in ancient Chinese eras. She suspected that there was a turning point in one of China’s historical dynasties that caused space-time to be disrupted, creating this current world. But if she wanted to know the truth, she would first have to find a book detailing the history of this country.

“Mother won’t mind. Anyway, the time is still early.” The corner of Yun Shi Yi’s mouth lifted into a smile. He hugged her soft and sweet-smelling body, making his whole body burn with anger[b]. He did not sleep well last night but didn’t have the heart to disturb her rest.

“Was last night too tiring?”

Ruan Zhu recalled yesterday evening’s bathing situation and shook her head with a red face. Disliking how stuffy she felt being so tightly held in his embrace, she wanted to push him aside a little, but he ended up holding her even closer. A solid thing kept rubbing under the shy girl’s intimate area. She obviously knew what his meaning was, but this was weird. Why did he seem so discontent? Did he not enjoy himself fully last night? As she was thinking, his hands had grasped her chest, one hand on each peak. He kneaded them for a while then moved to rubbing her two flower buds. Slightly closing his eyes, he sighed in satisfaction: “A woman’s body really is wonderful. It can actually be this mesmerizing……”

“Eldest Cousin….” Her voice was like a mosquito’s hum.

“Why not call me husband-lord or Groom Yun? Consort is also fine.”

She really wanted to say: How sappy! But his head was suddenly buried in her chest. He had opened his mouth, grabbed a bud, and sucked hard. “Oh….” She delicately moaned. The areas he stimulated turned limp. Not able to bear it any longer, she pushed herself closer to his mouth.

He knew this was enough to awaken her enthusiasm, having received lessons before on this regard. After looking through books and drawings related to this topic, he understood where a female was most sensitive. He utilized the practical knowledge he had gained from a few days ago to cause her to feel wave after wave of pleasure.

Because he needed her, it was only after she felt satisfied before she would be more willing to accept him.

His blazing hot tongue left the already stiff flower bud and wrapped around the other bud that was unwilling to be left out. Using his teeth, he gently bit the red plum, sometimes grinding it, other times pulling it. His rough hands kept moving around her sensitive body. At every location he touched, passionate fire erupted on her skin. Then at her most sensitive area, his fingers found a small grain, making her lose her mind…….His fingers continued to press on it, gently twirling it……..

“Ah…….” The place he was fiddling with caused her to experience something like an electric current rushing from her inner thighs to her brain, causing her to suddenly jump with intense pleasure. Her entire body trembled and arched as her legs clamped shut, holding his hand in place.

But at that moment, he completed stopped all of his movements and looked at her with a face full of expectations.

“You……Eldest Cousin……” Her body felt so frighteningly hollow. Her skin was flushed and covered with bright drops of sweat. She used her eyes to pitifully beg him.

“Wife, did you like that?” His voice was filled with temptation, his eyes was filled with deep emotion: “If you liked it, then come sit on this husband.”

Her eyes traveled downwards and saw his enormous manhood. She understood his meaning but her white neck sagged as she slightly hesitated.

“Be good and listen to me.” He softly coaxed her. A few days ago, he had seen this position on a drawing and had become deeply fascinated ever since. More than once, he had imagined how it would feel to have her on top.

She glanced at him before shyly nodding. Moving her limbs, she lifted her leg to straddle his thick waist. Aiming for his long-swollen huge rod, she very slowly sat down……As the foreign object entered her body, her body immediately and greedily absorbed it.

“Ah……” His face unexpectedly became red. He used his hands to grab at her butt, strongly pushing their two bodies even closer together and said hoarsely: “My wife, you are tormenting your husband to death……”

The husband and wife were in the midst of writing a beautiful chapter in their newly wed life when suddenly, from the door that connected the bedroom to the living room, pounding could be heard as if someone’s life was at stake: “Thudthudthud….”

Someone was here!

Ruan Zhu stopped moving, so shocked she didn’t know what to do, almost as if she had been caught having an affair.

“Who?” Yun Shi Yi furiously shouted, picking up a teapot from a table and throwing in the direction of the living room……”Pa” The highest-grade silver porcelain with a famous inscription, valued at over one hundred taels, was destroyed just like this. Ruan Zhu was distressed. How much would this have cost in her past life’s China? With just a tiny fraction of its sale, one semester’s tuition would be covered.

Although she didn’t know the exact value of that teapot, there was one similar to it at their residence in Lan Zhou. Yesterday morning as Nuan Chun was carefully wiping it, Nuan Qing was at the side with a cautious expression, whispering an explanation regarding the teapot’s origin.

“It’s me, your younger brother. Already this time. yet you haven’t gotten up yet. Hurry and get up to pay respects to Mother and Father.”

Yun Shi Wei, you goddamned hothead!

Ruan Zhu didn’t have time to think and hurriedly tried to get off Yun Shi Yi’s body, but he kept a tight grasp on her waist, pushing her downwards. She impatiently twisted her body in an effort to free herself. Hearing him groan in pleasure, she could only stay seated without moving, moving her lips silently: “Let me get up!”

[a] Author actually wrote ‘Shi Yi and Yun Wei’ but it should be a typo.

[b] 热血沸腾, idiom, meaning blood is boiling and causing entire body to heat up. no, he’s not actually angry