Just then, the curtain to the inner room was gently lifted, creating a small gap.
Su Tang was standing there, having appeared at so point. She had clearly heard Chang Jia’s final accusation.
She looked at Chang Jia’s back, then glanced at her husband, Lu Xiao. She sighed silently and gave him a look, telling him not to speak just yet.
Su Tang didn’t enter the room. Instead, she turned and left their ho.
It’s said that the one who creates a problem must be the one to solve it. To resolve Chang Jia’s turmoil, she had to find Lin Jianqiu.
Su Tang knew this perfectly well.
She thought for a mont. Instead of going to her in-laws’, she turned and headed for Chang Jia’s house.
Lin Jianqiu was still frozen by the door. Tears stread down her face, and her mind was a complete ss.
’I don’t understand,’ she thought. ’I’ve been so proper. How did I make Brother Jia this angry?’
’I just... I just thought it would be so embarrassing for people to see a husband and wife having a spat in public...’
CREAK. The door was gently pushed open.
Lin Jianqiu jumped in fright, thinking Chang Jia had returned. She hastily wiped away her tears, her voice trembling. "Brother Jia... I-I’ll clean up right now..."
"It’s , Sister Qiu’er."
Su Tang’s voice, tinged with concern, rang out.
When Lin Jianqiu saw it was Su Tang, her tense nerves relaxed slightly, but she felt even more ashad. Her face burned with embarrassnt.
The ssy state of her house, her red, swollen eyes from crying—it had all been seen.
"Miss Su."
Lin Jianqiu mumbled, burying her head even lower.
Su Tang’s gaze imdiately fell on the shattered bowl on the floor and Lin Jianqiu’s red-rimd eyes.
She sighed inwardly and, without asking any questions, walked directly to the stove and picked up the broom and dustpan leaning in the corner.
"Let help you sweep this up so you don’t step on anything," Su Tang said, starting to work.
"Don’t! Miss S... Tang, it’s... it’s dirty, I’ll do it myself..."
Lin Jianqiu grew anxious and tried to grab the broom. The na "Miss Su" got stuck on her tongue. Rembering Chang Jia’s words, she forced herself to change it to the more familiar "Tang."
Su Tang deftly dodged her and efficiently swept the large shards into the dustpan. "Oh, don’t be so formal with . Look how your hands are shaking. If you cut yourself, wouldn’t Brother Chang be even more heartbroken?"
"Heartbroken?"
Lin Jianqiu froze, staring blankly at Su Tang. "He... The way he was just now, he clearly hates to death..."
"Hate you?"
Su Tang stopped what she was doing and looked up at Lin Jianqiu, her expression serious.
"Sister Qiu’er, Brother Chang is just holding in a world of frustration! You should have seen him at Lu Xiao’s place just now. He was just chugging alcohol. A grown man, crying until his eyes were red."
Lin Jianqiu was completely stunned. "C-Cried? Brother Jia... But why?"
"Why?"
Su Tang set the dustpan aside and moved closer to Lin Jianqiu. She lowered her voice, speaking to her in a confidential, heart-to-heart tone.
"Because of your ’a husband is heaven’ talk, and because you won’t let him touch you!"
"But... but those are the rules... and it was only in public..."
Lin Jianqiu retorted instinctively, but her voice was so quiet a gust of wind could have carried it away.
"Rules are rigid, but people are flexible, Sister!"
Su Tang was getting a little frantic. She grabbed Lin Jianqiu’s cold hand.
"Brother Chang is hurting! He’s your husband. He wants to be a little closer to his own wife. What’s wrong with holding her hand? What’s wrong with a hug? It’s the most natural thing in the world!"
"Look at and Lu Xiao, aren’t we like that too? We enjoy it, and if anyone wants to stare, let them. It’s not like we’re stealing or robbing anyone."
Lin Jianqiu’s head was buzzing from Su Tang’s rapid-fire speech. ’Brother Jia... is that what he thinks?’ she wondered. ’He just wants to be close to ... it’s not for so other reason?’
"But when it cos to you, as soon as Brother Chang touches you, you act like he’s committed so mortal sin. You dodge away and then use ’the rules’ to shut him down. Just think, how do you think that makes him feel?"
"He... just now he said... he said I wasn’t his wife..."
Lin Jianqiu recalled Chang Jia’s final glare, and her heart felt like it had been pricked by a needle.
"He was just saying that out of anger! Out of hurt!"
Su Tang said quickly, "You didn’t hear what he said at Lu Xiao’s place, Sister Qiu’er. Do you think that’s hate? That’s anguish! He’s about to explode from the anguish!"
Su Tang imitated Chang Jia’s tearful voice. It was a bit exaggerated, but she perfectly conveyed his pent-up frustration.
As Lin Jianqiu listened, it felt as though an invisible hand were squeezing her heart, suffocating her until she could barely breathe.
’Brother Jia... felt wronged? Hurt? Because I wouldn’t let him touch ?’
’All this ti, I thought following the rules was what was best for him, that it was how I showed respect for my husband.’
She stared blankly at her wrung hands, then at the fine porcelain shards still on the floor.
The image of Brother Jia smashing the bowl flashed before her eyes. In his red, bloodshot eyes, there seed to be more than just anger. There was sothing else she couldn’t understand... Pain?
"I... I..."
Lin Jianqiu opened her mouth, but the words were stuck in her throat. She couldn’t get a single one out.
For the first ti, the doctrines that had been drilled into her since childhood—"a woman’s duty is to her husband," "one’s conduct must be demure and proper"—were violently shaken.
’It seed that what she had always insisted was ’good’ was not what Chang Jia wanted at all.’
Just then, the sound of staggering footsteps ca from outside. Chang Jia was back.
Lin Jianqiu’s head snapped up toward the door, her heart pounding.
Seeing this, Su Tang quickly whispered, "Sister, think carefully about what I said. Brother Chang... he’s suffering inside. But he’s not a bad person. He just wants an attentive, caring wife who can be close to his heart."
She patted Lin Jianqiu’s hand. "I’ll be going now. You two... talk things out."
Su Tang left quickly, brushing past a staggering Chang Jia as he swayed through the doorway.
Reeking of alcohol, Chang Jia didn’t even glance at Lin Jianqiu and headed straight for the inner room.
He was exhausted, ntally and physically, and just wanted to collapse into bed and sleep.
As he passed Lin Jianqiu, perhaps due to the alcohol or the exhaustion after his earlier outburst, his footing beca unsteady, and his body swayed.
Almost on pure instinct, before her mind could even process it, Lin Jianqiu’s hand shot out and grabbed Chang Jia’s arm to steady him.
Her fingers, cool to the touch and trembling almost imperceptibly, gripped his forearm tightly.
Chang Jia’s body went rigid. He stopped in his tracks.
He turned his head in disbelief, his eyes glued to the hand Lin Jianqiu was using to hold him up.
The hand that had reached out to steady him on its own.
The air seed to freeze in that instant.
His stare made Lin Jianqiu flustered. She wanted to pull her hand back, but it felt as if it were nailed in place, unable to move.
She t Chang Jia’s gaze and saw a swirl of complex emotions she had never seen before.
Shock, doubt, and a faint, almost uncertain... glimr of light?
Ti seed to stretch on for an eternity as they stared at each other in silence.
On the floor, the pile of shattered porcelain quietly reflected the cold, dim light.
"I’m sorry, Brother Jia. I was wrong before."
"I always thought that I had to understand decorum and observe propriety so I wouldn’t bring you sha."
"But..."
It was the first ti Lin Jianqiu had ever said so much to Chang Jia. He just watched her quietly, as if waiting for her to finish.
"Brother Jia, can you tell ... what should I do?"
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