Chapter 12 — The Husband and Little Uncle Fake the Disaster, My Sister and I Clean Up the Marquis' Palace

It's only after I lost it that I discovered that in all the years I've been with that person, I never really understood her. Three days later, Tieu Thua Duc came again. This time he did not stand outside the door until dark, nor did he secretly follow me. He knocked on the door very lightly, as if afraid that the knock would be too heavy and the person in the yard would immediately close the door. The person who opened the door was still Tieu Ngoc Xu. As soon as she saw him, her face immediately turned cold: "You haven't left yet?" Tieu Thua Duc didn't look at her for long, just said: "I want to talk to Tri Vi."

"If you want to talk, does she have to listen?"

“I just said a few words.”

Tieu Ngoc Xu was about to close the door when I came out from the yard, still holding half a grocery book in my hand. These past few days, she and I are preparing to import a new batch of fabrics. If things go well, next month the store may expand by another room. I looked at Tieu Thua Duc standing outside the door and suddenly felt like this person was like an old thing that I didn't know where to put. If you throw it away, it's not clean, but if you keep it, it's an eyesore. Tieu Ngoc Xu turned his head to look at me. I nodded slightly at her. She just moved aside, but when Tieu Thua Duc passed by, she still coldly threw back a sentence: "If you have anything to say clearly, don't scare people with this half-dead appearance. No one here owes you." Tieu Thua Duc paused for a moment, but in the end still did not answer. I led him to the stone table under the pipa tree. In the yard, there were no maids serving, nor was there delicious tea and precious cakes like the previous Marquis Palace. On the table there was only a pot of freshly brewed jasmine tea and two rough porcelain cups. I poured him a cup, then poured myself a cup, from beginning to end I didn't ask him if he was tired from the journey, nor did I ask where he had been these past few days. He looked at the cup of tea in front of him and after a long time spoke: "Since when do you like jasmine tea?" I lowered my eyes to look at the hot steam rising from the rim of the cup: "A long time ago." He was silent. It's been a long time. For so long that when he was still my husband, I liked him. He just doesn't know. The wind blows through the yard, the leaves of the Pipa tree collide with each other, making a very gentle rustling sound. I waited for him to speak first, because I knew, if he came this time, it certainly wasn't just to ask what tea I liked. Sure enough, he put down the teacup, his voice hoarse: "We still haven't broken up." I nodded.

“That's right, not yet.”

His eyes immediately looked towards me. Maybe he thought he had finally found a rope that could pull me back. It's okay if the household registration has been erased, it's okay if the Marquis Palace has collapsed, it's okay for old things to be crushed into ashes. As long as we haven't separated yet, I am still his wife in name, and I still have the last bit of connection. I put down the grocery book in my hand, stood up and walked into the room. When I left, I had an envelope in my hand. The envelope is very flat. Obviously it has been stored for a long time. I placed it in front of Tieu Thua Duc.

“The Book of Peace, I have finished writing it.”

His face instantly turned pale. He looked at that envelope, as if he saw something more terrifying than the notebook that caused the Marquis' Palace to collapse.

“Tham Tri Vi.”

"Look first. If anything doesn't feel right, you can fix it."

My voice is very calm. So calm that even I feel strange. In the past, as soon as he frowned slightly, I immediately wondered if I had done something wrong. But now, I see his face turn pale my face, there are no more waves in my heart. Tieu Thua Duc did not open the envelope. He just looked at me.

“Do we have to go to this step?”

I laughed very lightly.

"We've come to this point a long time ago. It's just that you're only now willing to look."

He clenched his fist, the back of his hand showing blue veins.

"I know that what happened back then was my fault. I shouldn't have pretended to die with my father and Thua Trach, and I shouldn't have let her stay at the Marquis Palace to bear everything. But Tri Vi, at that time I had no other choice. If I didn't go, it's very likely that the entire Tieu family would be dragged into the water."

“So you pulled me into the water first.”

He choked. I looked at him, my voice was not high, but every word was clear: "It's not like you have no other choice. You just feel that I could be sacrificed. Just like your father feels that Tieu Ngoc Xu could be married to an old man over forty years old, like your mother feels that I can shoulder the debt for the Marquis, just like Tieu Thua Trach feels that if you call me a sister-in-law, I should clean up the situation for him. You guys don't have any choice. You guys just never laid them down. I am your equal.” It's quiet in the yard. Even the sound of Tieu Ngoc Xu strumming the abacus in the next room stopped. Tieu Thua Duc bowed his head and didn't speak for a long time. I continued to say: "I waited for you for three years. When you 'died', I waited for you in the temple. When the creditor came to the door, I waited for you. When I was coughing up blood and lying on the bed, not even a maid beside me to bring water, I was still waiting for an explanation. Later, I was resurrected and waited another year."