Joyful Comb

Qiu Che had originally wanted Li Qingwu to raise her voice a little more.

Just that one soft call, how could the people outside possibly believe it? They might not even hear it.

But just as she was about to speak, Li Qingwu turned slightly to look at her. Her delicate fingers, which had been covering her face in embarrassment, were tinged with a soft pink.

Her voice trembled faintly, as if she had suffered some great grievance but was forcing herself to endure it. In a small voice, she asked,

"Is... is this enough?"

Qiu Che looked at her slender, jade-like fingers and, for some inexplicable reason, swallowed unconsciously.

She quickly snapped back to her senses, feeling that her reaction was somewhat strange.

But her half-numbed mind was too sluggish to dwell on it. She simply responded slowly, "It'll do."

Propping herself up with one hand, she leaned over Li Qingwu, her long ponytail cascading down with the movement. The loose strands brushed against Li Qingwu's face.

The other woman trembled slightly, her lashes fluttering as she bit her lip and whispered, "You are..."

Qiu Che answered in the same hushed tone, "Pretending to consummate the marriage."

Then, she slapped her palm against the bedpost.

The bed, responding to her rhythmic slaps, creaked and groaned with exaggerated effort.

Li Qingwu dared not look at the person leaning over her. She kept her gaze downcast, body rigid with tension. Awkwardly, she asked, "...Must we do this?"

"Do what?"

Li Qingwu fell silent.

Although they hadn't actually touched, and their seemingly close bodies were in reality quite a distance apart, this posture...

Did Qiu Che not find it strange?

Qiu Che let out an "Ah," finally realizing the issue.

She glanced at the space between them, then belatedly rolled back to her side and sat against the bed's inner wall. "Sorry."

Li Qingwu hesitated. "...It's fine."

Qiu Che hadn't rocked the bed for long before she sensed the presence outside quickly retreating.

Most likely, they didn't want to linger too long listening to such embarrassing sounds. Eavesdropping on a couple's wedding night must have been awkward even for them.

So, she stopped.

Li Qingwu saw her get up to draw the bed curtain and sat up as well, whispering, "Have they left?"

Qiu Che nodded.

Li Qingwu, still nervous, asked, "They won't suddenly come back, will they?"

Qiu Che shook her head again. "Yu Yan and the others have returned. If that person stays any longer, they'll be discovered."

Only a fool would try sneaking back.

Li Qingwu let out a breath of relief. Then Qiu Che asked, "Is the phoenix crown heavy?"

Li Qingwu hesitated, unsure why she suddenly brought that up. "I can take it off... Are we going to sleep now?"

Regardless of how Li Shi treated her privately, he still maintained an outward show of favor. Her dowry wasn't quite a grand ten-mile procession, but it was enough to make others envious.

There were surely spare clothes among her belongings.

But rummaging through her dowry trunk in the middle of the night would be suspicious.

Qiu Che thought for a moment and said, "Wait here."

The phrase felt oddly familiar.

Before Li Qingwu could recall where she'd heard it before, Qiu Che had already climbed out of bed and opened a wooden chest in the corner.

Since Lianzhu Pavilion had been redecorated for the wedding, the entire courtyard had been tidied up. Even this old chest, tucked away at the bottom, had been cleaned. Inside were new clothes that Qiu Che had hoarded from Qiu Zhe, still unworn.

At the very bottom, there should have been a jade pendant she had once placed there for safekeeping.

Qiu Che pulled out a clean inner robe of her own and handed it over. "Do you want to wash up?"

Li Qingwu thought for a moment. "Yes, just my face."

Without a word, Qiu Che walked to the window and tapped on the sill.

Yu Ming appeared outside. "Master."

"Bring some water."

"...Understood." Yu Ming gave her an indescribable look, eyes filled with silent commentary.

It was as if he were saying, How could anyone finish consummating their marriage so quickly?

Qiu Che pretended not to notice.

She lowered her gaze and stared absentmindedly at the jade pendant hanging from her waist.

Li Qingwu quickly washed her face, removed her makeup, and sat at the dressing table, taking off her phoenix crown.

Her hair had been styled in an intricate wedding updo, impossible to unravel easily.

Having been pampered for years, she had never needed to tend to her own hair. Now, free from prying eyes, she found herself unaccustomed to doing things alone.

The more she tried to undo it, the more tangled it became.

Loose strands fell messily around her temples, making her look even more flustered and helpless.

Qiu Che had been watching from the bed for a while. She lowered her gaze and murmured, "Let me do it."

"Can you?"

Qiu Che chuckled. "Probably better than you."

Li Qingwu flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Qiu Che said. "You're a princess. Not knowing how to undo your own hair is normal."

With that, she lowered her head and carefully untangled the strands.

Perhaps her hands were especially slender and elegant, within a few strokes, the knots were smoothed out. Then, picking up the wooden comb from the table, she gently ran it through Li Qingwu's long black hair.

Her pale, jade-like fingers threading through the inky strands carried an unspoken allure, a decadent yet refined beauty.

Li Qingwu stared at their reflection in the mirror, momentarily lost in thought.

Qiu Che, however, grew more and more unsettled as she combed.

After a while, she trembled slightly in realization.

She remembered.

In Great Xia, there was an unspoken tradition: on a couple's wedding night, a "joyful comb" must be placed on the dressing table.

The Qiu family had no money, so they had dug up an old sandalwood comb to make do.

And in her past life, she had also married in haste. On that same wedding night, she had also handed Li Qingwu a change of clothes. And it was also she who had combed Li Qingwu's hair with this very comb.

But back then, things had been different.

She had worn no jade pendant. She had not fetched Li Qingwu's clothes. And when she had combed her hair, she had been impatient.

During that time, her heart had been filled with endless darkness, anger at having been tricked, pain at dragging an innocent person down with her.

She had drowned it in alcohol, making her even more intimidating.

Li Qingwu had likely not understood her turmoil. She had been cautious in every word and action, silently picking out a simple outfit for herself.

Breaking the heavy silence, she had asked hesitantly, "Does Master Qiu not wear this jade pendant?"

Qiu Che, half-asleep, had lazily glanced at it. Upon seeing the lotus carving, she had paused, then muttered, "Probably something I bought on a whim. Nothing important."

"If you like it, you can have it."

Li Qingwu had hesitated before quietly putting it back. She had only whispered, "A token of an old friend should not be given away."

Qiu Che had sobered slightly. "An old friend?"

She quickly dismissed the fleeting thought.

As Li Qingwu struggled with the tangles in her hair, she hesitated for a long time before softly and bashfully asking, "Can you help me?"

Qiu Che paused for a moment, saying nothing. She got up and took the comb from Li Qingwu's hand.

Irritated and distracted, she kept losing focus. On top of that, she had never done this for anyone before, so her movements were neither gentle nor careful, lacking any sense of control.

Li Qingwu winced a few times from the tugging but remained silent.

When Qiu Che finally put down the comb, she simply said, "It's done."

Li Qingwu ran her fingers through her long hair, smoothing it out. Lowering her gaze to the comb, she noticed a few strands of messy hair caught in its teeth and pressed her lips into a smile.

Qiu Che, seeing her smile, suddenly felt uneasy. Her voice softened. "…This is my first time combing someone else's hair. Sorry."

Li Qingwu shook her head but then, out of nowhere, murmured, "One comb from start to end, a marriage of mutual respect."

"I've heard that on the wedding night, when a husband combs his wife's hair, it symbolizes a lifetime together."

She held the comb without turning around, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Qiu Che."

"Can we?"

Qiu Che's mind went blank.

She thought, Li Qingwu must be insane.

Two women… how could they possibly grow old together?

For a moment, she wasn't even sure what she was thinking.

Could it be that Li Qingwu had also forgotten that chaotic night and still mistook her for a man?

That was the only explanation she could come up with.

Qiu Che didn't respond. Her thoughts were a mess as she moved back to sit on the bed.

Li Qingwu seemed to understand her answer.

She didn't press further. Instead, with that faint, serene smile on her lips, she quietly wiped the comb clean with a handkerchief and put it away.

That night, the two of them, lost in their own thoughts, fell into silence.

And just like that, the conversation ended without resolution.

Years later, when Qiu Che had long forgotten the existence of that comb, Li Qingwu returned with the same old, broken, and inexplicably half-missing comb, only to take her own life at Qiu Che's grave.

Yes, the comb that had seemed so familiar to Qiu Che that day was the very one they had used to brush Li Qingwu's hair on their wedding night.

A simple, ordinary wooden comb, what meaning did it hold that made Li Qingwu treasure it so closely for ten years, keeping it by her side even in death?

Thinking back now, the emperor had not attended their wedding that night, and they had not even pretended to consummate the marriage.

If Li Qingwu had needed help undoing her hair, Fu Ling had been right outside, ready to enter at any moment.

Why had Li Qingwu asked Qiu Che alone?

Why had she said those words?

Why had she taken her own life?

Why… had she taken the comb with her when she died?

Qiu Che's thoughts abruptly snapped back to the present.

She suddenly remembered, on the day she was granted the imperial decree for their marriage, it was the Eunuch Fuzi who escorted her out of the hall.

There had been a respectful smile on his face, but he hadn't been able to hide the deep astonishment in his eyes.

When Qiu Che asked about it, Fuzi chuckled and said, "My lord may not know this, but some time ago, Her Highness defied His Majesty just to marry you. She knelt outside this very hall, refusing to leave for three whole hours. His Majesty, worried about his beloved daughter and fearing she was acting on impulse, punished her by sending her to reflect outside the palace."

"Now, what was that place called again…" Fuzi pondered for a moment before suddenly remembering. "Ah, right, Ganyu Temple. My lord, wasn't that where you went a few days ago?"

Seeing Qiu Che remain silent, Fuzi did not press further. Instead, he remarked meaningfully, "Looking at it now, His Majesty granting a marriage between my lord and the Eldest Princess can truly be considered… a fated bond, beginning and ending as it should."

According to the reason Li Qingwu had once given Qiu Che, she simply needed to find someone she could tolerate marrying in order to escape the Li family's control. Choosing Qiu Che had been a logical decision.

But now, as Qiu Che recalled certain details from her past life, she suddenly felt unsure.

How could Li Qingwu be so certain that marrying Qiu Che, someone she had only met once, wouldn't lead to an even worse outcome?

Noticing Li Qingwu watching her intently, Qiu Che hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward slightly, gazing at Li Qingwu's fair, faintly flushed face in the mirror. Suddenly, she said:

"Your Highness."

Li Qingwu's eyelashes quivered, and it took her a beat to return to her senses.

"Hm?"

She was breathtakingly beautiful, her features were striking and alluring, and the beauty mark at the corner of her eye only added to her charm.

At first glance, she seemed both gentle and cool, the contrast intertwining in a way that made her all the more enigmatic, drawing others in.

Qiu Che parted her lips and met her gaze in the mirror.

In a soft voice, she asked, "The lady from Ganyu Temple… that was you, wasn't it?"

The air froze instantly.

Li Qingwu's entire body tensed. She quickly snapped out of her daze. "…What did you say?"

Qiu Che lifted her hand and lightly tapped Li Qingwu's reflection in the mirror, her fingertip briefly touching the base of her neck.

Then, she moved upward, tapping the tip of her nose.

Li Qingwu flinched slightly, as if Qiu Che had truly touched her.

"Here. And here." Qiu Che slowly withdrew her hand and said flatly, "Exactly the same."

"A lady who left the palace, carefully guarded… 'Miss Yue'… Princess Lehe." Qiu Che continued, "If I've already deduced that you weren't favored, how could I not guess who 'Miss Yue' really was? I'd have to be a fool."

Li Qingwu instinctively bit her lip.

She hadn't expected Qiu Che to figure it out so quickly.

Thinking back on the things she had done back then, assuming Qiu Che had no idea who she was, Li Qingwu felt that her actions had been… rather improper.

Unbecoming of her status.

She avoided Qiu Che's gaze, remaining silent for a while before whispering, "…I must have made a fool of myself."

"It's fine," Qiu Che replied calmly.

After all, she had known for a long time.

Li Qingwu had just started to breathe a sigh of relief—

When Qiu Che suddenly said:

"Your Highness."

Li Qingwu's breath hitched inexplicably, unable to let it out.

Her eyelids twitch. "What?"

"Have we… met before?"