Married Thrice to Salted Fish

1. Chapter 66

It was early in the morning, Lin Qingyu felt someone moving beside him. He had always been a light sleeper and since it was already his usual time to wake up, he quickly opened his eyes.

He slept on the outer side of the bed and what greeted him upon waking up was the burnt out red candles and the morning light coming in from outside the window. Turning over slightly, the man beside him…or rather, the young man beside him was sound asleep, lying facing him. Half his face and one hand were exposed outside the quilt, while his other hand was splayed on his waist.

After Gu Fuzhou had passed out drunk last night, Lin Qingyu took off his wedding clothes for him and after much difficulty, managed to shove him under the quilt. He originally planned on making do with sleeping in the study but reconsidered; after all, it was their wedding night. During their previous wedding night, they hadn’t even known each other and they slept in the same room. If they were to sleep in separate rooms now, their two years of knowing each other would have been for nothing.

There is only one bed in the bridal chamber and there wasn’t any luohan. Lin Qingyu thought about it and using all his might, he pushed Gu Fuzhou further in and simply lay down on the outer side of the bed.

Lin Qingyu thought that he wouldn’t sleep well. However, he didn’t expect that Gu Fuzhou would be so well behaved when he was asleep, even very rarely turning over. It was no wonder he could sleep through an enemy attack in Yongliang; finally having no choice but to move out with his quilt draped over his shoulders.

Though his actual age was a full nineteen years old, he still slept like a child. Lin Qingyu couldn’t help but stretched out his hand and touch Gu Fuzhou’s straight nose. Then, he made to get up but…

He couldn’t get up. Gu Fuzhou… had pinned down his hair.

The lower half of Lin Qingyu’s long hair was completely pinned down by Gu Fuzhou. If he moved a little too much, it would result in a painful pull. He tried to push Gu Fuzhou away but even after a long time, Gu Fuzhou remained motionless. He also tried to grab his hair and pull it out but not a lot of it managed to be freed. Instead, he simply hurt himself in the process, so much so that he was tempted to poison to other.

Lin Qingyu couldn’t bear it any longer. No amount of calling managed to get Gu Fuzhou to wake up so he went and pinched Gu Fuzhou’s noise shut. No matter how much Gu Fuzhou loved sleeping, the obstruction to his breathing made him furrow his brows. He then opened his eyes and seeing Lin Qingyu, also opened his mouth.

Lin Qingyu said coolly, “Are you awake now?”

Awakened by such cruel means, Gu Fuzhou was still a little dazed, a layer of mist covering his eyes. He stared intently, unable to look away, at the face so close at hand. The slowly fog dissipated and his eyes gradually became clear.

“Why are you…” Gu Fuzhou’s voice was hoarse from just having woken up. He realized where his hands were and his eyes widened suddenly. His fingers even curled up and it seemed as though he didn’t know where to put them. “What are you doing in my bed?”

Lin Qingyu said indifferently, “What do you think?”

“Did I force you in bed with me?” Gu Fuzhou was horribly shocked, “I never knew I had it in me!”

Lin Qingyu snorted, “Oh, just you?” He gathered up his strength and brought his fist down on Gu Fuzhou’s arm. “Now, get up and let go of my hair.”

Gu Fuzhou shifted his position and Lin Qingyu was finally freed. He sat up and said, “Since you’re awake then get up.”

Gu Fuzhou thought back to what had happened last night. All he could remember was pushing open the door, so filled with anticipation, only to see the great beauty without his bridal veil on. His blood pressure immediately shot through the roof. After that, he had no memory of what happened. He must have passed out.

He hadn’t forced Lin Qingyu to bed. So, Lin Qingyu had willingly slept in the same bed? Such a good thing actually exists?

Damn, how could he have fallen asleep last night? At his age, with a beauty lying beside him — Oh, how could he have fallen asleep!

Lin Qingyu watched as Gu Fuzhou remained motionless. He asked, “You’re not going to get up?”

Gu Fuzhou gradually got over his shock and said slowly, “Why are you up so early? You don’t even have to serve tea to your in-laws.”

Lin Qingyu said, “Get up and let’s have our morning meal.”

“We can sleep for a while longer and just have the noontime meal when it’s time.” Gu Fuzhou laughed under the quilt, “Qingyu, this is the first time we’ve slept together, let’s sleep a little longer.”

Lin Qingyu wasn’t in the habit of lazing about in bed but after seeing Gu Fuzhou’s expectant eyes, he nevertheless decided to lay back down. He gathered his long hair to one side, making sure that Gu Fuzhou wouldn’t be able to pin it down. The two of them lay face to face like this, making small talk.

Lin Qingyu asked, “Among the guests yesterday, were there any civil servants?”

Gu Fuzhou absentmindedly said, “There were a few; not all civil servants are stupid c*nts – Xiao Jie also came and brought a lot of generous gifts. Hmmm, this is a certainly way to make money. Qingyu, marry me a few more times and we’ll quickly become the richest men in the capital.”

Lin Qingyu wasn’t in the mood to pay attention to Gu Fuzhou’s nonsense. He focused on something useful and asked, “How’s your current relationship with Xiao Jie?”

“He admires me a lot. He even said that he wanted to try holding the Qingyun Jiuzhou Spear with his own hands.”

Only then did Lin Qingyu realize that despite Gu Fuzhou being in the capital for so long already, he had yet to see the legendary spear. “Are you keeping the Qingyun Jiuzhou Spear in the training grounds?”

Gu Fuzhou smiled and said, “It’s a gift from the royal family. Of course, I keep it in my room to show it the proper respect.”

“In your own room?” Lin Qingyu looked around, “Where is it?”

Gu Fuzhou pointed lazily at the corner. “It’s there.”

He saw something like a pole standing in the corner of the room. At first glance, it looked like an iron rod with red silk tied on it.

Gu Fuzhou said added, “It makes for a good clothes hanger.”

Lin Qingyu: “…”

Having lain down for a long time, Lin Qingyu wanted to change positions. When he raised his hand, he inadvertently bumped into something. He couldn’t help suddenly freezing and he quickly retracted his hand.

A certain someone seemed so calm, talking and laughing with him while lying in the bed. But, in truth, they were actually… so energetic?

Gu Fuzhou was also momentarily stunned and the atmosphere suddenly became a little strange.

After a brief silence, Gu Fuzhou said, “What’s with your reaction?” Gu Fuzhou teased, “Do you think you’ll ruin your hand?”

Ruin your hand’ — it made Lin Qingyu inexplicably want to laugh. “I don’t think so.”

“You weren’t like this before. The old you—” Gu Fuzhou began to once again imitate the way he talked. Because the two of them were so familiar with each other, his imitation of Lin Qingyu was a lot better than his imitation of Xiao Cheng. “As a student of medicine, there is nothing I have not seen before. There is no need for you to make such a fuss.”

Gu Fuzhou had done such a good imitation; Lin Qingyu could not refute it at all. He was indeed knowledgeable and experienced. For him, this thing was nothing more than a piece of flesh. When Lu Wancheng was wilted before, he could even calmly offer to help him check. He himself didn’t know why he reacted that way just now.

After some thought, Lin Qingyu said, “It might be because you are using General Gu’s body now.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“I have admired General Gu for a long time and I don’t want to disrespect him.”

Gu Fuzhou snorted coldly and said, “Come off it. You’ve even gotten in bed already. Are you telling me now it doesn’t suit my current body?”

Lin Qingyu was speechless. Deciding to simply smash a cracked pot, he said, “Yes, I do think it would ruin my hand.”

Gu Fuzhou applauded and said with a smile, “Nice, as expected of Doctor Lin.”

Thereupon, for the entire rest of the day, whenever Gu Fuzhou saw Lin Qingyu, he would grab his hand, look it all over and say, “Why does Doctor Lin’s hand still look fine? When will it start to get all wrinkle-y…? ”

Lin Qingyu couldn’t help but wonder whether it was the right decision to marry Gu Fuzhou for the second time. That night, he ordered people to transfer the bunk bed from his Lin Residence into the bridal chamber.

For three days following the wedding, Gu Fuzhou was not required to attend court. While Lin Qingyu was ordering the servants to put away the things he’d brought, Gu Fuzhou was by his side, idling about.

He saw a locked wooden box and asked casually, “What’s inside?”

Lin Qingyu glanced at him and then waved the servants away. He opened the wooden box and said, “It’s General Gu’s memorial tablet. Is there a hidden room in this mansion?”

“I’ll ask Yuan Yin to find a room for you later — Looks like there’s two tablets. Whose is the other one?”

Lin Qingyu’s tone turned subtle. “You can pick it up and take a look.”

Gu Fuzhou took out the two tablets. One was indeed General Gu’s tablet and the other was…

Gu Fuzhou almost threw what was in his hand. “What is this! Who is Jiang Dazhuang?”

Lin Qingyu said without batting an eyelash, “Back then, whether you managed to survive or not was unknown. I decided to have a memorial tablet made for you. If you had really died, without a memorial tablet, you wouldn’t even be able to enjoy the incense offerings of future generations.”

“I understand your good intentions,” Gu Fuzhou’s expression was complicated, “but why did you think this is my name?”

Lin Qingyu gave a half-smile. “You told me so yourself. At first, you said your name was Zhu Dazhuang and then you changed your name to Jiang, so it was naturally it must be ‘Jiang Dazhuang’.”

Gu Fuzhou laughed and said, “You know I was joking. Why did you take it seriously?”

With a “bang”, Lin Qingyu suddenly closed the lid of the wooden box. “If I didn’t take it to be true, then what should I have done? I don’t know your name at all.” Lin Qingyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I asked you, but you didn’t tell me.”

Gu Fuzhou frowned, expression turning serious, “When did you ask me?”

Knowing clearly that it was just his own dream, saying it out loud felt unreasonable. But Lin Qingyu still couldn’t help but accuse him, “On the seventh day after your death, I asked you, I asked you so many times — I chased after you, asking you; but you still walked away without even looking back.”

Gu Fuzhou murmured, “Wasn’t that a dream…F*ck, is it possible to connect using dreams?”

Lin Qingyu’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Lin Qingyu sat at the table and watched as Gu Fuzhou drag a stool to his side. Even though both of them were sitting, Gu Fuzhou was still a lot taller than him. When talking to him, he had to bend down and bow his head. “I’m sorry, Qingyu. I didn’t know if I could survive.”

Lin Qingyu said in surprise, “You… know of that dream?”

Gu Fuzhou nodded. “After I had that dream, I woke up in General Gu’s body.”

Lin Qingyu stood up abruptly. “So that was really you? You really didn’t want to tell me your name…”

“If I died, I just thought it would be easier for you to forget about me if you didn’t know my name.”

Lin Qingyu gritted his teeth and said, “You know I have a highly retentive memory. I couldn’t even forget the rooster that took your place at our wedding! What made you think I could forget you?”

Gu Fuzhou chuckled lightly. “I was wrong.” Gu Fuzhou took his hand. One standing, the other sitting, it was now him looking down at Gu Fuzhou. Gu Fuzhou looked up at him and said, “I’ll tell you now, okay? My name sounds nice.”

“I don’t want to know anymore.” Lin Qingyu turned his head away from looking at him and said calmly, “I don’t care what your name is, it has nothing to do with me.”

Gu Fuzhou, making a big show of being earnest, said, “It’s over, it’s over. This seems to be the angriest Doctor Lin has been since our reunion. He’s even angrier than when he wasn’t sure whether Shen Huaishi had missed or gone soft-hearted.”

Lin Qingyu was indeed angry. When he thought of how upset he’d felt, like he’d lost, when he woke up from the dream, he wanted to strangle Gu Fuzhou to death.

“Letting you touch my abs isn’t enough to coax you anymore so how about I let you rub your face against it?”

He was already so angry but this man was still in the mood to joke?

Lin Qingyu was completely expressionless. “Forget it, I’m afraid of ruining my face.”