After Mu Chen left Lin Rou, she had a chance to look around the room. It was a spacious one bed room with a simple desk and a stool to sit on. A plate of snacks were set on the table beside her with a pitcher of water. Mu Chen thought of everything, including leaving her something to occupy her time with. He set his work clothes near by with a basket holding a needle and some thread. Lin Rou picked up the basket and started to mend his clothes. Since she was his wife, she would do the duties of a wife. The work was slow as she needed to learn how to sew all over again, but soon her mind started to remember how and the work became easier.
It was as she finished one patch that the woman from earlier barged in.
"You vixen! How dare you touch brother Mu's things!"
She rushed forward and tried to hit her. Lin Rou held the needle up and pointed it at the brazen woman. "Ah-Chen left me a chore to complete while he went to town. He locked the courtyard before he left. How did you get into his home?"
Lin Rou spoke calmly and ice dripped from her words.
Lin Xue became frightened by the coldness. "I had the blacksmith make me a key so I could do the chores for him."
Lin Rou narrowed her eyes on the woman. "So you had a man who isn't Ah-Chen make a key to his home. That is highly suspicious."
Since Lin Rou couldn't leave the bed due to her injuries she was sure Mu Chen would ask a neighbor he trusted to come and see to her needs.
She was positive he wouldn't have sent Li Xue.
"I'm sure that Ah-Chen already has someone else coming to see to the chores. I do not believe you were the one he sent."
Li Xue became furious at this. She lunged for Lin Rou. But before she could even touch her, she was yanked away by an older Auntie with a group of women. "How dare you come into Chen-Chen's home uninvited! He sent us married womenfolk to help Rou'er. He was very specific that no unmarried women should be in his home."
Lin Rou glanced at the group of six women. They were glaring at Li Xue. "Auntie, this vixen has no background! She should leave our village and not get close to our men!"
The Auntie slapped Li Xue hard.
"My nephew will be marrying Rou'er! How dare you call her a vixen! She is a beautiful and noble lady with a calm temperament. She is perfect for my nephew! Unlike a shrew like you who makes trouble for others!" Aunt Mu came around to hold Lin Rou's hand. "Oh what a sweet girl. Chen-Chen is so lucky to have met you."
Lin Rou smiled softly. "No, it is I who is the lucky one. Ah-Chen saved me after I fell off a cliff. He paid the doctor for treatment and even let me stay here to heal. I am so grateful to him." Aunt Mu smiled warmly.
"You are a good girl. I'm sure Chen-Chen will take good care of you. We worried about him for so long. His mother is an awful woman who hated him since birth. So as his Aunt, I helped his father to raise him from a babe to the man he is today. You can say I am his mother."
"Then I should be the one to call you Mother-in-law. In your old age I shall take care of you for Ah-Chen."
Aunt Mu smiled at this and began to direct the women on cleaning the yard and cooking the meal. Li Xue was shoved unceremoniously out of the house, without the key she had made.
Aunt Mu then spent the day asking Lin Rou about herself. "Tell me how you met my Chen-Chen."
"He found me at the base of the cliff after I fell off of it. I only remember being chased up there and not what was chasing me. I remember nothing else."
"Oh you poor child! We will be your family now. You now have a good mother and five sisters."
Aunt Mu turned to the women who came with her.
"These are my daughters, Chen-Chen's cousins. Mu Ru, Mu Ran, Mu Xiu, Mu tian, and Mu Xia. They will help you until your healed so don't worry about the chores. Just get better and take care of Chen-Chen."
"I'll have to trouble you then. Once I am better, I will make sure to repay you all for this." Lin Rou smiled and allowed the women who cared for Mu Chen to take care of the majority of the chores. While she sat and dutifully finished repairing his clothes.
Mu Chen returned to his home and watched Li Xue as she was shoved out of his house. Strange, he remembered to lock the front gate to his courtyard. He was going to go to town with a few bones later to have the jeweler make her some hair pins and a comb. Maybe a box to put them in.
Mu Chen was dragged from his thoughts by Li Xue. She ran towards him crying.
"Brother Mu, that woman kicked me out of your house! I had only come to help you with the chores and to make your lunch. She was malicious and tried to harm me!"
Mu Chen raised a brow. "What were you doing in my house? I made sure my door was locked."
Lin Xue paled. She was taken aback by the question.
"I got a key from…"
"No one who cares for me would dare give their key to an unmarried woman. I specifically gave a key to my Aunt who helped raise me. I doubt she would allow you in my house." Mu Chen walked slowly forward. He glared dangerously down at Li Xue. "My house is off limits to you."
He pushed past Li Xue without touching her and into his yard. His Aunt and Cousins were setting out the noon meal while he finished setting up a lounge chair he carved from a fallen tree to be used as a chair for Lin Rou. "Is Lin Rou awake?"
"Yes, she is hoping you can come and help her outside. She is quite devoted to you."
Mu Chen smiled softly and went inside their room to fetch his bride. She was sitting dutifully where he put her when he left. She set aside a shirt she was mending, the stitches a little sloppy but seemed to straighten as she went, he noticed several of his clothes looked that way, like she was relearning how to mend clothes.
"Ah-Chen, I finished mending your clothes and had enough leftover to make you a pouch." She lifted the small leather pouch up to show him. The stitches were sloppy at first then began to neaten to near perfect by the end.
It was large enough to hold their money. The simple design of a crane in flight was embroidered into the leather.
"I don't remember how to write, but I can still embroider so I put a crane on it to symbolize your name. Do you like it?" He was beyond pleased that she put in the effort to relearn a skill she should already have.
Mu Chen took the pouch from her and gently lifted her up into his arms. "I like it. Thank you, my wife." She blushed.
"The Chief is on our side. He gave me the marriage contract. All I have to do is sign it and he will add you to my household as my wife. Then I will hold a banquet to celebrate our marriage."
"I don't need anything like that. I just want to celebrate us. So maybe don't invite the entire village." He chuckled. "I have to invite them, the people who believe Li Xue will turn against her once they come and see for themselves that I only have you in my heart." He took her outside and set her down on the lounge chair. He draped a white tiger fur over her legs as blanket to protect her from the chilly wind.
As they sat around the table to a meal, he put food in her bowl. "Eat, you need to nourish your body so I won't have to worry. Don't worry about the money and the food. I can afford it." Lin Rou only frowned briefly, then began to eat.
Aunt Mu was pleased by how well she didn't question Mu Chen. She just took in the information and followed his lead. "I had to stop Rou'er from helping me cook. She wanted to learn what you liked and how best to make you happy."
Mu Chen smiled dotingly and simply put more food in her bowl.
"Wait until your healed before learning too much. I don't want you to be hurt."
"I want to learn how to be your wife, Ah-Chen, is that too much to ask?" She sounded sad, he didn't want her to ever be sad.
"For now, I just want you to be healthy. You can learn anything you want once you are well enough. Aunt Mu can teach you, as can my Sisters. Look to them for help and guidance until you are well." Lin Rou smiled and turned back to her bowl. She didn't argue with him. He was only looking out for her. As a husband should. After the meal was over, Mu Chen took Lin Rou out to go to town. "I need to buy some things for the wedding banquet." He didn't have to explain himself to her. He was her husband, she was only meant to follow him without question. She thought it a kindness that he even bothered.
Mu Chen carried Lin Rou out of his court yard and towards the village. The men were already done with their noon time meal and heading back out to work when they spotted him.
Mu Chen took a step back and turned to place his body between them and his new bride.
"Hunter Mu, we heard you found a woman on your last hunt. Who is she? Where is she from?"
Mu Chen waited calmly for the voices to die down before answering them. "She is Lin Rou. Her ordeal caused her to lose all memory of who and where she is. She only knows her name. I am helping her to regain those memories slowly. Rou'er has agreed to be my wife as thanks for saving her."
The men all gave Lin Rou a pitiful look. "The Chief is going to help us look into why she was up there on the cliff. Do not pity her. She is a brave girl with a calm temperament. We are holding a wedding banquet in a few days, please come and bless us." Mu Chen was quick to defend Lin Rou. He didn't want his wife to be pitied. She didn't deserve to be pitied, she deserves respect and care. Mu Chen kept walking to the village and went to the market. He walked around and bought meat and vegetables then bought grain. He took her to a cloth merchant and bought her more cloth and some patterns so she can learn how to make clothes. Lin Rou picked out red cloth for their wedding clothes and pale green and blue cloth for herself. She then picked out some darker blue and green for Mu Chen. The patterns were simple but easy to understand. She then bought more thread.