Chapter 511: Differences in Habits

“In the wild grow creeping grasses, heavy with glistening dew.
Amid the shifting winds and clouds, there is a beauty—graceful and pure, her gaze clear and bright.”

At this moment, Li Shu was dressed in a peony-red yuehua skirt. Golden and jade pendants adorned the hem, shimmering like scattered stars with every subtle movement. A silk sash cinched her slender waist, outlining her graceful figure. Her eyes flowed with soft brilliance, and even as she crossed her arms and pouted in mock annoyance, there lingered the innate poise of a noble young lady—along with a charm that was difficult to put into words.

The room itself was steeped in elegance. Fragrant incense curled lazily through the air, while an exquisitely decorated guqin, embroidered stools, and a painting desk were arranged with care. Further inside stood a gauzy screen draped in light silk. Upon a tall vermilion lacquer stand inlaid with mother-of-pearl rested a Ru kiln vase, holding several rosebuds just on the verge of blooming…

At her side, the round-faced maid attended to her clothing, while another maid crouched at her feet gathering the discarded garments. Outside, yet more servants hurried about, preparing bathwater…

It was the very image of a wealthy young lady’s daily life—refined, effortless, and utterly removed from the ordinary.

Even now, though Zhu Ping’an had already attained the rank of a sixth-grade official, standing before Li Shu, he still couldn’t help but feel like a country bumpkin.

He stood there in a daze for a moment before finally snapping back to himself under Li Shu’s annoyed gaze.

“What’s wrong with those clothes?” he asked, pointing at the garments tossed carelessly on the floor. Just moments ago, she had still been wearing them—yet now she was having them cut up and thrown away.

“They’re dirty,” Li Shu replied, pouting slightly in displeasure.

“Dirty? But you only just put them on,” Zhu Ping’an said, puzzled.

“You saw what kind of people were here just now,” Li Shu huffed, her tone filled with distaste. “Who knows how long it’s been since they bathed? You could smell them from a distance. And instead of talking properly, they had to touch everything—hands unclean, fingernails filthy—and they still grabbed at my clothes. And that child… his nose was practically dripping…”

Even as she spoke, her face twisted with lingering disgust, as though the memory itself had left a shadow in her mind.

“If the clothes are dirty, you can just wash them,” Zhu Ping’an said, somewhat helpless. The villagers might not be refined, but they weren’t quite as unbearable as she made them sound.

“How could they ever be truly clean? Just thinking about it makes me uncomfortable.” Li Shu rolled her eyes, then looked down at the maid gathering the clothes and urged impatiently, “Hurry up and take them away. Cut them up so they don’t offend the eye.”

“Yes, Miss,” the maid replied, quickly bundling the garments and leaving.

“Why cut them up?” Zhu Ping’an asked, unable to understand.

“Because I’m throwing them away,” Li Shu said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Throw them away after cutting them up?” Zhu Ping’an frowned. “Even if you don’t want to wear them, you could give them to someone else. Why destroy them?”

“My clothes? Give them to others?” Li Shu rolled her eyes dramatically, looking at him as though he were some strange creature. “Would you let someone else drink tea from your personal cup?”

“But you’re not using them anymore,” Zhu Ping’an replied, exasperated. “That’s not the same thing at all.”

“That still won’t do. Who knows what they might do while wearing my clothes…” Li Shu shook her head firmly, clearly unwilling to compromise. “If someone truly needs clothing, we can have new garments made for them.”

To her, anything she had used was no longer fit for others—even if she herself discarded it. It was a kind of fastidiousness, almost like an emotional cleanliness taken to the extreme.

Zhu Ping’an could only sigh inwardly. This level of refinement felt excessive—wasteful, even.

Truthfully, his official salary probably wouldn’t even be enough to keep up with her wardrobe changes.

But then again, for someone like Li Shu, who had grown up in wealth and comfort, such extravagance was nothing. The cost was negligible to her. Seen from another perspective, perhaps this constant demand for new clothing even benefited those who raised silkworms and wove fabric—after all, more demand meant more livelihood for them.

Still, this small example made one thing clear: the gap between his and Li Shu’s way of life was vast. And in the days to come, such differences would only become more apparent.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day. Li Shu had lived this way for over a decade under her father’s indulgence—it wasn’t something that could change overnight. It would have to be taken slowly.

As for himself, though Zhu Ping’an still hadn’t fully adjusted to being her husband, he knew there was no turning back. Judging by Madam Chen’s fierce protection of Li Shu at lunch, if he dared try to change anything rashly, his own mother might very well turn against him.

And then there was the cautionary tale of Chen Shimei abandoning his wife and child—his downfall made clear the moral expectations of this era. If Zhu Ping’an ever acted similarly, he could forget about his career entirely.

More importantly… Li Shu had done so much for him. Lending him books, making him food—not for a day or two, but for years. And then there was that moment on the island, when she had cut her own wrist to feed him her blood…

How could he not be moved?

He was not made of stone.

As for love…

Perhaps it had not yet fully arrived.

But many kinds of love begin with being moved, do they not?

“You didn’t come here just to criticize me, did you?” Li Shu asked, stepping gracefully toward him after changing clothes, lifting her skirt slightly with her slender fingers. She tilted her pretty face upward, her tone tinged with playful annoyance.

“No,” Zhu Ping’an shook his head.

At once, her face seemed to brighten, as though illuminated from within—but in the very next moment, she deliberately put on a displeased expression and muttered, “Father, honestly… what was the point of this ‘auspicious marriage’? Now there’s no way out. Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog. Since I’ve married you, this toad, I suppose I have no choice but to follow you.”

Zhu Ping’an paused for a moment, then smiled faintly and shook his head without exposing her words.

This girl… truly incorrigible in her pride. She clearly liked him, yet insisted on speaking like this. Most likely, the letter about the marriage that had supposedly been sent to him in the capital had been intercepted by her.

If she truly disliked him, he would never believe it.

From the moment they returned from the island to Xiahe Village, this proud little tigress had hidden her claws in front of his parents, acting every bit the gentle, virtuous daughter-in-law. If she didn’t care for him, she would never go to such lengths.

And yet… it remained a mystery.

How had someone as proud and discerning as Li Shu come to favor a poor boy like him?

If it began when she secretly started cooking for him, then he hadn’t even passed the provincial exams yet. If it began when he borrowed books from her, he hadn’t even become a scholar.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t quite understand.

“Hey, what are you smiling about?” Li Shu pouted, her lips curving in mild annoyance.

“Hehe… of course Young Master is secretly delighted to have married such a beautiful bride,” the round-faced maid giggled from the side, unable to resist teasing. “Isn’t that right, Young Master?”

“Keep talking nonsense and I’ll deal with you,” Li Shu scolded lightly, reaching out to tap the maid on the forehead with a delicate finger.