The whole room seemed to hold its breath. Father stared at Mother in stunned silence, Boqin bristled, and Lady Ju’s eyes widened in surprise. Weimin didn’t offer any change of expression. She wanted us to be alone, even though we weren’t married yet—with no one to supervise us or chaperone us.

“Yes, Mother,” I said as I clambered up to my feet.

“Yes, Weimin, why don’t you go look around your wife’s home,” Lady Ju said slowly.

“Of course.” He rose to his feet and I realized at that moment that I had been terribly wrong in assuming that every aspect of him was mediocre. His height was impressive and he easily towered over everyone in the room, nearly dwarfing me. He was rather lean, but gearing towards the skinnier side, rather than how a muscle-bound warrior should’ve been. But if he was decked in armor, it would be clear to see that he was a soldier, through and through.

I blinked away from my gaze and saw that he noticed my awed expression, his cheeks blazing with color as he looked away. I swallowed down the embarrassment and spun on my heels, making my way out of the room. He trailed behind me and I could feel the stares of everyone on my back as I exited the room. When we were out of the house, I felt like I could breathe, but just a little bit. His presence was still pressurizing.

“That’s the well,” I said absentmindedly as I jabbed a thumb at the well that was a few meters from the house. Graceful, more graceful. I motioned towards the shed, which wasn’t too far off, with a more elegant gesture. “That’s the shed.”

“Do you have animals in the shed?” he asked randomly.

“Y-Yes.” I couldn’t look at him and instead, focused on walking towards the shed. “We have a cow for milk and a mule for farm work. They both are very old, however.”

“I see.” We walked in silence for the remainder of the time it took to near the shed, before he spoke once more. “My name is Zhuang Weimin. We didn’t properly introduce ourselves . . . ”

“Meng Lihua,” I said quickly.

“Hard to believe we’ll be married in a week.”

He was still at war when our engagement had been finalized, so it wasn’t surprising that this was possibly a shock to him—to arrive home and find out he was going to marry in a week. Did he want to be married so young? Was he forced into doing this? Was this an unnecessary and unpleasant thing for him? Being suddenly married meant a lot of responsibilities—an increase in spending, an effect on income, and the intrusion of space. Was he prepared for all of this?

“Do you think it’s bad that I don’t have dreams?” he asked abruptly, cutting off my stream of thought. The questions caught me off guard and I looked up at him by accident, my eyes catching his. They were dark and they were set at me, but there was no animosity or anger or evil within his gaze. Honest eyes stared back at me. “I don’t have any dreams right now. No goals, no ambitions—I’m taking things one step at a time. I don’t have anything to offer you.”

My breath caught in my throat and I was unable to rip my eyes away from his gaze.

“I don’t have money, status, or anything to offer you. Not even a dream.” He didn’t look away from me and his voice didn’t hold any self-pity or embarrassment that should’ve been there when declaring one’s lowly social status. “The only thing I can offer you is a promise. I’ll protect you, Meng Lihua, and I’ll keep you safe. When we’re married, you’re my family. I don’t have a dream to offer you right now, but perhaps one day I will. When that day comes, will you help me accomplish that dream?”

There was nothing extraordinary about him, but at that moment, I found myself nodding towards him, my cheeks flushed with color and my mind a whirl of thought. When he smiled down at me, I felt as if I was under the scrutiny of the sun, warm and engulfing.

Maybe, just maybe, it would be alright to be married to a man like him.