Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Biga brought the child to the castle, and Ai Ni finally had someone to talk to.Biga told her how Lowe and Seaman were arguing about Cooper. "My husband defended me?" Aine asked softly. "Oh, yes, ma'am, he told Sir Seaman to shut up. Seaman tried his best to get Cooper away, but my Cooper will not give up so easily." "Yes!" Ai Ni said helplessly. "The Ou family will never give up, and they will never be changed." "That's not necessarily the case, ma'am," said Biga. "When you crossed the bridge yesterday, Sir Lowe was yelling at his knights when he stopped to look at you."

"Really?" Annie asked in surprise. "Is he really like this?" "Yes, ma'am." Ai Ni couldn't believe that she could change Lowe, that he was the husband who couldn't even remember her name.But now he remembered that just this morning he was holding him and whispering her name in his ear!And it's the correct name. It had been three weeks since Cooper and Bigger had arrived, and Lowe and Seaman were still bickering, barely speaking.Ai Ni wanted Lowe to tell the reason, but he just refused.When he was in bed at night, he tried his best to be tender with her.It seemed to Aine sometimes that he wanted to get from her all the warmth he had lost as a child.

Occasionally, after dinner, he went to the sunroom to listen to Ernie's maids playing the harp and singing.Ai Ni began to teach him how to go downstairs, and when he discovered that this game was similar to fighting, he became very enthusiastic and soon became proficient.Sal joined them, and sometimes the brothers sat on the floor and competed with each other for brainpower.One night Lowell was sitting on the sofa by the window, and Sal was sitting on the floor nearby, and Aine saw Lowell reach out and stroke Sal's head.The boy looked up at his brother with eyes full of love and admiration.Aini was so moved that she could hardly stand up.

Although Lowe has gradually revealed his gentle nature, they still quarreled several times, which turned the world upside down.Lowe didn't want to believe that Aine had talents other than being good at bed and housekeeping.Although Ai Ni proved to him again and again, he still never remembered these deeds of his. So in the end, Aini still had to try her best to get her to go to court to help with the trial.No matter how much she talked, he just refused to believe that she had the means to judge fairly. She finally cried out.Lowe wasn't the type to panic when a woman cried, but he couldn't stand Aini's lack of a smile, and he seemed to think it was Aini's responsibility to be happy.In the end he agreed to let her sit next to him in court.Aine hugged his neck in delight and kissed him repeatedly—then she tickled him.

At this moment, Ximan walked into the hall and saw the two of them rolling on the ground.Aini's long hair scattered all over the floor, and his brother was scratched until he couldn't breathe.Seaman's anger immediately quieted the two of them. It's Seaman again, Aine thought.She never expected that her uncle would hinder her so much.He seemed to be on her side when she first got here, but as Lowe changed, so did he.He did everything possible to turn Lowe against her, and Lowe refused to tell her all of it; she had to rely on Biga for some news. The more Ernie knew, the more she wanted to make Lowe more comfortable.I could see his inner struggle in his eyes, should he enjoy this comfortable life, or stay in his meditation room and meditate?

This meditation room sparked their second quarrel.After he stayed there for two nights, Aini ran in.She ran in without knocking. Lowe was yelling, angry and jumping.But Ai Ni could see from his eyes that he didn't really care that much. "What's this?" she asked, pointing to a pile of papers on the table. He lost his temper for a while, but finally showed her the sketch.Aini doesn't know anything about combat machines, but she still has some ideas about farming machines, and the two are not very different.She made some suggestions, and good ones at that.It was a beautiful night, the two of them alone in that room, hunched over mechanical sketches.But as usual, He-Man was once again spoiling their harmony.He opened the door and came in, glaring at the two of them. "I heard she was in there," he said. "But I don't believe it. This room is so sacred, and now you let a woman in here, what are you doing here?" He nodded to the sketch on the table. "Come to teach you how to build a machine? Don't you look a little bit like a man?"

Aini was very excited and saw Ximan stomping away, scratching his arms as he walked.It seemed that the lice were attacking him again, and Ai Ni hoped that he would be bitten to death.She turned to face her husband. "Lowe..." he said. But he had gotten up and walked away, leaving her alone in the room.Since then, Ai Ni can't remember him going in again. Her heart struggled with Lowe's.He spends a long time training knights every day, trying to prove to his men, especially his younger brother, that he is still qualified to be the master of this family.In the evening, he still came to Ernie, but he was never able to enjoy it in peace.

Aini wrote to ask her stepmother Lina, asking her to keep an eye out for a suitable object for Seaman.If she finds Seaman a wife, maybe he'll let Lowe go, Aine thought. After their third quarrel, Lowe and Seaman really stood on the same line against Ai Ni. The two brothers were having breakfast when Ernie rushed down the stairs and into the hall, but neither of them spoke. Aini was so angry that she could hardly speak. "You...my brother actually slept with three women this morning." Lowe looked at Seaman in surprise. "Three? My best record is four, and I was exhausted the next day."

"Oh? When?" Seaman asked, as if ignoring Aini's existence. "A year ago at the game—" "It's not him!" cried Aine. "It's Sal! That little boy!" The two men looked at her stupidly, and she should have known that they would not think it was a big deal at all. "I couldn't stand this," he said. "Lowell, you have to find a way to stop him." She took a step forward. "This kid adores you. He thinks the sun follows you up and down the mountain. I think he's probably imitating you." Seaman smiled and patted Lowe on the shoulder. "Imitate his big brother." He said with a smile.

Aini's anger could no longer be contained. "At least Lowe is still improving, and what about you? Live with a mistress and openly set a bad example for this kid!" Seaman stood up and stared at her. "Leave my life alone," he growled. "As for Sal—" Lowe stood up and interrupted his brother. "Saar, we will take care of ourselves." "Like you take care of other things—including your wife?" Seaman said, closing the door hard and leaving. Lowe sat heavily in the chair, his brother's words hurting him. "This man needs a wife," said Aine. "We're going to find a woman tough enough to take on Seaman and Randy." She wanted to make him laugh with some jokes.

"This kind of woman doesn't exist." She stroked his forehead. "Really? I've got you under control, and you're twenty times stronger than Seaman!" She was just joking, but Lowe didn't seem to think so.He stared at her with angry eyes. "No woman can control me, or my family. Go back to your room, woman! Go embroider, and do women's things." He left her alone in the room again. Lowe never came to her again that day and night. "He must have gone to find another woman, I'm going to kill that stinky woman!" Aini said as she paced in her room. At midnight, she couldn't bear it anymore, she ran to find Biga, and asked Biga to find out where Lowe was for her.Biga came back after a while and said Lowe and his men were drinking drunk in the hall! This news made Aine very happy.Lowe was no longer the man who hadn't recognized her and couldn't pronounce her name.He cares about her.Aine fell asleep, if not very deeply, she did. Before dawn she was awakened by the sound of steel clashing and hammering. "Lowie!" she cried, her heart constricting into a ball.She grabbed a coat and ran downstairs. The Huo family tried to sneak into Oujia Castle at dawn.They threw the big steel hooks over the city wall, climbed the ropes and began to climb. The Huo family hadn't launched an attack for several months, and the Ou family was busy with civil strife, so the defense was relaxed, and everyone lost their vigilance. When the enemy was found on the sleepy street, twelve of the twenty attacking men had already climbed over the wall.Two guards were killed even in their sleep. Lowe lay drunk on the hall floor, still not sure what had happened.Seaman came to him before he woke up. "You make me sick!" he said, threw Lowe a sword, and ran out of the room. Lowe got up immediately to make up for lost time.Even if his mind didn't wake up immediately, his body recovered quickly.He kicked the rest of his drunken men to wake up, and a moment later he was fighting hard in the atrium with Seaman and Cooper. It didn't take long for the intruders to be dealt with. "What does Hodry want?" "Woman!" said the Huo family. "We're here to get her." The man knew he was going to die anyway, and he looked at Lowe haughtily. "He said that his brother needs a wife. It just so happens that a woman from the Ou family is the most suitable bride for the Huo family." Lowe killed the man.He plunged the sword into the captive's heart and twisted and turned until Seaman pulled him away. "He's dead," Seaman said. "And four of us, too." Fear suddenly filled Lowe's heart.If He-Man hadn't come...if he had been a little bit more drunk...they'd probably have Ani by now. "Search every place carefully:" he said. "I want you to go through every box and cabinet until you are sure that there is no one from the Huo family. Go!" He yelled at the people around him. "Now you can pay attention to the Huo family." Seaman said. "But it's for her. You have already sacrificed two brothers for your last wife. Will you be satisfied when Sal and I are both dead?" At this moment, Ai Ni flew over, her long golden hair fluttering behind her back.She hugged Lowe tightly. "You're all right!" she cried, tears streaming down his shoulders. "I'm worried to death." At this moment, Lowe forgot about the bleeding knight beside him and Heman glaring at him.He hugged her trembling body and stroked her hair. "I'm fine!" he whispered. He looked up and saw the face of a squire who had followed him in his father's lifetime, a face full of disgust and contempt.Lowe looked him in the eye, and he knew their devotion to him had soured.How could they be loyal to a leader who got drunk from arguing with his wife?How can they trust a master who is not even alerted to the enemy's attack?In the market satire the farmer says he has been "tamed" by a woman, which seemed absurd at the time, but seems quite plausible now. He must restore his dominance immediately, or he will never be able to control his men. He pushed Aini away. "Go back to the house, woman!" Ai Ni felt the embarrassment of Lowe's situation.She straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to help. How many people are hurt?" She turned to the others. "Take these people to the kitchen, where it's warmer, and get some—" Lowe had to stop her. "Obey me!" he yelled. "But these people got hurt." His people, whether injured or not, all looked at him.Lowe knew this was a defining moment. "I married you for your money," he said aloud for all to hear. "Not for your opinion, let alone for your appearance." Aini felt like being kicked in the stomach.She could hear the sneer of people around her.Slowly, she turned and walked back to the castle. Lowe almost followed her, but he didn't. "Lift these people up," he ordered.He secretly decided to make it up to her at night.Maybe a gift, she likes the dolls out of town, maybe— "Where are you carrying it?" Seaman asked. Lowe saw again the long-lost respect in his brother's face. "The hall," he said. "Get a doctor to look at them, and then bring the guards to me." "Yes, brother," Seaman said, putting a hand on Lowe's shoulder. For Lowe, this hand is like a heavy responsibility. "I knew he was still our eldest brother." Seaman said proudly to Randy. "Now this time, I don't want her to take care of the people and Dao's family." Randy looked at him holding the needle.She has heard about what happened yesterday. "Where did your brother sleep last night?" "I don't know." Seaman hesitated. "Maybe with his men. He should have knocked down the woman's door. She really needs to be taught a lesson." Lan Qun watched Ximan scratching his hands in a hurry, how good it was when he became clean for a while! "Now you've got the castle back. Your brother is sleeping with his men again, and I'm sure he's as unhappy as ever? I suppose he won't smile now?" Seaman stood up and walked towards the window.Sal had said he was jealous, and he was starting to think that maybe there was some truth to that.He made Lowe humiliate his wife in public and make her quit, but what did he get?The past twenty-four hours had been tragic. He never knew that Lowe had changed so much recently. The original Lowe is back, unchanged.He broke a Cavalier's arm on the practice field simply because he wasn't moving fast enough.He slashed another man across the cheek.Seaman came out to protest, and he immediately punched him so that he lay on the ground like a dog eating shit. Seaman turned his back to Randy. "Lowy is the same again." Randy could read his mind.Seaman doesn't have a bad bone in his body, he's just afraid of change like most people.He had always admired and loved his elder brothers, but they all left one by one. Now he only has one brother, Lowe, and he is afraid of losing him again. "Then how do you get them back together?" Randy asked with a stitch. "Rebuild it?" Seaman said sharply. "The Huo family will come in and kill us while Luo Wei is enjoying the blessing, and they will—" "If you don't, Lowe will wear you out with training." He opened his mouth to retort, but finally sat back in his chair. "I don't think she's too bad, this place does need a little cleaning now and then." He looked at Randy. "Well, clean it often. But she doesn't have to take him all the way!" "She loves him," Randy said. "This is the most involuntary thing a woman can do." She looked at him lovingly. "Send a post to invite Ai Ni to dinner, and say it was invited by Lowe; send the same message to Lowe, saying it was invited by Ai Ni." Seaman grabbed his clothes angrily. "Do you think she'll do my laundry?" "If you give Lowe back to her, I'm sure she will." "I'll think about it," Seaman said. "If Lowe's situation continues, I will think about it." "Does he think that's going to get me back?" Ernie asked Bigga, who were alone in the sunroom. "Does he think that just an invitation letter will make me crawl to beg him? Now that he has my money, do I have to let him manipulate me?" "Are you trying to refuse his invitation?" Bi Jia asked timidly. Lowe's actions that morning had deeply humiliated her, but Aine was not a woman to shrink back. "I'm going to bring a stack of gold plates in front of me so he doesn't have to look at my ugly face." "But, ma'am, I don't believe he is—" Biga was still talking, but Aini didn't listen at all.The gold plate gave her an idea. "Go and call the blacksmith." "lady?" "Call the blacksmith, I have something for him to do." Bijia stood up. "Then you are going to accept the invitation?" "Oh yes, I'll accept the offer. I'll also let him get what he says without looking at my flat face." Biga still didn't move. "Sometimes it's better to forgive than fight, you know, marriage is—" "My marriage is based on money, you can go now!" "Yes, ma'am." Biga timidly replied and left. Three hours later Ernie was dressed and ready to go to a dinner party invited by her husband.Joss followed her because Ai Ni didn't want to listen to Biga's nagging—Bijia would never agree to her doing so. She doesn't want anyone to stop her.The hurt she has suffered cannot be easily repaired. If she really forgives him, who knows what will happen to him in the future?Humiliate her every day?Then just treat her to a meal? She just couldn't swallow it. "Get out!" Lowe yelled at Seaman.They were in a room above the kitchen that had belonged to that Sunday and was now pretty much dirty.A big black rat was gnawing on a bone in the corner. "I think you should wear something cleaner and shave along the way." "Shave?" Lowe asked defiantly. "What are you doing? Having dinner with a woman? You're right, I should have gotten rid of her early. I'm going to send her to Barman Castle." "Then how many people will be sent to protect her? The Huo family will—" "If the Huo family wants to arrest her, they must arrest her, who cares about her!" But he flinched in his heart.After he said those words, he used to go to her, but she locked the door behind her.That bastard woman!If she wants to lock it, let her go, he doesn't care!He told himself he only married her for her money. But just in the past few days, he remembered from time to time the laughter, her long hair, and the way she hugged his neck and kissed her when she was happy.He thought of what she said, he thought of her soft and warm body at night. He glared at Seaman. "Since when did you care what I wear?" "Since I ate sand in my bread two days ago, since Randy didn't pay much attention to me." "Send her back to her husband, and I will..." He could barely pronounce her name. "I'll take Aini back too." He said gently. "Maybe it's better for both of us," Seaman said. "In this way, we don't have to worry about the Huo family coming to snatch people again. But then again, the subordinates are complaining about the bread, maybe..." He didn't finish. Lowe looked at the dark green velvet top in Seaman's hand.Since she had sent an invitation letter, perhaps it meant that she intended to apologize to him for locking the door! Now that she was going to apologize, maybe he could forgive her too. Ai Ni waited until Lowe's subordinates were all seated, and Lowe, Seaman, and Sal also sat down at the main table, and Joss covered Ai Ni's veil. "Are you sure, miss?" Joss asked worriedly. "One hundred percent." Aini straightened her shoulders as she spoke. When Ai Ni walked into the hall, everyone fell silent.Joss pulled the long fringed skirt behind her, and Aini's face was covered with a waist-length scarf. She walked solemnly and slowly to the main hall, and stood there waiting until Seaman elbowed Lowe, who got up and pulled the chair away for her.Aini sat down, and the whole room was still extremely silent, all eyes were focused on the hostess and hostess.Aini gently lifted the veil with her arms very slowly.When everyone saw her, there was a clear and audible exclamation in the room.All kinds of coins hung around Aini's face: gold, silver, and copper, all of which were hung on her headdress, jingling and jingling. In the astonished eyes of everyone, Ai Ni took out a pair of scissors and cut a copper coin in front of her. "Is this enough for the drink, my lord?" She snipped another gold coin. "Can this pay for beef?" Lowe stared at the coin she had cut out. "Don't worry so much, my lord," she said aloud. "I don't eat so much that I show my flat face." Lowe's face turned grim.Without saying a word, he got up and left the hall. Sal turned to Seaman, who looked as if he was about to fall ill. "Eat it! Seaman. There may be stones in the bread tomorrow, and Lowe will let them practice until they lie in the grave." He said happily. "It's amazing that you can let Aini keep her mind off her business!" Aine, with all her poise and dignity, also left the hall.