The River Dragon Demanded a Husband, So the Scholar Stepped Forward novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: The Schoolhouse Bed
Liyan did not go near the headman's house.
He took the back path along the paddies, with his bundle under his arm, and let himself into the schoolhouse by the window.
It was exactly as he had left it.
Eleven small desks, a slate on the wall, a brush rack.
In the corner stood the narrow wooden bed where he had slept since he was nine.
He sat on the edge of it and put his face in his hands.
Ayu found him within the hour.
She came through the door, saw his face, and shut her mouth for once.
"I'm all right," Liyan said. "I only need one night in my own house."
"Did he hurt you?"
"No."
"Did you hurt him?"
Liyan laughed, and it came out wet.
"Maybe. I'll tell you tomorrow."
She looked at him for a long moment.
Then she lit his lamp and put a rice cake in his hand.
She went off to the weaver's next door, where she had been sleeping since the wedding.
"I'm two walls away," she said at the door. "Shout if I'm needed."
The rain began after dark.
It drummed steadily on the roof.
Liyan lay in the narrow bed under his old quilt and listened to it.
The warm silver scale was still in his sleeve.
He took it out and held it on his chest.
It was warm as a living thing.
It had been warm since the shoal, and he had never asked why.
Near midnight someone knocked.
It was a soft knock, patient, as if the person on the other side had been standing there some time.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The River Dragon Demanded a Husband, So the Scholar Stepped Forward are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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