The Substitute Groom Refuses to Leave novel · Chapter 2 of 24
Chapter 2: The Cabbage Seat
Shuqiao claims the lowest chair and Yunting joins him before hostile guests.
The general's wedding guests had saved a chair for a cabbage.
Shuqiao discovered this when he sat in it.
It stood beside the rear door, below the long banquet tables.
A basket waited underneath, with a cut stalk pointing up.
The household steward came running with a cushion.
"Master Wen, that's the chair we use when trimming vegetables."
"It is admirably sturdy," Shuqiao said.
He had chosen it because his uncle's friends occupied the high table.
Their laughter had reached him before their congratulations.
One had asked whether the proper groom would come tomorrow.
Another had called Shuqiao dutiful without making room for him.
Shuqiao could endure an insult.
He wouldn't stand behind it waiting for permission to sit.
The steward introduced himself as Tao Mingzhong and deposited the cushion.
"I want you to eat while the food's hot," he said.
"Then we share an ambition."
Mingzhong glanced toward the high table.
"Your ambition is harder from down here."
He fetched a small serving table and set it before Shuqiao.
That would have settled the matter if the general hadn't returned.
Yunting looked at his empty wedding chair, then at his spouse.
"Did you want the door open?"
"The air is pleasant," Shuqiao said.
Yunting opened it.
The gentlemen at the high table pulled their sleeves over their wrists.
Shuqiao hadn't intended a draft.
He accepted its assistance.
"There has been some confusion over places," one guest called.
"I'm comfortable," Shuqiao said.
The general examined the chair's solid legs.
"You found the best one."
He took a plain stool from the kitchen doorway and sat beside him.
Mingzhong closed his eyes briefly.
Then he brought another bowl.
The high table had stopped eating.
Shuqiao wished his satisfaction wasn't so obvious to himself.
He also wished Yunting's knee wasn't touching his sleeve.
There wasn't much room between a cabbage chair and a kitchen stool.
"General," the oldest guest said, "your proper place is up here."
Yunting reached for the fish.
"There's a bone in yours."
The guest looked down at his bowl.
"I meant your rank."
"Then you can stop looking in the rice."
Someone near the kitchen dropped a ladle.
Shuqiao concentrated on swallowing.
The general served him fish without choosing the finest portion for himself.
It was a small thing.
Shuqiao had grown tired of small things being saved for other people.
"You needn't inconvenience yourself," he said.
"I wanted fish too."
Yunting removed a bone from his own portion.
The guests began rearranging themselves.
One moved down a place to speak more conveniently to the general.
Another abandoned his cup to occupy the bench near the serving table.
Soon the rear doorway held two senior officials and a man balancing pickled radish.
The cabbage basket obstructed them all.
Shuqiao didn't move it.
The basket belonged here until someone asked politely.
His uncle's friends rarely practiced that particular accomplishment.
He had found his place before they found theirs.
"A happy household admits no distinction between high and low," the oldest guest announced.
The oldest guest attempted to lower himself onto an upturned wooden tub.
Mingzhong caught him by both sleeves.
"That one contains hot washing water."
The kitchen servants laughed before remembering their guests.
Shuqiao enjoyed the sound enough to stop hiding his own smile.
Yunting gave the gentleman his stool.
Then the general stood beside Shuqiao's chair and kept eating.
Shuqiao couldn't bear that.
"Take half," he said, moving over.
The chair admitted two men only if they disagreed about personal dignity.
Yunting set his bowl down.
"Your family will think I'm making you suffer."
"They've already used that compliment."
Shuqiao lifted the cabbage basket with his foot.
"Put this somewhere important."
The general carried it to the empty wedding chair at the high table.
He returned without ceremony and sat beside his spouse.
Their hips met beneath the table.
Shuqiao looked at the fish and forgot which part he'd meant to take.
Yunting picked up the serving chopsticks.
"You can choose first," he said.
At the high table, the cabbage received its first formal toast.
← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend