Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

After this harsh pronouncement, Bi Yu took the bouquet and flung it back at Sun Haowei's face. She stormed off back to the mansion, her heart racing between anger and surprise. The nerve of this man! She reminded herself that she was appalled at his audacious actions.

She wasn't going to be swayed into remaining married to him - he clearly had other motives; there was no way he suddenly fell in love with her in the course of her screaming at him for divorce.

Bi Yu heard footsteps behind her and snarled. It must be that stupid man running after her to stop her!

"GO AWAY! CAN'T YOU TAKE A HINT YOU MOTHER- oh sorry Ming Yan, I didn't mean to snap at you." Bi Yu said, startling when she realised that it was Ming Yan hurrying after her.

"It's okay!" Ming Yan said, her face equally flushed. "I don't blame you for being angry, the nerve of that man! How could he presume that a simple bouquet could make up for the humiliation you endured?"

Bi Yu took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down. It was easier to do it now that she was further away from the source of her anger, and Ming Yan was here to be angry on her behalf.

"This man clearly expected me to roll over and accept his slipshod apology." Bi Yu scoffed. "Even if I was a divorcee spurned by polite society, I would take that over being his wife!"

"If you leave, I'm leaving." Ming Yan said determinedly. "Young Miss, you can't leave me behind!"

"I won't, I won't," Bi Yu promised, knowing Ming Yan was just as hurt over Yue Niang leaving them for good. "We'll buy a cottage and plant some vegetables, what do you think?"

"Anywhere is good with you!" Ming Yan agreed, nodding fervently. She looked around furtively and whispered. "Can I poison Young Master Sun now? Once he dies, we can go!"

Bi Yu shook her head. "Definitely not. He is deplorable, but I don't want him… dead."

"If you say so," Ming Yan said, slightly disappointed. "But what if he decides to reject the divorce? You won't be able to leave him!"

"Then I'll make him accept it." Bi Yu narrowed her eyes. "I'll be the world's worst wife. I'll make his life hell."

=======

Back at the garden, Sun Haowei let out a harsh sneeze. And another. And another.

"Sir? Are you alright?" One of his guards asked. They had kept a wary distance from him as he approached his wife with a bouquet, and all of them witnessed the embarrassing sight of him getting rejected multiple times!

If Sun Haowei had asked them for their opinions, they would have told him to change out of his whiskey-drenched shirt and wash his hair, but he didn't. He never did - he only gave orders, and he expected them to be followed.

"I'm fine," Sun Haowei said as he rubbed his nose with his sleeve, the smell of whiskey burning his nostrils.  Perhaps his wife had a point; he was going about this all wrong! He was so rattled after visiting his father he forgot to make a plan.

The supreme art of war is to subdue an enemy without fighting. If it worked for Sun Tzi in military campaigns, he saw no reason this advice would fail when it came to his marriage.

And more importantly - 17 roses were too little for her. He made a mental note to increase the number by 10000 times.

"We're going."

"Back to the mansion, Sir?"

"No. We need to visit more florists! My wife will see the error of her ways."

The bodyguards nodded in agreement, but they shot each other dubious looks when their boss wasn't looking.

Clearly Sun Haowei didn't learn much from his earlier encounter!

======

The next day, Bi Yu woke up to a field of roses by her bedside.

"Ming Yan!" She called out in a panic, springing awake immediately. "Come quick!"

Her room was supposed to be her refuge from nonsense, and she didn't even let other staff members inside it. Ming Yan was allowed, but Bi Yu didn't even let her tidy up the room. This was her space, and she needed Ming Yan more as a friend than a servant.

"Yes?" Ming Yan hurried over, worried at the uncharacteristic panic in her lady's voice. She burst into the room without knocking and gasped. "How can I - oh my! What happened?"

"That's what I hope you could tell me," Bi Yu said.

Ming Yan's eyebrow furrowed. "Could this be… from that man?"

"What?"

"You did tell him that 17 roses were too little to make up for his mistakes," Ming Yan elaborated. "So he got you… " Ming Yan tried to count the number of blooms, but there were simply too many and they were even of varying colours!

"A lot. There are even blue ones!" Ming Yan commented in surprise. "Lady Bi Yu? Lady Bi Yu? Where are you going?"

"To skin Sun Haowei!" Bi Yu called out, storming off in a rage. She didn't care that she was barefoot and wearing a nightgown, she had to put a stop to that man's tactics. He was trying to unsettle her by invading her privacy.

She stalked through the corridors, looking for her husband. Unfortunately, she didn't find him, instead she found vases and vases of new roses lining the walkway, outside every room. Her eyebrow twitched at the an unspoken taunt.

"Young Madame! You're awake! Do you want breakfast?" One of the servants asked hesitantly as she stumbled upon their young lady looking particularly upset. Hunger did have a way of making people unhappy.

"No. What I want is my husband. Where is that cursed man?" Bi Yu asked, nearly yelling at the poor servant before she reminded herself to behave. It wasn't this maid's fault she married a terrible man.

"He's in the dining hall!" The maid squeaked out. "He's waiting there to eat breakfast with you!"

"What? You must be joking," Bi Yu said disbelievingly. Every meal they shared since their marriage was one forced by circumstance. For instance, family dinners where they ignored each other as they ate in silence, or society parties where they pretended they were a supportive loving couple.

Wedding dinners were the worst of all - they were forced to play the part of a couple in happily wedded bliss, and answer invasive questions about the state of their marriage! And Bi Yu found it a new torture to sit and watch a new couple achieve marital bliss with every toast - something that so dearly eluded her.

"I wouldn't dare, Madame," the maid insisted. "Please, follow me to the dining hall!"

So Bi Yu did, and true enough, there was a man sitting at the head of the table with a bowl of congee in front of him, and yet another bouquet of roses to his left.

Clearly he was mocking her!

"Sun Haowei, what's the meaning of this!" Bi Yu demanded.

"Oh you're awake. Good morning, wife. Let's have breakfast together," Sun Haowei blinked and smiled, getting up to pull out a chair for her.

More than one maid blushed at his handsomeness and gentlemanly attitude, but Bi Yu only blanched. The sight of her husband actually pulling out her chair was such an uncharacteristic sight that it broke her brain.

"Don't give me that attitude, it's strange coming from you," she said with narrowed eyes, pointing at him with a shaky finger. "More importantly, what are all these roses for?"

"They are for you, of course," Sun Haowei said. "You said 17 was too little a number, and you were right. That was my mistake, hence I am rectifying it immediately. Is there a problem?"

"Is there a problem - oh, there are so many problems!" Bi Yu began. "For a start, why did you fill my room with roses? No one is supposed to enter my room, not even you!"

"But I didn't enter your room, it was the servants," Sun Haowei replied glibly. "But if you don't like them, then I'll have them replaced with another type of flower. Cost is no question."

Bi Yu breathed deeply, praying to any higher power for patience.

"Save your money on these paltry attempts and sign the divorce form, or you'll suffer the consequences!"

"No. We will remain married. Do you want congee for breakfast or buns?"

"I want a divorce."

"That's not on the menu."

Bi Yu gnashed her teeth. Not on the menu? She was going to make sure it was put on every course, she was going to buy termites and let them loose on the house, she was going to -

Her stomach growled.

"So, congee or buns?" Her husband asked, amused.

"Buns," Bi Yu growled out, even if she wanted the congee. She didn't want to have anything in common with him!

They ate in silence. Bi Yu stuffed the buns in her mouth and plotted revenge, while Sun Haowei perused the morning paper. He thought about engaging his wife in conversation, but the death glare she gave him made him think twice.

Maybe his wife just wasn't a morning person!