Although it was already spring, the early morning in Yecheng was still filled with cold air that had not yet completely left.

Sima Yi opened his eyes and felt a headache. He seemed to have forgotten what happened yesterday and what he had experienced again. He put his back on his forehead and closed his eyes again:<

"Chunhua, help me get a hot face palette, I have a headache."

Fu Ruoxin, who was sitting in front of the bronze mirror, saw that Sima Yi had woken up, put the comb in his hand and stood up.

When she heard the first sentence Sima Yi said when she woke up was the name of his first wife, she felt extremely uncomfortable, but she knew that Zhang Chunhua was originally his whole body, and her unreasonable intervention destroyed the harmony between the couple. She had no qualifications or power, so she felt resentful.

Fu Ruoxin picked up the hot face palette that had been prepared and hung on the edge of the washbasin, walked to the bed and handed it to Sima Yi. Sima Yi took the face palette and covered his face. Gradually, his consciousness began to wake up, including the little things that happened all day yesterday, all the time they had appeared before him again...<

He sat up suddenly and took off the face-paper covering his face, widened his eyes and looked at Fu Ruoxin sitting beside him. He didn't know what to say or what to react for a moment, and seemed very embarrassed and at a loss.

But Fu Ruoxin seemed very calm. She gently stretched out her hand and took the face from Sima Yi's hand. After saying nothing, she stood up and returned to the door, opened the door with a basin and walked out of the door.

Sima Yi, who was sitting on the bed, only remembered that he wanted to deliberately get himself drunk last night. However, after drinking many jars of wine, he found that his mind became clearer and clearer. After returning to the new house, he had to lie on the ground and pretend to be asleep.

Later, he vaguely felt Fu Ruoxin reaching out to touch his cheek, and the hot tears fell on his face one by one...<

After that, Sima Yi gradually lost consciousness. As for what Fu Ruoxin said to him later and how he moved himself to the bed, Sima Yi had no impression at all.

Just as he recalled these things, Zhang Chunhua's sad face appeared in his mind. He quickly lifted the bedding and changed into clothes, walked out of the door quickly, wanting to go to Zhang Chunhua's room to take a look.

Sima Yi, who could not wait to see Zhang Chunhua, suddenly lost confidence when he walked to the door. He tried to stretch out his hand to push the door open several times, and after hesitating for a long time, he put it down again.

Until he finally got the courage to reach out again, the door actually opened on its own.

Sima Yi looked very tired when he saw Zhang Chunhua's face, and seemed to have not closed his eyes all night, and was very worried about her condition:<

"That...you still..."<

Just when Sima Yi was stammering and unable to speak clearly due to nervousness and guilt, his light accidentally caught a glimpse of a man who looked familiar but could not remember his identity on the bed in the room, which made Sima Yi's mind blank instantly.

Seeing that Sima Yi had discovered Yuan Mai lying on the bed, Zhang Chunhua did not hide it:

"You don't have to think too much. He was Yuan Mai, my brother when I was in Hebei. You have also seen him in Youzhou. Last night, I accidentally saw him fainting on the street with a broken body. I couldn't bear it, so I brought him back."

As he said that, Zhang Chunhua unconsciously turned his face to the side and deliberately avoided Sima Yi's gaze:

"I originally wanted to tell you, but last night was a good day for you to have a wedding night. I don't want to end up with a narrow mind and destruction."

From Zhang Chunhua's words, Sima Yi could hear that her resentment towards her had not subsided.

At this moment, Zhang Chunhua noticed Fu Ruoxin who happened to pass by in the corridor opposite, and moved his eyes to her. Fu Ruoxin also found Zhang Chunhua staring at him, so he bowed to Zhang Chunhua through the corridor.

The most embarrassing person at this time was Sima Yi who was caught in the middle. Zhang Chunhua turned his face and said to Sima Yi:

"Go, your newlywed lady is waiting for you. Mai'er is very weak and I still have to take care of him, so I won't be with her."

After saying that, Zhang Chunhua, holding his ragged and dirty clothes, was about to go out and throw him away, bypassed Sima Yi and left alone.

For the sake of Yuan Buying his identity, Zhang Chunhua knew how dangerous the impact he would have on Sima Yi, as a remnant of Yuan's family, so she did not bring him back to Sima's house openly, but secretly hid him in her room.

In the following days, Zhang Chunhua hid him well, and never let anyone other than Sima Yi see him, and the trivial matters in the family were not as sad as before. Therefore, those who took care of Sima Yi's daily life and diet and even Sima Shi and Sima Zhao's life were all Fu Ruoxin.

But this does not mean that this matter is unknown. When Sima Yi saw Yuan Mai lying in Zhang Chunhua's room with his own eyes, he couldn't help but feel very surprised about why he suddenly appeared in Yecheng, so he talked about this matter with Zhong Yu.

Yuan Mai's appearance at this time also aroused Zhong Yu's suspicion, and he said to Sima Yi:<

"At the time, Gongsun Kang gave Cao Cao only the heads of Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi, but there was no whereabouts about Yuan Mai. Cheng Wu and Jia Mu had also secretly investigated, but they still found nothing. As soon as he disappeared, he had been there for so many years. Now he suddenly appeared when there was a crack in your relationship with Chunhua. Don't you think it was too coincidental?"

The reason why Sima Yi asked Zhong Yu to discuss this matter was due to suspicion of Yuan Mai, but he knew very well in his heart:

"The reason why Chunhua did this was that she did not want to protect Yuan Mai's Jingquan, but she also did not want to touch me. It can be seen that although she still had resentment towards me, her heart towards me still had not changed."

From this period of observation, Zhong Yu basically recognized Sima Yi's view of Zhang Chunhua, but he still felt uneasy inside. In case he advised Sima Yi to handle Yuan Mai's business as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable if the incident occurred.

"Brother Zhi, I understand what you said, but I know that Yuan Mai and Chunhua have been intimate since childhood and have a deep friendship. What position and reason do you ask me to use to convince Chunhua at this time?"

In this way, under Sima Yi's default, Yuan Mai lived in Sima's house day by day...<

In March 215 AD (the 20th year of Jian'an), after Cao Cao ended the southern expedition of Sun Quan, in order to avoid Liu Bei taking advantage of the victory to go north to seize the lead in Hanzhong, Cao Cao made his strategic preparations for the western expedition of Zhang Lu in nearly a year, and finally made up his mind to lead a large army of 100,000 troops to Hanzhong.

As the initial maker of this strategic plan, Sima Yi naturally had to follow the army to go, but at this time he did not fully handle the relationship between Zhang Chunhua and Fu Ruoxin. He seemed very worried in the face of the uncertain situation behind him.

At this time, although Zhang Chunhua and Fu Ruoxin, who were his two wives, did not have a very harmonious relationship, they chose to maintain superficial peace and peace in order to make suggestions from the front with all their hearts and minds.

One night before the war, after taking care of Yuan Mai's daily life and food, Zhang Chunhua wanted to go to the kitchen to prepare a meal for Sima Yi, but when she came to the kitchen door, she found that Fu Ruoxin was already busy in the smoke.

She stood at the door quietly observing. It was obvious that Fu Ruoxin was not good at dealing with cooking stoves, so she seemed a little busy. However, Zhang Chunhua could see that Fu Ruoxin was sincere to Sima Yi.

Thinking of this, she decided to let Sima Yi embark on the Western Expedition with peace of mind, so she rolled up her sleeves and walked into the kitchen:

"If you do this, I'm afraid we won't be able to have supper tonight..."

Fu Ruoxin didn't expect Zhang Chunhua to take the initiative to talk to him, and seemed a little overwhelmed:<

"Sister, I..."<

"Okay, stop saying anything."

Zhang Chunhua reached out and lifted the lid on the casserole, gently slid his palms to dispel the rising white mist:<

"No matter if I don't want you to marry into the Sima family, I never thought about how to get along with you in the future, but tomorrow our husband will embark on a journey. Even if we want to calm his heart and let him come back safely, we will make a good farewell meal."

Fu Ruoxin was very moved by this blunt statement. She nodded and started to work hard.

One hour later, more than ten delicious dishes were placed neatly on their tables. When Sima Yi returned home, he saw Fu Ruoxin and Zhang Chunhua, who had never done housework together, were putting the meals together on the tables. He suddenly felt that there was something wrong with his eyes. After all, Zhang Chunhua has never appeared at the table since Fu Ruoxin got married until today. Not only Sima Yi, but also Sima Lang and Sima Kui and other brothers were quite surprised.

During the whole supper, Zhang Chunhua talked and laughed with the people from the Sima family as usual, and was not restricted or neglected when facing Fu Ruoxin, as if they had a good relationship.<

Sima Lang could see that Zhang Chunhua and Fu Ruoxin were both considering Sima Yi, and he felt relieved.

As the person involved, Sima Yi seemed to notice that Zhang Chunhua was deliberately trying to force herself, and she felt grateful and felt guilty towards her. In fact, since she got married with Fu Ruoxin, Zhang Chunhua has only been caring for Yuan Mai who was unconscious and ignored Sima Yi at all. Sima Yi did not go to Fu Ruoxin's room to rest, and slept in the study every day.

Fu Ruoxin was very grateful for this. She did not show any dissatisfaction on her face. But she would go to the study room to check it out late at night. If Sima Yi was still reading at night, she would go to the kitchen to stew soup and deliver it to her. If Sima Yi leaned against the desk and fell asleep, she would pick up the sheet and cover it on his shoulder to avoid catching a cold.

However, these alone cannot completely dispel the trauma that Zhang Chunhua suffered in his heart. Sima Yi also understood very well that she had restored her normal relationship with Fu Ruoxin on the surface, but she was still bleeding in her heart.

After nightfall, Sima Yi quietly came to Zhang Chunhua's room door and wanted to talk to her before leaving.

It happened that Zhang Chunhua also wanted to go to Sima Yi to discuss Yuan Bu’s matter, so the two met unexpectedly at the door.

After a brief embarrassment, Zhang Chunhua took the initiative to put her body aside. Sima Yi understood what she meant and walked into the house.

Looking at Yuan Mai who was lying on the bed but still not regaining consciousness, Sima Yi remembered his concerns and Zhong Yu's reminder, especially this time he was going to Hanzhong, it is very likely that he would not be able to come back in a short period of time. Zhao Rui, who had been eyeing him, was the most worried about him. He was afraid that once he left, if Yuan Mai's affairs were leaked, it would be a serious consequence.

Thinking of this, Sima Yi finally said what hesitated for a long time:

"Chunhua, I'm wondering if I can temporarily place Yuan Mai outside Sima's house. If so..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Chunhua looked at Sima Yi with disappointment:

"If this happens, you will never affect you, right? That's right. After all, as an important counselor of Cao Cao and you are highly valued by Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, you will definitely have a bright future in the future. How can you take risks for this so-called remnant of Yuan's family?"

Faced with Zhang Chunhua's sarcasm, Sima Yi chose to endure it silently:<

"You misunderstood. I don't mean that. You also know that Zhao Rui has been hiding in the dark and looking for opportunities to attack me. If Yuan Mai stays at our home, it will be easy to be discovered by Zhao Rui. Will Yuan Mai be even more dangerous at that time?"

But in Zhang Chunhua's view, Sima Yi's words were even more concealed by the protection of his own:<

"If you say so, then as Yuan Shao's adopted daughter, I am also a remnant of Yuan's family. Why didn't Zhao Rui use me to attack you? I tell you, it is your freedom to marry who you want to marry, but Maier and I are as close as brothers. If you want to drive him out, I will leave the Sima family together, so that you can truly rest assured."

Originally, Sima Yi considered that his mention of this incident would cause Zhang Chunhua's fierce reaction, but he did not expect that even if he tried to restrain his tone and method, he still could not avoid this scene. In order not to further intensify the conflict, he could only stop this topic:<

"Okay... Since you insist, let Yuan Mai stay, but for his safety, you..."

Zhang Chunhua was not grateful for Sima Yi's concession. She planned to say coldly: "I attach more importance to Mai'er than you. He is my only relative in this world except Shi'er, Zhao'er, Zhang He and Sister Ning'er..."<

Perhaps it was an angry speech, Zhang Chunhua did not count Sima Yi in his words.

Although Sima Yi finally took the method of compromise and concession to stabilize Zhang Chunhua's emotions, on the basis of the cracks in the relationship, the conflict between Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua became even more intense due to the incident of Yuan Mai, which made Sima Yi feel helpless and confused about his and Zhang Chunhua's future.
Chapter completed!