The day the imperial decree granted our marriage, my father got into a fight with my future father-in-law at court.
One knocked a jade tablet out of a civil official’s hand, while the other tore off a military officer’s sash.
The emperor rubbed his temples. “Why are you fighting? Go home and fight your children!”
On our wedding night, I hefted our ancestral broadsword and hacked open the wedding bed. “Xie Zhiwei, if you’ve got the guts, come out and fight me!”
He peeked out from behind the Book of Rites and drawled, “My lady, the pleasures of the bedchamber should be guided by harmony and propriety…”
Later, when the enemy surrounded the city, he was still reciting as he took an arrow for me: “…That arrow should have been dodged at the Shanzhong acupoint…”
I wept as I tore open his clothes to look for the wound, but half a bloodstained tiger tally fell out.
It fit perfectly with the other half hidden in the secret compartment of my father’s study, making a complete tiger tally.
