Chapter 8
Chapter 8
I hadn’t thought about Liang Zhi for many years.
He eventually left my family’s home, feeling that there was no future in being a mere groom. When he departed, he left without a word, stealing one of our carriages in the process.
I resented him for that. If he had wanted the carriage, I wouldn’t have said a word against it. Even Chen Sheng, born a common tenant farmer, could cry out, ‘Are kings and nobles born to their high stations?’ Everyone has their own ambitions; if he wanted to go out and make something of himself, I wouldn’t have stood in his way. I might have even given him the silver I had saved up.
But forget it. He’s long gone, so what’s the point in dwelling on it? Liang Zhi never returned, and as time passed, he gradually faded from my mind.
Lately, however, things have been different. I’ve fallen ill, feeling constantly restless and unable to sleep at night. To put it politely, Li Shiyin calls it a ‘deficiency heat’ ailment. To put it bluntly, I’m simply too lonely and longing for a man.
For a noblewoman who is supposed to adhere to the virtues of womanhood, such a realization is truly frightening.
Not long ago, I had a dream.
In the dream, I was back in the Xie Family estate, inside my private chambers. The cicadas of midsummer chirped incessantly, and the night outside the window was thick and heavy. In that sweltering room, the bed curtains hung low, swaying gently in a stray evening breeze.
A man was inside the curtains with me, wild and unrestrained. He was young and strong, with a powerful physique; his muscular arms wrapped around me, pressing me so hard it felt as if he were trying to pull me into his very body.
I was hot-so hot I could hardly breathe, drenched in sweat. Yet, I couldn’t help but want to hold him tighter, to draw him closer, to melt into one another. He smelled of the lotus blossoms in a wild pond and the fresh scent of morning dew. I was like a fish dying of thirst, desperate to hide and find shelter beneath the lush green lotus leaves.
I knew the man in the dream was Liang Zhi.
I knew because he whispered into my ear, over and over again-
“Ah Yuan.”
“Fourth Young Lady.”