Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Shen Changling silently counted the years. It seemed he had not seen her since he was nine. He had never expected her to still be so beautiful – or for his heart to leap with joy the moment he saw her, just as it had before.
He had heard that she later married into the Xie Family. So she was already a married woman.
A strange sense of melancholy had just begun to well up inside him when he heard his mother say, “She’s had a pitiful time of it, though. She has divorced the Xie Family now, and life is hardly easy for a divorced woman.”
At the news that Ji Hanyi was divorced, Shen Changling froze. He asked in shock, “She’s divorced?”
Madam Bai glanced sidelong at her habitually feckless younger son. “What are you so shocked about? What does it have to do with you?”
“What you should be worrying about is when you’ll finally make Commander of Strike Assistance and give your father something to be pleased about.”
Shen Changling paused, then scratched his head and walked beside his mother, putting on an ingratiating smile. Yet Ji Hanyi remained on his mind, and he could not resist sidling closer to his mother and asking, “When did she get divorced? Did those people from the Xie Family mistreat her?”
“I remember Cousin Yi was so soft and yielding as a child that anyone could knead her like a ball of dough. She must have been bullied, right?”
Madam Bai gave a lukewarm smile. “I imagine the divorce happened within the past few days.”
“How many divorced women are there in the capital? Whatever the reason, there must be something wrong with the woman herself too.”
She added coolly, “Tsk, speaking of which, she is rather pitiful. She had no family of her own to support her, so she should have kept her head down and served the Xie Family obediently. How could she act on a moment’s anger?”
“Divorcing over a concubine was rather foolish of her.”
Shen Changling listened in a daze. All he could see was the glance Ji Hanyi had given him when she raised her eyes earlier, and the shy, timid way she had retreated behind her aunt.
His heart gave two hard thumps before he murmured, “Cousin Yi is still so young…”
Madam Bai merely snorted, entirely unconcerned.
What did it matter if she was young? Now that she was divorced, she had almost no chance of marrying again.
What respectable family in the capital would accept a divorced woman? Marrying one would only bring disgrace upon the family.
She turned to look at Shen Changling and saw him standing there as if his soul had flown away. Unable to restrain herself, she reached up and tugged his ear. “Why do you keep asking about her?”
“I heard you got into another fight at the military camp. You’d better start thinking about how you’re going to face your father tonight, or you’ll be in for a beating.”
Shen Changling yelped in pain as his mother tugged his ear and immediately settled down.
Meanwhile, Ji Hanyi had already reached the front gate and had just boarded the carriage when an older maid hurried after her. Standing outside the carriage, she called to Ji Hanyi, “Miss Ji, the Marquis said you forgot to take the Divorce Agreement. It’s in the Marquis’s study, and he asks that you go collect it now.”
Only then did Ji Hanyi remember that Shen Si had said he would have the Divorce Agreement delivered to her. Perhaps because she happened to be here today, he had decided to let her collect it herself.
The Divorce Agreement bearing the authorities’ official seal was the most important proof of her freedom from this point onward. Knowing how vital it was, Ji Hanyi quickly lifted the curtain and asked the maid outside, “Do I need to collect it in person?”
The maid replied, “For something this important, it would naturally be best for you to inspect it yourself before taking it away.”
“Please don’t worry. Madam Gu may leave first, and a carriage will take you home afterward.”
Madam Zhang, who was seated behind Ji Hanyi, said, “Since you’re going to collect the Divorce Agreement, you should indeed do it in person. We’ll wait for you.”
Only then did Ji Hanyi nod. “All right.”
With that, she lifted the curtain. Afraid of keeping her aunt waiting too long, she hurried down from the carriage and followed the elderly maid through a small side gate.
When they reached the courtyard outside Shen Si’s study, the maid stopped at the entrance. “Servants aren’t permitted to enter the Marquis’s study without good reason. The Marquis is still inside. You may go in, Miss Ji.”
Ji Hanyi paused. She had assumed Shen Si had already left, but it turned out he was still at the residence.
She gave the maid a polite curtsy before entering the courtyard.
The courtyard was silent, every detail arranged with exquisite taste, yet each step she took made her increasingly nervous.
Memories of her childhood here came flooding back – how impatient Shen Si had been whenever she followed him around, and the time he had thrown her out after she accidentally knocked over his favorite inkstone.
After that, she had been too afraid to come again. Whenever the Former Chief Grand Secretary urged her to visit, she would agree to his face, only to hide outside Shen Si’s courtyard instead of going in. Yet that day, Shen Si had come out to find her and told her to grind his ink as an apology. Somehow, she had ended up back in his study after all.
Scene after scene from the past resurfaced. They seemed impossibly distant, yet also as familiar as ever.
She had been through so much since then that her state of mind could never return to what it had once been. Only Shen Si remained unchanged – just as cold and distant, just as impossible to read.
The main door was shut, and there was not even a maid outside. Ji Hanyi had no choice but to gently push open the wooden door and step inside with care.
She did not dare venture farther into the inner room. After all, Shen Si kept many important things here. Instead, she called softly, “Lord Shen.”
A long moment passed before a deep voice came from within. “Come here.”
The tension in Ji Hanyi’s heart eased, and she hurried into the inner room of his study.
Shen Si stood by the window. His black robes made his tall, lean figure appear even more imposing. His noble, aloof features had always seemed unapproachable, and dressed in black, he looked colder still. The sight made Ji Hanyi’s breath catch.
For a moment, she seemed to glimpse the Shen Si of his youth – the boy so cold and distant that even a second glance from him had felt like a rare favor.
She lowered her head without realizing it.
Shen Si looked at Ji Hanyi, who stood several paces away. Turning, he walked over to the desk and tapped its surface, his unfathomable eyes fixed on her.
Hearing the sound and understanding his gesture, Ji Hanyi hurried closer.
She had initially started around the other side of the desk, but the rolled-up Divorce Agreement lay beside Shen Si’s fingers. When she looked up, he remained silent, his cool gaze resting on her as though exerting an invisible pressure.
Her heart tightened. Bracing herself, she walked toward him, but stopped again three or four paces away and said softly, “Lord Shen, thank you.”
She reached out to take the Divorce Agreement, but Shen Si picked it up before she could. Holding her bewildered gaze, he asked, “Is there some ferocious beast at my side?”
Ji Hanyi quickly shook her head. “Of course not.”
Shen Si raised an eyebrow and merely regarded her in silence. Then he took two steps toward her and handed the Divorce Agreement to her.
His distinctly cool fragrance washed over her. He was much taller than she was, and his imposing figure cast a shadow over her, making it seem as though she were completely enveloped by his presence. Ji Hanyi’s heart pounded wildly, and even her fingertips trembled as she reached out to take the document.