Chapter 112
Chapter 112
Shen Si’s voice no longer carried its usual cool detachment. Perhaps it was only Ji Hanyi’s imagination, but she thought she heard a quiet tenderness in it.
His expression was no longer as distant as before, either. He was still leaning toward her. A man as noble and reserved as him had actually bent slightly at the waist and lowered his head to bring his face close to hers.
That aristocratic, strikingly elegant face was right before her. His agarwood scent drifted toward her, still carrying its usual cool detachment, yet somehow feeling different.
Ji Hanyi even felt that Shen Si was staring straight at her, as if he were trying to entice her.
Her heart pounded wildly. She stared at him, dazed, her mind completely blank.
She could hardly withstand Shen Si’s gaze. They were also standing in the middle of a busy street with everyone watching, and this seemed rather improper. Ji Hanyi bit her lip and, not quite daring to meet his eyes, nodded softly. “All right.”
Shen Si continued to look at her. “Is there anything else you wish to say to me?”
His question threw Ji Hanyi’s thoughts into complete disarray. She had no idea what to say and could only shake her head mutely.
The fingers holding her soft white veil went still.
Shen Si looked at the evasion in Ji Hanyi’s eyes, and the gentleness in his expression slowly faded back into his customary reserve. His gaze remained fixed on her fair, tender face. Her eyes were still as limpid as spring water, her expression pure and untainted by even the slightest hint of romantic feeling.
Yet his thoughts had long since begun running wild because of her. He had long since lost control of himself and cast aside the self-restraint he had once prided himself on. He had waited tensely for her answer, but she seemed not to care at all.
Lowering his eyes, he suppressed the turmoil in his heart and added quietly, “I will be entering the palace tomorrow as well.”
His slender fingers loosened, and the white veil slipped from them, once again concealing Ji Hanyi’s lovely face. Shen Si slowly straightened, gave her one last silent look, then turned and left.
Ji Hanyi stared blankly at his retreating figure, still turning his words over in her mind.
What had Shen Si meant by that?
People streamed past her amid the clamor of the capital’s busiest street. Shen Si’s tall, upright figure gradually disappeared from her sight, and her heart quickened again.
After returning home, Ji Hanyi packed the inkstone into a box and asked Rongchun to deliver it to her cousin. He had not returned yet, and she wanted it sent while he was away. If she gave it to him in person, he would most likely try to refuse it again.
Besides, after what her maternal grandmother had mentioned, Ji Hanyi thought it would be best not to see her cousin again.
She went to her mother’s quarters and spoke with her for a while, then stayed to have dinner with her. By the time she left, night had already fallen.
After washing up, Ji Hanyi sat on the arhat couch in a daze, thinking of the way Shen Si had looked at her that afternoon and what he had said.
She hurriedly called for Rongchun to bring her the painting Shen Si had given her.
Rongchun immediately went to fetch it, but she was gone for quite some time before returning.
Ji Hanyi set down her hand warmer and turned slightly to accept the scroll. “Why did it take you so long?”
Rongchun explained, “Since we were planning to leave tomorrow, this servant packed everything in advance today. The painting had been put away with the other scrolls, and this servant couldn’t tell which one it was, so I had to unroll them one by one. But this servant couldn’t recognize the Master’s old paintings either, so it took a while.”
Ji Hanyi asked, “Then how did you find it?”
Rongchun grinned. “This servant recognizes the Master’s seal. I just had to unroll them all. The one without the Master’s seal was the right one.”
Ji Hanyi smiled and was about to unroll the painting when Rongchun glanced around. She then held out her palm before Ji Hanyi and whispered, “Miss, when this servant opened this painting just now, a pair of earrings fell out.”
Ji Hanyi paused. Looking at the delicate earrings in Rongchun’s palm, she set down the scroll and picked them up.
Dazed, she held them beneath the lamp for a closer look. They were a pair of gold-filigree Jade Butterfly Earrings set with jadeite and pearls. The workmanship was exquisite, and the jadeite was of the finest quality, gleaming beneath the lamplight with understated elegance.
She stared at the earrings for a long while and could not help remembering the Interlocking Jade Rings pendant from before. It, too, had fallen out of a painting.
She sank into thought.
Beside her, Rongchun asked in a low voice, “How did a pair of earrings end up inside the painting? Who could have dropped them in there?”
Ji Hanyi no longer knew how to answer. She closed her fingers around the earrings, feeling their coolness against her palm. It truly was rather strange.
She asked, “Did you find anything else?”
Rongchun shook her head. “Nothing else.”
Ji Hanyi lowered her voice. “Perhaps someone left them behind. Don’t mention this to anyone again.”
Rongchun quickly nodded, then asked curiously, “Should we return the earrings?”
Ji Hanyi’s thoughts drifted again.
That night, she tossed and turned in bed, unusually wakeful.
She took the earrings from beneath her pillow, drew back the bed curtains, and examined them carefully by the candle at her bedside. They were exquisitely made and obviously valuable. The vivid emerald-green jadeite alone had to be worth a fortune.
Had he specially prepared them as a gift for her?
Ji Hanyi remembered Shen Si asking about the painting that afternoon, then asking if she had anything else she wanted to say to him. She wondered dazedly if Shen Si had been trying to find out whether she liked his gift.
If the earrings really were meant for her, then what did he mean by it? Why had he suddenly given her a pair of earrings?
She abruptly remembered Shen Si saying that she looked good in earrings.
Heat rushed to her cheeks, and her thoughts dissolved into chaos. Ji Hanyi let out a soft groan and burrowed beneath the covers again. Yet the moment she closed her eyes, all she could see was Shen Si’s reserved, slightly stern face.
He was always so upright and distinguished, so impeccably proper, with that cool, aloof gaze. Giving her earrings simply did not seem like something he would do.
Ji Hanyi patted her cheeks, not daring to let her thoughts wander any further.
She would be leaving the day after tomorrow. What was the point of thinking about any of this…?
Buried beneath the covers, Ji Hanyi felt her heart flutter so restlessly that, for the first time, she could not fall asleep.
Perhaps someone else had given Shen Si that painting, and he had never even opened it.
She tossed and turned all night because of those earrings, without even knowing when she finally drifted off.
–
Rongchun came in to wake her early the next morning. Ji Hanyi had slept poorly all night, and exhaustion filled her eyes. But she was entering the palace to see Her Majesty the Empress today, so she could not afford any delays.
Though her entire body felt weak and heavy, she forced herself out of bed.
Rongchun brought over two of her better outfits and asked, “Which one do you think would be more suitable, miss?”
She could not dress too plainly when meeting Her Majesty the Empress, so Ji Hanyi pointed to a pink figured-brocade dress with blue trim and a standing collar fastened by ruby interlocking buttons. It was the only outfit she had left that was made of decent material and suitable for a formal occasion.
Once she was dressed, she sat before the bronze mirror. There were a few pieces of jewelry in the box in front of her. They had originally been put away, but Rongchun had taken them all out again.
Ji Hanyi wore a single agate-and-pearl hairpin and a tourmaline hibiscus hairpin in her hair, the green jade earrings she often wore in her ears, and a coral Eight Treasures necklace around her neck.
After choosing all that, only two or three pieces of jewelry remained in the box. Even Rongchun felt a pang of sadness at the sight.
Ji Hanyi studied her reflection in the bronze mirror. Though she was adorned in jewels, they could not conceal the weariness beneath her eyes.
She covered her eyes for a moment, reminding herself that nothing could go wrong when she met Her Majesty the Empress today, then drank a few mouthfuls of tea.
When they set out that morning, Gu Wanyun was dressed even more lavishly than she had been last time. The gold hairpins and jade ornaments in her hair, as well as the pale jade-colored frog buttons at her collar, made her look dignified, wealthy, and eminently respectable. It seemed that the old palace matron truly was no ordinary person. Even Madam Zhang’s attire was different from usual – understated yet appropriate, giving her all the appearance of a pampered noblewoman.
Even her every movement had become noticeably slower and more measured.
Once they boarded the carriage, Gu Wanyun appeared especially nervous. She clutched Ji Hanyi’s hand so tightly that her palm grew damp with sweat.
Ji Hanyi offered a few words of reassurance, but they did not seem to help much. She herself was too weary to be of much use.
Turning her head slightly, she looked at Gu Wanyun’s expectant yet nervous eyes and the faint blush spreading over her cheeks and the tips of her ears. Ji Hanyi immediately put all her own wayward thoughts to rest.
She should leave quietly for Wei County and open a painting shop there, where she could live as she pleased. That was what she ought to be thinking about now.
Once she reminded herself of that, her heart eased again.
When they reached the palace of Her Majesty the Empress, palace attendants were already waiting outside and led them into the inner hall.
The inner hall was very quiet. After Ji Hanyi and the others entered, they all kept their heads lowered and respectfully curtsied to pay their greetings to Her Majesty the Empress.
Only after the Empress gently bade them sit did they dare rise and carefully take their seats to one side.
The Empress first turned her gaze toward Gu Wanyun. The young woman sat with proper posture, her eyes slightly lowered. She was slender and delicately pretty. The Empress then looked at Ji Hanyi.
This was the first time in many years that the Empress had seen Ji Hanyi, and her gaze paused slightly.
Ji Hanyi was just as fair-skinned, soft, and flowerlike as she remembered, so fresh and delicate she appeared almost dewy. No one would have guessed that she had once been a married woman.
Gu Wanyun was perfectly presentable on her own, but beside Ji Hanyi, not only did that faint resemblance disappear, even her beauty seemed to dim. She no longer looked particularly striking or radiant.
The last time they spoke, her mother had said that Shen Si seemed interested in Gu Wanyun, but the Empress did not quite believe it.
The fact that Shen Si had helped Ji Hanyi divorce the Xie Family, however, was worth pondering.
She had invited them here today precisely to find out whom Ah Si truly liked.
The Empress looked toward Madam Zhang next. She had clearly taken great care with her appearance, yet there was still something calculating and ingratiating about her expression.
Withdrawing her gaze, the Empress smiled and told them not to be nervous. She then ordered the palace attendants to serve tea and pastries before beginning a leisurely conversation.
The Empress asked Gu Wanyun a few ordinary questions, then turned the conversation toward Ji Hanyi. “Was your divorce from the Xie Family because you had remained childless for three years?”
Ji Hanyi clearly had not expected Her Majesty the Empress to ask such a question, much less known that she was aware of the matter. After briefly gathering her thoughts, she answered with due propriety, “No. The Eldest Master of the Xie Family took a concubine, violating our agreement.”
Her Majesty the Empress gave a mild, noncommittal hum, then looked at Ji Hanyi again. “So you insisted on seeking a divorce from the Xie Family?”
Ji Hanyi paused, lowered her eyes, and nodded. “Yes.”