Chapter 142
Chapter 142
Shen Si’s quiet remark left Ji Hanyi’s mind completely blank for a moment.
Why did those words sound a little…
Then she looked into Shen Si’s earnest dark eyes. She wanted to ask why he was looking for her, but it seemed too awkward to ask outright. Just as she was considering how to phrase the question, the curtain in front of her suddenly dropped.
Shen Si’s calm voice came from within. “We’ll talk tonight.”
That one sentence stopped every question Ji Hanyi had meant to ask.
She gave a soft murmur of acknowledgment, then turned and headed back toward the front gate.
Gu Yan had remained there watching. When Ji Hanyi returned, he asked quietly, “You know him?”
Ji Hanyi took the writing case from Rongchun and walked inside as she replied softly, “That’s the Shen Family’s carriage. Marquis Shen is inside.”
Gu Yan’s gaze stilled. The trace of tension in his expression eased.
He naturally knew what sort of household the Shen Residence was. It was one Ji Hanyi could all but never marry into.
Walking beside her, he gave a faint smile. “Marquis Shen seems rather different from the rumors.”
Ji Hanyi had blocked his view earlier, so Gu Yan had not seen Shen Si’s face. Still, it was already exceedingly rare for someone from such a family to voluntarily give way to others.
From what he had heard, Marquis Shen was decisive and merciless in his dealings, a man difficult to approach. Yet today, he had not seemed nearly as unaccommodating as the rumors suggested.
Ji Hanyi lowered her eyes to the path beneath her feet as she considered Gu Yan’s words. Shen Si did indeed seem somewhat different.
She had once seen a trace of warmth in his eyes. He did not seem quite as cold as the man she remembered.
Ji Hanyi did not have many belongings. It took only two trips to bring everything inside.
The rooms had already been thoroughly cleaned. While Rongchun and Chunju put away the things they had brought, Ji Hanyi first settled her mother in. When she returned to the outer room, she found Gu Yan crouched beside the brazier, lighting the charcoal.
Gu Yan was tall and refined, dressed in blue-green robes, with a cool yet gentle air about him. Crouched before the brazier, he possessed both a scholar’s elegance and a reassuring dependability.
Hearing her approach, he looked up. When he saw Ji Hanyi watching him, he smiled. “Aunt has always been frail and cannot endure the slightest chill. Early spring is still cold.”
“Besides, she just went outside, so she must be feeling chilled. I thought I’d light the brazier first.”
Ji Hanyi had not expected him to be so considerate. She went over and crouched beside him. “Let me do it. I’ve already taken up so much of your time, Cousin Yan. You should go home.”
Gu Yan lowered his gaze to the hand she reached out. Her pale fingertips were as soft and delicate as ever, untouched by rough work. Those hands should never have been smudged with charcoal ash.
“It’ll be ready in no time. You needn’t touch it, Cousin Yi.”
Ji Hanyi’s hand paused in midair. Gu Yan soon had the charcoal burning, then asked her to lift the curtain while he carried the brazier inside.
Afterward, he arranged the plum blossoms they had brought in a vase to freshen the room.
Madam Gu sat in her chair, watching him bustle around for her. Unable to bear it any longer, she called him over to sit beside her and have some tea.
Gu Yan sat down beside Madam Gu and smiled faintly. “Aunt, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m not tired.”
Madam Gu looked at him with concern. “You have to report for duty every day, and when you return, you still have to look after me. How could you not be tired?”
Gu Yan swiftly glanced at Ji Hanyi, who was sitting beside him with her head lowered as she brewed tea on the small table. Then he said quietly, “I’m doing this willingly.”
Madam Gu caught the look. She understood at once what it meant – Gu Yan was doing this for Ji Hanyi.
The last time Madam Gu had spoken with her mother, her mother had brought up this very matter. Gu Yan had apparently proposed it himself, but Ji Hanyi had turned him down.
At the time, Madam Gu had already promised to go to Wei County with Ji Hanyi. Since Gu Yan held an official post in the capital, she had not wanted to burden him and had given the matter little thought, assuming her daughter had the same concerns.
But their planned journey had been canceled because of her health. Now that Gu Yan clearly still had such intentions, did not hold it against her daughter that she had been married before, and was being so attentive – not to mention that he had always looked after Ji Hanyi in the past – Madam Gu began to think that he was a good man. This marriage might not be a bad thing after all.
Gu Yan stayed to help throughout the afternoon and even went out to buy vegetables and meat. He remained until after dark and only left once he had eaten dinner with them.
But the moment he stepped outside, he spotted a carriage waiting in front of Ji Hanyi’s residence.
Gu Yan stopped and studied it. He recognized it as the carriage he had encountered on his way there that afternoon. His gaze then shifted to the man in blue brocade robes standing beside it. Gu Yan remembered him too – the man had approached Ji Hanyi to speak with her that afternoon.
This carriage belonged to the Shen Residence.
It was most likely Marquis Shen’s carriage.
But why was it here, parked outside Ji Hanyi’s door?
Gu Yan could not help looking toward the carriage again. Just then, the window curtain was lifted. In the shifting gloom within, a young, aristocratic face appeared before him. A pair of cold, detached eyes rested on him with a hint of aloof disdain, filling him with fear and pressure in an instant.
The curtain quickly fell again, leaving Gu Yan even more certain that the glance had been directed specifically at him.
It had carried a veiled warning.
Gu Yan stood where he was for a moment. After some thought, he went over to pay his respects.
Hearing Gu Yan’s voice outside, Shen Si merely gave a faint, inscrutable acknowledgment, revealing no emotion.
Gu Yan glanced once more at the curtain, which did not move again, then quietly took his leave.
After boarding his own carriage and departing, Gu Yan could not resist looking back. That solitary carriage remained there, with no guards around it and only a single personal attendant standing beside it. Gu Yan’s gaze darkened before he finally turned away.
Inside, Ji Hanyi had been putting away the painting supplies from her art case when Rongchun came to tell her that Shen Si was waiting outside. Remembering that Shen Si had said he would come for her tonight, her hands stilled. She set down what she was holding, told Rongchun to make up the bed, and headed outside.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw a spacious carriage parked before the entrance. She froze for a moment before Wen’an stepped up to her and said quietly, “Miss Ji, please get in. The Marquis is waiting for you inside.”
Ji Hanyi looked at the carriage before her. Illuminated only by the two lanterns hanging at the entrance, it seemed silent and opulent, much like Shen Si himself in her mind.
Not a sound came from within, as if he were waiting for her in silence.
Ji Hanyi drew a quiet breath and acknowledged Wen’an. Then she stepped onto the footstool that had already been set in place, gently lifted the curtain, and climbed into the carriage.