Chapter 200
Chapter 200
Knowing there was a palace matron outside, Ji Hanyi did not dare say anything reckless as she looked at Shen Si, who was also dressed in his nightclothes. She merely nodded.
Shen Si chuckled softly, climbed onto the bed, and lowered the thick curtains. The space within instantly dimmed.
The covers shifted. Ji Hanyi could clearly sense Shen Si lying not far from her. Her mind was still in a daze. She could hardly believe there would come a day when she and Shen Si shared the same bed.
While her thoughts ran wild, a large hand reached over, wrapped around her waist, and pulled her toward the middle of the bed. Shen Si’s warm body followed, pressing close as his low, husky voice sounded within the darkened curtains. “Why are you sleeping so far away?”
Ji Hanyi stiffened, instinctively bracing a palm against Shen Si’s chest. For a moment, she had no idea what to say.
But Shen Si suddenly lowered his head, his hot breath spilling over her neck and ear. In a hoarse voice, he asked, “Are we going to let our wedding night pass this quietly?”
Ji Hanyi stared blankly at first, but then she understood what he meant.
It did seem inappropriate for things to be so quiet.
A little nervous, she whispered, “Has the matron from the palace not left yet?”
Shen Si gently stroked the small of her back. “Although she’s outside the door, she can still hear what’s happening in here.”
“The palace sent her to teach you the rules and etiquette these past few days. She probably answers to His Majesty the Emperor.”
Shen Si was not lying about that. The matron was indeed from the palace, though it was actually the Empress who had sent her.
Six had come in total. He had dismissed five and kept this one behind, precisely because he intended to use her presence to coax Ji Hanyi.
Sure enough, Ji Hanyi was taken in by his words. Even more nervously, she whispered, “Then… what should we do?”
Ji Hanyi was no sheltered maiden. She knew what sort of sounds he meant.
But there was no way she could make such sounds herself.
Shen Si gazed down at the woman in his arms. Her soft breaths brushed against him, and he could clearly feel how tense she was.
He knew Ji Hanyi was not ready yet. They had only just married, and it was perfectly natural that she had not developed feelings for him. He simply had to guide her patiently.
His broad, warm palm patted her back gently as he slowly leaned closer. His deep, husky voice fell beside her ear. “You don’t have to make much noise. Ah Yi only needs to moan softly a few times.”
“Just enough to let them know we consummated our marriage tonight.”
Ji Hanyi was not wholly inexperienced in such matters. She understood his meaning at once.
Yet without any reason to make such sounds, never mind being too ashamed to voice them, even if she could bring herself to try, she would not know how.
Was that really something one could simply do on command?
Ji Hanyi was at a loss. She wanted to say she did not know how, but she was afraid Shen Si would think she was lying. In the end, she steeled herself and said, “Then… should I try?”
Shen Si raised an eyebrow in the darkness. For someone as shy as she was to go this far truly was no easy feat.
He drew her more tightly into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her earlobe. Feeling the body in his embrace soften and tremble, he asked hoarsely, “Hanyi, does that feel good? Can you cry out?”
Ji Hanyi felt so mortified that sweat broke out all over her body. She did not know whether it felt good. No one had ever kissed her earlobe before. Only Shen Si.
A tingling sensation spread through her. Ji Hanyi wanted to resist, but her body’s instincts left her unable to do so.
She pushed against Shen Si’s chest, her voice already soft and hoarse. “Don’t bite me there…”
As she spoke, she turned her head away, only for Shen Si to kiss her other earlobe.
Another wave of tingling pleasure swept over her, and a soft moan slipped out before she could stop it.
Hearing it, Shen Si sucked in a sharp breath. It took him a long while to compose himself before he kissed his way down to Ji Hanyi’s neck. His voice was impossibly hoarse as he murmured, “Hanyi, don’t hold yourself back. Just like that.”
By then, Ji Hanyi could no longer think. Strange sounds spilled from her lips one after another, completely beyond her control.
Ji Hanyi had no idea how she had eventually fallen asleep that night. The last thing she remembered was coming apart beneath Shen Si’s fingers, her release surging through her like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
When Ji Hanyi woke the next morning, she was completely encircled in Shen Si’s arms. She stared blankly at the bed curtains overhead, only to recall her mortification from the night before. At that moment, she wished she could find a hole and crawl into it.
No one outside had called for them yet, but Ji Hanyi was already growing anxious. She would have to meet the Shen Family today, so she could not allow herself to sleep in.
Feeling Shen Si’s hand wrapped around her waist, she could not help thinking that this was the very hand that had actually…
That had…
Hadn’t she heard that Shen Si did not even keep a bedchamber maid? Then how did he know how to do such things…?
It had been Ji Hanyi’s first time experiencing anything like that…
So it turned out a man’s hand could be used that way…
The more Ji Hanyi thought about it, the hotter she felt. She hastily stopped her thoughts from wandering and reached down carefully, intending to move Shen Si’s hand from her waist.
Her movements were already as gentle as possible, but they still woke Shen Si, who was sleeping behind her.
His husky, languid voice came from behind her. “You’re awake?”
Ji Hanyi stiffened and murmured an acknowledgment.
Shen Si’s deep gaze settled on the pale, delicate nape of her neck. He leaned closer, tightening his arms around her as he asked, “Did you sleep well last night?”
At those words, Ji Hanyi’s cheeks immediately burned crimson. She gave him a flustered, incoherent response.
Shen Si lowered his head and closed his eyes, breathing in the faint fragrance clinging to her. In the same husky voice, he said, “I didn’t expect you to enjoy it so much.”
Ji Hanyi’s mind went completely blank. She quickly shook her head in denial. “I didn’t enjoy it…”
He was clearly the one who had said her voice was still too restrained and that the matrons outside would not be able to hear her. He was also the one who had claimed to know some sort of massage technique.
She had thought he meant pressing certain acupoints. She had never imagined that was what he meant…
Yet her denial lacked any real conviction. Ji Hanyi buried her face in the brocade quilt, unwilling to say another word and even less willing to look at Shen Si.
Seeing her hide herself again, Shen Si did not have the heart to tease her any further.
He had not expected Ji Hanyi’s body to be so sensitive either. Even through her undergarments, she had responded with astonishing intensity.
He had merely followed the instructions in a booklet and learned on the spot how to pleasure a woman. He had not expected the method to work so well on her.
It seemed to be a useful book after all. He ought to study it more carefully. At the very least, its contents could arouse Ji Hanyi’s interest and keep her from resisting him.
At least she had taken pleasure in it too, rather than leaving him alone in his desire.
He pulled her out from beneath the quilt and studied her bashful face. Her limpid eyes were still shimmering, and she looked almost unbearably shy.
Like this, she appeared soft, delicate, and tempting.
Shen Si suddenly remembered that Ji Hanyi was only nineteen. She would not turn twenty until August. Four years younger than him, she was still little more than a girl.
He looked at her. “It won’t hurt to sleep a little longer.”
Shen Si truly did want Ji Hanyi to sleep a while longer. He had not held her enough yet. Although the night had not gone entirely as he had hoped, she had at least slept soundly in his arms, lying there obediently while he held her.
But Ji Hanyi could not stop thinking about proper etiquette. She knew the Shen Family did not think much of her. If she arrived late, they might form an even worse impression of her.
She honestly explained her concerns to Shen Si. After all, she was only trying to secure a more peaceful future for herself in the Shen Residence. She added, “This is my first day in the household. If I’m to follow the rules, I don’t think I should sleep in.”
Shen Si arched a brow. “Are you afraid someone will treat you poorly?”
Ji Hanyi froze, then shook her head and said softly, “I just don’t want to make a bad impression on Mother.”