Chapter 201
Chapter 201
At Ji Hanyi’s words, something shifted in Shen Si’s eyes.
Then he smiled.
Seeing that smile only left Ji Hanyi more uncertain of what he was thinking.
She had spoken from the heart. She also knew that only when the inner household was peaceful could a man attend to affairs at court without distraction.
Ji Hanyi wanted to do everything well. She wanted Shen Si to feel that he had not chosen the wrong woman.
He protected her, and she was not entirely without use to him.
Shen Si lowered his gaze to her delicate brows and soft, lovely eyes. Every concern on her face was easy to read.
He pressed his lips together in a silent sigh. His long fingertips came to rest against her cheek, his cool, tranquil eyes as deep as still water.
After studying her quietly for a moment, he said, “It doesn’t matter. You needn’t concern yourself with anyone’s displeasure.”
His voice was low and even. Without a smile, his handsome features held their customary dignity and sternness. Faced with that expression, Ji Hanyi no longer dared insist on getting up. She obediently yielded to him and nodded.
But Shen Si’s bare chest was right before her…
Ji Hanyi hardly dared look. She promptly buried her face in the quilt.
When Shen Si saw her duck beneath the covers like a startled quail, he frowned and caught her by the chin. “Is your face unfit to see daylight?”
His tone sounded almost like a rebuke. Ji Hanyi blinked, then looked at his languid, glacial face and managed a hoarse, “No…”
Shen Si raised a brow and released her. He had meant to linger intimately with the woman in his arms that morning, only to find Ji Hanyi bent on playing the virtuous wife. Her eyes were languid with sleep, yet bright with determination.
Just then, a matron outside quietly reminded them of the hour. Shen Si’s gaze turned cold again.
Had he not kept the woman here to make Ji Hanyi comply, he would have sent her away long ago. She would never otherwise have been allowed to hurry him along.
None of the maids or matrons in his own courtyard would have dared.
The woman in his arms shifted uneasily. When he looked down, Ji Hanyi was indeed gazing up at him with apprehension. “Is that the matron from the palace? Perhaps we should get up.”
But the moment she finished, she caught the chill in Shen Si’s eyes. Her attempt to rise faltered, and she fell silent again.
Shen Si probably never meant to frighten anyone. The trouble was, he remained wholly unaware whenever he did.
With his striking but aloof face and habitual severity, he had made people give him a wide berth since his youth. No one willingly approached merely to be met with one of his frosty looks.
Other households were forever plagued by maids trying to climb into their masters’ beds or by affairs among servants. Shen Si’s courtyard alone had no such problem. Forget harboring improper thoughts-even maids assigned there arrived long-faced at the prospect of serving a cold, exacting master with endless rules.
Watching Ji Hanyi, Shen Si lowered his head, pulled her tightly against him once more, and kissed her neck.
He had intended to enjoy their wedding night properly, but she had been too sensitive. Once she found release, drowsiness had overwhelmed her, and she had barely responded to his kisses. Now he nipped at her neck. Feeling the faint tremor that passed through her and seeing the red mark his mouth left behind finally eased some of the heat burning inside him.
His body was still taut with desire. He held her for a long while before finally rising and calling the maids in to attend them.
Shen Si went to bathe first, while four or five maids helped Ji Hanyi out of bed.
Every maid in Shen Si’s Songtao Court was thoroughly trained, quick and efficient, and utterly silent. They seemed to have taken on some of Shen Si’s own chilly gravity, as though devoid of warmth or joy. They simply carried out the work before them, their faces impassive.
Ji Hanyi found them disconcerting at first. Then she thought of Shen Si’s nature and decided it was hardly surprising.
Rongchun had always been deft, yet before these maids even she seemed at a loss, unable to find a place to help and left with the strange impression that she was not diligent enough.
Ji Hanyi was still foggy with sleep when she rose. By the time her thoughts cleared, everything for her morning toilette had already been arrayed before her, and five or six maids stood waiting. One presented a spittoon and tea infused with salt, mint, and cloves for her to rinse her mouth. Another immediately brought a copper basin of water at precisely the right temperature for her hands, followed by a dampened silk-cotton cloth. Everything proceeded in perfect order. As one maid withdrew, another stepped forward to put on her shoes, and still another presented several outfits for her to choose from.
Before her marriage, the maids in Ji Hanyi’s courtyard had been almost like a circle of friends. They chatted and laughed while helping her wash and dress at an easy pace. Here, she felt like a wooden puppet being guided through each required motion.
She pointed at an outfit at random, and the maids immediately set to work.
By the time Ji Hanyi had fully collected herself, she was already seated on an embroidered stool before the dressing table, completely dressed. A maid knelt at her feet, fastening a jade pendant at her waist.
The room remained so quiet that even Ji Hanyi felt awkward about speaking.
A matron beside her held out several scented balms and respectfully asked which she preferred.
Each little box in her hands was exquisite. There were osmanthus oil, jasmine oil, orchid balm, and eclipta balm, along with several preparations Ji Hanyi did not recognize. The matron explained that they were all used in the palace, the finest of their kind, and that Shen Si had ordered them specially prepared for her.
Ji Hanyi chose one at random again. The matron ordered the rest removed, then expertly worked the balm through Ji Hanyi’s soft, long hair until its natural sheen gleamed even more richly.
The treatment was wonderfully soothing. Ji Hanyi privately marveled that even the matrons and maids of the Shen Residence were extraordinary.
Then she glanced into the mirror and caught sight of the red mark at the neckline of her robe. She remembered the itchy sting of Shen Si’s teeth there that morning.
She tugged her collar higher, but it covered only half the mark. She called Rongchun over to dust powder across it, yet the bruise still showed faintly, so at last she gave up.
Had Shen Si deliberately left it where others could see? To prove they had consummated their marriage?
The thought of making such a private matter public was mortifying.
At that moment, another matron approached to pay her respects. Her dress and bearing set her apart. When she introduced herself as an attendant of Her Majesty the Empress, Ji Hanyi understood at once and courteously addressed her as Nanny Chen.
When Shen Si returned from his bath, Ji Hanyi was still at her dressing table. She wore a silver-gray Suzhou brocade robe woven with gold and patterned with pearls. From behind, her waist looked slender, her shoulders narrow and delicate, her figure as graceful as the pampered narcissus blooming nearby.
A matron stood holding a jewelry box while Ji Hanyi appeared to be choosing with great care. Shen Si walked over.
Ji Hanyi truly was having difficulty deciding. The box held far more jewelry than she had expected, enough to dazzle the eye. She would be meeting her mother-in-law and the family elders today and could not dress too casually, so she had taken her time.
She had just selected several simple, finely worked pieces when a figure appeared beside her. Before she could react, Shen Si took the ivory flower hairpin she had chosen and bent to place it in her hair.
Ji Hanyi stared at him in the mirror. He wore a dark blue round-collared robe, and the familiar aloofness still lingered between his brows. Yet as he leaned down to pin her hair, he looked both noble and gentle, the chill around him softened.
The maids had fallen even more silent upon his approach and retreated to one side.
After securing the hairpin, Shen Si rested a hand casually on Ji Hanyi’s shoulder. “Are you ready?”