Chapter 202
Chapter 202
Shen Si’s voice was deep. Though not loud, it carried his usual severity.
Ji Hanyi quickly nodded. “I’m ready.”
Shen Si lowered his gaze to her collar. The half-concealed red mark there was unmistakably intimate. When he saw her shyly lowered eyes, his lips curved.
They left one behind the other. Shen Si glanced at Nanny Chen, who followed at their side, frowned faintly in annoyance, then looked away.
Wen’an caught his master’s expression and knew exactly why he was displeased. He had tried to stop the matron when she came to summon them that morning, but she had put on airs as an attendant of Her Majesty the Empress, declaring that she was there to instruct the Marchioness in proper conduct. Wen’an had been unable to hold her back.
The Marquis would doubtless blame him for it, which left Wen’an sighing to himself again.
At the courtyard gate, a matron reported that Old Madam Shen had sent someone to hurry them twice. Shen Si remained indifferent, but Ji Hanyi’s heart tightened slightly.
On the way, she walked half a step behind him, her eyes demurely lowered. Though she appeared poised and elegant, inwardly she was rehearsing how to conduct herself before the Shen Family elders.
So absorbed was she that she walked straight into Shen Si’s back. Only then did she look up in confusion.
Shen Si gazed down at her bewildered eyes. The impact had set the hair ornament above her brow and the earrings beside her cheeks swaying like flowering branches in the wind. She looked so delicately lovely that he could never tire of the sight.
Remembering the soft body he had held through the night, he drew a deep breath and pressed his lips together. Without a word, he enclosed her hand in his and led her onward toward the main hall.
The hall was already crowded. Shen Si’s eldest uncle and his entire family had arrived early for one reason alone-to see Shen Si’s new wife.
They had learned from Old Madam Shen that the bride was Ji Hanyi, yet they had still come at dawn, eager to see what sort of woman she was and how a divorced wife had managed to enter the Shen Residence.
They had not expected their early arrival to leave them waiting half the morning.
Whispered discussion had long since begun in the hall, though no one dared openly criticize the new bride. At most, they quietly asked one another what Ji Hanyi was like.
After all, Shen Si might be young, but his seniority within the clan was high. By marrying him, Ji Hanyi had gained the same standing.
No one dared raise their voice while the old patriarch sat at the head of the room. They could only privately think the new bride somewhat presumptuous and steal glances at Old Madam Shen.
Nothing showed on Old Madam Shen’s face. What she thought inwardly was another matter.
Just then, an announcement sounded from outside. Every gaze in the room turned toward the doorway.
Shen Si entered holding Ji Hanyi’s hand, making the two of them appear remarkably affectionate, and led her to the center of the hall.
All eyes fell upon Ji Hanyi.
Her silver-gray attire was understated, fastened with hibiscus-shaped clasps and edged with a broad pink Chang’an bamboo border. She approached with graceful, measured steps, beautiful in every movement and every stillness.
Her face had the fresh loveliness of a lotus rising from autumn waters. Willow brows arched over clear eyes; against her snow-pale skin, her lips were vivid and her teeth pearly white. She possessed both the quiet elegance of moonlight over a sleeping room and the softness of blossoms after rain.
It was difficult to put her particular charm into words. She seemed almost too alluring, yet she was by no means gaudy.
Ji Hanyi followed Shen Si forward to greet Old Madam Shen and the Former Chief Grand Secretary. The slight bend of her slender waist and the whisper of her skirts carried the refined grace of a young lady from a scholarly family.
When she offered tea to Old Madam Shen, she stood before her with both hands raised above her head, her posture humble and respectful. Her manners appeared impeccable enough.
Everyone watched the exchange, then looked toward Old Madam Shen. Some traded glances; others wore knowing expressions.
They could not help scrutinizing this divorced woman who had left the Xie Family and now become the Shen Family’s newest bride.
Old Madam Shen looked at Ji Hanyi without betraying any emotion. Under the gaze of the entire room, she forced a trace of a smile, accepted the tea, and offered a few words about proper conduct and harmony between husband and wife. Then, with her own hands, she fastened an heirloom emerald necklace around Ji Hanyi’s neck. The jewel was nearly half the size of a palm, and the gift served as a public declaration that she accepted this daughter-in-law.
She had no choice but to swallow her resentment. However dissatisfied she might be, before so many witnesses she had to give Ji Hanyi the respect due her.
Ji Hanyi thanked Old Madam Shen with perfect courtesy. When she next offered tea to the Former Chief Grand Secretary, he accepted it with a broad smile.
He had realized long ago that his son regarded this girl differently. Back then, he had done his utmost to bring the two together, constantly placing the girl in his son’s path. Unfortunately, his son had been proud and aloof from childhood, too young to understand how precious it was to meet someone who stirred his heart.
Fortunately, after all their twists and turns, the two had still found their way to a happy union. The Former Chief Grand Secretary could not have been more gratified.
Divorced or not-every encounter in a person’s life was both fate and consequence.
He had always been broad-minded. He still carried regret and sympathy over having failed to save Ji Hanyi’s father. Now, seeing Ji Hanyi enter the Shen Residence filled him with joy.
He understood his son’s nature even better. Shen Si had always been aloof and proud to the bone. If someone failed to catch his eye, he would not spare them a second glance. A man so distant was difficult to approach; perhaps no one would ever enter his heart. As his father, the Former Chief Grand Secretary had worried.
He had feared his son would remain a block of ice all his life, with no one to warm him.
Was mere survival all a person should seek from life?
Years ago, when he saw tiny Ji Hanyi tug at his son’s sleeve and noticed that Shen Si did not shove her away in distaste, an idea had taken root. From then on, he had often invited the girl over.
Now his son stood beside Ji Hanyi, his expression as cool as ever, yet where else did his gaze rest but on her?
The Former Chief Grand Secretary’s smile deepened as he accepted the tea. He said warmly, “Give me a sturdy grandson soon. When he’s older, I’ll take him traveling with me and show him all the wonders of the world he’s never seen.”
Ji Hanyi looked at his smiling face. So many people in the room were watching her, but only in his gaze did she recognize true sincerity.
He was as kind as he had been when she was a child. Moved, she softly agreed.
Once the tea ceremony was over, Madam Bai came forward with a bright smile to introduce Ji Hanyi to the rest of the family.
Although Ji Hanyi had often visited the Shen Residence as a child, she had met only the Former Chief Grand Secretary’s immediate household. She had scarcely seen even the members of Fourth Master’s branch. Most of the faces stirred only vague impressions, and she could not put names to them.
Madam Bai was all smiles and extraordinary warmth, solicitously asking after Ji Hanyi and telling her not to feel constrained now that they were one family.
Ji Hanyi responded in kind. She followed Madam Bai from one relative to the next, stopping to offer greetings and exchange courteous pleasantries. At this rate, it would be noon before she had spoken to everyone in the room.
The hall rang with Madam Bai’s cheerful greetings and Ji Hanyi’s gentle replies. Some came closer to make polite conversation about family matters, while others chatted in small groups. The atmosphere was lively enough.
Shen Si had taken a seat to one side. His high rank in both the Shen Family and the court naturally placed him in the foremost chair below the Former Chief Grand Secretary, while the younger generations stood farther down.
His gaze remained on Ji Hanyi. Beneath her outward composure, her fingers lightly pinched the fabric of her skirt. Shen Si smiled soundlessly.
Just like when she was little. She put on such a convincing front, but at heart she was exceedingly soft.