Chapter 205
Chapter 205
Outside the window, the moon had climbed above the treetops. Branches rustled and swayed in the wind.
The candle flame, enclosed within a gauze shade, resembled a tame star cupped gently in someone’s mouth. Their shadows overlapped upon the screen, becoming a newly mounted ink wash: rolling mountains beneath gathering clouds.
When black hair spilled down, it stirred the faintest breeze and disturbed the last glowing incense seal in the boshan burner. The smoke abruptly changed course, drifting southeast-the direction where the Directorate of Astronomy had said the God of Joy would be found tonight.
A white jade pendant struck the footstool with a clear chime, waking the moon curled upon the curtain hook. Moonlight spilled through the seventh pane of the lattice window and washed precisely over an ankle.
Time slowed. The column of smoke rising from the gilded boshan burner hung suspended in the air, marking the passage of each moment.
It trembled, scattered in alarm, then gathered anew like a startled flock of cranes. She was the one falling from the flock, her feathers drenched in the burning dampness of his palm.
The carved, twining peonies of the rosewood pressed into her hand, the only fixed sensation amid the rise and fall.
Painted twin lotuses seemed to swim. The tassels of the gold-woven bed curtains blurred into a veil of rain, drawing near and receding like the silhouette of distant mountains beneath the moon.
Only when the candle dimmed did Shen Si rise and lift the bed curtains. He wiped his damp hand with a cloth, then looked at the woman in his arms, soft as a pool of spring water.
Several strands of hair clung to her pale face. Her eyes were misty, and her full lips, kissed vivid red by him, glistened in the lamplight.
The collar that had once lain so neatly was now loose, exposing the jade-white skin beneath. A glimpse of her pink undergarment embroidered with peonies showed within, unbearably enticing.
The lamplight swayed. From every angle, she looked like a portrait of beauty made to set a man’s blood racing.
Shen Si might not have achieved all he wanted, but he delighted in seeing Ji Hanyi like this. Her delicate pale face was still dazed, her long, thick lashes trembling as the last waves of pleasure lingered through her.
He smiled.
Seeing her satisfied left him strangely satisfied as well.
He carried her limp body to the bathing room and ordered the maids to remake the bed.
When the senior maids entered and saw the disarray, along with the large damp stain on the sheets, those too innocent to understand exchanged uncertain glances. None dared speculate aloud. They hastily replaced everything.
Ji Hanyi had long since lost all sense of time. She did not even realize she was bathing with Shen Si, her entire body lying bonelessly against him.
She had spent the whole day attending to people and now wanted nothing but sleep.
After the bath, Shen Si carried Ji Hanyi back to bed. She fell quietly into a deep sleep in his arms, while he remained full of unspent heat and could only seek relief against her soft body.
He was confident, however. In another three or five days, Ji Hanyi would no longer be able to resist.
For now, he held warm, fragrant softness in his arms. Breathing in Ji Hanyi’s gentle scent, Shen Si felt content. He kissed her forehead.
She truly was impossible to put down.
The next morning, Ji Hanyi remained fast asleep, wrapped tightly around Shen Si’s waist. She nuzzled her cheek against his chest, clearly lost in slumber.
Her hands wandered when she slept. Shen Si was already enduring with considerable difficulty. He wanted to let her rest, but the fire her touch kindled drove him closer again.
Half asleep, Ji Hanyi grew dizzy beneath his kisses and thought she was still dreaming.
Yet the faint ache between their lips did not feel like a dream.
She opened her eyes blearily and saw Shen Si holding her with his eyes closed, his noble face looking impeccably proper.
But last night, this same impeccably proper man had…
Ji Hanyi did not dare follow the thought. She stared at his face for a moment instead.
Before they had become so intimate, she had never entertained any thoughts about Shen Si. Yet after what had passed between them these last two nights, she knew their relationship had somehow changed…
She was still lost in the sight of him when Shen Si suddenly opened his eyes.
The moment their gazes met, Ji Hanyi’s scalp prickled. Guiltily, she squeezed her eyes shut. She knew it was a futile pretense, but she simply could not face him.
She had not wanted it last night. Yet the pleasure had been unlike anything she had ever known.
Xie Yuheng had never treated her that way. When they first married, he was always in a hurry. Less than a month later, he had seldom shared her bed, sometimes staying away for two or three months.
Ji Hanyi had never imagined that intimacy could feel like this.
And Shen Si had drawn such pleasure from her in that manner. More mortifying still was the fact that she had anticipated it and reveled in it.
Deep down, however, she was too ashamed to admit the truth.
Shen Si laid a hand against her back and said in his deep voice, “I am still on marriage leave. No one will disturb us these two days. You can sleep longer.”
Ji Hanyi’s ears reddened. She gave an almost inaudible murmur of assent.
Her body was already exhausted. Since Shen Si had not risen, she did not fear the matron finding fault with her conduct. She closed her eyes again with an easy conscience.
She was truly too sleepy to care whether she lay in Shen Si’s arms.
Perhaps even she was gradually coming to regard being held by him as something ordinary.
She slept until the sun was high and daylight filled the room, nearly noon.
By the time she rose, it was almost time for the midday meal.
Ji Hanyi had slept so deeply that she remained dizzy upon waking. Shen Si, however, rose with unhurried composure, crisp and immaculate as ever. The softened expression he wore while holding her in bed disappeared, leaving him cool and distant once more.
When he put on his black robes, the sense of distance became even stronger.
Ji Hanyi stole two glances at him and then looked away. The maids attended her while Rongchun stood woodenly to one side, unable to find any way to help.
Once they were both ready, they went to eat together.
It was Ji Hanyi’s first midday meal with Shen Si in his courtyard. Eight exquisitely prepared dishes covered the table.
Shen Si scarcely spoke while eating. He sat with his usual upright severity, only occasionally placing food in Ji Hanyi’s bowl.
The dishes were not particularly to her taste. They reflected Shen Si’s preferences-lightly seasoned and rather bland. Not one had the sweet-and-sour flavors she favored.
Even so, she ate every morsel he placed in her bowl.
Shen Si glanced at her and saw that she did not seem to be enjoying the meal. He ladled her a bowl of ham soup and told her to eat slowly.
That afternoon, after the meal, Shen Si took Ji Hanyi out into the city. They had dinner at a restaurant that evening.
An entire table was laden with food. Ji Hanyi had been reluctant to face Shen Si after the events of the night before, but each time he calmly placed another one of her favorite dishes in her bowl, something subtle stirred within her.