Chapter 220
Chapter 220
Nothing made Ji Hanyi’s scalp prickle quite like the crushing pressure in Shen Si’s question.
Why?
The reason was almost impossible to say aloud.
Still, Ji Hanyi forced herself to answer. Resting a hand over her lower abdomen, she murmured, “It is still a little sore.”
Shen Si paused. His gaze followed her hand, and he covered it with his own, gently rubbing the spot. “A little sore?”
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“Why didn’t you tell the Imperial Physician just now?”
Ji Hanyi stared at him. The Imperial Physician was a man, and the Empress had been standing right beside them. How could she possibly have said it?
Seeing that Shen Si apparently had not understood her meaning, she bit her lip and had no choice but to explain, “After what happened yesterday… it felt a little sore…”
“It did the last time too. It goes away after a day or two…”
Shen Si understood at last. It had genuinely never occurred to him that Ji Hanyi’s body might ache after their pleasure. He had assumed such intimacy brought only pleasure.
Now that he understood why she had lied, his expression softened. He held her against him and stroked her hair. “Tomorrow I will ask the Imperial Physician why this happens.”
The moment he said it, Ji Hanyi shook her head vehemently.
She did not want Shen Si consulting an Imperial Physician over something like this.
In truth, she had some idea of the cause herself. It had simply felt too good, and she would soon recover.
Shen Si, however, regarded her gravely. “We must understand such matters. It will be better for both of us in the future.”
Ji Hanyi was rendered speechless.
The future…
Both of us…
She stared blankly at him.
Shen Si glanced at her again. “Since you fell ill today, the Empress specially sought His Majesty the Emperor’s permission. I may remain in the palace tonight to keep you company.”
He placed the rest of the cherries in cream back in her hands and gave her a meaningful look. “I am going to bathe.”
After he left, Ji Hanyi ate several bites in a daze, overcome with regret.
Regret or not, she could not bear to waste food. She finished the remainder, rinsed her mouth, and curled beneath the quilt, cheeks burning as she wondered how she would survive the night.
Before long, one corner of the brocade quilt lifted. After a faint rustle, a warm, broad chest pressed against her back. An arm circled her waist, and a palm settled over her lower abdomen through her sleeping robe. Shen Si’s husky voice came from behind her. “Does it feel better?”
Ji Hanyi nodded. “A little.”
Hot, lingering kisses fell against the nape of her neck. “Let us sleep early tonight.”
Eyes open, Ji Hanyi felt each kiss he pressed to her neck. With their bodies fitted so closely together, she could also feel the hardness behind her.
Yet Shen Si’s hand remained on her lower abdomen, caressing it gently. His hot breath against her neck was slow and tender.
She could clearly feel the care he was giving her. At that moment, more than ever, she sensed the cool, restrained tenderness that was uniquely his.
Part of her drifted within that tenderness, aware of how well Shen Si treated her, while another part grew more bewildered than before.
She did not know how she and Shen Si ought to live together in the years ahead. She had married him to escape another match, but did that mean giving him both her body and her heart? She did not think she could do that completely-not yet.
She could not stop recalling what the Empress had told her that morning.
In the past, she would have devoted her whole heart to her husband and tried earnestly to love him. Now, she could no longer do so. A lifetime could change in the blink of an eye, and no one could promise what it would bring.
Ji Hanyi closed her eyes. She had always been passive with Shen Si. Even if they truly consummated their marriage one day, she knew she would not be able to resist him. She did not even know how.
Perhaps letting nature take its course would not be so terrible. She was not determined to preserve her chastity, nor did she need to remain faithful to anyone else.
Her thoughts wandered for a long while. Just as drowsiness began to overtake her, Shen Si turned her around to face him. His robe hung open, revealing a body entirely unlike what one would expect beneath a civil official’s robes. His chest was hard and powerfully muscled, enough to make her heart race at a glance.
Ji Hanyi peered at him through half-closed eyes, then shut them again in exhaustion. Hot breath drew near. Her chin was lifted, and a kiss heavy with desire descended upon her.
She tried to keep her lips closed, but Shen Si held her jaw and coaxed them apart. Dense, lingering kisses followed. Her eyelids were heavy with sleep, and pinned beneath him on the bed, she had long since lost any strength to resist.
Before dawn the next morning, Ji Hanyi opened her eyes to find Shen Si already fully dressed and leaning over her.
Nestled beneath the brocade quilt, she blinked sleepily, at a loss for what to say.
Shen Si chuckled. Bracing a hand beside her face, he bent down and kissed her forehead. “I will pay my respects to Her Majesty the Empress in a moment. Sleep a little longer.”
He regarded her intently. “Do not tire yourself these next two days. You needn’t put so much effort into that painting. Rest for two days before continuing. Take care of yourself, and stop making yourself exhausted.”
Ji Hanyi gazed drowsily into his deep eyes. Somehow, she felt his words carried another meaning.
Nevertheless, she nodded obediently.
Shen Si studied her eyes again. Other than lingering sleepiness, they held no reluctance to see him go, nor did she seem to have anything she wished to say.
He did not know how other wives behaved with their husbands in the morning, but a faint disappointment still stirred deep within him.
Then again, this was his first time being a husband and his first time sharing his days and nights with a woman. Perhaps there were things he was doing poorly. While Ji Hanyi remained at the palace these next two days, he could ask a few friends and colleagues for advice.
His gaze softened once more. His thumb stroked her cheek, and he lingered there for another moment before leaving.
Ji Hanyi passed the next two days in the palace rather comfortably. Each afternoon, the Empress told her not to paint and to rest in her room instead.
The Empress remained exacting with her. She did not relax the slightest demand concerning Ji Hanyi’s deportment or etiquette. She had court ladies teach her the palace’s many rules and required Ji Hanyi to recite them when she came to pay her respects each morning.
But none of this was truly difficult. Ji Hanyi had possessed an excellent memory since childhood. She also understood that the Empress had set aside a great deal of time to instruct her and share the lessons of her own experience because she sincerely hoped Ji Hanyi would one day keep pace with Shen Si and never become a burden to him.
These were real skills that became her own once learned. Ji Hanyi did not consider the lessons a hardship at all.
Moreover, the palace meals and desserts the Empress sent her were made from the finest ingredients. She had not been treated poorly in the least.
The only oddity was that Sun Baoqiong visited her room from time to time on both afternoons. She claimed to have heard that Ji Hanyi was unwell and had come especially to keep her company.
It was not long after the midday meal when she arrived yet again.