Chapter 23
Chapter 23
There had been no pleasantries, nor had Ji Hanyi dredged up the past as a preamble.
She suspected Shen Si would not care to hear any of that.
She also knew he would not like her using this jade pendant to ask a favor of him.
Perhaps the promise he had made back then had merely been a casual remark.
She had come today to return the pendant to its rightful owner, to assure him that she would never use it to trouble him again.
Shen Si’s peripheral vision had remained fixed on the dark blue figure. He watched her kneel on the floor, the jade earrings dangling from her pale earlobes brushing against her chin.
Her head was bowed, so his gaze traveled upward, studying her without the slightest attempt at concealment.
Her raven-black hair was arranged in a married woman’s coiffure, with a fan-shaped floral hairpin tucked into it at an angle. The conservative high collar, patterned with subtle embroidery, covered every inch of her slender neck, leaving only the faintest glimpse of pale skin.
The turquoise necklace around her neck hung down to the floor before her. Her long lashes fluttered against her cheeks, betraying her unease.
They had not seen each other in years, yet her skin remained as fair as snow and her figure as exquisite as ever. Even swathed in thick, luxurious fabric, her body still traced alluring curves that invited the imagination to wander.
There was an unconscious sensuality about her. Now that she was a married woman, the slight fullness of her figure added a touch of restrained maturity.
Shen Si withdrew his gaze. He did not want to let his eyes linger on her.
Even less did he want her occupying too much of his mind.
And yet his peripheral vision remained entirely fixed on her.
He set his brush on the brush rest and glanced at the jade pendant lying quietly on his desk. Only after a long silence did he speak. “Madam Xie, you should not have come to me.”
Shen Si was not deliberately trying to make things difficult for Ji Hanyi. Whether in sentiment or in principle, she truly should not have sought him out.
She was already a wife of the Xie Family, and it was not as though Xie Yuheng lacked the ability to help her. Yet she had come to ask another man for aid. It was inappropriate on a personal level.
As for principle, he was the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, charged with supervising all officials. By asking him to intercede on her cousin’s behalf, she was essentially asking him to abuse his position and neglect his duty.
His cool, merciless voice frosted Ji Hanyi’s heart. She understood what he meant. She should not have come to him.
But she had no one else to turn to.
The wreckage behind her had yet to be cleared away, and her maternal family was all she had left. If she left the Xie Family, that was the only place she could return to. Helping Cousin Xun was also a way to secure some small retreat for herself.
Ji Hanyi raised her head and met Shen Si’s downward gaze. It was distant and devoid of emotion, as if he were looking at someone of no consequence.
Her heart tightened for no apparent reason. In a hoarse voice, she admitted her predicament. “Because I have no one else to ask.”
Shen Si looked at the faint redness around Ji Hanyi’s eyes. With her face raised, all the bright light fell upon her. Warmth had flushed her creamy skin a delicate pink, and light danced upon the tip of her dainty nose, drawing the eye irresistibly down to her small, cherry-red lips.
She possessed an allure that blended innocent purity with lush sensuality — the same intoxicating nightmare Shen Si could never escape in his dreams.
He disliked the seductive face nature had given her. He disliked even more those eyes that always seemed brimming with tender affection, rippling like a pool of spring water whenever she looked at someone.
As if she harbored feelings for everyone she saw.
Naturally, he did not like her looking at anyone with those affectionate eyes.
But right now, what he disliked most was that she had appeared before him at all.
He resisted anything and everything concerning her, yet after all these years, she had sought him out of her own accord.
At Ji Hanyi’s words, Shen Si’s eyes darkened slightly, and a faint, cold, heartless smile curved his lips.
He relaxed against the back of his chair. His noble, elegant features remained fathomless, betraying not the slightest emotion. Toying with a glass orb in one hand, he asked calmly, “What you mean, Madam Xie, is that aside from me, there is no one else you can find to help you. Is that right?”
“Is that what you mean?”
Ji Hanyi’s heart tightened. She nodded.
Shen Si arched a brow. “The Xie Family isn’t capable of helping you with this?”
“It’s such a trivial matter. Is it really worth kneeling before me?”
Shen Si’s tone was neither cold nor warm, yet his words cut into her heart like a knife slicing away at her flesh.
Now, before Shen Si, the unhappy truth of her life in the Xie Family had been effortlessly exposed.
Even less could she bring herself to tell Shen Si that her husband did not care for her — that she had never once won his heart. Admitting that would only make her feel more insignificant before Shen Si, as lowly as dust beneath his feet.
She truly was pathetic. She was no longer the Ji Hanyi she had once been. She had no home, no father. Her closest kin had grown distant, and the man beside her had given his heart elsewhere. Perhaps she really was useless.
Silence was all that remained in the warm room. Shen Si did not seem to expect an answer from her.
He watched as she lowered her eyes, the earrings beside her cheeks trembling faintly. She looked so humiliated that it was hard not to pity her.
Shen Si pressed his lips together. He thought that perhaps he should never have agreed to see her in the first place.
Meeting with a married woman — even he found it absurd.
Yet when his gaze returned to Ji Hanyi, he saw the glimmer of tears at the corners of her eyes and closed his own.
He rose from his chair and picked up the jade pendant from the table with his long fingers. Walking over to her, he bent down to look at her.
Her soft, warm fragrance drifted toward him. At this distance, he could see every detail of her more clearly.
The snow melting on her shoulders had left small patches of dampness. A loose strand of hair curled along her jaw. Her gaze was unfocused and helpless, and her pale green earrings trembled gently, making her neck appear all the more slender.
Her plain, understated clothes did nothing to conceal the delicate beauty beneath her fine, graceful brows. Instead, they accentuated a fragility that made one want to seize her and ravage her without restraint.
Ji Hanyi had always been delicate, her body supple and soft. Shen Si knew firsthand just how soft that body could be.
He crouched before her. Even in that position, his tall, elegant figure retained its cool, aristocratic bearing, casting a cold shadow over Ji Hanyi.
She froze, then instinctively began to shrink back.
Shen Si had always possessed an aloofness that warned strangers away. Even when he was the one approaching, the person before him would instinctively retreat.
Perhaps it was fear. Or perhaps it was the uncontrollable sense of inferiority people felt in his presence, leaving withdrawal as their only means of hiding it.
Shen Si took in every one of Ji Hanyi’s movements. He extended his hand, offering her the jade pendant. His long fingers were smooth as jade, and the movement of his sleeve carried with it the cool fragrance of tea. Resting in his palm, even the pendant seemed more precious.
His eyes remained fixed on Ji Hanyi’s face. “I will grant you only one request. Are you certain you want me to use it to help your elder cousin?”
The heavy uncertainty weighing on Ji Hanyi’s heart vanished the moment she heard those words. She understood that he had agreed to help.
She hurriedly raised her head and met Shen Si’s gaze. Concealing her fear of him, she nodded gratefully. “This is the only thing I ask of you, Lord Shen. I will never come to beg another favor of you again.”
Ji Hanyi lowered her head to express her gratitude, only for a cool finger to suddenly catch her by the chin.
An intense, icy fragrance enveloped her. Ji Hanyi looked up in alarm, panic filling her eyes.
Yet when she met Shen Si’s gaze, she found only unyielding ice. His expression was distant and impassive, without the slightest trace of any other emotion. For an instant, Ji Hanyi felt ashamed of herself, mortified by the thought that had flashed through her mind.
Of course. Shen Si had always seemed devoid of human emotions and desires. Even if he had suddenly made such a vaguely intimate gesture toward her, he must have had his reasons.
How could he possibly harbor any other intentions toward her?