Chapter 239

Chapter 239

Chen Kang jerked his head up and met Shen Si’s cold, merciless eyes. The voice before him seemed to belong to an asura. His last consolation-that even if he died, the money would remain for his wife, child, and mother-collapsed completely.

He begged for mercy and confessed everything.

After losing heavily at the gambling house, no one would lend him more silver. Then a stranger offered to make him rich. All he had to do was watch for the Shen Residence carriage leaving the palace and report to a certain location. He would receive two hundred taels.

He had never seen so much money. Blinded by greed and believing the task effortless, he agreed without thought.

He had assumed no one could trace it to him. Instead, he had been discovered within a day.

Shen Si looked with disgust at Chen Kang kneeling at his feet, weeping and kowtowing. Then he rose and walked to the window with his hands behind his back.

Behind him, subordinates questioned Chen Kang about the stranger. Shen Si listened silently, already aware that nothing more could be learned.

The gambling house received every kind of person. The stranger had deliberately hidden his identity. Chen Kang could not even describe his face. The man might already have left the capital, making this lead difficult to pursue.

Those who knew Ji Hanyi had entered the palace belonged either to the Shen Family or to the palace itself.

It would not have been the Shen Family.

Then it must be someone in the palace.

Many people had entered during Ji Hanyi’s stay. She had remained in the inner palace, however, and Shen Si could roughly determine who might have seen her.

She had never left the palace, and her maid had remained with her.

Following the thought further, Shen Si suddenly paused.

A subordinate approached and summarized the confession.

The man who found Chen Kang was a stranger to the gambling house. He appeared ordinary and wore a commoner’s coarse clothes.

The meeting occurred at night in poor light, and the man drew him into a dark corner. He paid on the spot. Chen Kang had been so excited by the silver that he never studied the man’s face.

Shen Si remained silent.

The subordinate asked, “How should Chen Kang be dealt with, my lord?”

Shen Si turned. His cold severity instantly silenced the room.

Chen Kang sat uneasily upon the chair, yet seemed faintly relieved. He apparently believed himself safe.

A cruel curve touched Shen Si’s lips. “Whip him to death.”

Under the law, he deserved death.

Chen Kang tried to fall to his knees and plead, but constables dragged him directly to the punishment room.

Death by whipping was agonizing. A barbed lash slowly tore skin and flesh, exposed bone, and damaged the organs until the victim died within endless pain.

Screams soon filled the chamber. Shen Si stood nearby, watching bloody wounds open across Chen Kang’s naked body.

Blood spattered his robe. He looked on without emotion and told a subordinate, “If he makes any further confession, send word immediately.”

After one glance at the man reduced to blood within barely a dozen lashes, Shen Si turned and left.

A carriage waited silently outside the Censorate. Wen’an approached with a lantern and stood carefully beside him.

He noticed the blood on Shen Si’s clothes but did not dare breathe loudly. Ever since the Marchioness’s abduction, Wen’an had lived in fear.

His own punishment had been relatively light: six months’ wages and twenty lashes. Every guard who accompanied the carriage received fifty.

Wen’an could not tell whether the Marquis’s anger had cooled. From his appearance now, it probably had not.

It was midnight when they returned. Shen Si stood beneath the corridor, staring into the black courtyard. His sharp brows were drawn together without concealment, and his shadow looked ghostlike.

Ji Hanyi woke from a nightmare.

The bed curtains were dark. Instinctively, she reached beside her, but the space was empty and cold. Panic and helplessness seized her.

She sat up and tore aside the heavy curtains. Dim candlelight entered. The room was deserted, and she heard only the relentless pounding of her own heart.

Looking behind the screen, she called Rongchun twice. No one answered. Her chest tightened, and she hurried outside.

In her disarray, she knocked over the flower stand by the screen. A pot of narcissus crashed to the floor with a piercing sound.

Shen Si was entering when he saw Ji Hanyi frozen beside the wreckage.

His gaze stopped on her bare feet. In two strides, he reached her, lifted her into his arms, and carried her back to bed.

The chill of night still clung to his chest. Ji Hanyi rested her cheek against it and looked up at the tense line of his jaw.

Then she saw blood upon his white collar.

The faint metallic scent tightened her heart again. She clutched his sleeve and buried her face against him.

“Where did you go? I woke and called, but the maids weren’t here.”

Shen Si placed her on the bed. Night’s cold remained in his low voice. Without saying what he had done, he answered, “I dismissed the maids when I returned.”
He patted her back. “Why did you wake?”

Still buried against him, Ji Hanyi murmured, “I had a nightmare.”

Her fine voice held grievance, almost like a plea for comfort. Shen Si paused and lowered his dark eyes.

After a moment, he asked, “What did you dream of?”

Ji Hanyi looked at him. “My cousin.”

Shen Si gave a neutral acknowledgment, set her upon the bed, and summoned a maid with hot water to clean her feet.

He stood and bent to hold her small face. “I will change and bathe. Then I’ll come keep you company.”

Ji Hanyi stared into his eyes. Like the chill upon his clothes, they held the dense blackness of night.

His expression had not changed since entering. She could not understand even a fraction of him.

Tree shadows rustled outside. In the deep night, Shen Si seemed as unfathomable as the darkness, preventing her from leaning upon him completely.

Yet his presence in the room made her entire body relax.

She nodded obediently.

Only after looking once more into her soft eyes did Shen Si leave.

Rongchun brought calming tea while another maid crouched at Ji Hanyi’s feet and cleaned the dirt left by the fallen pot.

When Ji Hanyi lay down again, Rongchun crouched beside the bed. “Madam, don’t think about anything. It is over.”

Seeing Rongchun’s worried eyes, Ji Hanyi said nothing and softly agreed.

Shen Si bathed away the prison’s smell of blood and returned slowly to the inner room.

Rongchun heard him and tactfully withdrew.

Shen Si sat beside the bed and leaned close. Half of Ji Hanyi’s face was buried beneath the quilt. He drew it back and felt the warmth of her cheek.

A knot of frustration had remained hidden within him: at Gu Yan’s deeds, his own failure to protect her, and Shen Changling finding her first. For the first time, a man accustomed to controlling every detail realized he could not account for everything.

He brushed his lips over Ji Hanyi’s and stroked her hair. “Will you sleep?”

Ji Hanyi looked at his face so close to hers. “Aren’t you going to ask me anything?”

A flicker crossed his dark eyes. “What do you want me to ask?”

She lowered her gaze and fell silent.

She did not know either. Perhaps a trace of anxiety remained-what if he minded that bandits had taken her?

Shen Si saw through her at once. “What happened was not your fault.”

“I have made too many enemies at court. By marrying me, you have suffered unfairly.”

Ji Hanyi stared, touched deep within by his words, then shook her head. “I have never felt wronged.”

Shen Si’s gaze moved. He tightened his hand upon her shoulder and silently drew her close.

When Ji Hanyi woke the next morning, Shen Si had dressed and approached the bed. She blinked sleepily and remembered he must attend court.

As she started to rise, he pressed her shoulder down. “I am going to see Mother. Rest for two more days. You needn’t pay your respects.”

Still drowsy, Ji Hanyi burrowed contentedly beneath the quilt.

Shen Si watched the small bundle. After such an ordeal, she was more openhearted than he expected. Seeing her able to sleep reassured him.

When he reached Old Madam Shen’s quarters, Madam Bai was massaging her shoulders and asking whether she liked the new tea.

At Shen Si’s entrance, Madam Bai stopped and asked, “I heard Sister-in-law went to offer incense at a temple. Has she returned?”

Shen Si acknowledged her and addressed Old Madam Shen. “Hanyi caught a chill returning from the temple. She will not come pay her respects these next two days.”

Old Madam Shen’s expression soured. What kind of frail constitution did Ji Hanyi possess? She had spent an entire day offering incense and returned ill. It seemed her stay in the palace had taught her little etiquette.

But meeting Shen Si’s gaze, Old Madam merely nodded and asked with concern, “Has a doctor seen her?”

“Yes. She will recover after two days’ rest.”

Old Madam did not wish to say more and dismissed him.

Before leaving, Shen Si added, “She needs quiet. No one should visit her for the next two days.”

After he left, Madam Bai watched Old Madam Shen’s face. “I had intended to visit Sister-in-law now that she is ill, but I suppose I cannot.”

She smiled. “Look how Fifth Younger Brother treasures her like the apple of his eye. He is far more attentive than my Master.”

“I never knew Fifth Younger Brother could cherish a woman so well.”