Chapter 256
Chapter 256
As Shen Si turned to leave, Nanny Fang quietly told him that Old Madam had once again kept Ji Hanyi behind alone that day. Nanny Fang did not know what had been said; she too had been sent outside.
Shen Si had ordered Nanny Fang to attend Ji Hanyi closely and report to him on how she spent her days.
He gave a low acknowledgment and went to the bath chamber.
After bathing, Shen Si had no intention of returning to the study that night. He merely ordered two plates of Ji Hanyi’s favorite pastries and a warmed pot of cherry wine.
Nanny Fang waited outside. When Shen Si emerged from his bath, she naturally began drying his long hair.
She had attended him for years, and he was accustomed to her hands. He preferred her to any of the young maids coming so close.
But today, as Nanny Fang approached with the cloth, Shen Si thought again of the woman in the study. He had been the one to order everyone not to disturb Ji Hanyi, yet a trace of dissatisfaction still stirred within him.
If she truly cared about him, she would surely know that he had returned.
Newly married, he harbored a tender expectation deep within his heart, an emotion he had never experienced before. At times, he would pause in the midst of his work and remember that someone waited quietly for him in his courtyard, always there for his return. Even amid tedious, complicated official business, the thought brought him an unexpected flicker of joy.
In the past, he had never joined his colleagues in conversations unrelated to work. Yet at noon that day, he had gone to sit with his subordinates in their office merely because he had overheard one of them proudly pointing to his boots and saying that his wife had made them. Some inexplicable impulse had drawn Shen Si closer.
He wanted to hear more about how other husbands and wives lived together, how they treated each other in private.
Unfortunately, the moment he approached, every man sat bolt upright and the conversation ceased.
Now, as Shen Si looked at the cloth in Nanny Fang’s hands, he wondered whether this was something Ji Hanyi ought to do for him.
The desire took root, but he felt that Ji Hanyi should want to do it herself. He did not wish to ask.
A wife ought to take the initiative. At the very least, it would show that she cherished her husband and cared for his comfort.
As Nanny Fang dried his hair, Shen Si suddenly said, “Your hand is a little heavy.”
Nanny Fang froze, then hurriedly lightened her touch.
Shen Si’s cool voice came again. “Now it is too light.”
At once, Nanny Fang stood there at a loss. She had served Shen Si for so long and had watched him grow up. She knew his temperament and every one of his habits by heart. She had even been the first to realize when he experienced his first nocturnal emission and had discreetly taught him what a young man needed to know.
Yet now, she could not satisfy him in a matter as simple as drying his hair.
Nanny Fang did almost no ordinary work in the courtyard. Her duties were to supervise the maids and attend to tasks that required someone close to Shen Si: drying his hair after his bath and making his personal garments, shoes, and stockings.
She had not always dried his hair herself. But after Shen Si turned fifteen, his features grew ever more striking and he reached a grown man’s height. The young maids could not resist him. One after another, they tried to entice him, each dreaming of becoming his first bedchamber maid or concubine. Their schemes exasperated him, so Nanny Fang had handled the task ever since.
The maids also liked to hide personal tokens in his intimate garments, so Nanny Fang had taken over those as well.
In nearly ten years, this was the first time the Marquis had said she had failed to serve him properly.
Aggrieved and frightened, Nanny Fang was about to press harder when Shen Si spoke again. “Are you tired today, Nanny?”
She started and moved to kneel beside him to beg forgiveness, but Shen Si caught her arm. “You have worked hard these past days. Go rest early tonight.”
Nanny Fang stared at him. He did not appear angry. Of course, the Marquis had always accorded her great respect and had never slighted her. After she became his wet nurse, he had arranged a position as a runner at the Censorate for her son, freed him from the servant registry, and permitted her grandson to study at the Shen Residence clan school. Those were extraordinary favors.
Yet her guilt only deepened. Looking at the Marquis’s loose, half-damp hair, she said, “I have never found it tiring to serve you, Marquis.”
Shen Si sighed. His cool black eyes lifted to meet hers. “Nanny, sometimes you should rest.”
Nanny Fang froze beneath his gaze. After serving him for so long, how could she fail to understand what it meant?
Although the Marquis treated her with respect, he had been decisive and unyielding since childhood. Taciturn and aloof, he was nevertheless forceful. Once he decided upon something, it would be done. No one could dissuade him-not even his father.
Nanny Fang understood at once. She dared not say another word. Still worried by the sight of his unbound, half-wet hair, she finally withdrew.
In the study, Ji Hanyi had just completed the preliminary sketch that pleased her most. Tomorrow, she could begin outlining the final painting.
She had drawn many sketches that afternoon and found fault with every one. Now that she had finally produced one she liked, delight fluttered in her heart.
Although she was always modest before others, praise pleased her as much as anyone. She did not often paint in the meticulous style, but the Crown Prince had repeatedly praised her work in the palace, giving her a little more confidence. Perhaps she also wished to satisfy His Majesty the Emperor and show others that, having married Shen Si, she possessed qualities worthy of standing beside him.
The candle flame flickered gently in the quiet room. She stared at it absently for a moment, then hurried to her feet and walked out.
She had come to the study after dinner and had no idea how late it was. Had Shen Si returned?
Rongchun was waiting outside the study curtain. When Ji Hanyi emerged, she whispered, “The Marquis is back. He is in the inner sitting room of the east side chamber.”
“But all the maids attending inside have come out. The Marquis is alone.”
Ji Hanyi paused, then went to the east side chamber by herself.
When she lifted the curtain, the warm fragrance of wine drifted over her. But the sight that met her eyes was Shen Si reclining on an arhat bed in a loosely draped dark blue robe. A small table before him held two plates of pastries and a pot of wine warming over a brazier. His damp hair hung unbound around him, and his cool, distant eyes lifted to her.
For no reason she could name, Ji Hanyi’s heart gave a violent flutter. She quickly walked toward him.
Only when she drew near did she see the dark patches of water soaking the open collar of his robe. A droplet trembled at the end of his black hair, then fell onto the half-revealed plane of his chest.
Ji Hanyi watched it trail slowly downward. Feeling his gaze upon her, she stiffly turned her head and met Shen Si’s dark eyes.
He was ordinarily so immaculate and composed. Seeing him like this, Ji Hanyi could think of only one word: temptation.