Chapter 73

Chapter 73

In the stillness of the night, a carriage slowly came to a stop not far beyond Anping Bridge. Shen Si lifted one corner of the curtain with a finger, his cool, detached gaze fixed on the huddled figure in the darkness.

The figure’s shoulders trembled faintly, as though she were crying.

This was no bustling part of the city. The outskirts were remote, though the scenery was exceptionally beautiful.

Xie Yuheng was merely taking a concubine. None of this was worth it for a man like him.

Ji Hanyi was slumped over the stone table. She seemed to be having a long dream. In it, her father was carrying her into a lively shop, asking which piece of sweet rice cake she wanted.

Her eyes cracked open. Through the haze, she saw her mother standing not far away, smiling as she watched Ji Hanyi and her father. Her eyes grew hot again, and she walked toward her mother.

A bitter gale swept through the pavilion and down her collar, tossing strands of hair across her cheeks and into the air. She felt none of the cold. All she wanted was for everything to be as it had once been, for everything to still be all right.

Her father was well.

Her mother was well too.

But just as she reached out to take her mother’s hand, a sudden force hauled her upright. An arm clamped tightly around her waist, and her forehead struck something solid. Warm breath brushed over the top of her head as a stern, urgent voice sounded beside her ear. “What are you doing?”

Ji Hanyi froze. Looking up through the darkness, she could make out only a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Those eyes were dark and heavy, carrying an oppressive authority that reminded her of how her father looked whenever he questioned her after she had done something wrong.

Hurt and aggrieved, Ji Hanyi lowered her head and pressed her forehead against that broad chest. Tears spilled from her eyes, instantly soaking the front of Shen Si’s robe.

Shen Si stiffened. Startled by her uncharacteristic behavior, he reached out and tipped up her chin.

Only one candle remained on the table, its flame dim and on the verge of burning out.

Even in that faint light, the redness around Ji Hanyi’s eyes was clearly visible.

Tears kept spilling from her exquisitely beautiful eyes, and the faint scent of wine clung to her. She stared at him in a dazed, bewildered manner, as though he had frightened her — or as though she were utterly heartbroken.

She looked so pitiful, her already beautiful eyes brimming with tears, that the sight could have softened even the hardest heart.

The body nestled against him was soft and pliant. Shen Si drew a deep breath, his expression easing.

Her delicate warmth lingered beneath his fingertips, but he still frowned at her. “What if you’d fallen?”

It took a long while before Ji Hanyi reacted. She looked up at him blankly, then slowly shook her head. Her voice was soft and slightly hoarse, still thick with confusion, as she leaned back into his embrace. “I won’t fall.”

Ji Hanyi would never normally behave this way.

Not unless she had no idea who the man before her was.

Shen Si looked down at her misty eyes. Tears pooled within them, shimmering like rippling water. The smell of wine on her was impossible to miss.

She seemed to be drunk.

Shen Si’s gaze shifted to the jade-green wine bottle on the stone table. The words Meishan Wine were written across it.

Meishan Wine.

Shen Si frowned again.

He picked up the bottle and examined it. Fortunately, she had drunk less than half. The wine was exceptionally potent, and she had never drunk before. It was a wonder she had managed to swallow so much.

Then he noticed Rongchun slumped over the table as well. Clearly, both mistress and maid were drunk.
Shen Si’s gaze returned to Ji Hanyi’s face in his arms.

Had she been drinking because of Xie Yuheng?

A moment ago, he had seen her rise and head toward the edge of the covered walkway from afar. He had thought that Xie Yuheng’s plan to take a concubine had left her so devastated that she meant to end her life.

His heart had stopped at that instant. When he pulled her back from the edge of the bridge, fear had brought a trace of anger with it. No matter how unhappy she was in the Xie Family, nothing in this world was worth taking her own life over.

But now, faced with Ji Hanyi’s hazy, reddened eyes, he could no longer bring himself to blame her. Even if she could not let go of Xie Yuheng or bear to leave the Xie Family, he would help her.

Even if it meant sending Li Mingrou far, far away, he would do it for her.

The lingering terror still made his heart palpitate, and the fingers clasped around Ji Hanyi’s waist trembled faintly.

The feeling was painfully familiar. It was exactly like the year he had seen her fall into the water.

His grip tightened unconsciously, pressing Ji Hanyi’s back firmly against his chest.

His heart pounded hard and fast inside his chest. Only when her soft, fragrant body nestled against him and her warmth seeped into him did his taut nerves slowly begin to settle.

He lowered his head, his chin brushing the soft fur of the hood that had half slipped from Ji Hanyi’s hair, and looked at the fair, dewy face framed by her thick black locks.

Her damp eyes glistened with tears, and her wet lashes trembled incessantly. She sniffed through a nose reddened by the wind, her pearly white teeth biting down on her full, vivid-red lower lip.

Shen Si’s Adam’s apple bobbed. The aftershock of nearly losing her still coursed through him, and all the tension in his body transformed into a fierce desire to possess her.

Why was she still so heartbroken?

Could she truly still have hopes for a man like Xie Yuheng?

Xie Yuheng was not worthy of such devotion from her.

A wave of pent-up frustration suddenly rose in Shen Si’s chest, with nowhere to go. This was the woman he treasured too much to pressure, yet Xie Yuheng treated her this way.

And what did Xie Yuheng amount to in his eyes?

If Shen Si wished it, Xie Yuheng would not even be qualified to remain at the Court of Judicial Review.

The emotions raging inside him had long since slipped beyond his control. Tightening his fingers around Ji Hanyi’s slender waist, he swept her into his arms and strode toward the carriage nearby.

There was an urgency in his steps that even he did not realize.

Ji Hanyi’s waist ached beneath Shen Si’s grip. In her drunken haze, she felt as though she were a child again, cradled in her father’s arms and pestering him to take her out to see the snow. She nuzzled deeper into Shen Si’s embrace.

The fine fur on her winter hood brushed Shen Si’s neck. He drew a long, deep breath. The desire she had awakened in him — desire he had suppressed for so long-threatened to erupt at that moment.

Meanwhile, when Wen’an saw his master carrying Madam Xie into the carriage like that, his legs nearly gave out beneath him.

His master had ordered him to send even the coachman away before approaching her, but they were still out in public. If anyone saw them, it would be a catastrophe.

Their Marquis had carried a married woman of the Xie Family into his carriage in the middle of the night. Wen’an did not even dare imagine what would happen if word got out. He would probably have to die to atone for it himself.

Even more anxious than his master, Wen’an waited until Shen Si was safely inside the carriage before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

From a distance, he spotted Rongchun still asleep with her head on the stone table. He hurried over, removed his cloak, and draped it over her before placing a brazier beside her.

Since she was Madam Xie’s attendant, he naturally had to take excellent care of her as well. He dared not let anything happen to her.