Jiang Xuening tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt unbearably heavy and kept drooping. She could not manage to open them, so she raised a hand and rubbed them instead.
As she rubbed her eyes, she complained to him, “Why did you come back so late? I waited for you for a long time.”
She was still immersed in sleep and had not fully awakened. Her voice was inevitably soft and hazy when she spoke, and hearing it made Shen Yi’s heart soften unconsciously.
“I’ve been busy with official duties lately, and my return time is uncertain. You don’t need to wait for me.”
“Then what official duties have you been busy with recently?”
“I’ve been busy with matters concerning the Autumn Harvest Ceremony.”
“Oh.”
She finally rubbed her eyes open and looked at him through a sleepy haze.
“I thought you were deliberately avoiding me.”
The corners of her eyes had turned a faint rosy red from rubbing them. Her jade-like, radiant face suddenly gained an additional hint of alluring charm, like a bright moon reflected in spring water, captivating the heart.
Shen Yi’s breathing caught.
His heartbeat seemed to skip a beat as well, and he even forgot to say the words, “I really have been avoiding you.”
Jiang Xuening had intended to give him another flirtatious look, but unfortunately, she was in such poor condition that even keeping her eyes open was difficult. She simply gave up.
“Forget it. I’ll come again tomorrow night.”
She no longer wanted to fight against her sleepiness. With her eyes half-closed, she said to him, “Husband, come back earlier tomorrow night. I’m going back to sleep first.”
By the time Shen Yi came back to his senses, she had already turned and left.
He rubbed the area where his heart was beating.
He would have to find a physician another day and have it checked. Was there something wrong with his heart? Why did it sometimes beat less and sometimes beat more?
The next day, the gatekeeper delivered a wedding invitation from the residence of the Vice Minister of Revenue.
One of Jiang Xuening’s cousins had married the son of the Second Branch of the Vice Minister of Revenue’s household the previous year. A few days ago, she had given birth to a son and was inviting Jiang Xuening to attend the child’s one-month celebration banquet.
When this cousin had married the previous year, Jiang Xuening had still been ignored at the rural estate.
However, shortly before Jiang Xuening married into the Marquis’s Residence, this cousin had returned to give her a bridal gift and had presented her with a set of jadeite jewelry.
Now that her cousin had given birth to a son, Jiang Xuening naturally had to return the favor with a gift of roughly equivalent value.
Jiang Xuening had Chunlan bring over the list of her dowry. She wanted to choose something from her dowry as a gift for her cousin.
When Chunlan heard that she wanted to take something from her dowry, she was somewhat reluctant and said that she needed to ask the First Madam for permission first.
“I’m giving a congratulatory gift to my own cousin. It’s not as though I’m using it carelessly. Why do I need to trouble Mother again?”
Previously, she had not dared to use anything from her dowry at will. But this time, she was giving a gift to a member of her own family. Even if her Legal Mother found out, she should not object.
Seeing Chunlan hesitate and refuse to bring out the dowry list, Jiang Xuening’s expression turned cold. After reprimanding her a few times, Chunlan finally brought out the list reluctantly.
There was no cash, farmland, or shops in Jiang Xuening’s dowry, but there were still quite a few gold and silver objects, jewelry, and precious treasures.
After looking through the list, Jiang Xuening selected a set of silver-inlaid jade tableware and asked Chunlan to bring it over for her to inspect.
Chunlan delayed for quite some time before finally bringing the set of tableware over and placing it on the table according to Jiang Xuening’s instructions.
Jiang Xuening’s eyes lit up at first, but she immediately frowned.
At first glance, the set of tableware looked quite beautiful. The plain silver complemented the white jade, giving it an elegant and luxurious appearance when placed on the table.
But upon closer inspection, it seemed insufficiently refined. The carved patterns were uneven in depth, while the embedded jade had a dull luster and lacked the smooth, lustrous quality it should have possessed.
Although Jiang Xuening had not seen many truly fine things before, even she could tell that this set of tableware looked too crude to be given as a gift.
She then had Chunlan bring out the other jewelry and precious objects from her dowry so that she could inspect them one by one.
At first glance, they all appeared to be luxurious and respectable treasures. But none of them could withstand careful scrutiny.
The gold and silver pieces were of insufficient purity, the pearls and jade ornaments were dull and dry, and the various porcelain vases, jade cups, and precious decorative objects were crudely made.
Everywhere, they reeked of perfunctory workmanship.
They were all nothing more than flashy, inferior goods meant merely to make a show.
Compared with these things, the set of jadeite jewelry her cousin had given her looked exceptionally outstanding.
Jiang Xuening’s expression darkened. She turned her eyes toward Chunlan, her gaze filled with accusation.
Unable to withstand her stare, Chunlan immediately lowered her head and dared not meet her eyes.
These dowry items had always been kept by Chunlan.
Clearly, she had known for a long time that there was something wrong with the dowry. That was why she had been so reluctant to bring out the list earlier.
“Put all of these away.”
These things could not exactly be called fake, but they were not truly valuable either.
It had certainly taken some effort for Madam Zhou to gather such a large collection of shiny but inferior goods to serve as her dowry.
The matter of her dowry could be dealt with later.
For now, the most important thing was to prepare a decent congratulatory gift for her cousin.
Although she could simply give her cousin the set of silver-inlaid jade tableware with her eyes closed and conveniently shift the blame onto her maiden family, she was now the Heir Apparent’s wife of Jingning Marquis’s Residence.
If she sent out such a congratulatory gift, it would also damage the Marquis’s Residence’s reputation.
Jiang Xuening wanted to ask her mother-in-law for help, but her mother-in-law had only just filled a several-hundred-tael shortfall for her the previous day. She really could not bring herself to ask for money again today.
After thinking it over, she once again turned her attention to Shen Yi.
……
That day, Shen Yi personally went to the Ming Hall ceremonial grounds to inspect the palace buildings and their arrangements. He supervised the correction of omissions in the ceremonial procedures and ensured that all the necessary implements were properly prepared.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and everything had been sorted out before nightfall.
It was rare for his duties to end so early that day. His colleagues invited him to gather at a restaurant for a small drink and relieve the fatigue that had accumulated over the past several days.
Shen Yi did not want to dampen their spirits and was about to agree when he suddenly remembered Jiang Xuening’s words from the previous night.
“Husband, come back earlier tomorrow night.”
This was not even the first time he had thought of those words that day.
For some reason, no matter what he was doing, he would occasionally remember that sentence.
He would even recall the way her eyes had been half-closed when she said it, her soft, sweet voice, and the flirtatious look she had failed to give him…
Every time he thought about these things, his heartbeat would become slightly irregular.
Just like now.
“Brother Shen, Brother Shen…”
A colleague was calling him.
“Are you coming or not?”
“Ah… I’m coming.”
He shook his head.
His colleague was a little confused.
“You… are you coming or not?”
He had said he was coming, so why was he shaking his head?
Only then did Shen Yi realize that his words and actions did not match.
He was surprised to discover that he had actually been tempted to return home earlier simply because of something Jiang Xuening had said.
Hah.
Why should he listen to her?
He was already doing his best to avoid her.
“Let’s go,” he said to his colleague. “I’ll go with you.”
……
When the moon hung high in the silent night, Shen Yi, slightly tipsy, stepped down from his carriage.
The watchman’s wooden clapper sounded from the entrance of the alley.
It was already the third watch of the night.
He had returned even later than the previous night.
The wind dispersed some of the drunkenness in him, and a strange sense of guilt suddenly arose in Shen Yi’s heart.
Clearly, he had never promised her that he would return early.
So why did he inexplicably feel as though he had disappointed her expectations?
The moment he stepped into Muyun Courtyard, that inexplicable guilt reached its peak when he saw the sleeping figure lying on the stone table in the courtyard.
Autumn had already arrived, and the night wind was especially cold.
She had wrapped herself in a cape the color of clear mountain green. Half of her face was hidden beneath the hood as she lay sprawled across the stone table, sleeping peacefully.
Reason told Shen Yi not to be bewitched by that innocent and harmless-looking face.
Yet his feet stopped beside the stone table against his will.
He heard his own helpless voice.
“Wake up. The night wind is cold. Don’t sleep here…”