Yufei thought he had forgotten. “You fell unconscious for two days after eating ten lotus seeds as a child… The kitchen staff are all newly hired, perhaps they didn’t remember the Heir’s taboos. This will never happen again.”
After speaking, Yufei still felt troubled. “Even if they didn’t know the Heir’s taboos, how could the Heir himself not remember?”
As the wet nurse’s daughter, Yufei held a status in the household that ordinary maids couldn’t match, occasionally speaking frankly.
After all, if anything had happened after Pei Ruyan took that bite, not just the kitchen staff but likely all the servants in the entire courtyard would have suffered.
After Yufei left, the room fell into silence.
Shen Sangning truly hadn’t known. She had only chosen a soup suitable for drugging and administered the drug.
At this moment, she felt immensely grateful that Ning Hou had knocked over the sweet soup.
Otherwise, with that one bowl causing both allergic reaction and “internal heat,” the physician wouldn’t have known which condition to treat first.
The drugging incident would have been impossible to conceal…
The thought made her shudder with fear. Shen Sangning became much quieter, like a child who had done something wrong.
Pei Ruyan thought she was blaming herself and coughed lightly. “Perhaps… I’ve outgrown the allergy as an adult. Who knows?”
Shen Sangning gave an awkward smile, not comforted in the least.
The main chamber was divided into three sections. Near the entrance stood a round table for meals, with two ancient paintings and an antique shelf hanging on the wall opposite the door.
To the left of the entrance, a small study was separated by a beaded curtain.
To the right, veiled by gauze curtains, was the rest and dressing area. Behind the screen was space for changing and washing.
At this moment, Pei Ruyan was practicing calligraphy at the desk while Shen Sangning occasionally glanced his way.
Since the Spring Drink drugging hadn’t succeeded earlier, she wondered if tonight would go smoothly.
Probably… maybe it would work?
After Zisu finished making the bed, thinking the Heir could finally build rapport with the young mistress tonight, she felt genuinely happy—
“Master, this servant will keep watch tonight and rest in the side room next door.”
Shen Sangning nodded, feeling somewhat nervous herself.
Suddenly, from beyond the curtain, Pei Ruyan spoke up with an order: “Prepare two sets of bedding.”
“Ah?” Zisu was astonished.
Could it be the Heir still intended to sleep separately from the young mistress? Not sharing the same quilt?
After finally sharing a room, why maintain such distance?
It was at this moment that Zisu truly agreed in her heart with “drugging the Heir.”
Shen Sangning, who had been watching Pei Ruyan, naturally heard this too and frowned with worry.
Seeing this, Zisu cautiously replied, “Summer is approaching soon… Two sets of bedding might be rather hot…”
Her words implicitly expressed reluctance to fetch two quilts.
Pei Ruyan looked up from his desk, his expression unconsciously turning cold. “Are you contradicting me?”
Household servants were always expected to follow orders without question. Pei Ruyan disliked explaining himself to subordinates.
Zisu felt his oppressive gaze fall upon her and trembled.
“You go ahead first,” Shen Sangning said as she walked toward Pei Ruyan.
As Zisu left, she remembered to close the door behind her.
“Don’t scare people. She was just asking out of concern,” Shen Sangning said.
Pei Ruyan frowned but remained silent, watching as she personally brought out another quilt from inside, turned toward the bed, and threw it onto the spread-out bedding.
“You have morning court tomorrow. You should rest early tonight,” Shen Sangning said without looking back.
She changed into her undergarments behind the screen, removed her shoes and socks, climbed onto the bed and lay down, adding, “It’s too bright for me to sleep. Hurry up and remember to put out the lights.”
After she finished speaking, steady footsteps soon sounded, growing closer.
Pei Ruyan’s gaze inadvertently swept over the old chest as he casually asked, “Haven’t you opened the chest yet?”
“No, I didn’t want to break the lock. I plan to find a locksmith to open it,” Shen Sangning sat up on the bed. “Why do you care about this?”
She seemed somewhat puzzled.
In an instant, the bright room suddenly darkened considerably as Pei Ruyan extinguished one of the lamps.
Only the lamp by the bedside remained, casting mottled shadows on the wall.
She watched as Pei Ruyan walked behind the screen, where the dim yellow light and black shadows perfectly outlined his silhouette.
Though his body couldn’t be seen, the atmosphere became even more ambiguous.
Pei Ruyan’s emotionless voice came from behind the screen, “Just curious.”
“Oh, that chest only contains ordinary things.” Shen Sangning didn’t look at him further and lay back down.
Then, the lamp by the bedside was also extinguished.
The room plunged into darkness. She heard Pei Ruyan lie down, cover himself with the quilt, and remain silent.
It was just that the bed was too spacious, leaving some distance between them.
Shen Sangning gathered the quilt and “quietly” moved closer. Seeing no reaction from him, she continued to approach further.
Pei Ruyan heard the rustling sounds, his senses magnified infinitely in the darkness, as if he could hear the woman’s breathing.
The delicate fragrance of gardenia mixed with the faint scent of sandalwood, lingering around the bed, impossible to ignore.
It inexplicably made one feel restless.
She grew bolder. If he didn’t stop her soon, her small hand would probably reach over.
Unable to bear it any longer, he finally said impatiently, “Don’t come any closer.”
His voice carried a hint of stiffness.
“Oh,” she responded softly.
Just one word, yet Pei Ruyan detected a tone of disappointment in it.
“Sharing the bed for three days each month was actually Mother’s idea,” he explained, feeling an indescribable irritation.
He expected the person beside him to be even more disappointed, but instead heard her say cheerfully—
“Really? Then I should thank Mother!”
Pei Ruyan: …
He had nothing to say.
After a period of silence between them, Shen Sangning still didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Half-sitting up, she looked down at him in the faint moonlight.
“Don’t you really want to—” give it a try?
Before she could finish her seductive words, a cat’s melodious and prolonged cries suddenly sounded outside.
“Meow~ Meow~”
It was Ning Hou again. Ning Hou’s presence was really strong.
They thought it would stop after a couple of cries, but unexpectedly, its sounds grew increasingly strange.
“What’s going on?” Pei Ruyan suddenly became serious.
The trailing notes grew longer, sometimes high-pitched and sharp, sometimes urgent and seductive, almost like crying, “Meow~”
Shen Sangning’s heart sank as she thought of that bowl of sweet soup…
Could it be that the medicine also worked on cats?