Upon hearing the monk say that Yun Si had drawn the best possible fortune for marriage, Madam Zheng revealed a relieved smile. “How accurate.”
Yun Si was already engaged and would be married in a year or so—wasn’t that good news approaching? Yun Si and her cousin Changze were well-matched in status and a perfect union made in heaven, so naturally, it was the best fortune.
Yun Si gazed intently at the fortune slip, her brow slightly furrowed.
When she had prayed for the fortune, her thoughts had not been about marriage… Why had she received the best possible marriage fortune?
A moment later, Yun Si’s expression brightened. Since she was destined for a good marriage, it meant the troubles currently plaguing her would surely be resolved!
Were the gods and buddhas telling her that her worries would vanish before her marriage? Then she would smoothly marry her cousin, and the two would be “like phoenixes soaring together, their harmonious calls ringing clear.”
Yun Si secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Her daughter had drawn a good fortune, and Madam Zheng felt elated. Before leaving, she donated a generous amount of incense money to the Great Nation Temple.
On the way back to the Prime Minister’s residence, Bai Hao asked, “Is the young lady in a good mood today?”
Yun Si touched her face, surprised that Bai Hao could tell.
Bai Hao couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was different, but overall, the aura the young lady exuded had changed.
“In recent days, it always felt like the young lady was listless.”
Yun Si was inwardly startled. She thought she had concealed it extremely well, but she hadn’t expected her personal maid to notice the problem.
Bai Hao said with a smile, “It seems the Great Nation Temple is a good place. The young lady went there and was touched by its Zen atmosphere, and her mood improved.”
Yun Si was both amused and exasperated. “What nonsense… Of course, the Great Nation Temple is a good place.”
However, the profound Zen atmosphere of the Great Nation Temple still could not block out that vexing dream.
On the night after returning from the Great Nation Temple, Yun Si, exhausted from a day of travel, fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow and dreamed of that man again.
In this dream, Yun Si clearly remembered what she needed to do. Before entering the dream, she had already decided: she would find out exactly who the man in her dream was!
The fortune slip from the Great Nation Temple said Yun Si would have a good marriage. But given Yun Si’s nature, she couldn’t simply do nothing and wait for her cousin to marry her.
Yun Si was outwardly gentle but inwardly strong-willed, and she had been decisive since childhood.
She was not the kind of young lady who sat idly in the inner chambers, waiting for everything to be handed to her by her father and brothers. Yun Si had no older brothers; she was the first child in the Prime Minister’s residence, and among her younger siblings, she was the one who had the final say.
She wanted to completely rid herself of this dream before her marriage and marry her cousin with a light heart.
Otherwise, how could she lie in the same bed with her cousin after marriage and still dream of another man at night?
The first thing Yun Si needed to do was to identify that man.
She didn’t know why she was having these dreams. Perhaps that man knew, or perhaps it was his doing!
Once she found out who that man was, she would have a way to break free from this dream!
Of course, Yun Si also wondered whether such a man truly existed in the world, or if he existed only in her dreams… But she quickly dismissed this thought. Since this was the only path available to her now, given Yun Si’s nature, she would definitely walk it and try! Rather than standing still, helpless.
She was not a weak woman who dared do nothing. As the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister’s residence, she had received excellent guidance since childhood.
Her previous confusion and helplessness were only because, as a young lady from the inner chambers, she had suddenly started having such intense dreams, which truly exceeded her ability to cope, leaving her dazed for a while.
Today’s dream was similar to those before. Yun Si endured her shyness while being intimately close with the man, using her eyes to search for every possible clue and committing them firmly to memory.
The man appeared to be in his twenties—though Yun Si couldn’t see his face clearly, she could still infer his age from his physique, skin, and voice.
Before a man reaches the age of capping, his stature remains undeveloped, youthful and inexperienced. The man in her dream had undoubtedly already been capped, yet he was still in the prime of his vigor, far from reaching thirty.
The man’s status was certainly extraordinary—Yun Si couldn’t see the appearance of the residence he lived in, but even just one bedchamber revealed much.
His bedchamber was even more luxurious than that of Yun Si, the legitimate daughter of the prime minister’s household. This was definitely not a bedchamber ordinary families could possess.
Upon waking, Yun Si wrote a list of families in the capital who could afford such a bedchamber, then quietly burned it in a brazier.
Gathering these clues was not an overnight task. Like a little hamster, Yun Si collected new clues each time she dreamed.
With a newfound conviction, Yun Si no longer stayed awake night after night, afraid to sleep. She slept well, her appetite improved, her complexion brightened, and she even gained a few ounces of weight, recovering somewhat from her previously overly thin appearance.
The maids around her thought Yun Si had recovered, and Madam Zheng was also relieved, believing Yun Si’s earlier insomnia and weight loss were due to the anxiety of her recent engagement.
Only Yun Si herself knew that the man whose face she couldn’t see still invaded her dreams every few days, leaving her no room for refusal.
Yun Si had already gathered all the clues about the man. Apart from his face, which remained unclear, she had memorized everything about him—how broad his shoulders were, how slender his waist, how long his legs… If she ever met him, Yun Si was certain she would recognize him at a single glance!
She also firmly remembered the man’s voice, confident she could identify him by sound alone!
Within the confines of the bed, the clues Yun Si could gather were limited.
She wanted to search for more clues outside, but in her dreams, she was bound by an invisible force, unable to leave the bedchamber, trapped within the bed.
This dream was truly peculiar…
However, Yun Si had made progress. When she first started dreaming, she didn’t even realize she was in a dream, drifting like a leaf on the river of dreams.
Now, Yun Si was clearly aware each time she was dreaming, as if she held an oar in her hands. Though she still couldn’t row upstream and could only drift downstream, she could slightly alter her direction.
In her dreams, Yun Si focused her mind, able to speak a few words or perform small actions according to her will.
Of course, it was still a struggle. A powerful force pulled her down, drowning her in the man’s fiery embrace…
Yun Si had to muster all her concentration to make even the slightest change in her dreams.
“You… what is your name?” Amidst their mingled breaths, Yun Si pressed her lips to the man’s ear, using all her strength to ask this question.
Her voice seemed suppressed by some force, so soft it was barely audible.
After uttering this short sentence, Yun Si felt a headache wash over her, leaving her weak and exhausted. It was always like this… every time she acted on her own will in the dream, it drained her spirit intensely.
She had mustered all her strength to ask the question, yet received no response.
The man hadn’t heard her voice at all, only feeling the warmth of her breath against his ear, stirring a tingling sensation.
In response, the man rolled over, pulling Yun Si tightly against him, his scorching lips covering hers…
Yun Si angrily reached out to hit him. But she was already weak and frail, her fists landing on him like mere tickles, like a spoonful of oil poured onto a fire, only fueling the flames burning within him.
No… this couldn’t go on any longer!
If things continued like this, she feared she truly wouldn’t be able to preserve her innocence in tonight’s dream…
Furious and flustered, Yun Si opened her mouth, her pearly white teeth sinking fiercely into the man’s earlobe.
“Hiss—” The man gasped sharply in pain.
A faint, metallic sweetness spread across Yun Si’s lips and teeth.
Even with his ear bleeding, Yun Si thought the man would surely stop. Yet, this only halted him for a moment—a moment later, his movements grew even more fierce.