After the evening meal, the Shen couple called Shen Lizhuang to the Hall of Bright Splendor alone, claiming they could not bear to be parted from their own flesh and blood.
However, Shen Lizhuang was not Shen Meizhuang; she was merely a Princess Consort assuming another’s identity. Thus, there was no flesh-and-blood affection she could not bear to part with, only the questioning and reprimands she endured from the elders.
“Tell me, was it you who incited your elder sister to elope with that lowly zither player?” Lin Ruoxi grabbed Shen Lizhuang’s arm tightly, sealing the doors and windows shut, and interrogated her in a hushed, pressed voice, her eyes almost spitting fire. “Speak!”
A sharp, piercing pain came from her wrist. Hearing Lin Ruoxi’s malicious interrogation, Shen Lizhuang turned her cold, pear-blossom-like eyes and countered:
“Why would I incite Elder Sister?”
“If you didn’t incite Ai’ai, why did you suddenly want to stay at your sister’s residence for no reason? Ai’ai and the Prince are newly wedded, yet as a concubine-born sister-in-law, you went to their door uninvited to take advantage of them! Setting aside how improper that is, are you and Ai’ai even sisters as close as hand and foot? You hardly ever said two words to each other usually—with such behavior, isn’t your intention as clear as day?!”
“Pull up a radish, and out comes the mud.” Lin Ruoxi’s words were not entirely unreasonable. She and her elder sister had indeed often failed to see eye to eye, hardly counting as close sisters.
Under his wife’s instigation, Shen Shushi, who had originally maintained neutrality, leaned toward Lady Lin’s side as well. Raising his two ink-black eyebrows, his gaze bore straight down upon Shen Lizhuang.
Shen Lizhuang’s arm was gripped in Lady Lin’s palm, the pain tightening circle by circle like a hemp rope binding her, extremely uncomfortable. She struggled a few times trying to break free, but Lin Ruoxi possessed a powerful grip and could not be shaken off easily. The rims of Shen Lizhuang’s eyes trembled, reddening as she said in a deep voice, “Let go.”
Lin Ruoxi turned her eyes to complain to Shen Shushi: “Master, look at her state—is she not showing a guilty conscience? My poor Ai’ai has truly been ruined by her, and our Shen family has been ruined by her selfishness too! If this is exposed, our Shen family might also…”
Before Shen Shushi could be blinded by the pillow talk and glare at her, Shen Lizhuang finally took advantage of the moment when the other woman was acting weak and coquettish to reclaim her wrist, which had been squeezed bright red. She rubbed her palm over it to ease the sharp pain, coldly staring at Lin Ruoxi.
“Did Yingluo not tell the two of you when she returned yesterday? It was she and her mistress who drugged me with a bowl of medicinal tea. By the time I awoke, Elder Sister had already fled.”
Lin Ruoxi did not believe it. Her clear eyes shimmered with a fine, pity-inducing wateriness as she glared at her.
Shen Lizhuang reined in her displeasure. “I did indeed seek refuge at the Prince’s estate out of my own selfish motives, but I will not accept any charge that is not mine to bear, nor does Madam need to be so eager to splash dirty water on me. What truly transpired between your daughter and that zither player named Liu—you know far better than I do.”
“You…” Lin Ruoxi’s chest pained with rage, and like Xi Shi clutching her heart, she fell back into Shen Shushi’s arms.
Cherishing his delicate wife, Shen Shushi held her, settled her down, and asked Shen Lizhuang with a frost-covered face: “Your mother’s words are reasonable. What selfish motive made you insist on seeking refuge at the Prince’s estate right when your sister and the Prince were newly wed?”
Shen Lizhuang raised her face, not in a rush to deny it, but nor would she disclose the crime of nearly exposing her forged identity. “I want to take the examinations for the female academy. Father has never supported it; I thought since my brother-in-law is Prince Jing, there would surely be a way.”
“You!” It was indeed for the female academy. Shen Shushi was so enraged he nearly raised his hand to slap her. “Our Shen family is a refined, scholarly lineage where female relatives observe virtue and etiquette. How did we raise an unfilial creature like you, bent on showing her face in public!”
Now both of them were thoroughly enraged by Shen Lizhuang, glaring at her with eyes nearly tearing at the corners. Sometimes she herself felt exceedingly surprised that a few offhand words from her could so easily infuriate those around her.
She truly did not know why they always enjoyed making such a fuss and causing trouble.
Take her father, for instance. If she passed the examination for the female academy, she could become an official, which ought to be a way to bring honor to her ancestors. Yet Shen Shushi did not think so; he considered it a disgrace to the family name and had almost tied her feet with hemp rope to keep her locked in the inner chambers.
Regarding Shen Shushi’s pedantry and shallow nature, Shen Lizhuang had experienced it more than a few times. She was too tired to explain or argue further. If he wanted to say “showing her face in public,” so be it; if he wanted to say “harboring improper motives,” let him say it. It simply went in one ear and out the other, without causing even a ripple in her emotions.
“It seems Father believes my words. I did not seek refuge at the Prince’s estate to incite Elder Sister’s escape. If Elder Sister can no longer be the Princess Consort, what benefit does that bring to my examination for the female academy?”
She was single-mindedly devoted to learning, having read books stacked as tall as a doorframe—this was something Shen Shushi knew full well and did not doubt.
Having cleared herself of the charges she should not bear, seeing that Shen Shushi and Lin Ruoxi did not press her relentlessly any further, Shen Lizhuang prepared to leave. “The Prince is still waiting for me. Your daughter does not dare keep His Highness waiting long, so I shall return now.”
Just as Lin Ruoxi’s chest heaved violently, seemingly preparing to berate her, Shen Lizhuang lightly tossed out a sentence: “Lest it rouse the Prince’s suspicions.”
Lin Ruoxi’s swollen chest deflated once more as if drained of strength. She sat in the armchair, weeping and complaining like pear blossoms laden with rain, leaving Shen Shushi with no choice but to remain by his wife’s side to comfort her.
Shen Lizhuang turned and walked out of the inner hall.
No lamps were lit in her maiden bedchamber. Pushing the door open, she entered into pitch darkness. Shen Lizhuang suspected Prince Jing had already fallen asleep. Hearing the clear, steady breathing reaching her ears, she breathed a sigh of relief, intending to sleep casually tonight as well.
Tiptoeing helplessly toward the bed curtains for a few steps, she suddenly heard Ji Mu’s voice: “Tea.”
Shen Lizhuang froze, hurriedly looking toward the bed curtains that swayed without a breeze, her heart springing into her throat. “Your Highness, you aren’t asleep? Why didn’t you light a lamp?”
“It is all the same.”
That magnetic, deep voice replied calmly.
Shen Lizhuang lightly lit the lamp wick, allowing the candlelight to outline a circular contour several feet wide around them.
“Your Highness, I cannot see, so I lit the lamp.”
“Mm.”
A deep response came from within the dark, quiet bed curtains.
The late spring night was deep, with lush vegetation growing outside. Around the house, a layer of moist, warm vapor seemed to condense, lingering through the doorway and stirring the silent flames on the candle stand.
Ji Mu could not see; to him, whether a lamp was lit at night made no difference. In his ears, he heard the sound of her movements.
Inside her own maiden bedchamber, she searched for water, looking in three places before finally finding it. After the intermittent sound of flowing water ceased, the sound of footsteps approaching reached his ears.
Ji Mu sat up holding the quilt. Waiting for that soft hand as smooth as butter to part the bed curtains and deliver the warm tea inside, he reached out to take the tea and sipped it slowly.
Prince Jing drank tea exceedingly quietly—so quietly he made not a single sound. His every gesture exuded nobility and elegance, alongside the regal majesty he had kept concealed over the years.
Shen Lizhuang suppressed her pounding heart, took the empty porcelain cup from his palm, and set it back on the sandalwood low table beside the bed. “Your Highness, I shall go freshen up. Please sleep first; you do not need to wait for me.”
From within the dark bed curtains unlit by the lamp, Ji Mu’s calm, deep voice drifted out: “No need. This Prince will wait for you.”
Shen Lizhuang bit her lip, secretly blaming him for lacking tact—blind in the eyes and blind in the heart, unable to understand a shred of goodwill. For several nights in a row, had she not served him dutifully enough? She was short of cutting off her own flesh to feed the eagle or sacrificing her body to feed the tiger!
She did not want to die of exhaustion in bed! How embarrassing that would be!
Even if he lacked shame, she still wanted to keep her self-respect when crossing the Naihe Bridge in the underworld!
Having no other recourse, since the other party was a Prince of the First Rank while she was merely a weak woman—an ant trying to shake a giant tree, unable to overcome him—she tried her best to prolong her bath, soaking until her skin was soft and pale. Calculating that by this hour he must surely have fallen asleep, she finally draped on her nightgown and returned to her elder sister’s room where she was staying tonight.
Cautiously, she crouched to remove her shoes and slowly untied her skirt sash to take off her outer garment. Seeing no movement within the bed curtains, she carefully lifted a corner of the quilt, attempting to slide inside.
Just as she slid a fair leg in, she suddenly felt her body yanked forward. Like a kite with broken wings, she stumbled from the pull, tumbling into the chest that had been plotting in the dark all along.
Frightened, Shen Lizhuang cried out “Your Highness” in a low gasp. His arms closed around her, effortlessly lifting her to his chest before curling around her tightly. Shen Lizhuang was like a sheep entering a tiger’s mouth, caught red-handed in his snare.
“Having taken so long, have you washed yourself until you are fragrant all over?” His right hand clamped around her waist, reproaching her for her avoidance and distant behavior as he made a move to inhale her scent. “Let this Prince smell you.”
The dissatisfaction in his tone frightened Shen Lizhuang out of her wits.
Yet this was not what terrified her most; what left her most panicked and helpless was the clear sound of a jade belt buckle unlatching, coming directly from the direction of his abdomen.
“Your…”
Before she could attempt to persuade Prince Jing, he raised his gaze, embraced her as he turned sideways, and settled her onto the bed before his searing breath swept down.
He found his mark with precision, accurately catching her lips in a bite, grinding and entangling with them.
At times he seemed blind, yet at times he did not seem so at all.
Shen Lizhuang’s mouth and nasal passages were filled and occupied by the clear body fragrance burgeoning wildly inside the curtains. The atmosphere was like oil ignited by a spark; in a moment of inescapable intimacy, the temperature within the brocade curtains rose step by step to a dizzying height.
This was in her elder sister’s room.
The person wildly claiming her lips and thoughts upon the bed was her brother-in-law.
This scenario was so absurd it was frightening, yet in the darkness, that fear bred a strangely delicate emotion.
Prince Jing’s kisses moved a step further, his large palm sliding into the collar of her thin silk nightgown, supporting and caressing upward.
Shen Lizhuang let out a soft groan, stopping him while he caught his breath: “This won’t do…”
Prince Jing raised his gaze. Though nothing fell into his pupils, he seemed to be standing opposed to her, gazing into her eyes.
Because of her curled-up stance like a startled bird, Shen Lizhuang’s hands had pressed against his hard, broad chest without her realizing it, contending against the hidden authority beneath that thick, robust muscle resembling a city wall. Yet this state was truly like a tiny bird with wet feathers in a wild storm, flapping its wings helplessly as if it might fall into the abyss at any moment.
“You have already rested for a whole day. Why won’t it do?”
Hearing this, Shen Lizhuang wished she could roll her eyes, though rolling her eyes at a blind man carried zero lethality.
According to His Highness Prince Jing, was it so unbearable that they had not done that matter during the day today?
Because of this, she severely suspected how many concubines or bedmaids Prince Jing had possessed before her.
If she questioned him, could she perhaps earn a reputation for being jealous and offend him just a little?
Shen Lizhuang thus asked: “In the past, Your Highness must have taken in many women as well. Given Your Highness’s wild and forceful ways, it hardly seems like your first time.”
Sure enough, he knitted his brows. In the faint darkness, the direction of his prominent brows underwent a subtle shift that could not escape Shen Lizhuang’s eyes.
He was angry.
Ji Mu clasped her waist and pulled her even tighter into his embrace. His searing breath fell beside her ear while his mouth answered her question: “With you, it is the first time.”
Shen Lizhuang blinked her eyes in bewilderment, only to hear him say unhurriedly: “The taste is exceptionally good. Since crippling my eyes, this Prince has not indulged so freely and joyfully for many years. Shen, you make this Prince feel… exceptionally good.”
Shen Lizhuang was terrified by his sudden candor. Seeing the city wall above pressing down once more, she hurriedly begged for mercy: “Your Highness, today is the return visit… Could you, could you rest for one night? In my family, my family has certain rules…”
The Shen family was a scholarly lineage; for a daughter and son-in-law to act so wildly and absurdly in someone’s home during a return visit would reflect poorly if word got out.
Ji Mu knew this was her intention and that she had such misgivings. Giving an affirmative response, he refrained from pushing her further and stepped back.
Feeling the pressure on her chest clear away instantly, it was like the haze parting to reveal the clear light of the sky. Shen Lizhuang’s curled legs straightened bit by bit, no longer maintaining a guarded posture.
Turning onto her side, she whispered: “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“No need.”
A suppressed, deep voice came from the darkness, carrying a tightness she could not comprehend.
After enduring like this for a while, sensing that the rapid breathing beside her had almost vanished and the temperature within the curtains was gradually recovering, Shen Lizhuang lowered her guard slightly, closing her eyes to sleep.
At first, her mind was filled with chaotic thoughts and she could not sleep, but before long she drifted off, her breathing inside the curtains growing even and quiet.
Within the curtains, a pair of dark, lightless eyes slowly opened, his face shrouded in dark, deep shadows created by the dim light.
Listening to the quiet warmth beside him, her occasional breathing falling upon his neck bringing a fine, ticklish itch, Ji Mu felt that the sound and vapor made this night—which should have been quiet—filled with an uncontainable, burning longing and an unfillable emptiness.
In his pitch-black phoenix eyes, an even more intense, insatiable emotion gradually welled up.
She was his wife—so what if it was a return visit? Who in the Shen family would dare criticize her in the slightest, and why should he endure it?
His breathing gradually grew heavy and deep. Grasping the corner of the quilt with his hand, Ji Mu propped open a bit of space, reached out toward his wife beside him, embraced her, and turned over to press down upon her.