Shen Lizhuang felt as though she were trapped in a short dream filled with surging lava—blazing flames churning, bursting out from the mountain ranges, and flowing down along crossed deep ridges into a murky heat.
Suddenly, an urgent sweet rain fell upon that thick lava, melting it even denser as it soaked wildly across the barren earth.
She was awakened by a cruel, unrelenting force. Dimly opening her eyes, she found it impossible to ignore the strange sensation. In panic, she cried out “Your Highness,” but received an even more unforgiving response.
Lying back against the soft pillow, Shen Lizhuang raised her chin toward the top of the bed curtains, gasping for air as if she were dead, yet somehow still alive—straddling the boundary between life and death, swaying in a dilemma with no way forward or back.
In truth, when she spoke those words to Prince Jing tonight, aside from the fact that she truly could not handle his torment, there was an underlying reason: this was her sister’s maiden room, her sister’s bed, her sister’s man…
She held no affection for her elder sister, but that did not prevent her from feeling a moral shame she could not break.
Prince Jing possessed refined and handsome looks, appearing much like an elegant scholar with dark eyebrows, starry eyes, and a stature like a crane. Yet once stripped of his garments, the dark, firm muscles beneath were like bronze walls and iron ramparts, concealing a fierce, dominant strength capable of breaking through anything.
No one could possibly endure such a onslaught.
When Ji Mu reached out to caress the face of the woman beneath him, he happened to touch her eye socket, feeling his fingertips fill with moisture. After a moment’s pause, he slowed his pace and asked, “Does it hurt?”
Shen Lizhuang neither nodded nor shook her head, merely letting out a few soft groans. It sounded like she was hurting, yet also like she was not.
This was the worst outcome, for he could not gauge her limits. Ji Mu’s handsome, frost-like expression darkened. He recalled that when the marriage was finalized not long ago, his mother had sent someone to deliver an illustrated book. The book contained detailed accounts and drawings regarding intimacy between men and women. Because he was blind, it had been specially outlined in braille, and his fingers had carefully traced over the book—though he had only traced it once before putting it away.
Now, however, he had to summon those old memories. Settling his mind to recall the subtle touch remaining on his fingertips, Ji Mu leaned down and kissed the ears of the tearful woman beneath him.
Shen Lizhuang instantly trembled uncontrollably.
The swaying bed curtains shook like a solitary tree on a cliffside before an impending storm.
A loud, violent snapping sound suddenly echoed in the ears of both Ji Mu and Shen Lizhuang. The frame directly above their heads suddenly collapsed, crashing heavily toward the floor.
It… collapsed.
Elder Sister’s bed had been broken by her.
It was bad enough that her body jolted violently upon hitting the ground, but Shen Lizhuang’s eyes widened, her soul feeling as though it had been knocked clean out of her body, unable to recover for a long while.
Ji Mu had pulled her waist tight during the fall to protect her from injury. Now, buried near her ear, his tone could not help carrying a trace of annoyance: “Is the bed in your family’s residence so ancient and ill-maintained?”
Shen Lizhuang let out a miserable, pitiful whimper. At a time like this, never mind the bed—she had to worry about her own face first!
She had completely lost face!
Oh, Prince Jing probably hadn’t. He was blind and simply acted as if he had no face to lose anyway; as long as he couldn’t see others pointing and whispering at him, he wouldn’t feel embarrassed.
The massive commotion ultimately drew the servants in the courtyard. Prince Jing’s attendant, Longzhou, also rushed over upon hearing the noise, frantically gathering everyone toward the Princess Consort’s room.
Among them, the elderly servant woman, Nanny Jiang, knocked on the room door with deep concern: “Your Highness, Young Lady, what has happened in the room?”
Ji Mu and Shen Lizhuang, still tangled together, were at a brief standoff—one frantically trying to crawl away in panic, and the other grabbing her leg to stop her from crawling away. Shen Lizhuang was gasping for breath, a faint flush of anger tinting the corners of her eyes. Ji Mu let out a low laugh; as if able to imagine the anger on that pear-blossom-like face, the corners of his lips curved upward slightly.
“There is no need to keep watch tonight.”
Prince Jing’s voice passed through the door into the ears of Longzhou and the other servants waiting outside. Hearing that the Prince was safe, they dared not disturb him further. Responding dutifully, they dispersed with minds full of suspicion and speculation.
The commotion just now had been no small matter, and everyone in the courtyard had heard it. Rushing over like this, everyone actually harbored a bit of curiosity to watch a spectacle, longing to find out what was going on inside the tightly closed room.
Once the people outside dispersed, those inside remained locked together.
After a long period of silence outside the window, Shen Lizhuang could refrain no longer. She buried her palm-sized face into her hands, her voice muffled as it emerged from between her fingers: “What are we to do tomorrow morning? This concubine has no face to see anyone.”
She felt somewhat like crying, and not just because of her soft, aching body. While the servants brought from the Prince’s estate were in the dark, the members of the Shen family knew everything.
She was Shen Lizhuang—she had taken her sister’s husband, taken her bed, and intimacy with her brother-in-law had broken her sister’s bed frame.
In her anxiety, she bent her knees to push him off. Unfortunately, the strength she exerted against Prince Jing was like a needle in a haystack, unable to shake him in the slightest.
Just as her shame and anxiety deepened to the point where she wished a crack would open in the ground for her to crawl into, a faint laugh drifted down from above like autumn leaves floating down in the wind: “What does it matter if someone sees? We are a husband and wife joined in lawful matrimony; the harmony of yin and yang is the course of nature. As for this bed, it is neither new nor old. Leave aside intimacy, even sleeping peacefully on it is a strain. A new one should be crafted. Won’t it be better when this Prince and the Princess Consort come to sleep here again on a new one?”
Husband and wife joined in lawful matrimony? The Shen family knew better than anyone—what kind of lawfully wedded couple were they?
If Elder Sister had not run off with someone first, ruining her reputation, Shen Lizhuang would surely have been drowned in the estate’s gossip, her spine broken by the pointing fingers of others.
Shen Lizhuang’s body trembled violently. With every inch he caressed, her skin shuddered.
Her jade-like body, taut as a bowstring beneath his palm, was like wonderful music plucked into existence—every stroke of his finger holding endless charm.
Ji Mu caressed her a few times, trailing along the curve to her waist socket, before ceasing his wild wandering. Instead, he hooked his arm around her body, drew her against his chest, and said in a deep voice: “Very well, go to sleep.”
Shen Lizhuang bit her lip, so ashamed and resentful she wished a crack in the ground would open up to swallow her. She truly could not be as shameless as Prince Jing. Furthermore, Prince Jing’s situation was different: he genuinely believed that the woman in his arms was his “lawfully wedded” Princess Consort. Although fulfilling marital duties at the bride’s family home might draw idle gossip, no one would mock a newlywed couple’s affection too harshly.
“I…”
How could she possibly sleep?
Besides, the head of the bed had collapsed; sleeping on the bedboard now meant her head was tilted downward.
Ji Mu was clearly aware of this as well. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders and back, he spoke unconcernedly: “The bed frame has collapsed. I shall carry you to the soft couch in the outer chamber to make do for the night, and send Longzhou to tidy up tomorrow morning. Rest assured, he can at least restore your bed frame to its original shape, though sturdiness is another matter. If you are still shy, simply use the excuse that the sandalwood of your canopy bed was ancient and rotted by woodworms, and have Vice Minister Shen replace it with a new one for you.”
“But there is still the quilt…”
She muttered a reminder, a thin, blushing glow floating across her pink face, hot and burning.
Fortunately, he could not see it.
The quilt was soaked in a large patch—so much, so very much. She could not bear to look closely.
Ji Mu wrapped his arm around her waist, easily lifting the Princess Consort—whose soft, weak, trembling legs hung down helplessly—into a horizontal carry as he felt his way in the dark. “Someone will handle it. Now you need only tell this Prince which way to go and how many steps. Come, look at the path carefully and tell me.”
Shen Lizhuang exhaled heavily, taking a good while to catch her breath before looking down at the dim, murky path carved out by the faint lamp, guiding him.
One moment reminding him to move left, the next reminding him to move right, or to avoid the chairs and stools beneath his feet so as not to bump into them.
He walked neither hurriedly nor slowly, following her directions and trusting her completely. Shen Lizhuang gradually harbored a different thought in her heart.
If she weren’t being held in his arms as well, she would surely direct him to crash heavily into the display cabinet on the front right, she thought fiercely.
Yet he was no fool; if he weren’t holding her in his arms, how could he let her guide the way?
Shen Lizhuang bit her teeth tightly in silent annoyance as she was set down onto the couch in the outer chamber.
After wiping her down, Ji Mu embraced her and lay down to sleep.
Thinking of the scene she might face tomorrow morning, Shen Lizhuang was filled with worry, tossing and turning through the night unable to sleep well.
In the early hours of the next morning, Shen Lizhuang had finally managed to drift off into a daze when she felt a hand playing with her, tickling her nose.
It felt like a feather scratching her nose, startling her awake with a sneeze.
She was the only one left on the couch in the outer chamber.
Not feeling the warm man beside her, Shen Lizhuang woke up abruptly. Looking up, she saw a slender silhouette emerging in the darkness, fully dressed and leaning back in an armchair. His refined, handsome face was turned slightly toward her, while his palm played with the unadorned silver ring that had come off his finger.
“Awake?” Ji Mu had long heard her movement.
Shen Lizhuang bit her lip, instantly remembering the collapsed bed frame, and hurriedly tried to look inside to see if it had been fixed.
Ji Mu slipped the ring back onto his finger. “Put on your clothes.”
Shen Lizhuang lowered her gaze, looking at her open front revealing jade-white skin. She hurriedly reached out to pull her lapels together, gave a hurried response, and turned her back to begin dressing.
“Your Highness, I am ready.”
Ji Mu nodded slightly. “Come here.”
Unsure of what he wanted to do, she moved forward a short distance in confusion. Hearing her footsteps draw near, Ji Mu estimated the distance, reached out, and pulled Shen Lizhuang into the armchair. His large palm pressed against her slender spine, pulling her into his embrace effortlessly.
Lifting his palm, it rested on her fragile shoulder, caressing down inch by inch over her pear-patterned silk garment—past her front lapels and right fold down to the neatly tied skirt sash at her waist, and further down to the pale green silk skirt covering her legs.
She was indeed properly dressed. Ji Mu said in a deep voice: “Longzhou.”
Shen Lizhuang was startled, and in an instant, a solemn voice answered from outside the door: “Subordinate is here.”
“Come in.”
Longzhou pushed the door open as the faint dawn light slanted across the floor, shrouding the Prince and Princess Consort entwined in the armchair.
The moment Longzhou entered, Shen Lizhuang turned her face away in astonishment, burying her cheek deep into Ji Mu’s chest.
So… so embarrassing! Where was her dignity! The blind Prince had no shame!
Ji Mu was indeed unbothered, his palm resting on her trembling back, pressing her deeper into his embrace. “Repair the wooden bed frame and clean up the bedding.”
Longzhou looked at the bed in the inner chamber in surprise.
The head of the sandalwood canopy bed had collapsed, leaning against the floor at a strange angle. The messy bedding was thoroughly disheveled, revealing how intense last night’s battle had been.
Longzhou’s throat felt a bit dry. Swallowing silently, he gave a dry response: “Subordinate obeys.”
Fortunately, he was already a married man. Holding back his pounding heart, Longzhou walked into the inner chamber to make repairs.
Shen Lizhuang buried her face in the Prince’s chest, not daring to lift it at all. Only when Longzhou raised the fallen wooden frame of the canopy bed did she steal a glance toward the inner chamber. Yet before a second had passed, she was pressed back against his chest by the Prince, as if he refused to let her look.
His breath was extremely heavy, his movements filled with an undeniable sense of command. Shen Lizhuang had no choice but to stop looking, listening continuously to the hammering sounds of the bed frame being repaired in the inner chamber. Her shattered heart fluttered nervously, anxiety mixed with a strange, burning heat that flushed her neck a delicate shade of pink.
Lacking proper tools, after making a simple restoration of the bed frame, Longzhou reported to Prince Jing with some embarrassment: “It appears to be restored to its original state, but if subjected to external force again, it will collapse once more. I fear it won’t hold for long.”
Hearing Longzhou’s words, Shen Lizhuang grew even more panicked, knowing it would not hold.
Prince Jing’s fingers moved upward, caressing the dark cloud of hair draped over her shoulders and back. His fingertips wove back and forth through her soft, fluffy strands. Hearing the report, he said with absolute composure: “It is merely a deception. When it collapses again, the person held responsible for applying external force will have nothing to do with the Princess Consort; she will no longer need to feel shy.”
With her face buried, Shen Lizhuang thought to herself in complete bewilderment: *It had nothing to do with me in the first place! Who was the one acting so wildly like a sledgehammer, smashing someone’s bed to pieces?!*