After Cui Jingci took a wife, his life did not change much. After all, taking a wife and having children was merely a stage-based task for him, and he did not pay much attention to Huai Zhi.
Inside the Ministry of War offices, Cui Jingci sat in the side chamber, idly toying with the sachet in his hand, his mind wandering over who knows what.
Just then, the door was pushed open. The man who entered was the Director of the Ministry of War, Tian Guangru. Over the past year, Cui Jingci had been looked down upon by his other colleagues, but Tian Guangru had not—he remained as he always was.
After all, this man had once received his guidance and patronage, and could be considered someone who knew to repay kindness rather than kowtow to the powerful and trample on the fallen. The two of them got along without much sense of hierarchy, speaking to each other with relative ease.
As soon as Tian Guangru entered, he couldn't help but wave a hand in front of his nose. "This place of yours—it's all medicinal fumes all day long."
Cui Jingci needed to take medicine and had his decoctions brewed in the office every day. Over time, the surrounding area for several li had been steeped in the smell.
He had been marginalized in political affairs, yet this constant waft of medicinal odor reminded everyone of his presence—just like the man himself, overbearing and unyielding.
Cui Jingci lowered his head again and reattached the sachet to his belt, asking, "What brings you here?"
Tian Guangru was of medium build with an unremarkable face—nothing particularly notable to point out—but he was blessed with a smooth, well-proportioned facial structure that kept his plain features from looking too terrible. By the way, he was a year younger than Cui Jingci.
He sat down across from him, his expression looking rather troubled. He let out a quiet sigh and said, "I heard that the ministry is getting a new man."
Cui Jingci raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying, gesturing for him to continue.
Seeing that he remained calm and composed, not a single superfluous expression on his face, Tian Guangru couldn't help but ask, "Do you know what background this person has?"
"What background?" Cui Jingci asked with a faint smile at the corner of his lips. "Someone recommended by the Grand Secretary and his lot?"
Tian Guangru marveled at his foresight. "You already knew…?"
Cui Jingci said, "They're sending someone in the middle of the year. Is it that hard to guess?"
Tian Guangru said, "That man has no real achievements to speak of. He once placed second in the imperial examinations and spent over a decade as a civil official in the Hanlin Academy. With that kind of background, what business does he have meddling in the Ministry of War? Besides, your health is perfectly fine—for them to think of sending someone to replace you already, that's far too impatient and utterly heartless."
Cui Jingci's position as Vice Minister was being eyed from every direction. Within the ministry, subordinates were watching hungrily, and even people outside were coveting the vacancy, hoping that Cui Jingci would die sooner rather than later… no, even if he didn't die, they hoped he would resign and go home soon. In short, don't occupy the latrine without shitting! A third-rank Vice Minister's post—how could a sickly man like him possibly handle it properly?
But Cui Jingci had genuine military merit to his name. Back then, it was he who had led the northern campaign to victory. Those generals had all been promoted and ennobled, yet he—the temporary commander-in-chief who had directed the whole affair—had ended up in this state. Now that he had voluntarily relinquished his power, wouldn't it be rather unseemly to keep pressing and drive him out like killing the donkey after it's done its work?
But they had kept dragging things out for over a year, and in the end, those people still couldn't hold back.
Others might be indignant at the sight of this, but Cui Jingci, the man directly involved, showed not the slightest ripple of emotion. He said in a calm voice, "If he comes, he comes. Having him run errands for you all—isn't that a good thing?"
Tian Guangru understood what he meant, but his face crumpled in distress. "Who could possibly order him around?"
The one sent by the Grand Secretary—who would dare order him around unless they had a death wish?
Cui Jingci smiled. "I could."
Cui Jingci was hardly a benevolent man. He didn't care whether this person was sent by the Grand Secretary or dispatched by someone else. He was an invalid—surely it wasn't too much to ask the man to run errands or do a few other things for him?
He was not one of those upright, rigid types; on the contrary, he was deeply versed in the ways of officialdom. If he wished to make things difficult for someone, he needn't expend much effort at all—just a few words from his lips would be enough to make the man cry out in misery.
They had sent him a plaything. If he didn't play with it, that would be doing them a grave disservice.
After Cui Jingci finished his duties and returned home, Vice Assistant Minister Cui summoned him over—also regarding this matter. The old man, unable to maintain his composure, spat fiercely, "That surnamed Gao—his face is thick as leather, and he feels no shame! You've already been relegated to a sinecure, and still he wants to snatch even this position away!"
Cui Jingci comforted him gently. "Grandfather, calm yourself. Merely a rat among the masses."
When he left Vice Assistant Minister Cui's quarters and returned to Lanzhi Courtyard, dusk had fallen and the sky had grown dim, with rain threatening to come.
The female tutor had already left. An oil lamp had been lit in the room, and Huai Zhi was still sitting there reading and learning characters.
Her little face was scrunched up into a ball. One glance told Cui Jingci she had come across some difficult characters.
Once, afterward, Huai Zhi had lain in his arms, tilting her head up to ask him, "Xuanshuang, why do you suppose there are such strangely twisted characters in this world?"
That day, Cui Jingci had nearly laughed himself sick, and couldn't resist a teasing remark. "Huai Zhi, I think it's your brain that's twisted, isn't it?"
Cui Jingci had never suffered the hardships of study. In his mind, life was full of seven sorrows and eight hardships, and suffering came in grades. The hardship of studying was far too lowly a grade to be worthy of him. He still concluded that Huai Zhi was simply too dull—that even learning to read was such a pitiful struggle it was painful to watch.
Huai Zhi had been a little upset that time. The next morning at breakfast, she deliberately pretended not to hear him when he spoke.
Cui Jingci snapped back to the present. He walked over, tapped her on the forehead, and asked with a smile, "Have you eaten? Still reading?"
Huai Zhi rubbed her head and said, "Waiting for you to come back."
She set the book aside, and servants immediately brought in the meal. Cui Jingci sat down and washed his hands, then said to Huai Zhi, "In the future, if I come back late, you can eat first. No need to wait for me."
"That won't do. I have to wait for you," Huai Zhi said. "I'm not that hungry."
She could endure hunger quite well, and besides, she always ate her fill at every meal. Even now, she wouldn't get too hungry.
Cui Jingci made no comment and didn't pursue the matter further.
After the meal, Cui Jingci didn't go elsewhere. He checked on Huai Zhi's recent progress in her studies. Huai Zhi sat up straight, like a student awaiting her teacher's examination.
Cui Jingci still had some impression of Huai Zhi's learning progress—it had been stuck at simple characters like "one, two, three, person, big, heaven." Now, he discovered she had already learned to recognize complex characters.
In only four or five days?
No wonder she had grumbled a couple of days ago about how hard the characters were to learn.
Cui Jingci looked at Huai Zhi's slightly expectant gaze beside him and praised her generously with a smile. "Huai Zhi, you are very clever."
Heaven knows how difficult it was for Cui Jingci to say such words against his conscience, but with Huai Zhi looking at him with such eager eyes, what else could he say? Huai Zhi was obedient and diligent, so he was more than willing to tell a few inconsequential lies to soothe her.
Being praised so directly by him, Huai Zhi's ears turned red again, the flush spreading from her earlobes all the way to her cheeks, like a perfectly ripe peach.
She rarely received such compliments—scolding was never in short supply, but praise was hard to come by. Yet Huai Zhi knew that Cui Jingci had always been generous in this regard.
"Huai Zhi," Cui Jingci couldn't resist toying with her delicate earlobe, teasing, "Can't even take a little praise?"
Cui Jingci was almost curious to see just how little praise Huai Zhi could handle.
His beautiful peach-blossom eyes curved into a lovely arc as he asked, "Huai Zhi, how about we play a game?"
"A game?" Huai Zhi felt that Cui Jingci had so many ideas, always things she could never think of. She didn't understand what he was up to now.
But when the two of them were in bed that night, she found out.
A while ago, she had gotten her period, and the two of them had gone several days without intimacy. Huai Zhi had felt relaxed for those days, secretly glad that Cui Jingci hadn't brought it up.
By now, the two of them no longer needed oil for lubrication, because as Cui Jingci had expected, Huai Zhi was very sensitive. As long as he was patient with foreplay, Huai Zhi would blush and wet herself, no need for such things at all.
As for the game Cui Jingci mentioned, it turned out to be writing characters on her belly, seeing if she could recognize what he wrote just by the strokes and movements.
Huai Zhi lay naked beneath Cui Jingci. Having stayed at the Cui residence for over a month, she had visibly filled out a little. Her belly was no longer flat, only curving when she was full—now, her fair, tender stomach finally had some extra flesh, and when touched, it was no longer skin and bones.
Cui Jingci was satisfied with this. Before the game even began, his eyes were already curved with a smile as he said, "Impressive."
Watching her gradually gain some weight, watching her recognize more and more characters, Cui Jingci felt a strange sense of satisfaction in his heart.
He wasn't anyone's sky, and the world didn't revolve around him, but being Huai Zhi's sky was simply effortless.
Huai Zhi didn't understand—she hadn't done anything, so why was he praising her? Seeing him look at her belly, she couldn't help but cover it with her hand, saying, "I think I've gotten a bit fat recently."
Huai Zhi was still like a young girl, thin-skinned, and besides, from childhood to now, everyone had always said it was better to be thin.
Hearing Huai Zhi say this, Cui Jingci frowned in disagreement and said, "This is good. Huai Zhi, you need to eat well."
A skinny little thing like that—what could she possibly do?
Huai Zhi said, "I've always been eating well."
Cui Jingci didn't continue to bicker with Huai Zhi over this matter. He extended his fingertip, landing it on her snow-white skin, tracing along it. Wherever his finger passed, it sent goosebumps across Huai Zhi's body, making her tremble involuntarily.
Cui Jingci noticed her reaction, and the smile in his eyes deepened. He first wrote a simple character—"地"—and asked Huai Zhi, "What character is this?"
Huai Zhi couldn't tell at all—not in the slightest. Cui Jingci wrote two more characters, and Huai Zhi still couldn't perceive a single one. She could barely recognize these characters on paper; how could she possibly identify them on her body? She even suspected Cui Jingci was playing tricks on her.
She said, "This isn't right. There's no way anyone could guess this."
Cui Jingci laughed and stripped off his own clothes. He said, "Huai Zhi, you write."
Huai Zhi had a mischievous thought and wrote the most difficult character she knew, but Cui Jingci blurted it out with ease.
Huai Zhi was deeply disappointed. Seeing this, Cui Jingci temporarily set aside the game and, when the time was right, moved on to what needed to be done.
By evening, the sky looked overcast, and rain had begun to fall outside at some point. Summer showers came occasionally—light at first, then growing heavier and more urgent as time went on.
The sound of rain grew heavier, the noise louder.
Huai Zhi didn't dare make much noise, holding it in desperately until her face flushed red. Cui Jingci caught sight of her face and said, "If you cry out, it's not as if anything terrible will happen."
Huai Zhi still didn't dare.
Cui Jingci didn't force her. He paused his movements, then suddenly reached out and traced the character "一" on her belly.
He said, "What is it?"
"One."
"Mm, very good." Cui Jingci then wrote "二" next.
"Two."
Cui Jingci added a "人" stroke on top of the "二," and Huai Zhi said, "It's '天.'"
In this way, Cui Jingci made Huai Zhi guess several characters. Every time she guessed correctly, he generously praised her. For the first time, Huai Zhi felt that praise could become a burden—each time his low, husky voice said, "Truly impressive," "Very good," she couldn't help but shrink her body and clench a few times.
The game Cui Jingci played made him look like a teacher, and her a student. But if she were a student, why was she taking in his…? This thought made Huai Zhi feel wanton, and she didn't dare think any deeper.
If he weren't still inside her, Huai Zhi wouldn't have had such strange reactions at all.
But he was, precisely, there.
Cui Jingci felt the veins at his temples pulse a few times from her reactions, suspecting that if he continued this game, he'd end up doing something shameful like the first night. He stopped the game and began to torment Huai Zhi instead.
Huai Zhi, stimulated repeatedly by him tonight, ended up feeling the urge to relieve herself for some reason. She asked Cui Jingci to stop first, saying she needed to use the latrine.
"You need to relieve yourself?"
Huai Zhi nodded frantically, trying to stop his continued movements.
After hearing her words, Cui Jingci's gaze seemed to flicker, and then, instead of stopping, he only grew more intense.
In the end, Huai Zhi yielded to his will—the water in her body, her tears, and the voice she'd desperately held back all leaked out together.
Raindrops pattered against the rooftop with the force of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, but at this moment, the sounds inside the room gradually subsided, and the ten thousand horses fell silent. Huai Zhi was spent, and realizing what she had done, she closed her eyes.
Cui Jingci, the culprit behind it all, had transparent liquid on his face. He reached out a finger to wipe it off, then gave the only sincere praise of the night: "Huai Zhi, truly impressive."