Cui Jingci asked her, "Still upset? Angry with me?"
As they spoke, the earlier matter came up again. Huai Zhi said, "Clearly it was you who was angry with me, and yet you blame me."
Cui Jingci thought, this matter wasn't going to blow over. He hadn't expected Huai Zhi to have some sense after all. But in this matter, wasn't she also at fault? Even if he didn't return to the room, she hadn't come looking for him even once. Still, hearing her speak that way, it wasn't without reason. So he would temporarily forgive her and not pursue this trivial detail any further.
He stopped talking about that matter, and the coldness that had persisted over these past few days vanished from his eyes, replaced once more by tenderness. His voice was practically affectionate as he said, "How could I possibly be angry with Huai Zhi? I was just too worried, too afraid."
"You… what are you worried about?" Huai Zhi asked him after hearing this.
She didn't understand what he had to worry about.
Cui Jingci said gloomily, "Huai Zhi bringing another man home."
Huai Zhi felt utterly wronged, and felt that she simply couldn't reason with him. This time she was so angry she stamped her foot. "That's not it! I ran into him on the road! It's not like I deliberately brought him back!"
Cui Jingci said, "I don't know what strange illness I've contracted, and I'm getting older now. Huai Zhi, do you know why I'm afraid?"
Hearing him speak this way, seeing how dejected he seemed, Huai Zhi's heart suddenly ached a little. If he had continued arguing, she would have thought him unreasonable. But speaking like this, her heart—which was never truly hard—softened at once.
Huai Zhi's lips opened and closed, not knowing what to say, when she heard Cui Jingci sigh. He said, "It's alright. If Huai Zhi wants to make friends, then make friends. It's all my fault—I'm just too sensitive."
His misery was palpable, and his melancholy infected Huai Zhi. In any case, all in all, there was nothing worth arguing about in this matter. She wasn't at fault, and naturally neither was Cui Jingci. Huai Zhi took the initiative to cup Cui Jingci's face and gave him a quick peck—so fast it was like a dragonfly skimming the water.
It was always Cui Jingci who kissed her. Huai Zhi was either too timid or too shy, never taking the initiative to provoke him. This light little kiss tonight was actually the first time.
The two happened to be standing under a tree. A gentle breeze blew, and the tree's shadow danced messily at their feet, casting over their silhouettes.
Seeing how she believed everything he said without question, Cui Jingci once again marveled at how foolish and easily appeased Huai Zhi was. Yet, looking at this silly Huai Zhi before him, his heart inexplicably skipped a beat. He looked at her, and she looked at him, the affection between them needing no words.
Just at that moment, some mischievous little monkey happened to pass by and caught sight of them. "Hey!" he called out, teasing, "Big brother and big sister, no shame!"
The speaker was the youngest young master of the Cui family, barely over ten years old. After causing his mischief, he ran off—truly wicked, ruining their beautiful moment completely.
Huai Zhi blushed with embarrassment, but Cui Jingci didn't mind at all. He took her hand and said, "Come, there are lanterns out tonight. I'll take you for a stroll."
Thinking about it, Huai Zhi really was wronged in this matter. Cui Jingci felt he had to coax her, or else she would hold a grudge, and if she held a grudge, it would delay their efforts to have children. Cui Jingci thought to himself that he was merely striving toward the task of producing offspring.
Cui Jingci and Huai Zhi took to the streets. When they left the house, he held Huai Zhi's hand without any hesitation, paying no mind to the stares of others. What was there to say about a man holding his own wife's hand? It was the most natural thing in the world.
Huai Zhi was thin-skinned, but she couldn't resist him, so she let his large palm envelop hers.
She could feel that Cui Jingci's hand was very cold, as if it could never be warmed no matter what. The two of them hadn't spoken much these past few days, and Huai Zhi had stored up quite a lot of words in her belly. On the street, she chattered on and on to Cui Jingci.
He appeared quite patient, responding to whatever she said.
Cui Jingci couldn't muster much enthusiasm for such a boring activity as strolling through the streets. The ordinarily dull thoroughfare didn't become any more interesting just because a few lanterns had been added. However, the talkative Huai Zhi happened to make up for that.
Huai Zhi seemed unusually excited, as if she had never seen such a sight before. Just moments ago she had been weeping, and now her spirits were soaring. Cui Jingci asked, "Is this your first time strolling the streets? Have you never gone with anyone else before?"
Huai Zhi fell into a brief contemplation, as if searching her memories, trying to find whether there had ever been such a person who had accompanied her like he did.
Seeing her ponder, that meant there really was such a person.
Cui Jingci smiled directly and asked, "Who was it? Your younger brother? Your mother? Or…?"
None of those.
It was that scholar.
After all, they had once privately discussed matters of marriage. Strolling the streets together was nothing compared to that.
But Huai Zhi didn't dare tell the truth. She secretly thought to herself that even if she told a lie, what harm could it do? Cui Jingci would never know.
She knew it wasn't right, but she rationalized it sophistically, telling herself it was for Cui Jingci's own good, to spare him from overthinking.
She had realized that whenever that scholar was brought up, there was bound to be trouble.
She said, "It was my mother and the others."
Just then, Huai Zhi heard someone call her name. She looked toward the direction of the voice and discovered what it meant to meet by fate across a thousand miles—enemies are destined to cross paths.
The scholar had been on her mind, and now the scholar stood right before her eyes.
There was nothing more awkward than this under heaven.
Huai Zhi had never imagined that one day, that scholar and Cui Jingci would cross paths.
Heavens above, why would you do this to me? Having been married for over a month, this was the first time she and Cui Jingci had gone out together, and she had to run into this. Huai Zhi wished she could sink into the ground and disappear.
Just as her mind went blank, Cui Jingci looked at her with a smile and asked, "Huai Zhi, who is this person?"
His smile seemed a little different from usual—less gentle, more teasing, or perhaps "gloomy" would be a more fitting description.
The scholar had already walked toward them. Seeing that he was about to speak, Huai Zhi blurted out first, "This is the older brother from next door."
"Older brother from next door?" Cui Jingci repeated Huai Zhi's words, deliberately biting down on the words "older brother" with a hint of emphasis. This time, the teasing in his tone was even more pronounced.
Seeing the situation between the two, the scholar also guessed the man's identity. Judging by his appearance and bearing, he must be the once-renowned eldest son of the Cui family—Cui Jingci.
Rumor had it that Cui Jingci was gravely ill, his appearance long since fallen from his former immortal grace into something ghastly—a consumptive specter. Yet now that she saw him in person, she realized that hearsay was unreliable, and rumors were riddled with errors.
Turning her gaze to Huai Zhi, it had been quite some time since their last meeting, and she had now completely transformed. In this state, there was nothing left of the ragged farm girl she once was. Though her demeanor remained unchanged, with the change of clothes, in the scholar's eyes, she had utterly shed her former self. And she had just claimed he was merely a neighbor's older brother?
Even in his presence, she lied so brazenly—where was the modest, proper girl she used to be?
Thank goodness he hadn't married her; only now could he see her true colors.
The scholar either failed to see the pleading look in Huai Zhi's eyes, or perhaps he saw it but deliberately chose to ignore it, pretending not to notice. He unceremoniously exposed her lie, saying, "Huai Zhi, I am not your neighbor. Our homes are clearly not close at all."
With those words, he turned and left, leaving only Huai Zhi with a wry twist to her lips.
But the scholar still felt aggrieved. He turned back and looked at Cui Jingci, saying, "Is this your husband? He looks healthy enough—he won't die and leave you a widow. You needn't worry about having no one to take care of you."
Huai Zhi inexplicably felt the air around her turn chilly. Cui Jingci crossed his arms over his chest, and after who knew how long, he looked at the dazed Huai Zhi and let out a low chuckle. "So, it's Huai Zhi's sweetheart from home."
Huai Zhi jerked her head up to look at Cui Jingci, her entire face and neck flushing bright red in an instant.
Cui Jingci's gaze remained fixed on her, as if it could bore a hole straight through her.
See, Huai Zhi? You were never meant to lie. You finally managed to deceive someone, and heaven just happened to expose you.
And children who like to lie will be punished.
"It's not what you think!" Huai Zhi, exposed without mercy, felt her toes curl as if trying to dig through the ground. She said, "That man is the scholar I mentioned to you last time…"
Cui Jingci let out an "Oh," appearing not to pay the matter much mind—just a trivial little episode not worth mentioning. He continued strolling through the streets with her, just as before.
At least in Cui Jingci's view, it was just as before.
But Huai Zhi felt something was off no matter how she looked at it. She kept sensing that the man beside her would let his gaze fall on her, seemingly absentmindedly. If she accidentally met his eyes, she'd find him looking at her as if lost in thought, his lashes lowered to veil the gloom beneath, obscuring whatever lay in his gaze.
She spoke to him, asking if he was tired. He smiled at her and said no.
Hearing this and seeing that he didn't press further, Huai Zhi thought perhaps Cui Jingci hadn't taken the matter to heart, so she stopped dwelling on it.
As Cui Jingci and Huai Zhi strolled through the streets, whenever he saw her gaze linger on something for more than a few breaths, he would take her to buy it. At first, Huai Zhi didn't understand why Cui Jingci was buying so many things, but gradually she realized—everything he bought was something she had looked at. After that, she dared not look around carelessly anymore.
Cui Jingci felt he was the model devoted husband. Though, all this devotion now was merely to serve her well when they returned home.
Poor Huai Zhi, happily browsing, completely unaware of what terrible things were running through her husband's mind.
She spotted the acrobatic troupe and the high-wire act, and in high spirits tugged at Cui Jingci's sleeve, calling for him to watch along. Cui Jingci lifted his eyelids and glanced over—the performer walked on a rope suspended in the air, not merely walking, but also doing handstands, sitting, and lying down as if treading on flat ground.
Compared to this dull performance, Cui Jingci found the Huai Zhi beside him far more entertaining. He turned his head by a slight angle and saw Huai Zhi beaming with delight, her entire eyes sparkling as if she had witnessed something extraordinarily impressive. The crowd cheered, and Huai Zhi cheered along with them. Cui Jingci didn't know how to describe the light in her eyes—because he had rarely seen it, he didn't know how to put it into words. Was it like the full moon he had seen in the sky over the northern frontier, where lone smoke rose from the vast desert?
Tonight's moon was also very large. Cui Jingci looked up at it—the crowd clamored, drums and music resounded in unison, and that moon pouring down its radiance from the heavens was dazzling—yet he still felt it was not as bright as the person before him.
Huai Zhi's joyful appearance clearly showed she had cast aside the incident with that scholar from earlier, but the moment Cui Jingci recalled it, he nearly ground his back molars to dust.
Wicked Huai Zhi—she had even lied to him, daring to claim it was some neighbor brother.
Did she really think he was that easy to fool?
Huai Zhi finally said, "Xuanshuang, how about we go home?"
There was no curfew tonight, the long night unrestricted, but Huai Zhi suddenly realized they had been out for quite a while. She was already a little tired from all this playing, and she wasn't sure whether the illness that could flare up on Cui Jingci at any moment could withstand it.
Afraid he might be suffering without saying so, Huai Zhi ended up holding the lantern in one hand and pulling at Cui Jingci's sleeve with the other, saying they should go home.
Cui Jingci had no free hand left to hold, so he good-naturedly carried the various large and small items.
Hearing she wanted to go home, Cui Jingci naturally smiled and said yes.
She had played enough outside—now it was his turn.
This was what they called mutual reciprocity. Huai Zhi, you can understand this simple principle, right?
But it didn't matter. Knowing you weren't clever, if you didn't understand, your husband would teach you.
After the two returned home, Cui Jingci was in no hurry to do what was on his mind. Instead, he carried himself with a leisurely, unhurried composure, even though they had already gone eight full days without sharing a bed.
The greatest difference between humans and livestock was roughly that humans could control themselves, while livestock could not.
Cui Jingci had full confidence in his self-restraint. The hunger before a full meal was merely to make the satiation all the better. If he could endure eight days, what was a little more?
Cui Jingci said to her in a gentle voice, "Huai Zhi, you've had a tiring day too. Go wash yourself first."
Huai Zhi had no idea what was going through Cui Jingci's mind. Hearing him say this, she thought it was just her husband being considerate of her. She could no longer remember how many days they had slept in separate rooms. Ever since she married him, the two had slept together every night, and now these few days of separation actually carried a hint of… a reunion sweeter than a honeymoon.
The moment that phrase popped into Huai Zhi's head, she startled even herself. The innocent girl merely entertained the thought for a moment, and before she knew it, the tips of her ears had flushed red for no discernible reason.
She didn't say anything more on the matter, simply hummed in agreement, and headed to the bathing chamber first.
While Huai Zhi was bathing, Cui Jingci had intended to tidy up and put away the things he had bought for her, so that when she came out and saw them, she would think him a patient and virtuous husband.
His wife seemed to place great importance on such details, for sometimes he had no idea what he had said before it would bring tears to her eyes.
Cui Jingci wanted to build up goodwill before he devoured her, so as to ensure that she would not put up any resistance later.
Huai Zhi's occasional meaningless whimpers and refusals—Cui Jingci was actually happy to hear them from time to time, letting them pass through his ears as a bit of spice. However, today he was somewhat displeased, and he feared that if things got too intense, and she said things like "no more," "stop," or "slower," he would lose control of himself.
Cui Jingci patiently tidied up the items.
The Lanchun Courtyard was perpetually steeped in a quiet atmosphere, because Cui Jingci disliked extraneous sounds. Perhaps it was his inherently cautious nature—excess noise always irritated him—so the servants moved about without making the slightest sound whenever they came and went, and for the most part, unless summoned, they would not attend to him in his presence.
At this moment, Cui Jingci heard no other sounds within the room, only the sound of water coming from the bathing chamber.
The sounds from within somehow seemed infinitely amplified at this instant; he even felt he could hear the splashes of water droplets falling to the ground. He seemed to catch the pleasant fragrance emanating from Huai Zhi, and he could not help but think of her body. In an instant, his thoughts drifted into wanton reverie—his body was here, but his mind had already wandered elsewhere.
He was not one to deny himself.
Cui Jingci rose to his feet, shrugged off his outer robe, and casually set it aside.
It was not his fault—Huai Zhi had been the one to seduce him first.
Huai Zhi was in the middle of washing herself. Today's outing had been quite enjoyable; even though running into that scholar later had caused her great embarrassment, since Cui Jingci did not take it to heart, she would not either. As she bathed, she softly hummed a tune, her voice clear and crisp, exceptionally pleasant to the ear.
Just then, out of nowhere, an ice-cold hand reached out and went straight for her chest.
The disparity between man and woman was vast—his hand was large, with bulging veins visible on its back, and things that she herself could hardly grasp, the man could easily gather into his palm.
The sound from her lips cut off abruptly into a startled cry, but before she could cry out for long, another hand covered her mouth.
"It's me, Huai Zhi." Cui Jingci's voice drifted into her ear, close against her earlobe.