In the evening, Tong Wei was in the outer room helping Xu Jinzhi undress.
She held the moon-white robe in her hands, her movements as light and careful as ever. Even when the belt slid off his shoulder, it made no sound of disturbance. The lamps had not yet been fully lit, and the last glow of sunset seeped through the window paper, leaving the room half bright and half dim. She kept her head lowered and could smell the faint coldness he had brought back from outside. She could also see clearly the bones of his wrist and fingers as he removed his protective bracers, each line sharply outlined in the light.
She saw these things every day.
Yet the more she saw, the emptier she felt inside.
The young master had already returned to the Main Courtyard for several days. During the day, she could handle his outer robes, his teacups, his desk. But once night fell and the curtain of the inner chamber dropped, everything changed.
“There is no need to bring tea in tonight,” Xu Jinzhi said as he unfastened the last sleeve button, his tone calm and even. “I will rest in the Main Courtyard.”
Tong Wei’s fingers paused for a moment, then she quietly responded, “Yes.”
She folded the clothes and stepped aside. That was when she saw Wen Yunyi coming out from inside.
She seemed to have just bathed. Her black hair was loosely tied behind her shoulder, still carrying a faint dampness. She wore only a casual house dress, the collar not fully closed. A stretch of pale skin at her collarbone glowed softly under the lamplight. She had always been striking, but without adornment she looked even more vivid and alive.
Tong Wei lowered her eyes, her heart sinking.
She had always thought the mistress of the house only had a beautiful face. Now that she no longer caused trouble, and the young master had returned to the Main Courtyard, everything seemed to be returning to where it should be.
Tong Wei did not dare look further and quietly withdrew.
She left the room but did not go far, lingering at the corner of the covered corridor. The wind carried a trace of late spring chill. She clenched the pillar with her fingers, her chest hollow.
The Main Courtyard inside had already been lit.
Bai Lan and Qing Tao had also retreated to the outer room, leaving only one floor lamp. The warm light filled the inner chamber with a soft haze.
Wen Yunyi sat at the dressing table, slowly drying the ends of her hair with a cloth.
Xu Jinzhi was also seated nearby. His gaze fell on her hair and lingered briefly.
“Why didn’t you let Bai Lan dry it for you?” he asked.
Wen Yunyi turned the cloth over once. “It is not good to always have someone following me for everything.”
They fell silent for a moment.
Outside, the wind brushed the bamboo blinds, making a soft tapping sound.
Xu Jinzhi looked at her slightly damp hair and suddenly said, “Your body now…” He paused, as if choosing his words. “Is it truly fine now?”
Wen Yunyi understood what he meant.
She was now Wen Yunyi, the young mistress of the Main Courtyard. After recovering from her miscarriage, her husband had returned to the Main Courtyard. If they still delayed things tonight, it would seem unnatural.
Moreover…
Her fingers lightly traced the edge of the dressing table. She thought very clearly: Xu Jinzhi’s appearance was indeed not bad.
A noble young master—refined, upright, with straight shoulders and well-shaped hands. She could observe him calmly during the day, but at night, her thoughts became more direct.
If it could not be avoided, at least the person was not unpleasant. That alone meant she did not lose out.
Thinking this, she found it slightly amusing and her lips curved faintly.
That small smile reflected in the mirror, and also in Xu Jinzhi’s eyes.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, looking at him through the mirror.
She stood, and her sleeve brushed the table corner, knocking a jade hairpin slightly askew. Before it could fall, Xu Jinzhi stepped closer and steadied it with his hand.
Suddenly, they were very close.
Wen Yunyi raised her eyes and met his lowered gaze.
The lamplight cast a faint warmth in his eyes. It was not intense, but it was no longer the distance it once held.
She suddenly remembered that in the original owner’s memories, she had once been his wife—full of joy, grievance, longing, and unfulfilled desire. But the person standing here now was her. Her state of mind was entirely different.
She felt a kind of curiosity.
Not youthful anticipation, but a calm, almost detached curiosity—curiosity about what it would feel like if she truly carried this marriage through.
This thought made her calmer than the original owner had ever been.
“I am already recovered as the Imperial Physician said,” she replied evenly. “There should be no problem.”
Xu Jinzhi looked at her, his gaze deepening slightly. “If you feel unwell, do not force yourself.”
Wen Yunyi smiled lightly. “There is no point in waiting forever.”
There was no resentment or plea in her voice—only clarity.
Xu Jinzhi should have found this more convenient, but for some reason, her composure made something in his chest shift slightly.
The room grew quiet again.
The last traces of outer noise faded. The flicker of a candle flared softly. Wen Yunyi suddenly felt how silent everything had become.
She did not retreat.
Instead, she reached out and lightly touched his sleeve.
The movement was tentative, but undeniably initiated by her.
Xu Jinzhi paused.
This was not the Wen Yunyi he had known before.
That slight touch was more direct than any hesitation.
He lowered his gaze, his breathing no longer steady.
Wen Yunyi also felt a faint tension in herself.
This was her first time being this close to a man. Even across two lifetimes, such intimacy was unfamiliar. Yet she was not bound by the same restraints as the original owner. When it came to it, she was bolder.
She looked at him, then stepped closer.
Close enough that their breaths almost collided.
Xu Jinzhi’s eyes darkened.
When the bed curtains fell, the moonlight and lamplight were sealed outside. A hairpin dropped onto the floor. Her black hair spilled over her shoulders as their clothing loosened layer by layer, like spring wind scattering blossoms too tightly held together.
At first, Wen Yunyi still observed with a kind of detached curiosity. But when his palm pressed against her waist, that curiosity turned into vivid sensation.
She instinctively tried to pull away, but did not fully resist, only gripping his shoulder as she breathed unevenly.
The grip was not light.
Xu Jinzhi noticed, but did not stop. Instead, he moved closer, as if confirming what her initiative truly meant.
Wen Yunyi’s breath became disordered. Yet even then, a clear thought surfaced briefly in her mind—
Seen up close, this man was even more attractive than usual.
Sharp brow, high nose bridge, his shadow carrying a quiet pressure.
The thought was so inappropriate that she almost laughed—but before she could, her lips were sealed.
She had once thought such matters would be nothing more than that.
But when she was truly pressed back into the soft bedding, warmth slowly spread through her body like fire breaking through restraint.
It was unfamiliar, intense, but not unpleasant.
And in a very clear moment of honesty, she admitted to herself—
She did not lose out.
She reached up and lightly touched his face.
That small action made Xu Jinzhi look at her immediately.
His expression had changed.
The night deepened. The bed creaked softly. Spring wind outside moved through flowers like distant waves.
Later, Wen Yunyi no longer had the clarity to think much. Her breathing was broken into fragments.
Only one thought remained at the end—
No wonder the original owner had once been so attached to a man like this.
Such looks, such closeness, such heat capable of melting bones—it was easy for someone to fall into it in a world where one lifetime was bound to one person.
But she was not the original owner.
Even after this night, she would not place all her weight on him.
When everything finally settled, the night was already deep.
The warmth under the covers remained. Wen Yunyi lay lazily, her eyelashes slightly damp. She did not sleep immediately, still carrying a faint after-sensation of novelty.
She silently reached a conclusion:
Xu Jinzhi was not bad in appearance, and he was not disappointing in bed.
She almost smiled at herself.
Beside her, the man moved slightly and pulled the blanket up for her.
Wen Yunyi turned over, burying half her face into the pillow.
Xu Jinzhi looked at her in the dark for a long time.
Outside, the night wind passed through the corridors.
And in the shadowed outer corridor of the Main Courtyard, Tong Wei stood where the light could not reach.
She should not have stayed this long.
There was no sound from the inner chamber—only silence.
Her fingers tightened slowly, pain pressing into her skin.
She had served Xu Jinzhi for years. She knew his habits better than anyone.
She had once believed she was not far from that position.
But now that he had returned to the Main Courtyard, and this night had truly passed, she suddenly felt an unfamiliar panic.
If she continued waiting like this, she would only lose more and more.
Tong Wei stood for a long time. Finally, she lowered her head and silently left.