Xin Yi arrived just as evening approached.
She had visited this teahouse two or three times before, and even the room had been chosen by her ahead of time when she made the appointment with Shen Gui. She had told him to change it.
The meaning was clear enough. They wouldn’t exchange more than a few words anyway, so there was no need for some top-grade private room.
Since she had already picked the room, Shen Gui naturally did not fuss over such a minor detail.
She pushed the door open and found that the brazier in the room was already lit.
Exquisitely prepared wine and dishes sat on the table. The man in ink-colored robes seated before it heard the creak of the door and lifted his gaze. A slight daze appeared on his face.
Xin Yi smiled at him.
Sure enough, Shen Gui had not brought any attendants today. He was alone.
The room was warm everywhere, a stark contrast to the chill outside.
Her cheeks heated the moment she stepped in, so she did not hesitate at all. She reached up and untied the fastening at her collar, removing the snow-white fox fur cloak.
Shen Gui watched her movements, from the cinnabar flower adornment between her brows, to her pointed chin, and then to her fingers like fresh green onions.
She had done nothing at all, yet it felt seductive and alluring everywhere. Shen Gui felt his heart race. “…Xin Yi.”
Xin Yi heard the low call from him, laden with what seemed like endless affection, and the smile on her lips deepened.
Men could be truly ridiculous sometimes. Back when she was still in the marquis manor, Shen Gui had not spared her a sideways glance. Now that they had no ties left, he could not let go.
Xin Yi knew his mind was already wandering at that moment. It was the scorching gaze of a man looking at a woman.
But she still deliberately asked, “Did Miss Zheng Wu know that the Marquis invited me here today?”
Shen Gui did not feel ashamed when he heard this. Instead, he seemed to relax as if some certainty had settled in him. He assured her, “Don’t worry. Even if A-Wu finds out, she will understand. After all, I was the one who let you down first.”
His eyes were calm and deep as he slowly grasped her hand. “Come back to the marquis manor. Let me continue taking care of you. That divorce paper was just written in a fit of anger. From now on, neither of us will mention it.”
Tsk tsk, how affectionate.
How much like a devoted husband coaxing his sulking wife.
The man’s palm rubbing the back of Xin Yi’s hand pressed harder, just like his breathing, making her feel a slight discomfort.
She was used to being kneaded by Shen Ru Jie normally. The youth’s finger bones were always snake-like and ice-cold, making her feel as if she had fallen into hell with alternating ice and fire in her daze. It was nothing like this man’s rough, scorching touch.
Even so, despite the discomfort, Xin Yi did not pull away immediately. She pretended not to understand the meaning in his words.
Instead, she asked him in a soft, gentle tone, her eyes full of affection. “Does the Marquis know what ‘spilled water can’t be gathered up again’ means?”
Shen Gui froze upon hearing this, his handsome face dazed and lost.
He had come today with a sliver of hope. He hoped Xin Yi would forgive him after hearing him out, so he would not have to resort to dirty tricks to force her compliance.
Was that not good enough?
The night wind howled outside the window lattice, rustling like it snapped dry branches.
Yet the lamp in the side room quietly crackled within its glazed flower shade, occasionally sparking tiny embers that lit up the woman’s breathtakingly beautiful face.
Xin Yi reached out and touched his face, then traced his sharp, knife-like brows that carried a calm authority.
In truth, Shen Gui was very handsome, the kind of poised authority figure cultivated by a great clan. This aura attracted women easily. Otherwise, he would not have made Zheng Wu and the original host fall so hard, both utterly devoted to him.
Unfortunately, Xin Yi was not one of those women.
Her gaze then fell to his tightly pressed, trembling lips. She guessed that words from this mouth were usually commands and rebukes.
No servant in the manor was unafraid of him. They were always cautious, fearing they might anger their master with some mistake. The marquis only appeared calm and mild, but he showed no mercy when punishing errant servants.
Shen Gui trembled. He wanted to open his mouth and take her finger in, just as his illegitimate little brother had once done.
But Xin Yi did not give him that reward. That was reserved for puppies. Only puppies could have it.
The moment his breathing grew heavy and he tried to part his lips, Xin Yi’s fingertip left his face. She stood up from the chair.
She walked on her own to the copper basin by the window lattice, wrung out a wet cloth, and wiped her hands. Then, in that soft, seductive, slow drawl, she told him, “The marquis and I… spilled water can’t be gathered up again.”
Shen Gui’s figure stiffened in place for a long while before he finally turned his head.
His voice hoarse, he asked her, “Why? Why can’t we start over? I will treat you well.”
Xin Yi looked at him too, a slight smile on her face. “Because your illegitimate little brother likes me too.”
She gently stabbed at his heart. “If I agreed to you, A-Jie would be heartbroken and jealous. After all, to me, he matters far more than you, Marquis.”
Shen Gui’s face turned ashen upon hearing this. He looked at her with utterly absurd eyes, his breathing quickening with rage. “You two… you really are together! It wasn’t my imagination!”
Pain made the veins on his forehead bulge, as if he had suffered some vicious, terrifying betrayal. He should have realized it sooner, hadn’t he?
So when he wrote the divorce papers that night and said those words to Xin Yi, they were not insults at all. The two of them had long been tangled behind his back, unclean, and he, Shen Gui, had not misunderstood his wife in the slightest!
He felt raging fury burn in his chest, nearly driving him to lose his reason. Shen Ru Jie, what right did he have!
He was nothing but a watchdog he had kept in the marquis manor, a little bastard. Apart from that excessively beautiful skin, what else did he have!
Or had he seduced Xin Yi with that face?
Going into heat, fawning over her, crawling onto her bed in some filthy, sordid way he knew nothing about!
Xin Yi watched him tremble with rage and spoke up to soothe him in her gentle, kind way. She sounded deeply worried. “Marquis, don’t get angry. A-Jie and I are clean. We haven’t done anything as husband and wife yet.”
At most, there had been a few times when he kissed her until her head spun, nearly letting him go further. But at least for now, that belated green hat of Shen Gui’s was not fully worn.
Though after tonight, that might change.
Shen Gui was not consoled by her light words. Doubts took root in his heart and spread wildly.
He was unsure if they had done it, how many times, before or after she left the manor? When that bastard first seduced her, had she struggled or resisted even a little in her heart? Had she… considered him at all?
This was the first time Shen Gui tasted the flavor of heartbreak and jealousy.
But more than that was the regret surging in his heart. Why had he not killed Shen Ru Jie sooner? Why had he given him the chance to reach this day! He even recalled his childhood, when he had once hated and envied that illegitimate son just as deeply.
He was just the spawn of a bed-warming maid, yet he stole his spotlight everywhere, learning faster than him in everything.
Every tutor loved to praise his talent and intelligence. The long policy essays he crammed all night to memorize, Shen Ru Jie could commit to heart after just two glances between emptying chamber pots and mucking stables.
Why? He was the most noble one in the marquis manor. Why could he not surpass a lowly illegitimate son?
In scholarship, martial arts, even that damned face.
When he told his mother these feelings, venting his resentment and grievance with his little head bowed and crying, what he got was her gentle caress.
She wore a skirt of gold-woven Shu brocade, her bracelet green as flowing water. She smiled and held him in her arms. “What’s there to it? The entire marquis manor will be yours one day. No matter how talented he is, he will be nothing but a dog kneeling at your feet. Make him bark loud, and he barks loud. If you don’t like his barking, poison him mute, no harm done.”
From then on, he no longer envied Shen Ru Jie. Instead, as his mother said, he separated his own position from his clearly.
He was nobility; Shen Ru Jie was but a dog.
But today, his wife said in front of him that she did not want Shen Ru Jie to be sad.
He could no longer suppress his hatred. He reached out, pulled the delicate woman into his arms, and asked through gritted teeth, “Don’t you have any shame being with Shen Ru Jie? Who will dare marry a daughter of the Wu family after this? You will bring shame on the entire clan!”
Xin Yi did not get angry. Words like these could not hurt her at all.
But she was tired of playing along with his hypocritical act. It was getting late, and she was in a hurry to put a green hat on this scumbag.
So she patted the man’s shoulder, deliberately using a soft, cute tone to interrupt his self-immersion. “Marquis, let go. We’ve said what needed saying. I must head back.”
Perhaps sensing her indifference and lack of care, the man holding her finally calmed down completely and released her.
A strange chill appeared in those calm, dark eyes. Then he said the words Xin Yi had long awaited. “It’s cold out. Why not have a cup of wine to warm up before you go.”
Xin Yi gave him the most genuine smile she had shown that night.
She nodded demurely, walked to the table laden with dishes without hesitation, lifted the already poured cup of wine with her fair hand, and slowly drank it down to her lips.
Not a drop left.
After finishing, she showed him the plum blossom silver pattern at the bottom of the cup and smiled purely and beautifully. “Is this what you meant, Marquis?”
Shen Gui’s gaze darkened slightly as it fell on her lips reddened by the wine. His throat bobbed slowly.
But his words were caring. “The wind is strong outside now. Wait a moment longer, and I will personally escort you back.”
Xin Yi thought: What logic was this? Not even a good excuse. Would the wind die down later? He was no immortal.
Fortunately, she was kind and considerate, not one to nitpick.
The copper clepsydra dripped with a faint sound.
Just two minutes after she drank the wine, the woman seated at the table seemed unable to sit still. Her cheeks flushed strangely, as if she wanted to tug at her collar.
But she caught his figure in her peripheral vision and forcibly held back out of concern for her reputation.
After enduring for a short while, she finally told him, “I suddenly feel unwell. I want to rest on the short couch for a moment. Please wait outside, Marquis.”
Shen Gui did not refuse. He bet she could not hold out a quarter-hour.
By then, no need for him to force her. Xin Yi would naturally cry and beg him amid her body burning with heat.
But just before he stepped out the door, the woman behind him suddenly called out softly to stop him.
Under his puzzled gaze, her almond eyes curved slightly, a shallow smile on her lips. “Marquis, it’s cold on winter nights. Don’t forget your hat when you go out next time.”
Shen Gui was stunned, then felt warmth in his heart: She was concerned for him.
Though he usually did not wear a hat when going out, since Xin Yi reminded him, he was willing to try. He nodded in a gentle tone. “Got it. I will.”
Once the man’s figure left her sight, Xin Yi immediately went over and bolted the door behind her.
The drugged wine was indeed potent. In mere moments, she already felt her whole body burning, her legs going soft. Without further thought, she went to the window lattice overlooking the pond, propped both windows open, gathered her skirts, stepped onto the short couch by the table.
She exhaled lightly and leaped gracefully from the window. Since it was close, she only stirred faint ripples, like a fish born to swim.