In the warm pavilion of the western courtyard, the previous tranquility was gone.
The servants bustling around were in a frenzy. The physician had just been sent away when a maid hurried off nonstop to fetch and decoct medicine. Even the magnolia branches in the porcelain vase by the door had been knocked over, with two accidentally trampled.
Behind a screen painted with birds, flowers, and loquats.
Xin Yi clutched the youth’s sleeve and refused to let go. She still had not woken up. Her little face was pale as she kept her eyes closed, her posture frail. She looked utterly pitiable.
Reflected in the flickering candlelight, the tear stains on her face stood out even more.
She shed tears while calling out “Marquis” in broken sobs, as if trapped in a nightmare.
A Ying watched from the side and wiped away her own tears, her heart aching terribly.
How could the Marquis say such things about the Madam?
And he had scolded and blamed her in front of so many people. The servants in the residence already thought the Madam was out of favor and gossiped behind her back. After today’s scene, such rumors would only grow worse.
Moreover, even as a mere maid, A Ying knew the Madam had a kind heart. She wouldn’t even step on an ant by the roadside.
How could she possibly harm anyone on purpose?
That plate of pastries had been made by the Madam herself early in the morning, despite her wind-chill not yet fully recovered, all for the Marquis.
It was only because she had overheard a maid from the front courtyard mention in passing while sweeping— that the Marquis had not had much appetite lately.
A Ying had felt moved just watching.
Yet the Marquis turned a blind eye, his heart completely captivated by the vixen he kept outside.
Cases of doting on concubines while neglecting wives were not unheard of.
Now A Ying was even more convinced that if that outer chamber mistress entered the marquis’s residence in the future, the Madam would only suffer bullying.
The stars in the night sky were dim and sparse, carrying a hint of chill.
Only a tattered paper kite, blown from who-knows-where, lay crookedly undisturbed on the top of the wall.
Xin Yi pretended to whimper pitifully while casually rubbing her tears onto Shen Ru Jie’s sleeve.
Impressive. She must be crying so pitifully that anyone would take pity on her.
“System, does my left cheek look better when I cry, or the right? Which one feels more heart-stirring?”
The Melodramatic Transmigration System was rendered speechless by her. “If I say your right cheek looks better, are you going to flip over?”
“Why not?” Xin Yi said as she whimpered pitifully and turned her body. The only thing that did not change was her death grip on the youth’s sleeve.
She cried so well. She really cried so well.
Who could not be moved by such a fragile beauty?
The Melodramatic Transmigration System: “……”
It was wrong. It should not have underestimated the host’s shamelessness. There was nothing this scheming fragile actress would not do.
In the entire room, the calmest person seemed to be Shen Ru Jie.
The youth’s expression held its usual indifference as he let the pale, sickly woman on the couch rub her cheek against his sleeve.
If not for the sensation of tears dampening it, he might have suspected she was faking her faint. Otherwise, why grip so tightly, as if afraid he would run away.
But soon a trace of mockery appeared on his face: Was she not afraid he would run? She was mistaking him for Shen Gui.
A wisp of calming incense wafted from the copper incense burner.
A Ying stayed in the room for a while, then wiped her tears and went to the kitchen to check on the medicine decoction. So now, only the two of them remained in the room.
The candle flame flickered.
Shen Ru Jie leaned down slightly, a thread of smile hooking his lips as he drew close to her. “Sister-in-law, are you awake?”
Xin Yi startled and nearly broke character.
Fortunately, her mental fortitude was strong enough not to show it on her face, though she could not help cursing inwardly: Pervert! Suddenly leaning in so close to speak—trying to scare someone to death!
Her heart rate had just spiked to nearly 850!
Xin Yi kept her eyes closed.
But she played along, sobbing softly as she furrowed her brows. She reached out and patted the youth’s face, though the force was soft and feeble, more like a kitten playfully scratching.
Shen Ru Jie, whose face had been covered by the kitten’s soft paw pad: “……”
The woman’s boneless fingers slid down to the edge of the pillow, carrying a faint fragrance. Her other hand still pitifully clutched his. “Marquis… Marquis, don’t go.”
Her choked sobs were soft and fine, enough to soften anyone’s heart.
Yet inexplicable irritation and hostility brewed in the youth’s eyes.
Mistaking him for Shen Gui again. From head to toe, in what way did he resemble Shen Gui?
Thus, he reached out and gripped her neck, his knuckles rubbing against it as the force gradually deepened.
Full of malice, as if he would snap it the next second. “Sister-in-law, really not awake?”
Xin Yi got goosebumps all over from his perverse action.
Yet she still had to pretend to feel nothing, sobbing lowly and dependently rubbing her cheek lightly twice against the back of his cold hand, even smearing a bit of her undried tears.
Shen Ru Jie’s expression stiffened. He abruptly straightened up from the bedside.
The motion was too sudden. When he yanked his sleeve free from her grasp, it caused Xin Yi’s elbow to bump hard against the bed frame. If not for maintaining her persona, she really would have cursed.
The door to the warm pavilion creaked twice.
After a while, the system reminded her. “Stop pretending, host. Shen Ru Jie has already left.”
Only then did Xin Yi open her eyes. She hissed in pain as she rubbed her elbow.
She also touched her neck lingeringly, full of lingering fear. “That was close. Nearly got exposed.”
But Shen Ru Jie was even more vicious than she had imagined. Bah, pervert!
She was nominally his sister-in-law, after all, and had saved him before. Yet he actually wanted to strike while she was unconscious in her illness. Utterly outrageous!!
The Melodramatic Transmigration System interrupted her outburst of anger. “Host, stop cursing. He did not really intend to do anything to you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because…”
The system fell silent for a moment, its tone unusually subtle. “Because when he placed his hand on your neck just now, the favorability rose by five points.”
Xin Yi: “……”
And this was not perverse?
At the third quarter of the hai hour, in the Capital City’s most prosperous and lively restaurant, the decadent sounds of silk strings and pipes filled the air. Hu women with golden bells on their waists danced the green waist dance, their seductive eyes like silk.
A splendidly dressed young master at the table shook a folding fan, a scorching smile on his lips.
Soon, the door to the elegant room opened.
The black-clad youth’s gaze swept over and accurately found the Seventh Prince. He walked over unhurriedly. “What matter does Your Highness have for summoning me?”
Xiao Cong Jing glanced at him, shook his head, and sighed. “Truly a hopeless case. Every time I call you over to broaden your horizons, you have that same grim look that scares off little ladies.”
“Keep this up, and how will any girl be willing to marry you?”
While they spoke, several Hu women holding pipas could not help glancing their way.
They had thought the Seventh Prince handsome enough, but this black-clad youth was even more so. It was just that those narrow, phoenix eyes carried an innate chill. Handsome, yes, but not one any casual woman could approach.
Over these years, Shen Ru Jie had long grown accustomed to the Seventh Prince’s flamboyant playboy act outside.
He tugged at his lips now, unwilling to argue. “Of course, I cannot compare to Your Highness, a master at the Pleasure Quarters. I wonder how Miss A Yuan would praise Your Highness if she knew?”
Sure enough, mentioning A Yuan gave the Seventh Prince a headache, like poking his Achilles’ heel.
He stopped shaking his fan, stopped appreciating the dancers, and even his handsome face darkened slightly. “Don’t mention her. She’s been making my head ache lately.”
Shen Ru Jie did not care about their private affairs and thus dropped the subject wisely. The imperial family’s marriage entanglements were not his concern anyway.
And in the Seventh Prince’s heart, aside from his beloved, he naturally had his own calculations of gain and loss.
However.
He could not help furrowing his brow and asked, “Did Your Highness summon me just to keep you company while drinking?”
Xiao Cong Jing reverted to his usual unserious demeanor, leisurely picking up the white jade wine pot to refill his cup. “With beauties present and such wonderful music from zither and lute, how could this be called drinking to drown sorrows?”
“Shen Er, oh Shen Er, you are a noble family’s young master at least. How can you not understand even this bit of elegant amusement?”
But before he could drink that cup, Xiao Cong Jing paused, as if discovering something monumental.
In an exaggerated tone like he had finally caught the other’s slip, he asked, “Did you get intimate with a girl before coming? Why is there lip rouge from a little lady on your hand?”
Shen Ru Jie’s figure stiffened. He lowered his head to look.
There was a smudged streak of bright red on the back of his hand, likely rubbed on by Xin Yi while crying in her “nightmare.”
He had not intended to say, but the Seventh Prince kept pressing from across the table, irritating him. “Don’t overthink it. It is my sister-in-law.”
The Seventh Prince was even more incredulous upon hearing this. His mouth fell open in shock. “Shen Er, are you not no different from Cao Cao the adulterer? Are there no other good girls in this world?”
Shen Ru Jie: “……”