Si Que glanced at the little cat, Baisui, who was sticking his head into the porcelain bowl, smacking his lips as he licked the goat milk. He bent down, took the silver spoon from You Yuji’s hand, and placed it gently back into the bowl of goat milk with a soft clink. Then he carried the bowl to the other side of the bedroom and placed it on a square table. Baisui hurried over, climbed onto the embroidered stool covered in purple gauze, and continued licking the goat milk with his head down.
You Yuji’s eyes followed Si Que, watching him as he finished and walked back towards her.
She remained leaning against the beauty couch, making no other movements. She appeared languid and relaxed, yet there was a trace of tension she knew she couldn’t hide.
Si Que sat on the edge of the beauty couch. He grasped You Yuji’s ankle, placing it in his palm. The delicate purple gauze skirt slowly slipped down, completely revealing her fair foot.
Instinctively, You Yuji pulled her foot back. Si Que hadn’t restrained her, so she easily withdrew her foot, hiding it again under the layers of the purple skirt.
Si Que looked at his now empty palm, then lifted his gaze to You Yuji, smiling slowly. “Sister, you need to get used to this.”
—We’ve only just begun.
Meeting Si Que’s smiling dark eyes, You Yuji lightly bit her lip, feeling somewhat embarrassed by her instinctive reaction.
The charcoal fire warmed the bedroom, allowing You Yuji to wear a thin purple gauze dress despite the early winter season. The loose purple gauze wrapped her gently. You Yuji sat up, her hand resting casually on her leg, the soft gauze sleeve piled up, revealing a small section of her fair wrist.
Before bathing, she had drunk a little plum wine, which now tinted her cheeks a light red. She looked at Si Que and asked, “Have you thought it through?”
As soon as she spoke, You Yuji realized she was being redundant. She already knew the answer.
Si Que reached out, lightly tugging on You Yuji’s gauze sleeve to cover her exposed wrist. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Sister,” he called softly, then again, “Sister, can you not listen to the opera tomorrow?”
You Yuji’s lips parted slightly, then she smiled gently.
She replied, “Alright, I’ll only listen to your music.”
Like a warm spring rain showering her heart, Si Que lowered his eyes and said, “Sister, I am not a long-lived person.”
You Yuji was slightly surprised by Si Que’s words.
Indeed, she only wanted a child and didn’t wish to have any further entanglement with the child’s father. But at this moment, looking at Si Que with his downcast eyes, she tried to empathize with his feelings and concerns.
After a while, You Yuji spoke again, “When the child grows up, I will tell him he had an excellent father.”
Si Que suddenly smiled. He looked up at You Yuji again, his gaze calm and quiet. “Sister, give me a few more days.”
You Yuji was slightly stunned.
Does he still need to think about it? Had she made things difficult for him? You Yuji frowned lightly, feeling a peculiar sense of disappointment.
“I need to stop taking the medicine first.”
You Yuji’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as she looked at Si Que.
Ah, right. He was not in good health and took many medications daily. The medicines he took would affect the fetus, so he needed to stop taking them for a while.
You Yuji moved closer, nervously asking Si Que, “If you stop taking the medicine, won’t it harm your body?”
Her delicate eyebrows furrowed, drawing a trace of worry.
“Are you concerned about me, sister?” Si Que’s voice was gentle, his tone slow but assertive.
You Yuji nodded slightly, not hiding her feelings, “I can’t let my selfish desires harm you.”
Si Que didn’t explain but said, “Sister, please wait for me for six more days. Just six days.”
You Yuji frowned, still staring into Si Que’s eyes. She was a bit bewildered, unsure if she had found the right person.
Seeing her confusion, Si Que finally explained, “It’s just a temporary break from the medicine, it’s nothing serious.”
You Yuji nodded slowly, still worried about Si Que’s health. She was lost in thought and didn’t notice Si Que getting closer. When she snapped back to reality, Si Que was already very near.
You Yuji bit her lips gently, watching Si Que come even closer.
Si Que leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Sister, I will come find you again in six days.”
You Yuji’s cheeks, already slightly red, turned an even deeper shade. She lowered her eyes and nodded absentmindedly.
Si Que picked up a blanket from the beauty couch and carefully covered You Yuji with it before standing up to leave.
You Yuji maintained her posture, quietly watching Si Que’s departing figure. She saw him stop at the door, then turn around and stride back toward her.
“What’s wrong?” You Yuji asked softly.
Si Que said nothing, sitting down again on the side of the beauty couch.
As You Yuji was still puzzled, Si Que once again grasped her ankle. She was slightly stunned but didn’t move this time.
She averted her gaze, not looking at Si Que.
By not looking, her senses seemed to become sharper. Even though she tried to distract herself, she could clearly feel Si Que’s every touch on her foot. His gentle strokes were vividly felt in her heart.
Many people are ticklish, especially the soles of their feet. But You Yuji was naturally not ticklish. However, at this moment, her heart felt as if it was being softly brushed with feathers.
Time passed slowly. After two quarter-hours, Baisui had already licked the bowl of goat milk clean. Satisfied and sleepy, it jumped down from the embroidered stool and climbed onto the beauty couch, seeking a comfortable spot in You Yuji’s lap. It stood in front of her, using its front paws to climb up her robe. In the process, it pulled open her loose neckline, revealing a large area of dark purple undergarment. You Yuji hurriedly pushed Baisui away and hastily adjusted her disheveled collar.
Suddenly, she felt a soft sensation on her ankle.
You Yuji was startled, looking at Si Que in shock.
Si Que leaned down and kissed the small red mole on her left ankle.
—He had consumed this bewitching poison.
You Yuji’s heart was pounding.
Having never known what it meant to feel an itch, she suddenly discovered its taste. She turned her face away, half-hiding her blushing face.
Si Que quietly looked up at You Yuji.
It wasn’t just her own private desire; it had already become his ocean of longing.
But now was not the time.
Si Que slowly lowered his eyes again, his long lashes hiding all his emotions.
She wanted a child, and right now, he couldn’t give her a child, so she wouldn’t want him now.
The next day, Liufeng was carrying medicine upstairs when she was stopped by Tingyun.
Liufeng widened her eyes in surprise and said, “But His Highness’s medicine can’t be stopped for even a day!”
Tingyun sighed and shook her head.
No one could stop His Highness once he had made up his mind.
That day, You Yuji didn’t see Si Que at all. At this moment, Si Que probably didn’t want her to see his pale complexion either.
The theater troupe for that day had been scheduled the day before. Since You Yuji had agreed with Si Que, she did not attend but let the household staff go to listen to the performance.
Moreover, You Yuji had some matters to attend to today; she needed to inquire about Chen Anzhi’s coming-of-age ceremony tomorrow. The ceremony was held at the ancestral temple, and the womenfolk did not need to attend. However, there would be a banquet at the mansion after the ceremony, and as the hostess, You Yuji had to oversee the preparations.
In many dynasties, men had their coming-of-age ceremony at twelve or fifteen. Although the Chen Kingdom still held the ceremony at twenty, the rule that one could only marry after the ceremony had been abandoned.
The steward of the mansion had already arranged everything properly. You Yuji listened to the report as per the rules and then returned to Tanxiang Yingyue to rest.
The midday sun was warm. You Yuji took a nap by the window, the warm light spilling over her face, and Baisui nestled beside her.
You Yuji opened her eyes, remembering something.
—Si Que had dressed as a girl since childhood and would never have a grand ceremony and a formal name given to him.
You Yuji held Baisui in her arms, her slender fingers gently stroking Baisui’s soft fur, once again puzzled by the reason Si Que had been cross-dressing since childhood.
After a long while, You Yuji sighed softly.
“Madam, why are you sighing?” Baohe entered from outside, holding a large bottle of freshly picked red plums, placing them on the windowsill. Instantly, the fragrance of plums filled the air around You Yuji on the beauty couch by the window.
“Baohe, go and ask about Princess Que’s birthday.”
Baohe responded and quickly went out.
You Yuji looked at the red plums on the windowsill, unconsciously recalling what happened last night when Si Que came.
Today, she had remembered it many times, each time driving the thoughts away.
This time, she no longer forced herself not to think, instead, she recalled every detail of the previous night.
Yesterday, Chen Lingyan, who had just returned home, visited the Fang family to see Fang Qingyi.
“How did things get to this point!” Chen Lingyan frowned, looking very displeased. Every time she thought of her graceful and virtuous cousin becoming a lowly concubine, she felt very uncomfortable.
Fang Qingyi didn’t want it either.
But since things had come to this, and she couldn’t become an equal wife, she had to think of another way. Besides becoming a second wife or equal wife, there was another option—being promoted to the principal wife.
Besides this issue, Fang Qingyi had another worry on her mind. She held Chen Lingyan’s hand and tentatively asked, “Lingyan, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Mm-hmm, cousin, you can ask me anything. What could I possibly hide from you!”
Fang Qingyi carefully chose her words, “Two years ago, my cousin went to Si Kingdom.”
“Yes.” Chen Lingyan tilted her head, not understanding why her cousin suddenly asked this.
Fang Qingyi smiled awkwardly and continued probing, “It was probably at that time that my cousin fell for Princess Que of Si Kingdom, right?”
“Yes.” Chen Lingyan nodded, looking straightforward.
Fang Qingyi’s heart sank. She hadn’t expected Chen Lingyan to answer her so straightforwardly. She fell silent, unsure of how to continue asking. In fact, she didn’t even know what she really wanted to ask.
Chen Lingyan, however, propped her chin in her hands and continued smiling, “At that time, after getting drunk, my brother rambled to me, saying that if he could marry Princess Que in this lifetime, it would be worth dying immediately.”
Chen Lingyan covered her mouth and laughed for a while before continuing, “But back then, after my brother returned from Si Kingdom, he thought he would never see Princess Que again in this lifetime. He regretfully said that he only hoped to be lucky enough to marry a wife who had even a hint of Princess Que’s elegance in the future; that would be a blessing.”
Chen Lingyan frowned, unhappily muttering, “My brother’s hopes were dashed. That You Yuji is completely the opposite.”
Chen Lingyan sighed, feeling very sorry that her cousin couldn’t become her sister-in-law. She helplessly said, “Cousin, I always thought you could marry my brother. I like you very much and hoped you could become my sister-in-law. My brother also likes girls like you; it would have been perfect if not for the Emperor…”
Chen Lingyan rambled on, but Fang Qingyi no longer listened. She tried hard to maintain her composure, but her heart felt like it was being pricked by needles.
She had thought she and her cousin were mutually in love.
She had thought her cousin had sought out two girls in the brothels who resembled her to quench his thirst.
It turned out, Cuiyu and Lin Yingying didn’t resemble her; they resembled that person from Yunxiao Courtyard. Even she herself had only a faint trace of that person’s elegance…
It turned out, she, Cuiyu, and Lin Yingying were the same.
It turned out, everyone knew she was just a substitute, and only she naively believed she and her cousin were mutually in love.
In the evening, Fang Qingyi went to the Zhao family to find Zhao’s new wife, Jia Wenyin.
—Jia Wenyin’s brother had once made an arrogant statement at the battlefield, offering to trade a city for You Yuji, which led to his beheading by You Yuji’s father.
***
Footnotes:
The terms “second wife,” “equal wife,” and “principal wife” refer to different statuses within the hierarchy of traditional polygamous marriages:
- Second Wife (继室, jìshì): This refers to a woman who marries into the family after the first wife has died or has been divorced. She assumes a position lower than the first wife would have held. If the first wife is still alive, the second wife has a lesser status in the household hierarchy.
- Equal Wife (平妻, píngqī): This term refers to a wife who holds the same status as the first wife. In some historical contexts, a man could have multiple wives of equal standing, although this was less common. The equal wife would share the same rank and responsibilities as the first wife.
- Principal Wife (扶正, fúzhèng): Refers to a concubine or secondary wife being elevated to the status of the main wife, usually because the original principal wife has died or been divorced. This promotion elevates her status above other wives and concubines, giving her the highest rank in the household.
