Si Que washed off the milk on his body with clean water and donned a snow-white nightgown as he walked out of the cleansing room. His robe was untied, hanging loosely.
He looked at You Yuji and saw her holding a small pair of scissors, trimming loose threads.
Si Que felt much better than when he had first returned. He walked over and stood in front of You Yuji, glancing at the small garment she had just finished. It was a close-fitting dudou.
Si Que glanced at You Yuji with some surprise. This type of garment was not something she usually wore.
“Why is sister suddenly interested in making clothes for herself?” he asked lazily, sitting down beside You Yuji, his long fingers twirling a lock of her long hair, letting it wrap around his fingers.
“It’s not for me,” You Yuji replied.
Si Que frowned. Such a close-fitting garment, if not for herself, then who was it for? Regardless of who it was for, since it wasn’t her intimate wear but that of another woman, he looked away and didn’t glance at it again.
He had no interest in looking at other women’s intimate clothing.
“Take a look, is it nice?” You Yuji raised her eyes and smiled, handing the newly made dudou to Si Que.
Si Que slapped her hand away coldly, saying, “If it’s not sister’s, I won’t look at it. It sullies my eyes.”
You Yuji pressed her lips together and smiled. She had to admit that sometimes this little liar’s flattery could be quite pleasant. She looked at Si Que’s loosely hanging robe, reached out, and gently tugged at the fabric hanging down. Then, she slightly lifted her hips from the couch, leaned in, and whispered softly, “Rest now.”
Si Que turned his gaze toward her, but You Yuji had already retreated slightly. With a smile at the corners of her eyes, she placed the dudou on the small table, then moved to the edge of the couch. Her jade feet rested on the shoes, but she did not bend down to put them on. She slightly tilted her head, slowly straightening the lock of hair Si Que had just messed up, neatly tucking it back into her black hair.
Si Que’s eyes followed her delicate fingers until she finished adjusting her hair. She slowly withdrew her hand and placed it on her leg. He then bent down, took hold of You Yuji’s ankle, and gently lifted her foot, putting on her shoes while warning her, “The floor of the cleansing room is slippery. Be careful not to fall.”
“Okay,” You Yuji replied softly, lifting her other foot for him.
Si Que slightly curled his long fingers, rubbing the back of his hand along the sole of her foot from top to bottom before putting on her shoe. You Yuji placed her hand on Si Que’s shoulder, stood up, gave him a smile, and then headed to the cleansing room to freshen up.
You Yuji quickly washed up in the cleansing room and changed into a soft nightgown before coming out. Passing by the couch, she picked up the dudou on the table and walked past the screen to the bed, where she saw Si Que standing by the bedside, examining a small white porcelain jar on the bedside table.
“What is it?” he turned his head and asked.
You Yuji pressed her lips together and did not immediately explain. She walked gracefully to the bed and lowered the canopy hanging from the hook.
Si Que noticed the dudou she placed on the bed before lowering the canopy.
He frowned almost imperceptibly, his gaze falling on the dudou.
Not for herself, yet placed on their bed? The answer was becoming clear. Si Que glanced again at the small jar in his hand before placing it back on the bedside table. He had initially thought the jar contained something like a woman’s scented powder, but now it seemed otherwise.
You Yuji climbed onto the bed, tucked her knees, and moved to the inner side. She reached out to Si Que and softly said, “Hand it to me.”
Si Que complied, slowly placing the small jar into You Yuji’s open palm. As he withdrew his hand, his fingertips lightly brushed against her palm.
You Yuji placed a soft pillow to the side and leaned against it lazily. Her nightgown was thin, soft, and loose, and as she leaned sideways on the pillow, the collar on one shoulder slipped slightly down, revealing more of her snowy skin and partially hidden collarbone.
While fiddling with the small white porcelain jar in her hand, she smiled at Si Que and said, “Do you want to try something different with me?”
“How?” Si Que’s gaze lingered on her half-exposed collarbone as he lowered the bed canopy on his side.
The two sides of the canopy met, sealing the light outside.
Si Que leaned closer to You Yuji, his eyes half-closed, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Half of his face was pressed against her fragrant, soft skin, the other half against the fabric of her nightgown.
You Yuji placed her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him closer. After a while, she gently turned her face to look at him tenderly. She knew he had guessed what she wanted. Without a word, her delicate hand slowly moved down his side until it reached his waist, where she began to tug at his waistband, pulling it out a bit and slowly wrapping it around her wrist.
Si Que was about to refuse when he noticed that You Yuji was not paying attention to the dudou placed aside but instead gently unscrewing the small porcelain jar in her hand. The jar was about the size of a rouge container, and the paste inside looked like something used for makeup.
Si Que glanced at the paste and smelled a faint fragrance.
“Put this on for me or wear the dudou. Choose one,” You Yuji said with a smile.
Si Que was momentarily stunned, not understanding what she meant by “put this on.” Apply what? To whom? Where?
You Yuji lightly shook her wrist, and the waistband wrapped around it loosened and fell. She pulled the waistband, tugging it free from Si Que’s waist, causing his pants to loosen.
Si Que stared at the jar in You Yuji’s hand, starting to understand where she intended him to apply it.
Wait, but why did she want him to apply this? Did she think he couldn’t satisfy her?
Si Que’s face turned cold, and he wanted to storm out. But You Yuji, half-dressed, leaned seductively, looking at him with enchanting eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to leave.
He glanced again at the brightly colored red dudou, then angrily snatched the jar from You Yuji’s hand.
You Yuji could see that Si Que was displeased.
She hesitated for a long time about whether to tell Si Que that this was a remedy to aid conception. If he knew, would he be upset about being suspected of infertility? You Yuji had already privately consulted a doctor and confirmed that her body was fine. So she thought about secretly using some remedies on Si Que.
Lying on the bed, You Yuji endured Si Que’s angry actions, her thoughts wavering between the idea of infertility and the idea of inadequacy. Which one would upset him more?
“Seductress!” Si Que flipped You Yuji over, biting her coldly.
You Yuji cried out in pain, gently pushing him away, and softly called out “brother” twice before he let her go.
As the night deepened, You Yuji fell into a hazy sleep, vaguely hearing the sound of a window being opened. She groggily opened her eyes but didn’t see Si Que by her side.
The bed canopy was lifted slightly. She looked through the opening and saw Si Que standing by the window. He seemed to be…untying a message from a carrier pigeon?
Half-squinting her eyes and feeling drowsy, You Yuji watched his back for a moment, then suddenly turned over, not wanting him to know she was awake when he returned.
Si Que glanced at the letter from Si Lang and burned it using the flame from the candlestick. He closed the window and sent the pigeon back with an empty tube.
He turned and walked back to the bed, rejoining You Yuji and holding her from behind.
At first, he had indeed misunderstood the contents of the small white porcelain jar. But after a moment, he realized what it was.
She didn’t say, and he didn’t expose her.
Si Que gazed at the back of You Yuji’s pale neck, his expression gradually dimming.
What was he to her, really?
She must like him too, right? But was that affection mixed with something else? Perhaps her urgent need for a child, or maybe her resentment towards him for once pretending to be weak and foolish in front of her. Si Que even wondered if this seductive woman had set a gentle trap for him. Just as he had once thought it amusing to make her fall deeply in love with him, only to die in her arms and make her remember him forever. Was she also planning a revenge? To make him fall deeply into her warm embrace, only to coldly push him away later.
You Yuji’s breathing was steady, her body caught in a half-sleeping haze, but her mind was awake. She felt him bury his face in the back of her neck and couldn’t help but think about the frequent letters that arrived.
He never spoke of his past, and even his present and future were a mystery.
After so long, You Yuji still couldn’t fully reconcile him with the image of the Poison Pavilion’s master.
After so long, she still remembered how she felt the day she learned that the Ah Que she relied on was a fake. Anger, grievance, blame—all these emotions she rationally suppressed. She told herself that he deceived her because he didn’t like her as much as she thought.
He just didn’t like her that much, nothing to blame.
This thought helped her suppress all her emotions. She asked her heart and knew that this person was still in it. Since he deceived her because he didn’t like her enough, she was determined to be in his heart as well. She wanted him to love her a million times more than she loved him.
The long night was filled with two people holding each other, each thinking of the other but unable to guess the other’s thoughts.
The next morning, when Cuiyu, Chunxing, and Hongzan arrived, You Yuji found an excuse to take Cuiyu alone to the study and dismissed the servants.
Cuiyu’s eyes widened with excitement as she leaned closer to You Yuji and whispered, “Sister, do you have a secret to tell me?”
You Yuji spoke gently, “Although the prince has ordered the servants to keep their mouths shut, you should know that I have already signed the divorce papers with the young lord.”
Cuiyu nodded and said, “I know! Officially, no one is allowed to discuss it, but behind closed doors, who isn’t gossiping?”
She gave You Yuji a thumbs up and praised, “Sister, you’re really bold!”
Then her face fell, and she said dejectedly, “Once you leave the prince’s mansion, I can’t imagine what kind of wife the young lord will take next… Sigh, the happiest and most carefree days of my life have been the mornings I spent with you. I will really miss you. Sigh.”
Cuiyu felt that meeting a mistress like You Yuji was a blessing granted by the good deeds of her unknown parents in their past lives. But once You Yuji left, she feared she would return to the bitter days most concubines endured…
“Would you like to leave the Prince of Jinnan’s mansion?” You Yuji asked with a smile.
“Huh?” Cuiyu looked at You Yuji in shock, instinctively rubbing her ears.
You Yuji said softly, “In this vast world, meeting is a kind of fate. If you worry about your future in the mansion and have plans to start anew outside, I am willing to help you leave.”
If Chen Anzhi had treated his concubines a little better, You Yuji wouldn’t have made such plans. But just the thought of Chen Anzhi exchanging one of his concubines for a horse made her worry about Cuiyu’s future. Moreover, Cuiyu’s personality wasn’t very likable, and she would likely be mistreated by the main wife in the future.
“Leave the prince’s mansion?” Cuiyu was stunned.
Leave? How would she leave? And what about after she left? She had come from a brothel, originally thinking she would spend her life as a concubine in the mansion, making do. If she left the mansion, it would mean she had been expelled by the young lord, leading to a miserable later life where she would be bullied.
Now, You Yuji was telling her to leave the mansion voluntarily? For a moment, Cuiyu had many thoughts running through her mind.
