Chapter 49

Even though it was daytime outside, the rain made the light exceptionally dim, casting a gloomy glow inside as well.

Fortunately, a few lamps were lit, so it wasn't too bad for one's eyes.

Pei Jin turned off the light, took Qi Yu's hand, and kissed it lightly.

His greatest strength is that he dares to think and act.

Besides, he is currently all alone.

A dazed look flashed in Qi Yu's eyes as she stumbled into Pei Jin's arms. Even after he was lifted up and the bed curtains were lowered, she remained dazed, her gaze fixed on Pei Jin's face.

It seems like I can never get enough of looking at it.

It wasn't until Pei Jin gradually drew her attention back that she finally settled down.

Qi Yu grabbed Pei Jin's arm, her voice filled with simple sincerity: "You still remember, right?"

Pei Jin said in a low voice, "How could I forget my core skills?"

His tone couldn't hide his excitement and confidence.

Qi Yu chose to believe him this time, but she always felt that something was not quite right.

A moment later, as Pei Jin lowered his head, Qi Yu finally realized that something was wrong; it was just like the night before she left the Pei residence…

She quickly cupped Pei Jin's cheeks: "That's not how it is."

Pei Jin looked up, his eyes filled with a bright smile: "I know it's not like that, but I want my wife to get used to it first."

He knew exactly what was going on, but in his memory, she liked it this way.

Qi Yu looked at Pei Jin and felt a surge of joy. She lowered her head and placed a kiss on the remaining wound on Pei Jin's face.

The two were completely absorbed in their work at that moment, and time seemed to fly by.

After everything that should and shouldn't have been done was done, Pei Jin helped Qi Yu put on her clothes little by little: "Madam, next time you go out, please don't leave me behind in the house."

Otherwise, even if he wanted to wait for her at the door, it wouldn't be as legitimate as waiting for a maid.

Seeing that the belt had been tied, Qi Yu hummed in agreement. She touched the bandage on Pei Jin's waist and abdomen and said, "Luckily, the wound didn't reopen."

Pei Jin glanced at it: "It's almost healed."

Qi Yu looked puzzled; Pei Jin's injuries were not minor.

Pei Jin said, "I don't know what's going on. I just feel that my body is recovering quickly. I can also tell which herbs are used when I drink medicine, as if I have drunk many bowls of medicine. As soon as I smell the medicine, I feel a lot of memories flooding into my mind, but when I think about it carefully, I can't grasp anything."

That's why he was able to develop a fever after only two days in this house, without any trusted confidants, by taking incompatible medications.

However, I didn't time it well, and the fever developed slowly, which caused me to wake Qi Yu up in the middle of the night.

It could have healed much faster.

Qi Yu ruffled Pei Jin's hair: "Don't make things difficult for yourself. Once you find a doctor who specializes in brain diseases, you'll be able to remember everything."

Pei Jin thought so too.

Qi Yu got off the bed, put on her shoes, and left Pei Jin's place.

Pei Jin's gaze followed Qi Yu intently until he heard the wooden sound of the door opening and closing, at which point he dejectedly looked away.

With a clear purpose, he pulled out a small garment from the messy quilt.

Qi Yu was born to be served. She had no idea how to dress properly in complicated clothes and often needed to be served. Even if he deliberately left out a piece of her undergarment, Qi Yu would not notice.

Pei Jin held the light blue dress to his nose; it smelled of Qi Yu.

He was completely absorbed in the moment, occasionally showing a sliver of clarity, acting like a pervert.

Pei Jin tucked the small garment into his bosom.

The time they had to spend together freely was too short, barely enough for one time.

After leaving Pei Jin's room, Qi Yu met Pei Jiu.

She said lazily, "Peijiu, I want to take a bath."

Pei Jiu's face suddenly turned red.

As the lights in the room remained off for a while, Pei Jiu sensed something was wrong, but Qi Yu didn't mention it, and she didn't ask either.

Pei Jiu said, "Your Majesty, the hot water is ready."

It was still raining, and there were few servants around. Qi Yu returned to the house, took a bath, and then fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up again, the rain had stopped sometime earlier. Qi Yu got up, sat at the table, and rested her chin on her hand, seemingly lost in thought.

Seeing Qi Yu's carefree demeanor, Pei Jiu quickly brought out the brush, ink, paper, and the calligraphy books that Qi Yu often practiced, and placed them in front of her: "Your Majesty, calm down."

Qi Yu composed herself slightly, feeling extremely embarrassed, and quickly focused her attention on the calligraphy copybook in front of her.

After copying the calligraphy model three times, Qi Yu suddenly remembered something: "Pei Jiu, bring me the needle and thread embroidery hoop, I want to embroider something."

Since the purse has already been embroidered, let's embroider a sachet instead. The begonias in the yard are in full bloom, so we can dry them and put them inside.

Pei Jiu brought the items, and Qi Yu prepared to embroider a pine tree.

Everyone says Pei Jin is like bamboo, but Qi Yu thinks that pine trees suit her just as well.

Especially today, it's really strong.

Pei Jiu continued embroidering until nightfall, then lit the lamp: "Your Majesty, it's time for dinner. Besides, it's not advisable to embroider at night; even with a lamp, it will hurt your eyes."

Qi Yu then stopped and relaxed her shoulders and neck.

The next day, Qi Yu went to Pei Jin's place to play chess as promised.

This time it's a real game of chess.

Qi Yu seemed oblivious to Pei Jin's gaze falling on her face, and quickly won the game with an overwhelming victory.

She smiled and said, "Lord Pei is distracted."

Pei Jin put down the chess piece in his hand: "With my wife here, it's hard for me not to be distracted."

A maidservant walked by outside, but Pei Jin wished everyone knew his identity.

He was supposed to be Qi Yu's husband.

However, after Qi Yu gave him a puzzled look, Pei Jin consciously shut his mouth.

Pei-Jiu found it amusing.

Qi Yu said, "I'm going out tomorrow. Last time I went out, I found a place where I can catch a lot of fish, so I plan to go fishing tomorrow. You..."

Before Qi Yu could finish asking, Pei Jin replied without hesitation, "I'll go."

Qi Yu chuckled softly: "I'll have someone prepare an extra fishing rod."

"That's all for today, Lord Pei. Take good care of your injuries."

Qi Yu stood up and saw that Pei Jin still wanted to hold her back, so she swept her handkerchief across his palm and said with a smile, "Lord Pei, there's no need to see me off."

Pei Jin knew Qi Yu was teasing him. Watching Qi Yu's departing figure, he clenched his fists and slowly smiled.

Qi Yu's quick departure was not merely to tease Pei Jin, but also because the sachet she embroidered for him took quite a bit of time.

She wants to send it out tomorrow.

Just as the rain stopped yesterday, she had someone pick the best-blooming crabapple blossoms that had survived the rain, and then removed the petals to dry in the sun today.

Time was tight, so she had to squeeze in time to play chess.

The next morning, they took separate carriages to a lakeside. Qi Yu specially asked an experienced person to find a good spot before putting down her fishing gear.

Once seated on the bamboo chair, Qi Yu took out a sachet from her sleeve and handed it to Pei Jin.

"A sachet," Qi Yu said with a smile, a hint of nervousness in her eyes.

She worried that Pei Jin would think the gift was perfunctory, since her skills hadn't improved much since the last one.

Pei Jin paused for a moment, then took it: "I thought you had forgotten."

He gently stroked the pine tree embroidered on it. In her eyes, was he really such a good person?

Pei Jin couldn't get enough of touching this sachet.

Qi Yu noticed his obvious fondness for it, and she curled her lips in retort, "How could that be? I have a very good memory."

Wei Si squatted on the tree, chewing on a blade of grass. He noticed that the Imperial Concubine and Lord Pei were sitting too close together, talking about something, but their body language suggested intimacy.

He then moved to a tree closer to them, and this time, he could barely hear their voices.

The Imperial Concubine cast her fishing line into the lake, tilted her head, and asked, "Lord Pei, do you know how to fish?"

Pei Jin said, "If you're not an expert, where is Your Highness?"

"I would use a stick to spear fish, but unfortunately this is not a shallow stream."

Pei Jin chuckled, and Wei Si fell silent.

They've already addressed each other respectfully as "Your Highness" and "Lord Pei," so there shouldn't be any major issues.

Wei Si retreated back to the tree where he had been standing.

Qi Yu glanced in Wei Si's direction. She had just reminded Pei Jin: "Lord Pei, although this is the outskirts, you have quite a few people with you."

Pei Jin swallowed the word "Madam" and reluctantly addressed her as "Your Majesty".

Then the more he called her that, the more natural it felt to Pei Jin, and he felt that he should be calling her "Your Majesty" all along.

But how could that be?

No matter what kind of person he was, he would never accept that his wife was forced to enter the palace as a concubine, let alone respectfully and openly call her Consort Qi.

Therefore, the familiar feeling he had when calling her "Your Majesty" was his illusion.

Pei Jin suppressed his slight guilty conscience and went fishing with Qi Yu.

Qi Yu marveled at Wei Si's coincidence, stopped thinking about it, and started fishing.

Although neither she nor Pei Jin were experts in this area, fate was incredibly kind to them. Almost as soon as Qi Yu took the bait, Pei Jin would immediately follow suit, and vice versa.

As Pei Jin's fishing line taut, Qi Yu immediately felt the bait being bitten. She waited patiently, marveling that even the fish seemed to prefer coming in pairs.

At noon, Qi Yu had a skilled palace maid grill the fish, which she then shared with everyone along with the food she had brought.

After eating and drinking her fill, Qi Yu also drank a cup of peach blossom wine.

She had just put down her wine glass when Pei Jin mistakenly took it and drank a glass by himself.

Seeing Qi Yu looking at him, Pei Jin said, "The wine is delicious."

Qi Yu's face flushed red. Pei Jin picked up the wine glass but didn't pour any more wine. How could the wine taste good if there was no wine in the glass?

Pei Jin, assuming Qi Yu hadn't noticed, smiled slightly.

He can taste other flavors himself.

Qi Yu could only be thankful that her lip rouge had fallen off early on, and she hadn't asked Pei Jiu to reapply it, otherwise it would have ended up on the wine glass.

Qi Yu angrily broke off a withered branch beside her.

If there weren't so many people around, she would have been targeting Pei Jin!

Pei Jin, not understanding why, dampened a handkerchief and wiped Qi Yu's hands clean.

Qi Yu pursed her lips, looking sullen, but she didn't retract her outstretched hand.

In the afternoon, their luck turned sour, and they reaped almost nothing.

Looking at the sky, Qi Yu decided not to insist and instructed Pei Jiu to go back ahead of time.

Back at the house, Qi Yu's interest in fish remained undiminished, and she rolled up her sleeves to feed the fish in the pond in the courtyard.

The fish kept in the house were not all rare or expensive, but they were carefully selected for the pond. Qi Yu stood on the bridge and looked at them for a long time, feeling that every single one of them was beautiful.

Pei Jin naturally stayed by her side.

Qi Yu was feeding the fish when Pei Jin's hand loosely wrapped around her waist.

Pei Jiu pretended not to see it.

At this moment, Qi Yu seemed to sense something and turned her head to look at him. She saw Wu Shiyan enter the room with a calm expression, wearing a black robe.

He must have not informed anyone, so the palace servants could only follow him, but dared not run past him to enter.

Wu Shiyan stopped as soon as he stepped into the courtyard.

His gaze suddenly became terrifying.

Pei Jin and A Yu stood on the bridge, one holding fish food in one hand and the other protecting the other, just like a loving couple.

That's wonderful.

Wu Shiyan almost clapped his hands and laughed.

Pei Jin heard the footsteps later than Qi Yu. He saw an unfamiliar man walking at the head of the group, accompanied by palace servants he had never seen before, and he knew who it was.

Pei Jin placed his hand, which had been loosely clasped, on Qi Yu's waist, and smiled gently.

Wu Shiyan's eyes darkened slightly. As a smart man, he naturally realized that Pei Jin was doing it on purpose.

They might not have acted that intimately, otherwise Pei Jin wouldn't have just held his hand halfway until he came over and then truly put his arm around him.

He was certain that Qi Yu was completely unaware of Pei Jin's underhanded tactics.

As Wu Shiyan thought this, his expression grew even colder.

Qi Yu didn't walk over to Wu Shiyan, but just quietly looked at him.

She wasn't surprised that Wu Shiyan would come, but she didn't regret sleeping with Pei Jin either.