45. Flower Candle

◎Bridal Night◎

Chapter 45

Jiang Qiuye watched Ji Ci, dressed in a middle-aged suit, stagger into the clean room. However, she didn't follow him in. Instead, she stood outside the screen, pursing her lips, listening to the sound of water. She then went outside to call Jinhong and Mingyue and prepare a bowl of sobering soup.

A quarter of an hour later, the sobering soup arrived, the sound of water behind the screen became calm, and there seemed to be no movement in the clean room.

She hesitated a little, then tentatively called out softly, "Husband?"

“…”

There was still silence inside, no reaction. She swallowed and raised her voice to shout, "Brother Jian Xi?"

"……Um."

Ji Ci was lying in the bathtub when he suddenly opened his eyes and shook his head, realizing he had just fallen asleep. The days of marching had kept him on edge for a long time, and since returning, he hadn't rested a single day. Today was another busy day preparing for the wedding, and after relaxing, he had fallen asleep.

He quickly got up, took a towel to dry himself, and changed into a new set of crimson pajamas.

Jiang Qiuye breathed a sigh of relief, and before he came back, she quickly walked back to the bed and sat down waiting for him.

Seeing Ji Ci slowly coming out from behind the screen, pinching his temples, his eyes were filled with a faint mist.

She picked up the sobering soup on the table and walked over. "Husband, drink the sobering soup first. You seem to have drunk a lot of wine tonight."

"Hmm." He took it with both hands, drank it in one gulp, and handed the empty bowl back.

Jiang Qiuye put down the empty bowl and twisted her fingers, saying, "My husband must not have eaten much tonight. Is your stomach upset? Do you want me to make some food?"

Ji Ci shook his head, closed his eyes, and said indifferently: "No need."

She was nervous, but she mustered up her courage and said, "Then my husband, let me wring out your hair for you."

But she was also frustrated by her nervousness and Ji Ci's attitude towards her.

After hearing this, Ji Ci paused for a moment, looked at her, and finally nodded and sat on the edge of the bed.

The black hair was smooth, like silk slipping through Jiang Qiuye's hands. Ji Ci was usually meticulous, but now, this was something she had never seen before. Only a truly close friend could see this.

After her hair was dried, Ji Ci turned his back to her and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

After saying that, he lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and said softly: "It's late, I believe you are tired, you should rest."

Jiang Qiuye's body stiffened, and she felt a little bewildered. As she had expected, even though they were married, Ji Ci still hadn't truly forgiven her for drugging him.

Thinking back to the days when she was waiting to get married, she always went to Prince Qi's mansion with medicinal food, but was turned away. She felt wronged and humiliated.

Before she did that, he was so close to her and trusted her, but now that they were married, he became even more polite, as if he wanted to treat her with respect.

Usually after marriage, the wife is required to sleep on the outside so that she can take care of her husband's daily life. But she saw that he occupied the outside, so she didn't say anything more.

She forced back her tears, said "hmm" softly, extinguished the red candle, crawled into the bed, and tried not to touch her as much as possible.

Wrapped in the quilt, listening to his steady breathing, she turned sideways and slowly moved towards him. Her soft body pressed against his arm. Seeing that he didn't push her away, she felt a little bolder and tentatively raised her arms to wrap around his waist.

Through the thin fabric, she could feel the thin waist under her hands, with all the necessary muscle lines.

Ji Ci still didn't respond, making it seem as if he was asleep. She swallowed and gently pushed herself up. In the darkness, she couldn't see his face clearly, so she could only follow her instincts. She placed a kiss on his cheek, then slowly moved to the tip of his nose, the corner of his lips, and then to his Adam's apple.

However, he seemed to be fast asleep, and remained indifferent to her attempts to tease him. This frustrated her, but also made her bolder.

She moved her arms around his waist, untied the belt of his pajamas and the sweat towel on his underwear, and slowly moved down. At this time, Ji Ci suddenly reached out and grabbed her burning pancreas, stopping her movement.

There was no trace of tenderness in his tone as he said, "That's enough."

Jiang Qiuye froze, sighed, and pulled her hand back, saying nothing more. She returned to her original position, separating herself from Ji Ci. She stared at him in the darkness for a moment, then turned her back to him, suppressing her tears.

Whatever, as long as I can stay here, isn't it?

The room was silent for a long moment, and she suddenly heard Ji Ci whisper, "I heard Uncle Fu say that you often came to the palace to see me with medicinal food, but in fact, I was not in Shengjing these days. When Prince Zhuojun rebelled, I led the troops to Quzhou and only returned the day before yesterday."

He sighed softly, "So I'm very tired these past two days, go to sleep."

Jiang Qiuye was stunned by his words. She hadn't expected him to explain them to her. She knew about the rebellion of Zhuo Jun Wang, but she hadn't expected him to personally go to Quzhou.

War is often unforgiving, and these days must have been extremely difficult.

"Ah? Are you injured?" Jiang Qiuye was a little worried and immediately turned over to face him. "The food in the barracks must be bad."

"I'm not injured, don't worry. The food... is okay, I can swallow it. Go to sleep peacefully."

She couldn't see Ji Ci's face in the darkness, but her sensitive hearing could hear everything in the house, the breathing of the two people, the silver carbon, the clepsydra, the cold wind outside, and the maid waiting to serve at the door.

Everything seems calm.

Lying on the mandarin duck pillow, thinking for a long time, she knew he was tired, but there was still a fire in her heart.

She looked at Ji Ci who was sleeping soundly and whispered, "Brother Jian Xi, do you regret marrying me?"

Hearing her trembling voice, Ji Ci slowly opened his eyes. After thinking for a while, he sat up and relit the red candle with a tinder. He turned his head and looked at her and said, "I really don't like your scheming back then. To get what you wanted, you didn't hesitate to throw away your bottom line. But since you have already exposed yourself to me and your reputation has been ruined in Shengjing, I will fulfill my responsibilities. Now I have done my best."

"From now on, you must behave yourself in the palace. Do not entertain those thoughts that you shouldn't have. Treat others with kindness and be self-disciplined. It's okay that you treated me like that before, but you must know how to keep your distance from men, whether it's the King of Wei, Tian Qu, or even the King of Liang. Do you understand?"

Jiang Qiuye was stunned. She had known all this for a long time, but she didn't expect that he would guess that she had seduced King Liang.

But when I heard it coming out of his mouth, I couldn't help but feel cold.

She said "hmm" in a muffled voice.

Ji Ci's eyes were as cold as usual as he continued, "Don't worry, I didn't marry you on impulse, and no one put a knife to my neck to force me. Since I have decided to marry you, I will naturally regard you as my first wife and treat you with the courtesy due to a wife. I will also fulfill my promise to protect you in the future."

Although these were words of comfort, Jiang Qiuye did not feel relieved at all. Instead, she wanted to cry.

He was so gentle and kind, and treated her as his first wife, but she was just a superficial and selfish person. She treated him as a task and a shield.

Seeing Jiang Qiuye's eyes gradually turning red and moist, Ji Ci frowned slightly and asked, "Why are you crying?"

At this moment, she was extremely ashamed and embarrassed. Naturally, she could not express her true thoughts, but just thought quickly.

"Ah..." Jiang Qiuye avoided his sight and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

She shook her head, and finally asked hesitantly, "Brother Jian Xi, do you hate me now because I did such a despicable thing?"

The room suddenly became quiet, with only gentle breathing as the sound. Ji Ci did not answer her question, but sighed helplessly.

He leaned over to her and gently untied the ties of her nightgown.

Jiang Qiuye's heart beat faster and faster. She stared blankly at him from a close distance. Her fingers brushed against the thin clothes that stuck to her skin, and a warm feeling slid across her.

Ji Ci said: "I just hope that you will stop playing tricks in the future, be a good boy, and learn more about virtue and etiquette. I... I have never hated you."

"Brother Jian Xi...I promise you." Jiang Qiuye sobbed softly.

The indifference in his eyes gradually dissipated. He gently stripped off her pajamas and once again saw the mountain peaks cleared of clouds and the small vermilion mole. He slowly moved over, brushed the hair off her cheeks, and stroked her head.

"Tell me if it hurts."

"Brother Jian Xi...husband..." Jiang Qiuye stretched out her arms and hugged his shoulders.

Everything happened naturally. Although he didn't kiss her during the whole process, the pain soon dissipated and the red candle flickered in the air.

She thought that during the time she was "Qiu Ziye", she would do her best to play the role of his wife, give him everything she had, and try her best to make up for her debt and betrayal to him.

However, Jiang Qiuye softly called out "Brother Jian Xi," but in the blink of an eye, both of them suddenly looked a little awkward. Ji Ci's usually silent eyes revealed a look of disbelief and regret.

Whether in politics or military affairs, he was always unstoppable. Although it was difficult at times, he never failed.

However, whenever it came to his body, he kept losing.

Jiang Qiuye didn't dare to speak, her eyelashes trembling slightly. She just stared at him for a moment and said softly, "Brother Jian Xi, what is written in those storybooks must be false. Maybe other... other men are like this..."

"It doesn't hurt tonight. Ye'er feels great."

Little did he know that this was a great humiliation for a man. He didn't know if it was because of his illness, his body was a little weak, or some other reason he didn't know, but he felt ashamed to see her.

"Brother Jian Xi, you must have been too tired these days. Besides, the medicinal food books I read before mentioned something about restoring Yang Qi. I will definitely give you good nourishment, so don't worry."

Ji Ci closed his eyes and lay aside, looking disheartened.

Jiang Qiuye hesitantly moved closer, her smooth body touching his skin, as if he wanted to comfort her again, but he didn't know what to say.

She propped herself up and gently kissed his forehead, which was already sweating. Ji Ci opened his eyes and seemed to be moved again.

Just as he put his hand on her slender waist, there was an inopportune knock on the door of the bridal chamber.

"Your Majesty, something has happened. The Emperor has urgently summoned you."

It was Tianqu's voice. He knew that unless it was something serious, Tianqu would not come to him at this moment. The lust in his eyes instantly dissipated, and he immediately stood up, picked up his clothes and put them on.

Turning his back to Jiang Qiuye, he said, "You go to sleep first."

"Yeah." Jiang Qiuye didn't know what was going on, but she knew that it must be something unusual for the emperor to interrupt their wedding night.

She nodded, sat up, and said, "Let me help my husband change his clothes."

"No need." Ji Ci paused beside the bed, turned around and looked at her, trying to make his voice less cold. "You're tired too, no need to get out of bed, just go to sleep."

After saying that, Ji Ci quickly packed up the rest of his clothes and left the room.

Jiang Qiuye watched the bridal chamber become empty again, the candle still flickering, and an indescribable strange feeling arose in his heart.

Finally, he called for water and called Mingyue and Jinhong in. After they helped him finish his bath, he returned to bed and fell asleep smelling the faint scent of bergamot, having a dreamless night.

The author has something to say:

Don't worry, our little cutie Cici is fine in this regard.