Chapter 22: From tonight on, I will sleep here
The chaotic footsteps gradually approached, but then stopped in unison, and then no sound was heard.
Shen Youran was puzzled. Those people were clearly heading towards them, and judging by the sound, they were only two meters away. Why did they suddenly stop moving?
Just as he was about to stick his head out to see what was going on, Sister Pei slapped him back with a slap before his head was half exposed.
After a moment, Qing Jian's voice rang out: "Who is here?"
Shen Youran recalled the arm that had stretched across to block her when she pushed open the window, and it was filled with strength. Then she realized belatedly that Qing Jian was a martial artist.
Since he knew martial arts, his footsteps were naturally light, so when he approached, Shen Youran didn't hear any sound.
As she hid back, her sister pretended to be shy and threw herself into Pei Huaian's arms, half a body away from him, just enough to cover her tightly.
The body that suddenly crashed into my arms was like a handful of water or a cloud of mist, light and soft.
Although he was prepared for her to pounce on him, Pei Huaian was still dazed by the collision.
She half hugged him, her forehead resting on his shoulder, her breath penetrating his brocade clothes, causing a tingling sensation on his skin.
He almost forgot to cooperate with her in acting, and just driven by instinct, he raised his hand to hold her waist.
"Seventh Young Master, who is that in your arms?" The originally indifferent tone now had some ripples.
"Ah?" Pei Huaian's reaction was slow at this time, and he forgot to pretend to scold the other party.
Shen Yunshu, who was crouching in front of him, had no choice but to slowly turn her head: "It's me, what's wrong?"
The other party took two steps back in surprise, his expression tinged with embarrassment: "Sorry to bother you two."
"Since you know you're disturbing me, why don't you go away!" Shen Yunshu actually has quite a talent for acting.
As expected, the other party was repelled by him. Seeing that he had already walked a few steps away, Shen Yunshu was about to withdraw from Pei Huaian's arms, when suddenly Qing Jian turned around.
She was startled and quickly hugged Pei Huaian again.
The person she hugged became increasingly stiff.
Fortunately, Qing Jian turned around, not because he had discovered something, but to tell them: "Seventh Young Master, Seventh Young Master's Wife, and Eldest Young Master's Wife are missing."
"You Ran is missing?" Shen Yunshu pretended to be anxious. "When did this happen?"
"In less than two quarters of an hour..."
"Then why don't you hurry up and find..."
"Yes." Qing Jian clasped his hands, bowed, and left without looking back.
After Qing Jian and the others had gone far away, Shen Yunshu let go of Pei Huaian and turned to look at her third sister: "Please stay here for a while. The Seventh Young Master and I will pretend to go out to look for you. We will come to pick you up and take you back to Yunzhi Courtyard..."
"Don't bother. I can go back by myself."
"It's dark at night, and your eyesight is not good. What if you get lost..."
"It's okay. Aren't Qing Jian and the others looking for me? I'll just pretend to be lost and ask him to take me back."
"Okay, then be careful on your own, watch your step, and don't fall..."
"Don't worry," Shen Youran said with a smile, seeing that her sister always treated her like a child, "I just have poor eyesight, I'm not blind. Don't worry about me. You can go first."
Shen Yunshu took Pei Huaian's hand and said to him, "Then let's go around and pretend to look for someone."
Pei Huaian was pulled by her away from the rockery. After walking some distance away, she inadvertently saw that he was staring at their clasped hands.
"Uh..." She quickly let go of his hand, "Sorry, I used to hold my brothers and sisters' hands all the time, so I'm used to it."
"No, it's okay." Pei Huaian put his sweaty hands behind his back, but the soft and boneless touch seemed to still linger in his palms.
*
About a quarter of an hour later, Shen Youran also left the rockery and wandered around the garden aimlessly.
She had been married into the Pei Mansion for only two days and was not familiar with the layout of the mansion. It was Pei Huaian who led her to the kitchen just now. Now she was the only one left, and her eyes could not see clearly in the dark, so she didn't need to pretend to be lost, she was really lost.
It was late autumn, and the night was extremely cold. A gust of wind blew by, causing the thinly dressed Shen Youran to sneeze. He folded his arms and went to look for Qing Jian and the others.
Just when I didn't want to see them, they kept pressing me. Now that I want to see them, I can't find anyone.
Shen Youran wandered around outside for a long time and was almost frozen to death when Qing Jian found her and took her back to Yunzhiyuan.
She originally thought Qing Jian would take her to the study to see Pei Huaijin first, but unexpectedly, he sent her directly to the bedroom and said in a casual and polite manner, "Young Madam, go to bed early."
Huh?
Pei Huaijin actually didn't care about her?
Very good!
Shen Youran rubbed her frozen arms and impatiently walked to the round bed. She casually took off her coat and kicked off her shoes, then crawled into the red tent, lifted the quilt, and rolled in smoothly...
The next moment, a scream was heard from inside the tent.
Shen Youran scrambled to her feet and knelt beside the bed, looking horrified: "Pei Huaijin, why are you here?"
"Waiting for you." Pei Huaijin sat up slowly, looking at her calmly, his tone colder than the wind outside.
"Just wait for me, wait for me, why are you lying on my bed?"
"It's late at night, and the room is cold. Besides," he said, "this is my bed, our marriage bed."
That's true, but...
"But shouldn't you sleep in the study?"
"I went to sleep in the study last night just to take care of your mood. From tonight on, I will sleep here."
"Why? My emotions need to be taken care of tonight." Shen Youran had already accepted the marriage exchange, but she was not yet ready to accept him as a person.
Pei Huaijin sneered: "I am your husband, you'd better accept this matter as soon as possible and stop getting entangled with Seventh Brother."
Mentioning Pei Huaian, Shen Youran couldn't help but feel a little guilty, but she didn't admit the so-called entanglement: "How could I be entangled with him?"
"Then why did you sneak out with him tonight?"
Shen Youran stiffened his neck and refused to admit it: "I sneaked out on my own, it has nothing to do with him."
"There's a pear core by the window. It must be the pear your seventh brother gave you."
Shen Youran’s momentum weakened a bit: “…No.”
"I asked the maid, and since no pears were purchased in the mansion today, besides my seventh brother who was not at home during the day, who else would come to deliver pears to you?"
Shen Youran lowered his head: "Okay, I just lied..."
She felt sorry for Pei Huaian and her sister. At that time, under the rockery, the two of them had acted in front of Qingmian to protect her, but as soon as she came back, she was found out by Pei Huaijin.
"But don't get me wrong, I'm not entangled with the Seventh Young Master. I'm just too hungry, so I asked him to take me to find something to eat..." Under those cold and elegant eyes, she explained a few words weakly, and then pinched the corner of her clothes and asked him softly, "Even if you don't believe me, you should believe your Seventh Brother, right? We really don't have anything..."
She knelt on the crimson soft quilt with her head lowered. She changed her stubborn attitude and looked obedient as she admitted her mistake.
"Are your eyes better?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Although she wondered when he knew about her eye problem, she responded positively to his less aggressive tone. "Much better. Thank you for your concern."
"Now that you're feeling much better, start copying the 'Instructions for Women' tomorrow."
"..." Shen Youran puffed out his lips, leaned over, pointed at the end of his eye and said, "Actually, my eyes haven't healed yet. Look, are they still a little red?"
After all, he is young and dares to act arrogantly if you treat him well.
"I haven't finished speaking yet." Pei Huaijin raised his hand, pressed against her forehead and pushed her away, saying seriously, "I won't ask about what happened tonight. If there's a next time..."
Shen Youran quickly raised three fingers and swore, "There won't be a next time!"
"Yeah." Considering her good attitude in admitting her mistakes, I'll leave it at that for tonight. "It's late, go to bed."
After he lay down again, he saw that she was still hesitant, with unwillingness written all over her face.
"You really want to sleep here tonight?"
"..." What else? Didn't you see he'd already changed into his pajamas?
Shen Youran pulled the quilt into her arms little by little: “How about I go to the study to sleep?”
Pei Huaijin knew what she was afraid of: "I won't touch you tonight, sleep peacefully."
Shen Youran hugged the quilt and lay down awkwardly, but finally couldn't stand it anymore and sat up again: "Actually, I'm not sleepy right now..."
"Then you can go out and copy the 'Instructions for Women' now."
"I suddenly feel sleepy..."
He lay down, closed his eyes, and clutched the quilt tightly, his eyeballs still rolling under his thin eyelids.
Pei Huaijin curled his lips, stopped talking to her, and fell asleep.
Fortunately, there were two quilts on the bed today, and they covered themselves with one each, without interfering with each other. Shen Youran hugged the one he was covering himself with, and gradually fell asleep in fear.
Because she had taken a nap during the day the day before, she, who usually liked to sleep in, woke up early for once.
Turning my head to look at the pillow, Pei Huaijin was still sleeping in a straight position, not even his hair was messy.
Doesn't he even move when he sleeps?
The hazy sunlight filtered through, casting a shadow on his cool, elegant face. His eyelashes were long and dense, casting two faint shadows under his eyes. These eyes were fine when closed, but once open, they held an indescribable chill, easily piercing her thoughts.
The thought of spending the rest of her life with him made Shen Youran feel annoyed.
It was also her fault for not being reserved on her wedding night and being tempted by his good looks. She ran back in a hurry after taking a bath. If she had just taken a flower petal bath like she usually did and delayed for half an hour, things wouldn't have become irreversible.
Alas, it turns out that beauty can mislead people, and this can also apply to men.
She was sighing at this handsome face, but he suddenly opened his eyes, which scared her so much that she quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Judging from the sound, the other party should have sat up.
After that, there was no other sound for a long time, which must be to wake up.
Shen Youran waited patiently. She would never open her eyes until he got out of bed. She didn't want to help him get dressed. She even found it troublesome to dress herself.
Just as I was hoping he would get off quickly, I suddenly felt an inexplicable itch on my back.
Although it wasn't particularly itchy, because she was awake at the time, and because she was pretending to be asleep and couldn't do anything else to distract herself, the slight itch on her back was infinitely magnified, and in a short while it became unbearable...
She thought, even if the person was really asleep, she should be able to tickle him, right?
But now she was lying flat on her back, so if she wanted to scratch her back, she had to turn sideways.
But which side?
If he went to the inside, he would be facing Pei Huaijin. If he went to the outside, he would see him scratching himself, so the action should be elegant.
If only he wasn't in bed.
Shen Youran gritted her teeth and held on for a while. When she heard that he still didn't move to get out of bed, she couldn't stand the itch any more. She turned her back to him and scratched the itchy spot on her back with her hands behind her back...
The itchy spot was between her shoulder blades, but her arms weren't flexible enough to reach it.
So he stretched out his other hand and tried to scratch around the shoulder.
Still can’t scratch it…
Try stretching your arm a little further...
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reach the itchy spot with her hands, and her arms were twisted so hard that they were about to cramp.
Suddenly, a light laugh came from behind: "Where does it itch? Let me help you."
She had no choice but to give up pretending to be asleep, sat up in embarrassment and annoyance, and planned to call Danruo in to scratch her back.
But before she could get out of bed, a large hand grabbed her from behind and easily pinned her in place.
"Where are you going?"
"Go call Danruo."
"Why are you calling her?"
"Tickle me."
"Is it because I don't have arms?"
"..." Shen Youran subconsciously wanted to say that there were differences between men and women, but then she realized that if she said that, she would definitely provoke him to lecture her, so she stopped talking and pointed to the itchy spot on her back. "It's itchy here..."
"Yeah." He responded, his voice slightly hoarse from just waking up.
A long, flexible hand reached into her underwear, and the tips of his sleek fingers rested on her back, followed by his fingertips, which were even hotter than her skin. "Is it here?"
As he touched her, Shen Youran's body couldn't help but thrust forward, and a tingling sensation arose from the place where his fingertips fell.
She bit her lip, moved her body, and whispered, "A little higher."
The big hand then moved a little upwards, and after she nodded, the finger bones curled slightly and moved up and down.
Even though the other person's movements were very gentle, the man's strength was always greater. The itchiness had not yet subsided, and it felt a bit painful again.
"Gentle..." she muttered.
"good."
Even though Pei Huaijin felt that his strength was already very light, he still reduced the strength in his hands again according to her request.
At this moment, she was sitting with her back to him, her white undergarment was stretched out by his hands to form a bulging outline, vaguely revealing her snow-white skin underneath.
He was tall, and looking from top to bottom, he could even see the red straps tied around the back of her soft, white neck.
The skin beneath her fingertips felt as smooth as wax, and Pei Huaijin's Adam's apple rolled unconsciously. He then looked away and asked her, "Are you feeling better?"
"Okay, that's it."
The touch on her back immediately disappeared. With a red face, Shen Youran gathered her inner garments that were stretched back by him, pushed aside the curtains, and got off the bed as if escaping.
The clothes on the floor were the ones she had worn yesterday. Without even looking at them, she walked straight to the closet, intending to find a new set of clothes to change into.
The clothes in the closet were sorted together, one side was hers and the other side was Pei Huaijin's.
On her side, there were piles of short jackets, jackets, overcoats, long skirts, and trousers, all in different colors, dazzling Shen Youran. She grabbed a few at random: a goose yellow satin skirt, a rouge-colored short jacket, and a lake blue brocade jacket. As she turned around with these, she saw Pei Huaijin already approaching.
He glanced down at the clothes in her arms: "These colors don't match."
They are all bright colors, and each one looks good when taken alone, but if they are all piled up on the body, each one will dominate the whole body, and the harmonious beauty will inevitably be lost.
Pei Huaijin only kept the goose yellow satin skirt, and changed the rouge-colored short jacket into a bluish-white jade-colored one, and the lake blue brocade jacket into a dusk cloud-colored one.
"Try wearing it like this..." He placed the clothes in her arms.
"Oh." Shen Youran went behind the screen with the clothes in his arms and started to change.
When he came out again, a graceful and lively person appeared in front of him.
She walked to the bronze mirror on the dressing table, pinched her skirt and looked around. The person in the mirror had black hair like clouds, and was in the prime of her life. Her unpainted face was set off by the appropriate shades of color, making it look as crystal clear as jade. She was very graceful...
She was very satisfied and turned around to thank him when he happened to be walking towards her.
The bedroom was not big, and he reached her side in just a few steps.
He was tall and slender, and his eyes looked down at me condescendingly.
"What's wrong?" She didn't know why, but every time his eyes fell on her, Shen Youran would always feel inexplicably guilty, "Is there something wrong?"
"Yeah." He lowered his head slightly, and his large hands reached out to her waist, hooked the belt around her waist, and untied the tangled belt. "You're such a grown-up, how come you can't even tie your belt properly?"
He had already changed his clothes when she went to change clothes in the tent. The fragrance of agarwood on his clothes came over him with great fanfare as he approached, forcing Shen Youran to instinctively take a step back.
He was about to tie the ribbon, but when she stepped back, the half-tied knot came undone.
He didn't get angry. He grabbed the two ends of the ribbon, pulled her back, and then continued to tie it up for her slowly.
"That's enough." He released her hand and glanced at her hairy forehead. "I'll call the maid to come in and comb your hair and wash you."
Shen Youran saw that he spoke gently today, and that he had tickled her early in the morning, helped her choose clothes, and even took the initiative to help her tie her belt. She thought he had forgotten about her angering her mother-in-law and sneaking out with Pei Huaian in the middle of the night, so she followed him and said, "I'll just go to the second room to wash up."
However, the other party paused and stopped, and she was forced to stop as well.
"You are still under house arrest, so you must stay in your room. Just ask them to come in and serve you."
"You're still confining me?" Shen Youran looked at him in disbelief. "Then why are you being so nice to me so early in the morning?"
Isn't that a gesture of goodwill towards her?
"I'm your husband," he said calmly, "I just want you to get used to my touch as quickly as possible."
He could tell from her reluctance to sleep in the same bed with him last night that although she had accepted the marriage exchange, she was still resisting his closeness.
Even though they each covered themselves with a quilt, she tucked her own quilt tightly and moved to sleep on the edge of the bed, leaving a two-foot-wide barrier between them.
He calls himself a gentleman, but he also has some ungentlemanly thoughts in bed.
Besides, they are already husband and wife, so it would be bad to keep the relationship in a stalemate. Sooner or later, she will have to accept him, both physically and mentally.
He always had to do something to close the distance between them and let her gradually adapt to his touch so that the result would come as soon as possible.
Shen Youran was choked by his words, not knowing how to respond for a moment, and could only watch him walk out of the room.
Then a maid came in, closed the door first, and then came to her and bowed politely: "Young Madam, I will help you comb your hair..."
Shen Youran was helped back to the dressing table in a daze, watching the maid pick up the toothbrush and comb her waterfall-like black hair one by one.
After a while, she slammed the table and said angrily, "Bah! Who asked him to pretend to care about me..."
The maid was startled and dropped the comb to the ground: "Young Madam, what did you say?"
"I said your husband is not a good man..."
She wanted to go to Ciyouyuan to find her sister today. Last night in the kitchen, Pei Huaian was evasive and it was clear that he had the intention of becoming a monk. Although she promised to keep it a secret for him, since it concerned her sister's happiness, how could she sit idly by?
But Pei Huaijin wouldn't let her go today, and she couldn't tell her sister about this through anyone else. She could only bear it for the time being and tell her sister when she returned home tomorrow.
After washing up, breakfast was brought in.
Shen Youran took a bite and felt something was wrong: "Why is it leftover rice?" Although they were all good dishes, the taste was obviously inferior and lacked the freshness of when they were just out of the pot.
Seeing her angry, the maid replied cautiously, "This is the meal that the master left for the young lady last night. The master said that since the young lady could even drink the muddy noodle soup, then this meal that has been reheated twice should not be so difficult to swallow..."
A narrow-minded man!
Shen Youran slammed the chopsticks in his hand on the table, indicating that he didn't want to eat.
The maid whispered a reminder: "My lord said that if the young lady doesn't eat this meal, she should heat it up and send it to her next time. We can't waste it."
He knew how to handle her.
Shen Youran took a breath and picked up the chopsticks obediently again.
After breakfast and fumigating her eyes, the maid brought in the four treasures of the study, saying that Pei Huaijin had instructed her to copy the fourth chapter of "Leadings for Women" ten times today and that he would check it when he came back in the evening.
"That's too much!" Shen Youran pushed the brush and ink aside, "I won't copy. What can he do to me?"
Anyway, she will be going back to her parents' home tomorrow. If he still wants to discipline her, she will stay at her parents' home and not come back.
Seeing that she was angry, the maid dared not say anything more and bowed and left the room.
Shen Youran sat at the table and got angry for a while, then went to lie on the bed for a while. Because she slept for a whole day and a whole night yesterday, even if she wanted to take a nap, she couldn't feel sleepy at all.
She had no choice but to get up, remembering that there was a Mohele in the cabinet that Pei Huaian had given her. It was given to her by her sister after she and Pei Huaian got engaged.
She dug it out, took it back to bed and played with it for a while. When she got bored, she threw it next to her pillow and became bored again.
There was nothing else in the room that could amuse her. She thought for a while, resting her hands on her head. Suddenly, she remembered something, got up from the bed, moved a stool and walked to the window.
She pushed open the window, and as expected, Qing Jian was waiting outside.
The man stood straight as a pine tree, clasped his fists and saluted her, "Young Madam, is there anything I can help you with?"
"I'm locked up here, what could possibly happen?" She leaned one arm on the window frame, her hand supporting her face, her expression lazy. "Qing Jian, do you know any martial arts?"
"yes."
"Then do you know Qinggong?"
"meeting."
"Then you fly for me to see..." She has always longed for the flying over eaves and walls described in the storybooks.
"..." Qing Jian was silent for a moment, and explained to her, "I can't fly, I can only use the momentum to soar into the air."
"Then you pick one!"
"Please forgive me, Madam. I am only guarding you on the orders of my husband. It is not my duty to make you happy."
"Oh, I see." Yu Jiaohuarou's figure disappeared through the window, and reappeared a moment later. She held up a piece of silver, her dark almond eyes shining brightly. "I'll pay more!"
Qing Jian: “…”
At dusk, Pei Huaijin returned to Yunzhiyuan and ordered the release of Shen Youran's house arrest. Qing Jian then evacuated from the window and returned to Pei Huaijin.
"She didn't try to sneak out again today?"
Qing Jian replied: "No."
"Very well behaved..."
Qing Jian: “No…” Not very well behaved either.
"Oh?" Pei Huaijin could roughly guess, "She didn't copy the 'Instructions for Women'?"
"No."
"So what did she do today?"
"Eat, sleep, and scold you," Qing Jian paused, a rare pink color appearing on his brown, tough face, "Tease me..."
Pei Huaijin: “…” Quite busy.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: The red envelopes for the previous chapter have been sent out. The system is a bit erratic. If there are any missed ones, please tell me.
See you at midnight tonight for the next chapter. The red envelopes for this chapter will also be sent out at that time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
