Chapter 64. Cui Huai pinned Shen Yunzhi against the door...
Cui Huai wanted to kiss her.
However, Shen Yunzhi's disdainful look made him realize that now was not a good time.
For love between a man and a woman to be considered valid, it must be based on mutual joy.
He had always assumed she was experiencing pleasure, but it turned out she was also suffering, which made her even more tormented.
Cui Huai, holding the gold hairpin, straightened up and distanced himself from Shen Yunzhi.
A hint of regret flickered in his eyes as he said, "If Cousin Zhi were willing to appear in my dreams, I might be able to resist the urge to come see you today."
Shen Yunzhi tugged at the blanket and ignored him.
Cui Huai slowly wiped the bloodstains off the gold hairpin and tucked it back under her pillow.
"Go to sleep..."
Cui Huai tucked the blanket around Shen Yunzhi, speaking with a hint of coaxing, as if he wouldn't bother her anymore.
He received no response from Shen Yunzhi.
But after he finished speaking, a strange noise came from the courtyard.
This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened since Cui Huai brought her back here. Shen Yunzhi was used to it and didn't care at all. She pretended not to hear Cui Huai's reassuring "Don't be afraid," as if she knew nothing about what was happening outside. Even when Cui Huai walked out, she didn't even lift an eyelid.
Less than 15 minutes later, the fighting stopped.
Although Shen Yunzhi didn't care much, her sweet dreams were disturbed, and she couldn't fall back asleep for a while.
Before long, the door was being banged on.
Lin Yue's seemingly urgent yet slightly harsh voice rang out from outside the door: "Miss, His Highness is injured!"
Is she a doctor?
Shen Yunzhi gazed at the top of the tent, reluctant to utter a question to the person outside the door.
Lin Yue didn't give up. He pounded on the door a few times and raised his voice, saying, "Your Highness's old wounds haven't healed and new ones have been added. It's really not advisable for you to move right now. Please, Miss Biao, have the kindness to let Your Highness stay for the night."
After he finished speaking, there was a brief silence outside the door.
Until Lin Yue's persistent voice rang out again.
Shen Yunzhi put on her coat and got up.
Lin Yue fell silent before she opened the door from inside the house.
But when Shen Yunzhi looked at Lin Yue, this tall and strong man looked embarrassed and avoided eye contact for the first time.
Lin Yue said respectfully, "Miss Biao."
Shen Yunzhi ignored Cui Huai lying on the ground and spoke to Lin Yue in a gentle tone: "I am not a doctor and cannot treat anyone's injuries. There are no spare rooms in the house to accommodate anyone."
Lin Yue was speechless for a long while before stiffly asking, "May I trouble Miss Biao for the night?"
Shen Yunzhi smiled and said, "Lin Yue, I'm happy to welcome you here."
Lin Yue's brow twitched violently, and he took a step back in surprise.
Shen Yunzhi smiled and softened her tone, seemingly showing signs of relenting: "Do you really want to stay tonight? Suddenly I remembered, there is a place I could go."
As soon as the door to the woodshed was pushed open from the outside, dust immediately rushed out.
After rudely instructing Lin Yue to move some miscellaneous items and clear a space, Shen Yunzhi said, "This is all we have."
What do you think?
"If you don't mind, I'll go find two blankets."
Lin Yue hesitated and probed, "The woodshed is inevitably damp and cold. Your Highness is injured, I'm afraid it's..."
"Then let's look for another place," Shen Yunzhi offered enthusiastically.
Lin Yue: "I'll have to trouble Miss Biao to find a few more blankets."
Shen Yunzhi nodded, being exceptionally easy to talk to.
After giving Lin Yue several unused new quilts, she went back to her room to rest.
Lin Yue rummaged through the woodshed and found some wooden planks, hastily made a bed, helped the injured Cui Huai lie down, and began to treat his wounds.
There wasn't a trace of Shen Yunzhi's unique scent.
Cui Huai's face was ashen, and he lightly pressed his fingers on the spot on his shoulder where he had been stabbed by the gold hairpin: "Cousin Zhi really despises me."
Lin Yue's hand trembled as he applied the medicine.
Cui Huai added, "But she wouldn't do that to other people; she only does it to me."
Lin Yue never imagined that one day he would envy that little maid who was deaf and mute since childhood.
At this moment, he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb and silently bandage Cui Huai.
...
After a night of commotion, Shen Yunzhi woke up half an hour later than usual the next day.
She quickly washed up, did her makeup, and went out.
The gate to the courtyard was tightly closed and locked from the outside.
She acted as if she had no recollection of Cui Huaishang being in her home.
Cui Huai, who had waited patiently in the woodshed all night, stood quietly in front of the courtyard gate, a delicate white porcelain bottle now in his hand. Lin Yue glanced at it discreetly, then quickly looked away: "Miss, you trust His Highness completely."
Cui Huai toyed with the porcelain vase, his expression unreadable: "Is that so?"
Lin Yue said, "If that weren't the case, Miss Biao would have come to urge me to send His Highness to receive treatment."
Cui Huai did not utter a word, but instead put the porcelain bottle back into his sleeve.
He turned and walked toward Shen Yunzhi's room, lingered outside the door for a long time, and finally went back to the woodshed to lie down.
Shen Yunzhi returned home in the evening.
As soon as the courtyard gate opened, Lin Yue hurried forward, his anxiety much more genuine than the night before: "Miss, His Highness has a persistent high fever but refuses to leave."
"Should I kick him out?" Shen Yunzhi asked as she closed the courtyard gate.
“Miss, His Highness’s injuries are indeed serious,” Lin Yue explained urgently. “It is no exaggeration.”
Shen Yunzhi was cold-hearted: "When did I learn medicine?"
She didn't go to the woodshed to visit Cui Huai. She ate dinner alone as usual and returned to her room, not knowing when Cui Huai and Lin Yue had last left. Only the neatly folded bedding reminded her that they were no longer there.
But just as Shen Yunzhi had predicted, her peaceful life was gone forever.
On the fifth day that Cui Huai did not disturb her, officials from the county government suddenly appeared at the bookstore and asked her to come over.
The other party's respectful attitude made her completely unable to imagine that she was being sought revenge by the beaten merchant.
It looks like something truly extraordinary has happened.
Shen Yunzhi followed the official to the county government office.
She had a gut feeling that this matter was related to Cui Huai, but Cui Huai was not in the county office, and what awaited her was an imperial edict.
The eunuch solemnly stood in the main hall of the county government office and read out the imperial decree.
Shen Yunzhi knelt on the ground with the county magistrate, becoming more and more puzzled as she listened to the imperial edict.
When the imperial edict mentioned her, she was referred to as "woman of the Jiang family".
This is the new identity she fabricated for herself after faking her death and escaping: Jiang Yun.
Moreover, this was an imperial edict bestowing a title upon him.
It mentions that she saved the Crown Prince of Chu, praising her for her kindness, wisdom, and beauty, and bestowing upon her the title of Princess Huihe County, granting her a fief and offerings.
"Princess Huihe, receive the decree." After reading the decree, the eunuch spoke again, his tone much gentler.
Shen Yunzhi slowly raised her head and accepted the imperial edict with both hands: "...This humble woman kowtows to thank Your Majesty for your great kindness!"
"The county magistrate is a blessed person."
The eunuch spoke meaningfully, as if giving Shen Yunzhi a hint, and after exchanging a few pleasantries with the magistrate, he strode away.
A quarter of an hour later, amidst a chorus of slightly obsequious congratulations, Shen Yunzhi emerged from the county government office, holding the imperial edict. She was momentarily unsure whether to return to the bookstore or go home, standing bewildered at the county government entrance for a long time before finally deciding to go back. However, her thoughts remained somewhat stagnant, unable to clearly grasp the intricacies of the situation.
The imperial edict mentioned that she had rendered meritorious service by saving Cui Huai, and there is no doubt that she was related to Cui Huai.
But she couldn't figure out Cui Huai's intentions.
When did she ever save him? And why was she given the emperor's title as "Jiang Yun"?
Judging from the distance, this imperial edict should have been sent out of the palace around the time Cui Huai escorted her back.
Shen Yunzhi sat blankly in the bookstore, listening to her own heavy heartbeat.
She raised her hand and gently touched her chest, unable to deny that Cui Huai's actions had a tremendous impact on her.
An imperial edict bearing the imperial seal cannot be forged, and no one would be so audacious as to forge one.
Did Cui Huai want her to use her fake identity to gain access to legitimate opportunities?
What else?
Once the false identity is exposed, it ceases to be a false identity. She can now appear in the capital as "Princess Huihe" without having to worry about the past.
Shen Yunzhi does not need to be brought back to life.
So what if "Jiang Yun" and "Shen Yunzhi" look exactly alike? No one can question that.
Is that what Cui Huai is thinking?
Shen Yunzhi wanted to see him, but she had been indifferent to him before, so she didn't know if he had gone to Jinling or was still recuperating in a house somewhere in the city.
Then...
Try to trick him.
The bookstore closed early, and Shen Yunzhi went home once and then went out again.
The next day, along with the news of her being granted the title of county princess, news spread throughout the small town that she had asked a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for her.
Shen Yunzhi sought out the most highly regarded matchmaker in this small town. In such a small place, news travels extremely fast. The news of her divorce from Qi Song had already spread, and as for her "deceased husband" Cui Huai, they hadn't been seen together in a long time, so even if they had heard rumors, they inevitably harbored doubts. Therefore, with the prestigious status of Princess Huihe, the news of her matchmaking effort easily attracted a throng of men from the town.
That same day, Shen Yunzhi, through the matchmaker's introduction, carefully examined several men at the bookstore.
Qi Song rushed over to see what was going on just before the bookstore closed on a normal day: "What's going on here?"
Shen Yunzhi was cleaning the counter and didn't even look up when she heard this.
Is my ex-husband here to confront me?
Qi Song was overjoyed when she remembered her identity as her "ex-husband".
Passersby kept casting curious glances at her as she walked through the bookstore. To avoid too many stories spreading tomorrow, she lingered briefly before discreetly taking her leave.
Shen Yunzhi deliberately lingered a little longer in the bookstore.
As darkness fell, she finally prepared to go home, but just as she stood outside the door, about to lock the bookstore's door, a large hand reached out from behind and covered her mouth. The cool fragrance of pine and cypress mixed with the scent of medicine instantly assaulted her.
Cui Huai.
Shen Yunzhi realized the identity of the person behind her.
At the same time, they were forcibly brought back to the bookstore, and the door was closed from the inside, cutting off the view of all irrelevant people.
Cui Huai pressed Shen Yunzhi directly against the door.
He leaned closer, his breathing slightly heavy, his eyes dark and unfathomable as he looked at her: "No!"
Shen Yunzhi looked back at Cui Huai, finding it difficult to articulate her feelings at that moment.
Yesterday, she made up her mind to try to lure Cui Huai out by pretending to be a matchmaker. Even though she knew that Cui Huai was very likely to take the bait, when he really couldn't stand it and appeared in front of her, when she felt that she could control his emotions so easily, she couldn't ignore the pleasure in her heart.
"Am I not doing enough, Cousin Zhi?"
"This title of county princess will allow you to return to the capital openly and legitimately to reunite with your mother and Lizhu. Don't you like that?"
Cui Huai leaned close to Shen Yunzhi, his warm breath washing over her face.
His palms were burning hot, and a warmth seemed to emanate from his body, transmitted through the skin that touched.
"You said you wanted to live an upright and honorable life."
"Isn't that enough?"
The accusations echoed in Shen Yunzhi's ears, completely inconsistent with Cui Huai's usual words and actions.
This is completely abnormal.
She removed Cui Huai's hand from her mouth and looked him in the eye: "Anything else?" She didn't push him away, maintaining this intimate and ambiguous distance, and said, "Cui Huai, you always fall for my clumsy tricks."
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