Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Favored. Fortunately
When Lin Zhen was led into Ji Sui's tent by two maids, he was reading the bamboo slips of military strategy on the desk with one hand supporting his chin, and the faint smell of agarwood was beside him.
After Lin Zhen entered the tent, he waved his hand to dismiss the other attendants.
The maid helped Lin Zhen take off the veil on her head and put it aside.
Ji Sui glanced at Lin Zhen's face, put away the bamboo slips in his hand, tapped the desk, and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
Lin Zhen lowered his eyes and did not answer, nor did he sit where he indicated. Instead, he knelt upright in front of a low table in the other corner of the tent.
Soon, two maids brought in lunch boxes from outside and placed them on the low table in front of Lin Zhen. There were some light vegetarian dishes on them.
"After you've eaten, share some more with me."
Ji Sui stood up and walked over, sat down opposite Lin Zhen with a majestic posture, picked up a pair of chopsticks and stuffed them into Lin Zhen's hand.
He casually took a few bites, but seeing that Lin Zhen still hadn't moved his chopsticks, he glanced at Lin Zhen's slender wrist and said mischievously, "Eat if I tell you to. This general doesn't want to have a body that hurts."
Lin Zhen is tall but not thin. Instead, she has a slim figure, long and tight legs, and plump buttocks. This is one of the reasons why Ji Bai loses control every time on the couch.
He knew Lin Zhen's body well, but when he saw her slender wrists, he couldn't help but want her to eat more.
Hearing this, Lin Zhen's cold and fair face immediately turned bright red. She gritted her teeth and picked up the wooden chopsticks on the table with a sullen face.
Ji Sui watched her eat the plate of celery in front of her mouthful by mouthful with an expressionless face, and his face darkened.
He knew that was the dish that Lin Zhen hated the most. In the Lin Mansion, this dish was never served in her room.
In fact, the chef of the General's Mansion hardly knows how to cook this dish, but since he came to the palace today, he sent the palace meal.
"If you don't want to eat, don't eat." A feeling of irritation surged into Ji Bai's heart, and he said coldly.
Lin Zhen's expression did not change at all, he still lowered his eyes and concentrated on eating the dish in front of him.
I don't know where the anger came from, but Ji Sui suddenly waved his hand and swept the plate of celery to the ground.
The sound of the porcelain plate breaking startled the guards outside the door, who rushed in with their swords drawn, but were driven back by Ji Bai's angry shout.
Lin Zhen still didn't know what she had done to irritate Ji Bai, and she just stared at the moody man in front of her.
Ji Wei stood up suddenly and walked out of the tent with a flick of his sleeves.
That night, everyone in Yandang Mountain knew that the general and his new wife were having a quarrel.
*
The Great Zhou Dynasty stipulated that only officials of the fifth rank or above were qualified to go to the Temple of Heaven to offer sacrifices.
On the day of the sacrifice, the ritual officials of the Taichang Temple accommodated the officials and their wives who did not attend the sacrificial ceremony in the Kangtai Hall on the west side of the palace and held a banquet to celebrate together.
Before the banquet started, several girls gathered together, covering their faces with handkerchiefs and talking quietly with laughter. Suddenly, someone said that Jiang Yuchang, the legitimate daughter of Duke Yingguo, had arrived.
Even though she failed to marry General Ji Sui, the person who presided over the ceremony for the emperor today was her cousin, the Third Prince, and Jiang Yuchang's status among the noble ladies was not affected in the slightest.
Hearing that she was coming, a few sharp-eyed people immediately moved towards her.
They walked very quickly, all vying to be the first to show their faces in front of Jiang Yuchang, and Qu Ruyun was almost knocked to the ground by these people who rushed over like a gust of wind.
She subconsciously leaned back and someone supported her arm, and that person seemed to be willing to help her.
When she turned around and was about to say thank you, she found that she was holding a woman's shoulders. Not only that, she even lifted a corner of the white gauze veil on the woman's head.
A familiar profile was revealed.
After a while, Qu Ruyun finally realized that this was Ji Sui's new concubine, Lin Yue, the second daughter of the Lin family.
"Ruyun acknowledges her guilt for offending Madam Lin."
Because of Ning Shilu, Qu Ruyun inevitably has a bad impression of the Lin sisters, but no matter what, Lin Yue is now a member of the General's Mansion, and is someone she, the daughter of a minister, cannot offend.
Yesterday when Jiang Yuchang was about to unveil Lin Zhen's face, Qu Ruyun was not far away.
She had seen with her own eyes that even Jiang Yuchang was not allowed to touch the veil. She thought it must be a taboo for this lady. Now she had touched it. She couldn't help but feel uneasy and lowered her eyes to apologize.
To Qu Ruyun's surprise, Lin Yue didn't get angry. Instead, she lifted the veil and chuckled, "It's okay, it's okay. Miss didn't mean it."
Lin Yue's gentle attitude left Qu Ruyun stunned for a while, until she heard the eunuch's sharp voice from inside the hall. She came to her senses, took a step back, and said, "Madam, please go first."
Lin Yue was not used to this name, frowned, and then went in first.
Her mother had gone early, and she and her elder sister seldom attended such banquets. There was no one she knew among them, so Lin Yue stayed with Qu Ruyun, who had just bumped into her by mistake.
Being a concubine to an enemy was truly shameful. When Lin Yue entered the palace, everyone avoided her. During the banquet, there were those who only cared about power and dared to approach her and talk to her, "Meet Madam Lin."
Lin Yue didn't understand at first, but she didn't want to give her the cold shoulder, so she responded perfunctorily.
The man thought he had established a relationship and was delighted, so he started talking non-stop. In addition, there was some wine at the table, and he got carried away for a moment and even started teasing the two people in front of him.
"Speaking of which, Madam Lin and Miss Qu are relatives. The Ning and Qu families have already exchanged engagement letters. Soon, Madam Lin will probably have to call Miss Qu her cousin."
Although Qu Ruyun did not expect that this woman would speak so bluntly in front of Lin Yue, it was good that Lin Zhen could know about this through Lin Yue.
After hearing this, Lin Yue was silent for a long time, then slowly shifted her gaze to Qu Ruyun's face, "Is what she said true?"
Seeing Lin Yue's grim expression, the woman suddenly realized that the eldest daughter of the Lin family had once been the fiancée of the Yong'an Marquis' son. She realized she had said the wrong thing, and immediately sobered up a lot, and hurriedly found an excuse to leave.
Qu Ruyun's face stiffened slightly, but she said truthfully, "Yes."
Lin Yue clenched her hands on the table and said angrily, "My sister is still in the Marquis' Mansion, and you dare to treat her like this? Well, I want to hear it from my cousin himself."
Lin Yue pretended to stand up, and Qu Ruyun stood up as well, grabbing her arm. "You don't have to ask him. I forced myself to marry the prince, and now..."
As she spoke, Qu Ruyun slowly let go of Lin Yue. "It's a foregone conclusion. I hope Madam Lin can bless us."
"Blessings? Then I can only wish you—a bad end."
After Lin Yue finished speaking, she pushed Qu Ruyun, who was standing in front of her, away and walked out of the hall.
"Miss, are you okay?" The maid standing by hurried forward to support Qu Ruyun. She staggered and almost fell to the ground. Her embarrassed appearance attracted many eyes from the surroundings.
Being humiliated in public like this, she felt mixed emotions, and thinking about the prince's attitude towards her, this marriage was due to Ning's mother's hunger strike, and even today when she entered the palace, he was unwilling to accompany her.
Qu Ruyun suddenly laughed at herself. She had always been unwilling to admit that the prince had never let go of Lin Zhen in his heart.
When the maid saw her daughter laughing strangely, she hurriedly helped her sit down.
During the argument just now, Qu Ruyun had not thought about what Lin Yue said carefully, but now that she had calmed down, she suddenly came to her senses.
During this period, she went to the Yong'an Marquis Mansion every day, so she naturally knew that Lin Zhen was not there.
The Lin Yue she saw today was so different from the one she saw yesterday...
Qu Ruyun suddenly grabbed the maid's wrist and said to her, "Go and send a message to Master Chen, one of my father's men, and ask him to send someone to the Music Bureau to see if Lin Zhen is there."
*
After the sacrificial ceremony, all the ministers dispersed.
Several deputy generals chased after Ji Sui with smiles on their faces. One of the younger ones asked, "General, I heard that you and your sister-in-law are having a disagreement?"
"What sister-in-law? How disrespectful! That's Madam, the General's Madam!"
The young general was suddenly interrupted. He didn't bother to pay attention to the man and continued to speak: "My mother said that women are the easiest to please. Sometimes, picking a few flowers can make them happy! General, look, I picked them all for you."
Ignoring Ji Rui's cold face, he stuffed a bunch of wild flowers that he had taken out from somewhere into Ji Rui's arms.
"Hey, kid, you dare to flatter the general in front of us!" Several people immediately chased the young general and beat him.
At night, Ji Wei returned to the courtyard where Lin Yue lived, but did not go to her house. Instead, he walked along the corridor to the side room in the corner.
The candlelight flickered in front of the window, reflecting a faint figure in the room.
Ji Sui stopped at the steps, lowered his eyes and looked at the bunch of wild daisies in his hand. He suddenly realized that it was Lin Zhen who had angered him, so why was he trying to coax Lin Zhen?
Besides.
A snort of laughter escaped from the man's nose. How could anything he gave her be of any use to her?
Ji Wei frowned, impatiently threw the little thing in his hand into the flower bed beside him, and pushed the door open.
Lin Zhen was wearing a thin gauze shirt, leaning on the couch in the outer room with her chin propped up and her eyes closed. The silver hairpin on her head was draped diagonally on her hair as she moved, and her other hand was gently placed in front of her body. Even when she was in a light sleep, she always behaved like this.
Hearing the noise, Lin Zhen slowly opened his eyes. Ji Bai had already walked to the imperial concubine's couch, and a pair of cold and clear eyes met his gaze.
"Why aren't you sleeping yet? Are you waiting for my favor?" he said deliberately.
Lin Zhen did not refute. In the dim candlelight, she just looked at him quietly.
All the passes and maps are in the Jiaofangsi. If she wants to get them, she has to find a way to get Hongye to come to her.
She was indeed waiting for him.
Even though he knew that Lin Zhen would never expect him to favor her, that subtle reaction still pleased Ji Bai. With a slight curl of his lips, he leaned over, picked up Lin Zhen from the chaise longue, and walked towards the inner room.
"Go to the couch."
Lin Zhen was placed on the soft quilt by him, and his cold hands reached under her skirt. She knew that now might not be the best time, but in front of this man who hated her to the core, how could she have a good opportunity?
Lin Zhen suddenly pressed his shoulders and pursed his lips slightly: "Hongye is still in the Jiaofangsi."
Ji Sui half-leaned his elbows on the bedpost, looked down at her, and sneered, "Do you really think you're here to be a wife? You still need maids to wait on you."
Listening to Ji Sui's sarcasm, Lin Zhen knew that this matter was hopeless. Her long eyelashes like feather fans drooped slightly and she lowered her head.
After a moment, the hand under her skirt retreated, and her chin was lifted up. Ji Bai looked at her with dark eyes: "That depends on how you perform."
Lin Zhen looked at him steadily. After a few breaths, she propped herself up and was only a few inches away from Ji Bai. Before the latter could react in time, she kissed his cold thin lips.
Touch and leave.
After that, he quickly distanced himself from him.
Lin Zhen stopped looking at him and turned his head away, his chest rising and falling slightly, as if waiting for Ji Sui's reply.
The man laughed again, but his voice was much hoarse than before.
"that's all?"
Lin Zhen frowned and looked back at him. His dark eyes seemed to contain a vast ocean, and a casual breeze was enough to cause it to stir up huge waves.
Before Lin Zhen could prepare, he was swept away by the huge waves.
A large hand clamped her neck, and she couldn't take a single step back. She could only endure the bloody scene before her.
As if infected by this emotion, the wind blew outside the house and a drizzle began to fall from time to time.
"Sir, it's raining, let's go back."
In the attic not far away, two figures stood side by side. The woman looked at the man beside her tenderly, while the man stared at the small room where the light was still on.
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