Chapter 38 The withered flower branch: The husband desires offspring, yet he remains celibate all night...
"Husband... my husband."
Cui Yiluo's voice was a little muffled as she woke up. As soon as she opened her eyes, he held her affectionately in his arms, and she even stammered a little, which was quite rare for her.
His handsome face was slightly lowered as he looked at her, and he said in a low voice, "Go back to your room and sleep."
In the dimly lit and quiet study, he hooked his arms around her knees and embraced her, inexplicably adding a touch of ambiguity to the atmosphere.
It was also rare for Cui Yiluo to sense a touch of gentleness in it.
She must be confused from sleeping.
Cui Yiluo lowered her eyes, deliberately grabbing his shirt collar and wrinkling the neat clothes. "Sleeping in such an important place as the study, my husband must think I'm unruly and a nuisance."
Since he caught her dozing off, Cui Yiluo simply became more assertive.
Jiang Yunjin frowned: "I didn't mean that."
She had only teased him a little, but he immediately explained to her with a serious expression. Cui Yiluo became quite interested, grabbed his collar, and continued, "So, my husband didn't pick me up to throw me out of the study. Yiluo has misunderstood."
Jiang Yunjin frowned even more deeply, but did not offer any further explanation.
He carried her in his arms, not to throw her out, but to wake her up and send her away. He probably wanted to take her back to her room, since she was asleep. Given his proper nature, he probably wouldn't do the deed of waking her up, so he had no choice but to resort to this tactic.
But while such a thing as carrying someone back to their room is commonplace for ordinary couples, it was considered excessively intimate between them.
Moreover, he had been accompanied by servants the whole way, and now that she was awake, he would definitely put her down.
Sure enough, he bent down slightly to put her down.
Cui Yiluo quickly wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, her entire body instantly becoming soft and boneless as she clung to him. The man paused, looking at her with some surprise, a slight ripple spreading across his dark eyes.
"Husband, I'm still a little sleepy. Won't you carry me back? It's late. Won't you go back to your room with Yiluo?"
As she spoke, her fair face, slightly flushed from her recent nap, rubbed against his neck, sending a tingling sensation through her. Her red lips seemed to want to kiss his chin.
He pursed his lips slightly, and the coldness on his face usually melted a little under the warm candlelight, giving the illusion that he was in a good mood.
The hand around her waist tightened, and the other hand, which was about to lower her, silently rose again. He said nothing, only carrying her around the table and walking out.
Cui Yilu hooked her arms around his neck and relaxed in his embrace. Under the moonlight, she was enveloped in his arms. For a moment, she felt that the corners of his lips were about to turn up, but after blinking her eyelashes, she saw that the corners of his lips were flat and there was no curve at all.
The moonlight tonight is dazzling.
He carried her steadily all the way back to Jixuezhai. The other servants who were guarding the road were all surprised to see the usually serious and abstinent Grand Secretary carrying his wife back to his bedroom. They tried their best to suppress their surprise and turned their heads away as if they hadn't seen anything.
Cui Yiluo felt even more smug, imagining how embarrassed he must be for breaking the rules in front of the servants. Thinking this, she pressed herself even closer to him and indeed felt his body stiffen slightly.
So, as if teasing her, she pressed herself even closer.
Even though they had been intimate several times, he still felt uncomfortable with her touch; he was such a proper person.
Cui Yiluo suddenly remembered the handwriting she had casually glimpsed earlier.
Such a proper and upright person had handwriting that was as ethereal as clouds and mist, quite different from what Cui Yilu had expected.
"Who taught my husband to write?"
In the darkness of night, she suddenly spoke, and Jiang Yunjin was taken aback.
His usually cold voice flowed like a clear spring in the night, "My father."
It wasn't taught by any famous master. Children of noble families naturally hire renowned tutors. The former Minister of the Imperial Secretariat had excellent calligraphy skills, and many prestigious families wanted him to give their children some pointers.
As the only son of the Jiang family's eldest branch, Jiang Yunjin's calligraphy was actually taught by his father himself. But wasn't his father the strictest towards him? Jiang Zhaoyue had previously revealed to her that the late Imperial Censor Jiang was a rigid man who personally and strictly taught Jiang Yunjin, resulting in his elegant handwriting.
"What's wrong?"
He suddenly spoke, interrupting her thoughts.
He still held her steadily as they walked in the moonlight, their shadows stretched long on the bluestone bricks, passing through the green bamboo under the courtyard wall.
Cui Yiluo withdrew her gaze from the intertwined figures, "I just feel that the saying 'one's handwriting reflects one's personality' doesn't seem to apply to my husband."
Jiang Yunjin pressed his lips together slightly, seemingly glancing down at her, "You don't like it?"
"No."
Many noble ladies in Shengjing were skilled in writing beautiful small regular script, as it seemed that having beautiful handwriting was a woman's most important asset. The tutor that Yao hired for her must have been renowned in Ningzhou. Otherwise, how could Yao's generosity and virtue be reflected in her dedication to raising her husband's deceased wife's daughter?
But once the door was closed, the master would only drink tea and eat snacks, and would not teach her to write. He would just pack up and leave when the time came.
She had no choice but to take the calligraphy copybook and stand in front of the desk, practicing each stroke diligently.
She did not learn to write beautiful small regular script.
She wasn't one to follow rules, so her handwriting was naturally messy, but as elegant as Jiang Yunjin's. That's why Cui Yiluo didn't dislike it, since her own handwriting was the same.
It just lacks the refined elegance it possesses.
The man on the top of the head paused for a moment, then his voice deepened slightly: "If you don't like it, I'll find someone to teach you later..."
Cui Yiluo suddenly looked up and saw Jiang Yunjin stop talking as if he had come to his senses, and pursed his lips awkwardly.
She immediately burst into laughter, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said with a smile, "My husband, you've thought so far ahead!"
Jiang Yunjin knew he had said the wrong thing, so he naturally didn't say anything more.
Cui Yiluo, however, was delighted and smiled. She teasingly pressed her lips close to his neck, rubbing against his neck skin as she spoke, as if kissing him lightly and casually.
"My husband desires children, yet he adheres to the rule of only once a night. He says, how will I ever conceive under these circumstances?"
The large hand on her waist tightened, and the man's steps slowed down as well.
He didn't answer, so Cui Yilu kissed the slightly bulging veins on his neck again.
The next instant, she felt a light pat on the waist as a warning.
"Still outside."
Cui Yiluo was overjoyed and kissed him on the chin again. "Then, husband, won't you hurry up?"
His defined jawline instantly became even sharper, and even his burning desire seemed to be about to erupt. He applied a little force with his hand to restrain her from rubbing against him and moving around.
As if afraid that she would continue to act recklessly outside and that outsiders would see his loss of composure, he quickened his pace.
But Cui Yiluo was just deliberately provoking him. She had been called over to copy the family rules all night, so she didn't have the strength to do that kind of thing with him anymore. He always controlled himself and didn't finish. This evening, she played with him like that again. Who knows if he will lose control and retaliate against her?
Therefore, after taking a bath, Cui Yiluo extinguished all the candles and lamps, and without caring about his reaction when he came out of the bath room, she went to sleep with her back to the outside.
Perhaps because she had been exhausted by him every night recently, she was no longer a light sleeper as before, or perhaps she felt that even if there were thieves or assassins, Jiang Yunjin was sleeping outside anyway.
She wasn't sleeping alone, so what happened before won't happen again.
She slept soundly, it seems she was really exhausted from copying the family rules last night. When she woke up, Jiang Yunjin had already gone to court.
As Lilan helped her dress, she said, "Miss, the eldest young master just instructed me to remind you that you can go directly to the study to copy the family rules today. He has already arranged for guards to be on guard. From now on, you can freely come and go from the study."
He wasn't really afraid that she would do anything to harm him; even if she simply lost any official document in his room, it would be enough to make him pay for dereliction of duty.
He really trusted her.
Or perhaps she was afraid that the deadline would come and she wouldn't be able to give an account to Old Madam Jiang.
A strange feeling arose in Cui Yiluo's heart. She had already reached the dining hall, so she suppressed her thoughts and focused on having breakfast.
Since Jiang Yunjin generously gave her the study to use, Cui Yiluo naturally didn't feel awkward. After having her meal, she went straight there. However, after a morning, she had only copied the text twice more, and only a few sheets of the cut Xuan paper remained.
After asking Wen Feng and learning that the Xuan paper was placed in the rosewood cabinet on the left side of the room, she went straight over to get it.
A stack of neatly cut Xuan paper was placed in the cabinet. After estimating the weight, Cui Yiluo pulled out a portion. The cabinet was deep and dark, and Cui Yiluo did not pull it out straight out, but accidentally brought out a wooden box that was placed deep inside the cabinet.
The wooden box landed on the woven carpet with a dull thud.
Cui Yiluo had no choice but to put the paper on the ground and pick up the wooden box.
Fortunately, the wooden box was not open to the ground, so not a single thing inside spilled out. However, the impact with the ground inevitably revealed the contents of the box.
Cui Yiluo's fingers, which were touching the wooden box, paused slightly.
What's this?
Inside the open wooden box, there was a withered yellow... flower branch? It seemed that the flower branch had been there for a long time, at least five or six years. Although it was well preserved, it was so withered that it was unrecognizable. It could only be barely identified as a flower branch, but it was impossible to tell what kind of flower it was.
Cui Yilu frowned. He carefully placed a withered flower branch in a wooden box and stored it in a rosewood cabinet. Did this flower branch have any important meaning to him?
The wooden box in the rosewood cabinet was suddenly opened, just as if she had suddenly touched Jiang Yunjin's heart.
The withered yellow flower branches were exposed to the sunlight, as if a hidden corner of her heart had suddenly been lifted. Cui Yiluo gently picked up the wooden box, closed it, and ran her fingers along the raised patterns on the top of the box.
When Cui Yiluo turned around, she saw a forsythia flower carved vividly on the wooden box.
Author's note: You're quite good at hiding it, aren't you? [doge]
I'm a bit busy today, but I'll update more this weekend. [poor thing]
[Heart] Thank you to all the lovely people who watered the nutrient solution!
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