Chapter 1 Seduction, Heart in Turmoil
The candlelight flickered.
Ye Mingzhu adjusted the hairpin in her hair in front of the bronze mirror, thinking about what she was going to do later. Her heart pounded with embarrassment, and her fair cheeks flushed red.
Baozan suppressed a smile and said, "Miss, don't worry. Before, the young master was focused on the imperial examination and had no other thoughts. Now that he has achieved the third-highest rank, he will definitely be a perfect match for you and will never want to neglect you again."
Ye Mingzhu blushed even more and said reproachfully, "You just like to talk nonsense."
Recalling Sheng Huai'an's dashing figure as he rode through the streets, she couldn't help but smile.
The Ye family were merely imperial merchants; her marriage into the Duke of Wei's mansion was already a step up for her.
With her husband's success in the imperial examinations and a bright future ahead, what more could she possibly want?
Baozan was about to start laughing and joking when another head maid, Qiuyue, lifted the curtain and entered the room. She glanced at Ye Mingzhu discreetly, then lowered her head and said, "Second Madam, Second Master is on his way to Tingsong Residence."
"You're here already?" Ye Mingzhu quickly stood up. "Baozan, let me take another look."
"Good, good, good!" Baozan also became nervous, checked her over, and then applied some bright red lipstick to her lips, encouraging her, "Miss is so beautiful, she will surely get what she wants!"
Ye Mingzhu took a deep breath and nodded vigorously.
The maids all left.
The room was very quiet.
Ye Mingzhu sat down again in front of the dressing table, her heart pounding with anxiety, until she finally heard a familiar sound of footsteps approaching.
She turned around in surprise: "My husband..."
The young man parted the beaded curtain and entered the inner room.
He was tall and handsome, wearing a black net turban on his head and a moon-white gauze lining, with a jade pendant around his waist. He was the epitome of gentle and upright character.
But when he looked at her, the smile on his face suddenly faded, though his eyes had been smiling.
He even frowned.
"Husband..." Ye Mingzhu felt extremely uncomfortable under Sheng Huai'an's scrutinizing gaze.
Today, she abandoned her reserve, wearing only a light pink strapless top embroidered with twin lotus blossoms, and a thin white gauze shirt with silver stripes over it, all for the purpose of... seducing him.
She was really panicking because they hadn't consummated their marriage after three years.
Because she hadn't conceived yet, not only did her mother-in-law hint and find fault with her at every turn, but her mother and sister-in-law also worried about her, sending her truckloads of supplements.
But who knew that Sheng Huai'an said he wanted to focus on the imperial examination and never consummated their marriage? She waited and waited, but even after Sheng Huai'an became the third-ranked scholar, he didn't take the initiative.
If she doesn't take the initiative either, is she just going to live like this forever?
"Husband, shall we rest?" Feeling something was amiss, Ye Mingzhu still clung to a sliver of hope and nervously stepped forward to help Sheng Huai'an undress.
Before her hand could even touch his belt, he forcefully pushed it away.
With a "smack," my hand stung.
Ye Mingzhu looked up in astonishment and saw that Sheng Huai'an's eyes were full of disgust and forbearance.
His face darkened, and he angrily rebuked, "Ye Mingzhu, don't you know how to write the word 'shame'? If you don't know, you can learn from your sister-in-law. Before she got married, she was a renowned talented woman in Yanjing, and she can teach you!"
Ye Mingzhu was stunned.
Hurtful words came one after another. The once gentle and refined gentleman seemed to have become a different person, leaving her completely devastated.
Her palms were chafed and ached terribly, but the pain was nothing compared to the shame and distress she felt.
By the time she realized what was happening, Sheng Huai'an had already stormed off.
She went to bed with Baozan's help.
But with something on my mind, I couldn't fall asleep.
Whether it was from overthinking or catching a cold, she developed a high fever that night.
I called a doctor that very night and gave them medicine, but several days passed and they still didn't get better.
She was burning up with fever, her face was flushed, and she was unconscious.
Although she was drowsy, she could still sense some movements around her.
She heard Baozan crying by her bedside, saying that she had gone to fetch Sheng Huai'an, but Sheng Huai'an said that he was not a doctor and that his coming would be of no use.
Then Baozan said she wanted to go back to the Ye family to have someone from the Ye family treat her, but she was stopped by Sheng Huai'an and Jia Shi and her son.
They seem to want her to die in the Duke of Wei's mansion!
One night, Ye Mingzhu did feel like she was going to die, but suddenly, her mind went blank and she miraculously woke up.
It wasn't that I was lucid either.
She was still unconscious, but her soul flew into the air and could see herself on the bed, pale and flushed, and Baozan sleeping by her bedside.
She was both shocked and frightened.
Suddenly, a thought popped into my head: Where is Sheng Huai'an?
She had barely finished thinking about it when she arrived at Sheng Huai'an's study.
She saw him get up, walk to the display cabinet, open the secret passage, and go inside with a lantern. She was utterly shocked, hesitated for a moment, and then followed.
She followed Sheng Huai'an out of the secret passage and saw him walk to a half-open window and gently knock on it.
After a while, a delicate and beautiful woman in white, carrying a baby who was nursing and asleep, walked to the window and met and spoke to him through a half-open window.
Upon seeing the woman's face, Ye Mingzhu couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.
Isn't this Sheng Huai'an's widowed sister-in-law, Liu Rumei?
Why, why did they meet so late at night, and in such a way?
Many thoughts raced through Ye Mingzhu's mind before she witnessed a scene that shocked her beyond measure.
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