Ji Cheng didn’t want to argue with Qi Hua. She tucked the blanket around Qi Hua and said, “Sister, you must be suffering from shock-induced delirium. As soon as I pulled you ashore, the maids and servants rushed over. How could there have been any men? Sister, do you want your reputation ruined by being seen by men?”
Qi Hua was taken aback by Ji Cheng’s words. She had persisted because, after all, she was the daughter of the Cloud Yang Marquis’s family. If she had been seen by the Shen family’s young masters, she couldn’t possibly be carried into their home in a small sedan chair; she would surely become the main wife. But at the time, she had been weak and quickly lost consciousness again, unable to catch them in the act. Now that Ji Cheng denied it, she could only suppress her feelings, though she still felt some reluctance in her heart.
But Qi Hua also understood Ji Cheng’s concerns. Given her status, she couldn’t compare herself to Qi Hua. If she had been seen, it would have been disastrous. However, Qi Hua felt this wasn’t her fault; if anyone was to blame, it was Ji Cheng for meddling like a dog chasing rats.
At that moment, a maid came to report that the eldest young master of the Cloud Yang Marquis’s family, Qi Zheng, had arrived. For the elder brother to personally come to pick up his younger sister who had fallen into the water showed a caring heart.
Ji Cheng helped Qi Hua stand up, intending to hide behind the screen, but Qi Hua grabbed her hand. “Sister Cheng, it’s my elder brother coming to pick me up. You don’t need to hide. You’re my lifesaver; we’re closer than family now.”
The maid invited Qi Zheng to the outer hall. Qi Hua forcefully pulled Ji Cheng out from behind the curtain, calling out to the tall, jade-like figure standing in the hall, “Elder Brother.”
Qi Zheng turned around and saw Qi Hua standing alongside a woman of outstanding beauty. For a moment, he was at a loss.
This Qi Zheng was Qi Hua’s full brother. As he couldn’t inherit the title of Marquis, he had found a position in the palace. To be able to serve as a palace guard, he must have some skills.
The reason he could come to pick up Qi Hua today was that their mother was feeling unwell, and he had taken leave to return home and was at the Marquis’s residence. Qi Hua’s desperate actions were partly due to her mother’s illness; she feared that if something were to happen, it would delay her marriage by three years, and she might never be able to marry.
Qi Zheng was a handsome young man with red lips, white teeth, and a gentle demeanor like jade. He was truly a refined young gentleman, with an air of scholarly elegance that added to his grace. If he were to lead troops on the battlefield in the future, he would be a scholarly general. He was still unmarried, as the Cloud Yang Marquis’s family wanted him to achieve success in his career before marrying a young lady from a prominent family to strengthen the Qi clan once again.
Ji Cheng’s eyes only glanced at Qi Zheng for a moment before she lowered her gaze.
Qi Hua glanced at Ji Cheng with some pride. She wasn’t exaggerating about her brother; even among the many noble sons in the capital, he stood out.
“Elder Brother, this is Miss Ji. She saved me when I accidentally fell into the water today,” Qi Hua said.
By then, Qi Zheng was already staring in amazement. Although Ji Cheng was wearing ill-fitting clothes at the moment, it only accentuated her snow-white skin and flower-like beauty. Qi Zheng, an 18-year-old man who had seen some of the world during his breaks from studying, had never seen such beauty as Ji Cheng’s in his life.
Moreover, this young lady’s beauty was like the moon veiled by cold mist, or flowers seen through fog. Though she was right before his eyes, he felt as if she were shrouded in clouds and mist, making him want to look closer and see her more clearly.
To say she was delicately charming would not do justice to her radiant beauty like a crabapple blossom. To say she was alluring and graceful would not capture the pure loveliness of a camellia. She was like sunlight gently wrapped in light clouds, with a natural radiance emanating from within her.
A line of poetry involuntarily came to Qi Zheng’s mind: “Such a beauty, I would think of her even in my dreams.”
Hearing Qi Hua’s words, Qi Zheng’s ears reddened. He quickly bowed to Ji Cheng, “I am truly grateful to Miss Ji for today.”
Ji Cheng took half a step back, not fully accepting the bow. “It was our fault for not taking better care of Sister Qi.”
As he was an outsider, Qi Zheng couldn’t stay long in Shen Qian’s courtyard. Soon, Shen Yuan and Shen Qian came over, and the brother and sister took their leave together.
Ji Cheng, feeling unwell, didn’t return to the garden to talk with the other young ladies. She said a word to Shen Yuan and returned to her room to change and rest.
That night, as she reflected on the day’s events, Ji Cheng tossed and turned, once again regretting her rashness. She had underestimated the courage of the capital’s young ladies, never imagining they would have such desperate bravery to risk their lives. It was she who had been naive.
Similarly, that night, Shen Yu and Shen Jing were also filled with regret, wondering why they hadn’t left immediately at the time.
Shen Jing didn’t know Shen Yu’s thoughts, but he knew his own. When Qi Hua fell into the water, he had no intention of rescuing her. There was plenty of water in the Shen family’s Qing Garden, and drowning incidents were not uncommon, so the family had maids and servants who could swim and were responsible for watching over the garden.
Therefore, there was no need to worry too much about Qi Hua falling into the water. But when Shen Jing saw Ji Cheng recklessly jump in to save her, he was moved and very concerned. He worried that Ji Cheng might drown herself, and he was touched by her kind-heartedness.
Shen Jing had grown up in a large household where the women were all cunning, with thoughts even deeper than men’s. There were also those with shallow thoughts, but they were too shallow, shallow, and arrogant.
Although Shen Jing was of marriageable age and should have been blushing at the mention of women, he had never been interested. It wasn’t until he suddenly saw the grown-up Ji Cheng that his heart stirred. But today, when he saw Ji Cheng risking her life to save someone, he was deeply moved by this young lady’s kindness.
Someone with such a heart to save others couldn’t be too bad.
Moreover, Ji Cheng was so beautiful.
Thinking of this, Shen Jing’s face reddened. He kicked off his thin blanket, feeling hot all over. Even after drinking three pots of cold tea, he couldn’t quench his thirst. Finally, he went to the kitchen and poured several ladles of cold water over his head, which finally calmed him down.
But when he returned to his room, Ji Cheng’s wet, bright eyes like spring night streams, her thin, transparent clothes clinging to her wet body, and the obvious feminine curves unique to young women, all made Shen Jing lose his composure.
He tossed and turned all night, closing his eyes only to see that scene again, making his face burn and his heart race, with no cure in sight.
Shen Yu, naturally, was much more composed than the inexperienced young Shen Jing. He had been married before and had a concubine and a personal maid. Although he wasn’t particularly fond of bedroom activities, he had never denied himself.
But perhaps because of the summer heat making people restless, or because he had eaten something spicy in the past two days, Shen Yu couldn’t sleep until midnight. He got up and called for a maid to attend to him.
Tonight, it happened to be the personal maid Rui Xue on duty. She was a maid who had served the late Madam. She had been taken into the household when Shen Yu’s wife was still alive, and after the Madam passed away, Rui Xue naturally stayed to continue serving Shen Yu.
As it was nighttime, Rui Xue had already laid down in the outer room. Hearing Shen Yu call for someone, she hurriedly threw on some clothes and ran in. Seeing Shen Yu about to pour water for himself, she quickly ran forward and took out a teapot from the warm tea bucket.
Shen Yu was much taller than Rui Xue, and suddenly, Rui Xue’s snow-white breasts caught his eye. In summer, everyone wore less, and now Rui Xue was only wearing a red dudou embroidered with camellia patterns, covered by an open-front, flesh-colored short jacket. Without a belt, it hardly covered anything, serving only as a nominal cover.
Although Rui Xue’s chest was extremely white, it was small and delicate, without much undulation.
But Shen Yu suddenly raised his head, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have, startling himself.
His mind suddenly flashed to the scene he had seen in the flower garden that afternoon: Ji Cheng’s clothes, soaked by the lake water, with a white camellia embroidered on her chest.
The pale blue gauze, like cold mist, enveloped and embraced that snow-white and bewitching camellia, looking almost like a soul-stealing demon.
Although the colors were pure and clean, when worn on Ji Cheng’s body, they somehow exuded a bewitching and city-toppling charm. And that Cousin Cheng, barely fifteen years old, already had a more shapely figure than the twenty-year-old Rui Xue.
The wet clothes clinging to her body completely revealed her waist, so slender it seemed it could be snapped with one hand. Shen Yu could even clearly see in his mind the folds of the gauze clinging to her abdomen and waist, so vivid.
Shen Yu had never thought himself so vulgar as to fantasize about his cousin’s body. He shook his head, trying to clear the image of the white camellia-embroidered dudou from his mind, only to see Rui Xue’s puzzled expression.
“Young Master, are you ill?” Seeing Shen Yu’s flushed face, Rui Xue stood on tiptoe to feel his forehead, but Shen Yu dodged away.
“Go away.” Shen Yu pushed Rui Xue aside and walked towards the bed, but for some reason, he changed his mind and called Rui Xue back as she was about to reach the door.
The next day, when Rui Xue went out, her legs were trembling. Although she had always known about Shen Yu’s ferocity, he had always been restrained, usually satisfied after calling her to serve once. He had never been as insatiable as last night, urgent as if he were a wolf starved for three days, not even giving her time to remove her dudou before roughly fondling her.
Rui Xue’s face reddened at the thought of last night, and she hurriedly lowered her head when she encountered Lan Xiang.
Unfortunately, Lan Xiang had already noticed Rui Xue’s blushing face and strange gait. She smirked and said, “Sister, you’re too frivolous. Last night, your cries were heard throughout the courtyard. You’re bringing shame to our late Mistress, having such a shameless maid in the house.”
It turned out that Lan Xiang and Rui Xue had both served the late Madam. Lan Xiang was more alluring than Rui Xue, and the late Madam naturally didn’t want to give her a chance to seduce Shen Yu, so she promoted Rui Xue during her pregnancy.
As a result, Lan Xiang didn’t dare resent Madam and instead directed all her anger towards Rui Xue. After the Madam passed away, Lan Xiang could have returned to the Lin family, but she volunteered to stay and take care of young Master Hong, so no one forced her to leave.
But how could she want to take care of young Master Hong? She was trying to climb the social ladder. However, Shen Yu wasn’t fond of women and ignored Lan Xiang’s repeated advances, which only made Lan Xiang hate Rui Xue more.
Hearing Lan Xiang’s words, Rui Xue’s face instantly turned pale. At first, she had been able to suppress her voice, but later, when the Young Master became too rough, she couldn’t hold back. Thinking of this, Rui Xue felt like jumping into a river. She hurriedly ran past Lan Xiang.