Ji Cheng irritably ran her fingers through her bangs. She had been coming to the Nine Li Courtyard for several days now. Although Shen Che rarely spoke, and they were like strangers passing by, she felt strange and uncomfortable.
Sometimes, Ji Cheng would mistakenly think they were like a young married couple amid a quarrel, ignoring each other yet forced to live under the same roof.
Ji Cheng was not only intelligent but also particularly sensitive. She had already noticed the oddity of this living arrangement. If Shen Che truly hated her, how could he tolerate her constant presence? If it were Ji Cheng herself, could she tolerate Shen Che being around her? The answer was obvious.
It was precisely because the answer was so shocking that Ji Cheng refused to believe she was still Shen Che’s prey.
Although Ji Cheng had limited experience in matters between men and women, in the time before Shen Che left the capital for the Western Regions, he had been excessively clingy. One could easily conclude that Shen Che probably hadn’t had his fill of toying with her.
Ji Cheng sat at the small table in the Nine Li Courtyard and once again irritably ran her fingers through her hair. She heard movement behind her; Shen Che had returned.
He came back early today, his figure visible before midnight.
Someone sat down beside her. Ji Cheng felt uncomfortable and wanted to move away. However, before she could, she saw a shadow cast by the lamplight – it was Shen Che’s raised hand.
Ji Cheng moved away abruptly, almost scrambling. There was a muffled sound on the rush mat – her jade hairpin had fallen and broken into two pieces.
At bedtime, her ornamental hairpins had been removed. When she got up from bed, Ji Cheng wasn’t very skilled at doing her hair, and Nan Gui wasn’t adept at it either. So her hair was loosely tied up, with the jade hairpin inserted at an angle to hold the strands in place. As she had been fidgeting with her hair, the hairpin had already been on the verge of falling out.
Someone like Shen Che, who would make a great vow to correct even a slightly misaligned “Waiting-for-Husband Rock,” would instinctively move to straighten a precarious hairpin.
Ji Cheng’s abrupt movement startled them both. Shen Che’s hand hung in the air for a moment before slowly dropping, his face as dark as an impending storm.
Ji Cheng was also annoyed at herself for being so impatient, her avoidance so obvious that it exposed her greatest weakness.
“I…” Ji Cheng began to explain, but in her haste, she couldn’t find a reasonable excuse.
Shen Che narrowed his eyes and sneered before speaking, “Who do you think you are? A celestial maiden descended from heaven? Not only are you rigid and dull, but you also wear that expression all day. What does it matter if you’re beautiful? Do you think you still hold any novelty for me?”
His words were cutting to the bone. Before Ji Cheng could react, Shen Che already regretted his words. He rarely spoke harshly to women, partly due to his self-respect and partly due to his upbringing. But at this moment, with Ji Cheng, he couldn’t restrain his emotions. He spoke without thinking, his words contrary to his true feelings, greatly losing his composure.
Composure had long been lost. Feeling ashamed, Shen Che stood up and walked out.
Ji Cheng watched Shen Che’s retreating figure and smiled self-mockingly. She wasn’t as angry as Shen Che had anticipated. Perhaps it was because she had already positioned herself as Shen Che’s plaything. She had imagined even harsher words and had become numb to Shen Che’s cutting remarks.
Strangely amusing, Ji Cheng suddenly recalled what Shen Che’s great-aunt, Shen He, had said on the day of Shen Yuan’s return home. She had said that if a man truly likes someone, he would be insatiable in bedroom matters at first.
At the time, Ji Cheng had felt that Shen Che didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about such matters, only engaging occasionally every few days. She had thought it was due to his personality, but now it seemed he found her rigid and dull. Ji Cheng had no competitive spirit in this matter; if she was rigid and dull, so be it. If she held no novelty for him, that was even better.
Although Shen Che regretted his harsh words, he couldn’t bring himself to apologize. There was no point in apologizing to someone who wished you dead. He understood his feelings, but he was still resentful. Romantic affairs had never been important to Shen Che; otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen the Nine Transformations of the Profound Origin martial art.
As for his relationship with Fang Xuan, it wasn’t so much that Fang Xuan didn’t believe in the young Shen Che’s sincerity and chose to leave, but rather that they both knew it couldn’t last.
Not try to keep her simply because he didn’t want to keep her.
Now, although Shen Che’s emotions were unsettled, he felt that given time, he could forget his feelings. In his youth, he had been sincere with Fang Xuan, yet he had managed to forget her. How much easier would it be to forget Ji Cheng now? Feelings arise from desire and will eventually fade with desire. Even the most beautiful face is just bone beneath. Once you see through it, it’s nothing special.
Those who believe solely in the mind are prone to self-righteousness. If love in this world were so easy to see through, there wouldn’t be so many lovesick men and women. If love were so easy to control, those heart-wrenching stories wouldn’t have been sung for thousands of years.
When Chu De saw Shen Che, despite being surrounded by beautiful women and having dancers from India swaying their slender waists before him, his expression seemed to say “death to those who provoke me.”
As soon as Chu De sat down, two voluptuous female historians came forward with wine cups, intending to ply the long-absent Chu De with drink.
Chu De accepted all with a beaming smile, though he preferred leather cups to wine cups. This caused an uproar of merriment in the room. He chased after one of the female historians, hugging and kissing her several times before finally stopping.
After Chu De had his fill of fun, he finally had the leisure to address Shen Che’s cold face. “It’s been so long, aren’t you tired of keeping that expression? Look, you’ve scared our Zhenzhen so much she doesn’t dare to speak.”
Chu De nodded towards Huang Zhenzhen opposite them.
Huang Zhenzhen, who had outshone Flower Bud Consort during the Lantern Festival in the first month and risen to prominence, was now tasked with accompanying Shen Che in social situations. Hearing Chu De’s words, she smiled and said, “Your Highness jests. I’ll go to the kitchen and see if there’s anything to stuff your mouth with.”
Huang Zhenzhen, who had managed to stand out among the female historians and attach herself to Shen Che, was no fool. Under the guise of jest, she left Chu De and Shen Che alone to talk.
“Has he got any news?” Shen Che asked. This “he” specifically referred to Zhe Li.
Chu De shook his head, “The bastard is good at hiding.”
Shen Che said, “If he can evade our people’s sight like this, I’m afraid there’s someone behind him, someone very familiar with our operations.”
Chu De said, “You mean it could be that person?” Chu De nodded, “I’ll have someone look into this lead.”
In such a setting, they could only speak vaguely, mostly just hinting at things while continuing their social facade.
Chu De said, “By the way, hasn’t the great artist Fang already moved into your suburban villa? How do you have the leisure to come here? Aren’t you afraid Fang will get jealous if she finds out?”
Shen Che glanced sideways at Chu De, “I hope Zhenzhen can find a pig’s trotter fat enough to stuff your mouth.”
Compared to Shen Che’s despondency, Chu De was in high spirits, not minding Shen Che’s sarcastic words at all. His recently married eighth concubine had just started to enjoy herself, and while he was enjoying his blessings, he couldn’t let his brother remain single. “What’s wrong? Haven’t you sorted things out yet? I heard the great artist Fang intends to go south. What have you been doing? When you were young and didn’t understand women, you had an excuse, but why are you still so timid now?”
Shen Che’s failure with Fang Xuan was probably something Chu De could tease him about for a lifetime. This was his only sense of superiority. “Hey, brother, for the sake of our many years of brotherhood, let me share some insights with you. Taming a woman can be complex, but it can also be simple. Coaxing alone won’t work. The more you coax, the more capricious she becomes.
In the end, you’ll end up with a master instead of a wife, and she’ll even complain that you lack backbone and are uninteresting. This is the base nature of women. But using force alone won’t work either. Force can subdue, but there’s no pleasure in it. She’ll be timid and lifeless like a cotton doll, and you’ll get bored in two days. This is the base nature of us men. I, your brother, have conquered many battlefields over the years and have summed up one absolutely infallible move.”
Shen Che had no interest in Chu De’s smooth talk and didn’t even look at him.
Chu De, on the other hand, got more and more excited as he spoke, eager to pass on his wisdom: “Just two words: bed her. The ‘bed’ in bedtime.”
Shen Che knew that nothing of value would come out of Chu De’s mouth.
Seeing Shen Che’s expression, Chu De knew he was skeptical. “Hey, don’t disbelieve me. I didn’t invite you to drink at the wedding of my new concubine mainly because she was being coy with me at first, refusing no matter what. But how long has it been? Just last night I didn’t go to her room, and this morning she softened up to me. But you can’t spoil women. Just wait and see, tomorrow she’ll pose however I want her to.”
Shen Che usually didn’t inquire about his subordinates’ private affairs. Everyone had their own upbringing and preferences. But Chu De’s private morals were truly unbearable for many, and Shen Che wasn’t interested in how Chu De subdued his concubines in bed.
But Chu De, as a man, naturally liked to boast about his abilities in this area. “This is a skill, you know?! Look at you, when Fang Xuan wanted to leave for distant lands, and now Ji Cheng wishes she could kill you, haven’t you ever reflected on anything?”
“Let me tell you, it’s not just us men who like this kind of thing. Women can get addicted to it too. It all depends on whether your skills are up to par. Mere force and aggression up there won’t work. Having just a pretty face is useless too. You need to try it out to know if it works or not. You still have a lot to learn.” Chu De patted Shen Che’s shoulder, utterly forgetting himself in his pride.
Shen Che grabbed Chu De’s hand and twisted it behind his back, causing Chu De to cry out in pain. Shen Che said resentfully, “Even if I need to learn, it won’t be from you.”
Although Shen Che disdained Chu De’s words, people in desperate situations tend to grasp at straws. The fact that he had just said those words showed that he was already lacking confidence.
But in fact, Shen Che felt that he had been very considerate towards Ji Cheng in those matters. He had never acted according to his whims, always being gentle and attentive. No matter how hard-hearted Ji Cheng might be, her reactions in that aspect couldn’t lie. She had enjoyed it too.
However, Ji Cheng’s evasive movement last night had indeed greatly stimulated Shen Che, causing him to groundlessly doubt himself. Could it be that his skills were not up to par?