“Revisiting old haunts, reliving our love story,” Shen Che said as he draped a white fox fur-trimmed cloak over Ji Cheng’s shoulders and placed a white fox fur Wang Zhaojun hood on her head before lifting her out of the carriage.
The night wind was fierce, with the north wind howling. Ji Cheng shivered, grateful that Shen Che quickly embraced her.
“What love story? More like a nightmare,” Ji Cheng grumbled. That incident had always been a scar on her heart. Heaven knows how much fear Ji Cheng had endured those years. Losing her virginity before marriage, even in the relatively open-minded Da Qin, would have been a death sentence if anyone had found out.
“Heaven’s arrangements have their reasons. Looking back now, don’t you think this is where our love story began?” Shen Che said, guiding Ji Cheng toward the top floor of Phoenix Tower.
“Love story?” For Ji Cheng, the Phoenix Tower was far from a place of romantic beginnings. Whenever she recalled it, she only felt embarrassment.
“I’m not a casual person,” Shen Che said. “Especially with respectable women like you.”
Ji Cheng knew that Shen Che wouldn’t act carelessly with respectable women. Looking at his past romances, most involved courtesans or young widows, as “loving and leaving” them would cause fewer problems.
However, Ji Cheng felt that Shen Che had been so casual with her back then because he had leverage over her, knowing she was helpless. So Ji Cheng deeply despised Shen Che at that time. She never imagined that one day she would be the one begging him to stay.
Standing on the top floor of Phoenix Tower, one could gaze at the Imperial City, crouching like a divine beast in the night, or look down upon the myriad lights of the capital.
The starlight on the busiest streets looked like the Milky Way. Ji Cheng stood by the railing, mesmerized. Shen Che’s hands rested on the railing, encircling Ji Cheng in his embrace. He asked, “Why so quiet? What are you thinking?”
Ji Cheng turned her head to look at Shen Che and said after some thought, “I feel like you were attracted by my appearance and thought I was easy to bully.”
Shen Che laughed, “You’re not modest at all. But our Ah Cheng is indeed beautiful, irresistibly so. I thought, rather than let someone else have you, I might as well have you myself.” Shen Che lowered his head and kissed Ji Cheng’s lips.
Ji Cheng reached out and pinched Shen Che’s waist, making him beg for mercy repeatedly.
Life’s path is often decided in a moment. If Shen Che had hardened his heart and let that young male prostitute cure Ji Cheng’s poison back then, there wouldn’t have been so many entanglements between them. Perhaps Shen Che would still be playing the field, living a colorful life, but with an empty heart.
As Shen Che pulled back, Ji Cheng stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips against his, asking, “What were you thinking back then?”
Shen Che said, “Well, you were my cousin after all, and so beautiful. I thought, ‘I have to marry someone, why not her?’ I steeled my heart and went for it.”
Ji Cheng stomped hard on Shen Che’s foot, “You bastard, you scoundrel!” One stomp wasn’t enough; she stomped again, saying fiercely, “You didn’t think about marrying me at all back then. Stop trying to make yourself look good.”
“If I hadn’t decided to marry you, I wouldn’t have saved you,” Shen Che said seriously.
Ji Cheng would be a fool to believe Shen Che’s words. “I don’t believe you. You just couldn’t resist the temptation. Now that we’re married, of course, you can say whatever you want.”
Shen Che raised an eyebrow, “If I didn’t care for you, would I have taken you to San Hao Ju and Si Bing Ju?” Those were Shen Che’s private territories, rarely allowing others to enter, and even fewer knew about them. “And when I made that bet with you, didn’t I clearly say I would marry you?”
Ji Cheng was speechless, “Does that bet even count? You were just tricking me for your amusement. Besides, a bet has winners and losers, which means there’s a difference between marrying and not marrying.”
Shen Che said, “Who do you think would be worth me using marriage as a stake in a bet?”
Ji Cheng snorted, “Can you deny that you made that bet with me thinking you could back out if you wanted to?”
“When I made that bet with you, it was just to set your mind at ease, to make you willing to spend half a year with me wholeheartedly. If after half a year you didn’t have feelings for me and still thought about your Zi Yun brother, I would have let you two be together,” Shen Che said.
Ji Cheng didn’t think Shen Che was that noble, “I don’t recall you letting us be together. Who was it that kept pursuing me, forcing me to marry him?”
Shen Che smiled, “Doesn’t that prove even more that I truly wanted to marry you?”
Ugh, Ji Cheng realized she had talked herself into a corner. “I think your so-called ‘marrying’ back then just meant taking me in through the side door as a concubine.” Ji Cheng didn’t feel that Shen Che had respected her back then. He had always been forceful and coercive, never considering her wishes.
“I know the difference between ‘marry’ and ‘take in as a concubine’,” Shen Che said.
“You never respected me back then. At San Hao Ju, even though I didn’t want to, you still…” Ji Cheng blushed as she spoke.
Shen Che didn’t dare tell Ji Cheng that he had approached her with the mindset of “winning her over through bed.” That was all due to that bastard Chu De’s misleading advice. With Chu De’s fat appearance, he had somehow made his group of concubines fight over him fiercely. In his words, if they weren’t obedient, he’d make them obedient in bed.
Chu De’s exact words were, “As long as you sleep with her, she’ll naturally have you in her heart. If she still doesn’t, it just means you haven’t slept with her enough times.”
Women would naturally scoff at this, feeling it’s extremely disrespectful. But men seemed to resonate with this statement, thinking it’s because they like you. That’s why in some matters, men and women can never be on the same page.
Shen Che smiled bitterly, “Did you think I was some saint who could hold a peerless beauty in my arms without feeling anything? Forcing someone is indeed a poor strategy, but who told me to lose all self-control when I see you?”
Tsk tsk, truly worthy of being called the “Love Saint.” He could talk the dead back to life.
Ji Cheng pouted, “Smooth talk.”
Shen Che held Ji Cheng close, nuzzling her ear, “It’s not just smooth talk. I’m not a fool; I would never take you as a concubine.”
Ji Cheng didn’t immediately understand the connection between being a fool and taking her as a concubine.
Shen Che said, “Think about it. With your schemes and tactics, would my household ever know peace? Which main wife would feel at ease with a concubine like you in the house?”
Ji Cheng felt both amused and annoyed, “Are you praising me or insulting me?”
“Praising you, of course. Let alone anything else, as long as you’re in the household, I’d only visit your room every day. Favoring a concubine over the wife would be a given.”
As Shen Che spoke, his hand had already started to misbehave, slipping inside Ji Cheng’s collar.
Shen Che’s hand was very warm, but Ji Cheng still sneezed, mainly because it was too cold outside.
Shen Che picked Ji Cheng up and carried her into the room. “We’ll have plenty of time to look at the lights in the future. Let’s come back during the Lantern Festival; that’s when it’s truly beautiful.”
Ji Cheng wrapped her arms around Shen Che’s neck and asked, “Would you favor a concubine over your wife for me?”
Shen Che replied, “You’re underestimating your charm.”
Ji Cheng said, “I’m not underestimating. Relying on beauty to serve someone can’t last long. Even if you dote on me when I’m young when I’m old, wouldn’t I still have to bow my head to the main wife? Wouldn’t she torment me to death then?”
“Even when you’re old, you’ll be the most beautiful old lady,” Shen Che said as he took off Ji Cheng’s shoes and socks, helping her sit up on the couch. Noticing her feet were ice-cold, he sat by her feet and warmed them with his hands. “But about relying on beauty to serve someone, you’re overestimating yourself. At most, you can be considered good-looking. When it comes to serving someone, you’re far from skilled. When men look at women, they never just look at the face.”
Ji Cheng naturally didn’t understand the subtleties. Shen Che, however, had tasted the sweetness. But he would never tell Ji Cheng about her rare charm, otherwise she would think he only valued her for her looks.
“Someone like you would only be popular for a month in those pleasure houses. After that, no one would pay attention to you,” Shen Che said shamelessly.
Ji Cheng pulled her foot back and then kicked Shen Che hard several times. This man always said she didn’t understand the finer points of romance.
Strangely enough, in the past, if Shen Che had dared to compare Ji Cheng to concubines or courtesans, Ji Cheng would have thought he looked down on her and would have flown into a rage. But now, she didn’t get angry at all. Instead, she could even joke about herself.
This was probably because her sense of security had changed.
The two of them bantered for a while, not feeling tired at all. Instead, they found it quite enjoyable. Lovers find even the most boring conversations delightful.
When Shen Che brought water to wash Ji Cheng’s feet, she was surprised and asked, “Aren’t we going back tonight?”
“No. I already informed the Old Ancestor when we left this morning,” Shen Che replied.
Ji Cheng looked around with some distaste. Although Phoenix Tower was elegantly and luxuriously decorated, in Ji Cheng’s heart, it wasn’t a respectable place. She couldn’t help but think about how many people had rolled around on that bed, feeling disgusted at the thought.
As Shen Che poured water over Ji Cheng’s feet with his hands, he said, “This is my private room. No one else has used it.”
Ji Cheng couldn’t help but sneer, “You have so many hideouts, you sly fox. If you ever go missing in the future, where should I look for you?”
Shen Che dried Ji Cheng’s feet and replied, “Wherever you are, that’s where I’ll be. Why would you need to look for me?”
What a cunning answer.
In bed, Ji Cheng lay on Shen Che’s stomach, still thinking about the concubine issue. She didn’t know what her state of mind was, but imagining Shen Che favoring her as a concubine over his wife made her feel a strange sweetness in her heart, and she couldn’t help but indulge in the fantasy.
“Now I think being a favored concubine wouldn’t be so bad. Well-fed, well-cared for, loved by the master, and without so many worries,” Ji Cheng said.
Shen Che replied, “You’re being greedy now.”
Ji Cheng realized he was right. She could say this because she was already the main wife. If she were a concubine, she wouldn’t be willing.
However, this wasn’t the main point of Ji Cheng’s words. She hesitated for a while, but finally couldn’t suppress her curiosity. Pretending to be casual, she asked, “So, if you had married Fang Dajia back then, and then met me, what would have happened?”