He burrowed into her arms, trembling like a drenched little dog, his hoarse voice spilling out that pitiful, soft tone that made it impossible to refuse him.
Not to mention that earlier, because of the misunderstanding that he had been dreaming of someone else, Shen Yunshu had refused to acknowledge him, which delayed the moment and made him suffer for so long.
His heart was full of guilt, but in the end, he gave in, shedding the outer garment draped over him and lying down wearing only his night clothes.
Her arm slipped around the back of his neck, urging him to rest his head on her shoulder, then carefully avoiding his wound as she gently embraced him.
“Feeling better now?”
“No.”
His heated breath brushed against her neck as he tangled around her recklessly.
“Hold me tighter.”
Shen Yunshu quickly pressed against his shoulders.
“Be careful of your wound.”
He ignored her and stubbornly pressed closer, wrapping his limbs around her.
“Wife, don’t ever ignore me again.”
Hearing him call her “wife” over and over no longer grated on Shen Yunshu’s ears.
“Pei Huaian, do you really want to be my husband?”
“Yes. Especially now.”
Before, he didn’t dare hope—thinking he wasn’t worthy of her—but when he heard her say she was leaving during the day, he lost all composure and desperately wanted to keep her by his side.
“But I’m afraid I can’t be the kind of virtuous wife and good mother who’s content at home…”
“You’re already very virtuous. Like this, it’s enough.”
Shen Yunshu stroked his hair and told him about her plans.
“I originally intended that after we divorced, I would go to take the female official examination at Guozijian. The exam is next spring. If I pass, I’ll have to serve there, so within three years, I probably won’t be able to have children…”
“You want to take the female official exam?”
Pei Huaian looked up at her.
Shen Yunshu expected him to object, but instead, he said self-deprecatingly, “If you pass, will you despise me more for being a useless husband?”
Shen Yunshu chuckled.
“You’re so handsome—how can you be useless?”
His worry melted into joy.
“You like my face?”
She pinched his flushed cheek.
“If it weren’t for this face, after offending me so many times, I’d have beaten you long ago.”
Pei Huaian beamed with pride.
“Luckily, I’m not completely useless in your eyes—I still have a face worth looking at.”
Seeing him so talkative and his spirits lifted, Shen Yunshu freed one hand to search down his shoulder until she found his hand.
His fingers were still a bit cool, but his palm was already warming.
Soon, he wouldn’t feel cold anymore.
“Stop teasing. Rest a bit, you’ll feel better after the medicine.”
“After the medicine, will you still want to hold me?”
“How come I never knew you were this clingy before?”
“I won’t always cling to you,” Pei Huaian pressed even closer.
“If you want to take the female official exam, then go for it. I’ll try my best to get into Guozijian by next summer. You can focus on being an official, and I’ll study hard. In three years, I’ll take the exam too…”
He circled back to the topic of children.
“Even if you don’t have children for three years, or six, or nine years, I won’t rush. If Grandmother is eager for grandchildren, she can bother my elder brother and his wife. Seeing how strong their relationship is, they’ll probably have kids before us…”
Shen Yunshu listened carefully to his plans.
If that was the case, being married to him wasn’t so bad after all.
According to her previous plan, after divorcing him, she would leave the Pei Residence.
Whether she returned to the Shen family or the Lu family, if she couldn’t pass the female official exam next spring, she’d be pressured by elders to remarry.
And any future husband wouldn’t be as obedient as the man in her arms now.
It might be better to stay in the Pei Residence, try again in three years if she failed next year…
His hand grew warmer in hers, the heat climbing along her palm and filling her with warmth.
“Then let’s give it a try,” Shen Yunshu gently rubbed the top of his head.
“Let’s try being real husband and wife.”
Hearing her agreement, Pei Huaian was instantly ecstatic.
Tilting his face up, he pressed his luck, “Then, wife, kiss me…”
Under his thick black lashes, his eyes were clear and affectionate, reflecting her so vividly as if he wanted to wrap her deep inside his gaze.
The blush on his cheeks from illness added a touch of enchanting allure to his already handsome face.
Since she had agreed to be his wife, a kiss was the first step to breaking their old sibling-like relationship.
Shen Yunshu lowered her head and kissed his forehead.
Softly, like a feather’s touch, the kiss landed on his smooth forehead, then his eyes, nose tip, cheek, and finally…
His lips, trembling with nervous anticipation, puckered up to meet hers.
Shen Yunshu smiled and was just about to kiss him when suddenly, she felt something hit her leg…
She froze and stopped.
The next moment, the man beneath her opened his eyes.
Heat surged from below, his already flushed face reddened completely, even his neck took on a rosy hue.
The pout he’d made disappeared as he blushed furiously, stammering, “Wife, don’t be afraid, it just wanted to say hello…”
Three days later, Shen Youran gradually emerged from the shadow of being held captive.
Pei Huaijin still forbade her from going out, so she ran over to Ci You Courtyard to help her sister handle the affairs of the residence before visiting Pei Huaian, who was injured.
Despite his wound, Pei Huaian was young and healing well.
He didn’t want to lie in bed resting but instead had a soft couch arranged in the study where he could both recover and read.
Shen Youran looked at him in surprise.
“Your injury isn’t healed yet, but you’re working so hard?”
“My wife is taking the female official exam next year. As her husband, I can’t fall behind.”
“Wait, what did you just call my sister?”
She was sure she’d heard him say…
“Wife?”
“Yes, wife.”
“I thought you didn’t call my sister that before…”
“That’s nonsense. She’s my wife. If I don’t call her ‘wife,’ what else should I call her?”
Shen Youran remembered his confession on the carriage that day and asked curiously, “You said you liked my sister for a long time. When did you start liking her?”
He had been weak and hesitant on the carriage; she had thought he was confessing to her and had been too scared to listen or stop him.
Thankfully, he had switched to confessing to her sister.
On the night of the marriage swap, he swore he didn’t want her to marry his elder brother, and he didn’t want to marry her sister either.
He didn’t care about her purity and wanted her to choose him.
Yet only three months since the marriage swap, he now claimed to have liked her sister for a long time.
While it was good he liked her sister, wasn’t changing his heart so quickly a little too sudden?
If he was so fickle, would he switch his affections the moment he met another pretty girl?
Shen Youran couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
Pei Huaian had thought about this many times too.
If starting from the moment of his first dream, he probably liked Shen Yunshu even before they married.
The odd part was, although he had been smitten with Shen Youran at the temple fair, why did the woman in his dreams turn out to be Shen Yunshu?
Pei Huaian looked at Shen Youran in front of him.
She looked back with eyes strikingly similar to Shen Yunshu’s, filled now with inquiry and suspicion.
Those eyes so like Shen Yunshu’s…
Those similar eyes…
Pei Huaian’s body jolted, and suddenly he thought of something.
He raised the book he was holding to cover half of her face, only his brows and eyes visible.
Her eyes, clear as morning dew, full of spirit with a hint of youthful innocence, like a fawn grazing in the forest—vivid and alert.
But lacking the aura that had made him fall in love at first sight.
Why didn’t her eyes hold that charm?
“Do you…like reading?”
He didn’t answer but asked another strange question.
Shen Youran retorted, “Do I look like someone who likes reading?”
“Do you ever buy books?”
“I only buy storybooks…”
His heart pounded wildly, the answer nearly bursting out: “At the temple fair where we first met, did you stop by a book stall?”
Though it had been a long time ago, Shen Youran answered firmly, “No.”
She had planned to buy storybooks there, but he offended her that day—lifting her veil and scaring her away before she could continue browsing.
After she said “no,” he laughed heartily, holding the book close.
“So that’s it! Hahaha, that’s it…”
So the girl at the bookstall was Shen Yunshu.
The one who made him fall in love at first sight was Shen Yunshu.
Pei Huaian had never been so happy before; his bright laughter filled the study until his stomach hurt and his wound seemed to burst open.
Rubbing his aching cheeks, he said to Shen Youran, “It wasn’t you. The one I like…has never been you.”
Shen Youran was shocked by his laughter.
“If it’s not me, then it’s not me. But why laugh like that? What’s going on?”
Covering his wound, he said, “At the temple fair, were you and your sister wearing the same veil?”
“Yes.”
“That day, I fell in love at first sight with the girl at the bookstall, but she disappeared in an instant, and then I saw you.”
Pei Huaian recalled, “Your eyes are so alike, I mistook you for her…”
Shen Youran sighed, “So you liked my sister from the start.”
“So I’m not a fickle, unfaithful, easily distracted philanderer after all…”
All those dreams had been telling him who he really liked.
Pei Huaian threw down the book, eager to tell Shen Yunshu this.
At that moment, Shen Yunshu was tidying accounts in the main hall.
A few days ago, when she was away, the residence’s affairs had been temporarily handled by the Second Madam, who was soon freed from confinement early by Grandmother.
The Second Madam’s bookkeeping was messy, so Shen Yunshu had to spend extra time sorting it out.
Halfway through, she heard a “Wife” called out.
Looking up, she saw him had already circled around the desk and was beside her.
Before she could ask what he wanted, his body felt light, and he lifted her directly off the chair, her feet dangling.
Shen Yunshu panicked and held onto his shoulders.
“Put me down! You’re still injured!”
“Wife, I like you.”
He tilted his head, eyes sparkling.
“I’ve always liked you.”
“Say whatever you want, but why out of the blue say that?”
She caught sight of her sister standing outside the hall, and her cheeks flushed.
“This isn’t proper…Youran is still here…”
Shen Youran said, “I’m leaving soon.”