“I see…”
Compared to fainting from anger on the first day of marriage and sneaking out at midnight with Pei Qi Lang, copying The Etiquette for Women was a mild punishment.
Besides, it was only the fourth chapter, less than two hundred words.
Ten times would be about two thousand words.
Given her previous morning practice of three to four thousand characters, this was nothing.
Shen Yunshu understood why her sister didn’t want to copy it — she felt innocent and refused from her heart.
“I know you feel wronged, but others don’t know. Just your fainting in front of your mother-in-law was enough to cause quite a stir. It’s Pei Da Lang who kept things from blowing up. Confining you and making you copy the book is just for show, meant to put the matter behind quickly. You should cooperate. It’s only two thousand characters — think of it as handwriting practice.”
Though stubborn during the day, Shen Youran felt guilty now.
Especially hearing her sister’s reasoning, she was even more afraid to face Pei Huaijin.
“Then, if I don’t copy it, how do I face him?”
“What he really wants is your attitude. Go back and soften. Tell him you’ll copy it another day. He’s a gentleman, older than you by several years. He won’t truly hold a grudge against a young girl like you.”
“Really?”
“Trust your sister.”
Encouraged by Shen Yunshu, Shen Youran finally mustered courage and returned to Yunzhi Courtyard with Danruo.
Night had grown deep, and the courtyard was brightly lit.
Shen Youran’s heart was uneasy.
She first washed up and soothed her eyes, spending half an hour.
When she returned to her room’s door, she quietly asked the maid on duty, “Has he gone to sleep?”
The maid replied, “The Young Master hasn’t told me to put out the lights. He’s probably still awake.”
Shen Youran lightly touched the partition door but didn’t push hard.
She sighed and turned to Danruo.
“You go in and get my clothes. I want to take a bath.”
Danruo kindly advised, “Missus just bathed the day before yesterday. It’s cold tonight, and it’s late. Maybe don’t bathe tonight?”
“Go in if I say so…”
“But I’m afraid too.”
Her mistress feared the Young Master, but didn’t that make her as a maid scared too?
“Come in.”
Pei Huaijin’s cold voice came from inside.
“Did you hear? Go in.”
Shen Youran urged Danruo.
“Shen Youran, come in.”
Named directly, Shen Youran couldn’t avoid it and sulkily stepped inside.
The room had a small brass incense burner, not big but warming the air a bit.
The red canopy curtains by the moonlit bed were hooked up, and Pei Huaijin had changed into his night clothes, sitting by the bed with a lucky soft pillow behind him.
He was casually flipping through a book.
Shen Youran looked closer and saw he was reading The Etiquette for Women.
She drew a cold breath.
“Um…”
Before he noticed, she admitted her fault.
“I didn’t copy The Etiquette for Women today.”
“Why not?”
“Because…my eyes aren’t well yet.”
“Be honest.”
“…”
“If you know you’re slacking, you have to correct it going forward.”
“Okay.”
Though she agreed with her mouth, her lips pouted, and her tone was unwilling, hardly the attitude of someone ready to improve.
Well, habits formed over many years can’t be changed overnight.
“If you don’t want to copy, fine…”
Hearing this from under the bed, Shen Youran immediately lifted her head, eyes wide with surprise and joy.
“Memorizing it is the same.”
He added.
Her glossy eyes rolled at him.
Pei Huaijin pretended not to see and patted the spot beside him.
“Come up, recite.”
Is the bed a place to recite?
The bed is for sleeping.
“Can’t it be tomorrow? It’s late already…”
“Finish today’s task today. Tomorrow we return home; you won’t have time to memorize then.”
“But my eyes aren’t good. Father and sister never let me read at night.”
Though she didn’t obey much and often read storybooks secretly at night.
“In that case, I’ll read and you listen. When you memorize it, you can sleep.”
Looks like he wasn’t letting her off tonight.
Shen Youran pouted, first removing her hairpin and ring, then went behind the screen to change into her nightclothes.
She reluctantly climbed onto the bed.
He sat on the outer side; she took the inner side, where a quilt had been laid out.
She wrapped herself in the quilt like a dumpling, looking both sulky and helpless.
Seeing she was ready, he flipped to the fourth chapter and began reading word by word:
“A woman has four virtues: first, womanly virtue; second, womanly speech; third, womanly appearance; fourth, womanly…”
Shen Youran repeated after him.
Pei Huaijin: “Husband says of womanly virtue, it need not be brilliance or exceptional talent…”
Shen Youran: “Husband says of womanly virtue, it need not be brilliance or exceptional talent…”
“Womanly speech need not be skillful or eloquent…”
“Womanly speech need not…”
After the third reading, Pei Huaijin put down the book and asked, “Have you memorized it yet?”
Shen Youran’s eyes, already drooping, honestly shook her head.
Those words slipped through her mind like the slippery skin on an edible fern, leaving no trace.
Pei Huaijin frowned.
Such a simple text—he could memorize it after one or two readings.
He had read it three times already; how come she still couldn’t recite?
So he patiently read it two more times.
After these, Shen Youran could barely sit still, swaying unsteadily with her eyes nearly closed.
Pei Huaijin reprimanded her posture.
“Sit properly. Don’t nod and shake your head.”
“I’m not shaking my head. I’m just really sleepy…”
She didn’t like reading.
Besides storybooks, other books felt like they were drugged with a sedative that made her drowsy the moment she opened them.
Her sister had forced her to read mostly in the mornings or after naps when she was rested and alert.
Now it was almost midnight, the right time for sleep, and his dry, dull words only added to her sleepiness.
She couldn’t resist; her body leaned back, about to collapse.
“You…”
Pei Huaijin reached out just in time and pulled her back.
But she followed his pull and tumbled right into his arms.
“Please let me sleep. I’m really so tired…”
She closed her eyes, half-dreaming, pleading in the most pitiful tone, “I don’t want to memorize. I want to sleep…”
His hand, which had been about to push her away, hung in the air.
He knew she was acting cute, but she succeeded.
No man could resist a pitiful kitten-like girl. His big hand slowly rested on her shoulder, not pushing her away, even patting her lightly twice.
“All right, no memorizing for now.”
She was truly exhausted; her body softened, her forehead pressed against him, mumbling again with great grievance, “I didn’t want to eat leftovers either…”
Pei Huaijin was momentarily stunned, then let out a helpless laugh.
Just two meals of leftovers, and she acts like she’s been terribly mistreated.
He lowered his eyes, noticing her soft, fluffy hair, a few stray strands lifting slightly with her movements, tickling him.
Her body shifted down further.
Before he could respond, she had laid her head on his lap and fallen asleep.
She really was exhausted.
Last night she avoided him, and today she was so tired she fell asleep on his leg.
Well, at this age, girls are heavy sleepers.
The memorizing can wait until tomorrow.
Pei Huaijin took the quilt off her and placed it aside.
Then he carefully helped her move back to the inner side, straightened her limbs, and covered her again.
Her eyes, sometimes sulky, sometimes joyful, were now quietly closed, her long lashes casting a thin shadow underneath—not like this morning when she pretended to sleep but her lashes fluttered constantly.
If only she could be as calm and obedient when awake as she was asleep.
Though she didn’t memorize the fourth chapter of The Etiquette for Women before bed, Shen Youran dreamed that Pei Huaijin kept forcing her to recite, threatening her that if she didn’t, they’d consummate the marriage.
She cried while reciting…
But the words on the dream’s Etiquette book, except the first line, were all twisted and incomprehensible, impossible to memorize.
She was desperate to find her sister, but Pei Huaijin pounced on her like a tiger, biting her lips, saying they’d consummate…
“Waaah, I don’t want to consummate,” she cried, kneeling and begging, “Don’t eat me…”
Just as she was about to wake, a large hand gently patted her shoulder.
“I’m not eating you. Rest easy.”
The dream tiger suddenly let her go, and she drowsily fell back asleep.
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