Young widow in her boudoir

Xie Rutang walked numbly to him, like a puppet.

At this moment, his attendant entered the room and quietly presented the wound medicine. "Master, the wound ointment you ordered has been brought."

Xie Rutang murmured, her red lips barely moving, seemingly oblivious to her surroundings.

The lingering fear of surviving the ordeal gripped her throat, and she couldn't help but ask him, "Second Master, what will happen if I go back...?"

If she disappears for a night, will the Shen family abandon her? What will others think of her?

It would be one thing if she were the one to be disgraced, but the most important thing is that she doesn't want to tarnish her deceased husband's memorial tablet because of her.

Her late husband was a very, very good person.

When Shen Yuan was studying, he was gentle and polite. Even after the time for lunch at the manor, he would often go into the mountains to hunt some wild game and bring it back, just to add some meat to her meals and improve her diet.

When she kicked off the blankets in winter, Shen Yuan watched for a while, then pulled her into his arms and covered her with the blankets again.

She was never burdened with household chores, was always gentle to others, and never spoke harshly or sternly.

Xie Rutang felt a sharp pain in her chest.

Her husband has been dead for a month.

Pei Zhiheng remained silent and did not reply to her.

Xie Rutang continued to sob, "It was my own fault for being foolish and bewitched. I ignored your kind advice and insisted on my own way, which has brought this terrible disaster upon myself."

"I beg Your Excellency to have mercy and spare me this time. I promise I will turn over a new leaf when I return..."

But she begged for mercy and sobbed.

Pei Zhiheng seemed not to hear him at all.

He never directly responded to that statement from then on.

At that moment, a strong arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, startling Xie Rutang. She then smelled the cedar-like scent emanating from him.

Pei Zhiheng remained expressionless, and then he applied the white ointment to her wrists, which were red and swollen from being bound with hemp rope earlier that day.

He massaged her wrists, her slender wrists barely fitting in his palm. Only a thin layer of skin covered her bones, as delicate as pearls.

Xie Rutang's face immediately darkened. "Pei Zhiheng, what are you doing?!"

As the wife of the Shen family, how could she allow him to be so disrespectful and overstep his bounds!

Xie Rutang's voice is usually soft, and he rarely speaks with such solemnity and indifference.

Pei Zhiheng paused slightly, but did not stop his movements at all, continuing to massage.

He spends most of his time capturing death row inmates, dealing with corpses, living a life of danger and bloodshed, and is extremely skilled and professional in treating wounds.

His clear, ethereal eyes reflected her figure, a faint smile playing at their depths. "I was just massaging your wound, aren't you overthinking it?"

"Or do you want this hand to be ruined before you go home like this?"

Xie Rutang turned pale with fright, her eyelashes trembling.

She hadn't expected her injuries to be so serious...

The cooling ointment was applied, and the camphor scent dissipated, which indeed soothed the pain considerably and reduced the stinging sensation.

Xie Rutang blushed; she had been deluding herself.

But when she was applying the medicine, she sat on his lap, and she felt strange no matter what.

I didn't dare to move around too much, for fear of sitting on something I shouldn't be sitting on.

Pei Zhiheng applied the ointment very slowly.

She was finally relieved after being massaged for about fifteen minutes and immediately got up.

I felt the faint fragrance in my arms slowly fading away.

Pei Zhiheng unconsciously rubbed his fingertips, the lingering fragrance on his sleeve still persistent.

After tonight, Zhang's mother was also captured by the soldiers.

Despite the death of her biological son, Zhang's mother showed no grief or remorse. Instead, she was consumed by a twisted sense of right and wrong, shouting, "How cruel! You all killed my son! You will all die a horrible death!"

"Xie Rutang is my Zhang family's daughter-in-law! My son is gone, so she should be buried with him and be married to him in a ghost marriage, never to be separated for all eternity!"

The sound was somewhat eerie in the night.

Finally, Pei Zhiheng, annoyed by her chatter, ordered someone to pull out her tongue.

The old woman didn't hear her call again that night.

But Xie Rutang was still frightened by her turbid eyes filled with resentment.

She hasn't had a drop of water today, let alone that bowl of chicken soup.

She was still thinking about her deceased husband.

……

Under the cover of night in the wilderness outside Beijing, the pale moonlight falls on the cracked mud walls, and occasionally the hoarse, piercing cries of crows can be heard from the distant mountains.

Pei Zhiheng, unusually, couldn't sleep tonight.

He had just finished outlining the entire strategy for weakening the power of the feudal lords when he laid out local maps to carefully analyze and judge the situation until he had a clear understanding of the situation before he stopped.

The place was remote and simple, and it was inconvenient to bathe. He didn't even change his clothes before lying down to rest on a dilapidated wooden bed.

The Zhang family's house had only two rooms.

Xie Rutang slept in the room next to his.

Until midnight.

You could still hear her sobbing through the wall.

Pei Zhiheng frowned. Xie was simple-minded, timid and delicate. Tonight, she had undergone a sudden change, so it was normal for her to be unable to bear it.

He closed his eyes, his ears filled with Xie Rutang's fragile sobs.

However, at some point, this sound began to make people's minds wander.

"Yuan Lang, why did you abandon me...?"

"Yuanlang..."

"Yuanlang..."

Pei Zhiheng lay on the couch, listening to her calling out "husband" in a low voice again and again from the next room.

He was, after all, young and vigorous; what man could withstand her calling him that?

Xie Rutang was traumatized tonight, so she inevitably had to find ways to distract herself and release her pain.

In addition, she was in such a pitiful situation...

Pei Zhiheng guessed that Xie Rutang's life must be repressed and lonely. If she didn't find a way out, and her mother-in-law was so strict and demanding, she would probably be driven crazy.

Therefore, he could understand her difficulties...

Pei Zhiheng felt despicable, as if he were eavesdropping and spying on her vulnerability and insecurity. But then he felt upright and honest, because she was the one who was completely unguarded. So what if he was eavesdropping?

He closed his eyelids tightly, forcing himself to fall asleep and no longer be disturbed by external things.

But the summer nights were unbearably hot and humid, and he could almost imagine how thinly Xie Rutang was dressed in the bed next door.

Pei Zhiheng's throat bobbed, and he found himself imagining Yuan Lang in his mind's eye.

He is also a Yuanlang, isn't he?

He was the only Yuan Lang left in the world.

Suddenly, he abruptly opened his eyes, his pupils freezing instantly.

He's probably gone mad.

Pei Zhiheng sat up in bed, realizing what he had been thinking. A mocking smile appeared on his lips. He had been unknowingly bewitched.

The crying from the next room gradually stopped.

She seems to have fallen asleep.

Pei Zhiheng rubbed his temples wearily and helplessly. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully tonight. A burning fire was burning inside his strong body, and he couldn't release it no matter what.

He was wearing a gray undershirt. In the dead of night, when there was no sound of anyone around, he pushed open the door and walked towards a lake not far away, where he took a cold shower to cool down.

……

Xie Rutang did not sleep well that night.

Because she didn't know what the outcome would be when she returned to the manor.

Her mother-in-law loved her son dearly. If she knew that Xie Rutang had cheated on Shen Yuan, she would not have been subjected to such a serious punishment as drowning in a pig cage.

Wait until the roosters in the fields outside crow.

Xie Rutang had already woken up and was now starving.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Pei Zhiheng found a kind-looking village woman from somewhere to be her maid and take care of her daily life.

It wouldn't be appropriate for her to continue wearing Pei Zhiheng's clothes in the village house.

The village woman produced a set of clothes from somewhere. "Madam, let me help you put this on..."

Her face, roughened by years of sun exposure, blushed slightly with embarrassment, and she nervously clutched her sleeve, afraid that Xie Rutang would find her repulsive.

Xie Rutang hesitated for a moment, then nodded and gave her a gentle smile.

There were soldiers all outside, and finally a village woman appeared, giving her a sense of security.

When the village women helped her change her clothes, they couldn't help but blush. As women themselves, Xie Rutang's figure was something they couldn't help but feel ashamed of.

Xie Rutang was born into a wealthy family, and even her skin was well-maintained, as smooth as milk, so fair that it was no exaggeration to say that it was as white as snow.

To Xie Rutang's surprise, it turned out to be a maid's outfit!

The pink begonia-patterned top and the light green silk skirt were the typical attire worn by the maids in the Shen household.

The village woman explained, "This is what Lord Pei requested."

Xie Rutang frowned.

"Lord Pei said that since the lady wants to return to the manor, the safest way is to disguise herself as his maid and go back without attracting attention."

It turned out to be the case.

After she finished dressing up, the village woman brought her a bowl of millet porridge.

After Xie Rutang finished her porridge, the man called her to the next room. Seeing that the door was open, she hesitated for a moment before going in.

"What business does Second Master have with me?"

She just didn't expect that Pei Zhiheng had only just gotten up!

When she entered, he had just sat up from the bed, his black hair loose, and beneath his white undergarment was a tall and strong body; she could almost feel the surging power hidden beneath.

Having grown accustomed to seeing him in official robes, Xie Rutang was surprised to see his face so serene and gentle for the first time. It was like mist on a snow-capped mountain, or a bowl of clear tea.

Xie Rutang paused for a moment, hesitated, and then asked, "Second Master, what brings you here?"

She looked at Pei Zhiheng's pale face, as if he hadn't slept all night, with obvious dark circles under his eyes.

He was, after all, her savior, so she took the initiative to ask, "Second Master, did you not sleep well last night?"