Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 770 - 768

Chapter 770: 768

Shangguan Ruixi, unable to wait any longer, returned to the new room and opened the door. Du Yijin was seated peacefully inside. Hearing the sound of the door opening, her heart tightened and she subconsciously lifted her head to look toward the door. However, her vision was obstructed by her red veil, all she could see was a shade of red.

Shangguan Ruixi, suppressing his excitement, a bit nervous, picked up the traditional weighing scale near him and lifted the red veil: Surely, he had the right bride this time!

Their gazes met at that moment.

Shangguan Ruixi’s eyes were filled with countless deep emotions. Du Yijin, subconsciously avoided his gaze, feeling a bit nervous. She wanted to clasp her hands together, but they were wound up like a bun, hurting every time she moved.

Shangguan Ruixi walked up to her, wearing a slight smile, sat beside her, and helped her remove her phoenix crown. "Are you hungry? Should I get someone to heat up some food for you?"

Du Yijin hadn’t expected his first words would be to ask if she was hungry, she paused, and instinctively shook her head, "No, I’m not hungry."

She wasn’t used to putting others out, and she’d already had some food earlier. However, because a maid fed her, she felt embarrassed and didn’t have much of an appetite, so she only had a couple of bites.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, her stomach betrayed her by growling audibly.

Du Yijin’s face turned red immediately. She quickly looked up at Shangguan Ruixi, figuring that since her voice was so soft, he probably hadn’t heard.

Shangguan Ruixi, holding a cup for a toast, paused and then laughed, "So you’re not hungry?"

"I was just starting to feel hungry when you asked, I really wasn’t hungry before." Du Yijin explained in a slightly hurried manner.

"Oh!" Shangguan Ruixi mockingly nodded, then put down both cups of wine, "You shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach. Let’s eat first, we’ll have our wine toast after."

There was nothing Du Yijin could say but nodded. But she knew he thought she had been lying earlier, even though she truly hadn’t.

Shangguan Ruixi called for a maid to give her some instructions.

While waiting for the food, Shangguan Ruixi took out the Jinchuang ointment Xiao’er had given him, "I asked the sixth imperial sister-in-law for some Jinchuang ointment. I’ve heard it’s quite effective, I’ll help you change the dressing."

Du Yijin was about to refuse, but Shangguan Ruixi had already begun carefully unwinding the bandage from her hand.

She promptly closed her mouth.

...

After a while, seeing the bandage on her hand getting thicker and thicker, Du Yijin finally couldn’t help but say, "Sir, my hand just has a superficial wound, I can still move it. If you bandage it like this, I won’t be able to hold utensils to eat."

"That’s alright, I’ll feed you. And please - you should only call me by my name or ’dear’ from now on." Shangguan Ruixi, upon hearing Du Yijin’s words, decided to put on an even thicker layer of bandage.

If Xiao’er saw this, she would surely say: Brother, it’s too tightly wrapped. The wound needs to breathe for it to heal quicker.

Subsequently, when it was time to eat, Shangguan Ruixi indeed served her the entire time.

After feeding a certain lady to her fill, he poured the two cups of wine on the table into his own mouth.

"That’s not how it’s supposed to be, one of the cups is mine!" Du Yijin couldn’t help but speak out when she saw this.

Shangguan Ruixi, with his mouth full of wine, couldn’t speak. He simply moved back to sit beside Du Yijin, carefully avoiding her injured hand. He wrapped one hand around her waist and pulled her into his embrace.

At his action, Du Yijin stiffened, not daring to move.

Seeing that she did not push him away, Shangguan Ruixi breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned down, their lips touched, and then he fed Du Yijin a little of the wine from his mouth, before swallowing the rest himself.

Startled by Shangguan Ruixi’s actions, Du Yijin’s mind went blank. The intertwined wine was sweet, scented with vanilla, and she swallowed it subconsciously.

Shangguan Ruixi deepened the kiss. The aroma of the wine, the sweet scent of flowers, the unique fragrance of a young girl and the unique scent of a man filled their breaths.

After what felt like forever, Shangguan Ruixi pulled away reluctantly, his breath heavy. "It’s getting late. You should rest now. I need to take a shower."

Leaving these words behind, Shangguan Ruixi went out to have a bath.

He couldn’t have Du Yijin now. Otherwise, his parents would know that he had been lying earlier, and so would his grandmother.

They made such a big fuss and lied only to marry her. They would surely dislike Du Yijin.

It would be so easy for displeased in-laws to make life difficult for their daughter-in-law. He couldn’t, out of a moment of weakness, allow Du Yijin’s future to be potentially filled once more with hardship and hurt.

Seeing the hastily retreating figure of Shangguan Ruixi, Du Yijin was slightly confused: Was that the wedding night? Didn’t they need to undress?

Mrs. Gu did not inform her of these things before her marriage, not even preparing her the rumored book. Being a man, Du Zhongkai didn’t think about this, and even if he did, he wouldn’t teach his daughter about it!

Thus, Du Yijin had no idea about the real implications of the wedding night.

Nevertheless, she breathed a sigh of relief, hesitated briefly, then removed her coat and tucked herself in on the inner side of the bed.

Feeling a little tipsy, she chalked it up to wearing the phoenix crown for too long. She turned over so that her back was exposed, then fell into a deep sleep.

At that moment, a shadow quietly approached the window, secretly pressed her ear against it, but, upon hearing no noise, raised her eyebrow in confusion. Then, poking a hole in the window paper, she peeked inside.

Seeing only one figure sleeping in the grand yellow rosewood canopy bed, she was startled and rushed off.

Shangguan Ruixi, hiding in the shadows, watched the figure by the window sprint off. Then, he returned to the bed, climbed onto it, held Du Yijin in his arms, and fell asleep contentedly.

In the middle of the night, he was awakened by the sudden fever of the person in his arms!

He quickly sat up. Under the dim red candlelight, he saw Du Yijin’s face flushed red, mumbling in her sleep.

Shangguan Ruixi put his hand on her forehead, and sure enough, it was scalding. He quickly jumped off the bed, found the medicine Doctor Luo had prepared, and gave it to her.

The imperial doctor had forewarned that, after standing in the cold in light clothing for half a day, she might get a fever in the night. Thus, the medicine was prepared in advance.

Should a fever set in, take one pill. After sweating it out, change out of the damp clothes, make sure not to catch a cold and take one pill in the morning and one in the evening the next day. It would then be okay.

Fortunately, the imperial doctor was foresightful! With this thought, Shangguan Ruixi lay down next to Du Yijin again, waiting for her to finish sweating before helping her take off her wet clothes.

Looking at the affectionate girl sleeping restlessly in his arms, he thought of what the imperial doctor had said. Her underlying chill had not yet cleared, and now she was catching colds again. The previous treatment was in vain, and it would take another year of treatment before she could conceive. Otherwise, the stress would lead to miscarriage or preterm birth, and her health would be damaged.

Shangguan Ruixi hugged Du Yijin a little tighter: it seemed that he would have to forgo his own desires for a little longer.

In the middle of the night, as expected, Du Yijin began to sweat incessantly. Soon her clothes were soaked through. Shangguan Ruixi helped her change out of her wet clothes. After ensuring she was no longer sweating and her temperature had returned to normal, he finally relaxed.

As the sky turned light, he grabbed a quilt and lay down on the soft couch: If he was to put on a show, he’d do it to the fullest, right!