Chapter 11: The Taste Of Jealousy

The words had barely left his mouth when he realized he was interrogating her.

He had told himself earlier that he would not dwell on it, that he trusted her to act with propriety.

Yet somehow, looking at the rouge on her face, stroking her cheek, he had spoken without meaning to.

His intent had not been to question her.

But… if he claimed that was not his intent, then in truth, he did wish to know.

After all, Madam Pu was the woman who shared his bed.

He was her husband.

His emotions churned, but he said nothing.

He only continued stroking her face.

The rouge, dampened by tears and perspiration, had not yet dried completely.

It was slightly sticky to the touch.

His attendant had said she accepted and examined the rouge and powder Cheng Wenque sent.

Had she used any of it today?

If so, was the rouge and powder now on her face the very gift Cheng Wenque had given her?

For some reason, at this thought, a faint sense of wrongness and displeasure rose within him.

Tonight, he and Madam Pu had engaged in the most intimate of acts between husband and wife.

By all reason, in such fusion, there should be only the two of them.

Yet she had worn rouge and powder gifted by another man.

It felt as though that man, too, had somehow participated in their intimacy.

Moreover, Madam Pu’s reaction at the homecoming banquet suggested the two might be acquainted…

The more he thought about it, the deeper his displeasure grew.

His breathing had nearly steadied, yet his chest continued to seethe with emotion.

The man’s brow furrowed slightly.

His handsome features were veiled in shadow.

His eyes were fathomless.

His long, jade-like fingers continued to trace her cheek.

The knuckles bore the lingering traces of their shared intimacy.

Pu Jinyu was too exhausted to move, lying prone.

She could not see his face.

She did not know what he was thinking.

His question had caught her by surprise.

She had assumed Yan Chiyun would not ask.

For her plan to proceed smoothly, even if he had not asked, she would have had to confess everything.

She had been just about to speak.

Since he had already inquired, she lifted her head, rested her chin on his chest, and looked up at him.

Her voice was soft, yet carried a note of surprise.

“Husband already knows?”

Yan Chiyun had not anticipated her movement.

His fingers stilled.

He looked straight into her eyes—beautiful, luminous as polished jade.

“…Mm.”

Pu Jinyu continued.

“I was just about to explain this matter to my husband.

I did not expect my husband would learn of it in advance.”

Her tone was genuinely surprised.

That meant she had not anticipated the news reaching his ears today.

At this, Yan Chiyun recalled what his attendant had told him.

He explained, his expression unchanged.

“Your personal maidservant was the one who spoke of it.”

The attendant had actually learned of the matter from a young maid serving in the Yan household.

But the Yan servants in his courtyard were all tight-lipped.

Unless authorized by their master, they would never gossip about their superiors’ affairs.

That was why he had asked his subordinate today where he had obtained this information.

“Jing Chun said it?” Pu Jinyu feigned further surprise.

“She didn’t know you accepted the gift?” Yan Chiyun countered.

Pu Jinyu shook her head.

As she moved, her body could not help but shift as well.

She rose abruptly.

The dazzling snowy softness swayed gently before his eyes.

He saw the finger marks and love bites he had left behind.

Almost imperceptibly, he averted his gaze.

Yan Chiyun thought she meant to leave his embrace.

As she usually did after intimacy.

To sleep at his side, putting distance between them.

Yet unexpectedly, she simply did not wish to lie prone on his chest.

She braced herself and shifted upward.

Then nestled back into his arms.

Her small face pressed against the side of his neck.

Each breath she took cascaded warmly against his skin.

The snowy softness pressed against his chest.

Not content with merely embracing him, she even wrapped her legs around his waist.

She had avoided the dangerous area, but…

Yan Chiyun’s breathing, which had only just steadied, grew warmer.

Yet the woman in his arms seemed not to notice.

She slept most improperly.

Her clinging stirred him.

Yan Chiyun endured it, betraying no sign.

Pu Jinyu’s face appeared innocent, but beneath her lowered lids, her eyes brimmed with endless amusement.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

She could feel his stirring.

Where was the sport in simply giving him what he wanted?

She would dangle him, unsettle him, yet deny him satisfaction.

Yan Chiyun waited for her reply, even as his desire stirred.

A moment passed, yet she remained silent.

Her breathing was steady.

She was not asleep.

“What is it?” Yan Chiyun sensed her hesitation.

Pu Jinyu still said nothing.

Just as he was about to speak again, to tell her she need not keep things to herself, she suddenly moved.

But she did not speak.

She merely rose and pressed a light kiss to his cheek.

It was only the gentlest of kisses.

Yet it stirred an inexplicable flutter in his heart.

She withdrew as soon as she had touched him.

Then embraced him again, her small face nuzzling against his neck.

She appeared wronged, yet utterly dependent on him.

Having kissed him, she still said nothing.

She simply leaned against him, pressed close, clinging tightly.

Yan Chiyun extended his arm.

She settled completely into his embrace, no longer in a prone position.

He held her, looking down at the crown of her head.

He breathed in the faint fragrance of her loosened hair.

Felt its softness against his skin.

He spoke again, his voice unconsciously gentler.

“What is it, hmm?”

Pu Jinyu still refused to speak.

She turned her face, burying it against his neck.

It was not a kiss.

Yet it was also a kiss.

For her lips were pressed against his skin.

How could she be so enticing?

She had been too breathless to speak just moments ago.

Yan Chiyun could no longer restrain himself.

He drew her face away from his neck.

Lifted her delicate, finely wrought chin.

And kissed her lips.

The first half of the night had already seen one round of intimacy.

The rouge on her lips had long since faded.

He kissed her soft lips.

Lightly, at first.

Merely brushing against them.

He kissed her for a while.

Then added gentle nips and sucking.

He kissed her for a long moment.

Then he wished to part her lips and kiss deeper.

Yet this felt too intimate.

So he paused briefly, studying her expression, her eyes.

Wondering if he might.

Whether she would permit him to kiss her more deeply.

It was strange.

They had already done things far more intimate.

Yet to kiss into her lips felt somehow more profound than the marital rites they had performed.

He did not know why.

She had been nursing some hurt just moments ago.

It would not be right to follow only his own desires, disregarding her feelings.

Before him, the young woman’s delicate face was smudged.

Her lips had been kissed to an exceptionally vivid redness.

She looked at him.

Her eyes gradually filled with a misty, glistening spring water.

He could not look away.

She did not refuse him.

Surely that meant he might proceed?

Thus, Yan Chiyun kissed her again.

He parted her lips.

The moment he kissed into her mouth, she retreated slightly.

But soon, tentatively, she extended the tip of her tongue.

She responded to him.

Such an obedient wife.

Her actions inexplicably softened his heart and stirred him.

Yan Chiyun lowered his gaze.

His large palm moved to cradle the back of her head.

He deepened the kiss.

Pu Jinyu had always known that in the previous years, Yan Chiyun had exercised restraint when sharing her bed.

Only in recent days, under her seduction, had he begun to loosen some of those fetters.

Yet she had not expected that a mere kiss would drive him to such ferocity.

It was not merely the intensity of his kiss.

He even controlled the back of her head, forcing her to receive his kiss without retreat.

She found herself somewhat overwhelmed.

She began to dodge, left and right.

Even pushed against his chest.

Even so, Yan Chiyun kissed her for a considerable while longer before finally drawing back.

He withdrew from her lips, yet the connection between them was not entirely severed.

His fingertip traced her lips.

He looked at her face.

Then he pressed her cheek back against his neck, holding her close.

Pu Jinyu’s breathing had not yet steadied.

But beneath her stirred desire lay a cold detachment.

Though she had said little, Yan Chiyun understood clearly now.

This personal maidservant of hers was far from loyal.

He recalled how this maidservant had repeatedly obstructed him from helping her bathe.

Had insisted she must maintain her full makeup even when resting.

Even last time, he had sensed something amiss.

Now, reflecting on it, he perceived the irregularity all the more clearly.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Was it possible that she had never wished to maintain this elaborate makeup at all?

That it was the maidservant who compelled her?

“If you are unhappy, I will assign you different attendants.”

At this, Pu Jinyu curved her lips almost imperceptibly.

An eyebrow lifted.

This time, he heard her reply.

“But Jing Chun was sent by Mother as part of my dowry.”

At the mention of Madam Pu, Yan Chiyun’s mind conjured the image of the woman in his arms, sitting rigidly proper before her mother.

Mother and daughter never seemed particularly close.

Madam Pu’s demands of her appeared quite stringent.

So it was as he had suspected.

This maidservant was sent by Madam Pu to discipline her conduct.

She was not truly her person at all.

“It is of no consequence.

If your mother inquires, I will explain.”

“Then… thank you, husband.”

She tilted her face up and smiled at him.

Though Yan Chiyun saw her smile often, at this moment he felt her pleasure was genuinely heartfelt.

He looked at her smiling countenance.

“Mm.”

He thought she might kiss him.

After all, the atmosphere tonight was steeped in intimacy.

Yet she did not.

She simply lay back down.

Yan Chiyun did not know what had come over him.

What was he anticipating?

Was he actually wanting her to kiss him?

His emotions tonight were remarkably unsettled.

In the stillness of the night, neither spoke.

The disarray of the bed had not yet been addressed.

He was about to speak.

Then, suddenly, she kissed him.

Yan Chiyun’s lips, parted to speak, froze.

Pu Jinyu proceeded to explain.

The reason she had accepted Cheng Wenque’s gift was that his insistence was impossible to refuse.

He had said he was already troubling the Yan household by staying there.

If she would not accept his gift, he could not in good conscience continue residing under their roof.

“Husband must surely know why Mother-in-law is keeping this man here?”

Yan Chiyun knew perfectly well.

It was for Yan Huaixiao’s marriage prospects.

“Thus, I accepted it.

But I only opened it out of curiosity and looked at it.

I did not keep it for use.”

She was soothing him.

Yan Chiyun recovered himself from that sudden kiss.

He gave another “mm” in acknowledgment.

Pu Jinyu braced herself and sat up, looking at the man’s handsome face.

Yan Chiyun met her gaze.

Their eyes collided in the dimness.

Locked.

Tangled, in a silence that spoke volumes.

Pu Jinyu leaned slowly closer.

Yan Chiyun felt her bend toward him.

His heart, which had only just settled, began to rise again, slowly.

Yet just as he expected her to kiss him once more, she suddenly turned her face away.

“We should go bathe now.”

Dim as the light was, he did not miss the smile she tried to hide.

Yan Chiyun caught her wrist and pulled her back.

Pu Jinyu gave a soft gasp.

She found herself captured, held once more in the man’s embrace.

Though she was clearly at a disadvantage, why did she show not a trace of fear?

Why did she continue gazing directly at him?

Since the subject had already been broached, and curiosity burned within him, he simply asked.

“Are you and Huaixiao’s friend old acquaintances?”

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