Duke Jing's younger sister

A misty spring night.

Shen Li carried a dim lantern and walked through the corridor wet by the fog.

It was a dark night, and the lights surrounded the white mist, forming a small halo that swayed with her steps, as if she were in a dream.

After passing through several moon gates, she arrived at Cuibaiyuan where her sworn brother Shen Beiqi lived and stopped in front of the study door.

Today, Shen Beiqi returned triumphantly. She hadn't seen him for more than a year. She waited from morning till night until he finally returned from the palace after attending the celebration banquet. She immediately rushed over with a lantern.

There was a lamp burning in the study, and the dim light illuminated the lattice window. She raised her hand and knocked twice, but no one responded.

"Brother?"

She raised her hand again, and the knock on the door was particularly clear in the quiet rainy night.

No one answered for a long time, so Shen Li had to give up the idea of ​​paying respects to his brother.

She thought that her brother might not be there, or he might have drunk too much at the celebration banquet in the palace and had gone to bed. She would go back first and come back early tomorrow morning.

She turned to leave, but the door behind her suddenly opened. A large, strong hand grasped her slender arm and pulled her into the house. Then the door closed again and the lantern rolled to the ground.

The moment she entered the room, Shen Beiqi extinguished the lamp with his hand.

The room suddenly became dark. Before she could react, she was pressed against the door by the other party, and his hot lips, smelling of alcohol, immediately pressed against hers.

Her pupils widened instantly, and the unprecedented touch made her mind go blank. She struggled to push him away, but found that his whole body was burning hot, like sizzling red charcoal.

His kiss came like a rainstorm, crazy and rapid, wrapping Shen Li in the rain and making it difficult for her to escape.

He seemed to be half conscious, and he tore off her clothes without caring about anything, picked her up and carried her sideways, pressing her down on the couch.

……

Shen Li was awakened by Shen Zhiyan.

When she opened her eyes, Shen Zhiyan was lying on the edge of the bed, tickling her nose with the hair draped over her shoulders.

Seeing that she finally woke up, Shen Zhiyan joked, "It's already noon, and you're still sleeping? This is not the style of our Third Miss Shen."

Shen Zhiyan is Shen Beiqi's biological sister and the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion. She is only four months older than Shen Li.

And she is the adopted daughter of the Shen family.

Her original surname was Jiang, and her name was Jiang Li.

When he was eight years old, the Jiang family suffered a disaster. Boys over the age of twelve were exiled and girls over the age of ten were registered as prostitutes.

Jiang Li's mother died when she was young. Fortunately, she was not old enough to be implicated and forced into prostitution. Unfortunately, there was no one in her family who could take care of her.

Her brother Jiang Cheng and Shen Beiqi were classmates and good friends at Yuanshan Academy. After much consideration, Jiang Cheng personally entrusted her to Geng, the head of Qianlai Escort Agency.

When the Jiang family was powerful, Chief Geng had received favors from them. Thinking of repaying the favor, he accepted the job.

Carrying Jiang Cheng's handwritten letter and the eight-year-old Jiang Li, they first took a boat and then changed to a donkey cart. It took more than a month to travel from Changzhou to Jiangdu City.

When I first met Shen Beiqi, he was only fifteen years old, full of youthful vigor and vitality.

Although he was obviously a man, he had red lips and white teeth. When he squatted down to look at her, his pair of sparkling peach blossom eyes were smart and clear.

She was still young at that time and just thought that this person was very beautiful.

I don't think there's anything wrong with using the word "beautiful" to describe a man.

"How old are you?" he asked her in a low voice.

She lowered her head and said timidly, "Eight years old."

"What is your name?"

"Jiang Li."

Shen Beiqi raised his hand and gently rubbed Jiang Li's messy little head, "From now on, your last name will be Shen, Shen Li."

The sunlight poured into the room through the window lattice. Shen Li was absent-minded, listening to Shen Zhiyan chattering on and on, talking about the interesting things that happened when she went on an outing with her brother yesterday.

"It's a pity that you didn't go. You didn't see that my brother shot three arrows at once and hit every target. He hunted a lot of birds!"

Shen Li smiled and said, "Maybe it's because of the spring sleepiness. I've been feeling uncomfortable and lazy these days. I'll definitely go with you next time I have a chance."

On the one hand, Shen Li was not feeling well, and she really didn't want to go, because after that night, she didn't know how to face Shen Beiqi.

In the courtyard, two maids were sweeping the floor while gossiping about recent events in the mansion.

It is said that Fang Hua, the maid who cleans the Cuibai Hall, was favored by the Duke some time ago and was taken as his concubine.

As soon as you marry your wife, you will then make Fang Hua your concubine.

Shen Beiqi's father passed away three years ago. Now he has inherited the title and became the Duke of Jingguo. The Duke the two maids mentioned was referring to him.

In recent years, the Northern Territory has been in turmoil. Shen Beiqi has been staying in the Northern Territory since his father passed away, and has spent very few days at home in the past three years.

His marriage was delayed like this, and now he is twenty-three years old and still single.

As expected, no man can get past women. The Duke looks cold and heartless, and never smiles every day, but I didn't expect that he would favor the maid around him.

I don’t know what kind of luck Fanghua had that the Duke took a fancy to her!

The two maids were so angry that they couldn't help but slander Fang Hua. They said it must be that Fang Hua who was shameless and had tricked her into getting into the Duke's bed.

After all, the Duke not only holds a high position of power, but also has a handsome face that is almost perfect.

The women in Jiangdu City who wanted to get into his bed were like tadpoles in a spring pond, and they could never be caught all in one net.

The sound of their discussion was very low, but it still floated faintly into the room through the half-supported bamboo window lattice. Shen Li lowered her eyes, not knowing whether she was sad or happy.

However, Shen Zhiyan was very puzzled when she heard about this.

"Tell me, what did my brother like about Fang Hua? She looked ordinary, and her figure was ordinary. Could it be that my brother saw that she was ordinary, had no advantages, and therefore could not find any disadvantages?"

"Nonsense again," Shen Li patted her hand lightly, pretending nothing had happened.

"It would be good to have someone who understands my brother and cares for him. The eldest son of the second house is two years younger than my brother, and now he has two children."

Shen Zhiyan still felt puzzled. "That being said, if brother wants a woman, what kind of woman does he have? Is it necessary to find a maid?"

Shen Li laughed, "An unmarried girl doesn't know how to talk properly."

Shen Li's personal maid Ziyuan lifted the curtain and entered the inner room, bringing two bowls of warm milk cakes.

"The girl's appetite has not been very good these past two days. She didn't eat much at noon. Eat some braised milk to fill your stomach."

Ziyuan said as she placed a bowl in front of Shen Zhiyan and then handed one to Shen Li.

Shen Li held the celadon bowl in one hand, pinched the spoon with her fair fingertips, and stirred it gently.

As soon as the sweet cheese spread in her mouth, she couldn't help feeling nauseous and immediately covered her chest and retched.

Seeing this, Ziyuan hurriedly brought the spittoon over. Shen Li leaned over and vomited, even the bitter bile came out.

Seeing this, Shen Zhiyan hurriedly stood up and said, "Oh, what did he eat that made him sick? Baozhu, go and call the Jiang family doctor over."

After receiving the order, Shen Zhiyan's personal maid Baozhu immediately trotted out. A moment later, Doctor Jiang followed behind her and hurried into Qinghui Courtyard.

After vomiting out the little food left in her stomach, Shen Li finally suppressed the intense nausea she had just felt.

She was breathing slightly, and in a flash, a terrible thought suddenly came to her mind.

She was a little scared and her fingertips began to tremble.

Doctor Jiang had already placed the pulse pillow. Shen Li pretended to be calm and said,

"I ate some iced dumplings last night because I wanted to stay cool. That's why I hurt my spleen and stomach. I won't bother the doctor in the Jiang Mansion."