The room descended into silence. The awkward situation made Prince Han want to run out the door, but he couldn’t, unlike Chang Lingxiu.
The bastard.
His anger faded with the thunk of the plate again hitting the table. Jiayi sent him a tight smile before pouring herself a cup of tea. She fiddled with it and stared at the table.
Prince Han felt guilt wrap around his throat. He and Jiayi were…friends, but she was still an unmarried girl who would be forced to sleep in the same room as him. If word got out about this, it would ruin her prospects for a good marriage.
“Jiayi,” he said, desperate to cheer her up, “Xiang pin sent some things for you,”
Jiayi looked at him, “She did? Isn’t that too much? She already had these clothes made for me so quickly,”
Prince Han hefted the decently heavy chest to Jiayi, who barely flinched before carrying it to bed. Honestly, it wasn’t a shock that the servants here thought Jiayi was the wife of a well-off nobleman. Unlike unmarried Han girls, Jiayi hadn’t left her hair loose and hanging but had braided it into a neat bun on her head and secured it with modest silver pins. Her blue jacket may have been plain, but only a woman with money could afford such a rich color with deep black borders along the collar and hem. Her black pleated skirt was embroidered at the hem with small white flowers.*
Prince Han wasn’t surprised that Xiang pin was so accepting of the idea of him spiriting Jiayi away to his villa. She looked like she would burst into tears of joy. It was clear that Xiang pin was unusual in treating her servants like friends and family, rather than the slaves they were.
“Oh,”
“What is it?” Prince Han asked, coming to her side.
Jiayi looked at him and then back down at the chest, “It’s just so…much,”
She wasn’t kidding. The chest was bursting with skirts and jackets in fine colors and fabrics. There were furred muffs, cloaks, and two whole boxes of jewelry. No wonder Chang Lingxiu huffed so much if that’s what he was carrying.
Prince Han picked up a silver bangle and laughed, “I think Xiang pin confused your care package with a dowry,”
He saw Jiayi’s shoulders stiffen and dropped the bangle like it burned him. He cleared his throat and looked back at the jewelry boxes. The majority of them were silver, copper, and colored glass, but there in one of the piles was a flash of gold. The silver buyao had a simple silver stem and flared gold leaves cradling a small bud of frosted blue glass. Hanging from the end of the bud were strands of tiny bits of glass carved to look like diamonds.
“That’s nice,” said Jiayi.
“It goes well with your earrings,” said Prince Han.
Jiayi reached up and stroked the jewelry with a smile, “It does,”
Prince Han reached across to tuck the buyao into her hair before stopping, “Uh, do you want me to..”
“Um, if your lordship doesn’t mind,”
Jiayi bent her head. Prince Han stepped close and slid the buyao into her hair. As Jiayi lifted her face, Prince Han realized they were nearly nose to nose. If she blinked, would he feel it brush against his cheek?
The door opened, and Jiayi flinched, her cheeks bright red. She spun away, fidgeting with the chest.
Prince Han coughed and turned around, hoping his face didn’t match.
“Jiayi,” said Chang Lingxiu, drifting to her side, “Have you been shut up in here the whole time?”
Prince Han could already feel a headache brewing from all of Chang Lingxiu’s yapping. He sat back down and asked Sang’er to brew him a fresh pot of tea.
Jiayi nodded, “I didn’t want to be missing when Prince Han arrived. Why?”
Chang Lingxiu sighed, “I told Molan that I was passing through the capital on the way to the villa. She nearly beat me to death when I told her I wouldn’t have time to get her something from one of the shops. Let’s go look around,”
“My meimei is half your size," Jiayi said with a laugh, "Surely the beating she gave you wasn’t so bad. Prince Han just arrived after being stuffed in a carriage all day. Why don’t you go by yourself?”
“No, no, no, you have to come! I don’t know what sort of things Molan likes,”
Jiayi sighed, “Prince Han–“
“Is a fourth-rank prince,” replied Chang Lingxiu, “He’s been to battle for weeks without a servant or a piece of silk! A few hours in a nobleman’s carriage are nothing to such a specimen of man,”
Prince Han rolled his eyes. He really couldn’t believe this fool of a man was an Imperial guard.
Jiayi replied before he could even open his mouth, “Chang daren, you shouldn’t speak to Prince Han that way,”
“No need to scold him,” Prince Han said, getting to his feet, “The markets here are lively, even in the winter. I don’t mind taking a walk so Chang Lingxiu can find a few things for his sweetheart,”
There. Now, he and Jiayi weren’t the only ones who turned red as an apple today.
✺
As they walked back up the stairs to their–
Ahem.
Prince Han’s room, Jiayi smothered a sigh. The tense air between her and Prince Han had faded out in the streets. But she knew as soon as the door closed behind them, their easy mood would probably return with a vengeance. Things between them changed like whiplash. One moment, they’re master and servant. The next, they’re friends and then back again. It made her head hurt. It made her nervous.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
It made her wish that sometimes she had never known Prince Han like this at all.
Jiayi pinched herself in the privacy of her cloak at the thought. Prince Han giving her a single kind word was more than she deserved. He had sacrificed himself time and time again just for Xiang pin’s safety. There was no need to be ungrateful just because her head was all messed up. This pretend-wife business certainly didn’t help.
While they were searching for a present for Molan, it was common for sellers to try to entice them to look at their wares with some version of ‘Gongzi! Wouldn’t your lovely wife like some…’
Prince Han looked so at ease at the thought of being her husband, which was the worst. She was ready to go to bed and put this confusing day behind her.
Like a knock to the head, Jiayi realized something. She would have to sleep in the same room as Prince Han. No-no, even more awful, she would have to change her clothes with him there!
Maybe she should’ve taken her chances with Wei Jiayi’s family after all.
“Well,” Prince Han, letting Sang’er remove his cloak and cap, “We need to get an early start tomorrow. I’ll go downstairs and have a drink. You stay here and get ready for bed,”
Prince Han walked out the door, Sang’er and Chang Lingxiu trailing him.
Oh.
That solved one problem.
Jiayi sat at the vanity and began removing the decorations from her hair. She laid them gently on the table. It wouldn’t do if she damaged them before she could return them to Xiang pin. Her mistress never called anything she gave Jiayi a loan, but it was ridiculous to think that Jiayi could do anything with such luxury. Quiet tinkling made her realize that the silver and gold lotus buyao Prince Han had chosen for her was still in her hair. She stared at herself in the mirror and stroked the warm metal. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel his breath brushing against her face…
The fantasy dissolved as someone knocked on her door.
“Jiayi, I've brought some water for you to wash up,”
It was Sang’er.
She pulled out the buyao and dropped it on vanity before opening the door. She hoped she didn't look like she had imagined being breathed on by Prince Han. How ridiculous! Sang’er placed the basin of water on the nightstand. Instead of returning to Prince Han’s side, he stood in the middle of the room.
She stared at him, “Do you need something?”
“Just waiting for you to hold out your arms,”
“My arms?”
Sang’er rolled his eyes, “How else am I supposed to help you get ready for bed if I can’t take off your clothes? Hold out your arms,”
Jiayi stepped back, a tight furl of fear gripping her throat. Smiling as best as she could, she shook her head, “That’s–ah, no need, I’m fine by myself,”
“But Prince Han said to–“
“It’s fine!” Jiayi snapped.
The cheeky grin fell off Sang’er’s face.
Jiayi took a deep breath, “That’s a little strange, isn’t it? I’m a servant like you. Don’t worry, if Prince Han asks, I’ll say you helped me. You can just wait outside,”
Sang’er nodded and stepped out.
With trembling fingers, Jiayi began to undress. Dead and gone as he was, Jiayi was still trapped in Su gonggong’s clutches. Sang'er was lovely, but the thought of being touched by him in such a way made her want to scream.
A fool. She was a fool.
If she couldn't stand the touch of a eunuch's hand, what right did she have to want anything more than friendship with Prince Han? Or with any man at all?
She changed into her sleeping clothes and washed her face. She tidied the vanity and put away her jewelry. When it came to the lotus buyao, she stuffed it in the bottom of the chest Xiang pin sent her. She didn’t want to see it anymore, lest she conjure up silly dreams again.
Jiayi cleared and made the bed for Prince Han before hefting the privacy screen across from it. She laid out one of the bedrolls and crawled inside. She didn't know how much time had passed before Prince Han returned. They must have thought she was asleep because they all murmured and shuffled about. She listened as he readied himself for the night before slipping into bed.
The two of them were only separated by a few feet and a flimsy privacy screen, but to Jiayi, it felt like he was sunk into the pit of a valley and on a mountain Jiayi would never reach.
The gentle roaring of the rain outside dragged Jiayi from her sleep. It was disorienting, as Jiayi didn’t remember falling asleep at all. It was comforting to know that her little episode with Sang’er hadn’t robbed her of the easy sleep she had grown into these last few months. She rolled to her side and shut her eyes for a few moments longer, knowing she’d be curled up in a carriage for who knows how long. She stiffened as a figure slipped past the privacy screen. She watched as Sang’er crept around her and refilled a brazier that Jiayi didn’t remember dragging over before she went to sleep.
When he was far away from the hot coals, Jiayi threw out a whisper of thanks.
He jumped, turning around to face her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,”
“It’s alright,” Jiayi drew the covers tight around her neck, “Is it time to leave?”
“Not yet. With rain this heavy, the carriage will no doubt get stuck in the mud. You can go back to sleep,”
Jiayi nodded, not planning to listen to him at all, but found herself waking up a second time. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and peeked around the privacy screen into the empty room. She quickly dressed and tidied up the room, packing away her things so she would be ready to go the moment Prince Han said. A tray of still-warm food was on the table, so she ate and opened the window, not minding the whipping winds and rain.
She wondered how long it would take to get to the villa. Would there be any other servants when she got there? Maybe Prince Han could put her in the kitchens. Jiayi felt that she’d lazed around enough.
Her meal was long finished when Prince Han, Sang’er, and Chang daren returned, all soaked to the bone. Prince Han looked exhausted.
“Is something wrong?” Jiayi asked, unpacking as many towels as possible. She squashed the urge to personally press the cloth to Prince Han’s face and handed it to him instead.
Sang’er removed Prince Han’s sopping cape and sighed.
“The bridge that we are supposed to take to the villa was swallowed up by the river. There’s no chance it’ll be repaired before you have to get back to Xiang pin,”
A pit opened up in Jiayi’s stomach.
How could she chase away her silly dreams if she was trapped here with Prince Han?
--------
*Jiayi is wearing a two piece Han Chinese outfit consisting of a jacket (ru) and a skirt (qun). Unlike Han Chinese men, Han Chinese women weren’t forced to adopt Manchu clothing or hair styles. Han Chinese citizens outnumbered Manchu citizens during the Qing dynasty, so outside of the palace, the Han Chinese style of clothing would be more common.