12 Refined Lady Sister-in-Law × Beautiful and Delicate Yet Frail 12

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Xin Yi pulled Shen Rujie away.

Today, she was the peerless sister-in-law who felt sorry for the villainous little invalid, brought him warmth, bravely stood up against the malice of the entire world on his behalf, and was gentle, kind, beautiful, discerning, steadfast, and wise both within and without!

If she kept praising herself, she was liable to fall in love with herself.

Without sparing a thought for the reactions of the others behind them, she seized the young man by the sleeve and hurried away.

From a bystander’s perspective, one could glimpse the unmistakable anger upon that delicate little face, while her almond-shaped eyes were reddened with restrained fury.

Though she seemed as frail as a willow in the breeze, she had still managed to deliver a vicious slap to that spoiled young dandy who had bullied someone.

When a beauty lost her temper, even the heart and liver trembled.

The lecherous dandy had been caught off guard by the slap. He had looked ready to kill in his fury, but the moment he raised his head and saw that exquisitely beautiful face, he froze.

He had noticed her from the instant the daughter of the Wu family had taken her seat at the banquet.

Only after sending a maidservant to inquire had he learned that she was Marquis Shen’s sickly wife.

That was precisely why he had been in such a foul mood. Had she merely been an unregistered companion or a concubine, it would have been nothing. He could have found an opportunity to take her and play with her.

But she was Shen Gui’s formally wedded wife. No matter how generous the man might be, he would never give his principal wife to someone else.

Thus, the disgruntled dandy had turned his attention to the unfavored bastard of the marquis’s residence, intending to vent his anger on him as he usually did.

Who could have imagined that, through some twist of fate, he would instead receive a slap from a beauty?

His feelings were complicated. His anger had vanished without a trace.

He regretted only that the sickly beauty had struck him in the wrong place and at the wrong time. His residence had no shortage of empty rooms and warm beds. She could kick and hit him as much as she liked; if that was not enough, she could even bite him.

After all, one could never get enough of a beauty’s slaps.

With that thought in mind, the dandy seemed to lose himself in a daze. He reached out to take her hand, wanting to ask whether such delicate, pale fingers had hurt themselves when they struck him.

Unfortunately, before he could touch her, the girl, already simmering with anger, slapped him hard once more.

Xin Yi could tell that the man was sick in the head.

Between the revulsion and nausea, she had no desire to entangle herself with him any further. Once she had finished putting on the necessary show, she hurriedly pulled Shen Rujie away.

She knew that after today, all the young heirs of the capital’s noble families would form a new opinion of the marquis’s sickly wife and begin discussing her.

More importantly, Shen Gui would as well.

At this stage, Xin Yi did not need Shen Gui to like her. What she needed was his interest and attention—even if it amounted to only the shallowest degree of concern.

As for the system’s requirement that she put him through the “chasing-his-wife-to-the-crematorium” scenario, once she proposed a divorce, jealousy and regret would gradually make that man fall in love.

The sky was clear, with only a few pale clouds. Sunlight filtered through the willow branches, scattering sparse shadows upon the ground.

Against the secluded woodland, the intermittent birdsong sounded all the crisper.

She had even commandeered the carriage waiting outside.

Naturally, her excuse was that a married young lady from a respectable family could not be seen in the street being held in the arms of the marquis’s second son and riding on the same horse with him.

She was preserving Shen Gui’s dignity.

If he could appreciate that, all the better. If he could not, there was nothing she could do.

The carriage had traveled a long way, yet water was still dripping from Shen Rujie’s hair.

Moreover, he seemed unusually obedient today. From the moment she had seized his sleeve and dragged him away to the moment she had arranged for him to sit in the same carriage with her, he had not resisted in the slightest. His raven-black lashes remained lowered in submission; whatever she said, he did.

Xin Yi even began to suspect that if she told him to jump from the carriage at that very moment, Shen Rujie would not display the slightest unnecessary reaction.

Had he been rendered foolish with rage? Or was he so heartbroken that he simply did not wish to speak?

Xin Yi watched the wine dripping from the ends of his hair and along his cheeks, then looked at his handsome, rain-soaked face.

For some reason, she truly felt a little angry. She pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and rubbed his face with what she considered a suitably fierce amount of force.

As she wiped him, she grumbled reproachfully, “When other people bully you, don’t you know how to fight back? Even if you don’t want to start a quarrel, can’t you at least run away?”

“Your legs are attached to your body, yet you stood there like an idiot waiting for him to pour it over your head. You really are…”

But she knew that this could not have been the first time something like this had happened. Perhaps he had tried to resist in the past. But the marquis’s household would never take his side, and neither would Shen Gui. The consequences might only have been worse.

Xin Yi’s heart softened somewhat, and she could not help sighing. “Forget it. These poetry gatherings are no good at all. We won’t attend them anymore.”

Shen Rujie stared blankly at her profile.

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The moment she had taken out the handkerchief and begun wiping his face, he had lifted his trembling lashes to look at her.

She seemed very angry, deliberately increasing the pressure as she wiped him clean.

Her lips muttered unhappily, uttering words that sounded like scolding but were, in truth, concern. Her brows and eyes were touched with restraint and irritation, making her nothing like the gentle, cautious Xin Yi he usually knew.

She would stand in front of him.

When she saw others bullying him, she would not tell him to endure it. Instead, she would redden her eyes with anger and slap the offender hard across the face.

Actually… Shen Rujie did not need Xin Yi to stand up for him. He could take revenge himself.

No one had ever done such a thing for him. Shen Rujie had always assumed that he did not need anyone to do so. Yet as he looked at her angry, puffed-up expression, he found himself strangely greedy for it.

It was another side of his sister-in-law, hidden beneath her gentle exterior. So she was adorable when she glared at someone—and adorable when she scolded him, too.

Shen Rujie felt his heartbeat quicken, while his throat grew faintly dry.

“Xin…”

He had wanted to call her Xin Yi, but when the word reached his lips, it changed into the respectful form of address, “Sister-in-law.”

“What is it?”

“Your handkerchief… is sweet.”

“Pfft—”

Xin Yi seemed to be amused by him. The furrow between her brows smoothed out, and she deliberately spread the handkerchief open before him. “Because this is the handkerchief I just used to wrap some pastries. Of course it’s sweet.”

The carriage was fairly spacious, but because Xin Yi had to wipe his soaked hair, she had leaned toward him and was sitting very close.

Especially now, with less than half an arm’s length between them, he could clearly see her curved eyes, the tip of her small nose, and… the red lips that parted and closed slightly, revealing pearly teeth.

Had Shen Gui kissed her?

Had he, in places hidden from Shen Rujie’s sight, shamelessly toyed with his sister-in-law’s pitiful lips again and again?

The mere thought of it made a vicious fury surge within him, almost spilling over.

The young man’s eyes gradually darkened. Deep in his heart, with utmost restraint, he repeated a single word:

Sister-in-law.

Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, sister-in-law…

Xin Yi naturally noticed nothing unusual about him.

She was thinking about how to improve Shen Rujie’s mood after such an irritating and miserable incident.

He had essentially been subjected to a mass bullying by the capital’s spoiled young masters, with his elder brother tacitly permitting and condoning it.

Timely emotional counseling was clearly necessary.

After much thought, she arrived at an eternal golden rule.

Shop!

Whenever you were unhappy, you simply had to shop and shop and shop. Once you had finished buying things, you would be happy.

Thus, she turned to Shen Rujie, looked him over several times, and said, “I think Second Young Master is short of a few sets of clothes. The weather will soon turn cold, so we should have some thicker garments made.”

Then she considered him critically for a moment. “You’re also missing two folding fans, three thumb rings, and four sachets.”

After hearing this, the young man pressed his lips together. He wanted to say that folding fans and thumb rings were things only a dissolute dandy like the Seventh Prince would enjoy; he had no use for them.

But when he looked into those dark, lustrous almond-shaped eyes filled with light and laughter, he could no longer say anything. All that remained was the heartfelt reply, “Very well. I shall do as Sister-in-law arranges.”

* * *

There were only two truly excellent cloth shops in the capital.

Xin Yi chose the nearer one. She had more or less come to terms with things: since she could not take the silver in her possession away with her, she could spend it however she pleased in this small world.

She could buy whatever she wanted and give it to whomever she wanted.

With a grand sweep of her hand, she selected several fabrics for Shen Rujie. While the shopkeeper took his measurements, she moved a little farther away to examine some new bolts of cloth.

Because Madam Wu had been bedridden for years, she rarely ventured outside. Very few people in the capital had ever seen the marquis’s wife in person. The cloth shop’s owner was no exception, and he immediately misunderstood the relationship between the two of them.

As he measured the young man for clothes, he chuckled and said, “Young master, you are truly blessed. Your young lady treats you very well.”

His meaning was unmistakable: he had taken them for a young married couple.

Shen Rujie either had not understood what he meant or did not feel it necessary to explain. After staring blankly for a moment, he simply allowed the misunderstanding to stand.

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A-Ying, standing nearby, was so alarmed that her heart nearly leaped from her chest. She was practically on the verge of losing her soul.

This was disastrous! If the marquis found out, how would Madam ever explain herself?

And what was the matter with Second Young Master? Why had he not denied being mistaken for Madam’s husband?

By the time she tried to clarify things, the shopkeeper had already taken the measurements and left.

A-Ying was left standing there, exhausted and so anxious that she wanted to stamp her feet.

Xin Yi, meanwhile, was in an excellent mood.

It turned out that spending money on someone else was just as satisfying as spending it on herself. At last, she had experienced the feeling described in the storybooks: throwing a fortune at a beauty!

Naturally, the happiest person should have been the cloth shop’s owner. As he saw them out, he smiled until his face bloomed. “Young lady, do come again. Once these clothes are finished, I shall personally deliver them to your residence.”

After leaving the cloth shop, they did not return home. Instead, they turned down another street and went to a shop that specialized in small trinkets to select some sachets.

“Which style does Second Young Master like?” Xin Yi held several in her hands for comparison and did not forget to look up and ask his opinion.

Shen Rujie’s gaze paused upon a sachet embroidered with a spray of magnolia blossoms. The fingers hanging by his side tightened unconsciously.

He fixed his lacquer-black eyes upon her, his tone perfectly calm and docile. “I like the one with the magnolias.”

Xin Yi’s eyes curved with delight, and she smiled. “What a coincidence. I think this one is beautiful too.”

As she spoke, she selected two more in simpler, more elegant designs and had the shopkeeper wrap them all together.

After strolling around for a while, she grew somewhat tired and decided to buy some crystal cakes from the teahouse next door before leaving.

Unexpectedly, she heard a familiar notification beside her ear.

Ding! An important character, Zheng Wu, has been detected nearby.

The system reminded her, “Zheng Wu should be somewhere not far from the host. If the host decides to buy crystal cakes now, there is a high probability that the two of you will run into each other.”

Xin Yi had already stepped down from the carriage.

…

Why hadn’t it said so sooner?

After the blow to her favorability points during the “rescuing someone on a rainy night” incident, Xin Yi was still deeply wary.

She had no idea whether a cannon-fodder character like herself could withstand Zheng Wu’s overwhelming aura. Judging from the melodramatic nature of this world’s plotline, she feared that Shen Rujie might fall in love with Zheng Wu at first sight, then slowly become twisted and dark after failing to obtain her, crawling through the shadows in damp resentment…

If that happened, all the effort she had put in over this period would go to waste.

“Sister-in-law?”

The young man standing beside her looked at her in confusion, apparently unable to understand why she had suddenly stopped walking. “Weren’t you going to buy crystal cakes from the teahouse? Why have you stopped?”

Xin Yi gave two dry laughs. “Buy them, buy them… Of course we’re buying them.”

Then, seemingly taking an ordinary step, she let out a soft cry.

“Ah!”

Her body appeared to be on the verge of pitching forward.

The next instant, the young man caught her with lightning speed and held her securely in his arms.

Shen Rujie lowered his head to look at her. His dark eyes were misted with emotion, and the tips of his ears had reddened slightly. “Sister-in-law, can someone really fall over while simply standing still?”

Xin Yi nodded. “Yes.”

With her current persona, she could.

The system clicked its tongue twice, unable to resist commenting. “Not to criticize you, host, but your technique is far too clumsy. You actually tripped your left foot with your right. Do you really think that will fool Shen Rujie—”

The next instant:

Shen Rujie’s favorability increased by two points.

The system fell silent.

Xin Yi was stunned as well.

She tentatively released the young man’s arm and stood up, then once again accidentally tripped on perfectly level ground and fell back into his arms.

Shen Rujie’s favorability increased by two points.

Xin Yi fell silent.

No one stop her. Today, she could fill that favorability bar simply by throwing herself into his arms.

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