Duan Ling took out a jade hairpin to tie up his hair, but as he passed a mirror placed in the outer room of the bath, he inadvertently glanced at it and his gaze paused for a moment.
The person in the mirror had lush features, and his skin, flushed from the bath, was rosy beneath its pallor.
However, the wrists of his raised hands were covered in scars.
Although no new wounds or scars had been added recently, the accumulated, grotesque scars from years past were still there, one after another, very conspicuous.
Duan Ling had applied scar-removing medicine, but due to the large number of scars and the long time they had been there, there wasn’t much noticeable improvement in the short term.
These ugly scars still clung to his skin, like centipedes, like an ineradicable affliction.
He stared at them for a long time before finally averting his gaze and slowly tying up his long hair.
After securing his hair, Duan Ling looked at himself in the mirror again, casually picked up an object, and threw it at the mirror.
The mirror immediately shattered with a crisp sound, breaking into pieces that fell to the ground, still reflecting his face and the scars on his wrists.
Duan Ling put the object back in its place, stepped over the shards of the mirror, and opened the door to leave.
A Imperial guard, who had run over upon hearing the noise, immediately stopped and bowed upon seeing him emerge: “Minister Duan.”
Duan Ling, with one hand fastening his wrist guard, smiled gently:
“I accidentally broke the mirror inside. Have someone come to clean it up.”
Accidentally broke the mirror?
The guard was puzzled but replied, “Yes, sir.”
Only then did Duan Ling head to the hall.
At that very moment, in the hall, Lin Ting was lazily reclining on a beauty couch, eating candied fruits while reading a storybook, the epitome of comfort.
The storybook and candied fruits had been brought to her by the Imperial guards.
Lin Ting hadn’t touched or moved anything of Duan Ling’s; as soon as she entered, she had been very well-behaved.
She had no choice but to be, after all, this was the Northern Commandery.
Lin Ting was so engrossed in her reading that she didn’t even notice when Duan Ling arrived.
It wasn’t until she finished the small dish of candied fruits and felt thirsty, reaching for a cup of tea that was handed to her from beside her, that she realized something was amiss.
She took the cup, drank from it, and only then did she turn her head to see Duan Ling.
She quickly wiped her mouth, sat up, and asked, “Have you finished interrogating the prisoner?”
She knew he had come specifically to question an important prisoner that day.
“Finished,” Duan Ling replied.
“Then let’s head back to the mansion?” Lin Ting bent down to put on her shoes.
Before she got on the beauty couch, she had taken off her shoes, leaving only her white silk socks on her feet.
He looked at her feet, partially hidden by the silk socks, and squatted down to hold them.
Lin Ting’s hand, which was holding the shoe, froze mid-air.
The moment Duan Ling’s fingers touched her toes through the silk socks, it was almost as if he was holding them directly.
This scene brought back memories of a dream she had once had, where he licked her feet.
The image was so vivid that Lin Ting instinctively tried to pull her foot back.
But Duan Ling quickly took the shoe from her and began to put it on her foot, slipping it on.
Lin Ting remained still.
He was just helping her put on her shoes, not trying to harm her.
Lin Ting thought to herself, lowering her eyes to watch him.
Duan Ling was squatting with his head down, while she was sitting on the beauty couch with her skirt spread out and her legs naturally hanging off the side.
From a certain angle, it looked like…
He seemed about to crawl under her skirt to do something.
Lin Ting quickly averted her eyes, for the first time feeling that the time it took to put on shoes was dragging on.
By the time he finished, her legs had gone numb.
They had been tensed for so long, with poor blood circulation—it was no wonder they felt numb.
Lin Ting inwardly scolded herself for having impure thoughts, always thinking of inappropriate things whenever she saw him.
She stood up and stood still for a few seconds to regain feeling in her legs.
It took three quarters of an hour to travel from the Northern Commandery back to the Duan Mansion.
Lin Ting fell asleep in the carriage.
She had gone to bed late the previous night, hadn’t taken a nap in the morning, and after getting up to pay respects to the elders, she had gone to Linglong Pavilion.
In the afternoon, she had accompanied Duan Ling to the Northern Commandery, where she had spent nearly an hour in the hall reading a storybook.
Now she was so exhausted that she could fall asleep even while sitting.
When she slept, she was restless, regardless of time or place, occasionally moving her limbs.
Duan Ling sat beside her and watched.
When Lin Ting’s hand was still, it hung by her side, falling outside the seat, suspended in mid-air, with her fingers naturally curled, as if inviting someone to hold them.
He watched and then reached out, grasping her thumb, inching his way in, then holding her index finger, until he held all of them, touching the warmth that belonged to her.
Lin Ting began to move again, unconsciously gripping his hand and feeling it several times, trying to confirm in her sleep what it was.
Duan Ling’s eyelashes fluttered, and he gazed at the hand that Lin Ting was holding in a daze.
She continued to move, her slender fingers traveling up his hand, feeling the slightly rigid wrist guard, and then slipping through the gaps in the guard to continue exploring, directly touching his scars.
Duan Ling’s breath caught.
Lin Ting’s eyes were tightly closed, but she furrowed her brows, seemingly because the uneven texture of what she was touching was confusing to her.
Rationality told Duan Ling that he should immediately withdraw his hand and pull down the wrist guard, but the scars that she had touched trembled uncontrollably, as if they had suddenly come to life, wanting to break free from the skin.
After a while, Lin Ting’s eyelids fluttered, showing signs of waking up.
Duan Ling removed her hand and pulled the wrist guard back down.
The moment the wrist guard was lowered, Lin Ting lifted her eyelids, looking at him groggily.
Her consciousness flickered between dreams and reality before gradually returning.
She looked at her still-warm hand and asked anxiously, “Did I just do something to you?”
“You held my hand.”
Lin Ting became fully awake, sitting up straight.
“What else?” she asked, hoping she hadn’t been feeling him up.
She had a habit of both hitting and touching people in her sleep.
Duan Ling subtly rotated his wrist, suppressing the unfamiliar fluttering sensation.
“Nothing else,” he replied.
“That’s good,” Lin Ting said, stretching languidly.
She lifted the curtain and leaned out the window to look at the street, letting the breeze clear her mind.
By the time the carriage arrived at the Duan Mansion, it was already dark.
They didn’t need to have dinner with Lady Feng or pay their respects in the morning and evening; they could go straight to their room.
Duan Ling remembered that Lin Ting had mentioned wanting to pick out some books from the study, so he took her there first.
It was only when Lin Ting entered the study that she remembered there was a wall in Duan Ling’s study filled with human eyeballs.
Because they had become much closer recently, she was often beguiled by his gentle demeanor, even though deep down she knew his true nature.
However, Duan Ling simply had a penchant for collecting eyeballs.
Those eyes were taken from the bodies of criminals that the Imperial guards were authorized to dispose of, and he hadn’t committed any heinous acts.
Even so, she couldn’t help but glance at the bookshelf that concealed the eyeballs.
Duan Ling strolled through several rows of bookshelves, picked out a few books that Lin Ting would likely read, and without looking up at her, he sensed that she was staring at something:
“What are you looking at?”
Lin Ting hesitated for a second between lying and telling the truth, but ultimately chose the latter:
“I’m looking at where you keep the eyes.”
“Are you afraid?” His motion of selecting books paused.
Lin Ting pondered, “Not exactly afraid, but it feels like there are eyes staring at us.”
The study was dimly lit.
Duan Ling emerged from the bookshelves, his tall figure casting a shadow on the floor that reached her feet:
“If it bothers you, I could move them.”
Lin Ting raised her eyelids:
“By move, do you mean destroy them all?”
Duan Ling approached Lin Ting, his shadow shifting away from her feet:
“No, I mean relocate them somewhere else, not keep them in the mansion.”
She shook her head without hesitation: “Leave them here. I don’t mind.”
This was Duan Ling’s study, and he had the freedom to keep whatever he wanted.
Even though they were married, she had no right to interfere too much.
Everyone should have their own private space and shouldn’t force the other to change for their sake.
Although it was a bit unsettling, she could just come here less often in the future.
Lin Ting took the books Duan Ling had chosen with both hands and noticed that he had picked exactly the ones she liked, as if selecting according to her preferences.
Duan Ling said, “If you don’t like the books I picked for you, you can choose again.”
“There’s nothing to dislike. These are the ones I wanted to read. I’ll pick others after I finish these,” Lin Ting said, taking the books and heading out, not because she was afraid of the eyes in the study, but because it was getting late.
Back in their room, Lin Ting asked Duan Ling to bathe first, fearing that he would use the bathwater she had used.
She would carefully wash herself with the bathwater at the end, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to wash his face or body with it.
Duan Ling didn’t object.
He called the servants to bring in hot water and pour it into the bathtub, and then he bathed first.
Lin Ting sat on the bed, waiting for him to finish.
The screen that blocked the bathtub was large, and the gauze curtain was thick, like a door, preventing her from seeing the person on the other side.
She could only hear the sound of water being stirred during the bath.
To avoid listening to the water sounds, she opened the book Duan Ling had chosen for her, but strangely, she couldn’t concentrate.
She read line after line without understanding what they said.
The evening was not suitable for reading, she thought.
Lin Ting went to push open the wooden window facing the uninhabited courtyard and stood there for a short while before returning to the bed.
Shortly after she got back, Duan Ling finished his bath, and she called the servants to bring in hot water again.
The servant first took away the used bathwater and then brought in the hot water, which took some time.
Lin Ting patiently waited.
After they left, she checked the newly brought clothes, made sure the undergarment was there, and then undressed.
Soaking in the warm water was comfortable, but Lin Ting didn’t linger.
She quickly washed, dried herself, and put on her clothes.
When she came out, Duan Ling was already on the bed, sitting on the outer side.
During the nights on North Long Street and on their wedding night, it had always been Lin Ting who slept on the outer side of the bed, while he slept on the inner side.
Today, he had actually switched places.
If she wanted to get into bed, she would have to pass in front of him.
Lin Ting slowly walked over, sat on the farthest side, and dried her long hair with a piece of ramie cloth.
She had washed her hair tonight.
“Why are you sleeping on the outside?” she asked.
“Is it not allowed?” he replied.
“Fine,” Lin Ting said, lowering her head and continuing to dry her hair.
Suddenly, Duan Ling kissed her from behind, licking the remaining water droplets from her earlobe.