Chapter 71.2

When the vendor brought the red thread and pen, he happened to see the scene just now. He thought that the young lady was thin-skinned, so it wouldn’t be good if he disturbed them earlier. He waited patiently until the couple finished their intimate moment before approaching them. He couldn’t help but sigh at the loving relationship between young couples nowadays, which made him blush and his heart race.

The vendor placed the red thread and pen in an empty space on the table and waited patiently for them to finish carving.

After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, they finished carving and handed the stones to the vendor for coloring.

The fine brush dipped into the ground and mixed red ink, and then traced over the carved words. The gaps made by the knife were filled with red pigment, turning the white stone into a bright red color. Two clear words appeared before them,

–“Yan” and “Shen”.

Shen Fengyue stared at the two characters in a trance. Initially, he subconsciously wanted to carve his own “Shen” character but quickly realized that he was now Concubine Yan, so he changed it to “Yan”. Now, these two stones were placed together, with two striking red characters on the white stones, stimulating their nerves through their eyes.

In that instant, he really felt that they should be together, and he and Lord Shen should be husband and wife.

After the ink dried, the vendor threaded the two stones with a red string and handed them to Lord Shen, who paid for them before leaving with Shen Fengyue.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

The vendor suddenly called out before they left, causing Shen Fengyue and Lord Shen to turn around.

He said, “You two are a perfect match made in heaven, blessed by divine marriage. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness and a long-lasting marriage.”

Lord Shen laughed when he heard the vendor’s words and said loudly, “Thank you for your kind words, and I wish you a prosperous business.” He then took the opportunity to hold Shen Fengyue’s waist and waved his hand, saying, “My wife and I will go first.”

“A perfect match made in heaven, a divine marriage…” Shen Fengyue’s scalp tingled. It wasn’t until they were far away that he asked Lord Shen, “What does the red dot you put on my forehead mean?”

Lord Shen played with the two stones, which looked pleasing to the eye. He pinched the red string on top and answered Shen Fengyue’s question slowly, “I don’t know when it became a rule in the capital, but for newlyweds, the husband should put a red dot on his wife’s forehead.” He lied and made up a story.

“… ” Shen Fengyue choked and became angry. He raised his hand to hit Lord Shen, but the latter dodged it skillfully. “Are you trying to take advantage of me? Do you dare to cheat me?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager.” Lord Shen suddenly lowered his head and apologized, with an extremely good attitude.

This kind of attitude, where the other person surrenders as soon as you get angry, is like hitting a cotton ball with a fist. It’s soft and futile, but it still makes you angry.

“If you really don’t like it, should I wipe it off for you?”

Shen Fengyue shrugged and shook his head, saying, “Forget it. Since it’s already there, just leave it. If I wipe it off, it will leave a mark, which will look even worse.”

Shen Fengyue’s anger came and went quickly. After he finished speaking, he took a deep breath and didn’t care as much.

Lord Shen was good at reading people’s faces, especially his Empress Dowager’s. Seeing that he was laughing in anger, he immediately handed him the moonstone with the word “Shen” on it.

“What?”

“Take it. You have one, and I have one.”

Shen Fengyue shook his head. He didn’t want to see that thing for a while. Lord Shen wasn’t upset by the rejection. He had plenty of opportunities to give it to him later.

The two of them strolled around the night market again and then Lord Shen suggested they go for a late-night snack. Shen Fengyue hadn’t had supper in a long time and was very hungry, so he naturally agreed. After they finished eating and playing games, it was already late at night. When Shen Fengyue said it was time to go back, Lord Shen suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed that something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Fengyue was startled by his sudden exclamation.

“Empress Dowager, it’s my fault for not managing the time well. The palace gates must have been already closed, and I’m afraid we can’t go back now.”

“…”

Shen Fengyue looked at him, his eyes clearly saying, “You did this on purpose.”

Lord Shen really didn’t do it on purpose this time. He had just realized that there was a curfew. But if they couldn’t go back, wouldn’t that be a stroke of luck for him?

“Empress Dowager, there is no other solution. Why don’t we stay in an inn for the night and I’ll send you back as soon as it’s dawn?”

At this point, there was no other choice.

Shen Fengyue followed Lord Shen to an inn and then received some bad news.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. We only have one room available at the moment.”

Shen Fengyue’s face darkened, and he silently tugged at Lord Shen’s clothes from behind. Lord Shen also felt innocent. It wasn’t his fault that the inn only had one room left. Pulling him wouldn’t help.

But really… it’s another stroke of luck for me.

“But you two are a couple, so it should be okay to share a room,” the innkeeper said.

They had visited several inns earlier, all of which were full except for this one. They had to make do with what they had.

So Shen Fengyue reluctantly shared a room with Lord Shen.

After the first night, they became more familiar with each other. After sleeping together once, now there was a second time. Shameless Lord Shen complained pitifully that he was cold when Empress Dowager ordered him to sleep on the floor. After being ruthlessly kicked off the bed, he moaned and groaned on the ground.

“Can you be quiet?” Shen Fengyue covered himself with the blanket and turned over, facing away from him.

There was a moment of silence under the bed, and then the moaning and groaning started again, but the sound was much quieter.

But it was still noisy and made it impossible to sleep. Shen Fengyue was annoyed when he found that even covering his head with the blanket and blocking his ears couldn’t stop the noise from entering his ears. He sat up in bed and said to the person moaning and groaning under the bed, “Come up here and stop making trouble.”

As soon as Lord Shen was allowed to get on the bed, he immediately became honest. Like last time, he wrapped his arms around Shen Fengyue like an octopus, and Shen Fengyue was too lazy to bother with him even though he had ordered him to stop.

“Is Empress Dowager happy today?” the person behind him whispered in his ear.

Shen Fengyue closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath, trying to calm down and sleep peacefully.

Lord Shen, who didn’t get a response, felt disappointed and buried his face in his neck.

Shen Fengyue’s long breaths gradually became more and more rhythmic, and in a half-awake state, he felt the person lightly kiss his neck. The person leaned over to his ear and whispered,

“My beloved…”

In an instant, his drowsiness disappeared, and his heart skipped a beat. For a moment, Shen Fengyue’s heart seemed to stop beating as he forgot to breathe.

The night was dark and silent, with only the person’s long breaths and Shen Fengyue’s increasingly rapid heartbeat.

Thump thump thump thump thump thump.

It was the sound of his heart beating faster and faster.