Chapter 109

 

After going out of Fanglin Gate in the north of the city, Pei Xiaoyuan took Xuyu from the carriage and put her on the horse, and the two rode together.

The autumn moon quietly hung over the peaks of the distant mountains outside the city. Jinwuzhui galloped lightly in the night wind, flying along the northern suburbs like riding on clouds and mist, carrying its masters into the Forbidden Garden. The palace attendants and eunuchs on duty at Xianliu Palace were caught off guard by the princess and prince consort’s unexpected late-night arrival. After a brief flurry of hurried movements, the gates of the palace garden slowly opened. The night’s shadows were driven away by the glow of countless lanterns being lit inside. Under the silver firelight, the chief palace attendant led the others to welcome the princess and prince consort into the courtyard. Then, the palace gates silently shut once more, sealing out all the noise and disturbances of the outside world.

In the western bedroom of Yubi Hall, steam rose thickly in the bathing room. The young man who had waited the entire long day for his beloved could no longer restrain himself. Dismissing the maids attending her bath, he stepped forward, illuminated by the flickering silver lamp. In a bath infused with ground orchid sandalwood and Ruinao incense, he pulled her into his embrace. The water surged violently, shimmering darkly under the shifting lamplight. From time to time, fragrant bathwater spilled over the rim, gradually soaking the smooth stone floor paved with river pebbles nearby.

When they eventually reach the bed, he finally obeyed her completely, lying on the pillow and letting her check his injured shoulder.

Earlier, she had repeatedly reminded him and even tried to stop him, yet she still failed to prevent his recklessness. In the end, she had no choice but to go along with him completely, lest his injured shoulder get wet. However, she had no idea how it had happened—now, looking at the bandages on his wounded shoulder, she saw that they had still been soaked through.

“I told you not to, but you wouldn’t listen!”

She was draped in a robe, straddling the lean curve of his lower back as she carefully replaced the damp bandages with dry ones while complaining. He, however, simply buried his face deep into the pillow, eyes closed, silently enduring her reprimands. Each time she leaned forward or shifted slightly on his back, the ends of her hair—cool, soft, and smooth like silk—would occasionally brush against his bare skin. He savored the sensation in secret, and before he realized it, he was aroused again. Just as she finished dressing his wound and was about to move away, his arm suddenly reached back. His fingers slipped beneath the loose folds of her robe and quietly closed around the smooth curve of her thigh, stopping her from leaving.

At first she didn’t realize his intention, she just felt his calloused palms pressed against her, slowly rubbing her bent knees under her robe, slightly rough. She chuckled and quickly retracted her legs, trying to remove his hands, but he turned over and she ended up sitting on his waist.

She was startled at first, but soon her eyes widened in surprise and she exclaimed softly, “Aren’t we just…”

Her voice then disappeared.

After a long time, the distant sound of the palace water-clock marked of the third watch echoed faintly from some unknown corner, drifting into their ears.

“Are you asleep?”

She asked, her voice still carrying traces of lingering emotion.

She slept too much during the day, and although her body felt tired and sore now, she had not felt sleepy yet.

His violent panting finally calmed down. He opened his eyes, and in the dim light shining through the canopy, he reached out to her, stroked her still hot cheek, then lowered his head towards her and kissed the lips that had just spoken to him.

After a while, she broke free, panting slightly, and clenched one hand into a fist, pressing it between their chins to prevent him from kissing her. However, she didn’t expect him to open his mouth and bite her finger, with quite a bit of force. A sharp mix of pain and tingling spread through her fingertip, while the air between them grew even more heated.

“Ouch! You! Let me go!” She chuckled softly.

“I didn’t see it before! I thought you—”

She had been deceived by his polite appearance, thinking that he would be a restrained person in bed, treating her with mutual respect and deference. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that after their first time, he would become so bold—even unscrupulous in the way he treated her.

He smiled, loosened his teeth as he was told, released her tortured fingers, and placed his lips next to her ear.

“Don’t you want to sleep yet?” he asked her in a low voice.

Xuyu immediately became alert and shook her head desperately: “I want to sleep! I’m so tired!”

He smiled and stopped bothering her. He stretched out his arms to hold her in his arms and kissed her forehead lovingly.

“Then go to sleep!”

But Xuyu really couldn’t sleep. She moved around in his arms, which finally made him unable to bear it anymore and held her down. Realizing that the situation seemed to be on the verge of getting out of control again, she hurriedly interrupted and asked about what had happened when he entered the palace this morning.

“I heard Father yelling outside, but luckily it didn’t last long.”

She naturally also noticed that his fish talisman was severely deformed. Obviously, it had taken another beating from her father’s wrath this morning.

“What did you two talk about afterwards? It took you so long to come out!”

He replied slowly: “Nothing. I just explained what happened last night to His Majesty, admitted my fault, and asked for His Majesty’s forgiveness. Then I accepted His Majesty’s earnest teachings, and then he let me go.”

“How do you explain what happened last night?” she couldn’t help but wonder.

He did not respond at first, but when she urged him again, he said, “Of course I told the truth. His Majesty saw my sincere repentance and pardoned me.”

Xuyu didn’t believe it, so she climbed up from his arms, put her chin on her hand, and stared at him: “Really?”

She liked this man who shared the bed with her, she no longer wished to dwell on the unpleasantness of the previous night. What was past was past. Perhaps she had been in the wrong first—saying things that didn’t need to be said. Some matters were better left unspoken, understood without words. Saying them aloud was foolish. And at that time, she must have been a fool.

However, she really didn’t believe that if he really told the truth, her father would let it go so easily.

As expected, he finally relented and changed his words: “…I did hide a few things from. It’s my fault!”

Xuyu naturally knew what he was hiding.

For some reason, a wave of disinterest washed over her, followed by a tinge of regret for having brought up the matter at all.

She chuckled softly, then lay back down and said, “Enough! At least you’re smart enough not to ask for trouble, and spare my father from even more fit of anger.”

After she finished speaking, she turned over in his arms and faced the wall.

“It’s late. Aren’t you tired? I’m sleepy too…” She murmured and closed her eyes.

For a while, there was only silence inside the canopy. Suddenly, the view turned dark. The flame left outside the canopy had burned down to the candle root and went out.

“What’s wrong?”

A moment later, his tentative voice, which seemed to be somewhat hesitant, came from the darkness.

“Nothing. I’m just sleepy. Go to sleep.” She responded casually.

He fell silent again. Just when Xuyu thought he had fallen asleep, suddenly, his voice came from behind again: “I didn’t tell His Majesty the whole truth… nor did I tell you everything.”

She remained lying still, listening as he continued: “In Cui Mansion, I met Wang Zhenfeng. You were the one who saved her from that disaster, but my aunt and she mistakenly thought it was my doing. My aunt had other intentions—she deliberately kept it from you and arranged for us to meet. Naturally, I clarified everything to her. She is someone who knows her boundaries; there will be no misunderstandings in the future. But when I returned, I was afraid you would mind, so I chose to keep it from you. I didn’t expect that you had already rescued her from this difficult situation. I underestimated you. I always thought myself open and upright, a man who carries himself with integrity. But compared to you… in this matter, I was wrong.”

Xuyu still had her back to him and remained silent.

“I still need to apologize to you.” He paused and continued.

“I really shouldn’t have lost my temper at that time. I left you to go out for a drink and made you come out in the middle of the night to pick me up. I’m indeed a bastard! Fortunately, you didn’t take it heart.”

Xuyu felt him leaning towards her, slowly stretched out his arms and held her completely in his arms, with her back pressed tightly against his chest.

Then, in the darkness, his lips slowly moved to her ear.

“Princess, you can punish me in any way you want. I am willing to bear it. But—”

He was whispering to her when he suddenly paused, stopping mid-sentence. Then, he slowly lay back down on the pillow without saying another word.

Xuyu, who thought she had understood everything, felt her heart waver once more because of that brief hesitation.

“But what?” Finally, she couldn’t help herself and asked him to continue, “Why do I hear a hint of reluctance in your tone, even as you apologize?”

“How dare I?” he responded.

“It’s just that, at the time, I was truly blinded by anger. It was you, Princess, who made me like that.”

“You were the one who chose to get angry, what does it have to do with me?”

He no longer responded.

Xuyu pushed away the arm that was originally around her waist.

“You’re so annoying! I hate it the most when people speak only half a sentence! You’d better explain yourself. How did I make you so angry?”

“I said the wrong thing again. Princess, just pretend I didn’t say it. It’s all my fault! Princess, go to sleep. I won’t disturb you anymore.”

He no longer insisted on holding her again, and instead he backed away. But from time to time after that, he tossed and turned beside her.

Xuyu endured for a moment, but finally couldn’t bear it anymore and kicked him.

“What are you doing? How can I sleep if you toss around like that?”

“I shouldn’t have lifted the bed this morning. My shoulders hurt and I couldn’t sleep,” he said.

Xuyu was startled. At first, she suspected that he had ulterior motives for saying this. But then she thought again, his shoulder injury was not light to begin with, and it had only been a few days since he started recovering. The bed was extremely heavy, and in his urgency of lifting it, he must have pulled the injury. It was understandable. Not to mention, tonight, it had gotten wet again.

She got up and tried to get out of bed to light the lamp.

“Let me take a look,” she said, and tried to crawl over him, but suddenly he reached out and grabbed her arm.

“No need. I’ll just endure it.” He said sullenly and pushed her back onto the pillow.

“Princess, don’t you know why I was so angry at that time?” he asked.

“I’m not a worm in your belly, how could I know!”

She sat up again. “Light the lamp and let me take a look. Injury is no joking matters—”

Before she could finish her words, he pushed her down again.

“You! You’re the one who said it hurt! And you’re the one who won’t let me see!”

“Don’t say things like that again.” He pretended not to hear and said in a deep voice.

“What?” She still pretended not to notice.

“Princess, you know—” he said in a low voice.

“I don’t know!” she replied.

“Back in Ganliang, that day outside my uncle’s study, the first time I saw you—I think I must have already liked you then…”

After a brief silence, Xuyu suddenly heard him say this.

It must be the darkness of night that could make a man become smooth-talking and bold.

Xuyu could hardly believe her ears. Such words actually came out of his mouth.

Because of his words, her heart was pounding like a sudden downpour drumming against the rooftop. But in the next moment, she heard herself retort, “I don’t believe it! Someone like you—how could you have fallen for me at first sight…”

“It’s true. Princess, you can laugh at me as much as you like. But the moment I saw you, I felt that you were exactly the kind of person who had grown deep in my heart.” He continued softly.

“That day when I returned from hunting with Chengping, my uncle told me you had rejected the marriage proposal. When I heard the news, I must have been somewhat disappointed. Of course, I couldn’t let you, my uncle, Chengping and the others know. Later, I recognized you as my foster sister and looked for you everywhere. In addition to feeling guilty, perhaps I also hoped to meet you again. Even if I couldn’t marry you, being able to serve you as a brother, to do things for you—that would be enough.”

For some reason, as he spoke, he suddenly became impatient and emotional. He turned over and pressed her under him. His mouth found hers, and with a force as if wanting to crush her, he kissed and bit her.

Xuyu was completely stunned.

His breathing quickly became rapid, and in the darkness, the clothes she had put on was taken off again.

“This morning I told His Majesty that I would do my best to protect you for your entire life. I did not lie to him. This is what I have always thought…”

“Slow down! Slow down!” She couldn’t help but exclaim softly and whimper because of what he did to her.

“Now you know why I was so angry last night, right?”

He ignored her pleas, gritted his teeth, and forced her to endure his vigour in the dark even more than before.

“You clearly knew that I liked you to the bone, so you controlled me and forced me into your trap. But you weren’t nice to me! And you even said those words to me, trying to push me to someone else!

“Princess, tell me yourself, are you trying to make me angry on purpose? Shouldn’t I be angry?”

Xuyu couldn’t say anything.

In the overwhelming confusion and ecstasy, the only thing she could do was to stretch out her two snow-white arms, trembling, and tightly hug Pei Xiayuan who was whispering touching love words in her ears.

The sound of water-clock marked the fourth watch.

At last, he was satisfied, put his arms around her and fell into a deep sleep.

Xuyu was extremely tired, but for some reason, she still couldn’t fall asleep.

She curled up quietly against his hot chest, closed her eyes, and listened to his even and steady breathing. Suddenly she realized that the second half of the autumn night in Chang’an was already quite cold.

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