Chapter 37 Seeing Jinling City

The thoughts entangled in his heart grew wildly like weeds. The usually prudent Long Emperor stared at those two moist lips, and for the first time in his past and present lives, he had a shameful thought.

Although in his mind echoed the teachings of the Grand Tutor, “A man’s sense of shame and restraint is the way of a good husband.”

At this moment, he couldn’t adhere to the propriety and shame that men should observe. The Empress Mother once said that he was born with a rebellious nature, and if he didn’t constantly remind himself, he would surely make a big mistake.

Laughably, for years, because of such a judgment from the Empress Mother, he restrained himself and cultivated virtue.

In this new life, the former Long Emperor’s grace was no more. Though dissolute and licentious, he had never crossed the line of propriety and shame in his heart because of the Empress Mother’s harsh judgment.

Because he didn’t accept it, how could someone as self-disciplined as him ever have a day of violating etiquette and having such filthy thoughts that go against the way of a gentleman?

Yet unexpectedly, at this moment…

The one who understood him best was indeed the Yongtai Emperor who gave birth to him, raised him, and destroyed him. Her words became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Pei Yuanshao smiled bitterly, but his gaze lingering on her lips didn’t move.

He just wanted to touch them lightly, to remember the taste of her lips. That’s all.

Such an opportunity might only come once in a lifetime.

Last night, she was drugged, and he lay in her arms, shamefully giving himself to her.

But she didn’t want him…!

At that moment, he understood that she didn’t love him… the body’s instinctive reaction could prove everything.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t; a woman who could emit such an overwhelmingly seductive fragrance was more than capable. It was just… she didn’t love him.

That’s why she would rather sleep alone outside for a whole night than engage in passionate lovemaking with him in the warm room.

Pei Yuanshao tugged at the corner of his lips. It was a love so cruel it led to despair. He hadn’t even had the chance to fight for it before her reaction poured over him like a bucket of cold water, chilling him to the bone in an instant.

Born as the eldest, love was already difficult for him in this life. If he were an ordinary person, he could shamelessly cling to her legs, pestering her until the moment she fell in love with him.

But he couldn’t. Too many lives depended on him. If the court were to fall, it wouldn’t just be his life; all the court officials loyal to him and the imperial sister would end up with their entire families executed.

He didn’t have many choices from the beginning. Falling in love with her was an accident, beautiful enough to give birth to hope.

But his mission to bear the burden of family and country meant that there were too many things beyond his control.

He wanted to leave himself a memory, to touch her lips, to remember that taste. Even if they were to part in the future, he could have a moment of heart-pounding recollection.

A flash of struggle passed through Pei Yuanshao’s ink-colored eyes. He carefully examined her; the woman before him had her eyes tightly shut, her black and curled eyelashes docilely resting on her eyelids. Her breathing was long and rhythmic.

A glimmer of light passed through Pei Yuanshao’s peach blossom eyes. Feeling guilty like a thief, he called out, “Liu Changning?”

She didn’t move.

He leaned down, tentatively placing his lips near her ear, and softly called, “Wife-master?”

She was sleeping deeply, her nostrils rhythmically flaring, her two moist lips exposed unguardedly to the air.

He sneakily moved closer, closing his eyes, aiming for her lips, pressing down inch by inch.

The touch of lip to lip.

Just as he had imagined, soft like icy cotton.

His lips pressed against hers, and in his heart, he couldn’t help but let out a comfortable sigh.

But…

Pei Yuanshao opened his eyes. So this was what it felt like to touch her lips. In those erotic paintings, was this the ultimate pleasure when a woman and a man engaged in such acts?

He blinked in confusion, not daring to move his lips.

For some unknown reason, a huge sense of emptiness arose in his heart. Even though their lips were touching, feeling the icy softness like cotton, it seemed not enough… he wanted a little more.

But how to get more?

Pei Yuanshao looked dazed, the coolness of her lips unable to quench the heat on his own. He appeared absent-minded, at a loss for a long time, feeling very empty inside. … His ink-colored eyes were filled with intense urgency and confusion.

Liu Changning opened her eyes, strangely staring at the beautiful face so close to her own.

His eyes were blank, not noticing that she had opened her eyes. Even though he was committing an indecent act against her, he didn’t know how to proceed.

His lips were pressed against hers, motionless for a long time. As pure as a blank sheet of paper.

Not even knowing how to kiss, one wonders how he managed to pretend to be dissolute and at ease with other women.

Looking at his dazed and foolish appearance, Liu Changning couldn’t help but sigh.

Thinking of yesterday’s lamb soup, she had originally harbored doubts, suspecting that his behavior last night might have been an act. But now, such thoughts dissipated like smoke. She had overestimated him. How could someone as innocent as a white radish be expected to drug her with ulterior motives?

Even if he succeeded, he would probably only know how to rub against her body, unable to figure out a solution all night.

It was a waste that she had pretended to be asleep to test him.

After all, unable to figure out his purpose for drugging her, she had feigned this sleep.

Yet unexpectedly…

Liu Changning was at a loss for words. The person lying on top of her, lips touching lips for a long time, showed no signs of getting up. She finally couldn’t bear it anymore. With a skillful movement of her leg, she embraced him, turned over, and pinned him against the wooden bed.

Pei Yuanshao looked up slowly, seeing the woman above him with clear eyes and an expressionless face.

His ink-like eyes widened, his sculpted lips trembling nervously. He pressed his legs together, tightly gripping his long robe with both hands, trying in vain to cover the changes beneath.

Liu Changning raised an eyebrow, her hands propped on either side of him. She lowered her head, her long black hair falling down, intertwining with his disheveled blue-black locks. Their hair tangled together, falling onto the bright red brocade quilt, inexplicably adding a touch of ambiguity.

Her lips brushed past his ear, her breath like orchids: “What did you want to do? Hmm?”

Pei Yuanshao’s body stiffened slightly. He clenched his legs tighter, looking at her jade-white profile, unable to resist lowering his head.

But his chin was lifted by the woman on top of him. She lowered her head, her gaze meeting his. Seeing his embarrassment and bewilderment, she softened her voice and said, “Be good, Shao’er. Don’t fall for me… you’ll get hurt.”

For the first time in her life, Liu Changning rejected a man so gently. Perhaps it was because of that pair of ink-like peach blossom eyes, clear and pure. Perhaps it was because of his clumsy attempt to press his lips against hers earlier, which made her feel a moment of daze.

The temperature of his lips felt familiar to her, as if she had experienced it countless times before. But when she tried to recall, there was only a vast emptiness.

Liu Changning narrowed her eyes, driving the absurd illusion out of her mind.

When she looked at him again, she resumed her cool and indifferent demeanor.

The man beneath her looked dazed. He blinked, and one of his crow-feather-like eyelashes fell into his eye socket. Probably feeling uncomfortable, his two rows of eyelashes fluttered.

Liu Changning reached out and picked out the fallen eyelash from his eye socket.

Pei Yuanshao’s eyes were slightly red. He pursed his lips, deliberately pressing down the upturned corners of his smile. He stared at her steadily and asked pointedly, “Are you this gentle with other men too?”

Liu Changning’s hand, suspended in mid-air, stiffened slightly. She stared at the man beneath her, her eyes somewhat absent.

In her memory, there seemed to be a similar voice asking her, “You’re usually so cold and indifferent, why are you being so attentive? Could it be that you like me?”

…

Pei Yuanshao couldn’t quite describe the feeling in his heart – dejected yet sweet, desperate yet seemingly still hopeful.

Even though he was certain she didn’t love him, after being rejected so gently, he actually developed the illusion that he might be special to her.

He couldn’t help but ask that extra question, which was met with hesitation welling up in her eyes. She was lost in thought, thinking of something unknown, her eyes containing a hint of hesitation and bewilderment.

His originally heavy heart lightened a bit due to the hesitation on her face.

A glimmer of hope flashed through his ink-colored eyes, and a bold question slipped out, “Could it be that you don’t know what it means to like someone? Why don’t you kiss me? The storybooks say that a kiss can make you understand what love is!”

Liu Changning suddenly came back to her senses, looking down to meet his bright, eager eyes. A hint of a smile appeared in her eyes as she leaned down, her lips brushing his ear, and asked in a low voice, “Do you really like me that much?”

The man beneath her nodded, the tips of his ears turning so red they seemed about to drip blood. His peach blossom eyes contained a hint of infatuation as he waited.

Liu Changning glanced at his trembling lips, slowly propped herself up, stood at the edge of the bed, and gracefully disappeared, only saying faintly, “Young master, you should wake up now.”

After saying this, she left without paying him any more attention.

Pei Yuanshao lowered his head, staring blankly at the bed curtains, tugging at the corner of his lips. The smile on his face was uglier than crying.

He raised his hand to touch his own lips, where the warmth of her lips lingered. Perhaps… he had been too greedy.

—

After leaving her convenient husband’s room, Liu Changning went to the back mountain.

Because she had discovered an old ginseng in the mountain a few days ago, and it wasn’t easy to dig it out completely with its roots intact, she had gone to the town to buy some tools the other day. Today, as it was still early, she had time to go to the back mountain to dig it out.

She had to leave, especially after this morning, knowing that her convenient husband had developed feelings for her.

She couldn’t keep him!

A person like her would never develop feelings for a man in this life. Falling in love with her would only lead to misfortune.

Rather than letting him get deeply involved, it was better to cut it off cleanly.

Come to think of it, she was now poor and ugly. She didn’t know what her convenient husband, such a proud person, saw in her.

Although she didn’t like men, after a month of living together, she had developed some inexplicable tolerance for him.

For his own good, she should tell him about the divorce.

When Pei Yuanshao got dressed and left the room, the house was empty.

It was common for her to go work in the fields, but that boy called Guangjing was also nowhere to be seen.

Pei Yuanshao narrowed his eyes. Because of the drugged lamb soup yesterday, it was clearly Guangjing’s doing. He had originally planned to interrogate him this morning, but didn’t expect that person to be so slick – after doing such a bad thing, he had packed up and fled early in the morning.

He snorted coldly. If that despicable boy hadn’t escaped so cunningly, he would have taught him a good lesson.

These days, he had been busy with matters in the northern desert, leaving early and returning late every day, giving such a despicable person an opportunity to take advantage. Fortunately, his wife… Liu Changning had not been fooled by that boy pretending to be kind-hearted.

Since he had nothing to do today, he might as well stay at home and cook a meal for her. Last night at dinner, seeing how much she enjoyed the food cooked by Guangjing, he… he could do it too!

Pei Yuanshao’s eyes became determined. He rolled up his sleeves and pushed open the kitchen door.

Busy for an entire day, at a quarter past the hour of Shen, he finally managed to cook a table full of fragrant dishes.

He wiped his forehead, smelling the enticing aromas, and smiled smugly with satisfaction.

Suddenly, a figure shot through the window.

Hong Lian stood with her head bowed: “Your Highness, the county yamen caught fire last night. All one hundred and eight members of the Guan family perished. All the spies you placed here were assassinated last night.”

Hong Lian’s hands trembled as she handed over a piece of paper: “This is… this is a letter left for you by the Prince of Nan!”

On the white paper, four large blood-red characters read: “See you in Jinling City!”