He pressed close to her ear, lightly biting her earlobe, each heavy breath spraying her neck. “You are sincere to that scoundrel, but unfortunately, you love the wrong person. Have you even thought about how a weak man with no support in the palace climbed step by step to his current position?”

“Naturally by selling his body, using his flesh to sleep his way up, layer by layer. Even Qin Zheng enjoyed him.” Qin Qing was like a venomous snake, flicking a scarlet forked tongue, each sound an enticing tune, filled with torn, raging resentment, determined to bring Yue Guanyi to his death.

“I believe His Highness is not that kind of person. Please do not say things that damage his reputation, after all, he is still your son,” Qiu Shuzhi said slowly.

Qin Qing said coldly, “I would disdain to have a son who ruins the family reputation like him. If being toyed with in brothels only sullied his body against his will, after returning to the palace, he willingly offered himself. Even his heart is rotten.”

“Perhaps he feels that since his chastity is already lost, being slept with by one woman or a group of women makes no difference. He can gain power while at it…Qiu Niang, you want to save him from that life, but he willingly debases himself…” His voice was low, resentful, and full of obsessive love.

“Qiu Niang, he is not worthy of you.” Qin Qing raised his head slightly from her neck, brushing aside the hair sticking to her skin in the summer heat. His tongue slid from her neck, the cool sensation making her shiver.

Feeling her reaction, Qin Qing laughed softly.

He let go with one hand and sat up, but kept the other hand interlocked with hers.

His fingertips lingered at the collar of her robe. Qiu Shuzhi grabbed his hand. “Empress Dowager, what are you doing?”

Qin Qing slowly curled his lips into a smile. Ignoring her resistance, he pulled open his own tightly wrapped collar, revealing the red mark of his chastity below his collarbone.

Qiu Shuzhi hurriedly closed her eyes. If she had known Qin Qing would go this crazy, she should not have come.

She struggled to get up, not caring if she hurt him. But Qin Qing grabbed her hand and lightly bit her index finger, leaving a neat, distinct ring of teeth marks.

“If you dare push me away, I will call people in right now and say you disregarded imperial authority and insulted me!” He tightly gripped her shoulders, his eyes burning.

Only when Qin Qing felt he could not control her would he put on airs as the Empress Dowager, using his power to bully – whatever it took to achieve his goal.

Qiu Shuzhi indeed dared not move, but the clear disgust and displeasure in her eyes, like a sharp needle, pricked his heart bit by bit. The pain spread and deepened, aching to the bone, with no cure.

In his heart, Qiu Shuzhi was always gentle and smiling, soft and tender no matter what happened, like a deity in the distant clouds, with no obvious joy or anger, impossible to touch her true feelings.

But he had touched them and stepped on her bottom line.

Qin Qing suddenly felt as if something was strangling his throat, making it extremely difficult to breathe, as if some poison was poured into his organs, corroding them. Qiu Shuzhi was the poison poured into his body, but he was crazy for her, wishing to drink more and more, but it was all quenching his thirst with poison.

The longer he interacted with Qiu Shuzhi, the thicker and more scorching this thirst became, constantly wanting more. He had been enduring and restraining himself, relying on the paintings and fans she left behind to vent the crazy love he could not express in front of her. But it was precisely this restraint that led to his current end.

He softened his body and leaned against her bosom, cozying up to her ingratiatingly, like a male peacock desperately displaying his beautiful feathers to seek favor. He pulled her hand and placed it on his chastity mark, his gentle eyes wet with charm: “Qiu Niang, what he cannot give you, I can. At least I am pure. I also only have you by my side. I will serve you with all my heart.”

Qiu Shuzhi’s hand retracted vigilantly, not wanting to touch his chastity mark.

She hated being threatened the most. The corners of her eyes lifted slightly, cold and aloof with a hint of anger: “What, does the Empress Dowager want the son to pay for the father’s debts?”

“You-” Qin Qing bit his lip. He had never said such humiliating things, but he clearly felt she was angry, her icy manner keeping people a thousand miles away, as if just waiting for him to get fed up, lose his temper and push her away.

But he knew that if he pushed her away now, their relationship would only grow more distant.

He anxiously grabbed her hand tighter, his soft body pressing even closer against her, skin tightly pressed together. “Paying the father’s debts – it’s not impossible.”

Qiu Shuzhi: “…?”

She had thought saying something so sarcastic would finally make him feel humiliated and angry, and lose interest in her. Who knew Qin Qing would actually…

What she didn’t know was that Qin Qing had already thrown all caution to the wind, disregarding his status as the Empress Dowager and the etiquette of a noble house.

He was even thinking, how could a gentle nobleman like Qiu Shuzhi fancy a sordid type like Yue Guanyi who came from a brothel? Perhaps it was precisely because Yue Guanyi was sordid and shameless, going all out to seduce her, that she was moved.

If the father could do it, so could the son. What Yue Guanyi could do, he could do too, and he would do it better than Yue Guanyi. He would firmly grasp her heart, make her addicted to him, unable to leave him.

A sickly flush surged on his face. His thin lips lightly kissed her neck behind her ear, hot kisses falling on her skin in a dense pattern, low panting sounds echoing ambiguously in the quiet private room.

“Qiu Niang,” he called her name obsessively and dotingly. His wet, hot kisses meandered upwards, finally landing on her lips.

Qiu Shuzhi instinctively lifted her head, looking at him coldly. “Empress Dowager, please restrain yourself.”

But Qin Qing was already terminally ill, his entire being falling into a morbid obsession. Not only did he not listen to Qiu Shuzhi’s words, he took advantage of her opened mouth and plunged his tongue inside, stirring wildly, sucking and licking, igniting a scorching flame wherever it went.

Faintly, he let out a sigh of satisfaction, only to fall into an even deeper emptiness. His greed kept expanding, seemingly unable to be satisfied no matter what. Only by continuously taking from her, continuously drawing warmth from her body, could he temporarily suppress his almost absurd possessiveness that was in chaos.

“Enough!” Qiu Shuzhi pushed him away. Shards scattered on the ground pierced his palms.

“His Highness the eldest prince-” Before Yu Ye could finish announcing, the door was suddenly pushed open and a gloomy, sullen face walked in.