Chapter 27: We’ll Take It Sloooowly

After dinner, Cui Wangshu first accompanied Cui Daoyuan for a game of chess before resting at the Cui Residence. In the end, she did not return to the Shangshu Residence.

Perhaps chatting with Liu Yuzhi that day had stirred up memories of her childhood, leaving Cui Wangshu feeling somewhat uneasy.

She had thought she no longer remembered those things, but the vivid scenes in her memory constantly reminded her that some matters could never be forgotten.

Thinking of Feng Gan’s words from earlier that day, Cui Wangshu frowned in disgust.

The rats the Cui Family had planted by her side could neither be pulled out nor stamped to death. Cui Wangshu rubbed her brow, a wave of irritation surging in her heart.

In the long night, without Jiang Chenbi by her side, Cui Wangshu suddenly felt unaccustomed to it.

They had shared a bed for two months now, and in such a short time, she had already grown used to the feeling of Jiang Chenbi sleeping beside her.

Cui Wangshu couldn’t figure it out, so she simply stopped thinking about it.

She had to attend morning court tomorrow.

Just as Cui Wangshu was drifting off to sleep, still thinking about asking Jiang Chenbi for some gu worms when she returned tomorrow—

Those rats needed to be dealt with.

Creeeak—

An extremely faint noise jolted Cui Wangshu from her hazy state. She sat up slightly, staring at the window where the sound had come from.

The next second, a graceful figure flipped in from outside the window.

Cui Wangshu’s eyes widened.

In the dim moonlight, Jiang Chenbi patted her clothes and walked toward her.

Cui Wangshu: ?

Was she… hallucinating?

How had this person bypassed the layers of guards at the Cui Residence to enter her room?

Seeing Cui Wangshu frozen in place, Jiang Chenbi smiled, knelt on one knee on the bed, hooked her arm around Cui Wangshu’s neck, and leaned down to kiss her.

Cui Wangshu snapped back to her senses and immediately pressed against Jiang Chenbi’s shoulders, whispering, “Have you gone mad?”

Jiang Chenbi swatted away Cui Wangshu’s hand, planted a kiss first, then said, “Yeah, I went mad thinking about you.”

Cui Wangshu was speechless. Was it really her she was thinking about, or something else?

Cui Wangshu got out of bed, walked to the window, gently opened it, and peered outside. Seeing no one, she breathed a sigh of relief. Turning back, she saw Jiang Chenbi had already taken off her skirt, slipped into her nightclothes, and nestled into the warm bedding.

Cui Wangshu: “……”

Jiang Chenbi patted the spot beside her. “Don’t worry, no one saw me. Come to bed quickly.”

Cui Wangshu walked over, somewhat speechless. “Not tonight. What if someone hears?”

Jiang Chenbi chuckled softly. “Who said I came to find you for that?”

Cui Wangshu eyed her suspiciously. She didn’t buy it.

Jiang Chenbi said helplessly, “Really. I can’t sleep without you by my side. Isn’t that the same for you? Otherwise, why aren’t you asleep yet?”

Cui Wangshu sighed and lifted the covers to lie down. “Who said I couldn’t sleep? You woke me up.”

Jiang Chenbi nodded. “Alright, alright. I can’t sleep. Little Cui Daren isn’t affected by my absence at all. Happy now?”

Cui Wangshu: “……”

Better if she hadn’t said anything.

Jiang Chenbi rolled familiarly into Cui Wangshu’s arms, found a comfortable position, and closed her eyes, as if she had really come tonight just to sleep.

Cui Wangshu blinked, adjusted her awkward arm, and naturally wrapped it around that slender waist before closing her eyes to sleep.

Taking advantage of the darkness where Cui Wangshu couldn’t see her expression, Jiang Chenbi quietly curved her lips in a triumphant smile.

The arm originally around Cui Wangshu’s neck slowly slid down to rest on her lower abdomen.

Cui Wangshu’s eyes snapped open. She knew it!!

But Cui Wangshu planned to play dead and ignored Jiang Chenbi’s movements.

Jiang Chenbi’s hand slipped under the hem of her clothes, fondling and pinching her firm, lean waist, unable to get enough. But the waist alone wasn’t satisfying, so Jiang Chenbi’s hand ventured upward.

Cui Wangshu’s breasts were beautifully shaped—full and round. She didn’t bind them despite wearing official robes, so they had developed nicely.

Jiang Chenbi had always been very satisfied with this.

When her hand reached the healed scar near Cui Wangshu’s heart, Jiang Chenbi paused, then gently traced over it, caressing it tenderly.

Cui Wangshu felt a fire rising from her touch. She grabbed the mischievous hand and rasped, “Are you sure you want to continue?”

Jiang Chenbi hummed lightly. “I told you it’s not that. Fine, fine, I won’t move. Go to sleep.”

Cui Wangshu took a deep breath, suppressing the stirring desire in her heart, and tried to summon sleepiness again.

They had only been quiet for a moment when rustling sounds came from under the covers again.

Cui Wangshu’s eyes flew open once more, her breathing quickening.

When Jiang Chenbi was little, her health was even worse than now. Because she suffered from hemoptysis, Qian Yuan was extremely strict about her diet—no overly sweet foods, no spicy ones.

But Jiang Chenbi had always loved sweets. When Qian Yuan wasn’t watching, she would coax the neighbor kids to buy her candy.

Her favorite childhood treat was shaped like a peach, made from glutinous rice flour and water for a pale, sticky skin wrapping sweet rice wine and fermented glutinous rice inside, dusted with milk powder on the outside, exuding a milky fragrance.

The vendor auntie was clever and handy, pinching a pointed tip on the glutinous rice ball and sprinkling it with rose powder.

Pink and rosy, just like a peach tip, especially enticing.

Jiang Chenbi didn’t like eating it with a spoon. She preferred biting into that peach tip, grinding it open with her sharp little teeth, then sucking out the sweet rice wine mixed with the milky outer layer, savoring it intoxicatedly.

Only after draining the rice wine did she eat the fermented rice inside.

She had a bit of an obsession, insisting on eating it in strict order without deviation.

Without a spoon, Jiang Chenbi used her tongue to tease it out bit by bit, rolling the fermented rice with her tongue tip before swallowing.

For bits stuck at the edges she couldn’t reach, she wrapped her mouth around the outer glutinous skin.

She stretched her tongue in circles to hunt them down, squinting her eyes in pleasure—eating her favorite sweets always made her so happy.

But one serving wasn’t enough. After finishing, Jiang Chenbi would pour flower nectar into the plate, mixing it with the milk powder for an extra sweet aroma.

She felt like a little puppy, lapping up the flower nectar and milk from the bowl bit by bit until it was all gone.

When some nectar stuck to her nose tip, Jiang Chenbi laughed softly. For what she couldn’t reach with her tongue, she gathered it with her fingers.

Plucking and pinching delicately, she collected some more and slipped her fingers into her mouth to savor.

Her face flushed with a drunken glow.

For a child, the rice wine’s alcohol content was quite potent.

Unfortunately, that treat vanished later on, but Jiang Chenbi never lost the skill.

Cui Wangshu covered her eyes with one hand, her face flushed crimson. She exhaled slowly to steady her breathing and stretched her numb, cramped legs—only to kick something soft.

But fearing the noise would disturb others, she didn’t dare move.

Her ankle was seized. Flashes of bizarre scenes danced before Cui Wangshu’s eyes.

She suddenly recalled her training days, when Cui Daoyuan had been ruthlessly harsh, locking her in with a wild wolf and watching coldly as she fought it.

Terrified to her core, her breathing ragged, she bit her lower lip hard, refusing to beg for mercy—like a dying animal flailing her legs wildly to escape the loss of control.

But back then, she had been too weak. Her ankle was gripped firmly, and she experienced the sensation of death once.

Jiang Chenbi licked her glistening lips. She had tasted the flavor of her favorite childhood sweet again, savoring it endlessly.

Sated, Jiang Chenbi carefully wiped clean her “table,” then sank into deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Jiang Chenbi felt cold—and jostled?

She opened her eyes to pull the covers, only to find herself cradled horizontally in someone’s arms. That person, cloaked in darkness-blending fabric, was leaping across rooftops.

Jiang Chenbi: ?

Looking up at the person’s cold face, the last traces of sleepiness vanished, replaced by an ominous premonition.

Cui Wangshu glanced down, seeing her awake, and curved her lips in a smile promising retribution.

Jiang Chenbi gave two awkward laughs, her face full of a thief’s guilt.

She struggled lightly to escape the perilous embrace.

But it was too late. Cui Wangshu had already landed steadily in the Shangshu Residence.

Jiang Chenbi resignedly closed her eyes.

She remembered clearly how she had dared to play with fire at the Cui Residence, holding back sounds.

Like an itch from nettles, Jiang Chenbi twisted unwillingly a couple times, but was quickly smacked on the butt.

The person’s voice, hoarse from prolonged silent endurance, said, “Don’t move.”

Jiang Chenbi’s ear tips reddened, and she didn’t dare move again.

Placed on the bed, she pretended to stretch her limbs to rise, but was swiftly pinned by the shoulders and pushed down.

Cui Wangshu knelt on one knee on the bed, unfastening her cloak with one hand while pressing Jiang Chenbi’s shoulder with the other.

The cloak fell away, and Cui Wangshu bit down on those naughty red lips from tonight.

Breathing grew erratic, suppressed gasps filling the air.

Cui Wangshu pinned the wrists—the same ones that had trapped her ankle tonight—firmly to the bed. The crisp slap echoed clearly.

Two overlapping palm prints bloomed on Jiang Chenbi’s buttocks. Jiang Chenbi couldn’t take it, biting the quilt to stifle any sound.

A soft laugh came from behind. Cui Wangshu chuckled lowly, “You’d better hold out all night.”

If asked whether Jiang Chenbi regretted her naughty deeds tonight, an hour ago she would have died before admitting it—after all, she believed in dying under a peony flower, a lustful ghost even in death.

But as she cried and begged to no avail, Jiang Chenbi thought she probably did regret it.

Her voice would likely be ruined tonight, she thought tearfully.

In a rare moment of clarity, she asked unwillingly, “You… sneaking out like this… aren’t you afraid of being discovered?”

Cui Wangshu licked her sharp tooth, flashing a somewhat wicked smile that tainted her dark eyes with deviance. “Didn’t you drug all the guards unconscious? Need me to remind you? Hm?”

It was over. She knew.

Jiang Chenbi silently covered her mouth with her hand, enduring the revenge that showed no sign of ending tonight.

How was this woman so vindictive!

Jiang Chenbi cursed inwardly but didn’t dare say it—or couldn’t. The only sounds escaping were broken whimpers.

Until a faint light pierced through the window paper, Jiang Chenbi finally exhaled in relief.

It was finally ending… she was about to die.

Seeing that rescued expression on her face, Cui Wangshu’s lip corner hooked into a malicious smile.

She bent down to whisper devilishly in Jiang Chenbi’s ear, “Don’t rush. I left a note for Father to call in sick for me. Didn’t you miss me?”

“We’ll take it sloooowly.”