It was late at night, and even the bustling night market had gradually cooled down. A few sparse pedestrians hurried home on the streets. Cui Wangshu walked slowly along the road, a jug of wine in her hand.
The ground still had scraps of colored paper that hadn’t been cleaned up, scattered here and there, wedged between the brick seams.
Cui Wangshu paused, bent down to pick up a clean piece of blue colored paper, and deftly folded it with her fingertips into an origami crane. The street was somewhat quiet when a light, soft footsteps stopped in front of her.
A smile flickered in Cui Wangshu’s eyes. She looked up, her gaze landing on the person opposite her.
Jiang Chenbi’s lips curved in a faint smile as she stood gracefully across from her, playfully winking her right eye. “Does little Lord Cui have any interest in drinking with me?”
Cui Wangshu raised her hand and hooked her lips. “It would be my honor.”
The two returned to Jiang Chenbi’s residence near Yunyu Fang. On the rooftop, Jiang Chenbi leaned back on her hands, tilting her face up to gaze at the moon in the sky. She chuckled lightly. “Do you remember at Zhang Sanshui’s house, how we also looked at the moon like this and chatted?”
Cui Wangshu hooked her lips, took a sip of wine, and said, “I remember. When I heard him say my Onyx Iron Fan had been picked up by someone, I guessed it was you. I didn’t expect you to actually come.”
Jiang Chenbi tilted her head to look at her curiously. “What if I hadn’t shown up then? What were you planning to do?”
Cui Wangshu narrowed her eyes coolly. “…Of course, kill him.”
Even though her hands and feet were bound, she still had her knees and teeth. There would always be a way to save herself.
Jiang Chenbi took the wine jug from her hand, drank a sip, and asked, “When you realized I had deliberately used you to sneak into the Zhang family, were you very angry?”
Cui Wangshu paused, then answered honestly, “Yes, but not at you. I was angry at myself.”
Lowering her eyes, Cui Wangshu said, “Jiang Chenbi, actually, I know about a lot of things. But I feel those things aren’t as important as you are. So whether you want to tell me or not, I choose to respect your thoughts.”
Jiang Chenbi wiped the wine from her lips and furrowed her brows. “Why?”
Cui Wangshu’s palm clenched slightly. She tilted her head back to look at the moon, her voice hoarse but feigning ease. “Because I like you…”
This wasn’t the first time Cui Wangshu had said she liked her. Even if she hadn’t believed it at first, she had a heart and could feel it. Every word and action from the person before her was filled with cherishment and tenderness. She couldn’t deceive herself.
Jiang Chenbi’s throat tightened. She asked, “What do you like about me?”
Cui Wangshu lowered her head, a smile unconsciously tugging at her lips. “I like… the way you don’t hide your ambitions at all and desperately climb upward. I like the way you’re occasionally vulnerable and vent through intimacy. I like… all the versions of you that you show me, or even the ones you don’t.”
Jiang Chenbi bit her lower lip and couldn’t help but ask softly, “No matter what version of me, you like it all?”
Even if I schemed deliberately and dragged us into this improper relationship, you’d still like me after knowing?
Even if my thoughts oppose yours and I’m a madwoman who sees lives as ants, would you still be willing to like me?
Cui Wangshu turned her head, meeting her complex gaze. After a long moment, she said softly, “Yes.”
“I’m not a child, Jiang Chenbi. I know what you’re worried about. I also know what Wang Lao told you. These years, even though they never told me, I know I’m different from others. Since I chose you, I’ve prepared myself to bear everything.”
To bear your mysterious past, to bear all the obstacles that will come in the future.
Cui Wangshu raised her hand and gently caressed her brows and eyes, her gaze tender. “No matter what version of you, I like you. I won’t let go.”
Her promise was too precious. It landed lightly on Jiang Chenbi’s heart but felt like a thousand-jin boulder, pressing down until she could hardly breathe. Suddenly, Jiang Chenbi felt an impulse to tell Cui Wangshu about their relationship, about the secrets in the Yellow Path Palace Underground Palace, to see just how far the person before her would go for her.
Jiang Chenbi’s lower lip trembled slightly, the words surging to her throat about to spill out. “If…”
Clang—
The wine jug rolled off the rooftop and shattered on the ground, interrupting Jiang Chenbi’s words. Cui Wangshu glanced indifferently at it, then looked tenderly at her and asked softly, “What?”
Jiang Chenbi swallowed, regaining some clarity. She turned her face away, lowering her eyes. “Nothing.”
Cui Wangshu watched her profile, her eyelashes fluttering lightly as her gaze dimmed a little. She lowered her eyes to conceal her emotions. “Alright.”
The jug was broken, and the atmosphere grew somewhat tense.
Cui Wangshu pursed her lips and asked, “In two days, I’ll be heading back to the Capital City. Are you staying in Luozhou?”
Jiang Chenbi furrowed her brows slightly, hesitating. “I…”
Cui Wangshu suddenly chuckled, interrupting her. “It’s fine. If you want to stay in Luozhou, that’s okay. The Luo River diversion will take some time anyway.”
Jiang Chenbi fell silent, and after a long while, she said, “You go back first. I have some things to handle. In half a month, I’ll come find you.”
Cui Wangshu smiled, her eyes full of complete trust. “Alright.”
Jiang Chenbi met her eyes and smiled as well.
Cui Wangshu took out the origami crane she had folded that night from her sleeve and placed it in Jiang Chenbi’s hand. “For this half month, let it keep you company.”
Jiang Chenbi picked up the origami crane to examine it and laughed. “Sure.”
She carefully put away the origami crane, then lifted her eyes to see Cui Wangshu still looking at her. As if by telepathy, Jiang Chenbi said, “It’s late. Go rest.”
In the past in the Capital City, they hadn’t exchanged much beyond occasional flirtatious words in bed to heighten the mood, rarely prying into each other’s affairs.
Aside from that heart-to-heart at Liu Baizi Bend, they hadn’t had time for a proper chat. They met infrequently, each busy with their own matters— a hasty encounter in Tongzhou, then not seeing each other for another month.
Their reunion in Luozhou might have been when Cui Wangshu, during that month’s separation, unconsciously realized deeper feelings from her longing. Or perhaps after two months of life together, her heart had gradually clarified. They had been apart for over a month recently, and upon reuniting, those emotions surged. That night, they had gone a bit wild.
But tonight was different from every previous intimate encounter.
It wasn’t venting, nor using the Love Gu as an excuse to express longing, nor deliberate seduction.
Cui Wangshu pulled Jiang Chenbi into her arms, her movements gentle and light, without the strong dominant words of the past, nor the wicked teasing.
There was only a steady, enduring cherishment, as if by prolonging this night’s intimacy endlessly, they wouldn’t have to part.
Jiang Chenbi turned her head, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes. Cui Wangshu gently kissed them away, lightening her actions even further. She sighed, “If you’re still crying like this, what am I supposed to do…”
Jiang Chenbi struggled to push her away, her voice somewhat sticky. “No more. Get away.”
Cui Wangshu caught her hand, kissed it at her lips, and chuckled lightly. “No.”
It wasn’t Cui Wangshu’s fault. Jiang Chenbi was more sensitive than most, whether to pain or other sensations. Even though Cui Wangshu had been as gentle as possible before parting, she couldn’t withstand the overwhelming pleasure. Physiological tears hung at the corners of her eyes.
Cui Wangshu changed positions, pulling her into her embrace so she could lower her head and bite her collarbone. She coaxed, “After all this time, how are you still not used to it?”
Jiang Chenbi’s scalp tingled. She couldn’t help but bite her collarbone, suppressing the moans rising in her throat. After the shudders passed, she slumped weakly on her shoulder, licking the blood from the bite mark, complaining resentfully, “No matter how unused to it I am, I don’t see you stopping…”
Cui Wangshu lowered her head slightly and saw her obediently nestled on her shoulder like a kitten, her nose and the corners of her eyes red from crying. Her mouth said to go away, but her hands clung tightly to her shoulders.
Cui Wangshu leaned in to kiss her, biting her lower lip with a sigh. “I’m really going to die from this look of yours.”
Jiang Chenbi laughed lightly and dodged her lips. “You can even say something so absurd.”
Cui Wangshu raised her hand to grasp her arm, draping it around her neck. She held her slender waist, pulling her tightly into her embrace, planting dense kisses along her neck. Her voice hoarse, she coaxed seductively, “Is this okay?”
Jiang Chenbi was never one to be coy. In the past, playing hard to get was just because she knew Cui Wangshu liked that sense of control. Now that they were parting again, she was naturally willing.
Her hands braced on Cui Wangshu’s shoulders, she lifted her eyelids with deliberate seduction, leaned down to kiss her, mumbling, “Gently…”
Cui Wangshu’s breath hitched at that look in her eyes. She subconsciously tightened her embrace, her control freak side aroused again. Only after Jiang Chenbi bit her tongue hard did she snap back and obediently restrain herself…
Jiang Chenbi’s brows curved triumphantly, and she laughed softly.
Cui Wangshu’s eyes overflowed with willing indulgence. She bit her earlobe, panting, “So naughty…”
But what she loved most was her full of schemes, playing everyone in the palm of her hand.
People are always drawn to those similar yet opposite to themselves, and Cui Wangshu was no exception.
Her life from childhood had been too dull and monotonous, bound by rules, yet instilled with ruthless ambition. She wasn’t purely good, nor thoroughly bad.
She was confined by twisted, contradictory thoughts: a subject unwilling to remain one, ruthless in methods yet harboring mercy. This conflict constantly pulled her into a vortex of struggle.
So she was attracted to someone like Jiang Chenbi, unwavering and true to her actions, indulging in every moment Jiang Chenbi brought that shattered order.
Craving that instant of collapse, the freedom chaos brought to the world…
…
Cui Wangshu had told Jiang Chenbi that she would always wake up beside her from now on, but today she broke her word again.
The Emperor set off for the Capital City today, and Cui Wangshu had to be present. They had gone at it until dawn before resting. Jiang Chenbi could sleep, but Cui Wangshu had barely stopped before she had to dress and head out.
Standing at the city gate, Cui Wangshu hadn’t slept all night. There was a faint bluish tint under her eyes, but she looked more spirited than if she had slept well. She slightly restrained the satiation in her eyes and put on her usual aloof and indifferent expression.
In just three short days, Li Cong looked even thinner, almost just skin and bones. His effeminate eyes seemed even more sinister as he squinted at Cui Wangshu. “Once Luozhou matters are handled, return to the Capital City as soon as possible.”
Cui Wangshu replied with poise, “Yes.”
Watching the woman stand there with such outstanding poise, irritation flashed in Li Cong’s eyes. He dropped the curtain.
The grand procession headed majestically toward the Capital City.
