Chapter 75: Inner Garments: Playing Hard to Get

Moonlight draped the earth like a thin veil, filtering through the locust tree’s branches and leaves to cast fragmented shadows on the bluestone path. Strands of hair by her temples lifted in the breeze, while the two figures—one ahead, one behind—formed the most beautiful sight in the night.

“Everything went smoothly tonight?” Zhao Huairen asked softly.

Zhuyu, who trailed half a step behind her, nodded and gestured with her hand: Yes, Young Master Yan’s people arrived right on time. The grain has already been moved to a safe place.

“Mm,” Zhao Huairen pursed her thin lips, her clear and moist voice like that sliver of moonlight amid the branches, crisp and cool: “After this, proceed according to the original plan. You don’t need to get involved anymore. Hand the remaining grain over to Xing Wanyang and her people to transport.”

Zhuyu nodded lightly.

The mistress and servant walked side by side under the moonlight.

The air held only the rustling of leaves stirred by the wind.

Just before entering the bedroom, Zhao Huairen suddenly stopped. She turned her head to look at Zhuyu behind her and said, “Hong Xiujie trusts you the most right now, and Young Master Yan needs a helper too. In Changlin County, follow her orders.”

Zhuyu hadn’t expected her to specifically mention this.

A glint flashed in her eyes, and Zhuyu nodded in agreement.

“Alright, go back and rest. You have to set off at dawn tomorrow.” Zhao Huairen’s phoenix eyes lowered slightly as she spoke, ascending the stone steps.

After escorting Zhao Huairen safely to her quarters and seeing her push open the door with a raised hand, Zhuyu prepared to turn and leave—but she abruptly lifted her head.

There was someone else in the bedroom.

She heard the sound of something being knocked over.

Half a sleeve caught in the rough window crevice, struggling. The door frame snagged a few threads, like mischievous cat fur. A stray lock of hair stuck to the woman’s sweat-dampened forehead, her collar tugged askew by the sleeve, revealing her collarbone that gleamed even more lustrously than the moonlight.

In the dim light, the two wives locked eyes.

The calm surface of her heart instantly rippled.

Her gaze swept over that patch of white, and Zhao Huairen unconsciously tightened her fingertips.

Zhuyu’s palm already covered the short blade in her sleeve. She tensed her arm and carefully stepped onto the stone steps. But just as she reached Zhao Huairen’s side, her Heir Apparent shut the door behind them with a reverse push.

Wait… what?

What was the Heir Apparent doing?

As if reading her confusion, Zhao Huairen lowered her phoenix eyes slightly, her tone calm as if commenting on the night’s scenery: “It’s late. Hurry back to your room and rest.”

Zhuyu furrowed her brows and gestured: Heir Apparent, there’s someone inside.

“You mean that noise just now?” Seeing Zhuyu nod, Zhao Huairen’s gaze turned cool, her light brown eyes serene as still water. “Just a wild cat. No need to worry about it.”

How could there be a wild cat in the County Yamen?

Why was the Heir Apparent covering for that person?

The night wind swept through the front courtyard, rustling the locust tree’s leaves and scattering the moonlight on the ground. Under her Heir Apparent’s unquestionable gaze, Zhuyu suddenly realized something. She hesitated to speak, then cupped her hands and took her leave.

…

Yan Yiqing stood by the window like a naughty kitten punished to stand in the corner.

Her dark, glossy peach-blossom eyes brimmed with embarrassment.

She had knocked on the window for ages with no response. After pondering left and right, she decided to climb in for a look—only to find that Huairen had returned from outside.

Wasn’t this the Official Residence?!

Why hadn’t anyone fixed the broken window…

With a “creak,” the door was pushed open from outside.

Yan Yiqing was too embarrassed to look at her own wife. She rubbed her earlobe and feigned casualness: “Ahem, Heir Apparent, why are you back so late?”

Only after saying it did she realize how oddly it sounded.

It was like a wife complaining about her lady returning home late.

The bright moonlight carried the night’s chill, spilling gently into the room through the half-open window, illuminating the inadvertent glimpse of spring allure from the beauty.

“Heir Apparent, I didn’t mean to.” With no response from Zhao Huairen for a long time, thinking she was angry, Yan Yiqing pursed her lips and explained in a muffled voice: “The window was broken. I’ve never encountered something like this before. Heir Apparent, don’t…”

…

Damn it, Huairen wasn’t speaking again.

In that moment,

Grievance outweighed shame.

Yan Yiqing lifted her gaze to the woman standing in the shadows, clenched her fists, and said sulkily: “The one who lost face is me. Heir Apparent can laugh at me if you want, but ignoring me… what’s that about?”

“It’s not.” Zhao Huairen lowered her eyes.

“Not what?”

Her fair earlobe flushed red as if dripping blood. Zhao Huairen turned her face away, a hint of barely detectable shyness in her voice: “Young Master Yan’s clothes… are a bit disheveled.”

…Tch, such a stickler. Of course they’d be disheveled if the sleeve got caught in the window. Yan Yiqing curled her lip carelessly, but when she looked down, she discovered—her clothes were torn from the left sleeve all the way to her waist.

Only thin inner garments remained.

Better than nothing, like a coy invitation.

The kitten’s face heated up instantly. She fumbled to straighten her clothes, but the tattered outer robe was like disobedient yarn, getting more tangled the more she tried.

“If Young Master Yan doesn’t mind,” Zhao Huairen, still standing in the shadows, continued upon seeing Yan Yiqing look over again, “you can wear mine.”

What kind of question was that?

Did she even have the right to mind right now?

Yan Yiqing clutched her sleeve and said: “I don’t mind. I want that snow-white one.”

Originally worried about her mood, but seeing her still in the mind to pick a color, Zhao Huairen raised her hand to her lips and warmly agreed: “I’ll get it.”

–

After a rustle of sounds,

Zhao Huairen held the clothes and slowly walked up to her.

Yan Yiqing’s eyes flickered at the garment in Zhao Huairen’s hands. She quickly extended her paws: “Thanks.”

It was her favorite piece.

Huairen was gentlest with her when wearing this.

Seeing her take the clothes, a soft smile bloomed in those light brown eyes. Zhao Huairen was about to tell her to change behind the screen—when the person in front of her suddenly turned her back without warning and directly shed her outer robe.

The plain gauze inner garment flowed with pearl-like softness.

The thin gauze traced her curves, then tightened abruptly at the waist.

Her waist was supple and narrow, the indented arcs on either side as if they could hold a pool of moonlight—every inch perfectly beautiful. The plain gauze wrapped her skin, swirling tiny eddies at the dimples of her lower back, then cascading down along her full, rounded hips.

Oblivious to the gaze behind her.

Yan Yiqing raised her arms, the sleeves sliding down with the motion.

The fullness at her chest propped up smooth mounds. Zhao Huairen’s breath faltered after just a glance.

Yiqing was so beautiful.

Beautiful enough to stir possessiveness in her heart.

Having campaigned for years, Yan Yiqing changed clothes with practiced speed. When she turned back, Zhao Huairen was still staring fixedly at her. “Hm? What is Heir Apparent looking at?”

Her hidden desire caught, Zhao Huairen withdrew her gaze and lowered her eyes: “Nothing.”

“If Heir Apparent says nothing, then nothing it is.” Yan Yiqing subtly curled her lip, not arguing further, and turned her head to ask: “It’s so dark in here, can’t see a thing. Why didn’t Heir Apparent think to light a lamp?”

She could see…

Very clearly.

Accustomed to her inexplicable silences, Yan Yiqing ignored Zhao Huairen’s odd tone and fumbled by moonlight to light the lamp near the window. When she turned back, she jolted: “Heir Apparent, what’s wrong!?”

Zhao Huairen’s long lashes trembled faintly as she said coolly: “My face is red from too much sun today.”

“No!” The kitten hurried to her side, wanting to touch but fearing she’d get angry, so she anxiously exclaimed with her eyes: “Heir Apparent, you’re bleeding—from your nose.”

The flush on her cheeks deepened. Zhao Huairen struggled to stay calm, averting her gaze and saying nonchalantly: “It’s nothing, just—”

“No ‘just’ about it. Sit down first, okay?” Yan Yiqing cut her off before she could finish, grabbed her wrist, led her to the soft couch, placed her palm on her shoulder, and half-forced, half-ordered her to sit.

Her mind was already a chaotic mess.

Blood surged more freely; Zhao Huairen didn’t need to think to know how disheveled she looked.

“Don’t you dare move!” Seeing her tilt her head back, Yan Yiqing scolded fiercely. She clamped Zhao Huairen’s wrist with one hand, pressed the other to her hairline, and loudly declared: “Tilting your head during a nosebleed sends the blood to the brain and makes you mute! Does Heir Apparent want to become a mute?!”

Her palm was only slightly larger than her own.

Yet the strength was absurdly great, like an iron ring impossible to break free from.

Soft fragrance mixed with the heavy metallic tang of blood—and worse, with the slightest lowering of her eyes, she could see that heart-trembling spring scene. Unable to break free or look away, Zhao Huairen was forced into the awkward position, her gaze with nowhere to land—

In the end, she could only close her eyes like an ostrich burying its head.

After what felt like an eternity, just as Zhao Huairen was about to turn to stone, the restraint on her wrist finally loosened. Seeing the bleeding stop, Yan Yiqing exhaled in relief, still shaken: “Heir Apparent, you scared me to death just now!”

…

She desperately wished she could faint.

Why did this have to happen?

“Heir Apparent?” Yan Yiqing’s heart, just settled, suspended again. She tested Zhao Huairen’s forehead with the back of her hand, frowning tightly: “Heir Apparent, can you hear me?”

“Yes.” Seizing her wrist, Zhao Huairen suddenly opened her eyes.

Her light brown phoenix eyes reflected the other’s figure.

Though misty, her gaze was clear.

“What’s wrong with Heir Apparent? Why the sudden nosebleed? Did that dog official poison your food? Let’s go find the physician…” The kitten, usually unflappable in crises, glanced at the bloodied silk handkerchief and turned into a startled bird, chattering nonstop.

Her heart was crushed by this straightforward concern.

Full, unreserved—warmer than the sun.

“I’m fine.”

The person before her was skilled at lying. “I’m fine” was as common as roadside weeds to her. Yan Yiqing didn’t believe it and clenched her fists: “You bled so much—how could you be fine?”

“I’m really fine.” Sensing she wanted to pull away, Zhao Huairen tightened her fingers, gripping the wrist firmer—

Under Yan Yiqing’s anxious gaze,

She guided her palm gently to her own cheek.

Her lake-calm phoenix eyes danced with candlelight, and in those cool, distant pupils, the center was occupied by one person’s figure alone.

“I’m fine this time—for real.” Her earlobe tinged pink, Zhao Huairen trembled her lashes faintly, her voice soft: “In the future… if something’s wrong, I’ll try not to hide it from you.”

The unease faded bit by bit under her gentle coaxing.

Replaced by incredulous joy.

Did Huairen mean…

She would trust her more from now on?