At the beginning of the Mao hour, a faint fish-belly white light appeared on the distant horizon.
After finishing her meal, Shen Yuezhuang sat in front of the mirror, tying up her own hair.
The novelty of being a female official hadn’t worn off yet, so for once, Shen Yuezhuang wasn’t grumpy about waking up. Although her eyes were a bit swollen, she seemed to be in high spirits.
The only thing that wasn’t quite right was her sloppy hair-tying technique.
Either a strand would fall from behind her ear, or it would be as loose as a chicken’s nest. Finally, she managed to get the hairpin in, only to accidentally pull out a few more strands.
Liu Yun had made the excuse of not finishing her breakfast and was sitting in the outer room. From her angle, however, she could see Shen Yuezhuang sitting in front of the mirror through the frame of the partition door.
She found it somewhat amusing but didn’t go to help.
Yesterday, driven by some impulse, she had done such an outrageous thing. When she woke up today, Liu Yun had fully resolved to treat it as “you kissed me, I kissed you back” – “all debts settled, no more owing each other”!
Since they now owed each other nothing, they should resume their old relationship. Like in the old days at the Marquis Manor, they were certainly trusting, but there had been no intimate contact…
Distance was about discretion. Crossing the line would lead to wild thoughts, being too distant was unwilling and unsatisfactory. The way they had been before was the best way Liu Yun could imagine!
Since she had never done things like fixing her hair for her before, the Empress Dowager, who now had a “sense of propriety,” naturally shouldn’t do it either. She called for a young palace maid to attend to her, but Shen Yuezhuang was still upset about being shoved yesterday. Although she didn’t say anything, her action of dodging the maid’s touch was very obvious.
Liu Yun’s heart constricted, aching fiercely.
Seeing that Shen Yuezhuang intended to just make do and go put on her official robe, Liu Yun couldn’t hold back any longer.
The moment she entered, the extremely nervous young maid knelt down in a panic.
“Your Grace, forgive me.”
Liu Yun walked straight behind Shen Yuezhuang, undid her hair bun, and instructed the young maid, “Go peel a few eggs.”
The young maid hurriedly agreed and went out. Seeing it was Liu Yun, Shen Yuezhuang naturally didn’t dodge. Not only did she not dodge, she leaned her entire body back, resting fully against her.
Outwardly, Liu Yun scolded her for being lax in manners, but inside, her heart was full of anxious, secret joy.
This was merely the most ordinary of embraces, yet after yesterday… even this smallest bit of contact seemed to change its taste in her heart.
Liu Yun lowered her eyes, hiding all the strange feelings within. She pretended to be completely focused on arranging her hair. The young palace maid returned quickly with the peeled eggs.
This time, Shen Yuezhuang was quite proactive. She took the two eggs and rolled them over her eyes. The young maid, knowing she wasn’t welcome, quickly bowed and retreated.
The room fell very quiet.
It was still early. The government office required attendance at the beginning of the Mao hour.
The office was west of the palace wall, and the Longevity Palace was close to the Fu’an Gate on the west side. If it weren’t for the fact that the Emperor would send an eunuch with a summons to the office, Shen Yuezhuang could have simply gone directly to the front hall. This way, she could even sleep for another two quarters of an hour.
But even so, the walk from the Longevity Palace to the office was much closer than from the Marquis Manor. Liu Yun took her time, carefully combing through a strand of Shen Yuezhuang’s hair with her fingers.
Shen Yuezhuang was holding the eggs to her eyes, but then she seemed to think of something and let out an abrupt laugh.
Perhaps feeling guilty, Liu Yun’s heart jumped when she heard her laugh. She was probably afraid that she would speak as recklessly as she had the night before, so she subtly tightened her grip on the hair in her hand, an implicit warning not to say anything inappropriate.
But Shen Yuezhuang completely missed the deeper meaning. She simply tilted her head back, the top of her head pressing against Liu Yun’s stomach, and asked her with a grin.
“Are you the one hanging from the beam?”
“…” Liu Yun: “I’m the one stabbing my thigh.”
Shen Yuezhuang immediately burst into uncontrollable laughter. The “hanging beam” behind her diligently straightened her wiggling head.
But this piqued her interest in the beams of the Longevity Palace. She still tilted her head back, looking up at the ceiling with great enthusiasm.
She didn’t see anything special on the ceiling, but Liu Yun noticed her blinking frequently and rubbing her eyes several times.
Liu Yun quickly finished fixing her hair. Then, still in that bent-over position, she looked down at Shen Yuezhuang’s eyes.
They did look more red and swollen than when she had just woken up.
Liu Yun wore an expression of concern as she took one of the eggs from her hand and carefully rolled it around her eyelids.
Shen Yuezhuang still had one egg in her hand, playing with it between her fingertips. She offered a heartfelt compliment: “Your egg-rolling skills are way better than mine!”
“…”
What a truly delightful compliment!
So delightful that Liu Yun directly covered Shen Yuezhuang’s troublesome mouth. Unable to speak, Shen Yuezhuang slyly opened one eye a crack to peek at Liu Yun.
Liu Yun was very close. Only two fingers of her cool left hand rested on Shen Yuezhuang’s lips, her little finger hooking under her chin to steady her restless head. The other hand moved very gently, rolling the egg around her eyes.
Liu Yun’s expression was focused. Shen Yuezhuang’s gaze wandered brazenly from those deep, dark eyes down to those thin, slightly rosy lips.
Scenes from the night before replayed in her mind, and Shen Yuezhuang inexplicably felt her mouth go dry.
Liu Yun’s kiss was nothing like her usual cool temperature. It was scorching hot, making her scalp tingle. Even now, Shen Yuezhuang could still vaguely feel the lingering numbness at the root of her tongue, and a faint tightness in her lower abdomen…
Shen Yuezhuang forcibly interrupted the memory.
Last night, it was after that feeling in her lower abdomen that she needed the chamber pot. But she had sat on it for a while without doing anything. The feeling was very strange… and very sticky.
But aside from that strange, unpleasant stickiness, Shen Yuezhuang felt that she had liked the other parts.
She liked the bitter, medicinal scent on Liu Yun. She liked the strength with which Liu Yun held her tight. She liked Liu Yun’s softness. She liked that feeling when she was almost suffocating, her mind going blank, as if her body was floating among the clouds.
An impulse suddenly flashed through Shen Yuezhuang’s mind: if she kissed Liu Yun right now, then next time, for the sake of fairness, would Liu Yun have to kiss her back again?
Of course, the impulse quickly faded. Liu Yun didn’t like it!
Not only did she not like it, but she would also get angry. And Liu Yun couldn’t afford to get angry right now.
Shen Yuezhuang sighed somewhat ruefully. If only kissing, like leaning against someone or having an egg rolled on her eye, was something that could be done with anyone.
Then, even if she and Liu Yun couldn’t be husband and wife, she wouldn’t have to sell Liu Yun off to the Ten Thousand Flowers Pavilion. She could… well, then Liu Yun probably wouldn’t be so angry.
Oh, right! The Ten Thousand Flowers Pavilion!
She had asked Second Brother Nie to go to the Ten Thousand Flowers Pavilion to inquire about things. She wondered how that had gone.
As Shen Yuezhuang’s thoughts drifted away, her attention was drawn back by a dangling hairpin on Liu Yun’s head.
The beads beneath the hairpin swayed gently, and one strand had somehow gotten caught in her hair.
Shen Yuezhuang reached out to help her untangle it, forgetting all about the egg in her fingers. As she raised her hand, the egg, as luck would have it, rolled right down her sleeve.
“Mmph!”
Liu Yun had been focused on her eyes. Caught off guard when Shen Yuezhuang broke free, she was about to speak when she saw Shen Yuezhuang pinching one arm against her side, one hand clutching at her chest. Her expression was the same shy shame as the night before, though a little less embarrassed. But what she said was, as usual, enough to make Liu Yun question her hearing and her life.
Shen Yuezhuang tugged at her collar. “An egg rolled in.”
Liu Yun: “…”
Could this kind of ridiculous thing really happen?
But, to be fair, after questioning things for so long, one tends to get used to many people and many things.
Just as Liu Yun was comforting herself, the always hands-off eldest Miss Shen leaned in again, her tone suggesting a negotiation. “Can you fish it out for me?”
Liu Yun: “!!!!!”
.
While helping Shen Yuezhuang into her official robe, Liu Yun’s movements were noticeably rushed.
Her ears were almost the same shade of crimson as the official robe. After finally getting Shen Yuezhuang properly dressed, Liu Yun took two steps back and let out a long, silent sigh.
The tips of her fingers, hidden in her sleeves, still felt a bit warm. When they reached the door together, Liu Yun stopped.
She still had to maintain a sense of propriety. They had just woken up; people weren’t fully awake yet. So, this sense of propriety would begin the moment she stepped over this threshold!
Unaware of Liu Yun’s internal decision, Shen Yuezhuang walked out into the courtyard. Seeing Liu Yun not moving, she turned back and asked her, “Aren’t you coming to see me off?”
Last time she left the palace, Liu Yun had seen her all the way to the front hall. The Fu’an Gate to the west was considered part of the inner palace. Shen Yuezhuang thought she would come all the way.
Liu Yun stood firm at the doorway. “The palace attendants will take you.”
Her tone of refusal was gentle, as if she was afraid of hurting someone’s feelings.
Shen Yuezhuang frowned and walked back. “But I have something I need to tell you.”
Just now, Liu Yun had covered her mouth, so she hadn’t had a chance to speak!
Liu Yun’s not-so-firm resolve began to waver again upon hearing this. She put up one last weak resistance. “Is it official business?”
Shen Yuezhuang’s face was solemn, and she nodded vigorously.
Couldn’t be more official!
“…Then, let’s go.”
.
Shen Yuezhuang’s so-called official business was to regale Her Grace the Empress Dowager with a detailed account of Jiang Huan’s foolish purchase of the falcon, and then prove to Her Grace that Jiang Huan definitely had the money to pay off his debts!
Following that, she earnestly consulted with Her Grace whether using the threat of “becoming a live-in son-in-law of the Shen family” was an acceptable method to recover the outstanding loans.
Shen Yuezhuang didn’t see any problem with it.
She didn’t really care who she married anyway, as long as it didn’t stop her from eating, drinking, and having fun after marriage. Besides, the prospective husbands her father had picked for her were either from simple families like the Jiangs, or the young master was such a terrible prospect that his own family wouldn’t make too many demands of her as a daughter-in-law.
As for the so-called character of the prospective husband, it had never factored into Shen Yuezhuang’s considerations. That’s why, even when scandals broke out in those families, she didn’t mind.
In fact, if those families hadn’t been so stubbornly against the marriage back then, Shen Yuezhuang would have been married off long ago!
This was also one of the reasons she dared to use “becoming a live-in son-in-law” as a threat. Although she didn’t understand how they could have no shame when committing their shady deeds, now that it was all out in the open, they had become kind-hearted and compassionate, claiming they didn’t want to waste Shen Yuezhuang’s time, and firmly called off the engagements without allowing any objection.
But their determination not to marry her was still strong! Wasn’t it enough for Shen Yuezhuang to just exploit that?
This was exactly what Shen Yuezhuang had thought when the Emperor first told her that the debtors were those same families she had almost married into.
She hadn’t expected, however, that while things were going smoothly with the Jiang family, she would hit a snag with Liu Yun!
Not only did Liu Yun not share her joy, but she had gotten so angry she made herself sick. Coincidentally, the Emperor had said yesterday that she should report her progress to the Empress Dowager, which meant she would have to visit frequently. If this kept up, who could handle it?
Shen Yuezhuang felt she should talk it out in advance. Just like with those other things that made Liu Yun angry, if she just informed Liu Yun beforehand, Liu Yun probably wouldn’t get angry. Not only would she not get angry, but she would also help clean up the mess!
So, along the way, Shen Yuezhuang repeatedly assured Liu Yun that she wouldn’t mess things up or invite trouble. Only then did Liu Yun, at the Fu’an Gate, finally relent a little.
“You can use this method, but you must report to me beforehand which family you plan to use it on!”
Shen Yuezhuang immediately sighed with relief. But then she seemed to remember something, her expression showing a bit of eagerness.
If talking about the live-in son-in-law thing in advance could diffuse her anger, then what about kissing…
Under the wall, there were already commoners passing by outside. Shen Yuezhuang could even see Chun Rui and Second Brother Nie waiting for her.
Without much hesitation, she pulled the Empress Dowager to an even more secluded spot.
There was no one around, only the drooping willows swaying in the clear breeze. Shen Yuezhuang lowered her voice and finally asked the question.
“So, if I asked you in advance, could I kiss you then?”
The warmth that had dissipated from Liu Yun’s fingertips quickly reignited and spread swiftly to her heart. Her pupils contracted sharply. Her throat moved. Her mind buzzed for a while. For a long time, she couldn’t make a sound, much less come back to her senses.
Seeing this, Shen Yuezhuang seemed to take half a step back in negotiation. “Or you could kiss me. I don’t think that’s forward of you!”
“Like last night…” She bit her lip, a hint of joyful hope and expectation glimmering in her eyes. “I think… I actually liked it.”
