Chapter 14
The maidservants attending them were still standing to the side. Hearing the words “climbed into bed” from Yu Qingci’s mouth, they worked hard to lower their heads even further and very consciously withdrew.
Yan Lingshu lowered her eyes, her voice carrying no trace of anger. “Has Qingci always been this careless with her words?”
When Yu Qingci said “climbed into bed,” she meant it literally. But in other people’s ears, it had an entirely different meaning.
Yu Qingci gave a sly smile. “Wasn’t I just trying to be alone with Your Highness?”
As she spoke, she rose and sat beside Yan Lingshu. Picking up the paper parcel holding the sugar cakes, she handed it toward Yan Lingshu. “Want some? They haven’t been out of the steamer long, so they’re still warm.”
When they had gone to the Yu Estate yesterday, she had observed the streets near the princess’s residence and remembered the route.
Adding in her current special physique, she had practically run back on legs like spinning whirlwind wheels. No matter what, she would not let Yan Lingshu eat cold food.
“I’m not hungry.” Yan Lingshu shifted her gaze away, looking past the railing at the distant shadows of flowers.
Yu Qingci moved the paper parcel in front of her and shook it slightly, letting the aroma of the food drift out. “Are you really not eating? I ate one on the way back just now. This brown sugar cake is steamed until it’s so fluffy and soft. And this scallion pancake is crisp outside and tender inside. As for this pan-fried tofu, there’s even less need to say it—the old granny’s skills are really too good. The outside is fried to the perfect crispness, and once you bite down, the silky tofu bursts open in your mouth…”
Before she could finish, the Fifth Princess, who had been pretending to be indifferent, turned to look at her with chilly eyes.
Yu Qingci’s eyes curved with her smile. She took out a piece of brown sugar cake from the oil-paper parcel and split it in two. “Here, we’ll each eat half. You can feel reassured now, right?”
Wasn’t that how it was shown in dramas? Before the emperor ate, someone always had to taste the food first.
Yan Lingshu likely would not easily eat outside food that Yu Qingci had bought back.
Yu Qingci took a big bite of her half. As she chewed, she narrowed her eyes in enjoyment. “Delicious. Mm, I like it…”
Yan Lingshu had eaten too little at breakfast. Seeing Yu Qingci like this now, a faint trace of appetite rose in her.
She accepted the other half of the sugar cake from Yu Qingci’s hand and lowered her head to bite into it. The sugar cake was soft, fluffy, fragrant, and sweet, the rich caramel aroma filling her mouth.
It was not like the meticulously made pastries from the princess’s residence. This brown sugar cake was a little too sweet, but paired with slightly bitter tea, that sweetness suddenly seemed just right.
Yu Qingci tore the scallion pancake in half and, as before, handed one half to Yan Lingshu.
Although Yan Lingshu said nothing, she slowly began to eat.
Yu Qingci watched her eat for quite a while before asking curiously, “Does it not taste good?”
Yan Lingshu held a small half of the scallion pancake and looked at her in confusion.
Yu Qingci raised the pancake in her own hand and took a huge bite with an “awoo.” “Your Highness, food only tastes good when you eat like this. If you keep taking tiny bites with such a bitter and resentful expression, how long will it take you to finish?”
Yan Lingshu’s brow moved slightly. “Aren’t you here?”
It took Yu Qingci a while to understand what Her Highness meant. Was she saying that even if she could not finish it, Yu Qingci would be there to take care of it?
Couldn’t she just say that directly? Why did she have to phrase it so ambiguously, making people’s thoughts run wild for no reason?
Yu Qingci took a big bite of the scallion pancake and turned her head to look at the flowering trees outside.
When Yan Lingshu saw her look away, she lowered her head to the scallion pancake in her hand and tried taking a larger bite.
It seemed… it really did taste a little better that way.
By the time Yu Qingci turned back, Her Highness had already started trying the pan-fried tofu.
Yu Qingci blinked at her.
Yan Lingshu pierced the tofu with a wooden skewer and turned to hand it to her.
Yu Qingci lowered her head and bit onto the tofu, smiling at Yan Lingshu with curved eyes.
She deliberately did not reach out to take it. Eating with her head lowered like this made it seem as if Yan Lingshu were feeding her.
Yan Lingshu let go.
Yu Qingci caught the skewer quickly with sharp eyes and fast hands, at least preventing the tofu from falling onto her clothes. She gave a little huff and stuffed the entire piece of tofu into her mouth. “Your Highness is truly heartless.”
She was unwilling to suffer even the tiniest loss.
Yan Lingshu ignored her.
The two ate bite by bite, and the food Yu Qingci had brought was quickly finished.
Yu Qingci leaned sideways against the railing and rubbed her full belly. After eating two meals one after another, with so many carbs, and now being warmed by the spring sunlight, sleepiness began to rise in her.
Yu Qingci rested both hands on the railing and tilted her chin onto her arm, looking at Yan Lingshu sitting beside her.
Yan Lingshu was carefully wiping her hands. Her long feather-like lashes hung down, each strand distinct.
Yu Qingci lifted her hand and touched her eyelashes.
Yan Lingshu raised her eyes. Her slender lashes brushed across Yu Qingci’s fingertip, bringing a faint ticklish sensation.
Yu Qingci withdrew her hand in time and asked with a smile, “Is Your Highness still angry about me climbing into bed last night?”
Yan Lingshu said nothing. She looked at the lazy-looking Yu Qingci across from her. She looked like a big dog grown drowsy from basking in the sun, her whole person appearing especially comfortable and leisurely.
Just looking at her made one inexplicably want to bathe in this sunlight with her and think of nothing at all.
Yan Lingshu shifted her gaze away and rose to leave. “If you’re sleepy, then sleep…”
“Wait.” Yu Qingci tugged Yan Lingshu’s sleeve downward.
She forgot that she had divine strength now. With this tug, she failed to control her force and directly pulled Yan Lingshu down into her arms. In an instant, they were so close they could hear each other’s breathing.
Yan Lingshu’s loose black hair slipped from her shoulder and drifted against Yu Qingci’s cheek and nose, bringing an itch that could not quite be scratched.
Yu Qingci released Yan Lingshu’s sleeve and instead wrapped an arm around the waist of the person before her, stopping her from leaving.
“You…” Yan Lingshu’s brows furrowed.
Yu Qingci avoided the tip of her nose and asked in a low voice beside her cheek, “Your Highness still hasn’t answered me. Are you still angry with me?”
“Does that matter?” Yan Lingshu retreated slightly.
Yu Qingci’s breath was too scorching. When she was too close, it always made breathing difficult.
The moment Yan Lingshu retreated, Yu Qingci immediately pressed closer by a fraction. She looked at the long lashes so close before her. When she lifted her head to speak, her breath brushed over Yan Lingshu’s brows and eyes. “Of course it matters. Your Highness’s feelings and impressions of me are all things I value. After all…”
As Yu Qingci spoke, she lowered her head, her breath seeming to drift toward the back of Yan Lingshu’s neck. “Your Highness still needs my scent pheromones, doesn’t she? If you hate me, how can you like my scent?”
Yu Qingci used a little strength in her hand, and Yan Lingshu pressed against her chest. With just the slightest lowering of her head, Yu Qingci could see the slightly red gland beneath the other woman’s collar. It seemed… no medicine had been applied?
Yu Qingci frowned as she looked.
“And you?” Yan Lingshu leaned close to her ear. “Qingci, you resist my scent pheromones so much. What are you afraid of?”
The moment Yan Lingshu’s hot breath poured into her ear, Yu Qingci’s ear flushed completely red. She released Yan Lingshu and sat upright with a perfectly serious expression. “I am not resisting Your Highness’s scent pheromones.”
She simply did not dare smell too much of them.
“Is that so?” Yan Lingshu looked beyond the railing. In the distance, the shadow of a tree seemed to sway, yet there was no one nearby.
Yu Qingci followed her gaze outside. “Just now, that should have been Yu Su standing there.”
Yu Su was the empress’s eyes and ears. Whatever she saw, the empress would know.
Yu Qingci had simply gone with the flow and put on a little act. After finishing the act, she immediately turned back into an obedient dog, looking up at Yan Lingshu innocently. “Your Highness won’t blame me, right?”
“Why would I blame Qingci?” Yan Lingshu lifted her hand, her fingertip pointing toward Yu Qingci’s neck. “Or is Qingci saying that what you did just now crossed some line?”
Yu Qingci immediately shook her head. “Of course not. I kept my distance.”
From Yu Su’s angle, it might have looked like the two of them were being intimate in broad daylight, but the truth was that she had maintained a strict distance the whole time and had not stepped over the line at all!
“Is that so?” Yan Lingshu held her by the neck and drew closer, her expression gentle. “Then were the words Qingci said earlier all part of the act?”
“Not exactly.” Yu Qingci felt a sense of danger, as if a blade had been placed against her neck. She did not dare move and allowed Yan Lingshu’s breath to approach. “I want to cooperate with Your Highness, so how could I not care what Your Highness thinks of me?”
The same sentence—one moment ambiguous, the next sober and clear.
Yu Qingci was just that good at reading the situation.
The skin beneath her palm was scorching hot. Yan Lingshu released her hand, then lowered her eyes and wiped her fingertips with a handkerchief. “Next time, if someone is there, say so beforehand.”
“Oh.” Seeing Yan Lingshu wipe her hand, Yu Qingci pursed her lips slightly.
Fine, fine. After threatening her, the clean freak was acting up again and starting to dislike her.
Only after Yan Lingshu left did Yu Qingci remember something—not right. She had not asked the most important thing yet!
They needed each other’s scent pheromones. Just how long would this situation last?
She did not know whether it was her imagination, but she kept feeling that when she approached Yan Lingshu today, her whole person became more restless, and her heart sped up very easily.
Even though Yan Lingshu had already walked far away, her heart still seemed unwilling to settle.
Yu Qingci pressed a hand to her chest, controlling the restless heart inside it.
She still had another matter of utmost importance to resolve.
The reason the original owner had been so sought after was not only that her mother was Marquis Linyuan. There was another reason as well—her birth mother’s younger sister, her aunt Qiao Yun, had once been the great general guarding the southern frontier.
Because of her older sister’s death, Qiao Yun had never gotten along with Marquis Linyuan, Yu Xiao. But she had treated the original owner very well. Back then, when Qiao Yun earned military merits and returned to the capital to receive her title, she had given half of all the rewards bestowed on her to the original owner, so she would not have to be troubled by money.
No matter how selfless Qiao Yun’s love was, it could not melt a heart that had already been corroded.
The original owner pretended she was being bullied in the marquis estate and repeatedly begged Qiao Yun to stand up for her. Back and forth, Qiao Yun and Yu Xiao’s relationship became even more strained.
And as the only tie between them, the original owner’s value rose with the tide. Outside the residence, almost no one would easily offend her.
Even though the Third Imperial Princess, Yan Lingchu, did not like her, she would not easily embarrass her either. She maintained an ambiguous attitude, making the original owner believe again and again that she still had hope.
Being in such a position, pursued and praised by everyone, would naturally confuse a person’s heart and character.
Until a month ago, news came from the southern frontier that Qiao Yun had been defeated and gone missing in battle.
Qiao Yun’s life or death was unknown. The Qiao family fell overnight, and Qiao Yun’s wife, Tan Jing, and daughter, Qiao Ying, also disappeared without a trace.
Yu Qingci had to find them as quickly as possible.
After the Qiao family’s fall, Tan Jing had once come to ask the original owner for help finding a place to stay. Not only had the original owner refused to see the mother and daughter, she had even ordered the servants to drive them out of the marquis estate.
But no one would have expected that Qiao Yun, who had been thought to have died without even a body left behind, would one day return to the capital. And when she returned, she would receive the news that her wife had hanged herself and her daughter had died of illness.
If Yu Qingci could not find Tan Jing and Qiao Ying in time this time, then on the day Qiao Yun returned, Qiao Yun would surely hate her.
Yu Qingci did not want to gain another enemy. Besides, Qiao Ying was only seven years old. If she could save her, then she should.
Unfortunately, Xiaxi had not managed to learn anything useful. Yu Qingci thought it over and eventually decided to go to one place—
Wangyou Tower, Yan Lingshu’s intelligence bureau.
As long as one had money, there was no information that could not be bought.
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!