Chapter 25

After returning to Jinxiu Hall, Rong Yang shut herself inside the bedchamber. Her legs went weak, and she leaned back against the soft couch.

She had only wanted to stabilize the persona. Wasn’t this how she usually spoke to Su Yao?

Why did the hatred value increase so much this time!

And why would Su Yao agree to serving in bed?

She wouldn’t really come tonight, would she?

A breeze blew in through the open lattice window. As dusk approached, Rong Yang’s collapsed emotions finally eased slightly. At this point, she could only accept reality. There were still about ten months left. There was still time.

“Xiaqing.” Rong Yang sat up.

“Princess.” Xiaqing walked in.

“Go to Donglin Academy and inform them. Arrange for the princess consort to enter the academy.”

“Yes, this servant accepts the order,” Xiaqing replied.

“Wait. There’s no need to explain her identity. Just say you are arranging for someone to enter.” Rong Yang thought about it. In the original book, the title of Fifth Princess Consort had also brought Su Yao quite a bit of trouble. According to what the female lead wanted, she probably did not want too many people to know this identity.

“Yes.”

Hot mist blurred the air. Su Yao closed her eyes and tilted her head back. Droplets of water that had not yet fallen remained on her fair face. Her thick, ink-black hair was soaked behind her. She leaned against the edge of the bath barrel. Her face, which already made people feel awe, looked even sharper at this moment.

Her tightly furrowed brows revealed the agitation in her heart.

Her eyes lifted from beneath her damp lashes. Wrapped in a bath towel, she walked out, and small droplets of water slid down her tense calves before falling to the floor.

The bath towel fell to the ground.

She put on a thin garment made of silk, then draped a cloak over herself and walked toward Jinxiu Hall.

That place she did not wish to set foot in.

Su Yao entered Rong Yang’s bedchamber easily. The vast bedchamber was very quiet.

All the candles used for lighting inside the hall had been extinguished. Only a few dim night lamps remained.

Rong Yang felt very tired today. She had only intended to lie on the bed and close her eyes for a while, then later find an excuse to send someone to tell Su Yao there was no need to come tonight. In the end, she had fallen asleep…

Half-asleep and half-awake, she felt someone moving her quilt. She raised her hand to press it down, but then someone was moving her wrist!

No. There was someone in her bedchamber!

The instant this thought surfaced, Rong Yang was abruptly startled and opened her eyes.

The dim candlelight was like a layer of invisible gauze. She saw the person sitting by the bed. A smooth, thin gauze garment clung tightly to her body, outlining her perfect curves.

She seemed to have just bathed. Her seaweed-like hair spilled over one side of her body and was still dripping slightly.

Su Yao?!

Rong Yang closed her eyes, then opened them again. The female lead was still sitting by the bed!

More terrifying than a nightmare was the fact that this was not a nightmare!

Rong Yang froze. She truly felt like she was about to faint from fright.

What time was it!

Why had Su Yao come so early? Why had she fallen asleep!

“You’re awake.” The chilling voice fell into Rong Yang’s ears like a malicious ghost coming to claim her life.

Rong Yang’s not-yet-awake mind did not know how to react. In panic, she sat up and shifted farther inside the bed.

After coming back to herself, she said, “Get out. Who allowed you to come in?”

Su Yao bent down and climbed onto the bed. Her slender hand stroked Rong Yang’s ankle.

Startled, Rong Yang pulled her foot back and quickly got off the bed, leaving it to stand by the bedside.

Su Yao turned over and sat on the bed, clearly puzzled by Rong Yang’s sudden behavior.

Her gloomy gaze looked toward Rong Yang standing by the bed, and she sneered. “What? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“After all these days, you must be tired of pretending, right?”

“You pretended to accompany me back to my residence and acted like a mutually respectful married couple. You brought me medicine during my heat period, caught the evildoers for Lanxin, and swore at the birthday banquet that you believed me. Wasn’t it all for this?”

Su Yao’s frost-cold gaze looked straight at the person before her, her words filled with disgust. “So it turns out you merely changed your way of playing with me.”

The last bit of Rong Yang’s sleepiness was frightened away. Her mind was a mess. Everything she had done had only been for the hatred value. She returned to the Su residence because Su Yao had wanted to go back. She caught the evildoers because Su Yao had been too heartbroken. At the birthday banquet, she had truly believed her.

How could it be for this!

No. Calm down, calm down. Now was not the time to discuss this. Besides, she could not say it anyway.

“I thought you were so aloof and pure. In the end, you are nothing more than this.” Rong Yang looked down at the woman sitting on the bed from above.

“Do you think I would really touch you?”

“The daughter of a commoner. Heh…”

“Are you worthy?”

Su Yao’s fingers curled, gripping the thin quilt on the bed tightly before loosening again.

Rong Yang, you really are… very good.

Every time, Rong Yang could trample her dignity and soul into filth. She had gained yet another reason to torment her fiercely.

She hated her so much, hated her to the point that if she let Rong Yang die easily, she would absolutely never forgive herself.

“Take your cloak and get back.” Rong Yang’s cold gaze swept over her gloomy eyes.

Su Yao looked at her with a dark gaze and picked up the cloak from the floor.

The door of the bedchamber opened, then closed again.

Rong Yang’s body went weak, and she collapsed onto the bed. She could clearly feel her heart pounding wildly.

Too frightening! Sooner or later, she would be scared to death!

Rong Yang took a deep breath, trying to calm her heartbeat.

Then she thought again of Su Yao’s attitude just now. Dejected, she grabbed the thin quilt and pulled it over her head. The female lead [unauthorized copy]was now convinced that everything Rong Yang had done to her before was all for the sake of humiliating her better, and Rong Yang could not explain.

According to the original owner’s persona, this was exactly right.

But she truly had not meant it that way!

The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. Another sleepless night.

In early May, the weather was stuffy and hot, yet the rain continued endlessly. From the mountains came all kinds of birdsong and insect calls.

Su Yao disliked how luxurious the Princess’s residence’s carriage was, so she rented a simple and plain carriage in the eastern market. The speeding wheels rolled over yellow earth and wet mud, heading toward Donglin Academy.

At the foot of the mountain below Donglin Academy, morning mist coiled through the air. Many carriages had already stopped in a bustling crowd at the base of the mountain.

The carriages of wealthy families could only stop at the foot of the mountain, and their owners had to walk up. Meanwhile, the carriages of imperial relatives and nobles could enter the mountain path.

The rain wet the hem of her skirt. Su Yao tied up all her hair with a hair cord. The already cold and distant woman now looked even more unapproachable.

The path from the mountain to the academy was paved entirely with marble. Stone pillars lined both sides as railings. After walking a certain distance, there would be an octagonal pavilion for people to rest briefly. Among the students coming and going, all were wealthy and noble children dressed in luxurious clothing.

“After classes end, come to my residence. My father newly found a group of acrobats. They’re very interesting. I guarantee that after you see them, you’ll find it refreshing.”

“Hahaha, since you make it sound so interesting, then we’ll go take a look.”

“Let me say this first. If my mother [unauthorized copy]asks about my studies, none of you are allowed to expose me.”

“…”

Su Yao quickly reached the mountaintop. Lifting her head, she saw Donglin Academy’s grand and magnificent gates, as well as its elegant and solemn buildings.

Birdsong and floral fragrance filled the air, and the mountains stretched green in every direction. The academy sat among the forests and mountains, giving people a sense of quiet distance, making them forget the noise and dust of worldly affairs around them.