Chapter 42

Surprised by the strange anticipation in Gao Jingxi’s voice, Lian Pingyou looked even more confused. “Come where?”

“To my side.” Gao Jingxi’s voice was deep and pleasant, while her dark eyes shone ever more brightly as the black-clad figure gradually came into clearer view.

In her eyes, Lian Liejin was like the rosy clouds at the horizon, forever radiating an irresistible brilliance. It was not merely the heat of her beauty, but even more so the uninhibited freedom burning deep within her heart.

“Coming, coming, honored customer!” In the dark corridor, Lian Liejin approached with a bowl in each hand, her smile as radiant as winter sunlight shining over snow-covered mountains. “Here is one bowl of sweet tofu pudding and one bowl of savory tofu pudding. May I ask which bowl our honored customer would like?”

“I want neither. I only want the person holding the tofu pudding.” Gao Jingxi looked calmly at the two steaming bowls in Lian Liejin’s hands. This woman could always come up with something strange and unexpected.

Who would eat tofu pudding inside the Star-Suppression Office?

The answer was Lian Liejin.

She lowered her head and took a sip from each bowl. When she saw Lian Pingyou, a dark gleam flashed through her eyes before she quickly concealed it deep within her pupils.

Then she forcibly stuffed both bowls of tofu pudding into Lian Pingyou’s hands and laughed recklessly. “Oh, Eldest Young Lady Lian is here too. Perfect. Hold these for me.”

It all happened in an instant. Before Lian Pingyou could react, she found herself holding two bowls of tofu pudding that Lian Liejin had already tasted. What infuriated her even more was that the little wretch continued [Read on BaiLianTales]smiling arrogantly and winked at her. “I took a sip from each so you wouldn’t secretly eat any.”

The armored guards nearby could not suppress their quiet laughter. Even the blue-robed attendant serving the Emperor joined in. “The Seventh Princess and her Princess Consort truly are inseparable and deeply affectionate. Eldest Young Lady Lian must surely be happy for them as well.”

So Lian Liejin was treating her like a waiter in a restaurant? And none of these people took her seriously at all. Lian Pingyou’s delicate face twisted in the darkness, but she could not lose her temper now.

“Your Highness, did you wait long?” Lian Liejin held Gao Jingxi’s hands and occasionally breathed warm air over them. “The market outside the Star-Suppression Office was still selling tofu pudding at this hour…”

Gao Jingxi gently pressed a finger against Lian Liejin’s lips. A smile illuminated the darkness across the Seventh Princess’s exquisite face. “Not long. Once you arrive, the wait is never long.”

Seeing Gao Jingxi struggling to remain standing, Lian Liejin once again removed her crane cloak and wrapped it around her. Then, before everyone’s eyes, she lifted the Seventh Princess into her arms.

Another bloody wound seemed to open across Lian Pingyou’s heart. In her memory, although Gao Jingxi treated others with warmth and courtesy, she remained proud and distant, keeping everyone at arm’s length.

Allowing another person to embrace her while injured would have been unimaginable.

Yet now, she obediently rested in Lian Liejin’s arms. Even in the darkness, Lian Pingyou could clearly see the shy yet delighted expression on Gao Jingxi’s face.

It was like thousand-year-old ice atop a snowy mountain gradually melting beneath golden sunlight, winding into a spring stream.

This was impossible. That should have belonged to her, Lian Pingyou!

She nearly crushed the bowls of tofu pudding in her hands before forcing the words through clenched teeth. “Your Highness, a carriage has already been prepared outside the Star-Suppression Office. You need only come with me.”

Unexpectedly, Lian Liejin answered again. She held Gao Jingxi tightly, as though intending to merge the princess into her very flesh and bones.

Lian Pingyou saw the familiar roguish smile on Lian Liejin’s face as she arrogantly ordered her around. “Her Highness already has me, her spouse, but we happen to be missing a coachman. I must trouble Eldest Young Lady Lian to personally escort the Seventh Princess and me safely back to the Princess’s Residence.”

With that, Lian Liejin carried Gao Jingxi deeper down the corridor, looking exactly as though she were carrying her into their bridal chamber.

The sight was unbearably dazzling to Lian Pingyou. Even though her younger sister had lived worse than a servant in the Lian family, she forever maintained that frivolous, indifferent, noble air, as though she had been endlessly adored and feared nothing beneath the heavens.

“There are so many servants. Why must I drive the carriage?”

Yet Lian Liejin even turned around at that moment, her voice colder than ice. “Hurry and follow us. Since you brought the carriage here, weren’t you intending to act as the coachman? Besides…” A wicked smile spread across her face. “Lian Pingyou, you should understand that you are merely the princess’s servant.”

At those words, fury surged through Lian Pingyou, but she could not argue. Without an official post or occupation, she truly was only one of the Seventh Princess’s subordinates.

Gao Jingxi raised her head slightly and said in a delicate voice, “Liejin, the people from the Princess’s Residence must have received the news as well. They probably brought a carriage…”

Before she could finish, she obediently closed her mouth when Lian Liejin glared at her. In the next moment, Lian Liejin lowered her head until her lips nearly touched Gao Jingxi’s, her warm, gentle breath sweeping [read the original at bailiantales.com]over her face. “Your Highness, shouldn’t you listen to your spouse?”

Those blade-like lips now resembled a drifting cloud, warmly surrounding her. Gao Jingxi immediately became flustered. Listening to her own heart pounding like a frightened deer, she gave several soft hums, her voice sweet and tender. “Mm. I’ll listen to my spouse.”

The corridors of the Star-Suppression Office were extremely long, spiraling downward level after level. Walking all the way down would ordinarily take at least two ke unless one used stellar power to move faster.

Although Lian Liejin carried another person in her arms, her walking speed secretly alarmed Lian Pingyou. In only one ke, they had already reached the entrance of the Star-Suppression Office.

Lian Pingyou was already slightly out of breath, yet Lian Liejin’s complexion remained rosy and her breathing steady, showing no sign of exhaustion.

Outside the Star-Suppression Office stood A-You, Chen Yu, Chen Li, Feng Zhi, and even several people Lian Liejin did not recognize, all lined up neatly.

They began shouting over one another in a noisy uproar as they walked toward Gao Jingxi and the others.

“Your Highness, are you all right? Yu’er brought the finest medicine for wounds.” Chen Yu held a strange bottle in her hand and hurried forward. When she saw Lian Liejin carrying the princess, irritation rose sharply in her heart.

Several people beside her even teased that the Princess Consort had personally come to retrieve the princess and that the two were truly a match made in heaven.

“Oh, quite a few familiar faces came.” Seeing the exhaustion on Gao Jingxi’s face, Lian Liejin tightened her embrace and called out to the crowd, “All of you gathered here to drive Her Highness’s carriage, didn’t you? The competition is far too intense. Why not let the highest bidder win?”

Everyone looked at one another in confusion, unable to understand what Lian Liejin meant. They had come to visit ​Read on BaiLianTales​the Seventh Princess. What did that have to do with driving a carriage?

“Eldest Young Lady Lian just offered one hundred taels of silver to escort our princess home. Can any of you offer more?” Lian Liejin smiled slyly, her ink-black eyes filled with unruly amusement. “Hurry now. Hand over the money with one hand, and we’ll board your carriage with the other.”

At those words, everyone turned toward Lian Pingyou at the same time, thinking she truly knew how to ingratiate herself. She was even willing to lower herself to perform a servant’s work. She was clearly willing to do anything to gain the princess’s favor.

At that moment, pain suddenly shot through the flesh at Lian Liejin’s lower back. Gao Jingxi had secretly pinched her and complained coquettishly, “What are you treating me as, calling out bids for me in the street?”

Lian Liejin buried her face in Gao Jingxi’s hair and laughed softly without answering.

Completely confused by Lian Liejin’s words, Chen Yu walked blankly toward Lian Pingyou and asked, “Sister Pingyou, why are you holding two bowls of tofu pudding?”

Lian Pingyou had just opened her mouth through clenched teeth when she heard Lian Liejin shouting again, telling her to hurry and drive the carriage and hand over the one hundred taels. Otherwise, she would not be permitted to board.

Lian Pingyou violently smashed both bowls onto the ground. Red and white ingredients spread everywhere, creating an extremely unsightly mess.

Chen Yu was startled by Lian Pingyou’s ghostlike, distorted expression and asked nervously, “Are you all right? Why did you smash the tofu pudding?” She tugged at Lian Pingyou’s sleeve. “Since you promised to drive the carriage for Her Highness, hurry and go. If you’re late, you’ll have failed to serve her properly.”

Serve her!

Lian Pingyou nearly fainted with read the original at bailiantales.com rage. She truly had become the servant Lian Liejin claimed she was.

“Hey, hey.” In the distance, Lian Liejin stood lightly on the carriage shaft and crooked a finger at Lian Pingyou, daylight illuminating her beautiful features. “Eldest Young Lady Lian, hurry and drive the carriage.”

After saying this, she slipped into the carriage and sat beside Gao Jingxi.

They waited a little longer, but Lian Pingyou still did not come. Gao Jingxi smiled faintly. “A-You, return to the residence. Our Princess Consort must be tired today.”

The carriage finally began moving. Lian Liejin restrained her expression and sat as solemnly as an old monk in meditation. After a while, however, she could no longer hold back and burst into laughter.

Even A-You heard Lian Liejin’s unrestrained laughter from outside the carriage and could not help asking, “Princess Consort, are you all right today?”

Lian Liejin shook her head. “It’s simply a pity about those two bowls of tofu pudding. I heard they sell only a limited amount each day.”

“It’s fine. We can return next time.” Gao Jingxi pulled her clothes more tightly around herself.

“Your Highness said that yourself.” Lian Liejin recalled the taste of the tofu pudding. One bowl had been deliciously savory, while the other was sweet without being cloying. “Then when we return to the Princess’s Residence, can we ask the cooks to prepare two bowls?”

“They can, but…” Gao Jingxi deliberately refused to look at Lian Liejin, her red lips curving slightly. “You must return to the Princess Consort’s Residence.”

The moment she heard those words, Lian Liejin shot [unauthorized copy]to her feet and nearly struck the carriage roof. “What? Your Highness, didn’t we agree on Qingyue Mountain that I could eat all three meals at the Princess’s Residence?”

That agreement had indeed been made. However, whenever Gao Jingxi remembered Lian Liejin saying that she had close dealings with the beautiful courtesans of the pleasure houses, she could not stop her imagination from running wild. Her entire body felt uncomfortable.

“Did we? I don’t remember. In any case, you must return to the Princess Consort’s Residence and await my summons.”

“Your Highness, you! Even killing the donkey after it finishes grinding grain and dismantling the bridge after crossing it wouldn’t happen this quickly.” Lian Liejin muttered indignantly.

Even when the carriage swayed to a stop outside the Princess Consort’s Residence, Gao Jingxi refused to change her answer. She looked utterly hardhearted and clearly had no intention of reconsidering.

At the proper moment, A-You reminded them from outside, “Your Highness, the Princess Consort has arrived at her residence. Princess Consort, please leave the carriage and return inside.”

Gao Jingxi leaned against the carriage cushions with her eyes closed and a smile on her lips, wrapped securely in Lian Liejin’s black crane cloak.

“Your Highness, what exactly is wrong?” Lian Liejin could not understand it no matter how hard she thought. Had everything not been perfectly fine moments ago? Especially inside the Star-Suppression Office, where the two had spoken happily and shared such a pleasant atmosphere.

How could the princess possess one face in public and another in private?

A moment later, a sudden scream from Gao Jingxi rang through the previously quiet carriage.

“Lian Liejin, what are you doing? Don’t think you can take advantage of me just because I cannot use my stellar—A-You, hurry and drag the Princess Consort away!”