Another bonus chapter !
Before dinner, Princess Jing’an finally awoke from her drunken state. She quickly bathed and changed with the help of a maid, then hiked up her skirts and ran to the back courtyard to greet Yin Yanjun.
“Jing’an greets Your Majesty!” Princess Jing’an’s eyes sparkled with intelligence, and she quickly curtsied upon seeing Yin Yanjun.
Yin Yanjun raised a hand: “Rise.”
Princess Jing’an was born beautiful. She stood up with a radiant and dazzling smile. She was very affectionate towards Yin Yanjun, speaking in a tender voice: “It’s all Brother’s fault; he kept Your Majesty’s arrival at Qingling Mountain a secret from Jing’an. Today, Jing’an almost disturbed Your Majesty’s peace.”
Yin Yanjun’s attitude towards his delicate niece, Princess Jing’an, was gentle. He faintly gestured, “Come and eat something.”
Princess Jing’an curved her lips and sat down. Yin Yanjun’s eating habits were very plain, mostly vegetarian dishes. Even if there were a few meat dishes, he was never seen touching them.
In Yunshui Courtyard, Xu Yanqing, after bathing, sat comfortably by the bed, reading a storybook. This was a “peerless rare edition” that he had painstakingly unearthed from a pile of typical scholarly romance stories.
Mu Yu stood behind Xu Yanqing, using a cloth to wring out his hair. Only when Xu Yanqing’s long hair was finally dry did he speak up: “Young Master, it’s late. You should go to bed quickly, or you’ll surely have a headache in the morning.”
Xu Yanqing was currently engrossed in a particularly exciting part. In the book, the delicate young widow was rudely pressed against a door by a robust and unrefined general. The young widow wept uncontrollably, and the general had to console her in a gruff voice.
“If you harm your health by indulging in storybooks, I won’t dare to help you find books next time,” Mu Yu had no choice but to deploy his “threat” as a last resort.
Xu Yanqing looked at Mu Yu with a melancholy expression and blinked his watery grape eyes pitifully: “Good Mu Yu, just let me finish this page!”
Mu Yu couldn’t withstand his young master’s trick. Unable to bear it, he indulged Xu Yanqing for another 15 minutes before finally gritting his teeth, snatching the storybook from his young master’s hand, and taking it out of the bedroom.
If he had left the storybook in his young master’s bedroom, he would likely secretly light a lamp and read through the night again.
Last time, Mu Yu forgot to take the storybook away, and his young master ended up reading all night. When he found out the next day, he had dark circles under his eyes, complained of a headache, and slept for a full day and night to recover.
Reaching out his hand like Er Kang[mfn]
[/mfn] for his beloved storybook, Xu Yanqing ultimately didn’t get to keep it. He could only unenthusiastically pull up the covers and tuck himself into bed.
Before long, Xu Yanqing fell asleep. He felt as though he was dreaming again, and it was a very familiar dream. In his dream, he was like roasted meat on charcoal, being constantly flipped and turned.
The skin on the back of his neck slowly began to heat up again, and the faint peach scent grew increasingly strong.
Xu Yanqing turned over in bed, feeling a dryness and heat throughout his body, and a strange sense of emptiness and loss slowly welled up in his heart.
The next morning, Xu Yanqing lay in bed, curled into a ball, his face flushed red. He felt as though he was losing his moral compass more and more.
Before, he only had erotic dreams about that ethereal Taoist priest, and when he woke up, there were no traces of the dreams, and he was still the same excellent student. Now, he suspected he had become a pervert, and the evidence was the incredibly embarrassing situation under his covers.
“Young Master, are you awake?” Mu Yu faintly heard fragmented movements from the room but saw no sign of his young master getting up, so he waited outside and called out.
Xu Yanqing pulled the covers over his flushed face, but the strong, embarrassing scent around his nostrils persisted, so he chose to lie still and play dead.
Mu Yu was very worried. He cautiously pushed the door open a crack and then squeezed his head in: “Young Master, are you feeling unwell?”
“No.” Xu Yanqing hesitated for a moment, then finally stammered, “Get hot water. I want to bathe.”
Bathing so early in the morning—Mu Yu wasn’t a little idiot and naturally understood why his young master hadn’t gotten up yet. He gave a simple smile: “Alright, I’ll go have the servants heat the water immediately.”
In reality, there was always hot water prepared in the small kitchen; the servants just needed to pour it into the bathtub. Xu Yanqing didn’t want Mu Yu to attend to him either. He just submerged himself entirely in the water. He didn’t want to see anyone right now; it was too embarrassing.
After bathing and changing into clean clothes, Xu Yanqing, his face still red, threw the soiled underwear into the bathtub, even swishing it around in the water like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
After haphazardly finishing breakfast, Xu Yanqing lay under the peach blossom tree in the small courtyard, feeling lazy and wanting to do nothing. The tingling, swollen sensation on the back of his neck hadn’t faded, making him inexplicably annoyed.
He looked up and glanced at the wall obstructing his view, feeling somewhat stifled. They were both men, so why was he still “obsessed” with that incident like a pervert, while the other person remained as ethereal as ever?
However, he wasn’t sure if the other person was still the same as before, as his intuition told him it was better not to know such things.
“What are you looking at, young master?” Seeing Xu Yanqing staring at the wall, Mu Yu followed his gaze but saw nothing.
“Looking at trees, looking at clouds, looking at the sky.” Xu Yanqing weakly shifted his gaze to the peach tree blocking the sunlight. He then remembered the scent of peaches he smelled in his dream and couldn’t help but smack his lips: “I wonder when this tree will bear fruit?”
“Young Master, the peach trees in our courtyard are only for ornamental purposes. Even if they bear fruit, they can’t be eaten. But there are many peach trees planted on the mountain, and they have already started bearing fruit now.” Mu Yu didn’t think much of it, only assuming his young master genuinely wanted to eat peaches.
Next door, due to Princess Jing’an’s arrival, the person grinding ink and serving tea to Yin Yanjun had been replaced by Princess Jing’an herself.
Xu Yanqing’s conversation with Mu Yu wasn’t loud, but because Yin Yanjun had sharp ears and a calm mind, he naturally heard it clearly.
Princess Jing’an only faintly heard Xu Yanqing mentioning peaches, so she couldn’t help but chuckle: “It’s often rumored in the capital that Young Master Xu of the Xu family is the most unruly. I never would have thought he’s still such a glutton.”
“Rumors are often false, easily obscuring the truth,” Yin Yanjun finished his morning lesson and lowered his eyes, placing his brush and ink aside.
Princess Jing’an, sitting upright, nodded in agreement: “Your Majesty is right. I’m afraid most people simply follow hearsay and go with the flow.” She then thought of the previous day’s banquet and everyone’s discussion about Xu Yanqing.
Xu Yanqing was indeed a glutton. Princess Jing’an became a bit curious about him, so she catered to his preference and sent over a lot of food to Yunshui Courtyard.
Yin Yuancheng looked on, somewhat bewildered: “You were obsessed with Su Hanfeng just two days ago; why have you now set your mind on Xu Yanqing?”
“That’s different,” Princess Jing’an smiled sweetly: “Su Hanfeng is the man this princess fancies, but Xu Yanqing is a delightful person this princess intends to befriend.”
“What’s the difference?” Yin Yuancheng didn’t understand, thinking his sister was completely infatuated.
Princess Jing’an chuckled, propping her chin, “If Su Hanfeng is suitable, he will be my husband. But if Xu Yanqing is suitable, we will become friends.”
Seeing that her brother still looked confused, Princess Jing’an chuckled again, rose, and decided not to explain further.
After receiving food from Princess Jing’an, Xu Yanqing reciprocated by sending her some pastries made by the Yunshui Courtyard cook. Mu Yu was somewhat puzzled: “I wonder what Princess Jing’an means by sending food over every few days?”
Xu Yanqing ate the last bite of pastry, then clapped the crumbs off his hands: “A young lady as insightful as Princess Jing’an, it would truly be a pity if Su Hanfeng were to ruin her!”
Rarely did the usually lazy Xu Yanqing decide to meddle in others’ affairs, intending to disrupt Su Hanfeng’s carefully planned scheme.
These past two days, Xu Yanqing had received several letters from Xu Xianzhi, naturally knowing how Su Hanfeng was blackening his reputation in the capital.
Actually, Su Hanfeng was quite a talent himself. He didn’t cry for sympathy or intentionally smear anyone but only showed his embarrassment in front of a group of friends, earning the pity of the crowd.
Thus, everyone directed their criticism towards Xu Yanqing, especially since everyone had witnessed and remembered the distasteful things the original owner had done.
It was rare for Princess Jing’an to still treat him kindly under these circumstances. As Xu Yanqing thought this, he saw Su Hanfeng walking towards him.
“Yanqing,” Su Hanfeng approached, a perpetually warm smile on his face: “Auntie has been worried that you won’t be able to eat or sleep well in this mountain manor, so I volunteered to come and check on you.”
Xu Yanqing chuckled, “Indeed, Cousin has always been more sensible and filial than I am. With your accompanying mother, she must be very happy.”
“Look at your words. What kind of jealousy is that?” Su Hanfeng heard the sarcasm in Xu Yanqing’s words but feigned ignorance, treating this as a child rivalry, his tone full of indulgence.
Xu Yanqing did not reply. Su Hanfeng, however, put on a bitter face and changed the subject: “Yanqing, are you still angry with me about that night?”
Hearing Su Hanfeng mention that night, Xu Yanqing subtly looked up at him. Sure enough, his guess was correct. To be able to stay in the Young Marquis Yin Yuancheng’s courtyard and still prevent Su Hanfeng from uncovering any details, the Taoist priest next door’s identity was definitely extraordinary.
Thinking so, Xu Yanqing felt that his timely escape had been a wise move. Now, even if that Taoist priest wanted to settle scores with him, he could flatly deny and refuse to admit anything.
“Cousin, you jest. At the time, it was merely my own wishful thinking.” Xu Yanqing curved his lips into a faint smile: “Now, I’ve finally seen the light. So, I’ve decided to let Cousin go and let myself go. Isn’t that great?”
Xu Yanqing raised an eyebrow, his clear eyes seeming to see into Su Hanfeng’s heart.
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yeah u tell him yanqing