“Ah!”
Cao Yue let out a startled cry as if frightened, and with both hands wrapped around her chest, she trembled as she hid behind An Ning. Just as the cry fell, Cao Yue seemed to finally see who had come, and in an instant her face turned red as she stammered,
“E… Your Majesty?”
An Ning and An Ping knelt down at once, and Cao Yue’s half-covered, half-exposed appearance was fully laid bare before Kangxi’s eyes.
There was a dark light in Kangxi’s phoenix eyes, as if a hungry wolf had seen meat.
He walked to stand in front of Cao Yue, did not even look at the kneeling maids, and again coldly ordered, “Get out.”
An Ning and An Ping hesitated for a moment, quietly looked up at Cao Yue, and seeing that Cao Yue gave no sign, quietly withdrew from the bath room, and in passing closed the door.
Under Kangxi’s direct and unabashed gaze of aggression, Cao Yue blushed so hard that the skin exposed to the air on her face was faintly tinged pink.
Her gaze wandered everywhere, just not landing on Kangxi: “Why did you… why didn’t you have someone announce your arrival before coming in?”
The bath room, just used with skin-care ointment, was filled everywhere with the unique sweet fragrance of the ointment. When Kangxi drew close to Cao Yue, he only needed to lower his head slightly to smell the faint scent on the woman before him, sweet like a peach, exactly the same as the fragrance on the dudou he had smelled here that day.
Kangxi’s eyes suddenly darkened, and he only felt his throat unusually dry and hoarse.
He raised a hand and touched Cao Yue’s smooth, round shoulder. It felt cool to the touch, like a piece of top-grade mutton-fat jade: “If people had been called to disturb Yue’er, how could I have seen something so beautiful?”
Being touched so suddenly, Cao Yue shivered without warning, as if she wished she could curl up tight. Her voice was so low it was almost inaudible: “Please go out first. I… I must at least put my clothes on…”
“Heh heh…”
Looking at Cao Yue’s utterly embarrassed appearance, Kangxi abruptly bent down and swept her up in his arms, placing her on the beauty couch she had just lain on. He then leaned over, one hand braced beside Cao Yue’s ear, and followed it by lowering his head to kiss the pink lips that had already had him thinking of them all morning.
Their lips and teeth tangled. Cao Yue closed her eyes and felt the wildness and roughness Kangxi brought her. Uncomfortable, she frowned, then pressed both small hands against his chest and pushed him away a little, herself seeming to be badly stifled as her chest rose and fell repeatedly.
Kangxi looked with eyes full of laughter at the reddened color of the lips he had made, and in a very good mood he supported himself a little higher according to Cao Yue’s movement, leaving a bit of distance between them:
“Even if you are dressed neatly right now, you’ll still have to take it off later. In my opinion, Yue’er, there’s no need to go to this trouble.”
As he spoke, Kangxi’s fingers had already found the ties of the dudou at the back of Cao Yue’s neck. With a casual tug, the tied knot loosened just like that.
Cao Yue tightly closed her eyes, her white teeth biting her lower lip, her whole body tense, looking utterly timid. Feeling as if the covering on her chest had come loose, her eyelashes trembled again and again, yet she simply refused to open her eyes.
Kangxi did not care either. His large hand continued downward until it reached her waist…
Outside the bath room, An Ning and An Ping did not dare go far. They waited right outside the door so they could go in and serve at any time when the master gave orders.
They just hadn’t expected that after waiting a long time, they still would not hear Cao Yue call for them, but instead waited for Liang Jiugong.
Liang Jiugong pressed down the brim of his hat, glanced into the bath room without a trace, then was about to pull An Ning and An Ping out: “The masters are in the mood. What are you two standing here for? Come out and wait with me.”
With Liang Jiugong’s words, the two maids thought it over carefully and felt that what he said made sense, so they prepared to leave with Liang Jiugong. But just as they lifted their feet, Kangxi inside stripped the two of them bare. As his body sank, a soft, sweet voice mixed with pain’s groan came through.
An Ning’s face went pale: “Th… the girl she…”
Liang Jiugong took a deep breath and did not give An Ning the chance to finish. He took one person in each hand and walked outside.
His Majesty was indulging Lady Zhaobin in the bath room right now. What if his mood rose later and he wanted to indulge her again in the bedroom?
He could not let these two witless maids ruin the emperor’s mood.
The two maids stood anxiously outside the bedroom. The ambiguous sounds drifting from inside continued for more than an hour. Only later did they no longer hear the girl’s crying and pleading for mercy, while the emperor’s low, rough breathing still continued…
The next day, the sky cleared, sweeping away the cold brought by the past several days of heavy snow, and the warm sun slowly peeked out.
The entire Western Garden was quiet. Outside the Western Garden, it was guarded tightly by the imperial guards, so tightly that not even a fly could get in.
Outside Cao Yue’s boudoir, An Ping stood guard the whole night without sleep, and An Ning only briefly rested for two hours before coming with a tray to replace An Ping’s shift: “Go rest. Later, when His Majesty and the girl get up, Liang Gonggong and I will serve them. I have already prepared the ginger soup and pastries in the room for you.”
An Ping moved his own body, stiff all over from the cold, knowing that he was in poor shape and could not serve properly, so he nodded and returned to his room to rest.
Liang Jiugong tucked his hands into his sleeves and leaned against the doorframe to doze for the night. He had not rested very well either, but he was much better than An Ping, who had kept his eyes open all night.
He slowly opened his eyes, held the doorframe to steady himself upright, and saw An Ning carrying the tray to stand in front of him, saying softly, “Liang Gonggong worked hard keeping watch last night. This is the ginger soup and some pastries that this servant instructed the small kitchen to make. Liang Gonggong, please have some first to warm yourself up, so that you can serve His Majesty well later.”
Apart from being a little bold sometimes, An Ning always handled things carefully.
Liang Jiugong was the emperor’s trusted eunuch. As the trusted palace maid by the girl’s side, she would inevitably have to deal with him in the future. If she could gain some goodwill through small, detailed matters, why not?
Liang Jiugong knew what An Ning was thinking, but seeing that Lady Zhaobin had boundless prospects in the future, he too had to accept some of Lady Zhaobin’s favor and give her some face.
So Liang Jiugong smiled and accepted An Ning’s goodwill: “Then many thanks to Miss An Ning.”
An Ning handed the tray to Liang Jiugong and slightly inclined her head: “Gonggong, you’re too polite.”
Just as Liang Jiugong was eating pastries and drinking ginger soup, there was finally movement on the bed in the bedroom.
When Cao Yue’s mind became clear, she did not open her eyes immediately, but instead first confirmed whether there was any abnormal situation around her before deciding whether to open them.
Feeling the man’s breathing beside her was steady, and a strong arm rested around her waist, Cao Yue quietly opened her eyes and moved her body, which had become somewhat stiff after sleeping through the night.
Who knew that with that movement, the tearing pain beneath her shot along her tailbone straight into her mind, hurting Cao Yue so much that she let out a light cry: “Hiss~”
As an emperor, Kangxi was exceptionally alert even when asleep. The moment Cao Yue moved, Kangxi suddenly opened his eyes. The instant his eyes opened, his gaze was extremely sharp, and then it quickly changed into an expression of concern: “What’s wrong? Is your body very uncomfortable?”
Under the brocade quilt, Cao Yue was not wearing a stitch. Kangxi’s arm, resting around Cao Yue’s waist, pressed and gently rubbed her waist, but that only made Cao Yue even more uncomfortable.
Cao Yue hurriedly held down Kangxi’s hand and shot him a coy glare: “Isn’t my discomfort all thanks to you? I pleaded with you like that last night, and you still…”
Before she finished speaking, Cao Yue bit her lip, her eyes suddenly turning red, and blurted out, “And now you’re putting on this act of concern for me.”
This little bit of bedroom coquettishness did not make Kangxi feel offended. Instead, he felt a little guilty and rubbed the tip of his nose.
He admitted that yesterday, after touching Lady Zhaobin’s body, he had indeed lost control a little, but he was not Liu Xiahui[[1]]. When faced with a woman he liked, he could not sit in her lap and stay unmoved either.
What was more, the woman in his arms fit him exceptionally well. Aside from being a little inexperienced at the start and not knowing how to serve him, once she recovered and under his guidance, she had also become especially cooperative and lively. She was unlike those concubines and palace maids in the harem, who did not even dare to make a sound on the bed, like cloth dolls with no life at all, letting him manipulate them as he pleased.
So when he was in the heat of the moment, he ignored Lady Zhaobin’s cries and pleas, disregarded her wishes, and took her again and again, until Lady Zhaobin fainted.
Last night was her first time in a husband’s favor. Without his tenderness, she must have suffered terribly.
Thinking of this, Kangxi very gently pulled Cao Yue into his arms and softly soothed her: “It was my fault. Shall I make it up to Yue’er?”
Cao Yue held back the tears in her eyes and did not let them fall: “No, Your Majesty has no sincerity at all.”
Such a delicate, weak appearance, yet carrying stubbornness and a little willfulness, with that faint sense of distance from before gone completely. Clearly, she now treated Kangxi as the person closest to her.
Thinking of this, Kangxi felt even more pity and coaxed her repeatedly: “Then what does Yue’er want? Whatever you want, I will give it to you.”
Only when saying this did Kangxi’s expression become less gentle than before, and there was even a trace of probing in his eyes.
Cao Yue seemed to notice nothing at all, her hazy eyes extraordinarily delighted: “Really?”
His large hand stroked her smooth black hair, and Kangxi gave a soft hmm. His interest was clearly not as high as before.
Cao Yue buried her head in Kangxi’s chest with the top of her hair, her eyelids cool, her tone carrying a hint of coyness: “My body still hurts right now. I definitely can’t move later, so then I’ll trouble Your Majesty to serve me with dressing and washing, and help me pin up my hair and draw my brows, all right?”
The request was beyond Kangxi’s expectations, making him ask in disbelief, “Only this?”
In the past, whenever he granted such a favor, which one of them did not rack their brains to think of ways to seek benefits for their family and advantages for themselves?
But Lady Zhaobin was so refreshingly different. Was it that Lady Zhaobin’s temperament was pure and she did not care about these things, or had the Cao family forgotten to teach her?
Seeing that Kangxi had not responded for a long while, Cao Yue could not help lifting her head in confusion, her pink lips accidentally brushing against Kangxi’s Adam’s apple: “Has Your Majesty gone back on your word? Do you not want to agree to me?”
Kangxi’s throat tightened, and there seemed to be a reaction again below. He hurriedly closed his eyes, using all his strength to force down the desire: “I am the Son of Heaven. My word is gold and jade, how could I go back on it?”
After speaking, Kangxi called out toward the outside, then lifted the brocade quilt and got out of bed. He first had Liang Jiugong serve him in washing and dressing, then after sending Liang Jiugong away and leaving only the serving maids in the room, he took Cao Yue’s Han-style clothes and, little by little, in a clumsy and utterly unfamiliar way, dressed Cao Yue.
Cao Yue nestled in Kangxi’s arms, lowering her eyes to watch Kangxi struggle to fasten the diagonal-collar buttons, showing no intention at all of helping.
Except for speaking up to correct him when Kangxi put on the clothes wrong, the rest of the time she praised Kangxi with great delight, praising him until Kangxi was overjoyed.
The clothes that could be put on in just half a quarter-hour in An Ning and the others’ hands took Kangxi a full quarter-hour to put on. After dressing her, he carried her to the dressing table, sat her down, took the warm cloth that An Ning had wrung out, and served Cao Yue by wiping her face, applying skin cream, then awkwardly pinning up her hair and drawing her brows.
An Ning quietly retreated to the pillar to become an invisible person, the smile in her eyes impossible to suppress. The girl’s methods were indeed extraordinary, able even to command the emperor at will.
“Oh, that’s not how you do it, the cloud bun should be arranged like this…”
“I like this hairpin better. Don’t use that one, it’s too bright.”
“Cloud bun, flower face, and golden step-shaking ornaments. Since it’s a cloud bun, naturally it should be paired with step-shaking ornaments to be appropriate.”
“All right then. Your Majesty, please draw me distant mountain-style dark brows…”
And Liang Jiugong, who had been driven outside the door, pressed his ear to the door and listened to the sounds of the emperor being ordered around by Lady Zhaobin inside, and Liang Jiugong was greatly shocked.
So His Majesty liked this sort of style?