⚠️ Warning: Infidelity present! Skip it if uncomfortable (no sexual scene though)
This was likely the most outrageous thing Tuan Yun had ever done in his life.
More outrageous even than pulling Ji Zhiwei from the river when he himself had barely a place to survive.
The man’s palm was broad; Tuan Yun’s entire waist was scarcely wider than it.
There were calluses on his fingers. As they rubbed against his skin, it was hot, carrying a faint, biting ache.
He said he had come to see whether he had misread things yet behind the screen there was already a couch prepared.
The couch was spread with soft bedding, patterned with paired butterflies and mandarin ducks.
Tuan Yun did not know where to look. Wherever his eyes landed, everything seemed to sway.
The weather was not hot yet pressed against Cui Jianying, a sheen of sweat formed in the blink of an eye, clinging to his forehead, his back growing damp as well.
His lips moved. He did not dare raise his voice. He felt like a freshly peeled lychee exposed to the light, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Clinging to Cui Jianying’s neck, it was half sob, half gasp.
“How are you like an unripe green fruit, untouched by the world?”
How could he answer?
That it had simply been too long?
That he had never been skilled to begin with?
All of it was true. Tuan Yun did not say a word, only pleaded softly, urging him on. “My lord…”
Cui Jianying granted his wish.
But when it was granted, Tuan Yun dissolved into a pool of spring water, impossible to gather back together.
Cui Jianying was indeed a master at cherishing beauty. Drawing bows, loosing arrows, cutting off heads, those he could do. Handling a delicate xiaolang with finesse was no challenge either.
Tuan Yun had only wanted it over quickly. He soon forgot even that.
Biting down hard on his lower lip to suppress any sound, afraid of hurting it and making speech difficult, he bit the bedding instead. In the end, his spirit left his body entirely, unable to steady himself for even a moment.
He had once had a wedding night by candlelight, true mutual affection, eyes meeting, honey flowing from the heart.
He had known pleasure.
But Cui Jianying was different.
Tuan Yun could not even find the words to describe him. His body simply no longer obeyed his heart, like a house sprung with leaks, pouring out again and again.
There existed such men in this world.
When he told you to do something, you did it. When he told you to ascend to the clouds… even if you did not wish to, you still went.
His body tensed. Cui Jianying seemed about to withdraw.
Tuan Yun trembled and hooked onto him, clinging desperately, refusing to relax. In return, he earned a soft chuckle, Cui Jianying grasping both his hands.
“Don’t worry. I will certainly grant sister in law his wish. I’ll dress myself up as the Child Bringing Guanyin for you.”
He knew, Tuan Yun burned inside and out. Just before losing consciousness, he thought in a daze: could it be that he truly was trying to be a good person?
The thought did not last long.
When Tuan Yun finally came back to himself, Cui Jianying was sitting upright with his robe open, holding him in his arms, idly playing with his hair.
Tuan Yun checked the time. He had gone in to change clothes and did not know how long had passed. It was long beyond what was proper. Thinking it over, spending so much time only to trade for a single time, it was a loss on both ends.
“Only now do you think you are afraid?” Cui Jianying laughed. “That steward matron of yours was sent away long ago.”
“If I didn’t find a way to block every mouth and silence every tongue, how could I serve my sister in law with a whole heart?”
“…”
This man was formidable in every respect and his mouth most of all, each word striking squarely where Tuan Yun was weakest.
As Tuan Yun was still thinking, he heard the man speak again, head lowered, fingers gently stroking his cheek.
“Ji Zhiwei and I are cousins in name only. I am a concubine-born son, registered under my legitimate mother but there is no blood relation between us. Between him and me, there is even less, no shared blood at all.”
When Tuan Yun had steeled himself and chosen Cui Jianying, it had not been solely because he had heard that Cui Jianying had many fleeting affairs, nor merely because of his reputation for being… capable.
There had been this reason as well,
Children born of cousins often bore resemblances, did they not?
Yet Cui Jianying only said this after everything was already done.
Tuan Yun blinked, lips parting slightly, stunned.
Cui Jianying saw the faint glimpse of his tongue, moist, soft, pink.
There were so many places on this young man’s body that held such coloring and he intended to look at every one of them carefully.
Yet contrary to what he had expected, Tuan Yun, pink through and through, did not appear sullen or angry.
Instead, he straightened from Cui Jianying’s lap, weak and pitiful and leaned close to his lips.
“My lord,” Tuan Yun called softly.
“Again?” Cui Jianying asked.
“If my lord is generous,” Tuan Yun whispered, “please grant me one more time.”
Cui Jianying was momentarily surprised. Then he recalled the emperor’s Snowball Cat.
So fragile it would die if left alone yet when His Majesty spoke of it, he had said,
Urgently adorable. Impossible to put down.
If fragility alone was already irresistible, then what of fragility paired with these unexpected, heart-plucking contrasts?
Cui Jianying gathered the rabbit-like young man into his arms and pinned him down. His hand brushed against Tuan Yun’s thigh, drawn as if by magnetism.
This young man possessed skin like snow, smooth, warm, something born, not cultivated. No amount of milk baths or pearl powder or snow-cream ointment could ever raise such a body.
Clothed, he appeared slender and tall. Unclothed, there was flesh where it mattered. Grasping that narrow waist was like holding a peerless wonder of the mortal world.
Cui Jianying suddenly laughed and lightly patted him.
“There isn’t even a gap left. Where do you think there’s room?”
“Madam, if you don’t rest, it must.”
Tuan Yun’s face flushed scarlet. He wished he could bury his head entirely.
Cui Jianying instead pulled him close, coaxing him like a child, kissing his eyelids, then his shoulder.
“I am on duty tonight. There’s a major case these days.”
“Seven days from now,” he said gently, “we’ll meet again. Cui will dress properly and give all his strength to please my lady.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
This is your completely normal and non-suspicious request to buy coffee.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · How can you, so crude and vulgar, be a match for me?Chapter 2 · Children don’t just appear out of thin air if you want themChapter 3 · I also grew up reading the classicsChapter 4 · I am willing to dress up as the Goddess of MercyChapter 5 · If Cousin Ji doesn’t like me, do you not like me either?Chapter 6 · He actually summoned such a YamaChapter 7 · Am I not worthy of your attention, Madam?Chapter 8 · I think Lord Cui likes you very muchChapter 9 · Dragon and phoenix twinsChapter 10 · I will never allow anyone to belittle or despise you againChapter 11 · If that’s true, then marry your wife to meChapter 12 · Well, it really is true that one thing can subdue anotherChapter 13 · Extra 1Chapter 14 · Extra 2Chapter 15 · Extra 3Chapter 16 · Extra 4