“My lord…” Su He quickly sensed something was wrong. Pei Yan was hurting her, and she clutched his shoulders, pleading for mercy.
“Shut up, don’t make a sound.” Pei Yan picked her up and strode toward the room.
Su He inwardly groaned—Pei Yan was still angry!
“My lord, be gentle,” she begged softly, shoulders hunched as she sobbed.
“I can’t be gentle.” Pei Yan glanced down at her, his icy eyes narrowing slightly as he leaned in to kiss her lips.
Her lips were delicious too—soft and tender, and once he bit them, he didn’t want to let go.
Su He pleaded for mercy for a long time, but Pei Yan refused to yield. Instead, he grew increasingly relentless.
Some costs were unavoidable. If she wanted to take a bite out of someone like Pei Yan and rely on him to protect her from the clutches of the Su family, she had to endure his torment.
But someone like Pei Yan probably wouldn’t stay interested in her for long. If she acted even greedier, at most a month, he would surely forget about her.
Just endure it!
She closed her eyes, trying to keep her mind from wandering. As long as she could leave the Su family, leaving meant victory.
“Open your eyes.” He suddenly stopped, gripping her chin.
Su He had no choice but to open her reddened eyes, gazing at him through tear-filled lashes.
“Weren’t you quite bold earlier?” Pei Yan asked hoarsely.
She hesitated for a moment before whispering weakly, “Aren’t you tired, my lord? Do you have court tomorrow morning? Perhaps it’s better to rest early.”
Pei Yan was truly exasperated with her. During the day, she had pretended to deliberately seduce him, yet now, with just a little effort on his part, she acted as if she were about to die!
“Endure it.” He rubbed her petal-like lips and leaned down again.
By midnight, Pei Yan finally released her. Covered in sweat, she nestled softly in his arms like a docile kitten. Pei Yan quite liked her quiet demeanor. His slender fingers gently squeezed her waist, pulling her even closer.
Boom…
Suddenly, a thunderclap echoed.
Pei Yan’s closed eyes lifted, glancing toward the window. A gust of wind swept through, causing the bed curtains to flutter wildly. Soon after, a light drizzle began to fall.
“It’s thundering.” Su He propped herself up, looking outside.
“Afraid?” Pei Yan asked hoarsely.
“No.” Su He lay back down. In truth, she wanted to retrieve the clothes she had hung to dry in front of the courtyard wall, but she was utterly exhausted tonight—unable to walk and unwilling to get drenched in the rain. She had been sweating all night; getting caught in the rain would make her sick. She couldn’t afford to fall ill. No one would care for her if she did, and she might even be driven out.
She drifted into a heavy sleep, unsure how long she slept. When she awoke, she saw Pei Yan had just finished putting on his court robes.
The purple official robe suited him well—elegant and dignified. A white jade belt adorned with a golden fish pouch hung at his waist. As he adjusted his sleeves and let his hands fall, the green jade thumb ring on his finger emitted a faint, cold gleam, casting a chilling light into Su He’s eyes. She quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep, her long lashes fluttering as she curled into a ball.
“The room on the east side has been prepared. Starting tonight, you’ll stay there.” Pei Yan’s deep voice sounded from beyond the bed curtains.
Su He could no longer keep up the pretense, so she lifted the bed curtain and rose, performing a gentle and obedient curtsy before following him all the way to the palace door. Outside, the white jade courtyard was covered in a thin layer of rainwater, with several young eunuchs sweeping away the puddles with brooms. She glanced toward the courtyard wall—the bamboo drying rack she had set up yesterday was already dismantled, and the clothes were no longer there.
“They’ve been thrown away,” Pei Yan turned to look at her and, seeing her gaze fixed on the courtyard wall, said indifferently, “Things that have been dirtied should not be kept.”
He was referring to the clothes, but also to people.
Su He was sharp-witted; how could she not understand his meaning? She obediently replied, “Yes,” and stood by the door, watching him walk away until he was out of sight. Only then did she lazily stretch, yawn, and head toward the east wing.
Back in the Su residence, her room had been worse than a woodshed—swarming with mosquitoes in summer and howling with cold winds in winter. It was nothing compared to this wing now. The bed was not large, but it was soft and comfortable, draped with a pale green gauze curtain that mosquitoes could never penetrate. The windows were also covered with green silk gauze, and looking through them at the bamboo and waterwheel outside, she felt a refreshing coolness, exceptionally pleasant.
In front of the window was a small luohan bed, covered with a soft cushion and a bamboo mat. She lay down on it and continued sleeping, lulled by the cool breeze drifting in through the window.
In her seventeen years of life, when had she ever lived so comfortably!
When she had money in the future, she would also set up a courtyard like this, install a waterwheel like this, and let it blow cool air into the room during the summer…
…
“Miss Su, please don’t sleep anymore.” A soft, gentle voice sounded.
Su He groggily opened her eyes to see a fair-skinned maid standing before her, holding a tray of food and looking at her with concern.
“Has the Master returned from court?” She sat up, smoothing her loose black hair, and glanced out the window.
“Not yet, the Master’s rest day has already passed.” The maid placed the food on the small table and came over to help her up. “Please wash up, Miss, and have your meal.”
The dishes were the same three as yesterday, without the braised pork knuckle or crab she had been craving.
“You are…” Su He studied the maid, wondering who had sent her.
“This servant is Qiu Yun. The Master asked me to take care of you,” she replied with a gentle smile.
“Qiu Yun,” Su He thought for a moment, then dipped her finger in water and wrote two characters on the table. “Are these the characters?”
Qiu Yun looked and nodded with a smile. “Yes.”
Su He couldn’t help but marvel—even a maid’s name was so difficult to write. Pei Yan was truly impressive; didn’t he find it troublesome to write? In the future, when she became a master and bought a few young maids, she would name them Xiao Yi, Xiao Er, Xiao San… easy to remember and easy to write.
After taking a few bites of her meal, Su He suddenly remembered she hadn’t taken the morning-after decoction. Without looking up, she said, “Qiu Yun, I haven’t taken the morning-after decoction today.”
Qiu Yun replied softly, “Have your meal first. Drinking it on an empty stomach is not good for your health.”
In her lifetime, this was the third person who had actively cared about her well-being. Her mother and Granny Liu were her family, but Qiu Yun was someone she had just met today. She hadn’t expected her to say such considerate words.
Su He couldn’t help but start liking Qiu Yun and quickly asked, “Have you eaten? Let’s eat together.”
“There are rules in the residence—masters and servants cannot eat together. If Miss wishes to stay here long, some rules must be learned well,” Qiu Yun shook her head and said gently.
Su He took a bite of eggplant into her mouth and smiled faintly.
She had no intention of staying here for long. Pei Yan was too ruthless, and she feared she wouldn’t be able to endure it. She had only wanted to borrow his power to escape the fiery prison that was the Su family. Now that she had truly left, it was time to think about the future.
“Doctor Liu is here,” Qiu Yun suddenly said softly, looking toward the courtyard.