After Du Heng finished transcribing the lyric poem, Yun Shuyu seemed to have no intention of making things difficult for him anymore. She kept reading the poetry anthology.
“Your Highness, if there is nothing else, may I take my leave?”
Yun Shuyu lifted her eyelids to look at him, then lowered her gaze back to the anthology. Only after quite a while did she part her vermilion lips.
But she was not speaking to Du Heng. Instead, she called out beyond the curtain of the inner chamber.
“Mingzhe, have the meal served.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Mingzhe answered and was just about to leave the hall to send someone, but after taking a few steps she came back and said to Yun Shuyu:
“Oh, Your Highness, His Majesty just sent word. Since today is a rare day off, he wants to dine with Your Highness.”
The reigning emperor, Yun Zhao, was already fourteen this year. Ever since the late emperor died when he was nine, and the Eldest Princess returned to court to act as regent, he had become very dependent on and close to Yun Shuyu.
The two siblings, a sister and brother born of the same mother, were both children of the late empress. One had left the palace from a young age to cultivate and could stand on her own; the other, because his mother had passed away early and the late emperor had been lax in overseeing him, developed a gentle, timid nature.
Yun Shuyu had indeed put effort into nurturing her younger brother, Yun Zhao. In recent years, whenever she had free time, she would spend more time with Yun Zhao to make up for the bond the two siblings had lacked for so many years. Instinctively, she was about to agree.
But then Du Heng took the initiative to stand up. “Your Highness dining with the Emperor is a major matter. I shall take my leave first.”
Hearing this, the words Yun Shuyu had been about to say in agreement changed again.
“Mingzhe, let His Majesty eat by himself today. I won’t go.”
Mingzhe acknowledged and withdrew.
Yun Shuyu turned back and looked at Du Heng with a smiling expression.
“I still have something to discuss with the Lord Consort. Why not stay in the palace and have breakfast with me?”
“I still…”
Yun Shuyu seemed to see through Du Heng’s thoughts.
“Doesn’t the Lord Consort also have something he wants to ask me? Why not ask today?”
Du Heng’s expression was somewhat awkward. He clasped his hands and bowed politely. “Then I thank Your Highness for your kindness.”
He had indeed wanted to ask Yun Shuyu something at first, but after all the twists and turns, he had suppressed the thought.
The closer he got to Yun Shuyu, the more Du Heng felt that events were unfolding beyond his expectations and control.
The secular court was not like the immortal sect or the cultivation world. Many things could not be solved with fists and swords, let alone the fact that he rarely drew his sword against others even in Ruo Xian Pavilion.
And after returning to Great Luo, there were even more things he had to consider. On top of that, he had never liked direct combat in the first place, much less against a woman.
Even if that woman stood at the very top of the Great Luo Dynasty.
As for Yun Shuyu, she was powerful and influential, so he could not afford to offend her, but she had not actually done him any harm. She just liked to mess with him.
If he could not afford to offend her, could he not at least avoid her?
So Du Heng was desperate to get as far away from her as possible.
After Mingzhe had someone prepare the breakfast, Du Heng had no choice but to follow Yun Shuyu to the main hall of the bedchamber.
A round table in the center was already set with dishes.
But it was not nearly as lavish as Du Heng had imagined.
There was only plain congee, a few side dishes, and several plates of pastries for after the meal.
Yun Shuyu disliked extravagance and waste, and besides, it was not good to eat too much in the morning. So the palace’s morning meals were actually rather plain compared with those of some nobles and ministers in Great Luo.
The Eldest Princess sat down first, and Du Heng, as the prospective Lord Consort, sat opposite her.
Mingzhe and several maidservants stood nearby attending them.
Yun Shuyu glanced at Du Heng’s seat and frowned.
This man was guarding against her again.
Was she some kind of three-headed, six-armed monster?
Du Heng lowered his eyes and ate the food in front of him in silence.
It was not that he had any complaints about the meal. Compared with the ascetic life at Ruo Xian Pavilion, this was already much better, and about on par with the marquis residence.
He was simply in a hurry to leave.
Eat quickly, then get out of the palace and stay as far away from this bad woman as possible!
Yun Shuyu did not make things difficult for him either and obediently ate her meal.
Seeing this, Du Heng relaxed a little and quickly finished his portion.
Little did he know that Yun Shuyu’s methods of tormenting people were only just beginning. After she finished her congee, she picked up her chopsticks and started eating the pastries.
“Lord Consort should know that this princess dislikes wasting food, right?”
“Yes, I know now.”
“Good. Then this princess will trouble the Lord Consort a little.”
Du Heng did not understand. The words were the same words, the sentence structure was the same sentence structure, but when put together, he could not make sense of what she meant.
But he found out very soon.
Yun Shuyu used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of pastry. It was a round mochi, somewhat sticky.
She took a small bite, chewed for a while, and Du Heng saw her brow furrow slightly, as if she was not satisfied.
The next moment, the mochi she had bitten landed in the bowl in front of Du Heng, which he had already eaten clean.
Du Heng’s mouth twitched.
“Your Highness, this is…”
“Please help me with it, Lord Consort. You know this princess dislikes waste.”
If you dislike waste, then don’t eat it…
Does she have some special hobby? Must she make people eat her saliva?
Du Heng sighed and helplessly picked up the mochi and bit into it.
It was very sweet. Eating this in the morning really would be cloying. No wonder the woman took one bite and gave it to him.
As Du Heng ate the mochi, he felt that beneath the sweet, soft texture there was also a faint fragrance.
It did not taste like the mochi’s original flavor.
He unconsciously looked toward Yun Shuyu, who was still eating other pastries.
Her delicate, rosy vermilion lips opened and closed, faintly glistening with moisture.
Du Heng’s throat bobbed. He lowered his gaze to the remaining half of the mochi. There was a small tooth mark on it, and beside it a faint reddish tint, somewhat like the color of Yun Shuyu’s lips.
Was that the taste of that place?
For a moment, Du Heng himself did not know whether the “that place” he meant referred to the small tooth mark or to Her Highness the Eldest Princess’s vermilion lips.
Du Heng finishing the mochi was not the end of it. Yun Shuyu then handed him another bitten piece of osmanthus cake.
“Your Highness, if you can’t finish it, you should eat less.”
“Is it that the Lord Consort can’t finish it?”
A smile lingered in the corners of Yun Shuyu’s eyes. Her little hand reached out and picked up another piece. Just as Du Heng was about to block it with his chopsticks, she went one step further and directly stuffed the pastry into Du Heng’s mouth.
Du Heng made two muffled sounds as he swallowed it down, then drank a large mouthful of cold water, nearly choking.
He raised his eyes and glared at Yun Shuyu resentfully.
The instigator acted as if nothing had happened.
“Does the Lord Consort feel humiliated eating something this princess has already eaten, or…”
She paused, and Du Heng could not help turning his gaze to her. He saw Yun Shuyu deliberately purse her glistening red lips before continuing.
“…does eating this princess’s saliva feel humiliating?”
What difference did it make?
Du Heng was momentarily stunned. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. He cursed inwardly, succubus, and pinched the soft flesh of his own thigh to force himself back to his senses.
He could not keep being led around by the nose like this.
This ill-tempered bad woman just liked to see him flustered and awkward.
Although it was hard to know what Yun Shuyu was planning, the more she acted like this, the less Du Heng could let her have her way.
Otherwise, he would be retreating step by step, losing a city today and a stretch of land tomorrow.
By the end, he would be devoured completely by her.
How could that be allowed?
In any case, from their brief interaction, Du Heng had already determined that Yun Shuyu really did have designs on him and would not do anything harmful to him or the marquis residence.
So, on a moment of impulse and after some thought, he decided to push back a little against Yun Shuyu.
That was to fight fire with fire.
“Lord Consort, why are you silent? Could it be that you are blaming this princess?” Yun Shuyu rested her elbow on the table, her chin propped in her palm, and asked with interest.
Du Heng, who had been looking down, lifted his head and smiled at Yun Shuyu.
“How could that be?”
“I was just savoring…”
“Hm? Savoring what?”
Yun Shuyu’s heart skipped a beat. She felt that Du Heng seemed different somehow.
Du Heng smiled.
“Savoring, naturally, the taste Her Highness the Eldest Princess left in my mouth just now.”