Huh?
Du Heng’s eyes went wide. When had he said that?
Was this really the regent princess who held absolute sway at court? How could she lie so blatantly?
“Your Highness, I meant that I could…”
“No, you cannot!”
The Eldest Princess impatiently cut him off, then curled her index finger, beckoning him over.
“Lord Consort, you’re standing so far away that this princess can’t hear you. You’d better come closer.”
Du Heng remembered that the Eldest Princess was also a cultivator; he just did not know whether she practiced Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Martial Arts, or some other unorthodox path. At this tiny distance, even an ordinary person could hear clearly, so how could she claim she could not?
Still, after a moment’s hesitation, Du Heng walked over.
“Closer!”
Du Heng shuffled forward a few more steps.
The Eldest Princess seemed amused. She pointed to the spot in front of her bed.
“Come here.”
Du Heng had no idea what she was up to, but she held all the power. Although he had not intended to be disrespectful, he was in the wrong first, and when you’re under someone else’s roof, you have to lower your head.
So he did as he was told and stood beside the bed, a place no other man had ever approached.
Once he was there, the Eldest Princess stepped directly off the bed. Her delicate, pale little feet landed squarely on his insteps, and she used him as support to stand up.
Her two fair, snow-white arms gently looped around Du Heng’s neck, the sleeves of her ruqun falling against his chest, and she pressed her full weight onto him.
She was tall, only about half a head shorter than Du Heng. Standing on his feet like this, her chin just rested on his shoulder. She brought her vermilion lips close to his ear, and her warm, sweet breath spilled over his ear.
“Now you can speak, Lord Consort.”
Speak… speak about what?
At that moment, Du Heng was like a wooden puppet frozen in place, his mind completely blank. The warm, fragrant softness pressed against him, and the unbroken sensation of her well-proportioned figure made it impossible for him to stay composed.
“Lord Consort, you take such liberties with this princess, and now you say nothing. Do you think this princess is someone to be bullied?”
Du Heng bit the tip of his tongue to snap out of it and silently cursed.
Bad woman!
He bent slightly to put some space between them.
“Your Highness… men and women should keep their distance.”
When he retreated, the Eldest Princess tried to follow, her snowy arms tightening around his neck.
Her pale golden phoenix eyes narrowed.
“Hm? Does Lord Consort intend to defy this princess?”
“Or is this princess so ugly that Lord Consort dares not even come near me?”
“Earlier, this princess had to urge you repeatedly just to get you to approach. So… is Lord Consort truly so afraid of me?”
The Eldest Princess spoke with a charming voice, each word gentle, with a playful, teasing tone. Though she was questioning him, her words brushed against Du Heng’s heart like a soft feather.
Flustered by her teasing, Du Heng opened his mouth but only managed to say, “No.”
Yet beneath her calm and composed tone, the Eldest Princess was not much better off. Having taken the offensive, she now leaned her head against Du Heng’s shoulder, so he did not notice her reddened ear tips and blushing cheeks.
It was not that she already harbored romantic feelings for Du Heng; she had simply been struck by a mischievous whim.
She could not stand the way he treated her like a fearsome flood or a savage beast. She had to tease him.
From childhood to now, everyone had always tried to win her favor… no one had ever pushed her away like Du Heng did.
So, on a momentary impulse, she had made those moves, which only left her feeling awkward as well.
After composing herself a little, the Eldest Princess mischievously pressed her little foot down on Du Heng’s instep again.
“I’m asking you a question. What do you mean by ‘no’?”
“Your Highness is as beautiful as flowers and the moon. I dare not entertain such thoughts.”
Du Heng had never been this intimate with a woman before. His spine stiffened instantly, and he could not move.
His father had told him many things, but never that Her Highness the Eldest Princess was a little ruffian who woke up grumpy and liked to hug people.
And just yesterday, he had accidentally had skin-to-skin contact with this warm, soft woman now in his arms inside the carriage.
Du Heng never imagined that the gentle, serene woman who had been sleeping so peacefully then could be so troublesome, so willful and difficult to read… Her Highness the Eldest Princess.
In two lifetimes, he had been single from birth, and in this life, he had always stayed at Ruo Xian Pavilion.
When had he ever encountered someone with such inscrutable thoughts?
By now, Mingzhe had already prepared the paper and brush at the desk on the left. Seeing the two of them embracing, she did not even dare breathe.
In the five years since the Eldest Princess returned to court and she had served her, Mingzhe had never seen Her Highness the Eldest Princess act so like a young girl.
If she interrupted their intimate moment, how would the Eldest Princess punish her afterward?
After a while, perhaps the Eldest Princess had had enough of her fun, and they finally separated.
Du Heng stepped back a few paces to steady himself.
The Eldest Princess, on the other hand, sat down very naturally and elegantly on the edge of the bed made of warm jade, leaning against the short wooden desk that Mingzhe had just placed on the bed. The redness at her ear tips had somehow already faded.
A slight curve appeared at the corners of her lips, her eyes turned into crescent moons, and she looked at Du Heng with great interest.
“Mingzhe, are the paper and brush ready?”
“Yes, Your Highness. The paper and brush are already on the desk.”
“Bring them here and put them on the desk on my bed. I want to watch Lord Consort write right in front of me.”
Mingzhe acknowledged and brought the ink, brush, paper, and inkstone over.
Du Heng was speechless. Are you that lazy?
The desk was just inside the bedchamber hall, on the left… a few steps away.
The Eldest Princess seemed to sense something. She turned her head and stared at Du Heng.
“Does Lord Consort have a complaint about this princess?”
“I wouldn’t dare.” Du Heng’s expression was calm.
“If Lord Consort thinks it would be better for this princess to go over to the desk, that’s fine too. It’s just that this princess is tired from yesterday’s pilgrimage up the mountain. How about Lord Consort carry this princess over there instead?”
Oh, sure. Tired from riding in the carriage back and forth, huh?
And you call yourself a cultivator!
Du Heng suppressed his disrespectful thoughts about the Eldest Princess, keeping his expression warm and gentle, his tone natural.
“I’m not well-versed in poetry and lyrics. Please spare me, Your Highness.”
“I don’t care. Weren’t you the one who said you’d write a poem just now?” the Eldest Princess said with a smile.
Du Heng was speechless. When had he said that? He had said he could do something to make it up to her. She was the one who was domineering and unreasonable, fabricating things and insisting it was his fault.
“Just now I meant…”
“This princess gave you an opportunity earlier. You didn’t speak up then, and now I don’t want to hear it.”
Earlier? That woman had been clinging to him. Du Heng had nearly had his soul stolen away. How could he have said anything?
“Get started quickly. If this princess is satisfied, I won’t hold yesterday’s improper behavior against you.”
Du Heng pursed his lips. Fine, he’d write something.
Originally, he had no intention of engaging in such literary wordplay in front of the Eldest Princess.
This woman seemed very hard to please. When it came to writing, it was all too easy for someone to find a pretext to nitpick and make trouble.
But if he could satisfy the Eldest Princess, it would actually save more trouble than doing tasks for her. After all, it was just writing a few words… easy for him, and more in line with his plan to slack off.
“Why doesn’t Your Highness give me a topic?”
The Eldest Princess thought for a moment, then murmured, “One character: cloud.”
Behind her, the maidservant Mingzhe’s expression suddenly changed.
Could it be that Her Highness the Eldest Princess did not like Du Heng, but rather wanted to use this opportunity to get rid of him?
The character for cloud in Great Luo carried a meaning far more profound than its simple strokes suggested.
Mingzhe broke out in a cold sweat for Du Heng.
But Du Heng’s expression remained natural, as if he were unaware of any danger.
After thinking for a moment, he said solemnly, “How about I compose a lyric poem for Your Highness?”
The Eldest Princess tilted her head to look at him and did not object.
Poetry or lyrics, it was all the same. She just wanted to toy with Du Heng for her own amusement.
“Granted.”
Du Heng had already formed an idea. He strode toward the desk on the bed beside the Eldest Princess, intending to take the paper and brush and write elsewhere.
“No leaving. I said I want to watch you write right in front of me.”
“…Very well.”
Being watched so closely while writing was a first for him. Du Heng had no choice but to stand before the Eldest Princess, lean over the desk on her bed, press down the white paper with one hand, and lift the brush with the other.
But the Eldest Princess to his left was even more distracting than the poem itself. She seemed oblivious to the boundaries between men and women and had no sense of keeping her distance.
She pressed her upper body right up against him, heedless of propriety. The high, soft fullness of her chest gently pressed against Du Heng’s left arm, and the cool, slightly sweet minty scent of her body once again enveloped him.
It took Du Heng a good while to calm his unsettled mind and focus on lifting the brush.
The Eldest Princess watched him from the side. Du Heng’s brush moved swiftly, like dragons and snakes, but the calligraphy she saw was truly hard on the eyes.
Just as Imperial Uncle had said… this fellow definitely slacked off every day. He may have learned to read and write, but he never put any effort into practicing calligraphy. You could grab any random palace maid or eunuch and find better handwriting than his.
Her Highness the Eldest Princess’s brows furrowed slightly. She was disgusted by Du Heng’s handwriting.
But when Du Heng finished composing his lyric poem, the look on her face grew increasingly strange.
There was some surprise, along with a hint of shyness and indignation.
“Please take a look, Your Highness.”
The Eldest Princess stiffly took the paper from him. She glanced down at it, then looked up at Du Heng, her phoenix eyes narrowing.
The mix of emotions on her face just moments ago had already dissipated, a glimmer flickering in her phoenix eyes.
“Du Heng, you’re awfully bold! How did you learn this princess’s private name?”