Shen Su blinked. Was she being kept as a mistress or subtly imprisoned?
The discussion ended there for now, as Shen Su sealed Qin Yu’s lips with her own.
Two days later, at a market town, the bearded man found an ordinary inn for a temporary stay.
“Not the Qin establishment. We’re almost at the capital, the fewer eyes on us, the better,” the bearded man dismounted, speaking to Qingmu before heading inside to arrange their lodging.
Shen Su stepped down from the carriage, glancing around.
It was already evening, and the heat had subsided.
Being close to the capital, this market town was several times larger than the previous county they’d stopped in, bustling with all kinds of vendors.
After a moment’s thought, Shen Su decided to make sure Qin Yu enjoyed herself thoroughly in this little town!
“Some ice, please.”
Once inside the inn, Shen Su added, “And a pot of tea.”
The waiter had never seen such a beautiful woman before, but before he could take a second look, he noticed the tall, aloof “young man” standing behind her.
The “youth’s” features were strikingly androgynous both heroic and coldly handsome towering half a head above the woman.
The main thing was that Shen Su appeared delicate and soft, speaking with a sweet Wu dialect, but in reality, she wasn’t short at all.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to kick a robber to the ground with one foot.
The waiter had confirmed Qin Yu was a man mainly because he heard the bearded man call “him” “young master,” which assured him this was a “young gentleman.”
This “young gentleman” stood beside the beautiful girl, one hand behind his back, waiting quietly. Though silent, his presence was impossible to ignore.
The waiter immediately set aside his admiration for beauty and beamed at Shen Su with great enthusiasm, “Right away!”
Qin Yu glanced at the waiter, a brash kid of fifteen or sixteen, his eyes practically glued to “Su Qingqing.”
Qin Yu frowned slightly.
Shen Su was undeniably good-looking. Otherwise, on the night she climbed into bed, Qin Yu wouldn’t have struggled so hard to resist!
But with Shen Su’s looks and her warm body pressing close, Qin Yu had failed to hold back.
It was all the fault of that drug.
To this day, Qin Yu still found the effects of that drug absurdly potent.
Now, seeing others stare at Shen Su, Qin Yu’s fingers, resting behind her back, tightened slightly, her brow furrowing. A faint discomfort settled in her heart, as if her treasure was being ogled.
Before this feeling could spread like dark clouds in her chest, Qin Yu heard the waiter call out cheerfully:
“Right away, young madam! Is there anything else you need?”
Qin Yu paused.
Young madam?
The waiter then turned to Qin Yu with the same enthusiastic smile, “Young master, what would you like? Your wife only ordered tea, would you like some fruit?”
Suddenly, Qin Yu felt as if the clouds had parted, her spirits lifting.
Her wife.
Qin Yu pulled out her money pouch and, with cool restraint, selected a piece of silver for the waiter. “Bring a couple of plates of fruit, whatever you have.”
Shen Su, “???”
Was Miss Qin feeling generous today?
An act of daily kindness?
The waiter, meanwhile, cupped the silver in both hands, grinning from ear to ear. “Right away, right away! You two go upstairs and wait tea and fruit will be up shortly.”
“Are you hungry?” Shen Su leaned in to ask.
Qin Yu shook her head.
Shen Su was puzzled. “Then why order fruit?”
Qin Yu pressed her lips together. She couldn’t very well tell Shen Su she was in a good mood and that the silver was just a casual tip for the waiter.
If Shen Su knew, she’d probably lean in every day, whispering sweetly and teasingly in her ear, “Husband~”
Ugh. Too awkward.
By the time the tea was brought upstairs, Shen Su had just finished bathing.
Qin Yu had been sitting downstairs the whole time, discussing matters with the bearded man.
Chen San had left earlier, and before his departure, Qin Yu had pinned him to the ground and thoroughly roughed him up. He was surely seething with resentment and would undoubtedly say something inflammatory once they reached the capital.
Qin Yu was delaying her return by a few days precisely to use Chen San as fuel to stoke the flames.
As Li Xuanliu grew older and weaker, and Qin Yu took over the business, the Li family had already begun to stir.
Before Qin Yu even left the capital, she had encountered poisoning attempts and assassinations. While in Jiangnan, the boat she had planned to board nearly sank.
Now, by altering her travel schedule and disrupting their plans, she had managed a stretch of apparent peace.
With only two or three days left to the capital, some were likely growing impatient to make their move.
The bearded man asked Qin Yu, “Should we send Miss Su and the others somewhere else first?”
To avoid frightening the two delicate women if trouble arose.
Qin Yu shook her head. “No need.”
Sending them away alone would only be more dangerous.
The bearded man sighed, “Miss Su and Miss Yunzhi are as timid as rabbits. They must have been terrified when they encountered those bandits earlier. If they run into anything else this time, they’ll probably be scared to tears.”
Rabbits?
Yunzhi might be a little local rabbit, but Qingqing definitely wasn’t.
She was the kind that crouched on the ground looking utterly innocent, but once she stood up, she could kick a man to death with one strike.
Qin Yu wasn’t the least bit worried about Shen Su being frightened, but after a moment’s thought, she still said softly, “If anything happens, protect them first.”
She added silently in her heart, especially “Su Qingqing.”
By the time Qin Yu finished her discussion and went upstairs, Shen Su and Yunzhi had already polished off most of a plate of pastries.
Seeing Qin Yu push the door open, Yunzhi instinctively stood up from her stool, wiping crumbs from her lips. “I’ll go keep watch outside for you.”
“No need,” Shen Su rinsed her mouth with tea and blinked at Yunzhi. “After dinner, just go to sleep.”
She added pointedly, “No need to come and disturb us.”
Qin Yu’s ears flushed slightly as she coughed lightly into her hand.
Qingqing was really too unguarded.
Yunzhi paused for a moment before realizing what Shen Su meant and quickly nodded. “Oh, alright, I’ll go then.”
Yunzhi stepped out, turning to close the door behind her. Before shutting it completely, she glanced at Qin Yu and then at Shen Su. The two sat by the table, one strikingly handsome, the other exquisitely beautiful, a perfect match made in heaven.
It was a pity that such a well-matched pair would have to part ways tomorrow.
Yunzhi sighed inwardly once more at the cruelty of fate and cursed Shen Su’s biological father that Minister who turned into a stepfather the moment, he married a stepmother with every ounce of her being!
Pocketing the money Shen Su had given her, Yunzhi went out to run errands, while Shen Su remained in the room, savoring what she considered her last sumptuous “dinner.”
Qin Yu eyed Shen Su warily, finding the way she looked at her utterly strange as if she had been craving her for a long time and couldn’t wait to devour her whole.
Even though she had just “fed” her last night.
“This pastry is mung bean flavored sweet but not cloying, really delicious.”
Shen Su pinched a piece of pastry and asked Qin Yu, “Want to try some?”
But instead of offering it, she popped the mung bean cake into her own mouth, the implication crystal clear.
How to taste it? Naturally, from her mouth.
Besides the mung bean cake, Shen Su had also prepared ice water and warm water. With a playful glint in her eyes, she asked Qin Yu, “Which one would you like to try first?”