It was too dark; I couldn’t find any other cloth.
Qin Yu stepped into the carriage, leaving Shen Su and Yunzhi standing outside.
Someone muttered under their breath, “Is the young master really going to make those two women ride horses to keep up?”
“Are you stupid? The young master’s horses are all hitched to the carriage clearly, they’re meant to ride inside with the two women.”
“Not to be rude, but with a brain like yours, it’s no wonder your mother’s matchmaking efforts haven’t paid off.”
“Shut up, why drag me into this?” the man retorted. “The young master has always disliked people getting too close, so that’s why I said it.”
This was true. Qin Yu had neither maids nor even a single manservant to attend to her.
Some speculated that Qin Yu kept to herself out of fear that those close to her might harm “him,” hence her vigilance.
Given the scale of the Qin family’s wealth, no amount of caution was excessive.
“Who would’ve thought? The young master, usually so reserved, has such tastes.” Someone chuckled.
Normally refusing even one attendant, yet now demanding two at once.
“You think last night.”
Before the words could be finished, someone loudly interrupted, “Are the things packed? If so, let’s get moving.”
“Wait, wait let me double-check. I feel like I forgot something.”
“You’re always the slowest. Hurry up.”
“Alright, alright, just one more look.”
Someone jogged back into the temple for a final sweep, paranoid about leaving anything behind. Once, while camping in the wilderness, he had left his bundle under a tree.
Most of the group stood by their horses, holding the reins and chatting idly.
Yunzhi tugged at Shen Su’s sleeve, her face full of worry as she whispered, “They wouldn’t just abandon us here, would they?”
“They won’t.”
I’ve already given her my body, how dare Qin Yu try to back out now?
Weren’t we supposed to be working together?
Shen Su took a deep breath, lifted her skirts, and stepped into the carriage, bending slightly to enter the compartment.
After a moment’s hesitation, Yunzhi followed suit.
But she didn’t dare go inside. After much internal debate, she settled on the carriage’s front beam, clutching her bundle.
Compared to the interior, the outside seemed far easier to breathe in.
Inside the carriage, Qin Yu sat sprawled on the cushioned seat, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. Hearing the movement, she cracked an eyelid to glance at Shen Su before shutting it again.
Shen Su sat close to Qin Yu, casually resting a hand on her thigh.
Qin Yu’s brow instantly furrowed. She opened her eyes and turned to glare at Shen Su.
“Why so fierce? It’s not like I haven’t touched you before!” Shen Su shot back, though her gaze lacked any real bite.
Her bravado lasted only a moment before she wilted. “You were so soft last night.”
Like water, melting under her touch.
Her tone was plaintive, her expression accusing Qin Yu of being the kind of scoundrel who wouldn’t acknowledge their actions after leaving the bed.
Qin Yu, “…”
A vein throbbed at Qin Yu’s temple as she pushed Shen Su’s hand away. “Shut up. Keep talking, and you’re out.”
Last night’s folly had merely been to neutralize the effects of the drug. She had no intention of getting too entangled with “Su Qingqing” whether physically or emotionally.
“How am I supposed to keep up if I’m out? I can’t ride a horse,” Shen Su frowned.
Qin Yu tilted her head, raising a brow. “Who said anything about riding?”
Shen Su, “?”
Qin Yu drawled, “I meant you’d run alongside the carriage.”
Shen Su, “…”
Shen Su puffed up her cheeks in frustration, reaching out to grab Qin Yu’s collar. She tilted her chin up and bit down on Qin Yu’s lips.
But she only dared to vent for that brief moment. After biting, she soothingly kissed the corner of Qin Yu’s mouth, her hand sliding from Qin Yu’s collar up over her shoulder and around her back. Shen Su then settled herself onto Qin Yu’s lap.
Her body was soft, and her voice even softer than her body. “How could you bully me like this, sister?”
Faced with such warmth and tenderness, Qin Yu neither took the initiative nor resisted. She simply leaned against the carriage wall, allowing Shen Su to nestle into her embrace like a spoiled kitten.
After all, she’s someone who’s going to die soon.
Qin Yu’s fingers twitched slightly. Maybe I should give her a little sweetness as compensation?
“It’s not like I was really making you ride a horse,” Qin Yu said, noticing Shen Su had shifted awkwardly. Her hand instinctively steadied Shen Su’s waist and stayed there.
Shen Su noticed Qin Yu’s subtle movement. Wrapping her arms around Qin Yu’s neck, she pressed her red lips close to Qin Yu’s flushed ear, whispering, “I was so scared~”
Qin Yu glanced at her. “Such a delicate thing.”
Shen Su wasn’t delicate at all. She wasn’t even afraid of Qin Yu making her ride a horse. What she feared was Qin Yu’s intention to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs using her and then disposing of her so that Qin Yu’s secrets would remain hidden.
People from powerful families had hearts far crueler than most.
Shen Su had to make it to the capital alive. She couldn’t die on this journey.
Compared to survival, playing the delicate little thing was nothing.
Shen Su had thought she didn’t like women that being intimate with one would feel uncomfortable.
But Qin Yu was both striking and soft. Even though Shen Su knew Qin Yu was undeniably a woman, looking at that face still made her heart itch.
A woman…
Well, it’s not impossible. After all, last night had been so harmonious, so pleasurable.
Sitting on Qin Yu’s lap, Shen Su cupped her face and kissed her gently. “I missed you, sister.”
The sound of Shen Su’s voice made Qin Yu’s grip on her slender waist tighten slightly.
Qin Yu had always prided herself on discipline and self-control, but today, she wavered.
Was the drug’s effect still lingering?
Probably.
She convinced herself.
She didn’t want to get too entangled with Shen Su, but some things had already happened and couldn’t be undone. In that case, as long as she didn’t develop real feelings for Shen Su, it would be fine.
It was just like having an extra companion to relieve boredom like those novelty trinkets one buys, to be discarded after use.
Shen Su was just that.
Besides, she was the one who initiated it.
A prey that delivered itself to her doorstep Qin Yu could “reluctantly” enjoy it.
This was just another part of their cooperation. Originally, it had been an act, but now it had turned real.
At the very least, it brought her no harm.
Having rationalized it, Qin Yu tilted her face slightly, frowned, and reached up to pull out the copper hairpin holding Shen Su’s hair up.
In an instant, Shen Su’s long hair cascaded down like a waterfall, smooth and silky, spilling over her shoulders and covering her slender back.
Qin Yu twirled the hairpin in one hand while using the other as a comb, her fingers gently running through Shen Su’s long tresses.
Shen Su nestled against her, puzzled. “Is my hair that fun to play with?”
Qin Yu had undone her hair like this yesterday too.
“Not particularly,” Qin Yu murmured, stroking Shen Su’s hair. The most fun part of her wasn’t her hair.
Shen Su had a small frame she looked thin, but there was softness to her. When grasped, she felt plush and yielding.
And if one held the fullest part, the milky-white flesh would spill slightly between the fingers, utterly indecent.
“Why are you still wearing this hairpin?” Qin Yu casually set the hairpin aside, then reached up to pull out the white jade hairpin from her own masculine topknot. With practiced ease, she gathered Shen Su’s hair into a man’s bun and secured it with the pin.
The pale jade complemented her delicate beauty perfectly.
Shen Su was puzzled, but before she could figure out why Qin Yu had given her the hairpin, Qin Yu’s lips were already brushing against her neck.
Under the guise of fixing her hair, Qin Yu lowered her gaze and kissed Shen Su’s earlobe. “Just part of the act,” she murmured.
With Qin Yu’s hairpin in her hair, their intimacy seemed all the more convincing.
Shen Su laughed, loosening her robe to reveal the pale green undergarment beneath. “And this? Is this also part of the act?”
“That, no,” Qin Yu replied with an earnest expression. “It was too dark. I couldn’t find any other cloth.”
Shen Su: “…”
“I’ll make it up to you,” Qin Yu hinted, her voice low. “Take it off, and when we reach the market, I’ll buy you a better one.”
Shen Su was bold, but she hadn’t expected Qin Yu to be even bolder!
She couldn’t tell whether Qin Yu was still playing the part or if she had genuinely taken an interest.
By the time they reached the market, Qin Yu would owe her not just a new undergarment but also a new silk undershirt!
Her clothes weren’t rags, yet they kept being used to wipe hands.
The two sat inside the carriage while Yunzhi perched outside, clutching a bundle and sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder with the coachman though still maintaining a proper distance for propriety’s sake.
The day was clear, and once they emerged from the shaded woods, the sun’s heat became unbearable.
It was only midmorning, yet without any cover, the scorching rays burned against exposed skin.
Yunzhi wiped the sweat from her forehead and temples with her sleeve, then lifted the bundle over her head for shade, squinting ahead.
The men had pulled out straw hats to shield themselves, occasionally taking swigs from water flasks hanging on their saddles. They quickened their pace, clearly eager to escape the heat.
If not for the faint breeze stirred by the moving carriage, the heat would have been suffocating.
Worried that Shen Su might be even hotter inside the carriage, Yunzhi turned slightly, fingers pinching the edge of the curtain to ask how she was doing and to check how things were going between her mistress and Young Master Qin.
When Yunzhi had been bought into the Shen household, she knew she was meant to accompany her mistress to the capital.
Shen Su had an arranged marriage there. The specifics of the groom’s family were unclear, but the entire Shen household seemed thrilled, their faces alight with joy whenever the topic came up.
The matriarch had even purchased a new maid Yunzhi for Shen Su to take to the capital, claiming that the original servants, all born into the household, were unwilling to leave the ancestral home.
Someone like Yunzhi, who had been sent away to work from a young age, with no parents to care for her, was the perfect choice.
Yunzhi assumed the marriage must be an excellent match after all, her mistress was the legitimate daughter of Vice Minister Shen of the Ministry of Rites.
A proper young lady’s wedding would surely be magnificent, and the groom must be an extraordinary man.
Well, at least as handsome as Young Master Qin.
After yesterday’s events, Yunzhi had grown fiercely loyal to Shen Su, wishing her mistress nothing but the best, a harmonious and blissful marriage.
Because her mistress was beautiful, kind-hearted, and the purest soul in the world. She deserved it!
A small smile on her lips, Yunzhi lifted the curtain just a fraction to peek inside but the word “mistress” died in her throat.
Her face instantly flushed crimson. She dropped the curtain and spun back around, eyes wide.
The coachman beside her, mistaking her reaction for heatstroke, offered, “Here’s a straw hat. If you don’t mind, you can use it for shade.”
Yunzhi stiffly took the hat, muttering woodenly, “Thank you.”
She held the hat over her head, taking a long moment to snap out of her daze.
What had she just seen?
She saw Shen Su sitting on Qin Yu’s lap, her pearly white summer dress slipping down to her elbows, the gauzy fabric loosely draped around her waist. The hairstyle she had carefully arranged for her mistress that morning was now undone, long tresses cascading over her shoulders.
Yunzhi was stunned.
What on earth was going on?
Inside the carriage, Shen Su tilted her head slightly back, her hair cascading down, the inky strands veiling her snow-white back. Her thick lashes lowered as she caught a glimpse of the slightly parted curtain from the corner of her eye, she knew it was Yunzhi.
“Ouch,” Shen Su hissed, grumbling, “You’re the one who’s like a dog.”
Biting so hard it hurt.
Shen Su thought she’d have to find a chance to have a proper talk with Yunzhi.