The mountain farm was vast. Half of it had been requisitioned at a state price to serve as an imperial royal farm, and the vacated rooms were allocated to Qi Shen and the nobles. As for the ministers and accompanying imperial guards, they could only set up tents outside.
Qi Shen’s quarters were the most spacious and luxurious. He stepped into the inner chamber of the bedroom, and Jing Xin’s veil hat fell to the ground.
Her originally fair cheeks were flushed a deep red. A floral adornment was painted between her brows, and her lips were tinted with rouge, making her already delicate features look even more exquisite and alluring.
Well, not bad. The rouge powder bought at noon hadn’t gone to waste.
Surrounding the farm were layers of deep mountains. The terrain here was unusual, and even in midsummer it remained pleasantly cool. There was a spring deep in the mountains with a comfortably warm temperature even in summer, so Qi Shen intended to soak in it first.
He did not let Jing Xin go. Instead, he carried her to the hot spring pool.
Mist curled through the air. Jing Xin leaned against the stone steps by the pool with her eyes closed. In the shifting waterlight, her gauzy skirt drifted, and her long black hair, soaked through, clung messily to her cheeks.
She slept peacefully enough, but Qi Shen had been driven nearly mad these past days by unrelieved frustration. The tall, powerful man swam over to her side. After several attempts where she remained unresponsive like a wooden figure, anger flashed in his eyes. In the end, unable to proceed, he could only relieve himself alone.
When they returned to the bedroom, Qi Shen’s pace was quick and heavy.
The palace attendants following behind understood he was in a rage. All of them held their breath and served with extreme caution, fearing for their lives at any moment.
Maids came forward to change Jing Xin out of her wet clothes and dry her soaked hair, carefully combing it smooth again.
Night had already fallen. The mountain nights were deep and silent. Inside, lantern light illuminated the room, where palace servants knelt in rows despite the space being far smaller than the palace halls.
Qi Shen still wanted to try again. It seemed he had hurt Jing Xin slightly, as her brows faintly knitted, yet she still showed no response. His irritation surged instantly. Fury extinguished his desire. He pinched her chin with long fingers, making her soft lips purse slightly. She let out a faint sound, disheveled hair scattered across the pillow, even in deep sleep still carrying a mesmerizing charm. At that moment, he almost wanted to hear her cry and beg.
Qi Shen looked but could not have her, growing both angry and humiliated. He snapped coldly, “Bring wine.”
He even considered drinking himself into unconsciousness until morning.
Chief Steward Cang Ji trembled as he presented the wine. Though he was no longer a man in the full sense, he understood these matters well. Glancing secretly at the sleeping woman on the bed, as still as a wooden doll, and then at Qi Shen’s murderous rage, he retreated under the eaves and quietly ordered a palace maid to go in and serve.
In this world, some feared Qi Shen to the bone, while others willingly risked everything for imperial favor.
The summoned maid was somewhat clever and possessed a bit of beauty.
She entered the bedroom with her head lowered and carefully poured wine for Qi Shen.
Just as Qi Shen tilted his head back to drink, the maid had already begun loosening the ties at her waist.
Her outer robe fell silently. She lifted her delicate face, gathering courage as she met Qi Shen’s narrowed eyes. While continuing to undress, she spoke softly, “Your Highness, allow this servant to attend you for the night…”
When Qi Shen was angered, he often pressed his thin lips together and narrowed his eyes without a word. Before he could respond, she had already stripped down to her inner garment and knelt forward to remove his shoes.
“Get out,” he said coldly, kicking her hard in the shoulder.
The force sent her rolling violently to the threshold, where she struck her head hard and scraped her scalp.
Qi Shen stood up. He hated it when others presumed to understand his intentions.
In the relatively cramped room, he stood like a towering beast. His aura was dark and oppressive, filled with violent killing intent.
Chief Steward Cang Ji finally realized things had gone wrong. Terrified of being implicated, he dragged the maid out and ordered a young eunuch to strangle her on the spot.
The struggling maid’s legs thrashed like fallen leaves before finally going still. Only then did Cang Ji wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. If she was dead, she could not implicate him.
But suddenly, Qi Shen’s cold voice rang out from behind.
“Who gave the order?”
Cang Ji dropped to his knees at once. “Your Highness, spare my life! It was not this servant’s idea! Not this servant’s…”
“Choose how you want to die.”
There was no way to hide it from him.
Cang Ji felt as though struck by lightning. Trembling, he begged, “Your Highness! Please spare me! I have served you for three years!”
Yes, longer than Jing Xin by two years. He was the longest-serving eunuch by Qi Shen’s side since the emperor’s ascension.
Qi Shen’s face remained expressionless, even slightly impatient at the pleading.
Cang Ji finally grabbed at Jing Xin as a lifeline, crawling toward the bed. “Imperial Consort Jing—”
Qi Shen kicked him away. “Get down, don’t disturb her.”
He gave no more words and directly ordered the guards to dispose of him.
There were faint blood stains at the threshold. Qi Shen impatiently ordered a newly arrived, still trembling eunuch, “Clean it up. Don’t frighten Imperial Consort Jing.”
Just after arriving, the mood had already been ruined. He called for attendants to help him change to sleep.
Jing Xin was still deeply asleep. Qi Shen looked at her face and slowly calmed down.
Was he a beast? Sometimes, yes. But not in this matter of desire.
His father had been a lecherous ruler, surrounded by seventy-two concubines in a palace of swirling schemes and bloodshed. His vicious mother had died in that battlefield of desire, leaving no bones behind, dragging him into this living hell.
He was a tyrant and a foolish ruler, but he refused to become a lust-driven one.
He did not want that many women.
Not just anyone could lie in his dragon bed like a decorative object.
He already had one exquisite vase. How could he look at anything else?
When Jing Xin woke, her entire body felt hot. The bedding was soaked with sweat. There was no one beside her, though the quilt still carried residual warmth.
A palace maid knelt outside the bed curtains. She sat up and realized the wine from last night had made her sleep deeply without a hangover. Instead, she felt unusually refreshed. Only when the quilt slipped did she realize she was not wearing sleep clothes.
“Ahhh!”
“Someone!”
Chang Huan arrived first. Jing Xin hurriedly covered her chest. “Did I sleep with His Highness last night? Where are my clothes?”
Chang Huan explained everything from the hot spring to the disturbances in the room later that night. She was used to such matters and was no longer embarrassed. After a light cough, she dismissed the attendants and lowered her voice, “But His Highness likely didn’t actually do anything. You were asleep, how could anything have happened?”
Jing Xin’s face turned bright red.
So that was it. They had barely reached the first and second step, and last night that damn emperor had even tried to move to the third step while she was drunk?
Damn him.
Chang Huan then mentioned that two palace servants had died last night.
Jing Xin froze. “Cang Ji is dead too?”
Chang Huan nodded.
She processed it for a long time. Qi Shen, once enraged, was truly terrifying. But why did he not accept other women? Was he not interested in them?
He was only twenty-two now and had been on the throne for four years, yet the harem still only had her. Why did he not expand it?
Thinking about it, it made sense. He had even tried something on her while she was drunk and asleep. At his age, desire should be strong. If he could not obtain it, he would… wait, he had already done this several times, so she might really not be able to escape anymore.
Jing Xin felt both nervous and uneasy. She did not want things to progress so quickly, but now it seemed she might not be able to avoid it at all.
She could only prepare herself for whatever storm might come. The only comfort was that this man at least… was quite handsome.
…
The news spread quickly that Qi Shen had executed two palace servants upon arrival, and the atmosphere among the entourage grew tense.
Qi Shen had already gone with the princes and ministers to inspect the terrain in the forest. Jing Xin did not dare to stay too far from him. After breakfast, she set out toward the mountain.
Ping Mountain was deep and densely forested. To Qi Shen and the others, it was suitable for hunting and the climate was cool. To her, however, it felt eerie and oppressive.
Trees rose tall and dense, blocking out the sky. Jing Xin felt as if assassins could leap out from behind any trunk at any moment.
She still could not ride a horse, so she walked on foot into the forest.
Today she likely would not have time to meet Shen Qingyue in town. In truth, she also did not want to encounter Shen Qingyue right now, so she wore a veil hat and brought only Shou Quan as her trusted aide, with imperial guards escorting her front and back.
The leading guard said Qi Shen was hunting on a clearing halfway up the mountain. They would arrive in about the time it took to burn two incense sticks.
Leaves rustled underfoot. Shou Quan supported Jing Xin. “My lady, should I carry you up?”
“No need—”
Before she could finish, a sharp, piercing roar echoed through the forest, raw and savage, as if it could devour a person whole.
The surrounding guards immediately went on alert. Shou Quan listened carefully, tense. “What animal is that?”
It was a tiger.
Shen Qingyue’s tiger.
Jing Xin had at least heard tiger roars in zoos and on television before, unlike the guards who were unfamiliar with it. Her face turned pale. Overwhelmed by instinctive fear tied to the original plot, she froze in place.