After Qi Buyan finished speaking, the cloth in He Sui’an’s hand fell into the water with a splash, sending droplets flying and drenching her face.
He Sui’an wasn’t sure if Qi Buyan’s words meant what she thought they did. She opened her mouth but felt her throat tighten as if she were choking. She paused, “The book? Are you talking about that book?”
Qi Buyan looked at her through the screen.
He said yes.
The room was silent for a moment, then the sound of splashing water resumed. He Sui’an reached out to grab the clothes draped over the screen by the bathtub.
She couldn’t quite reach them.
She stood up and stepped out of the tub.
He Sui’an knew that her movements could cast a shadow on the other side of the screen, and Qi Buyan could see everything. Yet she still got up to grab her clothes because she didn’t want to keep talking while naked.
After pondering for a while, He Sui’an wanted to clarify, “What exactly are you referring to?” She found it difficult to ask directly.
Was it really what she thought?
Qi Buyan had also finished bathing. When he reached out to grab his clothes, his fingertips brushed against He Sui’an’s hand resting on the screen, water droplets sliding over her skin, warm to the touch.
It felt like an electric current ran from He Sui’an’s hand through her entire body, making her shiver. She quickly pulled her hand back, feeling timid.
She still hadn’t grabbed her dress.
At that moment, Qi Buyan answered, “My fingers.”
As he explained to He Sui’an, he took down the clothes draped over the screen. His height gave him an advantage here, and he easily reached over the high screen to hand the dress to He Sui’an.
His arms were smooth and muscular, his cool white fingers grasping the white pleated dress, fingertips pressing against the fabric. He Sui’an felt as if Qi Buyan was touching not just the dress, but her.
The longer the white pleated dress stayed in Qi Buyan’s hand, the more He Sui’an’s heart trembled.
She quickly took it. “Thank you.”
Her voice was barely audible.
So Qi Buyan was talking about his fingers. He Sui’an had misunderstood, thinking of something else entirely when he first spoke. But the difference between the two was minimal, distinguished only by…
He Sui’an looked toward the place where the book was kept.
What did that book describe? She recalled the content of the first page being quite explicit. She could imagine the rest of the book being even more so, without needing to see it herself.
Where had Qi Buyan read up to? She was so flustered, like a cat with its fur standing on end, she hastily put on her dress, fumbling and getting it wrong several times.
After getting dressed, He Sui’an walked around the screen and saw that he was already sitting by the bed.
The window was closed, but sunlight filtered through the thin paper, making the room very bright. They had also washed their hair while bathing, and at this moment, Qi Buyan’s wet long hair hung down in front of him.
The young man had broad shoulders and a narrow waist. When he was sitting, his waist was particularly eye-catching, with not a hint of excess fat, perfectly narrow. When He Sui’an was half-asleep, she often liked to hold onto his waist.
Qi Buyan heard the movement and knew she had finished dressing and come out.
He looked over.
He Sui’an’s face had a light redness from the bath, and her braids had been undone. Her long hair, wet and carrying the scent of soapwort, hung down.
She wore a plain gauze top and a white pleated skirt that almost perfectly matched her skin tone. The hem of the skirt was embroidered with a single blue butterfly, simple to the extreme, with the skirt tied at the back.
Her slender and well-proportioned arms were clearly outlined under the light gauze top, her collarbones slightly recessed, and her thin shoulders supported the soft fabric, even her back was thin.
But He Sui’an’s face was soft and fleshy, looking plump and cute.
Qi Buyan liked to caress her face.
His gaze lingered on He Sui’an, not moving away. On the day they first met in Weicheng, He Sui’an looked just like this, unchanged.
It seemed like neither of them had changed, but also like something had changed. Qi Buyan couldn’t pinpoint what had changed. Perhaps it was the shift from nurturing poisonous insects to nurturing He Sui’an.
He Sui’an also sat down by the bed.
However, she sat at the foot of the bed while he sat at the head, with a distance between them.
Before and after bathing, He Sui’an wasn’t wearing embroidered shoes, and Qi Buyan wasn’t wearing long boots. They had put on the wooden clogs provided by the inn, so they didn’t have to worry about their shoes getting wet and needing to dry.
When people sit, their clothes often ride up, and Qi Buyan’s dark blue hem also lifted, revealing his ankles and feet.
Qi Buyan didn’t bother to dry his hair. Instead, he turned to look at He Sui’an.
“Why are you sitting so far away?”
He Sui’an made a sound of surprise, looking at the distance between them. It was only the length of one person, even though he was at the head of the bed and she was at the foot. “It’s not far, right?”
He pointed to the spot in the middle of the bed. “Before, you used to sit here.”
Qi Buyan continued to look at her as He Sui’an slowly moved closer. The clean, fresh scent of soapwort mixed with his natural fragrance returned to her side, making He Sui’an’s breath quicken.
“He Sui’an.” Qi Buyan called her name softly by her ear, “Can we really become more intimate than last time?” Each time becoming closer was something he longed for.
He Sui’an swallowed hard for no reason.
She knew his emotions were fluctuating.
While others might be able to hide their emotional fluctuations, Qi Buyan could not.
Whenever his emotions surged, butterflies would appear. When he killed with ruthless decisiveness, the excitement from killing made a butterfly appear on his neck, hidden by his clothes.
At this moment, a small, faint butterfly was visible on Qi Buyan’s cheek, looking beautiful.
He Sui’an wanted to find a place to hide.
She turned her face away, but Qi Buyan gently pinched her face and turned her head back. He wanted to look at her, but she turned away again, and he turned her back once more.
He Sui’an was on the verge of madness. Somehow, she gathered the courage and bumped her head against Qi Buyan’s chest several times, nearly knocking herself out.
Qi Buyan then grabbed the back of her neck to stop her from continuing.
She backed down again.
Mainly because Qi Buyan’s chest was too hard, and it hurt. He Sui’an was seeing stars from the pain and had to rest for a while to recover.
“I’m too tired right now, let’s wait until tonight.” He Sui’an covered her aching forehead and lay down on the bed, thinking that delaying it would help. When the time came, she could kiss Qi Buyan to divert his attention.
She thought she was quite clever sometimes.
The reason Qi Buyan was interested in whether they could become closer through these actions was likely because people generally have a curiosity about the unknown, just like she did.
The difference was that, unlike Qi Buyan, she rarely managed to be as straightforward and calm as he was.
He Sui’an sometimes felt like a snail.
She would stick her head out, curious about the outside world. If someone touched her lightly, she might retract her head back into her shell.
Her entire body would shrink into her shell.
“Okay.” Qi Buyan brushed aside He Sui’an’s damp hair draped over her back and habitually bent down to kiss the water droplets left on her fair neck. Then he helped He Sui’an up to dry her hair.
Reluctantly accepting the task, she took the cloth to dry her hair.
Halfway through, He Sui’an got off the bed.
She opened the window and stood in front of it, letting the wind dry her hair. The breeze was just right, blowing through her damp hair. He Sui’an leaned on the windowsill and closed her eyes comfortably.
Qi Buyan lifted his gaze towards the window.
Reflected in his eyes was the silhouette of He Sui’an.
A butterfly, from some unknown place, fluttered over and landed on the back of her hand resting on the windowsill. It stayed there for a long time without flying away.
—
The night was calm, with the stars scattered and the moon shining brightly as the third watch passed.
The night patrols within Chang’an city were more frequent and vigilant than the previous night.
Having already evaded the night patrols once, He Sui’an felt more confident this time. Following Qi Buyan, she once again reached the mysterious palace.
Princess Luoyan had mentioned the previous night that she would reveal her wish tonight. They needed to come to the palace once more to meet her.
As soon as they landed, He Sui’an headed towards the pavilion.
Princess Luoyan and her close maid Zhi Mo were already waiting in the pavilion, just like the night before, except this time, there was no zither music.
A dossier had replaced the zither on the table, and Princess Luoyan sat on the long bench, wearing light makeup and holding a handful of fish food, occasionally throwing some into the water.
Zhi Mo motioned for them to look at the dossier.
Although He Sui’an didn’t know what was written in it, she could guess that Princess Luoyan’s wish for Qi Buyan had something to do with this dossier.
At night, the fish in the pond were not very active. Despite Princess Luoyan throwing fish food into the water, only a few fish came up to eat. She seemed indifferent to whether the fish ate or not, continuing to toss the food.
He Sui’an picked up the dossier to read.
The dossier’s main subjects were a married couple: the man named Liu Weiyi and the woman named Wei Xin.
The surname of the Zhou dynasty was Liu.
Was this dossier about members of the royal family of the Zhou dynasty? He Sui’an moved the dossier closer to Qi Buyan so they could read it together.
The dossier stated that several years ago, this couple was killed by bandits on their way back to Chang’an. Because they were members of the royal family, the authorities conducted a thorough investigation without any negligence.
But no matter how the authorities investigated, the conclusion was always that they were killed by bandits.
The case was thus closed.
There wasn’t much content in the dossier, so He Sui’an finished reading quickly and looked at Princess Luoyan, who was still leaning on the bench, waiting for her to speak.
Princess Luoyan threw away the remaining fish food and turned to look at them, or rather at the dossier in their hands.
Her expression became somewhat dazed.
Before being adopted as the emperor and empress’s daughter and becoming a princess, she was Liu Weiyi’s younger sister, born fifteen years after him. Their parents had her late in life, and Wei Xin was her sister-in-law.
Liu Weiyi and Wei Xin were both extremely skilled in martial arts and military strategy, having fought numerous battles for the Zhou dynasty with almost invincible records, earning widespread fame.
Wei Xin’s reputation was even more prominent.
She was the first female general of the Zhou dynasty. Fearing unwanted attention, they retired from the battlefield under the pretense of old age. The emperor, understanding their wishes, promptly agreed to relieve them of their duties as generals.
