“Mmph…mmph…” Chen Yuanyuan tried several times to push herself up, but her injuries left her too weak. Several times she nearly raised her head, only to fall back down again.
With nothing but a man’s masculine presence before her, Chen Yuanyuan wished the floor would swallow her whole.
Song Qingshu spread his hands in an innocent gesture. “Now it’s not me touching you…you’re the one touching me.”
Chen Yuanyuan was both mortified and frantic, but seeing no other way…she couldn’t very well stay in this position forever…she finally relented: “You… help me up.”
“No can do~” Song Qingshu shook his head deliberately, drawing out his words. “Madam just said not to touch you. I don’t want to be called a shameless lecher again.”
Realizing he was deliberately teasing her, Chen Yuanyuan ground her teeth in frustration. She wished she could just open her mouth and bite him…but then she thought about what exactly she’d be biting if she opened her mouth, and she wasn’t quite that bold.
Looking down at the beauty in his lap, he saw her hair in disarray, strands of silken black falling across her fair, slender neck. The contrast of colors seemed to glow with a mesmerizing luster, and Song Qingshu’s heart stirred. Without thinking, he bent down and ki$$ed her neck.
“Ah…” Chen Yuanyuan hadn’t expected this turn of events. The hot, tender ki$$ on her neck left her momentarily dazed. It had been so long since a man had t0uched her…she hadn’t expected a single caress to make her tremble from the very depths of her soul.
Her life had been one of beauty’s misfortune. Because of her world-renowned looks, too many men had coveted her, and because of that, she understood men better than any woman alive.
An ordinary young maiden in this situation would think only of lust, but Chen Yuanyuan could sense the tenderness and cherishing behind that gentle ki$$. She could feel that his ki$$ came from appreciation of beauty, a natural impulse…not from mere carnal desire like other men.
She’d experienced too many men in her turbulent life. Wu Sangui, Li Zicheng…no matter how gentlemanly they acted beforehand, once in bed, they’d reveal their impatient, sordid true natures, reaching for her $kirts without a second thought. Who had ever truly cherished her like this?
Thinking back, perhaps the only man in the world who’d treasured her this way was Hu Yizhi back at the Sansheng Nunnery. For her sake, the once-renowned Saber King had become a simple farmer, spending over a decade weeding and growing vegetables at the nunnery, exchanging barely twenty or thirty words with her in all that time.
Chen Yuanyuan had only learned his identity afterward, and though she was moved, she felt nothing romantic toward him. In her view, devotion wasn’t wrong, but pursuing a partner wasn’t like keeping a pet…being “good to her” wasn’t enough. Love required mutual appreciation and reliance on each other’s character.
Unfortunately, Hu Yizhi possessed nothing Chen Yuanyuan could admire.
Chen Yuanyuan had been the belle of Qinhuai since she was a teenager…she’d seen every kind of suitor. How many men as devoted as Hu Yizhi had she encountered? They didn’t see her as a woman…they worshipped her as an untouchable goddess.
Though Chen Yuanyuan enjoyed the adoration, enjoyment was one thing. The inherent inequality from the start meant she felt nothing special toward such suitors. In her heart, men like Hu Yizhi ranked even below Wu Sangui or Li Zicheng.
But even toward Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng, she held no deep feelings…they’d only ever treated her as a beautiful plaything.
All these years, with her solitary lamp and aged Buddha, Chen Yuanyuan had often pitied herself in the quiet of the night. She’d known more men than most women would know in ten lifetimes, yet never found a true soulmate. It was perhaps her greatest regret.
Yet somehow, this young, mysterious man’s ki$$ made her heart race and sent electricity through her body. She was both shy and alarmed…*how can I feel this way toward a lecher?*
“Perhaps it’s just a dying hallucination.” Her chest grew tighter, her whole body aching.
Noticing her distress, Song Qingshu stopped teasing her. He helped her up and gently laid her on the bed, taking her wrist to check her pulse. His brow furrowed. Though Huang Shang had used the “Striking the Mountain Through the Ox” technique, a fraction of the force had remained in Chen Yuanyuan’s body. Fortunately, he’d absorbed most of the Great Demon Subduing Fist’s power with his own body…otherwise this peerless beauty would already be dead. But even so, with Huang Shang’s century of cultivation, how could Chen Yuanyuan’s frail body withstand it? She was clearly clinging to life by a thread.
“Am I about to die?” Looking at the man sitting by the bed, his aura heavy with concern, she found it hard to connect him with the lecher who’d tormented them that night.
Song Qingshu sighed: “You are indeed badly hurt. Even if the entire Imperial Medical Academy consulted, they’d likely be helpless.”
“Just as I thought.” Chen Yuanyuan’s eyes were calm, as if she’d already made peace with it. “A calamitous beauty like me should have died long ago.”
Sensing her pulse growing weaker, Song Qingshu knew she’d given up on living. He grew both anxious and frustrated: “I wasn’t finished speaking. The Imperial Medical Academy can’t save you…that doesn’t mean I can’t.”
Chen Yuanyuan assumed he was just trying to comfort her and paid it no mind. Her beautiful eyes fixed on him quietly: “Can you promise me one thing?”
“Tell me. Whether I agree depends on my mood.” Song Qingshu examined her injuries with his true qi while replying casually.
Chen Yuanyuan blinked in surprise. Since she was a teenager, every man she’d met had been eager to please, eager to grant her every wish. Even those who acted aloof would soften at her gentle pleading…none had ever been like this man.
“Could you take off your mask and let me see you?” Perhaps his earlier attitude had prepared her for possible rejection. As she spoke, her voice was soft and yielding, and she batted her watery eyes as if they were speaking, conveying her entreaty.
“Are you trying to seduce me?” Noticing her expression, amusement flickered in Song Qingshu’s eyes.
Two blushes bloomed on Chen Yuanyuan’s jade-pale cheeks. She hadn’t intentionally used such flirtatious tricks since leaving Qinhuai decades ago…and now she’d deliberately employed them on a younger man, only to receive such a response.
“He truly must be what they guessed…not a real man,” a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind. Relief mingled with an inexplicable regret…*just when I finally meet a man whose soul resonates with mine, it turns out he’s not a man at all.*
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