The Perilous Palace Dream - Chapter 124
Chapter 124
Upon hearing his words, Nie Qinglin turned back to gaze at the man who was holding her delicate hand. His phoenix eyes shone brilliantly, flashing with the sharp light of absolute determination. The Princess was willing to believe that the Grand Tutor, this sinister dragon, was all-capable; unfortunately, when night fell, it became the tormenting hour where the Grand Tutor found it impossible to have both.
During the previous two months in the capital, it had been manageable. With his beloved far away, his mind was entirely set on resisting the surging toxicity. But now, the poison had mostly dissipated. Unlike before when nightfall brought unbearable pain, he now had his beloved by his side. Even with a self-control like Lord Dingguo’s, it was inevitable that his mind would wander into restless desire. Unfortunately, with the beauty in his arms, he could not taste a single drop; yet, he was naturally unwilling to release the soft, supple figure in his embrace, leaving him tossing and turning restlessly on the bed.
Lying by his side, how could Nie Qinglin not realize this? Reaching out to touch him, she found the Grand Tutor’s body burning hot. She originally thought he was suffering from a flare-up of the poison, but before she could speak, the Grand Tutor suddenly rolled over onto her.
His large palm tightly clasped her wrist, his heavy breath gasping in the crook of her neck.
With this, the Grand Tutor’s imposing stature was felt completely through their clothes, inch by inch. Such scorching heat truly made one flush with embarrassment.
“Having been out all day… I am quite exhausted. Why is the Grand Tutor not resting yet?”
Pressed down by a man built like a small mountain, those hot, enchanting moments under the bedcovers from months ago rushed back into her mind all at once.
If he could, what need was there for conversation right now? Tearing open the silk quilt and ripping away the clothes to revisit the gentle village—dying in his beloved’s arms would leave no regrets for a hero…
Yet, after greedily inhaling a few breaths of her body scent, the Grand Tutor spoke in a rough, hoarse voice, “Princess, bear with me for a moment. It will be fine if I just rub against you a little…”
What nonsense was this? She wasn’t a dead person.
Pressed tightly beneath him, combined with his large hand reaching inside her robe to rub and knead, even a saintly Bodhisattva would soon feel a surge of passionate desire. With her cheeks burning red, seeing the Grand Tutor in such distress, she unexpectedly felt a faint spark of compassion.
Her slender hand gradually moved downward, intending to soothe the Grand Tutor’s pent-up suffering. But unexpectedly, before her hand could slip inside his trousers, it was caught firmly in his large palm.
“You must not… the poisonous Qi has not yet fully dissipated…” Having said this, Wei Lenghou seemed to be abruptly woken up by his own words.
He hugged her tightly a few more times, then turned, got out of bed, and walked into the adjacent bathhouse with his cane. There stood half a barrel of clear water waiting to be mixed with hot water for his morning bath. He used a jade ladle to scoop up cold water and pour it over his body, causing the burning sensation to gradually recede. When he turned around, drenched, intending to call a maid to change his clothes, he found the Princess standing at the bathroom doorway with her long hair draped over her waist, holding a set of clean nightclothes in her hands.
To have her witness his disheveled state naturally displeased the Grand Tutor greatly. He reached out to take the clothes, sat on a chair, and quickly changed.
Nie Qinglin leaned against the doorframe, quietly watching this tall, robust man who was now showing a slight hint of annoyance. When he stood up, she walked over to support him, but he avoided her touch. After taking only a few steps, he temporarily forgot that the bluestone floor was splashed with water. His foot slipped, and he fell heavily to the ground. Because he crushed the injury on his leg, the man’s dark brows immediately knit tightly together.
In a panic, Nie Qinglin bent down to help him, but after a moment’s thought, she stayed her hand and went out by herself.
At first, the Grand Tutor was annoyed at making a fool of himself and cursed that villain Ge who had poisoned him once again. But in the next instant, seeing Nie Qinglin turn cold-hearted and leave without paying him any mind, the irritation in his heart grew even stronger.
Grit his teeth, he stood up.
Without even using his cane, he walked out by supporting himself heavily against the wall, only to see the small figure in thin clothing standing quietly before the window, watching the moonlight. He had been feeling stifled, but seeing her facing the wind at the window like that, he couldn’t help but say, “The wind is cold there. Hurry up, close the window, and get back into bed.”
Yet, she did not move for a long time.
The Grand Tutor assumed she had come to despise his useless self, and suddenly recalled the scene on Fanmo Tower that day. The radiant, breathtaking beauty being eagerly gazed at by a group of young men remained vivid in his memory. Even without her royal status, Guo’er’s beauty was enough to make men in the world flock to her. At this moment, bathed in moonlight in her loose white robes, she gave him the feeling that in the next instant, she would step upon the moonlight, soar upward, and gently drift away from him…
Thinking that his beloved’s heart might not be with him, he clenched his fists tightly. But when he walked up to her, he realized that her face, gazes quietly out the window, was covered in tears.
Unable to help himself, he grabbed her body, pulled her around, and asked with a frown,”Why are you crying out of nowhere?” He locked his brows again and added, “Could it be that I have made you feel annoyed, Princess…”
Through her tear-filled eyes, Nie Qinglin looked up at this man. His expression remained as cold and stern as when he stood in the imperial court executing foes on all sides, yet between his brows lay a subtle trace of unease that was difficult for others to detect.
She looked at him motionless and said, “It is the Grand Tutor who has grown tired of Qinglin… Everything about Qinglin is entirely within the Grand Tutor’s grasp, yet the Grand Tutor’s own joys, sorrows, pleasures, and pains are things he never wishes Qinglin to know. It was so with the leg injury last time, and it is so with the poisoning this time.
The Grand Tutor is so busy every day; standing above the court, it is only natural to have times when romantic feelings slip your mind. But a woman living in the inner palace can only guard that single small world, pondering day after day over nothing more than those few moments of warmth during morning and evening greetings. Living like this for too long, one’s heart grows emptier and emptier.
Qinglin has self-awareness; I am nothing more than an orphan without parents. Though relying on the title of royalty, I cannot compare to a noble woman from a prominent family. This bit of affection the Grand Tutor has for Qinglin is always like this moonlight—visible, yet forever beyond reach. The Grand Tutor always says he fears Qinglin will worry, but does the Grand Tutor truly know what Qinglin is actually afraid of?”
Hearing this, Wei Lenghou pressed his lips tightly together and asked softly,”What is Guo’er afraid of?”
Nie Qinglin looked at him, reached out her fingers, and gently smoothed his furrowed brows,”At this very moment, what Guo’er fears is the exact same thing the Grand Tutor worries about in his heart—that deep affection, too, will turn out to be nothing but a reflection of the moon in water, a flower in a mirror…”
As she uttered these words, the delicate woman slightly raised her exquisite chin, gently pulled down her collar, and pressed a kiss upon his cheek…
Just as those tender lips were about to pull away, the Grand Tutor held her tightly. In the past, hearing Guo’er declare her love for him would only bring him immense pride and joy; but now, listening to this melancholy confession of love, he only felt something swelling uncomfortably in his heart, bursting to come out.
How could he not know how proud this woman born into the Great Wei royal family was? She could stand firm and unshakable during a palace coup, and she could remain calm and composed beneath a treacherous minister. Although in the past she had played dumb and feigned submission, he knew deep down that this hard-shelled Guo’er had never truly shown weakness or yielded to anyone.
Yet, it was precisely such a soft-on-the-outside, firm-on-the-inside young woman who wept bitterly upon learning that he had survived the shipwreck calamity and returned safely, and who grew despondent over his deliberate concealment. Every one of her tears burned his heart like scalding molten iron.
He held the intention of “exhausting the national power of Great Wei just to win a smile from his beloved,” but in the end, he suddenly realized that everything he strove to give was not what she wanted at all…
Thinking of this, he could only hold the person in his arms tightly, at a loss for what to say for a long time.
—
With the New Year approaching, they were to celebrate the festival in Jiangnan this year. Although the Grand Tutor had been ill for a long time, he had never laid down state affairs; everything was reported to him by Prime Minister Qiu before being carried out one by one. After so much time in training, Qiu Mingyan had shed his former impulsiveness of seeking results regardless of the bigger picture, conducting business with increasing maturity. Even with the Grand Tutor temporarily away from the capital, no chaos could arise.
When those lords and nobles heard that the King of Hell would not be spending the New Year in the capital, every one of them was overjoyed, feeling that without the Grand Tutor’s deterrence, the banquets and card games during the festival were much more lively.
That day, the master of the Pan Manor had met with Princess Yong’an and was left dripping with cold sweat from head to toe by a few veiled yet revealing words from her. Upon returning home, he dragged his son, whose face had been beaten like a pig’s head, to the ancestral hall and whipped him severely once more. Then he worried about how to mend and draw closer to this line of royal relatives.
Now that it was the twelfth lunar month, hearing that the Princess was going to spend the New Year in this city, he was delighted, determined to use the New Year as an opportunity to pull their relationship closer.
That day when the Princess went to Fanmo Tower for leisure, he had also taken his daughter along—not to find a husband for his daughter, but to take the opportunity to curry favor with the Princess. Unexpectedly, because his seat was too far from the private room, the Princess did not cast a single glance in his direction.
However, he had seen clearly that when the Princess looked at the young master of the Sui Manor, her eyes were filled with spring affection without any avoidance. The youth was in his prime, and the Princess was in her blooming youth; how could a experienced man like him fail to see such an entangling exchange of glances between the two?
Among the princesses of the previous dynasty, there was no lack of bold and uninhibited ones, and in the current dynasty, quite a few indulged in scandalous affairs within the palace. He simply hadn’t expected that the Princess, who was betrothed to the Grand Tutor, was also a heroine among women in the realm of passion. But then again, traveling alone in Jiangnan with the Grand Tutor far away at the edge of the sky, she must feel very lonely and empty.
That day after returning, he had a thoroughly satisfying time in bed with his eighteen-year-old concubine, after which enlightenment suddenly struck him. The Princess residing in Jiangnan had royal provisions, so she naturally had no worries about food or clothing, and his merchant family had nothing grand to offer either. However, Jiangnan was full of handsome men; presumably, out of respect for her future husband in the capital, the Princess could not act too ostentatiously and needed someone tactful to arrange and scout suitable young men for her. If he helped facilitate such a secret, wonderful affair for the Princess, how could she not consider him a trusted confidant?
When that time came, if the Princess said a few good words in front of the Emperor, the Pan Manor’s meteoric rise would be right around the corner!
