Chapter 53

Outside the city of Quzhou, mountains surround three sides, and the naturally introduced hot springs are quite renowned.

In the wide pool wreathed in white mist, two tightly clinging figures were immersed. The man sat halfway in the water, a vaguely transparent long robe clinging to his frame, revealing the taut and smooth lines of his upper body, while the petite girl sat in his lap, entirely at his mercy as he helped wash her.

"Your Highness, if you don't wake up soon, we won't be able to wait any longer." Pei Muchi gazed at her increasingly flushed complexion, leaving shallow tooth marks on her neck and shoulders.

Beneath the water was an ethereal, soul-stirring scene of transcendent indulgence.

Her skin was naturally translucent and white, taking on an alluring, pale pink hue from the prolonged soaking.

"Mmm." Qingwu slowly regained consciousness in the warm bath, stirring uncomfortably with a couple of restless movements.

"Where am I?" Her voice remained hoarse, uttering only a murmur.

"Your Highness—" A deep, lingering sigh sounded by her ear.

Only the voice was heard, the person unseen.

Qingwu's body gave a slight shudder, involuntarily shifting deeper into his palm.

Unconsciously, Pei Muchi slackened the force he was using to relax her, gradually tightening his arms to cage her against his chest, allowing her time to adjust.

Recalling the tall, upright figure seated on horseback beneath the city wall, Qingwu used both hands to forcefully part the surface of the water, wanting to slide further away.

As she lifted her head, she let out a startled cry, "Ah!"

"No, don't." She didn't know what she was refusing, but the panic welling up in the depths of her heart made her subconsciously want to distance herself from the man before her.

Pei Muchi gripped the nape of her neck and bit down fiercely.

Less than two short hours remained before the poison flared up.

Qingwu's neck shrank back, her body instantly turning limp as she curled up in his arms like boneless silk.

When she saw her body covered in the red marks of fondling and friction, she grew even more furious, beginning to struggle violently.

Pei Muchi licked the corner of his lips, a pearly droplet of water rolled into his mouth as if stained with a layer of crimson rouge.

"Since Your Highness is awake, I won't wait any longer."

In truth, at this moment, he desperately wanted to pull the girl into his arms and tell her everything that had happened during this period.

While tending to her comfort, he wanted to properly question her: Why choose Du Jin? Why forget him?

They had promised back then not to abandon each other; were those words all lies?

"What are you doing?" Qingwu's head was dizzy, temporarily casting the flood of newly arrived memories to the back of her mind, focusing solely on dealing with the immediate situation.

Not long ago, a woman had spoken a lot of nonsense in front of her, and she had yet to figure out the connections between before and after.

Before she could think further, Pei Muchi began to untie the thin robe draped over his shoulders, folding it neatly and placing it by the edge of the pool.

Every movement of his, reflected in Qingwu's eyes, seemed to unfold in slow motion.

Pei Muchi layered the garments beneath the space behind them, sparing her from chafing against the hard surface once her strength gave out.

Qingwu stared at him, her eyes filled with doubt and wariness.

In truth, she had already realized something, but having regained her memories, she still harbored fantasies about him, believing he wouldn't treat her this way the moment they met again.

The expression on Pei Muchi's face stiffened slightly, an indescribable bitterness rising in his throat. He merely lowered his eyes and unfastened the innermost sash.

It was too late.

This simple thought swirled in his mind.

Qingwu braced her hands against the ledge by the pool wall, trying to stand up from his lap.

The man before her was as elegant and gentle as ever, yet she sensed an extremely unusual, dangerous aura emanating from him.

Whether the steam from the hot spring was too heavy or for some other reason, Qingwu's face grew hotter and hotter. She wanted to look away, only to find herself irresistibly drawn to him.

Her gaze lingered on his face for two seconds before she looked away in self-reproach, wishing she could slap herself twice.

Why couldn't she ever break this damned habit...

Pei Muchi took in her expression and chuckled softly.

Time was running out, yet he still couldn't bear to cause her pain. Cupping her chin, he tilted his head up and kissed her.

Pushing her breath to the absolute limit, making it short and rapid.

Under his guidance, Qingwu was driven to the brink of asphyxiation, while he treated her like the most cherished treasure in the world, full of tenderness and affection.

Even as she was immersed in it, he was plunging into self-exile.

The very instant his pupils dilated, Qingwu struck out with the edge of her palm toward his neck, the crisp, clean speed clearly premeditated.

Yet her slender wrist was intercepted in mid-air, her negligible strength feeling merely like a catalyst meant to heighten the pleasure between the sheets.

Qingwu discovered that her dantian was utterly empty, the force behind her strike soft and feeble—scarcely more than a tickle to a grown man.

How could this be?

"What did you give me?" Before she could finish speaking, she saw Pei Muchi slide a tiny bell from between his lips, his teeth biting down on the thin thread anchored to its end.

That gesture...

No matter how Qingwu struggled, it was in vain. The mercury inside the bell vibrated upon encountering heat, surging all the way inward to coalesce into a raging fire within her heart, crying out desperately for a downpour.

Qingwu bit down hard on her lower lip, refusing to make a single sound.

Deprived of the catalyst of her voice, Pei Muchi nonetheless sensed her transformation, his slender knuckles probing deeper on an expedition.

She remained silent, her lips parting and closing.

"This servant will make amends to Your Highness afterward." A trace of heartache surfaced in his eyes as he smothered her whimpers, pressing her restless hands against his own chest.

Qingwu rubbed her wrists, fixing a death stare upon him, tears pooled in her eyes, yet refusing to fall.

"This servant is going to begin..." He murmured close to her ear, his tone soft yet carrying a certain eerie, lingering chill.

Qingwu was like a tiny gnat trapped in a vast, sprawling spiderweb, struggling only to become more hopelessly entangled.

His tall, lean figure firmly imprisoned her in his embrace. No matter how she hammered and beat him with her fists, he remained immovable as a mountain. Lifting the backs of her knees and pressing them against the pool wall, he thrust into her with virtually no transition at all.

The immense agony caused her eyes to contract, while Pei Muchi's hollow chest was filled at last.

"You!"

The thing stuffed inside earlier hadn't even been taken out yet!

Qingwu swung a slap across his face; he seized her hand and pinned it above her head, resuming his movements without a shred of mercy.

He was running out of time.

Having just regained consciousness only to be treated so savagely by him, Qingwu clenched her fists in pain, striking out fiercely and even biting his arm out of sheer rage.

Amidst their pounding heartbeats, Qingwu's hair cascaded loose into the water, swaying constantly with the rippling waves.

She stubbornly refused to respond, making the experience unpleasant for both of them.

"Does Your Highness truly not wish to give yourself to me?" Pei Muchi faltered, drawing a difficult breath as he furrowed his brow.

If her fluids weren't sufficient, he wouldn't be able to channel the poison into his own body. Knowing how formidable the Queen of Southern Chao's Gu poison truly was, he had been consumed by anxiety all along, unwilling to let Qingwu suffer such torment.

Fortunately, they were familiar with one another; he knew the method.

"Make a sound!"

Yet this time, Qingwu refused to yield either, biting down without hesitation on her own index finger, forbidding herself from bowing her head to him under such circumstances.

Her pearly teeth left a glaring mark of blood on her finger, and her consciousness grew increasingly blurred.

Pei Muchi knitted his brows.

He hadn't expected Qingwu to be this stubborn, putting on an unyielding act that almost made him doubt himself.

Pity that the time left to him was truly limited, leaving no room to prove himself slowly.

......

On one hand, Pei Muchi captured her lips, throwing his entire being into her; on the other hand, he freed up one hand to grope for something by the edge of the pool.

In a ceramic jade bowl soaked two fine items.

The opening of each item was roughly as thick as a thumb and index finger looped into a circle. Fortunately, they were elastic, so sizing wasn't an issue.

Around the rim was a dense ring of "eyelashes," the shortest of which were two joint-lengths long, densely encircling the ring like a sunflower.

Pei Muchi dipped two fingers into the bowl to twirl the sheepskin eye-rings.

The water in the bowl had been spiked with an agent to soften the "lashes" so they wouldn't prick painfully.

Yet every single lash was as thick as four or five strands of hair; no matter how softened, they couldn't possibly be truly pliable.

"Your Highness, give yourself to me." Pei Muchi used the tone she found most unbearable to beguile her ear, hoping to make her lower her guard.

Qingwu remained unmoved, even closing her eyes and turning her head away to avoid meeting his gaze.

The padding clothes had long since slipped away somewhere, and her bare back scraped against the rough stone of the pool wall, burning with a dull ache.

"This servant is Yuan Xi..." Pei Muchi wore a smile on his lips, though his tone held a helpless sigh.

Softening his voice, he brushed away the strands of hair clinging to her forehead.

Qingwu's entire body stiffened, trembling repeatedly.

The bell sent her soaring to the clouds over and over, tightening around her internal organs as well.

Pei Muchi fished a circle of "lashes" from the water, and wherever his gaze fell was a breathtaking view that truly belonged to him alone.

Eventually, she shrieked uncontrollably.

Just as she began to cry out, she watched Pei Muchi nonchalantly retrieve a brand-new set of eye-lashes from the bowl...

And use them.

"Still not enough, Your Highness? Give this servant more."

Qingwu began to convulse, her hands clawing backward to grip the pool ledge, only for him to drag her right back without missing a beat.

The rapid, shallow breathing made the surrounding air thin, and breathing grew increasingly arduous for her.

Pei Muchi grew increasingly frantic as well, his gentleness shattered into fragments by a tempest of emotions, leaving behind countless marks that belonged solely to him.

"Surely Your Highness won't forget me after this?" A sudden wave of chest tightness and shortness of breath hit him, yet he dared not stop for fear of disrupting the detoxification process. With so many complex emotions pent up inside, he actually began to cough.

Gu Hangjiang had constantly worried whether he could withstand such a massive load of toxins, and even Du Jin had hesitated before urging him to exercise moderation.

Yet he worried that residual poison left uncleansed would cause lasting damage.

Her constitution was delicate to begin with, and she had fled so many times with Du Jin, running back and forth through mountains and rivers.

Pei Muchi's movements carried a fierce, desperate edge.

Steam churned from the swelling surface of the water as Qingwu lay sprawled out, limbs splayed against the cold white porcelain rim, trembling uncontrollably.

Pei Muchi draped the gauze robe over himself and, just as he had done many times before, cleaned away the traces he had left behind.

Driven by an inexplicable impulse, he desperately wanted to know one thing.

"Has Your Highness ever done this with Du Jin?"

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, as though an unpalatable answer might prompt him to strangle the person beneath him right then and there.

Qingwu had been half-conscious, her awareness sustained entirely by a shred of willpower, and she was reaching her absolute limit.

Yet he actually chose this exact moment to ask such a question.

Out of sheer spite, Qingwu retorted, "Lingyu and I were always destined to be a proper, righteous couple. Do husbands and wives not do what husbands and wives do?"

She spoke with utter self-assurance, and indeed, she seemed to be precisely that kind of person.

Direct in her affections, and equally direct in how she expressed them.

Just as she had been with him at the very beginning.

Pei Muchi froze, and deep within his pupils flashed an imperceptible chaos, like a sheet of glass shattering in some fathomless abyss.

Just when Qingwu expected him to retaliate and punish her, a heavy weight slumped over her.

Pei Muchi's face was drained of every trace of color, his eyes tightly shut, brows furrowed as he slumped motionless against the ground.

Before passing out, he had even deliberately dragged himself a couple of inches away to avoid crowding her space.