The water came up to his chest, and through the swirling steam, everything looked hazy and indistinct.
Yan Tongshu thought, Fortunately, I can’t see clearly.
If she could really see everything clearly, who knew what might happen?
Qin Yi’s jawline was taut, his lips pressed into a straight line. Through the dim light and thin mist, he looked toward Yan Tongshu.
The hot spring was scalding, and the steam had lent Qin Yi’s face a faint flush. Even his voice had grown hoarse from the moisture.
His voice was heated. “Why are you just standing there?”
Yan Tongshu remained where she was, unmoving.
She lowered her eyes slightly.
Her reflection wavered on the surface of the water, swaying with the ripples.
Her official hat had been removed, and her hair was still bound tightly in its coiffure. Wrapped from head to toe in formal robes, she looked completely out of place amid the hazy warmth filling the hall.
Behind her, the doors of the bathing chamber were shut tight.
Before her, steam billowed.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
Qin Yi leaned against the side of the pool, his eyes half-lidded.
He looked languid and relaxed, yet Yan Tongshu suddenly sensed danger.
In the silence that could neither be explained nor defined, Qin Yi spoke again. “Standing there without moving—are you afraid I’ll eat you?”
His voice was not loud, but his vocal cords were taut. “Take off your clothes and get in. You and I, sovereign and subject, shall be completely open with each other. We’ll bathe together and scrub each other’s backs.”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together. “Yes.”
Holding her breath, Yan Tongshu placed her hands on her belt and began undoing the clasp.
Her fair face was as calm as still water on the surface, but inwardly, she was already beating Qin Yi into a bloody pulp.
Yan Tongshu tried to reassure herself.
It’s fine. It’s fine.
Nothing to be afraid of.
It’s only taking off the clothes on her upper body. Even if she did, no one would suspect her when they saw how flat her chest was.
It’s fine. Absolutely fine.
Click.
The belt clasp came undone.
Yan Tongshu tossed the belt onto the floor, where it landed with a soft sound.
The fingers Qin Yi had rested against the side of the pool curled ever so slightly.
Mist drifted slowly between him and Yan Tongshu.
As the temperature in the hall continued to rise, the incense seemed to grow stronger, mingling with the faintly bitter scent peculiar to hot spring water. It wafted toward them, making it difficult to breathe.
He watched Yan Tongshu without blinking.
Her crimson official robe was eased open by her slender, pale fingers, revealing the snow-white garment beneath.
He had dreamed again last night.
A dream that laid bare the desires hidden in his heart.
In the dream, moonlight poured through the thin paper windows and spilled across the hall.
Yan Tongshu lay on top of him.
Their summer clothes were thin, and the scorching heat made him tremble ever so slightly.
Against his chest, he had felt something with an unusual fullness.
Qin Yi’s eyes shifted.
The thin ties of the inner garment came undone. She raised both hands and slowly pulled open the collar.
The candlelight was dim, its warm glow sliding over her fair, delicate skin. Mist clung to her collarbones, which appeared and disappeared by turns.
There was no binding cloth.
Qin Yi abruptly turned his head away, his gaze fleeing elsewhere.
He must truly have gone mad.
Hopelessly mad, to have dragged a perfectly good, loyal, upright minister into a scene of sensual springtime simply because he had spent several nights dreaming such absurd dreams…
All because of those ridiculous dreams, he had begun to suspect that Yan Tongshu was a woman.
Splash!
The sound of water rang out sharply.
Qin Yi suddenly rose from the bathing pool. Water droplets slid down his shoulders and back before falling into the hot spring.
He walked toward Yan Tongshu one step at a time, waves spreading from his body and striking against the walls of the pool.
Qin Yi stepped up the white jade stairs, leaving the bathing pool one step at a time.
Yan Tongshu stood at the foot of the stairs, her fingers still resting on the collar that was one-third open.
The moment Qin Yi emerged, the heat rapidly invaded the safe distance she had maintained. Her breathing caught, and she asked in confusion, “Your Majesty?”
Qin Yi kept his eyes turned aside and did not look at her. In a low voice, he said, “I’m finished bathing. I’ll wait for you in the bedchamber.”
His voice was tight, even hoarser than it had been after being steeped in the steam.
With that, Qin Yi seized the outer robe nearby and draped it over himself before striding away.
At first, his steps were steady enough. But as he went on, they grew faster and faster, until there was even a hint of disarray in them.
The distant sound of the doors opening and closing reached her ears.
Yan Tongshu let out a long breath.
Her heart pounded wildly, thump after thump, as if it were about to leap out of her chest.
That had nearly scared her to death.
She had thought she was actually going to bathe with the dog emperor.
Yan Tongshu quickly put her inner garment back on. She raised a hand and touched her face. The steam had left her cheeks burning hot.
After a while, Yan Tongshu recovered. She knelt beside the pool, casually scooped up two handfuls of hot water, and splashed some over her face and neck. Pretending that she had bathed, she changed into the clean clothes Lu Xi had prepared and walked out of the bathing chamber.
A young eunuch had been waiting for some time, lantern in hand.
Two young eunuchs led the way, and Yan Tongshu followed them to the Funing Hall.
Qin Yi had already changed clothes and was sitting beside a writing desk.
Wine and pastries had been set out on the table.
When he saw Yan Tongshu approach, he gestured for her to sit across from him. “Come. Let’s talk.”
Yan Tongshu inclined her head and sat down opposite Qin Yi.
Qin Yi waved his hand, sending everyone in the hall away. He picked up a jug of peach-blossom wine, poured a cup, and handed it to Yan Tongshu.
Yan Tongshu accepted it with both hands and said awkwardly, “Your Majesty, I don’t hold my liquor well, and I’m not very pleasant when I’m drunk either.”
“There are only the two of us now.” Qin Yi poured himself a cup as well and raised his wine toward her. “Just drink a little. It won’t matter.”
“Oh.”
Yan Tongshu lifted the cup and sniffed it. It smelled sweet.
She set down the cup and looked at the wine bottles arranged to one side. “Are all of these…”
Qin Yi answered indifferently, “They’re all flower wines. From left to right: peach-blossom wine, pear-blossom wine, lotus-blossom wine, rose wine, chrysanthemum wine, osmanthus wine, pine-blossom wine, jasmine wine, rosebud wine, and coconut-blossom wine.”
Wow!
Yan Tongshu was stunned. Only the imperial palace could gather so many different kinds of flower wine.
Qin Yi raised his cup and tapped it against Yan Tongshu’s, then drained his in a single gulp.
A faint smile touched his lips. “Yan Tongshu, today we’ll speak openly and be completely honest with each other. One question each. You must tell the truth. If you don’t want to answer, you drink.”
As he spoke, he refilled his cup, without forcing Yan Tongshu to drink.
As it happened, Yan Tongshu had questions of her own, so she nodded in agreement.
“Who goes first?” she asked.
Qin Yi thought for a moment, then removed the jade pendant from his waist and held it in his palm. “Heads or tails?”
“Heads,” Yan Tongshu said.
Qin Yi opened his hand.
Tails.
That meant he would go first.
Qin Yi stared intently at Yan Tongshu’s face. Perhaps because she had just come from the bathing chamber, her cheeks were still flushed, and the fine strands of hair at her forehead were damp.
Qin Yi spoke. “Yan Tongshu.”
“Hmm?”
The hand holding Qin Yi’s wine cup tightened slightly. “Do you still hate me?”
Yan Tongshu shook her head.
Qin Yi asked, “When did that change?”
Yan Tongshu’s eyes widened slightly.
How did the dog emperor know that she had hated him before?
Qin Yi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His voice carried a faint urgency. “Answer me.”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together. “I’m not sure exactly. Maybe it was on the mountain, or maybe at the Judicial Office. In any case, I don’t hate you now.”
Qin Yi smiled. “Your turn.”
“Oh.”
Yan Tongshu narrowed her eyes and stared straight at Qin Yi. “Do you… have a woman you like?”
Pfft—
Qin Yi began coughing violently.
His question had at least been somewhat tactful. Yan Tongshu, on the other hand, had been blunt to the point of rudeness.
Yan Tongshu leaned back. Was it really that shocking?
What she had actually wanted to ask was whether Qin Yi suspected her. But asking so directly would be far too much like admitting guilt, so the words turned a few circles in her throat before coming out as something else entirely.
Besides, she was twenty-three and unmarried because she was disguised as a man. The dog emperor was twenty-five and still unmarried. Could it be that he was disguised as a man too?
As she continued mulling it over, the image of Qin Yi rising beside the bathing pool surfaced in her mind.
He had abs.
And below the abs…
Forget it.
With the dog emperor’s build, there was no way he was a woman.
Twenty-five, and he had never fallen for a woman…
Could it be that…
Yan Tongshu was letting her thoughts run wild when Qin Yi finally recovered. His voice stiff, he replied, “No.”
Yan Tongshu let out an “Oh.”
Was there something wrong with his body, then?
“Since you’ve brought up the subject.” Qin Yi’s sharp gaze settled on Yan Tongshu. “Have you thought carefully about what kind of person you like, as I asked you to last time?”
“I like someone who will believe in me, trust me, and support me no matter when or where.” Yan Tongshu answered quickly, then asked, “Qin Yi, do you like men?”
Qin Yi did not answer. His grip tightened around the wine cup.
Yan Tongshu was stunned.
The dog emperor really liked men?
Then she was safe.
Qin Yi finally said, “No. I don’t like men, and I’ve never liked a woman.”
Yan Tongshu stared at him in bewilderment.
Asexual? Or was he in love with himself?
Seeing that Yan Tongshu’s mind had clearly begun filling with all sorts of nonsense, Qin Yi added, “Whether it’s a man or a woman, that question isn’t important.”
So he really was in love with himself.
Yan Tongshu wore an expression that said she had seen right through him.
The sly grin on her face was obviously suspicious. Qin Yi’s eyes narrowed. “Yan Tongshu, you are not to think about anything improper.”
You’re policing my thoughts now too?
Yan Tongshu did her best to rein in her expression.
Qin Yi set down his wine cup, leaned forward slightly, and stared straight at Yan Tongshu. “Is there anything you’ve been hiding from me?”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together.
That list was a long one.
Very long. Extremely long.
“Judging by your expression, there must be quite a lot.” Qin Yi let out a soft laugh. “Tell me one thing, and you pass.”
Yan Tongshu gave him a flattering smile. “Qin Yi, we’re friends now, right? And you’ve pardoned me for all my offenses against you?”
Qin Yi nodded.
Yan Tongshu continued smiling. “So no matter what I say, you can’t get angry.”
Qin Yi raised a brow. “Friends are equals. I may get angry, but I won’t settle accounts with you afterward.”
Yan Tongshu gave an awkward laugh. “Actually… I know.”
Qin Yi said, “Hmm?”
Did he remember the time she had insulted him while drunk?
Yan Tongshu smiled awkwardly. “It’s about that… portrait of me…”
She decided to throw caution to the wind. “I know it doesn’t look much like me, but it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t look like me now. There’s an inscription on it explaining that the portrait is of me. A few hundred years from now, when people discover it while excavating some ruins, they won’t know what I really looked like. They’ll see the portrait and assume I actually looked like that. They’ll think I was the most handsome top scholar in all of history. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? My fame will last for generations.”
“You? Famous for generations?!” Qin Yi was completely enraged. “How is that upright of you? You use your uprightness against the court, against me! You even had me thrown out of your home! You’ve always been pretending to be clueless and playing dumb! You’re simply—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Yan Tongshu glared at Qin Yi. “You promised not to settle accounts afterward.”
Qin Yi was furious. “The fact that you dared to bring this up proves that you’re hiding something even more serious from me.”
“Everyone under heaven has secrets they’d rather not reveal.” Yan Tongshu shifted a little closer and met Qin Yi’s gaze head-on. “Don’t you?”
That struck Qin Yi right where it hurt. He fell silent.
Yan Tongshu pressed her advantage. “Let’s make this clear first: each question can only be asked once. You can’t make me keep revealing secrets.”
“Fine! Good! Very good, Yan Tongshu!” Qin Yi laughed in anger, his teeth clenched.
Yan Tongshu smiled at him and asked, “Qin Yi, is there something you’ve been hiding from me—and is it something that concerns me?”
For example, was he secretly investigating her and suspecting her identity?
Qin Yi choked slightly. His eyes flickered. He picked up his wine cup and drained it in one swallow, then opened another bottle of lotus wine and filled his cup. “Continue.”
Yan Tongshu narrowed her eyes.
The dog emperor really was hiding something from her.
Qin Yi asked, “You’re twenty-three and unmarried. Aside from not having met someone you like, is there another reason?”
This time, it was Yan Tongshu who choked.
This was revenge. Pure and simple revenge.
Yan Tongshu drained the wine in her cup. Qin Yi picked up the flask and filled it for her.
Yan Tongshu asked, “Qin Yi, what kind of world do you want the realm you’re seeking to become?”
“The same kind you want.”
Yan Tongshu raised a brow. “And what kind is that?”
Qin Yi took out the money pouch he carried with him and poured out a copper coin. Like the one he had given Yan Tongshu before, it was tied with a red cord.
He picked up the coin and placed it on the table, then pushed it toward Yan Tongshu as if moving a piece on a chessboard.
“Half of this vast land will belong to men, and half to women. I will govern diligently and give every one of them more ways to make a living. Gambling dens, brothels, factional struggles—everything will become a thing of the past.”
Qin Yi lifted his eyes to meet Yan Tongshu’s.
“Yan Tongshu, I hope you will believe in me. In return, I will believe in you, trust you, and support you.”
In the first sentence, he had referred to himself as “I, the Emperor.”
In the second, he had simply said “I.”
The first was the ruler.
The second was a friend.
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together.
Qin Yi asked, “Yan Tongshu, you love food, fun, and beauty. Apart from those things, what do you love most?”
“Freedom,” Yan Tongshu answered without hesitation.
Qin Yi’s fingers trembled almost imperceptibly. He raised a brow, signaling for her to ask her question.
Yan Tongshu got straight to the point. “When? When did your way of thinking change?”
“There is something you may not know.” Qin Yi’s gaze grew deep. “After Meng Yi was brought to justice, I went to the Xianlin Library.”
Yan Tongshu let out a puzzled “Hm?”
Qin Yi retrieved the copper coin and put it back into his money pouch. “I read through all the books you had read at the Xianlin Library. Your notes were quite good.”
Yan Tongshu’s mouth fell open.
Holy crap!
How was that any different from secretly looking through her social media posts from eight years ago, or secretly checking her entire search history from the past eight years?
Yan Tongshu carefully tried to remember what she had written in the books at the Xianlin Library.
Thank goodness, thank goodness. She had only grumbled a few times in several books on law.
“Later, I looked at this realm, its mountains and rivers, and its people all over again. After that came your mystery. It was a very good mystery. It made me put myself in your place and think about what kind of emperor I truly wanted to be, and what kind of person I wanted to become—apart from avenging my elder brother, apart from the resentment I held toward the factional struggles. That day, when we went to watch the opera, I heard the people’s hearts and voices.”
Qin Yi paused, looking at Yan Tongshu. “Yan Tongshu, I heard your voice too. I’ve realized that I’m not merely my elder brother’s younger brother—I’m also the ruler of this realm. In the case of the Late Crown Prince, I wasn’t the only one who lost a brother. Many others lost their loved ones as well. While I was drowning in my own grief over that case, I forgot that other people were involved.
“They were people too, with genuine joys and sorrows. This world is made up of people. The economy, politics, and military—all of them require people to carry them out. People are the most important thing. They aren’t chess pieces, numbers, or tools for anyone to manipulate as they please. And then—”
Yan Tongshu looked at him in confusion. And then?
Qin Yi continued, “I want to become an emperor whom all the people of this realm can trust, one who can give them more paths to survive. An emperor you can trust and rely on.”
Yan Tongshu’s long lashes fluttered. “What if you fail? There’s nothing in this world that can be guaranteed to succeed.”
Failure meant death.
Qin Yi smiled faintly. “So what?”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together.
Who would have thought the dog emperor was actually an idealist?
Yan Tongshu pursed her lips. “Saying it is one thing. Doing it is another.”
Qin Yi smiled. “Then please, Lord Yan, keep me in line.”
Yan Tongshu ignored the bait. “It’s your turn to ask.”
Qin Yi pressed his lips together. “Yan Tongshu.”
His gaze grew deep as it settled on her face. “Do you like men, women, or is it unimportant?”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips tightly together once more.
Sure enough, the dog emperor really did suspect her.
She drained the lotus-blossom wine in her cup, then poured herself another.
Qin Yi raised a brow. Was it really that difficult to answer?
After taking a drink, Yan Tongshu decisively turned the question back on him. “You said men and women are both unimportant. Is that because you already have someone in mind?”
Who was it?
He spent all day in the palace. Could it be some handsome young eunuch who had recently entered the palace?
Qin Yi knocked back the lotus-blossom wine in his cup, then opened another bottle—osmanthus wine.
The two of them continued asking and answering questions. Roughly one out of every three questions went unanswered. Before they knew it, five of the ten kinds of wine had been emptied.
Fortunately, Yan Tongshu had been cautious. Whenever she drank, she secretly held the wine in her mouth and spat it out the moment Qin Yi poured another cup.
The little person in her heart was laughing wildly with her hands on her hips.
Ha ha ha! She wasn’t drunk! Not drunk at all!
Yan Tongshu stared at Qin Yi, her eyes clear and bright. “Your Majesty, how about I go rest in the side hall?”
Qin Yi seized her wrist. His face was flushed with the thin redness of intoxication. “We agreed to sleep side by side tonight.”
Yan Tongshu cried out, “Your Majesty, we’ve already shared plenty today. I believe you—truly, I do. There’s no need for us to sleep together.”
“It’s all right.” Qin Yi looked at her and smiled drunkenly. “It’s too dark outside, and it isn’t safe. Come on, we’ll retire together. Tomorrow, I’ll have someone escort Minister Yan home.”
Yan Tongshu screamed inwardly, I can go home tonight too!
Qin Yi pulled her to her feet, and she swayed unsteadily.
Although she had spat out quite a lot, she had still drunk plenty. She wasn’t completely drunk, but she was feeling it.
Qin Yi pulled Yan Tongshu over to the bed. “Get some rest.”
Yan Tongshu’s eyes widened.
Was he really going to be this perfunctory?
Thump.
Qin Yi pulled Yan Tongshu down beside him, flipped the thin quilt over them, and lay there quietly.
Before long, even breathing came from beside her, long and faintly tinged with wine.
Yan Tongshu raised her brows slightly.
That was it?
No probing?
Had she guessed wrong?
It had been the same in the bathing pool. Just as she was about to get in, the dog emperor had already finished bathing.
So the dog emperor hadn’t been testing whether she was disguised as a man. He had genuinely wanted to have a heart-to-heart with his minister?
Yan Tongshu thought about it again.
Actually, if an emperor truly suspected that one of his ministers had a hidden identity, there was no need to test them at all. Qin Yi held the power of life and death in his hands. He could simply reveal his source of information and have the eunuchs examine her.
Qin Yi was the emperor. Whatever an emperor did, he could do openly and aboveboard.
There was no need for him to test her.
She had been overthinking things. Because she had a guilty conscience, she had grown overly suspicious and judged him by her own petty standards.
Yan Tongshu closed her eyes.
She had drunk quite a lot, and her head felt hazy. Before long, her consciousness gradually blurred.
Just as she was drifting off, her body suddenly sank, and she was pulled into a burning-hot embrace.
He was too hot. It was uncomfortable.
Yan Tongshu pushed at him.
“Yan Tongshu,” Qin Yi murmured.
Yan Tongshu answered drowsily.
“I want a hug.”
Yan Tongshu stopped resisting.
After a while, she mumbled, “For too long.”
Qin Yi lowered his head, his voice hoarse. “The last time we parted, we didn’t hug. And the time before that, when you threw me out, we didn’t hug either. All of that has to be made up for.”
“Again with making things up…”
Yan Tongshu turned over grumpily, reached out, and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Qin Yi’s body stiffened slightly. Then he pulled her tightly into his arms.
In the dim lamplight, the room fell silent.
Nestled against him, Yan Tongshu sank into a deep sleep.
But he couldn’t sleep.
Qin Yi lowered his head and gazed deeply at Yan Tongshu.
His hand gently brushed over her brows and eyes, then her nose, finally coming to rest on her warm lips.
He had said he would become an emperor she could trust and rely on.
But at this moment, the emperor he was had despicably taken advantage of a principled minister in her sleep, secretly defiling a loyal and upright servant of the court.
With a hidden, sordid, unspeakable desire, he had grasped at every excuse he could find—absurdly, hopelessly beyond redemption.
Just as Qin Yi was lamenting his own behavior, Yan Tongshu, still asleep, raised her leg and viciously drove her knee into his stomach.
Wild boar.
What a ferocious wild boar.
In her dream, Yan Tongshu wrapped her arms around the wild boar’s neck and kicked and punched it.
Thump.
Qin Yi was kicked off the imperial bed.
Sitting on the floor beneath it, Qin Yi’s waist already bruising, he laughed furiously through clenched teeth. “Yan! Tong! Shu!”
Yan Tongshu hugged the quilt and turned over. She raised one leg and draped it over the blanket, continuing to snore peacefully.
The next morning, Yan Tongshu opened her eyes and stretched luxuriously in bed.
She had slept wonderfully and felt completely refreshed.
“Did you sleep well?” Qin Yi’s voice sounded from nearby, carrying a bone-deep exhaustion.
Yan Tongshu’s eyes shifted from side to side. She looked around at her surroundings, and her mind, rested after a night’s sleep, began to turn.
She stiffly turned around and saw Qin Yi sitting beneath the bed, a thin quilt draped over him and dark circles beneath his eyes.
Qin Yi once again forced the words out between his teeth with a smile that was anything but sincere. “Did you sleep well?”
Yan Tongshu blinked. Then she looked down again.
Last night, she had been sleeping on the pillow. Now she was in the middle of the bed.
Yan Tongshu blinked twice, quickly assessing the situation and realizing that she had caused trouble. She decided to strike first.
“Qin Yi!”
She shouted his name and immediately climbed down from the bed. Qin Yi quickly pulled the blanket beneath him and spread it beneath her feet.
“My good friend Qin Yi, how did you end up sleeping on the floor? Come, come, the floor is cold. Hurry and get up.”
Yan Tongshu reached out to help Qin Yi up.
“Fine, fine, fine!” Qin Yi sighed out the three words.
Only when she needed to use his name to overpower him did Yan Tongshu call him Qin Yi—especially warmly, especially naturally, and with especially heartfelt sincerity.
Qin Yi raised one finger. “You—”
Yan Tongshu immediately took his hand. “My dear friend, let me treat you to a meal.”
