Cui Yunchu’s heart trembled. She pressed her lips tightly together and struggled against her wrist, but couldn’t break free.
After a moment, she turned her head to look at Shen Xiabai, smiling like a blooming flower. “Well, lucky for you, you’ve got money. Who else could be so generous, giving this many pearls for a single kiss?”
“…” Shen Xiabai frowned. He yanked her closer with one firm pull, staring down at her with heavy intensity. “A Chu, look me in the eye and tell me—what are we?”
He didn’t want to hear her nonsense, didn’t want to hear those evasive half-truths.
Cui Yunchu was still smiling, gaze locked on his. “What do you want to hear? I can say anything you like. One sentence, one night pearl.”
Shen Xiabai tightened his grip on her wrist and rose to his feet. He was tall, and when he bent over to look down at her, the sheer height of him pressed down on her like an endless weight.
“Cui Yunchu, does it have to be like this?”
“I’m willing to set aside my hatred for now just to face you. What exactly are you hiding from? What are you running from?”
All these days of teasing and seduction—surely there wasn’t a single moment of real feeling.
Then why didn’t she resist his kisses? Why did she let him get close? For those worthless pearls?
Shen Xiabai didn’t believe it. His palm clamped around her waist, pressing her into his chest. “What if, today, I demand a title?”
“Lover, then.” Cui Yunchu laughed, chin lifted high, but her smile had turned thinner than before. “You said it yourself—it’s only temporary. Facing it is your own weak will, not my problem. My heart is clear as still water. Why would I hide? Why would I run?”
She raised her head to meet his gaze. That face of hers was beautiful as peach blossoms in full bloom, her lips soft and pink, slightly swollen, impossibly alluring.
How could someone so lovely speak such cold, heartless words?
Clear as still water?
Because she had no guilt, so she didn’t need to hide, didn’t need to run, didn’t need to face anything.
Shen Xiabai’s lashes flickered. A thousand emotions seemed to churn beneath his gaze, then all at once turned to dead stillness. He loosened his grip slightly.
Cui Yunchu pulled her wrist free, her whole body radiating careless ease, a faint sneer hidden beneath. “Could it be, Lord Shen, that you’ve developed real feelings?”
Shen Xiabai glanced down at her brazen face, saying nothing.
Cui Yunchu didn’t dare hold his gaze. She dropped her head and toyed with the pearls in her hand. “I’m a person who’s always been heartless. You know that, Lord Shen. Anyway, no one in the whole capital dares to marry me. If you’re willing to play around and give me money to spend, then a little flirtation does no harm.”
“After all, Lord Shen is handsome, powerful, and rich. Kissing me isn’t a loss. As for anything more—haven’t you had enough of those seventy lashes from last time?”
Cui Yunchu smiled at him, wearing the full posture of a victor.
She didn’t believe Shen Xiabai wasn’t afraid to die.
“Then try me,” Shen Xiabai said, lifting his eyes. His fingertip pinched her chin and tipped it up. “Let me see how much you’re really capable of.”
He bent down and pressed another kiss to her lips. When he pulled away, he gave her lower lip a gentle bite.
“Then let’s keep this affair going. You’d better keep it well hidden—don’t let anyone find out, A Chu.”
Cui Yunchu’s face stiffened. Her lips pressed tight, her fingers curling unconsciously.
Shen Xiabai gripped her waist and steered her toward the door. “Weren’t you in a hurry to leave? Go on, then.”
Cui Yunchu felt as if a ghost were chasing her—cold chills running down her back. She finally stepped out of Shen Xiabai’s study, but then he suddenly added, “Whenever you’re short on silver, remember to come find me.”
One kiss, ten thousand taels. That was a sky-high price.
Cui Yunchu didn’t know how she left the Shen residence. Her head was spinning, her heart in chaos, her ability to think nearly gone.
After she left, Shen Xiabai looked at the drawer full of pearls, leaning against the desk without moving for a long, long time.
When Yu Feng came in, he glanced at the drawer with its missing corner and his eyelids twitched. His master’s courtship was truly expensive—at this rate, the entire Shen estate might not be enough to get him to the wedding chamber.
“Master, Eldest Miss Cui has left. The items for the Dowager’s courtyard have also been sent back.”
Shen Xiabai’s gaze never left the drawer. He gave a faint “mm” in response.
He was tall, his shadow stretched long across the floor, making him look so lonely and desolate.
The study fell into a near-dead silence. Yu Feng could tell—his master was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. The worst possible mood.
Hadn’t the two of them just been happily chatting moments ago?
In Yu Feng’s opinion, everything had gone smoothly today—he’d absolutely gotten Eldest Miss Cui reeled in. So which part had gone wrong?
He didn’t dare ask.
After who knew how long, Shen Xiabai suddenly spoke. “Go look into what happened at the Cui residence a few days ago.”
Yu Feng was about to follow the order when Shen Xiabai suddenly stopped him. “Never mind. Don’t bother.”
Yu Feng’s head was full of question marks.
Shen Xiabai muttered to himself, “I should trust her. What she says is true if she says it’s true, and true even if she says it’s false. As long as it comes from her mouth, it’s all true.”
Yu Feng frowned, his brows nearly tying themselves into knots. He lowered his voice to advise, “Master, don’t get hung up on the details. A lover is still a partner. Worst comes to worst, just be a lover for life—look across the capital, who would dare compete with you?”
Even Yu Feng felt embarrassed saying it, but things had already come to this. He couldn’t exactly dig Eldest Miss Cui out of his master’s heart. So what else could they do?
“Even if it’s illicit, we’re still a match made in heaven,” Yu Feng added. In his opinion, his master and Eldest Miss Cui were perfectly matched in looks—the entire capital couldn’t find a more handsome couple.
Er, a more handsome illicit couple.
…
In Dowager Shen’s courtyard, the serving woman watched as the servants carried things in one by one and started to leave. She quickly asked, “And the last one? Where’s the Dowager’s screen?”
The steward’s face scrunched up with embarrassment.
Dowager Shen looked at him too. That screen was part of her dowry, brought back from Jiangnan all those years ago.
Borrowed out once, never to return?
The steward could only say in a low voice, “The Dowager’s screen… was given to Eldest Miss Cui by the master.”
They were just unlucky—out of all the things in the storage room, why did Eldest Miss Cui have to set her eyes on that particular screen?
Hearing this, Dowager Shen froze for a moment.
So he’d really used her belongings to stock his treasury and play the rich man.
“Worthless.” Dowager Shen said. “What a waste of that face of his. Useless, is he? He’s come down to luring women by dragging things back from the house.”
No one else dared say a word. Dowager Shen lifted her gaze, about to dismiss the steward, when she suddenly caught sight of a group of servants with garishly colored hands. She demanded immediately, “What happened to your hands?”
“…”
The steward pressed his lips together, embarrassed.
How was he supposed to explain?
He’d dyed the fish tails—so the master could brag and coax the girl.
Under Dowager Shen’s questioning, he finally confessed everything. Dowager Shen listened, stunned into silence for a long while.
Finally, she composed herself, let out an “oh,” and sent everyone away.
The serving woman beside her couldn’t help saying, “Dowager, that Eldest Miss Cui is quite something. Our master is usually so composed—when has he ever been so undisciplined, so bewitched?”
“You hold your tongue.” Dowager Shen shot her a glare. “Anyone who gets in the way of my daughter-in-law entering this house, I’ll have their head. Never mind one screen or a few fish—if it helps him get what he wants, I’d give my own life.”
That was what she owed him.
