“I can’t hear you. Say it—”
Cui Yunchu: “…”
Shen Xiabai bent down and leaned close to her ear. “A Chu, when I’m busy, you need to behave. That way, your backside won’t suffer. Got it?”
You really are shameless.
Cui Yunchu’s face flushed bright red as she held it in.
Shen Xiabai was very good at entertaining himself. He pressed a kiss to Cui Yunchu’s forehead and said, “I heard you. A Chu just said she likes me.”
“When did I say that?” Cui Yunchu’s eyes widened.
Shen Xiabai pointed to his heart. “Telepathy.”
“…”
Shen Xiabai blew gently on the bump on her forehead and reminded her, “Drink less alcohol. It’s bad for you.”
Cui Yunchu said, “I don’t even like drinking.”
“Then why did you bring four jars of wine back from Wangyue Tower?”
“How did you know?”
Shen Xiabai raised an eyebrow. “The wine was expensive. Shen Zilan and Miss Chen couldn’t afford it, so Yu Feng had to go help them pay.”
Upon hearing this, Cui Yunchu felt a tiny bit guilty—but only a tiny bit.
She turned her face away, her voice somewhat unnatural. “You said yourself that the wine was expensive. Last time we were on the bridge, I saw how much you liked it, so I… brought back a few extra jars.”
Shen Zilan had spent the entire night washing bowls and plates because she wanted to bring her favorite wine to her uncle. If she heard this, her heart would surely break, and she might even feel as if the sky had collapsed.
But Shen Xiabai was delighted. His smile reached his eyes, and his brows were filled with smugness. “My A Chu is so thoughtful.”
That entire night of dishwashing had been worth it for Shen Zilan. Extremely worth it.
Yu Feng waited for a long time, but Shen Xiabai still did not come out. He grew so restless that he began scratching his head.
Hadn’t they said goodbye fifteen minutes ago? How could saying goodbye take fifteen minutes?
“Master, the eunuch from His Majesty’s side is waiting outside.” If he came in and discovered what was happening, it would be a disaster.
Cui Yunchu lowered her head and straightened her skirt and hair. “Hurry up and go, Shen the Bastard.”
Shen Xiabai raised his brows. “A Chu’s forms of address certainly keep changing.”
She used to call him Shen the Lover, and now she called him Shen the Bastard. “Then how will A Chu address me after we’re married?”
Cui Yunchu rolled her eyes at him.
She lifted her skirt and walked out. “I’m leaving. You should go too.”
After a moment, she added, somewhat worriedly, “Um… is the Emperor going to give you trouble?”
Shen Xiabai smiled faintly. “Why would he give me trouble?”
Of course it was because he had helped Cui Yunli enter the Ministry of War.
Someone was approaching from a distance, so Cui Yunchu could only keep quiet and walk away.
Shen Xiabai remained where he was, standing like a stone statue gazing after his wife and watching Cui Yunchu’s departing figure. Yu Feng, meanwhile, was so anxious he nearly spun in circles.
“Master, Eldest Miss Cui is already far away. We should hurry.”
“What are you panicking about?” Shen Xiabai glanced indifferently at Yu Feng before finally turning and walking in the opposite direction.
Along the way, quite a few officials greeted him. He stopped for almost every one of them and exchanged a few pleasantries, leaving many of them flattered beyond belief.
It was the sort of thing where even a passing dog could stop and chat with him for a while.
Yu Feng’s head began to ache. “Master, perhaps you should show a little restraint.”
If he continued like this, everyone was bound to find out what he had just been doing.
Spring seemed to shimmer in Shen Xiabai’s eyes. He looked back at Yu Feng. “Is it really that obvious?”
Yu Feng nodded and silently handed him a square of silk.
The rouge on his lips had not even been wiped off. How could it not be obvious?
On the carriage, Yu Feng suddenly remembered something. “The Grand Princess’s birthday is apparently the day after tomorrow. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is holding a banquet in the palace. Will you be attending, Master?”
The Grand Princess’s birthday banquet was held in the palace almost every year. It was a special honor bestowed by the Empress Dowager to demonstrate how much the Grand Princess was favored.
The Emperor would also attend, and as a powerful minister, Shen Xiabai was naturally among those invited. It was just that he had never cared much for such occasions. Whenever he went, he would spend the entire time leaning against his chair and dozing off, bored out of his mind.
Shen Xiabai asked, “Will the Cui family be attending?”
“…”
“They should receive an invitation, but whether Eldest Miss Cui will go is hard to say.”
Shen Xiabai leaned back, looking perfectly at ease. “Go find out.”
“…”
Yu Feng thought to himself that there was no way he could find out something like that. He was not a servant of the Cui family.
“Master, considering your current… affair with Eldest Miss Cui—ah, no, your relationship—you could simply ask her yourself.”
Shen Xiabai smiled. “That makes sense.”
She had just said that if he wanted to see her, he could do so at any time.
Yu Feng could only think that his master’s smile was truly shameless.
He sat up and had Yu Feng spread out paper and grind the ink. Then he wrote a long, flowing letter.
The corners of Yu Feng’s mouth twitched. They were only going to a banquet. How had he found so much to say?
After putting down the brush, Yu Feng bent over to blow the ink dry, but Shen Xiabai pushed his head aside. “Have you rinsed your mouth?”
“…”
He was only blowing on the ink. No matter how bad his breath was, it surely wasn’t bad enough to ruin the page, was it?
Shen Xiabai had already blown the ink dry himself with great seriousness.
His A Chu smelled so sweet. Nothing disgusting was allowed to contaminate her.
Yu Feng moved to the corner and sat there, sulking with a dark expression.
He had accompanied his master for more than ten years, and before the master had even married anyone, he had already become something disgusting in his eyes.
“Go. Deliver this to her.”
Yu Feng looked up. “Master, aren’t we going to the palace?”
Would Eldest Miss Cui somehow run away if they waited until they returned from the palace?
“Go now. Stop talking nonsense.”
Yu Feng tried to reason with him. “Master, there’s also Eldest Miss Cui’s silver hairpin in your study that you haven’t returned. Why not bring it along when we return home and deliver everything together?”
“Does the hairpin bother you by being in my study?” Shen Xiabai frowned.
“No. I mean, we could deliver it all at once. It would save us an extra trip, and it would save Eldest Miss Cui from worrying about it.”
Shen Xiabai kicked him. “She’s worrying about me. Do you have a problem with that?”
“…”
Wasn’t she obviously worrying about the hairpin, not him?!
Yu Feng felt that one mouth was not enough for him, and neither was one brain.
His master had once been wise and mighty. How had he suddenly become an idiot?
Shen Xiabai reached into his robes and pulled out several more hairpins. He had plucked them from Cui Yunchu’s hair at the Ministry of Personnel earlier, then forgotten to return them before leaving.
Yu Feng stared blankly.
Why had his master stolen Eldest Miss Cui’s hairpins again?
He did not dare ask whether he should return them.
Sure enough, Shen Xiabai merely examined them one after another before tucking them back against his chest. “If she asks about them, tell her I forgot. I’ll bring them to her at the banquet the day after tomorrow. If she’s in a hurry, tomorrow works too. I’ll have plenty of free time over the next few days.”
Yu Feng’s eyelid twitched faintly.
So that was how the hairpins were meant to be used.
The only problem was… ever since his master had become completely lovesick over Eldest Miss Cui, cases at the Discipline Office had been piling up. Saying that he had plenty of free time was a bit like calling black white with a straight face.
“Master, since you’re going to say you forgot, doesn’t mentioning the banquet the day after tomorrow contradict that? And then saying we can arrange another meeting later is even more inconsistent.”
“…”
Shen Xiabai gave him a heavy look. “When you’re truly bored, try growing a brain. Staying this stupid forever won’t do.”
“Oh.”
Yu Feng drooped his head and fell silent.
After a while, he looked up again at Shen Xiabai’s mouth.
Judging by the time, his master had spent at least half an hour today holding and kissing Eldest Miss Cui.
They had only just parted today, and he was already looking forward to tomorrow. If he kept kissing this much, wouldn’t his lips swell up?
But there was no doubt it was addictive.
Yu Feng felt that his master had no idea how to spare anyone. He didn’t even think to let Eldest Miss Cui take a break.
Kissing her nonstop—what if the corners of her mouth became chapped and sore?
“Why are you still standing there? Go, now.” Shen Xiabai furrowed his brows, and Yu Feng immediately took the letter and hopped down from the carriage.
