“Shen Xiabai, isn’t Xiao Lan your stepmother?”
“Exactly,” Cui Yunchu said, her logic perfectly clear. “Could it be that you plan to have #* with both me and my mother in the future?”
“…”
What kind of person was she making him out to be? Shen Xiabai hurriedly covered her mouth. If she continued, he would lose not only his reputation but his very standing as a human being.
Cui Yunchu blinked at him and made a few muffled noises.
“A Chu, don’t worry. Apart from you, I won’t marry anyone else.”
At that, Cui Yunchu’s eyes lit up. She suddenly remembered her plan and pried Shen Xiabai’s hand away.
“I thought of a solution that will satisfy everyone.”
Shen Xiabai idly twirled a strand of her hair around his fingers and asked, “What solution?”
When it came to Cui Yunchu, he had long since stopped holding out much hope. Even so, he had never expected her answer to be quite so… explosive.
“Look, we’re already carrying on an affair, aren’t we?”
Shen Xiabai frowned.
Why did she have to put it so unpleasantly? “What we have is called mutual affection.” He suddenly lifted her into his arms and gave her a little bounce, as though she were a child.
Cui Yunchu cooperated readily. As he held her up, she distractedly added, “Don’t hit my bottom.”
Shen Xiabai answered with utmost sincerity, “All right.”
Cui Yunchu continued, “My father—the emperor—won’t agree to us getting married, so we simply won’t marry. We’ll secretly have a child and keep it hidden. Once the baby is born, you can say it belongs to some distant relative of yours and bring it back to be raised in the Shen family…”
Shen Xiabai knew Cui Yunchu was unreliable, but he had never realized just how unreliable she could be. As she rambled further and further, she was practically shattering a person’s basic understanding of the world.
“What about us?” Shen Xiabai asked.
“We’ll continue sneaking around,” Cui Yunchu said, utterly self-righteously.
“For the rest of our lives?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Cui Yunchu said. “Think about it. The two of us are barely as old as they are combined. Once we outlive them, won’t we be able to do whatever we want?”
Shen Xiabai felt his head begin to throb.
“What if that old bastard Cui forces you to marry someone else?”
Cui Yunchu shot him a sidelong glance. “Aren’t you the emperor’s trusted confidant and favorite official? If you offer him a promising future, won’t he obediently keep his mouth shut? And if that doesn’t work, we still have Yunfeng, Princess An. There are plenty of ways to make him stay silent.”
Shen Xiabai abruptly let go and set Cui Yunchu down.
Cui Yunchu remained immersed in her brilliant plan.
That way, he wouldn’t be in danger, nor would that old bastard Cui be able to use her to control him.
“Aren’t you good at martial arts? Later, I’ll put a little flag on my roof. When the flag is there, you go over. When it isn’t, you stay away. If we’re careful, no one will ever catch us.”
She spoke on and on, and Shen Xiabai was so furious that he actually laughed.
He did not know whether to be pleased that he had a place in the future she had planned, and that she was even willing to bear him a child, or to be angry at… that incomprehensible mind of hers.
He suddenly grabbed Cui Yunchu by the wrist and smacked her hard on the bottom.
Cui Yunchu cried out and jumped. Shen Xiabai was strong, and she could not break free from his grip.
The two of them ran circles around the room, one trying to hit her while the other tried to escape.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“If it didn’t hurt, why would I hit you?” Shen Xiabai said. “If I don’t discipline you for one day, you start asking for it.”
There was also Prince An, who came to complain to him every few days, giving Shen Xiabai the strange feeling that he had somehow raised a rebellious son.
#
“Eldest Sister, you’re back?”
Cui Yunfeng beamed brightly and immediately abandoned Xiao Yi, hurrying over to Cui Yunchu’s side.
Cui Yunchu sat down while covering her bottom. Her face was red enough to drip blood, and she shifted uncomfortably several times.
That wretched Shen Xiabai had really hit her—and with no restraint at all.
“Eldest Sister, what’s wrong?” Cui Yunfeng asked with a frown. “Are you hurt somewhere? Why are you squirming around?”
Xiao Yi pulled her closer to him and said, “Good girl, your eldest sister was just playing a game outside.”
“…”
With one hand still covering her bottom, Cui Yunchu found a moment to glare at Prince An.
Cui Yunfeng might have been innocent, but she was not stupid. When she saw Shen Xiabai return shortly afterward, she immediately stopped asking questions.
Still, she could not help lowering her voice to remind her, “Eldest Sister, this is the palace. You should show some restraint. Whatever you want to do can wait until we’re back home.”
Prince An quickly covered Cui Yunfeng’s mouth.
This silly girl—why did she say absolutely everything? He had told her long ago not to spend time playing with Cui Yunchu. Not to play with Cui Yunchu. And look at what she had learned!
Cui Yunfeng pulled Xiao Yi’s hand away. “I was only telling the truth. Lord Shen is so handsome—it’s perfectly normal that someone might not be able to control themselves.”
Shen Xiabai cast her a cool glance.
Prince An’s face darkened. “Is he more handsome than I am?”
In terms of appearance, the two could be said to be evenly matched. They simply had different styles. Shen Xiabai was handsome in a rugged, refined way, while Prince An possessed an alluring, almost wicked beauty.
Cui Yunfeng said solemnly, “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask my eldest sister.”
“Eldest Sister, what is Lord Shen like in private? Is he handsome?”
Cui Yunchu: “…”
She was an unmarried maiden, for heaven’s sake. Why did she keep running into people like this?
“Be quiet.”
“I’m just curious. Let me ask.”
“If you don’t shut up, I’ll tell Xiao Yi that you had a male courtesan sleep with his concubine and planned to make him raise the child.”
“Dear sister, I won’t say another word.”
Xiao Yi, whose ears were sharp enough to hear everything, twitched at the corner of his mouth and looked at the two sisters with an indescribable expression.
“Lord Shen’s face is a little red,” he said mildly.
It was not particularly obvious, but the two of them had been standing very close together, so he could still see it at a glance.
“I accidentally bumped into a pillar while changing clothes,” Shen Xiabai said.
Prince An laughed. “That must have been quite an unusual pillar. It even had hands.”
Shen Xiabai: “…”
“Ah, well.” Prince An smiled with wicked ease. “Even at my worst, I don’t get beaten. In the past, one or two of you would stand on tiptoe beside the carriage and laugh at me. But the truth is, you’re even more pitiful than I am.”
Shen Xiabai pretended not to hear him.
Prince An had finally found an opportunity and would not stop talking. Cui Yunchu, however, was displeased.
“Yunfeng, what did you do with the concubines in your household?”
Cui Yunfeng became angry at the mention of them. “They were bestowed by His Majesty, so I could only give them some money and send them away.”
“Did you have a physician examine them first?”
“Why would I have a physician examine them?” Cui Yunfeng asked, utterly bewildered.
Cui Yunchu cast a sidelong glance at Prince An. “The rumors outside are incredibly detailed. What if they’re true? What will you do if he brings back a child later?”
Xiao Yi said, “Yunfeng, let’s sit over there.”
These two were both terrible people. The Crown Prince had the right idea—he had wisely kept his distance.
Cui Yunfeng shook off his hand. “What are you doing? Are you feeling guilty? Don’t tell me you really have one?”
“…” Xiao Yi said, “Have what?”
“An illegitimate child.”
Amid their argument, the banquet came to an end.
The Empress Dowager departed first. Before leaving, the emperor instructed Shen Xiabai to go to the imperial study, then left as well.
The others gradually filed out of the hall. Yunfeng was still arguing with Prince An, while Cui Yunchu watched with gleeful amusement. Shen Xiabai fell a few steps behind and followed behind her.
In front of so many people, the two of them remained exceptionally restrained.
Suddenly, someone rammed hard into Cui Yunchu’s arm. She frowned and turned around, meeting the sinister gaze of a palace maid.
“My princess says Eldest Miss Cui is very unpleasant,” the maid said. “She sent me to see you off.”
Cui Yunchu heard a sound she knew all too well—the ring of swords being drawn.
Her face went slightly pale. The pain from her previous life seemed to surge over her once more.
There were so many people, and the scene was deafeningly chaotic. She saw a gleaming dagger thrust toward her, leaving her no time to dodge.
“Cui Yunchu, go to hell!”
The palace maid’s voice rang out, drawing everyone’s attention.
