Wu Da had already arranged the best room at the finest inn in Greenstone Town.
An Sheng led A Mei into the room, and the moment the door closed—accompanied by A Mei’s soft gasp—he bent down, scooped her up in his arms, and strode straight toward the inner chamber.
A Mei let out a little yelp and instinctively wrapped her arms around An Sheng’s neck, burying her face in his shoulder, overwhelmed by the familiar scent that belonged only to her husband.
Seeing that he was about to toss her onto the bed, A Mei’s small hands quickly pressed against An Sheng’s chest. “Husband, husband, wait—I need to bathe!”
An Sheng’s breathing had long since gone ragged. He paid no heed to A Mei’s words, and the next moment, he dropped her onto the bed and pressed his body over hers.
One large hand caught both of A Mei’s resisting hands and pinned them above her head. His dark eyes, which she knew so well, had turned deep and roiling. He buried his mouth and nose in the crook of her slender neck, his voice hoarse as he murmured, “You smell wonderful. No need to wash.”
An Sheng’s lips and tongue were scorching. A Mei shrank her neck, giggled, and playfully complained, “That tickles—wait, husband, get up. A Mei not only wants to bathe, I also need to use the chamber pot! Get up, get up!”
An Sheng paused, then gave her a light, deliberate bite on the nape of her neck. Finally, he rose, his expression a bit sour, but his tone filled with helpless indulgence. “Fine, then.”
He then pointed a finger behind the screen. “There’s a chamber pot back there. You can take care of it in the room. I’ll have someone prepare a hot bath for you in a tub.”
A Mei nodded obediently with a soft “Mm.”
The innkeeper quickly had all the bathing supplies prepared and sent over.
The inn’s tub was very small—far too small for both her and An Sheng—so A Mei washed first. At the moment, she was leaning against the tub’s edge with her eyes closed while An Sheng scrubbed her back, but she kept chattering away.
“Husband, do you think, going at this slow and easy pace, when will we ever reach Lindong?”
“Husband, you said earlier that we shouldn’t be in a hurry, that they’re the ones who should be worried—but what about the Emperor? Won’t he think we’re too slow?”
“Also, we’ve brought quite a few officials with us this time. What are they all going to do there? Are they all going to investigate cases?”
“Oh, husband, I’m done washing the front—no need to scrub anymore.” A Mei grabbed the large hand on her chest, turned her head to give An Sheng a pretend glare, and pouted playfully. “Husband, you haven’t answered my questions yet!”
An Sheng pulled his hands back with a sheepish look, then proceeded to massage A Mei’s back up and down, speaking slowly, full of patience: “Rest assured, my lady. Since I said I could handle this matter, then I can. As for those officials—and I’m not bragging here—once we reach Lindong, there’s no need for them to investigate anything. They’ll have their own days of wine, women, and endless amusement, days of absolute delight ahead of them.”
“Delight? What delight?” A Mei’s eyes flew wide open, their watery sheen bright with faint glimmer. Her curiosity and hunger for knowledge nearly spilled over.
Seeing A Mei’s gossiping little expression, An Sheng curled the corners of his mouth upward.
He raised a wet finger and tapped her nose lightly. “If I tell you, the fun is gone. You’ll know when we get there.”
A Mei pouted and made a coquettish sound that bent and stretched the syllables. “Don’t be like that, husband—A Mei wants to know right now!”
But An Sheng gave her a lingering, meaningful look and said with a mysterious air, “It’s not that I won’t tell you. It’s just that plans often deviate from reality. I never speak of things I’m not certain about.”
A Mei blinked, then pressed her lips together. “Oh, alright. Well then—husband, I’m done washing. I don’t want to stay in anymore.”
An Sheng helped A Mei out of the tub. The inn had no underfloor heating, and the charcoal brazier wasn’t quite warm enough. Afraid A Mei might catch a chill, he hastily dried her off in a rough manner, wrapped her entirely in a quilt, and carried her to the bed, before fetching a cloth and carefully drying her damp hair.
Only when her hair was fully dry did he call for more hot water to be prepared in the outer room, and washed himself.
Lying in bed bored, A Mei suddenly remembered something. She called out to the outer room, “Husband, what day of the second month is today?”
An Sheng answered, “The fourteenth.”
A Mei let out an “Ah!” with a note of apologetic frustration. “Goodness, my memory! The twenty-fourth will be Godfather’s birthday. By then, we won’t be able to wish him a happy birthday back at home.”
“No, I must start preparing a birthday gift right away.”
Since An Sheng was away on official duty and couldn’t be in the capital—it couldn’t be helped—but as his daughter-in-law, she absolutely couldn’t forget preparing a birthday offering for her father-in-law. Luckily, there was still time.
An Sheng’s gentle voice floated in from the outer room.
“Don’t rush. Whatever you want to prepare, just tell me, and I’ll send someone to handle the purchase and ship it back to the capital all together.”
A Mei nodded. “Mm, then I’ll have to give it serious thought. Husband, tell me—what sort of things does Godfather usually enjoy?”
And so they chatted on and off like this. But before long, An Sheng finished his bath and came into the inner chamber.
A Mei was absorbed in her thoughts and didn’t raise her eyes, so she naturally didn’t notice that An Sheng was now carrying something in his hands.
An Sheng took a few steps up to the bed. He first set the thing aside, then lifted the quilt and climbed in, pulling her naked, soft body directly into his arms.
A Mei nestled obediently against him, her mind still on choosing a gift for her Godfather. Out of habit, she slowly began tracing circles on An Sheng’s chest with her finger—round and round, while she thought and thought.
But this gesture looked like blatant teasing to An Sheng. His expression shifted in an instant. His breathing tightened, and he flipped over, pressing her down beneath him. In a seductive, unhurried tone, he said, “My lady, would you like to try something new tonight?”
A Mei was stunned at first, then blushed and two rosy patches bloomed on her cheeks. Her watery eyes, full of shyness, met his bottomless dark gaze. With a hint of confusion, she asked, “What kind of new thing?”
And then, right before her eyes, like a magician, An Sheng casually produced from who-knows-where the wooden box she had seen since the night of their wedding—the one she had grown so familiar with by now that it felt like an old friend.
A Mei: !
A Mei’s eyes went wide with shock. She looked at the box, then at An Sheng, then back at the box. “H-husband, this—you—when did you bring this with you?!”
An Sheng raised an eyebrow smugly. “Didn’t I tell you? I take this thing with me and my lady wherever we go.”
A Mei: …
An Sheng opened the box with practiced ease, pulled out an item, and smiled gently at A Mei. “A couple of days ago, someone presented me with something good. I liked it, so I kept it, and today I thought I’d try it out with you, my lady.”
A Mei: ?
A Mei: !
However, A Mei’s attention was quickly drawn to the object.
She stared at what he held, looking and looking, finally asking in a bashful yet curious whisper, “Husband… how is this thing used?”
An Sheng placed the item by the pillow and reached both hands toward the supple curves underneath him, his voice low and rough: “Be a good girl… I’ll show you how to use it in a moment.”
A Mei’s body was growing soft under his caresses. Suddenly, she puckered her little lips and pouted jealously, “How does my husband seem to know everything—could it be that you’ve used these before?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, An Sheng sealed her soft little lips with a kiss.
"Mmm..."
An Sheng bit down on those delicate red lips, punishing and teasing, and between kisses he panted fiercely, "Oh, so my lady suspects me, does she? Well then, watch how I make you pay for that today!"
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