Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Where Did He Touch You?
Li Yuzong, standing beside the Emperor, plastered on a smile.
He advised, "Miss Ji, you mustn’t drink too much. It’s bad for your health."
Before she could say a word, the wine cup and pot on her table were deftly whisked away by a little eunuch standing behind Eunuch Li.
In their place, a jewel-inlaid bronze pot was set down.
Li Yuzong said, "The Holy Emperor wishes for you to drink this."
’Why is he even controlling what I drink?’
Ji Qingwu looked toward Emperor Wu Su on the high dais. He was receiving toasts from his court officials, holding the Imperial Cup, and not looking her way.
The bronze pot was exquisitely crafted and clearly no common item. ’What’s inside probably isn’t ordinary either.’ She poured a cup, suspicious.
She took a small sip and nearly spat it out.
A bitter taste filled her mouth. ’This must be a sobering tonic,’ she thought. ’It probably has ingredients like kudzu flower, lotus rind, and dried ginger—all meant to combat drunkenness.’
Seeing her make a face, Li Yuzong beamed like a blooming flower.
"The Holy Emperor has decreed that there is an unlimited supply. Drink as much as you like. I shall remain by your side, ready to refill your cup at a moment’s notice."
And so Eunuch Li stood stock-still behind her. Now under "supervision," Ji Qingwu couldn’t get another drop of wine.
There was a bitter taste in her mouth, and a bitter feeling in her heart.
Mrs. Qiao was exchanging pleasantries with the noblewomen she knew, and Ji Qingrong had gone off to chat with her own close friends. Bored, Ji Qingwu sat there, listlessly skewering the cooked fava beans on her plate with a bamboo pick, one after another.
After sitting for a while, a wave of heat from the wine washed over her.
Ji Qingwu left the banquet, using the excuse that she needed to use the privy and freshen up.
She walked to the edge of the Lotus Pond.
By now, the lotus blossoms had closed their petals for the night. But a gust of wind stirred the layers of her skirt, their colors deepening from a pale pink on the outer layer to a deep crimson within.
The lush lotus leaves seemed to serve only as her backdrop.
The evening breeze was refreshing, but it also made her head spin.
’I don’t know what kind of wine that was,’ she thought. ’The more the wind blows, the dizzier I get.’
She rubbed her forehead.
"Qingwu."
The man’s voice wasn’t as calm and composed as she remembered it; instead, it held a note of urgency.
Ji Qingwu didn’t move, only tilting her head slightly to see the approaching figure clad in embroidered red robes.
She frowned and turned to leave.
"Qingwu, don’t go! I’ll stay right here. I won’t come any closer."
Li Chengxun had followed her out at some point. He was standing behind a willow tree by the pond and had clearly been watching her for a long time.
"Mr. Li," Ji Qingwu said, keeping her back to him to avoid any impropriety. "No, wait. You’ll soon be Prince Li. We have nothing to talk about."
Li Chengxun had also been plied with a great deal of wine, and a drunken flush colored his cheeks.
He said in a low voice, "Qingwu, I have my own hardships and reasons I can’t explain."
Ji Qingwu stared at the wind-rippled surface of the pond and frowned. "Reasons? They say there are three great triumphs in a man’s life: topping the imperial examinations, the bliss of a wedding night, and reuniting with an old friend far from home. As the top scholar, you are about to achieve two of them. What could you possibly be unhappy about?"
"Qingwu, marrying the Princess was not my choice," the man’s voice was low and dejected.
Ji Qingwu turned to face him, looking directly at his excessively handsome face.
"Whatever you want has nothing to do with me."
But the celebrated top scholar, his eyes pleading, asked, "Qingwu, will you wait for me? Please?"
His gaze flickered as he said, "Give me three years. If you just wait for me, I swear I’ll..."
"What do you take me for?"
Her watery eyes shone with startling brightness as she shook her head. "Li Chengxun, you have to understand—you’re marrying a princess. Even if you climb to the highest echelons of power in three years, second only to the Emperor himself, do you really think you can divorce her?"
A princess is royalty. Being a Prince Consort isn’t so simple. Forget divorce—you’d be lucky to even take a concubine.
Ji Qingwu’s voice rose. "You know you can’t, so your plan is—"
She demanded furiously, "For me to be your concubine, or your secret mistress!"
"Qingwu..." Li Chengxun stammered her name, at a loss for words.
Flushed with wine, Ji Qingwu could no longer suppress her emotions. She had to speak her mind.
’We’ll have nothing to do with each other in the future anyway,’ she thought. ’Might as well get it all out now.’
"I always knew our engagement was entangled with mutual interests. You agreed to the marriage proposal before you’d even met me. How could you have possibly been interested in *me*? You were interested in the influence of the Qiao and Ji Families."
"But I thought that being bound by interests might make for a more stable union. It wouldn’t be so bad, being a couple who treated each other with mutual respect."
Hearing the words "husband and wife," a muscle in Li Chengxun’s brow twitched violently.
She, who seemed so delicate and wished to avoid trouble, had not even bowed her head before the Empress Dowager, the master of the inner palace. Yet in the end, this was the situation she found herself in.
’How could she not feel a sense of loss?’
’It wasn’t a loss for him as a person, but for the feelings she had wasted.’
Ji Qingwu turned away again, her voice tinged with sadness. "Things being as they are, there’s no point in saying more. You should go."
The next instant, she heard the sound of frantic footsteps.
Her eyes flew wide. Li Chengxun had embraced her from behind, his voluminous red sleeves circling her waist.
Ji Qingwu felt his ragged breaths by her ear and smelled the heavy stench of wine on him.
She struggled fiercely, hissing through her teeth, "Li Chengxun, have you lost your mind? If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!"
This was the imperial palace! If anyone saw them, it would be a catastrophe.
Li Chengxun was the imperially designated Prince Consort. If Princess Qingyun and the Empress Dowager found out about this, there was no way they would let her off easily.
Speak of the devil...
A man in black, who looked like a guard, appeared as if from nowhere, his head bowed.
"Lord Li, Princess Qingyun is looking for you. She is heading toward the pond now."
At these words, Li Chengxun sobered up instantly. Seeing his panic, Ji Qingwu shoved him, making him stagger back.
It would be a disaster if Princess Qingyun saw him here. He gave her one last, deep look, straightened his sleeves, and hurried away from the Lotus Pond.
By the time Ji Qingwu caught her breath, the guard in black had also vanished.
The scare had left her in a cold sweat.
’Where did that guard come from? Who does he work for? What if word of this gets out?’
Her mind was in turmoil.
"The moon hangs above the willow branch tips."
A deep, chilling voice spoke from right behind her.
She didn’t have to look to know who it was.
’When did he get to the Lotus Pond? How long has he been standing behind me?’
Ji Qingwu turned her head, her neck stiff as stone.
"Don’t move," the man warned in a low voice.
Ji Qingwu didn’t dare to move a muscle. Even her breathing grew shallow.
A large hand settled on the small of her back, slid slowly around to her front, and hooked an index finger under her pale green silk sash. With a tug...
Ji Qingwu was pulled flush against his chest.
The chest of the man behind her was firm and warm, his body heat seeping through her thin blouse.
The scent of ambergris, mingled with wine, intensified the cool fragrance, making it sharp and heady.
From his scent to the way their bodies were pressed together, everything about the moment screamed danger to Ji Qingwu.
"Where did he touch you."
It wasn’t a question, but a slow, deliberate statement.
Beneath the calm surface was a raging undercurrent.
Ji Qingwu trembled in fear.
’He saw it all. How much did he hear?’
But explanations were useless now. She pleaded, her voice soft and trembling.
"Your Majesty."
But her plea failed to stir an ounce of pity in Emperor Wu Su.
With a slight exertion of his long finger, the green sash was roughly ripped away.
Ji Qingwu watched in shock as Emperor Wu Su flicked his hand, sending the sash flying into the pond.
Half of it sank into the water, while the other half draped over a lotus leaf.
