Did the Princess Consort Want To?

Click.

The clasp came undone.

Su Luoqian's fingertips went limp, and the waist sash fell to the floor with a thud.

"Oh..."

She tried to bend down and pick it up, but Lu Jingsi stopped her.

The man reached around her waist with his large hand. His long fingers gave a light tug, and her robe ties came loose.

Su Luoqian's breath caught. She hurriedly retreated half a step from his embrace. "Aren't you tired?"

He had barely slept from last night until now.

How could his mind still be full of such things?

At that, Lu Jingsi raised a brow and chuckled.

"When I said a short rest, I really meant a short rest."

"What was the princess consort thinking of?"

Su Luoqian was speechless.

Lu Jingsi reached out with a long arm and pulled her back into his embrace. Taking her small, smooth earlobe between his fingers, he asked, "Or perhaps the princess consort wanted to?"

"I did not!"

Su Luoqian's fair, lovely face turned scarlet in an instant, and she bristled like a little kitten.

She gave him a shove, then slipped off her outer robe as she walked toward the canopied bed.

Without checking whether the man behind her had followed, she took off her embroidered shoes, climbed straight into bed, and hid under the covers.

Rumble—

The thunder outside could be heard clearly even through the windows.

The room grew dimmer, and Su Luoqian instinctively burrowed deeper beneath the brocade quilt.

She wasn't afraid of thunder, but the thunder and rain outside were so loud. Earlier, when Zelan and Yinzhu had tidied up, they had added more ice, dispelling the stuffy heat trapped inside the room with all its windows shut.

The bedding was comfortable, and this truly was the perfect time for a rest.

She was so comfortable that she couldn't help narrowing her eyes, her body growing ever more languid and alluring.

Before long, however, a warm chest pressed against her slender back.

Lu Jingsi seemed to have made a habit of holding her whenever he got into bed.

Several times, she had tried to sneak away, only for him to notice and pull her back.

The man was tall and broad, and his very presence was imposing when he drew close.

Even with her back to him, Su Luoqian could feel that his presence had filled this little world between the bedcovers.

The warmth against the back of her neck made her heart leap. Just as she was about to turn around, she heard Lu Jingsi's deep voice.

"Sleep."

After that day, the prince's residence became much quieter.

Nanny Liu had been beaten until her flesh split open and her body was covered in blood, but she was still clinging to life.

In the pouring rain, she and the belongings in her room were thrown out of the prince's residence, and her family took her home.

Lu Jingsi had issued a threatening order in the residence: anyone who dared help Nanny Liu would be thrown out with her. Thus, none of the servants dared mention her again.

The landscape screen in the main room was broken and needed to be replaced.

Lu Jingsi never paid much attention to such matters in the residence.

Su Luoqian followed her own preferences and ultimately chose a nanmu screen carved with flowers and embroidered with peonies.

With the Qixi Festival approaching, embroidery had been selling briskly of late.

Among the dowry the Su Family had given Su Luoqian was an embroidery shop, and she had been visiting it often these past few days.

She had also chosen the embroidery design for the screen at her own shop.

Lu Jingsi had been busy lately too, sometimes staying out all night, as he had that day.

Su Luoqian occasionally overheard him speaking with Chengying, and it sounded as though they were handling some case of cheating on the provincial examination.

A cool breeze stirred through the summer night.

After bathing, Su Luoqian went to bed.

It was already past the midpoint of the hour of Xu. She had no intention of waiting for Lu Jingsi, so she told Zelan to leave a lamp burning and went to bed.

She slept soundly through the night.

But before Su Luoqian had fully woken from her dreams, she heard Zelan push open the door and hurry in at a trot.

"Princess Consort, something has happened."

Su Luoqian was still half asleep. She turned over, her eyes still closed.

"What is it?" she murmured lazily.

Zelan lifted the bed curtains. "A servant from the Su Family came to report that His Highness arrived at the Su residence in the middle of the night with a troop of men, looking furious."

"What?!"

At that, Su Luoqian woke with a start.

"What did you say?"

Zelan repeated what she had just said.

Su Luoqian hurriedly asked, "Are my father and mother all right?"

"Master and Madam are both well."

She relaxed. "That's good."

Zelan continued, "The Su Family's servant said His Highness went to the Su residence because of Young Master Su Youqing."

"Su Youqing?"

Su Luoqian narrowed her eyes and thought for a while, but she simply couldn't remember who that was.

She stood up, and Zelan came forward to support her. "He's the one from a collateral branch of the Su Family whom Nanny Cheng mentioned to you before."

So that was who he was...

Su Luoqian asked, "Did Lu Jingsi take him away?"

"No, but you know how imposing His Highness can be. After His Highness questioned him, Young Master Su didn't sleep a wink all night, and he's still shaken even now."

Hearing this, Su Luoqian felt somewhat relieved.

As long as her father and mother were all right, that was enough.

But what had Su Youqing become entangled in to make Lu Jingsi rush to the Su residence to question him in the middle of the night?

Pondering this, Su Luoqian sat on the round stool before her dressing table and let Zelan help her wash and dress her hair.

Before she could make sense of it, however, Lu Jingsi returned.

The man swept up his robes and strode in, his gaze meeting Su Luoqian's squarely.

His dark eyes were deep and shadowed, their emotions unreadable.

Su Luoqian's hair was only half done. She waved a hand and said, "Zelan, you may go."

"Yes, Princess Consort."

She had yet to change since waking. Her inner robe was loose, but it could not conceal her lovely figure.

Soft and fragrant as jade, with a bewitchingly slender waist.

Su Luoqian sat down at the round table, poured a cup of tea, and pushed it toward where Lu Jingsi stood.

"Your Highness, you've been working hard all night. Thank you for your efforts. Would you like some tea?"

Lu Jingsi's icy gaze moved away from her face as he sat down at the table. "The princess consort is well informed."

The man picked up the cup and drained the tea in one gulp.

It was warm and richly fragrant, just right.

Su Luoqian poured him another cup and lifted her pale pink eyelids slightly to steal a glance at his expression.

After a moment, she said softly, "Your Highness, there is something I'd like to ask."

"Go ahead."

Lu Jingsi's tone was mild, as though they were simply chatting.

Su Luoqian raised her eyes and looked directly and openly at him this time.

"May I ask, Your Highness, whether it has anything to do with my parents and the Su Family?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the room fell abruptly silent.

Lu Jingsi rested his long fingers on the rim of his cup, rubbing it almost imperceptibly.

He did not answer at once.

The clear summer morning light streamed through the windows, falling across the round tablecloth as well.

In slender strands.

Just when Su Luoqian thought he would not answer, Lu Jingsi slowly spoke. "It doesn't."

Su Luoqian breathed a sigh of relief.

Her lips curved into an unmistakable smile, and the light in her almond-shaped eyes was captivating.

No matter what had brought Su Youqing into contact with the Prison Administration, as long as her parents were safe, all was well.

Seeing her reaction, Lu Jingsi was silent for a long moment before asking, "Is there nothing else the princess consort wishes to ask?"

The probing intent in his words was obvious. How could Su Luoqian fail to hear it?

She finished her small cup of tea and poured herself another before shaking her head.

"Other people are not important to me."

Although she had met Su Youqing as a child, so many years had passed that she had long since forgotten what he looked like.

To her, Su Youqing was no different from a stranger.

It was only because he was staying at the Su residence and belonged to a collateral branch of the Su Family that she worried he might implicate Su Liangzhuo and Cui Anlan.

But Lu Jingsi had only taken his men to the Su residence to question him; he had not taken Su Youqing away.

It seemed that even if Su Youqing really had become involved in something, he was most likely innocent. Otherwise, given the Prison Administration's severity and ruthlessness, he would probably have been in its prison long ago.