What a fine sovereign and subject they made!
Lou Yun nearly laughed in anger.
Then she reconsidered. If Pei Qing was telling the truth...
"Do you treat Father the same way?"
The young man's eyes suddenly widened, and he protested, "Of course not! That would be gross disrespect."
It was disrespectful toward Lou Qing, but what about Lou Ze'an?
Thinking this, Lou Yun asked exactly that. "What if it were my elder brother?"
What did her elder brother have to do with anything? What about Lou Ze'an?
Pei Qing let out a puzzled hum through his nose. "Hm?"
Eager for an answer, Lou Yun pressed him. "Could my elder brother treat you like this too, the way I am now?"
The young man's gaze unfocused for a moment, clearly considering the feasibility of this. Almost instantly, he declared with certainty, "He can't beat me."
What did this have to do with who could beat whom?
Lou Yun was baffled. "So?"
"I should be the one pinning him down."
Pei Qing sounded so natural and certain that Lou Yun's train of thought took a sudden, sharp turn. Rather uncertainly, she asked, "You're the top?"
Huh? What top or bottom? Pei Qing failed to understand what Lou Yun was asking.
But the woman's eyes were entirely serious, and he hazarded a guess. Could she mean status?
Somewhat conflicted, he said, "His Highness the Crown Prince is the heir to the throne, after all."
"So?"
"So, naturally, His Highness would be on top."
Lou Yun stared at his utterly earnest expression and sank into thought:
In other words, to get on top of Pei Qing, she had to become the heir to the throne. After all, under heaven, no station outranked the Imperial Preceptor except the one at the very top.
So Pei Qing was actually willing to be underneath? She had originally thought that, at the very least, the two of them were
switches,
at any rate.
After all, judging by her previous impression of the two, neither seemed likely to willingly take the bottom position. Though after truly getting to know Pei Qing, she did feel he hardly seemed like someone who could top.
Instead, he seemed the sort who would foolishly agree to bottom if someone casually bribed him with a piece of candy.
Then again, Lou Yun had lived in a female-dominated world for over twenty years. Even after transmigrating into a male-dominated dynasty, she had no intention of accepting her circumstances and placing herself beneath men like the women here.
If she wanted to spend her life with someone in the future, there was no way she would be the bottom. In other words, before winning Pei Qing over, would she also have to teach him about bedroom matters completely different from those of this world?
For a moment, she felt that the road ahead was perilous, beset with countless obstacles.
Wait, what was she thinking?
He had led her astray. Pei Qing did not even know what sort of relationship permitted such intimate gestures. How could he possibly understand what she had just meant?
She curled a finger and tapped the young man on the head, her voice carrying an affection even she barely noticed:
"I was teasing you. Don't cry again."
Pei Qing's nose stung, and he nearly shed tears again.
Although he did not know what had happened, nothing mattered more now than the person before him growing to dislike him.
Perhaps Lou Yun's tone felt far too reassuring, for Pei Qing actually let himself go, tugging at her as he pleaded, "Then you can't distance yourself from me for no reason again."
Lou Yun suddenly wanted to kiss this unfairly adorable person before her. Her gaze lingered over the young man's full lips for a moment before shifting to his eyes, brimming with anticipation.
"Fine," she said casually.
Feeling that the person before him seemed a little distracted, Pei Qing asked, "Really?"
Amused, Lou Yun returned to herself. She pinched the tip of his nose and wiggled it from side to side as though teasing a puppy. "Really. Rest easy."
Chapter 11
Having received the answer he wanted, Pei Qing suddenly realized there was something wrong with their position and pushed Lou Yun away with a little force.
Lou Yun obligingly stepped back and asked, "What do you think of this case?"
At the mention of business, Pei Qing's expression turned serious too. "We probably won't get anything more out of Rouniang. I'll send people to Jiangnan to investigate what she told us and see whether they can uncover why she's unwilling to talk."
Lou Yun returned to her original seat and sat down. "More importantly, Rouniang said just now that she wasn't the only victim. The capital is hardly close to Jiangnan. If Li An had been harming the capital's commoners on a large scale, it would have come to light long ago."
"You mean someone has been secretly supplying Li An with people?"
Pei Qing's expression suddenly turned very ugly. If that were true, the nature of this case would change. Human trafficking was strictly forbidden in Great Yan.
Moreover, human trafficking was no simple matter. From seizing people to transporting them, the officials all along the route could not escape involvement.
Lou Yun's thoughts were much the same as Pei Qing's. Seeing his expression, she offered some reassurance. "Perhaps we're overthinking it, and things haven't reached that point."
With the matter weighing on him, a note of anxiety entered Pei Qing's voice. "Let's investigate where the secret passage in Li An's room leads this afternoon."
"This afternoon?"
A flicker of chagrin crossed the young man's face. The next moment, a questioning voice rang out. "Since I took on this case, nearly all my other official duties have been suspended. But don't I remember the Imperial Preceptor having classes to teach this afternoon?"
The girl leaned against the back of her chair, a dazzling smile on her face.
Pei Qing hastily averted his gaze and changed the subject. "Will Your Highness stay for lunch?"
"Even if I stay, I'll still have to leave."
Otherwise, was she supposed to remain alone at his residence when he went to the Imperial Academy?
"Mm."
Pei Qing seemed not to have caught on yet, so Lou Yun asked in return:
"Or does the Imperial Preceptor intend to take me to the Imperial Academy?"
It had merely been an offhand question. Who knew the person before her would actually take it to heart and treat it seriously?
"If Your Highness is willing."
Lou Yun smiled without answering, rose, and headed outside. "I'll see you at the Imperial Academy gates this afternoon."
After bidding Pei Qing farewell, Lou Yun did not return directly to her residence. Instead, she strolled leisurely to a certain spot in the courtyard.
"Are you still not coming out?"
The clink of gold and jade mingled with the sound of bells, and a barefoot young man drifted down before Lou Yun.
Holding his fan by its handle, A Zi covered his mouth and smiled. "How did Your Highness know I was here?"
Lou Yun looked toward the locust trees lining either side of the path.
"I noticed you watching for quite some time, young master. I thought you wanted to speak to me alone."
The young man, wearing a gold-threaded magnolia forehead band, lifted his head. Light shifted through his beautiful foxlike eyes, and his rouge-tinted thin lips parted. "How could that be? I was merely basking in the sun."
"That might fool Pei Qing, but it falls a little short of fooling me."
A Zi dropped his teasing manner and asked seriously, "Your Highness noticed?"
"What?" Lou Yun deliberately declined to answer, wandering at will through the Imperial Preceptor's residence.
A Zi followed behind, occasionally guiding Lou Yun away from places where they might encounter Pei Qing.
"The young master handles emotions somewhat differently from ordinary people."
Lou Yun pondered, then asked only, "Why?"
"The young master is gentle and kind by nature. The previous Imperial Preceptor was busy with official duties and couldn't attend to a child's feelings. As a boy, the young master suffered at the hands of wicked servants because of his temperament."
Lou Yun instinctively frowned at this. A Zi had been watching her expression all along. Seeing her anger on Pei Qing's behalf, his brow relaxed, and he continued, "But we paid them back for all of it. We simply never expected that, in the end, the people who hurt the young master most would be our own."
When the woman looked over, A Zi shrugged to indicate that he could not readily say more. "In any case, various factors left the young master deliberately trying to please those he considers his own. He doesn't realize it himself, so those of us who serve him can only help by giving people a warning. But the old goat has already left, I can't stay much longer either, and Mo Chi is a thoughtless one."
"Your Highness." A Zi suddenly knelt, his bare, smooth knees emerging from his robes to strike the pebbles on the ground. He clasped his hands in salute. "Although I don't know why the young master has come to trust you so much in just a few days, please look after him a little in daily life, for the sake of all the years he has devoted himself to your elder brother."
Of course Lou Yun would look after Pei Qing, but not because of Lou Ze'an. She asked, "What exactly is the relationship between Pei Qing and my elder brother?"
"Huh? Aren't they teacher and student, as well as good friends?" A Zi was stunned, unable to understand why Lou Yun would ask this.
Teacher and student, as well as good friends?
"When did you come to Pei Qing's side?"
"Three years ago, I think."
Three years ago. Lou Yun calculated inwardly. The two had already kissed by then, so it was normal that A Zi knew nothing about it.
Lou Yun's questioning unsettled A Zi. "Why does Your Highness ask?"
"Does your young master have a taste for men?"
A Zi was dumbfounded. He went through everything Pei Qing had done over the past three years, great and small, and only after confirming he had missed nothing did he reply, "I don't believe so. The young master hasn't even experienced his first awakening of love."
Oh, no, he has. This person right here...
"Oh?"
To preserve the young master's reputation, A Zi worked hard to
defend him. "The young master is the Imperial Preceptor. He could be considered someone beyond worldly affairs, untouched by the mortal dust."
Had she misunderstood? But: "There's no shortage of people beyond worldly affairs returning to secular life in Great Yan."
A Zi: ...Even if my young master did, it couldn't possibly be with Lou Ze'an! Aaaah!!!
Still, it was odd how concerned this princess was about the young master's romantic affairs. He deliberately pressed her. "Why is Your Highness so concerned about my young master?"
Unable to work it out, Lou Yun walked around A Zi and headed elsewhere. "I'm afraid your young master might have left some romantic debts outside."
Uh, if that's the impression Lou Yun has of the young master, he's doomed. A Zi silently lit a candle for Pei Qing in his heart.
He rose, hurried in front of Lou Yun, and asked, "I've been wanting to ask-what exactly is Your Highness looking for, wandering around the residence like this?"
Lou Yun passed A Zi and pointed at the building behind him. "This is what I was looking for."
"This is where Rouniang is being held?" His foxlike eyes filled with surprise and suspicion, and he blocked the woman's path again. "This is clearly only Your Highness's second visit to the Imperial Preceptor's residence. How did you find where Rouniang is being held?"