She must have lost her head to make that sort of joke with Pei Qing. She hurriedly changed the subject. "Nothing. Didn't you just ask whether I'd be discovered? I have a personal guard skilled in disguise who can appear in my place."
After learning that Lou Yun had hidden guards, Pei Qing was no longer surprised by the capable people with unusual talents who appeared at her side.
"Let's hope this journey goes smoothly."
After the young man said those last words, the two returned to their own rooms to rest.
Perhaps because he knew full well that his beloved was sleeping just beyond the wall, the imperial tutor could not help feeling a little restless. He tossed and turned in bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep no matter what he did.
After a while, he suddenly heard the door next door open. Lou Yun had called for the waiter to bring water. Listening to the waiter going back and forth fetching and changing the water, Pei Qing hugged his pillow and, in his drowsiness, actually began to feel sleepy.
Was Lou Yun really that fond of cleanliness? It was so late... and she still wanted to wash.
Next door, after turning the matter over and over, Lou Yun still could not accept going to bed without washing after a day on the road. She thoroughly soothed away the day's exhaustion in the bathtub, then carefully listened for movement in the neighboring room.
Had he already gone to sleep?
Chapter 21
The next day, Lou Yun waited downstairs early, checking the time now and then as she planned to call Pei Qing at just the right moment.
The imperial tutor's appearance on those occasions when he had overslept was still vivid in her memory. Were it not for the need to reach the next inn before dark, she would gladly have let the young man sleep longer.
Unexpectedly, Pei Qing arrived much earlier than she had anticipated today.
"Good morning, sir. Did you sleep well last night?"
At Lou Yun's question, a trace of grievance could not help appearing on Pei Qing's face beneath his bamboo hat. After he had drifted off last night, his ears had been full of dripping water, giving him nightmares all night.
"I spent the whole night being chased by a ghost dripping water from head to toe. I'm utterly exhausted."
"Pfft!"
The resentment surrounding the young man was overwhelming, yet his aggrieved appearance was amusing.
Lou Yun laughed a little too wildly. Pei Qing could not help getting annoyed. He sat straight down and concentrated on eating, looking as though he would ignore her no matter what she said.
"Sir?"
"Teacher-"
Lou Yun called him several times in succession, but received no response. Even when she deliberately drew out her voice, the young man merely kept his head lowered without speaking, burying himself in his meal. When her calls annoyed him, he even dared turn aside and pretend not to see her.
Oh, that temper was growing!
"Are you annoyed?" Lou Yun leaned her head forward, her knowingly asked question brimming with undisguised teasing and a smile on her lips. Only after she saw a blush stain Pei Qing's face did she draw back in satisfaction, propping her cheek on her hand and smiling at him.
"Of course not!" Pei Qing stubbornly denied it. Looking around, he finally managed to find himself an excuse. "This breakfast must be too hot. Eating it has made
my face hot."
"Yes, yes, yes. It's all that waiter's fault for cooking breakfast so hot. He deserves to be strung up and given twenty lashes!" Lou Yun spouted nonsense, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Pei Qing, wanting to see how the young man would react.
Pei Qing, who had been all puffed up with anger and turned away to ignore her, whipped around to face Lou Yun. "There's no need for that. It's only breakfast."
After instinctively speaking up for the waiter, how could Pei Qing fail to realize Lou Yun was joking again? His expression resembled that of a cat that had been docile for ages suddenly swiping its claws.
It meowed and meowed, thinking itself terribly fierce, unaware that it remained utterly adorable in others' eyes.
"Pfft! Hahahahaha!"
Lou Yun laughed freely, as though joyful sparks were dancing all around her. Seeing the person before him so happy, Pei Qing felt neither embarrassed nor annoyed anymore. He said helplessly, "You're the only one who dares tease me like this."
"Do you mind, sir?" Lou Yun asked in return.
"As long as it's you, I'm willing, whatever it is." The young man's gentle, clear voice held a measure of indulgence and sincerity. It was precisely such an unthinking, unhesitating answer that left one all the more dazed.
Her heart suddenly missed a beat. For the first time, Lou Yun learned that someone really could send her heart surging with a casually spoken remark.
The young man had no idea how devastating his words could be to another person. After hurriedly finishing breakfast, he urged her to set off.
After mounting her horse, Lou Yun fell about half a meter behind Pei Qing. Watching the young man's back as he galloped ahead, his robes fluttering, she thought absently:
It was someone like this who could always so easily stir the filthiest evil in the depths of her heart, yet each time, with only a word or a gesture, could immediately calm her and let her find herself again.
It really was... rather terrifying.
Pei Qing keenly noticed that the person beside him had fallen a beat behind. He deliberately slowed down and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"
Abruptly returning to her senses, Lou Yun tugged hard on the reins in her hand. Her horse raised its forelegs and adjusted its stance, while an unrestrained smile spread beneath her mask.
The girl on horseback issued a challenge to Great Yan's imperial tutor. "Sir, do you dare race me to the next relay station?"
"Coming!"
He was, after all, only in his early twenties. Without the identity of imperial tutor that usually required him to maintain his dignity, the youthful spirit in his heart emerged as well. Without another word, the cool, self-possessed teacher of the realm began chasing after Lou Yun, the two taking turns in the lead.
At last, they reached Jiangling. They dismounted and walked into the city side by side.
They found an inn and had only just sat down when they heard someone at another table behind the curtain beside them cursing:
"Isn't that young master from the prefect's household getting a little too lawless? I heard he abducted another woman a few days ago to make her his thirteenth concubine!"
"Ah, he's the prefect's only precious darling. Of course they hold him up and worship him, terrified he might so much as suffer a bump. Besides, heaven is high and the emperor far away. How could His Majesty in the capital stretch his hand this far? Here in Jiangling, I'm afraid the prefect's family covers the sky with one hand!"
"Shh! You even dare say things like that? Do you have a death wish?"
"What's there to fear? Let them actually arrest us if they're so capable. I'm a licentiate appointed by the imperial court!"
"Oh, get lost. A lousy licentiate like you could be stuffed in a sack and beaten to death one day without even knowing what happened."
Lou Yun and Pei Qing listened without a word. After that table's occupants left, Lou Yun suddenly said, "I have a plan that might work." She paused, then continued, "But I'll need your cooperation, sir."
"What is it?" Following Lou Yun's gesture, Pei Qing leaned closer to listen.
After Lou Yun explained the plan, his expression was rather hesitant. He asked uncertainly, "Will that really work?"
Lou Yun nodded emphatically, giving the young man plenty of confidence. "Of course. Sir, your knowledge encompasses the heavens above and the earth below. A little matter like this won't stump you!"
Chapter 22
The next day, for once, Pei Qing was the first to get up. He finished getting ready early and waited downstairs.
On closer inspection, today's imperial tutor was somewhat different from usual. Not only was he dressed in red robes that gave him a distinctly youthful air, but his hairstyle had also changed, with half his long hair bound high beneath a gold magnolia crown. His earrings had been changed to red jade and agate as well. Seated calmly in the center of the hall, every movement carried the elegant, otherworldly grace customary to an impeccably raised scion of an aristocratic family. What a strikingly beautiful, otherworldly young gentleman he was-yet something was still missing from the image Lou Yun wanted.
After changing, Lou Yun stepped out of her room and pulled the brim of the bamboo hat she had begged off the imperial tutor a little lower. Standing on the stairs, she looked at the young man who had become the focus of the crowd without even realizing it, shaking her head and sighing inwardly.
He really did draw attention wherever he went.
While everyone's attention was on Pei Qing, she pretended to pass the young man casually.
Pei Qing merely sensed a familiar figure passing beside him. Before he could look, he saw that the spot on the table where his buns had been was suddenly empty, replaced by a folded note.
When he looked up, all that met his eyes was a beautifully defined waist wrapped in plain clothing, and sleeves floating with her movements.
This was Lou Yun in women's clothing...
As that thought crossed his mind, the "graceful young gentleman" Pei Qing first quietly filched the note Lou Yun had left like a thief stealing, then pictured Lou Yun's appearance in women's clothing in his mind like a lecher.
Finally, as though scalded, he abruptly curled his fingertips inward, crumpling the note in his palm into a ball. Realizing what he had done, the young man's face filled with chagrin, and closer scrutiny would have revealed a shame that was not easily detected.
He... what had he just been doing?!
The young man was so mortified that he could barely contain himself, yet outwardly he still pretended to be breezy and unruffled, his expression unchanged. If not for his wandering gaze and slightly curled fingertips, one might truly have thought him perfectly composed.
Had Lou Yun seen this, she would certainly have discovered what lay beneath the young man's calm exterior, then seized the opportunity to tease him.
He hurriedly opened the note and saw a line written in the center in bold, sweeping strokes like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing:
The imperial tutor needs to be even more arrogant and domineering. Bring out the air of a second-generation wastrel. If you play it well, I'll treat you to Dongpo pork hock.
His long fingers spread out like jade, and his lightly callused fingertip rubbed over the words "Dongpo pork hock" for a moment. His eyes visibly brightened.
Determined to eat that Dongpo pork hock, the imperial tutor left the inn and acted according to the plan.
Remaining near one another without appearing together, the two staked out the route the prefect's son had to take when leaving and returning home for half a day before finally seeing Lin Shuo returning home, supported between two attendants, waving a wine jug and cursing.
In a flash, Pei Qing darted out from a corner, planted one foot on a bench, and pinned Lou Yun, who was pretending to drink tea inside the little shop, against the tabletop.
The commotion sent the shop's tea drinkers scattering in fright. The owner, too, cautiously crouched behind his stall, hiding with his arms over his head, not daring to look.
Oh?
Lin Shuo, who had been dragged back by men his father had sent before he had drunk his fill, took an interest in the commotion ahead. Grabbing the attendants on either side, he took two steps forward, wanting a clear look at this "kindred spirit" of his.
While Lin Shuo was curious about Pei Qing's appearance, Pei Qing finally got a clear look at Lou Yun's outfit today, which he had been curious about all along.
To make this scene of forceful seizure more convincing, the woman wore only a plain silk gauze dress. There were no drawn brows or floral forehead ornaments at all.
Yet Lou Yun, who always wore her hair beneath a man's crown, had suddenly let it down and arranged it in a woman's coiffure. Even with only a solitary wooden hairpin on her head, that rarely seen gentleness and delicate beauty were enough to leave Pei Qing dazed.