Chapter 42

"Although you've already learned your lesson, you still deserve punishment for what you did this time," Lou Yun rebuked him mercilessly.

Pei Qing did not dare argue. He nodded obediently, turned, and pressed his cheek into Lou Yun's palm. "I was wrong. Please punish me."

Seeing how obedient he was, Lou Yun spared herself the posturing. She pinched his cheek and asked in a low voice, "What did you do wrong?"

"I shouldn't have lied to you."

"Mm."

"I shouldn't have acted on my own."

"Mm."

"I shouldn't have gotten hurt."

The young man stopped there. Lou Yun did not even lift her eyelids, merely raising a hand. "Go on."

There was more? Pei Qing went over everything he had done that day a dozen times and still could not figure out what else he had done wrong.

He shuffled pitifully closer to Lou Yun and pleaded, "I don't know. Please have mercy and tell me."

"You don't know already? It seems the imperial tutor hasn't spent long enough reflecting." Lou Yun deliberately kept a stern face to frighten him.

Pei Qing immediately panicked. He lowered his head, clutching his knees with both hands, wanting to speak but holding back.

The first to surrender was still Lou Yun, who had started it. She could not bear seeing Pei Qing panic. Tilting up the young man's chin, she soothed him, "I was teasing you, hmm?"

"Then tell me. Tell me what else I did wrong, please-" the young man begged.

A scalding tear fell-"Plip." It landed on the back of Lou Yun's hand, slid down, disappeared into her sleeve, seeped into her skin, melted into her blood, and finally dripped onto the tip of her heart.

"Ah, Pei Qing."

"Mm."

"What angers me is this: first, you hid things from me. Leaving aside the fact that you're the one I love, even in your capacity as imperial tutor, that constitutes deceiving the sovereign."

Those were harsh words from Lou Yun. They frightened Pei Qing into trembling, and he repeatedly agreed.

"Second, you got hurt. It isn't simply that your injury makes me angry, but that this could have been avoided. Do you understand me? Pei Qing, think about it yourself. When you discovered something wrong with the exam papers, if you had just thought for another half-quarter of an hour, paused a little, not acted so quickly, and waited for me, you should have remembered that Jin Yu is currently watching over the Ministry of Rites. If you had stopped for even a quarter of an hour, you could have avoided this shoulder wound, couldn't you?"

"Mm," the young man answered meekly, anxious to make amends for his mistake.

"Then punish me. Any punishment will do."

The young man spoke earnestly, his eyes shining as he stared at Lou Yun, looking as though he would comply with whatever punishment she proposed.

Really, it was enough that Pei Qing had that intention. She genuinely could not think of a punishment just then, so...

"Let me hear you call me wife-mistress."

Some inexplicable impulse made Lou Yun blurt out those words.

Although Great Yan had no such form of address as wife-mistress, that did not stop Pei Qing from understanding its literal meaning.

Would calling her that mean he belonged to Lou Yun? Could he really say such a possessive form of address aloud?

Apprehensive, expectant, and bashful, Pei Qing spoke. "Wife-mistress."

That single utterance made flowers bloom in Lou Yun's heart and left her utterly delighted.

Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! What in this world could be happier than hearing the one you loved call you wife-mistress?

She teased, "Now that you've called me wife-mistress, you'll have to put me first in everything from now on, listen to everything I say, and never tell me so much as half a lie. Understood?"

"Mm, understood." Pei Qing answered so seriously that, for a moment, Lou Yun truly felt as though they had completed their wedding bows and Pei Qing, as her husband, was pledging his devotion to her, his wife-mistress.

"Silly boy." They were not even married, yet he had eagerly handed himself over. "You wouldn't even know you'd signed a contract selling yourself."

"I'm not afraid," Pei Qing declared with perfect confidence.

"All right, all right, you're not afraid. If you get sold one day, I won't have the money to ransom you."

"That's fine. I'll give you all my properties, and then you'll be able to ransom me."

Lou Yun covered her face, stifling a laugh. In that case, why not pay his own ransom and save himself, instead of taking a detour through her?

As Lou Yun was thinking this, a sudden knock came at the door. "Knock, knock."

"What is it?" Lou Yun pressed Pei Qing beneath the covers and wrapped him up before calling outside.

Wrapped up like a zongzi, the bewildered imperial tutor stared blankly at the bed canopy.

In a situation like this, even if their clothes were disheveled, shouldn't the woman be the one hiding under the covers? Besides, they had not actually done anything.

The visitor was Mo Chi. "It's time to change Master's dressing. I'll bring in the ointment and gauze."

"Come in."

"Yes."

Mo Chi brought the supplies inside, then swiftly withdrew.

By the time Lou Yun had gently finished changing Pei Qing's dressing, the medicine had taken effect, and the young man had fallen asleep.

She carried the remaining ointment and used gauze outside. Mo Chi was still waiting by the door and came forward the instant she emerged.

"Your Highness, may I have a word with you in private?"

Mo Chi's face was extremely solemn, and Mo Chi was one of Pei Qing's people, so Lou Yun nodded and followed a little farther away.

Mo Chi first bowed, then asked, "Your Highness, do you know why my master reacted so strongly to this?"

So she had not merely been imagining that Pei Qing's reaction was excessive?

Lou Yun shook her head and answered honestly, "I thought I was overthinking it. Pei Qing is sensitive and thoughtful, so it isn't strange for him to overthink things."

At this, Mo Chi also shook their head and explained, "No, there are reasons Master is like this. Your Highness must know of the Beast Taming Pavilion."

"Mm." Faced with Mo Chi's probing, Lou Yun remained entirely composed. "Pei Qing is the young master of the Beast Taming Pavilion."

Seeing that Lou Yun already knew, Mo Chi concealed nothing more and laid everything out. "The reason my master is so afraid is actually that he was abandoned three times. Since Your Highness knows Master's true identity, you should know that his birth mother, Pavilion Master Ye of the Beast Taming Pavilion, entrusted him to Xuanjizi."

Lou Yun nodded. "I know."

"But Master was unwilling at first. Pavilion Master Ye took a hard stance and forced him to leave. Before that, Master had originally lived with his birth father. After he was abandoned, Pavilion Master Ye took him back, only to hand him off to Xuanjizi not long afterward."

"Unfortunately, Xuanjizi was busy with official duties and had no time to look after Master, so he left everything to the servants. Seeing that Master was only an eight-year-old child, that nanny used all sorts of pretexts to lock him in his room to save herself trouble, so neither of them would have to go out. Master was kindhearted and unwilling to tell Xuanjizi. In the end, there really was one occasion when Master secretly slipped out to attend to something, and that wicked servant made up an excuse that left him waiting for her in the snow all night for nothing."

"From then on, Master was unwilling to form deep connections with others. You are the first person I've seen him willingly approach."

At this point, Mo Chi suddenly dropped lower, kneeling before Lou Yun and pleading, "Your Highness, if only for the sake of how wholeheartedly Master has served you and your brother, please don't ever leave him alone the way you did that day again."

As Mo Chi spoke, their voice choked up. "I know this isn't something you ought to have to worry about, but if Eunuch Xu hadn't sent someone to remind us that day, Master might truly have collapsed somewhere all alone."

After listening, Lou Yun remained silent for a long time. Only her furrowed brows and tightly clenched fists revealed a little of what she felt.

"I understand. I'll be more careful from now on," Lou Yun promised Mo Chi.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness."

After stopping Mo Chi's gestures, Lou Yun returned to the room. Looking at Pei Qing, who still frowned and shivered even in deep sleep, she felt endless heartache well up inside.

She wished all the more that she could drag out everyone who had ever abandoned Pei Qing and whip them one by one.

"Your Highness... Fangyi..."

Suddenly hearing the young man's murmured sleep talk, Lou Yun's brows relaxed and her heart softened. She stroked his brow and pressed a kiss to his smooth forehead.

"Sleep. Sweet dreams."

Chapter 42

The next day, after reexamining the candidates' papers, the Ministry of Rites discovered suspicious points in them, just as Pei Qing had expected.

After several rounds of discussions, a resit was arranged on the grounds that intruders had accidentally entered the Ministry of Rites and damaged the exam papers. The court would cover all expenses for food, clothing, lodging, and travel during that period.

Pei Qing said little, only raising objections when the court prepared to select questions from the original reserve set and changing the examination procedure.

One incense stick before the examination, the chief examiner would draw the questions, then relay them to the examiners at each examination venue. Once the appointed time arrived, they would recite the questions aloud in unison. Only after three recitations could the candidates begin answering.

Although this method undoubtedly made answering considerably harder for the candidates, learning the questions only one incense stick in advance would make cheating extremely difficult even for those who intended to do so.

Pei Qing also planned to serve personally as chief examiner at the main examination venue. The imperial examination lasted three days, and he was already prepared to battle alongside the candidates.

Lou Yun simply watched silently as the young man busied himself with everything. Even though she was furious inside, when Pei Qing pitifully leaned his shoulder toward her for a dressing change, she still kept a stern face and helped him as he wished.

While the second imperial examination proceeded in full swing, Lou Yun welcomed an old acquaintance she had not seen in a long time.

"A Xie! A Xie!" A youth with a distinctly exotic appearance sat atop the crown prince's residence wall, flashing a radiant smile as he waved to Lou Yun in greeting.

"Bu'er? What are you doing here?" Lou Yun had just returned from outside. Seeing the youth perched on the wall, she asked in confusion.

Ying Yi appeared at that moment as well, kneeling to beg forgiveness. "This subordinate failed to stop Young Master Bu'er. Please punish me, Master."

Given this fellow's temperament, even if Ying Yi and the others wanted to stop him, he would find some excuse to frighten them out of daring to do so.

"It's fine. Since you're here, come in." Lou Yun waved Ying Yi away and invited Bu'er inside.

"Coming, A Xie!" The youth leaped cheerfully down from the wall. As he passed Ying Yi, he did not forget to stick out his tongue in an extremely provocative, mocking gesture.

After entering the room, Bu'er inspected everything as though surveying his own home. Once he had made a full circuit, he shook his head in disapproval and advised, "A Xie, I think this residence doesn't suit you. It isn't your style at all. This bedroom is a little better, but it's still no good. Do you know why?"