Bathing and Massage

Qiao Shuyi's bathhouse was truly spacious to an excessive degree.

The first thing one saw was a bathing pool built of white jade, a full two zhang square.

The water came from a hot spring outside the city. Rose petals floated on its surface, and layer upon layer of silk curtains surrounded the pool.

Qiao Shuyi entered the bathhouse without slowing her steps.

As she walked, she kicked off her embroidered shoes.

She raised her hands and undid the sash at her waist.

Her nightdress slipped from her shoulders and pooled at her feet.

Two steps later, her inner robe fell away as well.

At last, she wore nothing but a pale yellow dudou and underpants of the same color.

Zongzheng Heng followed her in just in time to see it.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

The young woman had her back to him. She wore only a thin dudou, leaving her slender waist exposed. Her skin was white as snow, glowing softly through the hazy steam.

The ties of her dudou were loosely knotted behind her neck, as though they might come undone at any moment.

His pupils abruptly contracted.

Then his eyes darkened, deeper and deeper, like an ancient well without a bottom.

The Prince of Jin'an-just how did he raise such a shameless daughter?!

Qiao Shuyi lifted the layers of curtains and walked toward the pool, disappearing from his view.

Then she raised her hands and untied the straps behind her neck.

Through several layers of sheer gauze, he saw a blurred silhouette-

Full in all the right places, with exquisite curves, shoulders as though carved and a waist as slender as a silk sash. Her figure appeared and vanished by turns, impossible to see clearly, yet more heart-stirring than if he could see every detail.

Zongzheng Heng abruptly looked away.

Beyond the curtains, water splashed.

He could dimly imagine her stepping into the pool, the warm water rising over her ankles, her calves, her knees...

Then her aggrieved voice came from within the curtains, soft and sweet, as though someone had bullied her:

"Zhigui-"

"Yesterday was your first day in the residence. It should have been the day you and I... consummated our union."

"I had the clothes newly tailored, blended the incense myself, and even went to the shop to pick out the lovemaking handkerchief under the pillow. Inside and out, which of them wasn't a token of my affection? So why did you refuse?"

Zongzheng Heng stood outside the curtains. "Miss, we have only just met. We were strangers before this, and there is no affection between us to speak of. How could we do such a thing?"

"Hmph."

"There are plenty of people in this world who marry on their parents' orders and a matchmaker's word, without the man and woman ever having met. Does that mean they don't spend their wedding night together?"

"You're just relying on the fact that I like you, that I can't look away once I see your face-that's why you dare defy me."

Zongzheng Heng: ...

What she said seemed to be true.

Using "no affection" as a shield made him seem rather affected.

Zongzheng Heng pressed his lips together and simply stopped speaking, listening instead.

From within the curtains, her voice sounded again, plaintive and low:

"That's why I punished you by making you sleep in the woodshed for a night, Zhigui, and made you heat my bathwater today."

"Zhigui, do you think I had the heart to do it? The woodshed is so cold, the bed so hard. With such a fine face, how uncomfortable you must have been sleeping there all night..."

"But you wouldn't listen. What else could I do?"

The corner of Zongzheng Heng's mouth twitched slightly.

He was the one shut in the woodshed, the one punished by being made to heat water, the one who had suffered from beginning to end. How was it that, coming from her mouth, it sounded as though he deserved it and she was the one who had been wronged?

"Zhigui, I don't want to hurt you. But why-why won't you listen?"

Zongzheng Heng drew a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

"You're right, Miss. I was wrong."

Hearing him admit his fault, Qiao Shuyi seemed a little more satisfied.

Water splashed as she sat up straight in the pool.

"Zhigui, since you've admitted you were wrong, I'm yours for the entire day."

Her voice suddenly softened, cloyingly sweet.

"This bathhouse, this pool, my body-they're all yours. You may do as you please, look if you wish, and if you want to... then... I'll indulge you in everything."

"But if you persist in your folly-"

"If you turn down fine clothes and rich food, refuse to hold a beauty in your arms, and insist on craving the cold of the woodshed and the weariness of hard labor-"

"Then I'll be-very, very sad."

Zongzheng Heng pressed his lips tightly together.

What did she mean, he craved the cold of the woodshed and the weariness of hard labor?!

She was the one punishing him, and she was sad?

In his twenty-three years, Zongzheng Heng had never met such a brazenly shameless woman...

"Miss, you and I are not married. Men and women... should not touch one another."

"Married? Zhigui, I do like your face, but... there are certain things I must put to the test. Nanny said that if that sort of thing isn't pleasurable, the rest of one's life will be very difficult."

Zongzheng Heng: ...

Shameless. Truly shameless!

Unaware that Zongzheng Heng was already cursing her in his heart, Qiao Shuyi continued:

"You've already entered my bedchamber and are mine now. We have no need to marry."

"You need only tumble with me like phoenixes and enjoy the greatest pleasures of this world. If you satisfy me... marriage wouldn't be out of the question."

Zongzheng Heng had been raised from childhood under the strictest rules of royal etiquette. He had never heard anything so explicit and could only say through gritted teeth:

"Miss, please conduct yourself with propriety."

Qiao Shuyi had only said those things to tease this old-fashioned emperor.

She would take it slowly. She was in no hurry.

"Ah, never mind. Since you're unwilling, let's first take our time getting to know each other. Come in. We won't do anything today."

Zongzheng Heng stood where he was, unmoving.

After a long while, he still hadn't moved-

Qiao Shuyi's voice rang out again, no longer lazy and gentle as before, but cool:

"Zhigui, I've already made a concession. Don't make me angry."

Zongzheng Heng clenched and unclenched his fists, then clenched them again.

This was a sign that she was about to grow angry.

Last night, when he disobeyed, this madwoman had said she would punish him and done just that.

A wise man knew when to yield.

At last, Zongzheng Heng took a step forward.

He lifted the layers of curtains-

There before him, Qiao Shuyi leaned against the edge of the pool, her chin resting on her crossed arms as she smiled up at him.

Steam had dampened the hair at her temples, and a few loose strands clung to her cheeks, making her face look all the more lovely.

"That's more like it," she said.

Zongzheng Heng kept his eyes lowered, not looking at her, his gaze full of indifference.

"Zhigui, look at me."

At her words, he could only slowly raise his eyes.

"Am I beautiful?"

Qiao Shuyi asked the question directly, without the slightest coyness.

Zongzheng Heng looked at her.

Her brows were like distant mountains veiled in dark blue, her eyes like rippling autumn waters. Her lips were red without rouge, her cheeks pink without powder.

Amid the swirling steam, she was like a court beauty who had stepped out of a painting, or a spirit from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio who could steal a man's soul.

"Beautiful."

That was the truth.

"Zhigui, you're the most handsome man I've ever seen in my life. No one but you is worthy of me."

"I truly like you so very much."

The corner of Zongzheng Heng's mouth twitched slightly again.

"I'm honored by your undeserved affection."

Qiao Shuyi paid no heed to his coldness. She merely turned around and leaned back against the edge of the pool, exposing the snow-white nape of her neck.

"Zhigui, come massage my shoulders."

Zongzheng Heng went around behind her and sat down at the edge of the pool.

His lightly callused hands settled on her shoulders and began to knead them gently.

Her skin was smooth and soft; once his fingers touched it, they involuntarily wanted to linger a little longer.

The water barely covered her chest, and from behind, her curving figure appeared and vanished beneath the surface.

He was a head taller than she was. He had only to lower his eyes slightly to see what he shouldn't.

So he closed his eyes.

But with his eyes closed, the sensation beneath his hands grew all the clearer.

He could only concentrate harder on the massage. With his eyes closed as though resting his mind, he looked like an ascetic deity.

Qiao Shuyi closed her eyes, enjoying the pressure on her shoulders.

Was it comfortable?

It was.

But the smile at the corners of her lips wasn't just because it felt good.

The reigning emperor, the Son of Heaven enthroned beyond nine gates, exalted sovereign of ten thousand chariots, was sitting behind her at this moment, massaging her shoulders like a little eunuch.

That gulf in their stations, that reversal of power, made her feel more blissfully at ease from head to toe than any massage.

The smile at her lips deepened.

Zhigui, oh Zhigui, tell me-

When you return to your golden throne hall and remember everything that happened today, will you hate me to the bone, or... will you find it a little interesting?