Zhigui, I Like You So Much

In this world, to live in extravagant luxury and indulge every desire, one needed power.

The greater the power, the more comfortable the life.

And under all heaven, the place where power was greatest was the imperial palace.

From the day Qiao Shuyi transmigrated here, she had lived in silks and fine foods, indulging in every luxury.

Live an ordinary life? She couldn't do it.

So-

She would enter the palace.

She would become a favored consort.

She would ascend to the empress's throne.

She would make her own child crown prince.

She would-become empress dowager.

Only then would she have lived this life freely, as she pleased, with nothing left wanting.

Water splashed. Zongzheng Heng had finished bathing.

Hearing it, Qiao Shuyi rose, a jar of wound salve in her hand.

She lifted the curtain and walked in with graceful steps.

The mist had yet to disperse, and the candlelight flickered.

Zongzheng Heng stood beside the bathing pool. He had put on his underpants, but his outer robe hung loosely over his shoulders, its front wide open to reveal a powerful chest.

His chest was full, his abdominal muscles sharply defined, and the lines at his hips curved down beneath the edge of his underpants.

Qiao Shuyi's gaze paused for a moment.

That body really is... nice.

She looked away, walked calmly over to a couch and sat down, then beckoned to him.

"Zhigui, come sit. I'll put medicine on your wounds."

"Yes, miss."

Zongzheng Heng sat down beside her.

He slipped most of his outer robe off, exposing his back, which was covered in wounds.

Qiao Shuyi dipped a fingertip into the pearly white salve and touched it to a wound on his shoulder.

The salve was cool, but her fingertip was warm, and his back stiffened slightly.

"Zhigui, from now on... could you call me by my childhood name, Shushu?"

Zongzheng Heng felt her fingertip spreading the salve gently over his back, once, twice, three times.

He gave a quiet "Mm" in assent.

As she applied the salve down to his waist, his outer robe also slipped down to his waist.

But Qiao Shuyi's fingertips began to tremble slightly.

Zongzheng Heng noticed.

He also noticed the gentleness that followed the trembling.

Then he heard a very, very soft sob behind him.

Zongzheng Heng turned around in surprise.

In the candlelight, Qiao Shuyi's eyes were red as though stained with rouge. Her almond-shaped eyes were misty and brimming with tears, tiny droplets clinging to her lashes, poised to fall.

She was a sight to stir pity in anyone.

"Zhigui... so your injuries were this bad. It hurts me to see you like this."

"I don't like punishing you... please don't disobey me anymore, all right?"

It hurts her to see me like this?

She locked me in a water prison and had me whipped, and now she says it hurts her to see me like this?

But her expression, her tears, her trembling voice-they were so real, so real that he couldn't find the slightest trace of falsehood.

He suddenly recalled the stack of dossiers on the Prince of Jin'an's residence that he had read before entering Jinzhou.

The dossiers said that in her sixteen years of life, Qiao Shuyi had gotten everything she wanted and had never known what it was like to be denied.

They said that she had been as lovely as jade and snow since childhood, that the Prince of Jin'an doted on her and Liu Jinyu cherished her, and that no one in the entire residence dared utter a word of refusal to her.

They said she was spoiled and overbearing, willful and domineering, yet she never thought she had done anything wrong, because from childhood until now, no one had ever told her she could be wrong.

So perhaps she's not pretending?

Does she really think that way?

In her mind, she punished him, beat him and locked him up because he was "disobedient."

And it pained her to see him hurt, so she applied medicine to his wounds and shed tears for him, all because she "liked him."

The corner of Zongzheng Heng's mouth twitched slightly.

No, this madwoman is pretending.

But at that moment, she was looking at him through tearful eyes, her distress at seeing him hurt so sincere that even he, the victim, couldn't help wondering-

Had he really done something wrong to make her so sad?

Forget it. Does it matter whether it's real or not?

At last, Zongzheng Heng spoke in a low voice:

"I'll be obedient."

"Zhigui, you're so good to me. You even care about my feelings now."

Zongzheng Heng: ...

As the words fell,

Qiao Shuyi suddenly bent down and placed a gentle kiss just above the longest wound on Zongzheng Heng's back.

Warm and moist, it was gone as soon as it touched him.

But the instant she kissed him,

Zongzheng Heng felt a tingling sensation burst from the spot she had kissed, shooting up his spine to the back of his head, across his scalp, and through every inch of his skin.

Qiao Shuyi, meanwhile, dipped her fingers into the salve again and continued treating his wounds, as though she knew nothing at all.

When she had finished applying the salve,

Qiao Shuyi stood up.

"You must be hungry. Come, I'll take you to eat."

Zongzheng Heng rose in silence, pulled his outer robe closed, and followed her out of the bathing room.

They passed through two ornamental gates and came to a small sitting hall.

A round table of red sandalwood stood in the hall, laden with a dazzling array of dishes, steaming hot and fragrant.

Red-braised pork hock, sweet-and-sour carp, eight-treasure duck, velvet chicken slices, jade shrimp-

There were more than a dozen dishes in all, each with perfect color, aroma and flavor, and each presented with exquisite care.

Qiao Shuyi pulled him down to sit at the table, then sat close beside him and looked at the spread with a smile:

"I had the kitchen make all of these especially. Try them and see if you like them."

Zongzheng Heng lowered his eyes to the table of delicacies without speaking.

Qiao Shuyi picked up a piece of sweet-and-sour pork with her chopsticks and placed it on the small plate in front of him.

"Zhigui, try this. It's been my favorite dish since I was little. Uncle Wang in the kitchen makes it best-crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, and deliciously sweet and sour. I can eat half a plate in one sitting."

As she spoke, she picked up another piece and popped it into her own mouth.

"Mmm-delicious."

Zongzheng Heng looked down at the piece of pork on his plate.

Sweet-and-sour pork.

He had disliked sweet food since childhood.

The imperial chefs in the palace all knew that when His Majesty dined, no sweets were ever brought near him.

Qiao Shuyi waited a moment, then, seeing that he didn't move, tilted her head to look at him:

"Why aren't you eating?"

"Miss..."

"Hm? What did you call me?"

"Shushu... I don't really like sweet food."

Qiao Shuyi's brows drew together slightly.

"You don't like sweet food?"

"But... this is my favorite. Zhigui, do you know, ever since I was little, I've never shared anything of mine with anyone."

"Whatever I like has always been mine. I've never had to share it with anyone. But today, I'm willing to share my favorite with you-and you don't appreciate it."

"Zhigui, when you act like this, it makes me so sad."

At the word "sad," Zongzheng Heng's heart leaped into his throat.

Forget it.

He had figured out Qiao Shuyi's logic.

Whether he liked it or not didn't matter.

What mattered was that she had given it to him.

If she gave it to him, he ought to like it.

If he didn't, then he didn't know what was good for him, he had spurned her good intentions, he had-

Made her sad.

Zongzheng Heng remembered the rules he had recited in the water prison.

He had thought those rules were nonsense she had made up on a whim, but now he suddenly understood that they were her logic.

She hadn't made them up as nonsense.

She really did think that way.

Zongzheng Heng lowered his eyes, picked up the piece of pork and put it in his mouth.

Sweet.

Cl ingingly sweet.

So sweet he almost frowned.

But he simply chewed slowly, and chewed, then swallowed it.

The hurt expression on Qiao Shuyi's face faded bit by bit, replaced by unalloyed delight.

"Is it good?" She leaned close to him, her eyes sparkling.

"It's good."

"I knew you'd like it. Here, have another piece."

Zongzheng Heng picked up another piece and put it in his mouth.

Qiao Shuyi propped her chin in her hand and watched him eat with a smile.

"Zhigui, you're so good. I think I like you even more now."

Zongzheng Heng: ...

"Zhigui, it just occurred to me that snatching you back might be the best thing I've ever done in my life."

Zongzheng Heng: ...