Chapter 39 (Revised) Thinking This Was Just a Passing…
“Ah, my lord, these old ears of mine are practically fossilized. If you’re so stingy with your voice, I truly can’t hear you!”
Zhao Rongzhang was furious, planting her hands on her hips as she shouted, “I didn’t secretly sleep with him!”
The young lady was in robust health, her voice full of vigor, loud enough to lift the roof tiles when she roared. The Old Doctor calmly adjusted his reading glasses, which had been shaken askew, and nodded. “Mm, I believe you, my lord. You certainly aren’t the type to take advantage of someone’s vulnerability and commit improper acts.”
Zhao Rongzhang suddenly choked on her words.
This crafty old Ginseng Spirit!
The Old Doctor adopted a slightly more serious tone. “My lord, you are young. Becoming pregnant too early is not good. This old one took the liberty of adding two contraceptive herbs to that gentleman’s medicine. Were you satisfied with the… enjoyment?”
Zhao Rongzhang realized she had been played by this old thing. None of her thoughts had escaped him. She detested this feeling, hated having her mind read, hated being toyed with like this!
Zhao Rongzhang couldn’t let him off easily. A scheme sprang to the young girl’s mind, lighting up her brow.
She composed her expression. “Satisfied. But I suspect there’s a problem with your medicine. For the next five days, you’re not going anywhere. You’ll stay right here. If anything happens, I’ll hold you responsible.”
The Old Doctor didn’t understand. “What good will keeping this old one here do? Wouldn’t it be better to summon other physicians for a follow-up examination…”
Zhao Rongzhang turned and walked away, waving for the maid outside the door to come in and detain the old man.
No one could break his rules? Well, she was determined to break them! What nonsense about taking a mandatory break every five days—she would make him attend to her here for five days straight!
Zhao Rongzhang gulped down two cups of tea in quick succession. She was so angry her heat toxin was about to flare up.
Although Shuang An didn’t understand how this Old Doctor Wu had offended the noble lady, she wasn’t concerned about that. She only cared about the lady’s health and state of mind.
By the afternoon, she had arranged for two other physicians to come examine the noble lady. One said it was too early to tell anything, the other stated with certainty that the noble lady was definitely not pregnant, and if she was truly uneasy, she could drink the Anti-Conception Decoction.
The Princess was enraged, smashing a teacup. To damage her own body for the sake of pleasure? That was too damaging to her dignity.
Shuang An understood completely. Among the original twelve flower servants, each was afflicted with heat toxin to varying degrees, and none showed signs of longevity. It was an indescribable suffering. Precisely because true suffering is hard to put into words, the Princess was remarkably forthright about everything else she could articulate.
Shuang An resolved to share her mistress’s burdens.
That evening, Zhao Rongzhang, as usual, had Little Mute take his medicine.
But Little Mute didn’t move. Zhao Rongzhang fixed him with a stern look as he said, “I won’t take the treatment anymore. It troubles the Princess too much.”
Zhao Rongzhang was in a foul mood, feeling that the one bearing the risk should absolutely not be her. He was the one who slept through it all, completely unaware, and could wake up looking utterly innocent. Although he genuinely was innocent… she didn’t care. He was just a plaything. His duty was to amuse her, to make her happy. Making her bear risks was his absolute dereliction of duty!
She had to torment him severely to vent her anger, but she couldn’t do so without reason—otherwise, she’d seem like an emotionally unstable tyrant. Besides, if he cried too pitifully, seeing it would upset her too. She had said it before: she wasn’t a pervert.
Zhao Rongzhang spoke in a calm tone, temporarily placating him. “It’s fine. I said I would have you treated, so just rest assured and continue the treatment.”
Guan Xuan was no fool. He could hear the hidden anger in the Princess’s tone, knew she despised him, had always despised him, and today even more so. She would punish him, torment him; her calm gaze at this moment was merely a waiting game.
Under her watchful eyes, Guan Xuan finished the medicine and lay down on her bed. He lowered his gaze, waiting to lose consciousness. Perhaps if the Princess had her fill of toying with him, she might find some satisfaction.
His eyelids soon grew heavy, but his body had developed a tolerance to the drug, so this time, the drowsiness didn’t come as quickly. Guan Xuan heard the Princess’s impatient sigh. Silently, he closed his eyes and pressed a finger firmly against an acupoint on his thigh. A wave of dizziness surged instantly through his Meridians, and Guan Xuan finally lost consciousness.
Seeing the boy’s eyelashes cease their trembling completely, Zhao Rongzhang set aside her propped-up hand and, without even drawing the bed curtains, leaned over him.
This dull, foolish plaything—she was determined to toy with him to death today.
…
A gentle, feverish dream brought the most intense, most unimaginable pleasure to his slumbering consciousness. Guan Xuan couldn’t catch his breath, no matter how hard he tried to expand his chest. He opened his mouth and heard his own wanton gasps. It felt like a high fever, but instead of discomfort, his body felt pleasure—boundless pleasure.
It was likely this shameless body of his had mistaken the Princess’s torment and punishment for a reward.
Craving such pleasure was utterly disgraceful, but Guan Xuan didn’t want to wake. Reality was painful; staying unconscious meant he wouldn’t have to face it, wouldn’t have to care about the shame.
He intended to remain in this haze, but as the dream thinned to a certain point, a more violent sensation abruptly shattered it.
Guan Xuan felt himself struggling to breathe, struggling to cry. As large teardrops spilled from his eyes, his swollen, aching eyelids fluttered open in confusion.
His pupils were submerged in a pool of warm tears, blurring his vision. Guan Xuan saw a face flushed with patches of pink and a pair of eyes clouded with delirium and obsession. It was the Princess’s face, the Princess’s eyes.
He froze, thinking this was an overly vivid erotic dream. But then, a soft, warm mouth gently pressed against the side of his neck, delivering a clear, tender kiss.
Guan Xuan couldn’t bear it. His gaze desperately sought confirmation, uncontrollably following her eyes. Yet, not only could he not see her eyes, but the thin skin of his neck was being treated in such a way. He gasped sharply, the sound halfway turning into a sob.
And it wasn’t just his neck being treated like that. Guan Xuan truly couldn’t distinguish reality from dream anymore. The Princess was handling his body with such tenderness. Over the past two days, he had indeed noticed ambiguous marks on his body, but he hadn’t considered this possibility… He was more inclined to believe it was his own inherently wanton nature, begging the Princess to play with him in his sleep, that had left him red and pink in patches.
After all, while awake, he had done such things before. Kneeling before her, touching himself, trying to please her. Usually, he resisted being so shamelessly base, suppressing and restraining himself. But the real him, the one in control while asleep, couldn’t even maintain the last shred of his dignity.
But now, the hands and lips teasing his neck, collarbone, and chest were not his own. Guan Xuan wept and gasped, unbearably wanting to push the person on top of him away, yet too pleasured to do so—completely unwilling. She played with practiced ease, skillfully sucking and biting his Adam’s apple. His vision swayed, his scalp and spine rubbing against the bed. Guan Xuan finally waited for her to lift her face and turn her gaze toward his. Yet by then, his eyes had completely lost focus, dizzy to the point where even his eyelids seemed beyond control—unable to open fully or close tightly. Guan Xuan couldn’t see clearly… beyond the scalding tears, nothing was clear. Tears this hot likely meant he was already done, thoroughly cooked.
The Princess was holding him, embracing him. Guan Xuan yearned so deeply, unsure whether it was his heart or his body that craved it. Perhaps both. He loved being held by the Princess—the last time she had embraced him with such wholehearted devotion was so long ago. Guan Xuan clung to the Princess like a puppy, dependent and trusting. She held him so tightly, unhurried yet deep and all-encompassing. Guan Xuan hated that he couldn’t make a sound; if he could, it would have been a way to release the tension.