Chapter 030
Chapter 30: Two Couples Talk at Night
Heir Apparent Manor · Main House
Lin De Fang pressed himself to the carved door panel, his voice sticky as syrup as he pleaded: “Madam, open the door~”
He knocked again, sounding even more pitiful: “I know I was wrong, truly, I know I was wrong!”
From inside came Madam Wang’s cold snort, sharp enough to cut through the wood: “You know you were wrong? I think you were bold and shameless! You dare claim that filthy thing was for Qing Xuan?”
Lin De Fang threw up three fingers toward the crack of the door and swore in a rush: “Heaven and earth as my witness! It really is to help that boy open his mind. Second Brother gave me the only copy, and I spent five hundred taels of my private savings on it!”
Footsteps moved toward the door. Lin De Fang brightened and stepped back half a pace. The latch clicked and the door opened a sliver.
First Madam Wang showed only half her face, cool and judging as she asked: “Five hundred taels? For that worthless thing?”
Seizing the moment, Lin De Fang slid sideways through the gap and, quick as a fox, flipped the latch shut behind him with a snap: “Madam, please be fair!”
He lifted the book like treasure and spoke fast: “This is no common picture book. It was a secret of the former court! Look at the silk, look at the colors.”
Like a magician, he drew the culprit from his wide sleeve: Spring Palace Secret Illustrations. He riffled the pages, then stopped exactly at the section called Twenty-Four Springs and presented it with both hands: “See this layout? So tasteful, so artistic.”
Madam Wang gave the barest glance at the entwined figures. Heat rushed to her ears in a flash of red. Embarrassed and angry, she pointed at him and began to scold: “Lin De Fang, you—mmph…”
The rest of the scolding stuck at her lips.
The Heir Apparent understood the hard truth of practice. With one arm he wrapped her waist, with the other he lifted the “textbook,” and following the thirty-sixth style, Red Candles Reflect the Bride, he pressed First Madam onto the meaningful Hundred Sons Thousand Grandsons Canopy Bed.
Under the warm lotus canopy, a spring night is always too short.
The Heir Apparent decided to put that five-hundred-tael “textbook” to a full and honest test.
General’s Manor · East Wing
Lin De Shang dropped to his knees on the footstool by the bed, his big palm-leaf hands clutching at his wife’s hem as he complained with a long face: “Wife~ I truly didn’t mean to hide it from you. I was afraid the Four Pillars of Destiny weren’t set yet, and saying anything would only raise your hopes for nothing.”
Second Madam leaned on the headboard and tapped his broad forehead with a well-kept fingertip as she retorted: “Our daughter saw the man’s bath towel with her own eyes, and you still say nothing is set?”
“That… that only made me more afraid to speak!” General Lin rubbed his hands until his brow beaded with sweat: “He’s the Buddha’s Chosen of Auspicious Cloud Residence. If this spreads and ruins his Secluded Cultivation, what then?”
“Ha.” Second Madam’s eyes lit with mischief, a little wicked idea bubbling up: “How about I take this to shame Madam tomorrow? She loves to act high and mighty as the Heir Consort. Let’s see if she can keep that act this time.”
“That must not be done, absolutely not!” Lin De Shang blanched and shook his head like a rattle. Inspiration struck, and he blurted out what seemed to him a perfect plan: “What if we pick two quick-witted, graceful maids and send them to Qing Xuan? The boy chants sutras all day. He hasn’t met many proper young ladies. I worry his eye isn’t trained and he won’t know how to choose in the future.”
A flowered pillow smacked him square in the face. Second Madam snapped as she threw it: “Lin De Shang! You think you’re setting up a mistress for yourself? If Old Madam hears of this, she’ll skin you alive!”
She scolded, but then she couldn’t help a snort of laughter: “Still… when I imagine that cold little Buddha’s Chosen dragged down from his altar and stained with the smoke of the mortal world, it is… kind of exciting.”
Seeing his wife crack a smile, General Lin grew bold and purred as he leaned in: “Then Madam should also pick some blossoms tonight and take pity on your husband. I promise I’m more exciting than that boy.”
He pounced like a tiger, scooping her up with the quilt and all. The twisting lotus patterns on the bed curtains swayed hard, ripples spreading and spreading.
As it turns out, when it comes to coaxing their wives, the men of the Lin Clan are honest doers who use real steel.
Auspicious Cloud Residence · East Wing
Xiao Man plunged her whole face into the cold brass basin. “Gulugulu…” A trail of bubbles rose.
She threw back her head. The mirror showed a face wet and flushed, wisps of hair stuck to her cheeks, droplets sliding from her chin.
She shoved the window open. Night wind sweet with osmanthus poured in, yet it could not cool the heat burning on her skin.
[This is killing me.]
[How is the feel of those chest muscles still burning on my fingertips!]
[Form is emptiness, emptiness is form… Amitabha!]
Moonlight poured over her like mercury, yet it could not put out the nameless little fire in her chest. She stared outside. A few osmanthus petals lay on the blue-stone path, scattered like bits of gold.
Auspicious Cloud Residence · Main House
Lin Qing Xuan stood quietly before the window. The Prayer Beads he had turned for so long came to rest on one bodhi bead.
Moonlight flowed over his plain white undershirt and pooled at his collarbones like clear water. Ten steps away, the silhouette of the East Wing flickered behind swaying branches. He gazed at the one window where a lamp still burned. His Adam’s apple gave the smallest roll.
Behind the screen, the water in the big tub had long gone cold. Yet he remembered clearly the feel of those hands wiping his back. The fingers had trembled and felt icy, yet tried hard to act calm.
The Buddha’s Chosen lowered his lashes and rolled the next bead between long fingers, thinking: [Wait a little longer.]
[If I touch her now, she’ll run.]