"Ahhhhhhh!"
When Pei Zhishuo's piercing scream rang out, Jiang Xinyue, Shuang Jiang, and Xiao Xiangzi had already sneaked back to the main gate.
The two drowsy servants at the gate were startled awake by the horrifying scream and quickly ran toward the young master's quarters.
Shuang Jiang seized the opportunity to open the main gate: "My Lady, run!"
"Who's there?"
They'd been discovered!
The three people dressed as eunuchs immediately took off running.
"Split up!"
The pursuing servants watched as the three eunuchs ran in different directions, momentarily unsure of whom to chase.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the "little eunuchs" had vanished.
The lead servant quickly ordered: "You lot go that way, you others go there, we'll chase the one in the middle, hurry!"
Jiang Xinyue knew the Emperor had followed her out - how could her movements escape the notice of someone with such far-reaching influence?
Today's task could have been completed flawlessly by Xiao Xiangzi alone.
But Jiang Xinyue had insisted on coming along and deliberately caused a commotion, all for... the Emperor.
"Your Majesty!"
The Xuanwu Emperor watched Jiang Xinyue flee in panic and bit his teeth in exasperation: "Take some men and lead them away."
At her current pace, she would soon be caught.
However, she had been clever enough to run to the Glass Flower House where the Emperor had taken her for intimacy during the evening banquet.
This place was quite secluded; apart from the gardeners, hardly anyone came here, so few people even knew of its existence.
Lanterns lit the long corridor outside the flower house, their dim light filtering through the transparent glass to illuminate Jiang Xinyue's vision.
Though it was just enough to make out vague shapes.
There was a slight noise at the entrance - the Emperor deliberately made some sound, intending to frighten his bold Imperial Noble Consort.
Jiang Xinyue rolled her eyes; the Emperor really had a wicked sense of humor. Did he expect to frighten her half to death, then reveal himself, so she would cry and throw herself into his arms, dependent on him and relying on him?
Today she was multitasking - marking the location where things were buried while gradually inching toward it in the dim light.
To the Emperor's eyes, Jiang Xinyue looked like a frightened little white rabbit, slowly trying to escape from a hunter's pursuit.
Suddenly... he couldn't bear to frighten her anymore.
Sighing helplessly, the Xuanwu Emperor took a fire starter from the flower house wall and lit an oil lamp hanging on the flower rack. He saw Jiang Xinyue crouching on the ground, covering her ears with her eyes tightly shut.
"Pfft!"
He couldn't help but laugh out loud - wasn't this just like the ostrich hiding its head in the sand?
Did she think that by covering her ears and closing her eyes, others wouldn't see her?
Every movement and expression of Jiang Xinyue had been carefully designed to make the Xuanwu Emperor find her irresistibly adorable when he saw her.
Hearing the Emperor's hearty laugh, she knew she had succeeded.
How could he not be completely smitten by her now?
She first opened one eye incredulously, and upon recognizing who it was, both her star-bright eyes blazed with intense light: "Your Majesty!"
As she stood up, the Emperor had already prepared himself for the beauty's flying embrace, moving one foot slightly backward and firmly planting it on the ground.
He couldn't appear physically weak by stumbling back several steps if she crashed into him.
But Jiang Xinyue only took two steps forward before looking down at her eunuch's clothes, then stopping, wringing her hands in front of her and lowering her head in an apparently guilty manner.
Ha! Did he expect her to throw herself into his arms?
If everything was predictable, there would be no surprises. Jiang Xinyue wouldn't give the Emperor what he expected.
The effect would be greater than the sum of its parts if she first let him feel disappointed, then surprised him.
"How is it that the Imperial Noble Consort, who dares to sneak into a man's quarters at night, becomes like a mouse seeing a cat when facing me? Am I really that frightening?"
Since she wouldn't come to him, the Xuanwu Emperor had to walk over himself.
He swept off her eunuch's hat with one motion, and Jiang Xinyue's black hair cascaded down. The dark blue clothes wrapped her curvaceous body completely, yet somehow created an intensely ascetic effect.
It made one want to tear apart her clothes and see what enticing form lay beneath.
Jiang Xinyue blinked her misty eyes, looking at the Emperor pitifully, and said in a placating tone: "No, it's not that Your Majesty is frightening, it's... it's that your subject has done wrong and fears punishment."
Now close enough to smell the fresh, elegant fruit fragrance on her body, the Emperor's Adam's apple bobbed: "Then tell me, how should I punish you?"
Jiang Xinyue tentatively reached out her hand: "Your Majesty... please be gentle? Your subject fears pain."
Fears pain?
That wasn't apparent before.
During their usual passionate encounters, she had never seemed so delicate.
"Smack!"
"Ah... ow..."
The treacherous Emperor attacked without warning, landing a slap on Jiang Xinyue's bottom, startling a cry from her.
But before that cry could fully emerge, it was silenced by the Emperor's rushing forward to seal her lips with his.
This kiss was far more careful than their first wild, predatory encounter in the flower house.
The Emperor held her face in both hands, slowly kissing her lips, treating her like some fragile, priceless treasure, bit by bit... gradually... gently nibbling at her lips, passionate yet tender, lingering and gentle.
His hands moved down from Jiang Xinyue's face to her neck, causing her to shiver. The top button was undone, letting in the night's coolness, but soon a gentle hand caressed the exposed skin...
Jiang Xinyue's legs went weak from the Emperor's masterful kissing technique, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck.
Suddenly, her body was lifted up, and her hands were pinned above her head by just one of his large hands.
She was pressed against the wall in an extremely embarrassing position.
"Your Majesty..."
"Didn't you ask me to punish you? I wonder if this punishment satisfies you?"
She was satisfied, very satisfied indeed, but she hadn't gone to such lengths tonight just to exercise with the Emperor!
It was her fault for being too beautiful - the Emperor lost his composure whenever he saw her.
After kissing for quite a while, the Emperor finally released her, panting against her neck for several breaths: "I'll let you off tonight. The Imperial Physician said excessive indulgence harms the body, and your delicate frame needs proper care."
They had already indulged here tonight, and he worried Jiang Xinyue's body couldn't handle more.
As if the plowing ox hadn't tired, yet the Emperor worried about the plowed field being damaged?
Who was really being harmed was still unclear!
Jiang Xinyue stepped back from the Xuanwu Emperor's waist, her pink lips now swollen and alluring from the kissing.
She turned to leave with a red face but stumbled with an "ouch," falling to the ground before the Emperor could catch her hand.
"Ouch—"
Her hand pressed against a porcelain bottle, and Jiang Xinyue curiously picked it up, holding it up to the oil lamp: "What's this?"
The Xuanwu Emperor's eyes suddenly turned sharp when he saw the small bottle.
