Rites of Zhou Gong

"Your Majesty often finds interesting trinkets for me. Even if I wanted to be bored, I couldn't. Wangyue has such great talent, it would be a waste to keep him confined in my palace. If you want to listen, just summon him to the palace."

"No matter how well you sing, you're ultimately just an actor who lives on tips. But if you enter the palace to sing, you'll have fame, wealth, and a lifetime of glory. If your beloved concubine is Wangyue, what will you choose?"

Xiao Yan'an's words left her speechless. Wangyue was eventually trapped in the palace, took off her costume, and became her lover.

Whenever Wangyue faced her, he would always tremble with fear, but he would also be obedient and respectful to her without any fawning attempt.

After dinner, it was time for another performance. Yuanli took Wangyue to the small pond to admire the moon. After a series of a cappella operas, Yuanli asked him to sit with her, poured her a Hundred Flowers Wine, and then handed him a glass of water.

After ordering her to put on more clothes, Yuanli, figuring it was still early, chatted with Wangyue to kill time. Late at night, Yuanli pretended to be drunk and called Axun to carry her back home.

As soon as she entered the hall, she saw Qi Heng kneeling in front of the couch, wearing only his underwear, which surprised her. She had trampled on his dignity as a man, but he still stayed.

But he must leave the palace.

Yuanli leaned as close to Cha Suxun's ear as possible, lowering her voice to the minimum so only the two of them could hear clearly, "Force him to leave. Do whatever you want, let him see anything. Force him to leave."

Cha Suxun tilted his head to meet her gaze. Seeing her eyes full of help, he spoke through telepathy, "As long as I can force him to leave, I can do anything. I can even let him see anything."

"Um."

After getting Yuanli's consent, Cha Suxun looked at the back of the person he hated to the extreme, held her in his arms and walked past her step by step, gently placed her on the couch before lowering the curtain.

Qi Heng watched the scene with a silent, furious expression, his hands clenched into fists as they hung by his legs. Through the hazy curtains, Qi Heng watched them engage in the rituals of lovemaking, the sounds of their passions reaching his ears.

A Xun even deliberately made some noise and said some words to force and induce her to say what A Xun wanted to hear.

She wanted to get up and leave several times, but after changing her mind, Qi Heng suppressed all the thoughts in his mind, closed his eyes and continued to kneel and wait for her.

It was not until an unknown amount of time had passed that the curtain was lifted, and A Xun got down from the couch with his upper body naked, picking up his clothes that had fallen off the couch at some point.

When A Xun passed by him, his eyes were full of contempt and hostility.

The door was closed. After groping for a while, the person on the bed lifted a small corner of the curtain with a slender white arm and stretched it out, waving at him, motioning him to come over.

"Aren't you here to serve me in bed? Why are you kneeling so far away?"

Qi Heng was about to stand up, but he had been kneeling for too long and his legs had been numb for too long. It was difficult for him to stand up for a while, so he had to stand up slowly.

Unexpectedly, the person on the bed withdrew his hand and said, "Ajin, since you don't plan to sleep with me, please leave. I will just pretend that I haven't seen you tonight. Oh, by the way, tell my new lover, Wangyue, to sleep with me."

Her words instantly ignited Qi Heng's jealousy and anger to the peak. He endured the discomfort and crawled up from the ground. Qi Heng slapped his legs hard, and the unbearable numbness passed, and his movements were relieved.

He lifted the bed curtains and saw a bright white spot on the footstool that caught his eye. He picked up her bellyband and just as he was about to put it back beside her pillow, she grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the couch.

"Have you thought it over, Madam? Do you really want me to sleep with you tonight?"

Yuanli glanced at his waist in a drunken state, then raised her eyes to look at his face, smiled lightly and said with a hint of sarcasm: "Hmm. What? Can't get up tonight?"

"If I can't get up, he can?"

"What?" Yuanli asked in confusion.

Qi Heng didn't speak to her again. He took her hand and lay down in her bed, sniffing her all over. The person under him was obviously getting more and more panicked, even her words were stuttering. Only after confirming that she was there did he loosen his grip.

He wrapped his arms around her slender waist, his cheek pressed against her chest. As if he had made a great decision, he pleaded, "Ah Li, please don't torture me like this. I beg you. I did something wrong to make you abandon me. You clearly acknowledged me, so why... why did you... I know you're in such a high position now, and it's normal for you to have several lovers. But I can't be as magnanimous as you say. As long as I still love you, I can't accept sharing you with another man. I was so heartbroken when I just saw you and him... making love."

It wasn't until she heard the words "turn the world upside down" that Yuanli realized why this man had lost control tonight. But Cha Suxun was right. This was indeed the most unacceptable way for Qi Heng to leave. It's just that none of them thought Qi Heng could tolerate it.

"Qi Heng, I really don't understand you."

"Why do you say that?"

"We got engaged simply because your mother was urging you to get married, and it just so happened that I committed insubordination, so you took the opportunity to enter into a contract with me. Since the contract was signed, you've become a completely different person, caring for me in every way and expressing your love for me in front of others without hesitation. Even I myself have had countless times when I felt that those expressions of love were genuine. After Chi Li died in the fire, you could have easily found another contract wife, but you were heartbroken and grief-stricken. Then, you suddenly agreed to enter the palace and become the concubine of the imperial concubine. When you saw my face, you confessed your love to me. But if you truly loved me to death, how could you be willing to enter the palace and become another woman's concubine?"

"Do you remember my exact words?"

"Do I have to remember every word you said?"

"Ah Li, that's not what I meant. That day I said I wasn't young anymore, but I still refused to get married. My family was very anxious and came to urge me many times, but I didn't want to marry someone I didn't want to marry. The last sentence is the most important. I don't want to marry someone I don't want to marry, but I am willing to marry you. I want to marry you. At that time, I expressed my love for you. You also responded to me, and I thought you understood. When I woke up, everyone told me that my first wife died in the fire. At that time, I had lost the will to live. I didn't want to be a concubine's lover, but I have the entire Qi and Chu families behind me. If I disobeyed the order, they would all die. But if I die in the palace, I can save my entire family and I can be worthy of you. Ah Li, I love you, from beginning to end, and I only love you."

Faced with Qi Heng's confession of love, Yuanli was willing to believe his reason for entering the palace, but she still had doubts about his love. After all, his current admiration must be influenced by the love poison.

In the final analysis, she was just not confident about this admiration.

Seeing that his love hadn't been reciprocated, Qi Heng felt a little panicked for no reason. He asked, "What about you? Ah Li, did you agree to marry me because of love or because of the original contract?"

Qi Heng stared into her eyes, met her gaze, and captured every subtle movement in her reaction.

Yuanli replied with certainty, "Of course I adore you, just as Your Majesty adore me."

"Your Majesty, you are looking through you at the late Emperor and Empress, but who do you want to see through me, A-Li? Is it the original owner of this dress?"

Qi Heng looked lonely, but he did not seem surprised by the unexpected situation, as if he had expected it.

"Yes," Yuanli asked impatiently, "Even if you truly love me to death, we've only known each other for a year, yet you've repeatedly lowered your boundaries for me. You knew I was a substitute, and even watched me having fun with them, and you were able to endure it to the end. I really don't understand why you could go this far."

"But if I don't endure it, I might not be able to stay by your side any longer. For me, every moment of this time is extremely hard-earned. You and I will never be married, and nothing that happened in the past can be a reason for me to bind you. Whoever you want to love, even whoever you want to be intimate with... is your freedom. All I can do is do my best to stay by your side."

"Okay, okay, whatever you want." Yuanli warned, "Anything is fine, but don't dream of replacing him. Just be your concubine, be generous, sensible, and considerate. Protect the clothes you wear, and you will naturally be able to stay."

"Is he that good? You clearly think we're similar, but no matter what I do to please you, I can't replace his place in your heart?"

Yuanli was too lazy to waste any more words with him, so she closed her eyes and took a nap while saying, "Yes. Without you, there will be another one like him, and the next one like him, just like the countless concubines in your majesty's palace, there will always be more similar people. What makes you think you will stand out and be an exception? So think carefully about whether to stay or not."

She lay there for a long time, still waiting for Qi Heng's response, but he showed no intention of leaving her side. It wasn't until Yuanli was a little scared that she opened her eyes and asked sarcastically again, "Can't get up?"

Under Qi Heng's doubtful gaze, Yuan Li continued, "Just based on this point, you can't compare to him. He has a big penis and is good at sex, but you can't even get up. Useless thing, you might as well get out as soon as possible."

Her words infuriated Qi Heng to the point of being a bit dizzy. This was the umpteenth time tonight that she had driven him so mad that he could barely control his emotions. He had been so irritated that he had lost all desire, but her words instantly stirred his desire to win, and his mind immediately began to recall the scene of their first night.

Perhaps the memory was too vivid, and it was quite effective. Qi Heng took her hand and led her to inspect the results he had presented.

"Your Majesty, please feel me carefully and see if I am any worse than them."

"Not much, just a little smaller than him."