Chapter 34 Did you also stroke Pei Shilin like this...?
Twenty thousand taels of gold notes.
In the dim light of the bed curtains, Xie Yushu looked at Song Jie, probably unaware of how easily Song Jie's face could be manipulated at this moment.
His ears and the corners of his eyes were red, and his gaze was fixed on her face as if he were drunk.
She knew very well that even if she asked for 100,000 taels of gold right now, he would agree.
But she didn't say anything. She just looked at him, and before he could say anything more, she turned slightly to face him and reached out to touch his face.
He trembled slightly as he looked at her beneath her palm.
Her hand moved from his cheek to his chin, trembling slightly, then from his chin to his ear, gently massaging his earlobe. She sighed and said, "I didn't come for your money..."
Song Jie suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his forehead and face in her chest, trembling as if he wanted to drown in her arms, and calling her name in a hoarse, pleading voice: "Xie Yushu... Xie Yushu... don't say such things to me..."
His earlobes became burning hot, and other parts of his body also became burning hot.
Xie Yushu heard the system's voice amidst the suffocating embrace: "Congratulations, host, you have gained 3 points of 'charming' value, all from Song Jie."
She came for his "heartthrob" status.
Xie Yushu smiled with satisfaction, her fingers tracing from his earlobe to the back of his neck, stroking it gently like petting a kitten or puppy, and asked innocently, "What's wrong? Aren't you happy that I didn't come to see you for the money?"
Are you happy?
Of course he was happy, but this happiness filled him with dread and disgust. He didn't want to admit that he was happy. He preferred that she had come to him for money, that he had paid her to be close to him, to embrace him, and to touch him.
Because he has no shortage of money, as long as she is after money, he can keep getting it from her.
But if she no longer wants to make money from him, what does he have left to keep her here? And what is their relationship now?
Song Jie found it hard to admit that what he wanted was no longer "Jia Ning's substitute," but Xie Yushu, Xie Yushu's hands, Xie Yushu's scent, Xie Yushu's embrace...
How could he admit that he had feelings for a married woman?
He also couldn't admit that he had foolishly harbored inappropriate thoughts about "Jianing's stand-in".
This would make him hate himself terribly, because he neither loved Jia Ning as much as he thought, and he was constantly hurting her by using Xie Yushu as a substitute...
Every night he used to treat Xie Yushu as a substitute, every sarcastic remark he made to Xie Yushu turned into a sharp blade of guilt that pierced his own heart.
How could he possibly fall for her?
This is just a transaction, a mutually beneficial arrangement, so that he can be a complete villain, a villain who pays money to have her by his side.
So he said, "I can only give you money..."
He wanted to say something even harsher, to make Xie Yushu see their relationship solely as an employer-employee one, but her warm fingers ran through the hair at the back of his neck, gently stroking his spine. He trembled, his mind went blank, his breathing became erratic, and he couldn't utter a word. He only wanted to bury himself in her arms, closer and tighter against her skin, to capture more of her warmth and fragrance...
All that remained in his mind was her soft voice.
She said, "Song Jie, you're so thin." Her fingers traced down the back of his neck.
The icy chill within him seemed to melt away, an indescribable tingling sensation spreading through his bones and skin. He uncontrollably pressed his lips to the fabric of her dress, kissing her heart through the thin fabric…
She chuckled softly, then covered his lips with her warm hand and said, "You're breathing too heavily, it tickles."
Song Jie looked at her as if he were burning up in her palm. Her face was flushed red, and she looked down at him with no impure thoughts, as if she didn't understand what it meant for him to be so close to her, holding her, and kissing her so lightly.
Doesn't she understand how infatuated he is right now? But she's clearly married to Pei Shilin...
He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he couldn't help asking her in her palm, "Has Pei Shilin ever held you like this before?"
Her smile faded, as if she didn't want to answer, and she turned her eyes away from him, saying, "Why do you ask that?"
Song Jie became unwilling to give up and wanted to know if it had happened, so he gently turned her face back to look at her and asked again, "Did you also touch Pei Shilin like this? Then... what about kissing?"
His warm breath touched her palm, making Xie Yushu feel hot all over. She awkwardly withdrew her hand, trying to avoid his gaze: "Don't ask these questions..."
He, however, demanded that she look at him and answer, "Is there Xie Yushu? Five thousand taels of silver, answer me."
She struggled to break free from his grasp, and looked at him impatiently as if she were angry, replying, "Yes, of course I have. You don't think that Pei Shilin and I are husband and wife and he has never touched me, do you?"
Song Jie received a reasonable answer, but he felt uncomfortable, as if something was stuck in his throat. He said coldly, "You actually find such a good-for-nothing as him acceptable."
She retorted, "He's just a coward, not ugly. He was personally selected by the Emperor as the third-ranked scholar, and his looks are among the best in the capital..."
Before she could finish speaking, Song Jie hugged her even tighter, holding her hands tightly in his arms to prevent her from struggling. He almost blurted out, "As long as you're not ugly, it's fine? What about me?"
After asking that question, both of them were stunned for a moment.
His face was almost touching hers; asking such a question at that distance was far too inappropriate.
Xie Yushu could feel his body burning hot, his breathing erratic, his gaze, as if intoxicated, moving from her eyes to the tip of her nose, her lips… His eyes also grew hot, and he couldn't control himself as he kissed her lips…
She turned her head to the side, and the kiss landed on her earlobe.
Xie Yushu's heart pounded as he heard the system say, "Host, you have gained another 4 points of Popularity Points, all from Song Jie."
His warm lips pressed against her earlobe, his breath coming in ragged gasps, and he opened his mouth as if to take her earlobe in his mouth...
Xie Yushu felt his warm, wet tongue and, as if electrocuted, immediately pushed him away forcefully. She sat up in bed, glaring at him with disordered breathing. Now, she could no longer pretend to be flirting and seduce him without realizing it. Who knew Song Jie would be so easily provoked and lose control so quickly?
"He's a virgin." The system whispered a reminder to her: "The most intimate contact he has with the female lead, Xie Jianing, is when the poison takes effect and Xie Jianing warms his hands. Don't give him strong drugs."
The bed curtains were filled with the chaotic breathing of two people.
Even after being pushed away, Song Jie's heart was still racing, his body was burning hot, and he looked at her with a drunken expression.
Xie Yushu decided to take a step back. She couldn't break the ice. She just wanted to boost her popularity and couldn't let him really want to define their relationship. So she didn't say a word, lifted the bed curtains, and quickly got off the bed.
"Xie Yushu..." Song Jie panicked and immediately followed her down. He saw her standing by the table with a red face, tidying her clothes, hair, and the earrings that were about to fall off her earlobes.
The fire in his heart surged and surged, impossible to extinguish, yet it also made him very anxious: "Xie Yushu." He called her again, getting up and walking towards her.
She took another step back, as if afraid of him, and said, "I...I should go now, you should rest." Then she tried to leave the room as if fleeing.
"Xie Yushu!" He called her for the third time, this time truly panicked. Barefoot, he quickly stepped forward, pressed her down, and tried to open the door. His voice was hoarse, almost pleading, as he said, "Don't go, it's raining outside... Can you stay here tonight?"
She looked up at him in alarm.
Song Jie saw resistance in her eyes, and his heart sank. He knew she didn't like his intimate contact, so he said softly, "I can't do anything, I can't touch you anymore... Just lie here with me, okay? I'll take you back to the Pei residence when the rain stops."
But she shook her head and said, "No, I should go back."
She reached out to pull the door open again.
Song Jie pressed down hard, grabbing her wrist. He wanted to say something, but she immediately shook off his hand as if burned, saying in a flustered and angry voice, "Song Jie, let me go! If you force me like this, I will never see you again!"
Song Jie's burning heart and body instantly turned cold. He realized how much she hated him touching her, and that he had actually been threatened by her words.
This feeling left him with mixed emotions; he was genuinely worried that she would never see him again.
She lowered her eyes and opened the door again.
This time, Song Jie relaxed her strength, opened the door, and quickly left the room.
The cold wind and the sound of rain poured into the room, and Song Jie felt chilled to the bone, but he still couldn't help but follow her out and say, "I'll take you back."
But she refused again: "No need, my carriage is waiting for me outside the mansion."
Her maidservant draped a cloak over her shoulders and held up an umbrella for her, but she didn't look back and hurried into the rain, as if she didn't want to stay a moment longer.
As Song Jie watched her retreating figure, his heart felt as if it had plunged into an ice cave, and he couldn't help but cough.
"Prime Minister." Cang Shu saw that he was barefoot and wearing only a thin shirt, and hurriedly urged him to come into the house.
Song Jie shook his head and whispered, "It's too late. Go and escort her back to the Pei residence."
Cangshu hesitated but could only agree, then turned and ran into the rain to chase after Xie Yushu.
On a rainy night after the start of autumn, the wind was strong and cold. Song Jie stood for a while and felt Panpan nudging him into the house. Only then did he realize that his bare feet were already icy cold.
He turned and entered the dimly lit room, filled with Xie Yushu's fragrant scent. He couldn't escape it, nor could he resist it. He nestled into the bed, still warm from her touch, and closed his eyes, thinking that he seemed to be trapping himself...
However, the fragrance lingered around him, arousing his body, and his extinguished lust was rekindled.
He suddenly remembered what the fragrance was: it was the scent of the osmanthus tree in his yard when it bloomed as a child, the scent of the happiest time in his memory…
The door was pushed open.
Cangshu returned and called out, "Prime Minister."
Song Jie frowned, stood up, and looked at him: "Why are you back so soon?"
Cangshu said, "Madam Pei said she didn't need any escort. Her coachman is that lame attendant. He took Madam Pei away and forbade me from getting close."
Song Jie recalled the lame attendant, whose name was something like Dao or Jian, who always followed Xie Yushu like a dog.
He recalled the lame attendant's face again. A cripple with a face like a vixen. No wonder Xie Yushu kept him by her side. She liked handsome men, didn't she? Otherwise, why would she have taken a liking to that good-for-nothing Pei Shilin?
He suddenly became angry: "You can't even beat a cripple?"
Pei Shilin, that good-for-nothing, is fine; a cripple is fine too. Why is it that she feels such disgust when he touches her?
※
"Host, you have gained 5 points of green hat value," the system suddenly announced. "All of it came from Song Jie."
It's gone up so much.
Xie Yushu discovered that the villain Song Jie's popularity was rising much faster than Pei Shilin's. Pei Shilin's popularity was limited to what he could accumulate, and now that he had entered the Hanlin Academy, he was content to be a cuckold, and his popularity was no longer increasing at all.
It still depends on the villains and the male lead.
Green hat value: 19 points.
Popularity rating: 31 points.
Health: 260 days.
The female supporting character's main quest is 20% complete.
The system previously stated that Xiao Zhen, who was pretending to be weak but actually being strong, only had 30 points of popularity. Doesn't that mean her current popularity score is 1 point higher than Xiao Zhen's?
"Yes, host," the system replied. "According to the setting of the 'most popular person' value in this world, if you and Xiao Zhen fell into the water together now, Song Jie would save you first."
What kind of ridiculous analogy is this?
She converted all her cuckoldry points into life points, which were now 450 days. She was still more than halfway to reach 1000 days, which was still too slow.
In the original drama, it seems that the female lead, Xie Jianing, will be back in a few months.
She needs to speed things up and get everything sorted out before the female lead returns.
The system seemed unable to resist asking her, "Host, you forgot to take the gold coins you earned tonight... Don't you want them?"
Xie Yushu laughed. "Can a system become a money-grubber too?"
Of course she wanted it, but she knew very well that Song Jie would bring it himself.
It was very late when she returned to the Pei residence. After washing up and going to bed, she heard Jin Ye talking quietly to Xiao Dao outside the door.
Jin Ye asked Xiao Dao, "Why did you take the clothes Miss wore today?"
Xiao Dao said, "I'll clean her up."
Jin Ye was even more surprised: "You don't usually do laundry, so why are you washing Miss's clothes today? And in the middle of the night no less."
Xiao Dao only said one sentence: "The smell of medicine is too awful; I can't sleep when I smell it."
Jin Ye didn't understand.
Xie Yushu lay in bed for a while before she realized what was going on. Xiao Dao was saying that her clothes smelled of Song Jie's medicine? Did they? Even if they did, it shouldn't have been enough to drift through a wall into his room and suffocate him, right?
It's like she's jealous, but being jealous doesn't increase her "green hat" value, which is very strange.
When she woke up the next day, the clothes she had worn the day before were neatly placed on the side couch.
Jin Ye said to her, "This little knife is really strange. It insisted on washing your clothes in the middle of the night, and then dried them with an incense burner. It gave them to me first thing in the morning. Doesn't it ever get any sleep?"
Xie Yushu opened the window and saw Xiao Dao sweeping the puddles in the yard. The sunlight shone brightly on his head. His black hair had grown much better, and his legs were gradually recovering. He had gained some weight these days and was becoming more and more handsome.
Who exactly is he?
Outside the courtyard gate, a servant hurried over and reported something to Zhao Feng.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Dao, who was sweeping the floor, frowned, dropped his broom, and strode over to Zhao Feng. He took something from Zhao Feng's hand and then headed towards Xie Yushu's door.
After he came in, he handed the things in his hand to Xie Yushu: "They were sent from the Prime Minister's residence."
Xie Yushu knew what it was without even opening it; it must be the three gold notes from last night.
As expected, Jin Ye opened her mouth in surprise, speechless: "Miss, it's fifty thousand taels of gold notes..."
Fifty thousand taels? Wasn't it thirty thousand taels?
Xie Yushu took the money and examined it. It really was five gold notes worth ten thousand taels each. Song Jie was far too rich, pushing the price up to the point where she couldn't even afford silver notes...
"Did the person who delivered the items say anything?" Xie Yushu asked Xiaodao.
Xiao Dao said rather unhappily, "They say it'll rain tonight too."
Xie Yushu chuckled softly. So the two extra gold notes were an advance payment for tonight?
It will rain tonight too. Song Jie still wants to see her and find warmth in her.
Looking at her smile, Xiao Dao pursed his lips and couldn't help but ask her in a low voice, "Miss, don't you dislike Song Jie?"
He didn't ask her if she liked Song Jie, because he thought Song Jie didn't deserve her affection, and she would never like someone like Song Jie.
But then she would deliberately go to see Song Jie, leaving smelling of his medicine...
"I don't dislike his gold coins." Xie Yushu looked up at him, waved the five gold coins in his hand, and said with a smile, "You dislike gold coins?"
Xiao Dao glanced at the gold coins, then at her smiling face. When they met eyes, he blushed involuntarily and gently shook his head, saying, "I don't dislike it, I understand."
He didn't ask any more questions or say anything more, because he thought that if someone had given him so much gold in the past, he would have dared to kill even the emperor.
He only gets a hundred taels of silver for killing one person, but this is fifty thousand taels of gold.
He couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. If only he had that much gold, he could give it all to the young lady. He didn't want anything else, he just wanted to give her enough gold so she wouldn't have to earn other people's gold.
Xie Yushu put away the gold coins and ate breakfast with the people in the courtyard.
Zhenniang from the Yong'an Marquis's residence came to the Pei residence and respectfully invited her, saying that the lady was going to visit the nun Yusu of the Yuqing Temple today and would like her to accompany her.
Yu Su, the female Taoist priest of Yuqing Temple? The Dowager Consort Wan Susu?
Xie Yushu vaguely remembered that there was a scene in the original drama that took place in Yuqing Temple. It seemed to be on the birthday of the married Empress Dowager Wan Susu. The noble ladies who were on good terms with Wan Susu went to pay their respects to her. The supporting character Yushu was not qualified to go, but Xiao Zhen, in order to use her, deliberately invited Yushu to Yuqing Temple in the name of his mother, Empress Dowager Wan Susu. He had a secret meeting with Yushu in the temple, and they spoke ambiguously. He even took the initiative to kiss her. After that, Yushu became devoted to him and told him everything about Song Jie's illness. She even helped him give Song Jie a drug to induce the poisoning...
Is it this time?
Xie Yushu agreed to Zhenniang's request and went back to his room to change his clothes. Before he even left the room, a young female Taoist priest from Yuqing Temple actually delivered an invitation.
Unlike the original drama, when she opened the invitation, she found not an invitation letter, but a silver note worth five thousand taels of silver.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhen was quite sensible, knowing that he had to pay to see her, but she was now a little hesitant about the five thousand taels of silver.
She handed the silver note to Jinye and told her to put it away. She put on a plain-colored robe and applied lip rouge, but her makeup did not resemble Jia Ning's.
You don't need to deal with Xiao Zhen like Xie Jianing, because he has no genuine feelings for any woman.
After she changed her clothes and went out, Xiao Dao immediately followed her and whispered, "I'll go with you; there are snakes in the mountains."
Xie Yushu smiled and turned to look at him, "You're my coachman, so you're supposed to drive the carriage."
Xiao Dao's face, which had been sullen all night, immediately broke into a smile, and he pursed his lips and replied, "Yes, I am Miss's groom."
It was as if being her groom was the best thing ever.
Xie Yushu had indeed planned to bring him along. Since they would be meeting Xiao Zhen, they would definitely need to use force to suppress him. With Xiao Dao by her side, she felt at ease.
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Author's Note: Just a heads-up, the female lead is a total jerk. She doesn't like any of these men right now, and her feelings for Xiao Dao are just that of a "good little puppy." Please don't criticize her, and please don't criticize me either. [shy]
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