Chapter 139
The candlelight was bright, and Xie Zheng's gaze on her was dark and heavy.
He suddenly leaned over and kissed her, biting her lips vigorously, and holding her neck with one hand, making it impossible for her to struggle. His kiss was fierce and savage, and there was a hint of brutality from having shackles broken off.
Fan Changyu tilted his head back and could only endure it, all he could smell was the refreshing and mellow scent of wine and the faint scent of soapberries after bathing.
Her already slightly swollen lips felt a little stinging from his kiss, so he held her jaw and continued kissing all the way down.
Fan Changyu's chest rose and fell violently due to his breathing problems. Without the belt to restrain it, the rise and fall of his chest became particularly obvious. The wet clothes half-covered and half-hidden his chest, revealing his alluring outline. The shadow under the snow made people's blood boil.
Xie Zheng buried his head in her shoulder, breathing heavily. When he raised his head again, his eyes were extremely red.
He said, "You asked for it!"
He grabbed her half-wet collar and pulled it down from both sides of her arms and shoulders. The clothes piled up at her arms. Under the dim candlelight, Fan Changyu's skin was as white as warm jade, but the scars on her arms and shoulders from the battlefield became glaring at this moment.
Xie Zheng had never seen her body in its entirety. He knew that she had a very long scar from her abdomen to her waist, which was caused by the battle in Lucheng. However, he did not expect that she also had many overlapping scars on her upper arms.
The lust in his eyes faded a little, and he gently kissed the deepest scar on her shoulder and arm, and asked, "How did you get hurt?"
He knew it must have been brought from the battlefield, but he didn't know which battle.
The kiss was so light, as soft as the brush of a feather.
Fan Changyu read a lot of books during her recovery and on the way to Beijing, and she subconsciously thought of the phrase "treat them like treasures".
Her long eyelashes trembled, and her whole heart seemed to be soaked in hot water, warm and numb.
Her face was flushed, but it was not because of any physical emotion, but because of the usual embarrassment a girl would feel in front of her lover.
She turned her head slightly and looked at the scar on her upper right arm. She had never paid much attention to it before, but now she felt that the scar was ugly.
She blocked it with her hand and pretended to be relaxed: "I was injured in the battle in Lucheng. The people under the Emperor Changsun wanted to capture me alive at that time. If the blade had gone down further, my arm would have been broken like Xiaowu's."
Xie Zheng pushed aside her blocking hand and leaned over to kiss the scar again. His half-wet hair and drooping eyelashes obscured the expression in his eyes at that moment: "I'm sorry, I'm late."
Fan Changyu smiled and gently stroked his jade-like face with one hand: "Why are you apologizing again? There is no military commander who is not injured. Since I have chosen this path, these are what I must experience."
Talking about the battle of Lucheng again, she asked a question that had puzzled her for a long time: "General Tang said that you were just about to escort Yuan Qing back to Chongzhou, and that's when you passed through Jizhou. But I calculated the date, and you had just returned to Xie's house in Huizhou to receive punishment, and your wounds were probably still bleeding. Why did you set off in such a hurry?"
Xie Zheng's eyes, reflecting the candlelight, were tinged with gloom. "The princess passed the news to Gongsun Yin, telling him about the young emperor's marriage. The eunuch who went to Chongzhou to announce the decree also wanted to attack you."
Fan Changyu still remembered the eunuch whose look made her feel uncomfortable.
But after hearing Xie Zheng himself mention the arranged marriage between him and the princess, and hearing the princess deliver such important news tonight, she felt some subtle and complicated emotions in her heart, and Fan Changyu herself couldn't figure out what they were.
She pursed her lips and asked, "You...are familiar with the eldest princess?"
Xie Zheng raised his eyes slightly, heard what she wanted to ask, and pinched her cheek: "Not familiar, Gongsun Yin and she have a relationship, so she asked the princess to help investigate the Sixteenth Prince in the palace, and she asked him to go and deal with it."
Fan Changyu coughed lightly, "No wonder when I met Mr. Gongsun in Jizhou, he said that he was entrusted by you to do something. Could it be this matter?"
Xie Zheng said, "No."
Fan Changyu's eyes were filled with confusion. "What was that? Mr. Gongsun was also very mysterious at the time and said he couldn't tell me for the time being."
Xie Zheng gently rubbed the scars on her shoulders and arms with his palms. "I really can't tell you right now. You will know when he comes to Beijing."
The more he kept it a secret, the more curious Fan Changyu became: "Will Mr. Gongsun also come to Beijing later?"
Xie Zheng's large, thinly woven palm rubbed her arm all the way up, and when it touched the bloody tooth mark he had bitten fiercely in front of the tomb, he suddenly pressed hard.
Fan Changyu hissed softly, and when she raised her eyes she met his dark eyes.
"Are you sure you want to talk to me about other men at this time?"
Fan Changyu wanted to glare at him, but was momentarily captured by his extremely aggressive look. He grasped her hand and pressed it through her wet underwear.
Fan Changyu's face suddenly turned completely red.
He had been out of the bath for too long, and his underwear was icy cold, but the temperature underneath almost burned her hand.
Fan Changyu was half ashamed and half embarrassed, and his mind seemed to be overturned. He asked for no reason: "You only take off your shirt when you take a bath?"
At first, she was afraid of seeing something she shouldn't see, so she didn't dare to look at his lower body. Later, she was confused by the kiss and didn't notice it. It was only then that his reckless behavior made her realize that he was only shirtless.
Xie Zheng was also startled by her inappropriate question, and then explained: "I have been used to it for many years. When an assassin wants to kill you, he doesn't care whether you are bathing or not. In the early years, I always tied a dagger in my trouser leg and never took it off."
Fan Changyu recalled that when she attacked Chongzhou, she went out for a walk at night and met him by the river. He was also very alert at that time.
He must have had a hard time these years, right?
His life had been on the line several times in the more than ten battles, both large and small, in which he was fighting against the bandits. He had joined the army at a young age and had faced the ruthless Beijue people, who were as ferocious as jackals. He must have experienced even more dangers, which made him so vigilant.
The more Fan Changyu thought about it, the heavier her heart felt. She didn't want him to be immersed in such thoughts, so she changed the subject and said, "No wonder you asked me to bring your clothes in just now..."
By this time, Xie Zheng had sobered up a lot. He just smiled when he heard this: "You were making excuses at that time. Did you think I wanted to flirt with you?"
Fan Changyu was a little embarrassed, but in line with the principle of losing the battle, he glared back with a righteous look: "Who knows your bathing habit?"
But her earlobes have turned red.
Xie Zheng stared at her earlobe, just as he had seen it under the moonlight in the cemetery, as gorgeous as the pyracantha fruit covered in snow. In fact, because the candlelight in the room was brighter, he could even see that her earlobe was also a layer of alluring light pink.
His eyes darkened and his voice became deep: "You guessed it right, I am always thinking about how to flirt with you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he leaned over and bit her earlobe.
Fan Changyu was stunned by his words, and the next moment he let out a low "ah".
Her earlobe was both painful and numb, and his hot breath sprayed all over her earlobe, making it itchy as if an ant was crawling on it. A strange feeling rose up in her limbs, as if all the strength in her body was being sucked away between his teeth.
His face was also severely burned, and Fan Changyu felt like he was about to be cooked.
She whispered, "Don't bite..."
At the end, the voice was shaking.
While she was lost in the dazzling white light, he grasped her hand and reached into her damp and cold panties.
…
Fan Changyu's face was still red as he washed his hands, which had completely cooled down after bathing, beside the bathtub.
Xie Zheng's panting had not yet subsided, and his usually indifferent and cold narrow eyes now showed a hint of brilliance after a good meal. He quietly looked at the graceful figure not far away. She was in a hurry to wash her hands and hadn't even tied her belt.
The wet clothes were wrinkled by him and didn't fit well, revealing the white and tender back of the neck and a small part of the shoulders. The ambiguous red marks in between were very eye-catching, and the loose black hair hanging in between made her even more charming.
His Adam's apple rolled, his eyes darkened, and he walked forward and picked the man up.
Fan Changyu was shocked, his body was suddenly suspended in the air, and he could only subconsciously hold on to his muscular shoulders: "You..."
Xie Zheng strode out of the clean room and pushed her onto the bed outside. He then lowered his head and kissed her red and swollen lips. His dark eyes were filled with an aggressive look that made him want to tear her apart and swallow her whole. "It's still early. I was just afraid of hurting you."
He picked up her hand and kissed it, then was about to release the tent hanging on the golden hook. Fan Changyu lay in the quilt that was stained with his breath, her heart beating like a drum.
She caught a glimpse of the food on the round table, and quickly put her hand on his chest, saying fiercely, "Go eat. If it gets cold, ask the kitchen to heat it up again."
He hasn't had dinner yet at this hour.
Her hands were sore, and they were still soft and weak.
Xie Zheng glanced at the food on the table and suddenly asked her, "Have you eaten?"
Fan Changyu tried to say that he had eaten, but his stomach growled at an inopportune moment.
Seeing her embarrassed but trying to save face, Xie Zheng's eyes softened, he chuckled, stood up, and pulled her up with him: "Why don't you eat first?"
Fan Changyu grumbled, "Who knew it would take so long to come over and ask you to have a meal..."
Xie Zheng suddenly laughed and said, "I'll take this as an exaggeration."
Fan Changyu was stunned. After realizing what he meant, her face turned red again. She could only glare at him angrily.
Her hair was messy, and she looked like a ferocious little leopard with bared fangs and claws.
Xie Zheng's eyes dimmed. Any look she gave him now was like a hook plucked at his heart. He couldn't help it, so he held her down and kissed her enough before letting her go. He said hoarsely, "Don't provoke me."
Her dress was already half wet, so Xie Zheng found a set of his own clothes from the trunk and gave it to her: "There are no women's clothes in the manor, so you have to make do with this for now."
Although they had been almost frank with each other in the purification room before, he could not control his emotions at that time. Now, Fan Changyu still felt embarrassed to ask her to change clothes in front of him.
She took her clothes to the clean room. When she changed, she caught a glimpse of the red marks on her body and the faint smell of heather in the air. Thinking of how he had pressed her on the table before, his suppressed breathing seemed to still be in her ears, and her face suddenly felt so hot that she could fry an egg on it.
I clearly helped him out the night he came to Beijing...
Is it because when I woke up, he was gone, so I wasn't so embarrassed?
Fan Changyu covered her face with her wet clothes for a while, and only changed into the clothes Xie Zheng found for her after making sure that her face was no longer burned.
He looked thin, and the clothes he wore were several sizes larger than hers. After Fan Changyu put them on, the sleeves became as long as those worn by actors on stage. She rolled up her cuffs and trouser legs to avoid stepping on them when walking.
When she went out, Xie Zheng had already put on an overcoat and lit a charcoal brazier. The cold dishes on the table were placed on a small iron table and kept warm in the charcoal brazier.
"Just heat it up for a while and you can eat it..."
Xie Zheng was halfway through his words when his eyes suddenly stopped when they glanced at her.
His clothes were too big for her, and her sleeves and trouser legs were rolled up, which made her wrists and ankles look even slimmer. Her cheeks were a tint of pink, like peach blossoms blooming on branches in March. A few strands of sweaty hair stuck to her cheeks. She looked at him uncomfortably with a pair of almond-shaped eyes that seemed to have been washed well, like a beast that had strayed into a hunting ground.
Fan Changyu tugged at his sleeves and said awkwardly, "The clothes are a little too big."
Xie Zheng tightened his grip on the silver-wrapped ebony chopsticks, and with all his self-control, he turned his gaze away from her, lowered his eyes, and continued to chopsticks.
He said, "Just make do with it for now. I'll dry your clothes later."
But what I was thinking was that from now on I wouldn't have to prepare her underwear and could just wear his.
From the inside out, the whole person belongs to him.
Fan Changyu was unaware of these things, but she felt a little strange. During the meal, Xie Zheng hardly looked at her from beginning to end, and did not speak except for picking up food for her. But thinking about what had happened in the clean room before, she still felt uncomfortable, so she did not suspect anything.
During this time, Xie Zheng only asked: "Did Xie Zhong ask you to bring food?"
Fan Changyu was afraid that he would blame the old man, so he said, "I heard you order someone to take the food back, so I took the initiative to tell him that I sent it to you."
Xie Zheng said "hmm" lightly and said no more.
The meal prepared by the subordinates for Xie Zheng was already a lot, and it was already late at night, so the two of them shared it, which was just enough to finish without being too full.
After the meal, Xie Zheng cleared the table, went to the clean room to take out Fan Changyu's wet dress, and put it on the charcoal brazier to dry.
Fan Changyu watched him doing these things skillfully, and recalled the time at the Chongzhou beach when he had sat by the fire and helped her dry her wet clothes. The memories overlapped with the scene before her, and her heart felt warm, as if something strong was about to overflow.
She scratched her head sheepishly: "Well... I'll just bake it myself."
Without even raising his eyelids, Xie Zheng said, "If you're tired, go to bed and take a nap. I'll call you when your clothes are dry."
Probably because she had done something bad, Fan Changyu was not sleepy anymore and was extremely energetic. However, she felt a little uncomfortable in her heart, which made her squat beside the charcoal brazier, not knowing where to put her hands and feet.
Xie Zheng seemed to see her discomfort and said, "There are some military books on the bookshelf. They are all what I have read these days. You can take a look."
It's not a big deal for the two of them to just stay together without talking. Reading military books is indeed a good way to kill time.
Fan Changyu immediately went to the bookshelf, took out a book on military affairs, and sat opposite Xie Zheng to read it. The military books he read were much more obscure and difficult to understand than those Fan Changyu herself had read. Even after she read his annotations on a page, she still had to ask several questions before she could turn to the next page.
Xie Zheng was indeed gifted with knowledge of military tactics. After he explained the obscure things, Fan Changyu did not feel confused as he did when listening to the lectures of those aides he had hired at a high price. He understood them easily.
In order to help her understand some historical battles, Xie Zheng also took out a few maps for her to compare the terrain.
Originally, he just wanted to avoid embarrassment when reading, but later on, Fan Changyu immersed himself in the military book.
Xie Zheng dried her dress and asked her to go to the clean room to change. She asked two questions before going.
After changing back into her own clothes, Fan Changyu continued to pick up the military book. Soon, Xie Zheng went out and called someone in to clear the dishes.
The servants saw Fan Changyu sitting at a low table reading a book with a few scrolls of imperial documents and a spread out paper on the floor. They thought that their master was discussing some important military defense matters with General Yun Hui, so they picked up their bowls and chopsticks and quietly left the room.
Xie Zheng then said to Fan Changyu: "I will take you to wherever Xie Zhong arranges you to live."
Fan Changyu was slightly startled, raised his head from the book, and said, "East Chamber."
His indifference at this moment was completely different from the look he had before in the purification room when he wished he could eat himself alive. Fan Changyu just felt something strange in his heart.
When she saw Xie Zheng stand up, she also stood up. When she was about to reach the door, someone suddenly pushed her against the door panel and grabbed her chin and kissed her.
When they separated, Xie Zheng panted and said to her, "I want you to stay, but my Ah Yu will become a marquis' wife in the future and command the three armies. I have to arrange three matchmakers and six engagements to marry you so as not to humiliate you."
He had been drinking before, and when he heard her say those words while drunk, he couldn't control his emotions.
But she calmed down completely during the meal. Xie Zhong asked her to deliver the meal. If she had not left her room tonight, anyone with a discerning eye would have known what had happened.
Even though all the people in this manor were his confidants who were willing to die for him, Xie Zheng was unwilling to let them know that Fan Changyu had spent the night in his room like this.
She seems to be cautious in relationships, and she takes everything into consideration before giving her heart to someone.
But after she truly gave her heart to him, she no longer cared about worldly ethics.
She gave him her most sincere and passionate self, and he had to cherish it for her.
His A-Yu deserves the best in the world.
The author has something to say:
It's later, but I'm trying to make it thicker and longer (chest up)
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