It was already late, and I was excitedly about to flip through the new storybook that Imperial Physician Jiang had brought me. Suddenly, a loud shout of "The Emperor has arrived" came from inside the courtyard. My hands froze where they were. What was this big deal? And why was the Emperor visiting me?
Xiao Tao and Xiao Cui ran in with beaming smiles: "My lady, my lady! His Majesty is staying at Chenxiang Pavilion tonight!" I looked at their beautiful smiles but couldn't smile at all: "Really..."
That doesn't make sense! My mind was racing to figure out what was going on when Song Heng calmly walked into the room. Xiao Tao and Xiao Cui winked at each other, happily closed the door, and walked out.
I froze in place, forgetting even to go up and salute. Song Heng, sitting at the round mahogany table, raised an eyebrow and looked at me: "Is Miss Mu really excited?"
I hurried forward to greet him, but he simply opened a book and began to read. The yellowish-white light illuminated the room exceptionally brightly, and I stood there, unsure of what he was up to.
After a long time, he turned the page and seemed to notice me: "Why are you standing there? Sit down."
I sat opposite him cautiously, my mind full of thoughts about this and this paragraph in the book?
He raised his eyes and glanced at me again: "Miss Mu, are you planning to keep staring at me?"
"Oh no, I..." I subconsciously denied: "I dare not."
"Then find something to do. It's tiring to sit idle." He said this and stopped looking at me, concentrating on flipping through the book in his hand.
Did he find reading alone too boring, so he came to me to find a "book buddy"? With so many concubines in the harem, why would he come to me? Composing poetry and lyrics—what a coincidence, regardless of whether the original owner could do it, I don't know any of them.
I took it easy and my mentality was almost adjusted, so I got up and went to the cabinet to look for books - hey, the original owner was really like me in this respect, there was not a single serious book, only popular novels and stories.
I glanced at Song Heng out of the corner of my eye. It seemed a little awkward to read these in front of him.
I searched carefully again and found a book under the corner of the cabinet table. I carefully pulled it out and took a look - "The Art of Knowledge". I flipped through it casually and it was all about "virtue", "Taoism" and "righteousness"...
It looks like a high-end, classy, antique book! This is it!
I dusted off the book, sat back in my seat, and started reading from the first page - it was really high-end and classy. Thanks to the original owner, I could recognize every word, but when they were put together, I couldn't understand a single sentence. I just felt like a wall of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines were flashing in front of my eyes.
It was especially quiet at night, and the only sounds we could hear were our breathing and the sound of him turning pages.
Normally I should not be asleep at this time, but after picking up this book, I kept dozing off. Several times I lowered my head because I was so sleepy, but I woke up immediately. I quickly glanced at him and found that he was still reading with his head down, so I pretended to turn a page.
After several times, I could hardly open my eyes.
"Go to sleep if you're sleepy." I was trying to hold up my chin, wavering between sleep and wakefulness. His sudden words woke me up a lot.
I looked at him, still wondering what was going on tonight, when he looked up and said, "Miss Mu, do you want me to carry you?"
"No, no, no!" I subconsciously refused three times and shook my dizzy head. In this not-so-clear-minded state, I knew I had to be careful with my words.
I lay down on the inside of the bed without taking off my coat, keeping my eyes on Song Heng's condition. I was thinking of multiple routes to run from the bed to the door and the tools I could use. This made me feel less sleepy.
He had been reading, and I didn't know how long it had been before he closed the last page, stood up, turned off the light, and walked to the edge of the bed. I pretended to be asleep, but in reality, I was secretly squinting and staring at him, my whole body tense.
He took off his coat and lifted a corner of the quilt. I felt a chill on one side of my shoulder. Fortunately, I didn't take off my coat, so I got used to it immediately. I seemed to hear him chuckle in the darkness, and then the bed softened and he turned over to sleep on the outside of the bed.
He lay on his back and I lay on my back too. Fortunately, the bed was big enough and the quilt was big enough. I consciously huddled in the innermost part and the distance between us was even enough for one more person to sleep.
His breathing gradually became steady, and he seemed to have fallen asleep. I tried to curl inwards a little more, but I couldn't resist the sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep.
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