Chapter 56 "Take off your clothes and let me touch you..."
Before going to bed at night, the maids came to the bedside to help Xue Mingyao wash up. Fortunately, the covered part was at the feet, so it didn't affect putting on and taking off her clothes. For more convenience, the trousers of her nightgown were changed into a skirt.
After finishing her tasks, Lüzhi directed the people to remove the basins and washing utensils that had been brought over. She then used a pillow to prop up Xue Mingyao's right foot, adjusting it to a more comfortable position where it wouldn't slip. She then replaced the heavy quilt with a light, soft one. Although her mistress didn't usually wake up at night, she still left a small table by the bed and prepared a pot of warm tea.
Before leaving, Lüzhi cautiously said to Xie Zhuo, "General Xie, I entrust my master to your care."
Xue Mingyao lay flat on the bed with her eyes closed, looking quite honest and obedient. Xie Zhuo nodded gently, closed the curtain, and blew out the lamp.
He climbed onto the bed, slipped into Xue Mingyao's quilt, and, in the thick, fog-like darkness, lay slightly on his side, quietly gazing at her.
He couldn't see anything clearly, but her exquisite profile, soft black hair, and fair shoulders and neck seemed to be clearly visible to Xie Zhuo.
She had asked him if he was coming to sleep tonight, so why was he silent now? That's not like her.
Xie Zhuo asked softly, "Does your foot still hurt?"
"It hurts..." Xue Mingyao groaned softly, turning her head away. "It hurts so much I can't sleep."
Her voice sounded pitiful, which reminded Xie Zhuo of the injured little rabbit and kitten he had rescued when he was a child. He suppressed the urge to hug Xue Mingyao and whispered, "You'll fall asleep when you're sleepy."
Xue Mingyao hummed twice more, then suddenly said, "Xie Zhuo, kiss me."
Xie Zhuo was taken aback.
"Distract me a bit," Xue Mingyao offered an explanation.
She was ordering him around, and Xie Zhuo couldn't refuse.
He silently counted a few numbers in his mind to make himself seem less eager, then slowly moved to her lips and kissed her.
His slightly cool lips were fragrant and soft, and it felt very comfortable to rub against them and kiss them. However, Xue Mingyao's foot was injured, and she seemed too lazy to move her whole body. She just let him suck on her lips and kissed him listlessly.
Xie Zhuo didn't want it to be like this, so he gently held her shoulders and deepened the kiss. Their lips and tongues intertwined, and the ambiguous sounds of their breaths made the air thick and sticky. When Xue Mingyao started breathing heavily, Xie Zhuo released her, his fingertips caressing her full lips, wiping away the moisture, and asked in a low voice, "Does it relieve any of the pain?"
However, the person next to him slapped his hand away, their voice cold and indifferent, "No."
Xie Zhuo: "......"
Suddenly, a hand reached out and hooked onto his shirt.
"Let's try another way," Xue Mingyao said.
Xie Zhuo pressed her hand down, quite wary, "What other method?"
"Take off your clothes and let me touch you," Xue Mingyao ordered.
Xie Zhuo paused for a moment, then said, "You should get some sleep."
"What's there to be shy about? Now you're acting like Xie Qinglang. It's not like I haven't touched you before."
Xie Zhuo firmly refused.
Xue Mingyao didn't waste any words with him. She shifted her body, half-pressing and half-hugging Xie Zhuo's chest. Xie Zhuo was startled and said urgently, "What are you doing? Have you forgotten your feet?"
Xue Mingyao said innocently that she hadn't moved her foot.
"Pay close attention. If the recovery isn't done properly, not only will you be left with a disability, but you'll also suffer pain on rainy days in the future," Xie Zhuo said helplessly.
Xue Mingyao responded casually, her fingers rustling as she slipped inside his undergarment.
Her warm body pressed against him, soft and fragrant, her breasts round and full. It would be a lie for Xie Zhuo to say he didn't enjoy it. Moreover, considering her foot injury, he didn't dare to push her away forcefully, so he let her tear open his clothes.
Xue Mingyao poked and poked at his firm pectoral muscles. The muscles were thick and elastic, and would be comfortable to use as a pillow. She squeezed and kneaded them a couple of times.
Xie Zhuo silently endured it. Xue Mingyao had always been willful, and she became even more willful after being injured. He decided to be more tolerant of her.
Xue Mingyao touched it for a while, then suddenly stuck out her tongue and sucked on it. Xie Zhuo was startled and pressed his large hand on her head.
"Still so sensitive?" Xue Mingyao looked up and smiled. "Go light the lamp, let me take a look."
Xie Zhuo said in a muffled voice, "What are you looking at?"
"You know perfectly well what I'm asking." Xue Mingyao moved up a little and blew hot air into his ear. "I remember it used to be pink, but now it seems bigger. I wonder if the color has darkened..."
She was talking while her hands kept moving, massaging in circles.
Xie Zhuo turned his head away slightly, stroking her thick, long hair. He thought to himself that Xue Mingyao was just using him as a toy for amusement, but he couldn't turn the tables on her—her injured foot was still propped up there.
So he continued to close his eyes and pretend to be dead, just like when he was teased by the young princess before.
Xue Mingyao wouldn't let him off the hook, "Go light the lamp."
"I'm not going."
"Why don't you go? Huh, what's this—" Xue Mingyao's finger slid down and touched a piece of uneven skin.
Xie Zhuo ignored her, placed his hand over hers, and tried to move her away. Xue Mingyao refused to budge, clinging to his chest and refusing to leave, saying, "We've been married for so many days, and I haven't even looked at you yet."
At the Listening Bamboo Pavilion, she didn't take off her clothes at all.
That time in Xie Zhuo's study, we arrived entirely in the dark.
Now that Xue Mingyao realized this, she became even more enthusiastic and repeatedly urged Xie Zhuo to light the lamp.
Xie Zhuo refused to agree, and Xue Mingyao lost her patience. She straightened up and started to climb out, saying, "If you won't order, I will." She completely disregarded her ailing leg.
"Come back here!" Xie Zhuo pulled her close, then carefully placed her back on the pillow before reluctantly getting out of bed and lighting the small lamp in front of her.
By the light, Xue Mingyao saw Xie Zhuo's chest clearly for the first time.
His thick pectoral muscles bulged on both sides, his skin was tanned, and he was as strong as a mountain, exuding a primal, powerful beauty that was especially striking under the light. The areas she had sucked were a deep red, definitely different from before.
His abdominal muscles, partially concealed by his clothes, were clearly defined and without an ounce of excess. However, Xue Mingyao had no time to marvel at the firmness of his abdominal muscles; her gaze was completely drawn to a long scar extending from his right abdomen to his waist.
The scar was ugly, winding and slanting like a dark red centipede, about five or six inches long, and rough and hard to the touch—it was the strange place she had just discovered that was so different from her smooth skin. If it weren't for this hideous scar, Xie Zhuo's upper body would be considered perfect.
Xue Mingyao withdrew her hand, and Xie Zhuo, who was half-sitting, immediately covered himself with his clothes and was about to extinguish the lamp.
"Don't—" she hurriedly called out, reaching for Xie Zhuo's sleeve, "Wait a minute."
"How did you get injured?" she asked.
"Injuries sustained in battle," Xie Zhuo said succinctly.
Xue Mingyao put her hand inside again, stroking the scar. "You don't want to turn on the light, are you afraid I'll see it?"
Xie Zhuo didn't answer, but said calmly, "Don't touch it, it's itchy."
Xue Mingyao paused, and Xie Zhuo seized the opportunity to quickly get off the bed and turn off the lamp, plunging the tent into darkness again. The two lay side by side, Xue Mingyao's interest seemingly piqued by his scar; after a moment, she poked him, "How did you get this wound in battle? Does it hurt?"
"It's alright," Xie Zhuo said casually.
"Are you just giving me the runaround? Tell me a story already," Xue Mingyao muttered, "otherwise I'll be in so much pain I won't be able to sleep."
Xie Zhuo suspected that her feet didn't hurt that much at all; she just didn't want to sleep.
“There’s no story to tell,” he said. “The first time I faced the enemy in the Northwest, I was attacked with a knife right away.”
"Aren't you wearing armor?" Xue Mingyao asked, bewildered.
Xie Zhuo chuckled softly, "The armor of ordinary soldiers is just for show, better than nothing."
Xue Mingyao frowned. "And then? You killed him?"
"Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't be lying here alive."
"The wound looks deep, yet she still had the strength to kill him..."
"Just hold on, imagine the person as you are, and suddenly you'll have the strength to lift a knife and cut people."
Xue Mingyao was stunned. "What? You want to chop me up?!"
"Xue Mingyao, you are my enemy, I wish I could kill you as soon as possible, is that hard to understand?"
A sharp pain shot through her waist as her fingernails scratched her skin. Xue Mingyao pinched him hard, but Xie Zhuo laughed indifferently in the darkness, trying not to let her see.
For the first six months in the Northwest, we were busy with drills, marches, and troop rotations, never truly engaging the enemy in battle. Later, the bugle finally sounded, the yellow sand filled the sky, and people everywhere looked as tiny as insects, yet their voices shook the heavens and the earth, and blood flowed like a river.
Of course he was afraid. At a time like this, no amount of willpower would help. His legs quickly went weak, and before he could even use the skills he had learned, he was struck. The person opposite him had a baby face and looked younger than him, but he already knew how to swing his knife quickly and ruthlessly, and knew how to bend down and slit a person's throat after they fell, taking their head.
In his excruciating pain, Xue Mingyao once again visited his hallucination.
A mischievous smile played on her lips as she looked at him with a puzzled expression. The hair ornament in her hair swayed, dazzling his eyes. "Xie Qinglang, how could you be so reckless? Aren't you just courting death?"
No, he clutched his wound and struggled to tell her that it wasn't a dead end, but a path to survival he had found, a road to heaven that led to the highest palace in the sky, and to her side.
"But you're going to die." The tone was light and questioning.
He was indeed dying. Blood was flowing incessantly, and the baby-faced knife was getting closer and closer to him, so close that he could see his own face, filled with fear, reflected on the blade.
He had no relatives left in the world, only Xue Mingyao as his enemy.
If he were to die like this, Xue Mingyao would never know, and she would never shed a tear for him.
She will continue to live her life of luxury and pleasure, and then seduce the next man she sets her sights on.
His heavy hand trembled as he gripped the hilt of the knife. With a roar he didn't know where the strength came from, he raised the blade and plunged it into the chest of the man before him. The baby-faced man stared at him in disbelief as blood gushed out, splattering all over his face.
The blood tasted sweet and metallic. He lay on the ground, panting heavily, wondering what Xue Mingyao was doing at that moment.
Memories flooded his mind. After walking along this avenue to heaven, Xie Zhuo turned to the side and bit Xue Mingyao's slender white neck.
"Do you want to bite me to death?" Xue Mingyao asked, bewildered.
"You bit me on our first day of marriage, and I'm taking my revenge," Xie Zhuo said seriously.
Xue Mingyao gave a soft humph, "I'm a patient now, and you still say things like that? Is there anyone worse than you in the world?"
Xie Zhuo then fell silent.
A moment later, Xue Mingyao's soft voice came from beside the pillow, "Have you experienced many life-or-death situations like this on the battlefield?"
"Not too much, not too little."
What are you thinking...?
"It's not important." Xie Zhuo covered the two of them with the blankets. "I have to go to court tomorrow. You need to sleep, and so do I."
......
The morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, gently falling on the bed. Xue Mingyao threw back the covers and sat up. As expected, no one was beside her. She yawned and called for Lüzhi.
"Has Xie Zhuo left the manor?"
"Yes! Someone is keeping an eye on him. An hour ago, the general rode off to the palace," Green Branch reported promptly.
Xue Mingyao immediately put her right leg, which was wrapped in a splint, on the edge of the bed. "Quickly take this damn thing off for me, it's making me feel so uncomfortable!"
Green Branch quickly stepped in, her fingers flying as she untied the strips of cloth and removed the splint. As the layers of wrapping were removed, Xue Mingyao's bare right foot was revealed—fair, clean, and exquisitely beautiful; there was not a trace of injury on it.
Xue Mingyao stretched her stiff ankle and looked satisfied. "I can't feel anything anymore. It really isn't even a sprain."
She did trip over a pebble yesterday and twisted her right ankle. She walked with some difficulty, but fortunately, it didn't swell.
I consulted a doctor, who said there was nothing wrong and the soreness would subside on its own after a while.
What followed was Xue Mingyao's brilliant idea, a masterpiece born from a sudden flash of inspiration.
Green Branch sorted through the disassembled items. "Princess, do we need to put this back exactly as it was before the general returns this afternoon?"
"uh-huh."
"It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone. Are we... are we going to pretend for a hundred days?"
"I don't know, it depends on my mood," Xue Mingyao said with a lazy smile. "Looking at Xie Zhuo, completely oblivious, is quite amusing!"
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