Chapter 432: What’s Happening Now Is of Ah Wu’s Own Will

The guard had sharp ears and said worriedly, "Eunuch Li, this commotion doesn’t sound right. It seems to be coming from the washroom. What if Your Majesty has slipped and fallen?"

The beaming smile on Li Yuzong’s face instantly froze.

This speculation made him hesitate, and the smile vanished from his lips.

’Should I risk dereliction of duty and continue to feign ignorance,’ he wondered, ’or should I risk ruining Your Majesty’s fun...’

Lost in thought, Li Yuzong tilted his head and pressed his ear against the tent wall, his old face grave.

The guard was practically tearing his hair out with anxiety. He asked in a hushed voice, "Eunuch Li, what is it? Should we go in and take a look?"

Li Yuzong listened for a long moment, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening. He gave a light cough, clutched his horsetail whisk in both hands, and straightened his back.

He feigned a serious tone. "Go on, go on. Don’t go poking your nose into Your Majesty’s business!"

But his old face bloomed into a wide, wrinkled smile once more.

*

Inside the tent, a woman’s whimpers—a mixture of sobs and petulant complaints—gradually subsided.

Ji Qingwu was pressed against the rim of the wooden tub, her lips rosy and slightly swollen, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Zhao Mingyan buried his face in her chest and looked up at her, coaxing in a low voice, "Ah Wu, say it again."

Ji Qingwu’s mind was already a complete mush; it felt as though rainbow-hued lights were swirling before her eyes.

She parted her lips, her voice broken and soft.

"Say... say what?"

Zhao Mingyan nuzzled against her, his breath so scorching it made her tremble.

His voice was low and bewitching. "Just say it. The words that came from your heart."

Ji Qingwu couldn’t refuse him when he looked at her with such raw desire. The last of her defenses completely crumbled. Perhaps she could have in the past, but now, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Ji Qingwu parted her lips and softly repeated herself, her voice like a spring tide carrying morning dew.

"What I’m doing now, and the choices I’m making... they all come from my heart. Mmm..."

The delicate moan that followed was crushed by his kiss, lost in the mingling of their breaths.

After a long moment, the depths of Zhao Mingyan’s eyes were terrifyingly dark. He took her earlobe between his lips and whispered.

"You said it yourself, Ah Wu."

His palm caressed her skin, sending shivers through her body.

"So what we’re doing now is also what Ah Wu wants."

Since Ji Qingwu had given her word, she would honor it. She pressed her face against his chest and nodded.

The Great Cloak was draped around her again as Zhao Mingyan swept her up into his arms and carried her toward the bed in the main tent.

Ji Qingwu let out a soft sigh of relief.

’The D-level mission is complete. It feels good to be debt-free. Other than my aching back and weak knees, I don’t seem to have any other discomfort.’

However, her relief lasted but a moment before that tall, powerful figure pressed down on her again.

Ji Qingwu instinctively pressed her hands against his chest. Her palms met the thin sheen of sweat on his skin, a slickness that made her fingertips tremble.

Her palm slid downward, and a fingernail inadvertently grazed a hardened bud on his chest.

A low hiss escaped Zhao Mingyan’s throat.

’That sound is way too sexy.’ Ji Qingwu sniffled, feeling a sudden urge to get a nosebleed.

Zhao Mingyan’s voice was as hoarse as sandpaper scraping across Mystic Iron.

"They say you should look at someone in a new light after just three days apart. Having been away from you for so long, Ah Wu... you’re full of surprises."

’Back in the washroom, being naked under the cloak, that could definitely have been seen as an attempt at seduction. But this... this was a complete accident.’

Ji Qingwu’s face instantly turned beet red. She blinked her watery eyes, trying to explain.

"That... that really was an accident."

"An accident, you say..."

Zhao Mingyan gently pushed aside the Great Cloak covering her. "How about you get a taste of it too, Ah Wu?"

Her waist tensed, and before she could even react, he pulled her back into the tide of passion...

Even when he was ravishing her, she could only hide in his embrace, her fingertips unconsciously digging into his shoulders.

Ji Qingwu had no idea when it finally ended. When she woke up, it was already broad daylight.

She rarely slept so soundly. Rolling over, she found the pillow uncomfortably hard and the quilt too heavy. She pursed her lips in discontent.

’Aren’t I in Wutong Garden?’

Ji Qingwu cracked open her left eye. The first thing she saw was a bronze lamp stand, the candle within it completely burned out.

Memories began to flood her mind.

’All because I said "it’s my choice, I’m willing," I completely lost all control, and he took whatever he pleased. But, on the bright side, I also unlocked a new mission.’

’And it wasn’t unbearably painful like it used to be. It had become a different kind of unbearable...’

The more Ji Qingwu thought about it, the redder her cheeks grew. She buried her face in the quilt until she was stuffy and flushed, only then poking her head out for a breath of air.

She looked around the tent, but there was no one in sight. ’Judging by the hour,’ she thought, ’the entire army must be drilling on the training grounds.’

Ji Qingwu propped herself up. Her gaze fell upon the luxurious Great Cloak, casually tossed at the foot of the bed. After their wild antics last night, it was no longer wearable.

Hearing the movement, Li Yuzong called out respectfully from outside the tent, "Fifth Missy, are you awake? I have placed some clothes for you on the rack by the bed."

Ji Qingwu’s ears burned.

’So Emperor Wu Su specifically left Eunuch Li behind for me.’

She took the clothes from the rack. While they weren’t as exquisite or gorgeous as the fashions in Lin’an, they were comfortably tailored, warm, and light.

’For Eunuch Li to find women’s clothing in a military camp full of brawny men, he must have gone to a lot of trouble.’

’I guess I can forgive him for not having clothes ready for me yesterday.’

As she picked up a sachet to hang from her waist, her eyes fell upon several books with ochre covers on the second shelf of the rack. They didn’t look like military manuals or ancient classics.

Ji Qingwu picked one up. The pages were still new, suggesting it hadn’t been read more than a few times.

’These aren’t the kind of books Emperor Wu Su usually reads, yet he keeps them by his bed and even brings them along on a military campaign.’

Her curiosity piqued, Ji Qingwu flipped open a page—only to immediately snap the book shut.

Thinking she must have seen it wrong, she rubbed her eyes and opened it again for another peek.

’The illustrations were a hundred times more explicit than the ones in the childbirth system’s books, detailed down to every last hair and fold.’

As if scalded, Ji Qingwu hastily put the book back.

’No wonder...’

’So someone has been studying in secret!’

After composing herself, Ji Qingwu cleared her throat and said, "Eunuch Li, you may come in."

When Li Yuzong entered the tent, he was smiling so broadly his eyes nearly disappeared. He called out to her with fawning affection.

"Oh, my, my, my, my dear Miss Ji!"

Li Yuzong set a food box on the table before scurrying over to her. Shaking his head back and forth, he said, "This old servant has missed you dearly."

Ji Qingwu said sternly, "As I recall, Eunuch Li, you weren’t wearing this expression yesterday."

Li Yuzong laughed. "Miss Ji, this old servant has dull eyes, unlike the Holy Emperor. But I am on your side, you know!"

With that, Li Yuzong mimicked his strange expression from the day before and declared proudly, "If anyone other than Miss Ji dares to show up at the Holy Emperor’s side, this old servant won’t give them the time of day!"

Ji Qingwu couldn’t hold back a smile, her lips curving upward.

"Eunuch Li, it’s cold outside. You can attend to me here in the tent; no need to stand out there anymore."

Tears immediately welled up in Li Yuzong’s eyes. "Miss Ji," he said, deeply moved, "this old servant isn’t cold."

He then saw Ji Qingwu take two meat buns from the food box and wrap them in a cloth.

Li Yuzong blinked back his tears. "Miss Ji, where might you be going?"