As the sound rang out, Song Yinghuai appeared in the back garden.
He was wearing a white fox fur cloak over a crescent - patterned brocade robe. His white clothes and black hair fluttered gently without being tied up, accentuating his slender figure. He looked like a divine being descending to the mortal world, exuding an indescribable grace and elegance.
Jiang Jinyue's face flushed like a red cloud. She quickly stood up and looked at him with delight:
"Brother - in - law, did you know I was coming to see you?"
Concubine Yao had said that Song Yinghuai would meditate and pray in the meditation room for two hours every day. But he showed up so early today. She assumed he must have heard of her visit and came to receive her on purpose.
Jiang Jinyue's heart was pounding. It seemed that although Song Yinghuai appeared cold on the surface, he actually valued her.
Song Yinghuai paused in his steps, as if he had just noticed there were two more people in the garden. Then he glanced at her nonchalantly:
"You're here too?"
Jiang Jinyue's delighted expression suddenly faded, replaced by an incredulous look.
He didn't know she was coming?
He didn't end his meditation early for her?
Caiyu stepped forward. "My lord."
Then she reached out to untie the ribbon of Song Yinghuai's cloak. Song Yinghuai lowered his eyes and let her small hands fumble on his chest. His eyes flickered slightly.
This girl was getting especially close to him today when untying the ribbon, just like she used to deliberately seduce him in the past.
Her boneless fingers not only untied the ribbon slowly, at half the speed of usual, but also gently brushed across his chin, neck and collarbone.
Song Yinghuai suddenly felt a strange itch in his heart.
It had been a long time since she had seduced him like this. At this sudden provocation, he felt an unprecedented restlessness. Just a light touch of her fingers made a fire burn in his lower abdomen.
Song Yinghuai's Adam's apple bobbed up and down. Knowing that Caiyu was deliberately showing off to Jiang Jinyue, instead of stopping her, he indulged her completely, allowing her to touch him freely.
The intimate behavior between them deeply irritated Jiang Jinyue.
Looking at Caiyu, she finally understood how her aunt felt when she angrily cursed a "seductive vixen" in front of her.
At this moment, she wished she could slap Caiyu away!
Jiang Jinyue took a deep breath. Suddenly, she stepped forward, squeezed herself into the seemingly seamless space between them, and slapped Caiyu's hand away with a smile:
"Brother - in - law, your maid seems rather clumsy. It takes so long to untie a ribbon. No wonder aunt always says she should teach the maids in your Lotus Sound Pavilion a lesson!"
She calmly pushed Caiyu aside and gracefully intended to untie the ribbon for Song Yinghuai.
Caiyu was caught off guard and was pushed to one side. She sprained her ankle and couldn't help but let out a soft hiss due to the sharp pain.
Song Yinghuai quickly glanced at Caiyu, then took a step back. The ribbon slipped from Jiang Jinyue's hand, and he casually untied the knot himself.
The cloak slid off his shoulders and landed in his hands.
Song Yinghuai nodded. "Cousin is right. The maids in my pavilion have been too slack. It's time to discipline them."
He threw the cloak at Caiyu. "So clumsy! Go hang the cloak up properly!"
Caiyu scrambled to catch the cloak, responded and left. She walked unsteadily as she left.
Song Yinghuai watched her back, his eyes gradually darkening.
Jiang Jinyue looked at him. Unwillingly, she walked up to him again and said with a smile:
"Brother - in - law, I'm here to invite you to have dinner with me. Aunt said the chef in the mansion made many new kinds of vegetarian dishes today. The dishes in the Evening Fragrance Hall are very sumptuous. Brother - in - law, please come with me!"
Caiyu carried Song Yinghuai's cloak back to the bedroom and hung it up. As she walked, her ankle hurt more and more.
Seeing that it was getting late, she went to the small kitchen to see what dishes would be cooked today.
Unexpectedly, Xiangye said angrily, "My lord has gone to the Evening Fragrance Hall for dinner with the young lady!"
She was indignant. "Sister Caiyu, that young lady clearly has ulterior motives. Why did my lord go with her? He even sent you away for her!"
Caiyu twitched the corner of her mouth and looked at Xiangye in disbelief.
This girl was so easy to deceive.
Did she still remember the purpose of her coming to the Lotus Sound Pavilion in the first place?
Concubine Yao also suspected that she had ulterior motives towards the lord, so she sent them here to monitor her!
However, seeing Xiangye defending her, Caiyu felt an unprecedented warmth in her heart.
After the Lan family's downfall, it was like a tree falling and the monkeys scattering. There were so many people who kicked them when they were down. She had been living in the cold for many years and had not felt warmth for a long time.
The last time it was Song Yinghuai, and this time it was Xiangye.
"This silly girl." Caiyu said with a smile. "We are just maids. How could my lord be harsh to the young lady for a maid like me? If this got out, how could the old princess spare me?"
She still had lingering fears about the last time when she almost lost her life!
"Oh!" Xiangye said half - understanding. "Then what shall we eat today?"
She looked a bit lost.
Since Song Yinghuai was not having dinner in the Lotus Sound Pavilion, there was no master in the pavilion. The maids didn't know what to do. They even felt at a loss about what to eat.
But Caiyu had other plans.
With Song Yinghuai away, it was a good chance for her to disrupt the strict rules in the pavilion with the other servants.
"I made some cured meat in the deserted garden and forest on the west side of the mansion." Caiyu said mysteriously to Xiangye. "I also brewed chrysanthemum wine in autumn."
Xiangye's eyes lit up. She almost drooled. "Really?"
This girl was a little glutton. Being young and in the stage of growing, after eating vegetarian dishes in the Lotus Sound Pavilion for a while, she was so hungry that her stomach was sticking to her back.
"Really. It's hidden in the cave of the rockery over there." Caiyu directed. "Go and call Brother Liu and the others to carry some back. Anyway, my lord has left us today. Let's stew meat and drink in the pavilion! Get drunk!"
Xiangye let out a cheer and immediately ran to find Liu Huashan.
Caiyu watched them leave with suppressed excitement, shook her head with a smile, then lowered her eyes and fell into thought.
It had been a month in a flash.
When she seduced Song Yinghuai today, his reaction seemed stronger than usual.
Maybe he had accepted her in his heart?
If so, with the stimulation of alcohol, would she succeed?
Even if she didn't succeed, he probably wouldn't blame a drunken woman, right?
This time, even if it was regarded as an accidental seduction, so what?
After that, Xiangye and the guards like Liu Huashan carried back two jars of cured meat and six jars of chrysanthemum wine.
Caiyu and the other little maids stewed a big pot of a southern dish - salted meat and bamboo shoots stew - with cured meat, pickled mustard greens and winter bamboo shoots.
The unique cured meat gave off a rich aroma, accompanied by the mustard greens that relieved greasiness and the incredibly fresh winter bamboo shoots.
One was salty and the other was fresh. It had the charm of winter and the vitality of spring.
When the wine gushed out of the jar, it splashed into the large bowl, forming transparent bubbles, and then flowed into Caiyu's mouth like a stream.
It was so refreshing!
How long had it been since she had drunk so recklessly?
Unconsciously, her vision became blurry. The heroism usually hidden under her charm was awakened by the alcohol.
"The plum blossoms are in bloom!" Someone exclaimed in surprise.
Perhaps because of the warm weather today, the originally budding wintersweet flowers were slowly blooming.
Caiyu opened her blurry eyes and saw that a gust of wind blew, and the plum petals fell like red rain on her temples.
When Song Yinghuai came back, he saw this incredibly beautiful scene.
He was in a daze. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Lan Yuanyi, the founding hero of the Great Ye Kingdom he had seen when he was young.
But Caiyu's current appearance was even more shocking than that hot - blooded old general.
The red brocade was like battle blood, setting off her graceful hair. Several plum blossoms fell on her, adding a heroic and charming touch to her.
She was like a female hero lying drunk on the battlefield, both heroic and charming.
Song Yinghuai couldn't help but step forward, reached out and pinched a plum petal on her temple, and collided with her bleary eyes.