"Stop it, okay? What if someone really comes!" Caiyu's voice carried a hint of coquetry.
Although his kisses made her feel good, they were in the Hall of Everlasting Spring of Empress Ma. She didn't dare to make any wanton sounds.
The tense nerves made the pleasure even more indescribable.
It was more intense than the time she had actively seduced Song Yinghuai in Yanjing.
Song Yinghuai didn't miss any subtle expression on her face.
He lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead, then deliberately pushed hard with his mischievous hand.
"You still say stop now?" He wickedly waved his glistening finger.
As he spoke, he lifted the brocade quilt and tucked them both in.
No one was allowed to see his woman.
Not even if the other was a female.
Intermittent moans came from inside the brocade quilt.
It was not until Caiyu let out a few sharp cries that the slightly intoxicating atmosphere in the hall reached its peak. Then Song Yinghuai wrapped her up with a naughty smile and patted the woman wrapped like a silkworm chrysalis.
"I'll go out and ask the maids to prepare a bath for you."
The exhausted Caiyu lay flat on the bed, closing her eyes tiredly yet contentedly.
When she was on the verge of falling asleep unconsciously, she was helped by several maids into the lavatory and soaked in the bathtub.
Wrapped in the comfortable warm water, she gradually regained a bit of consciousness.
At the same time, she noticed that the little maids were looking at her body with shy smiles on their faces.
Caiyu suddenly lowered her head in alarm.
Her snow - white skin was covered with red marks, criss - crossing.
Caiyu was immediately mortified, and a wave of annoyance welled up in her heart.
Although it wasn't the first time Song Yinghuai had left her like this.
But this was the imperial palace!
It was the side hall of the Hall of Everlasting Spring!
These maids were all the Empress's people!
If the Empress found out about her wanton behavior, would she be disgusted with her?
Facing the shy smiles of the little maids, Caiyu couldn't even raise her head. She stammered and asked, "Where's the Prince?"
The little maid replied with a smile, "The Prince has already washed up and is on his way to the main hall to pay his respects to the Empress."
"Oh."
Caiyu gave a dry response.
It made sense.
Song Yinghuai was going to pay his respects to the Empress. She was just a maid, and it didn't matter whether she went or not.
There were countless maids in this palace, and there were countless cases of maids being privately favored by the princes.
What she and Song Yinghuai had done last night was just an ordinary thing in the eyes of these maids who had seen it all.
Caiyu pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "I wonder if I can take a stroll in the palace later?"
The Crown Prince should enter the palace to discuss state affairs every day. Maybe she would have a chance to meet him.
The little maid nodded. "You can go wherever you like, miss. His Highness the Prince of Yan has given instructions that after he pays his respects to the Empress, he will go to see the Emperor and won't be back for a while. So he specifically told me that you can go wherever you want to visit, but just don't get close to the Zhaoyang Hall."
Seeing Caiyu looking a bit confused, the little maid explained, "The Zhaoyang Hall is in the east of the Hall of Everlasting Spring, and the Yongle Hall where you are now is in the west."
"The Zhaoyang Hall was where His Highness the Crown Prince lived before he established his own residence. The Crown Prince and Concubine Lü stayed there last night."
So that was it!
Caiyu suddenly understood.
What a coincidence!
She had come here to find the Crown Prince!
"I see." Caiyu nodded. "Thank you for telling me."
With a destination in mind, Caiyu couldn't sit still.
After a hasty bath, she left the Yongle Hall under the pretext of taking a stroll.
The little maid was worried and wanted to follow, but Caiyu stopped her.
Although they were all maids, Caiyu had a strong presence. Moreover, the words the Prince of Yan had left when he left showed that he valued this woman very much.
So these little maids didn't dare to follow her forcefully and had to let Caiyu leave on her own.
Caiyu had entered the palace when she was a child and had once come to the Hall of Everlasting Spring with her parents to pay respects to the Empress.
But she was only six years old at that time, so her memory was very faint.
Relying on that meager memory, she wandered around in the vast Hall of Everlasting Spring.
Finally, she got lost.
"Xuanyao!"
Lü Baiwei called out to Song Yinghuai who was leaving the Yanying Hall after meeting the Emperor.
After she had rushed out of the Yongle Hall in a hurry, she had been waiting here.
She knew that Song Yinghuai would definitely go to the Yanying Hall.
Song Yinghuai stopped in his tracks and looked back at Lü Baiwei.
The sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting sparse shadows that shifted and danced on the man's handsome face, filling the ground with a glow.
"Concubine Lü."
Facing Lü Baiwei who was excitedly walking towards him, Song Yinghuai's eyes flashed. He took two imperceptible steps back and saluted politely.
Lü Baiwei stopped in her tracks and looked at him in disbelief:
"What did you call me?"
"Concubine Lü?"
Song Yinghuai raised his eyes, straightened his body, and coldly retorted, "What else should I call you? You are the Crown Prince's concubine. It's not appropriate to call you sister - in - law either."
"You..." Lü Baiwei felt a blackout in front of her eyes. "You're holding a grudge against me for choosing the Crown Prince back then, so you're deliberately trying to anger me, right?"
It must be so.
Back then, she and Song Yinghuai were the so - called golden boy and jade girl in the capital.
But later she had turned to the Crown Prince.
Song Yinghuai must have felt very humiliated.
So he hadn't contacted her for seven years, and now when they met, he was cold and distant.
"I had no choice." Lü Baiwei's eyes turned red, and she was on the verge of tears. "My father suddenly passed away that year. The pillar of the Lü family had fallen, and my younger brother was still young. The glory of the Lü clan couldn't decline in our generation..."
"Officials in the court who disagreed with my father's opinions began to take advantage of the situation to attack us. Especially the Crown Prince's tutor. He wished to uproot the entire Lü family from the court."
"You were on the border confronting the Tatars at that time and had no time to take care of us. I, I really had no other way..."
Her tears were like broken pearls, sliding down her cheeks, crystal - clear and pitiful.
At first glance, she looked a bit like Caiyu when she cried.
Both of them were like pear blossoms in the rain, arousing people's pity.
It was a pity that not every woman could arouse Song Yinghuai's pity when crying like a pear blossom in the rain.
Back then...
The coldness in Song Yinghuai's eyes was palpable. "Back then, Concubine Lü knows best why the rumor that I was a golden boy and you were a jade girl spread in the capital..."
"But I had no romantic feelings for you. You are the daughter of my teacher and my junior sister. Out of respect for my teacher's teaching, whatever you like or want to do, as long as you say a word, I will do my best to help."
"Even when you spread the rumor that we were a golden boy and a jade girl, trying to make our false relationship real, I didn't care. The pure remains pure, and the turbid remains turbid. I was young at that time and didn't care about such reputations. You could do as you pleased."
Song Yinghuai's black pupils were full of energy, making Lü Baiwei dare not look directly at him.
So... he knew everything and had just let her do as she wished.
Her fingers trembled involuntarily, and her heart was filled with panic and uneasiness.
The long - held belief collapsed in just a few words from Song Yinghuai.
He had never liked her?
It was impossible.
How could this be possible?
Lü Baiwei felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on her chest. Every breath was like a struggle against an invisible shackle.
Lü Baiwei said in a trembling voice, "I, I thought that if a man allowed a woman to do whatever she wanted, it must be because he liked her, right? You liked me, so you let me have my way!"
Song Yinghuai's lowered eyelashes carried a coldness that kept people at a distance. "I just didn't want to deal with women. You are the daughter of my teacher, and I should respect you. I couldn't make you unhappy because of a trivial matter, or my teacher would be in a difficult position between us."
"I was wrong in this matter. I was young and inexperienced and gave you the wrong impression." Song Yinghuai sincerely apologized. "But since you have fallen in love with the eldest brother later, you should now stay by his side and be a loving couple with him."
"It's not like this!"
When Song Yinghuai mentioned Song Chengyuan, Lü Baiwei became even more excited, and her face began to distort. "I don't like Song Chengyuan! I hate him!"
She took a step forward and tried to grab Song Yinghuai's hand. "Xuanyao, you're still angry, aren't you?"
"You're deliberately trying to distance yourself from me because you're angry, right?"