Xie Jing shifted his legs beneath the quilt before edging Lu Lingcong toward the side of the bed and telling him to get down and stand steady, only lifting the quilt and rising from the bed once that was done. He was just about to put on his shoes when Lu Lingcong told him there was no need; after drinking, he should go straight to the next room, change his clothes, bathe, and then rest, sparing himself the extra trouble.
So Xie Jing simply sat in the spot Lu Lingcong was just in, his feet resting on the footstool, and saw Lu Lingcong give an order; the group of maids who had escorted him back in the afternoon then entered with light steps, their jade ornaments jingling and their skirts rustling, which sounded pleasant.
So, Xie Jing simply took the place where Lu Lingcong had just been sitting with his feet resting on the footstool and watched as Lu Lingcong gave an order. The maids who had escorted him back that afternoon then entered on light steps, as their jade pendants chiming and skirts whispering together in a soft, pleasing sound.
The woman leading them said, “Your Highness and Princess Consort, please perform the ‘communal meal’ rite.” The meat was replaced with raw pastries, which were presented and offered to the two of them to taste. Xie Jing took a symbolic bite, noting that it seemed to be an uncooked plum blossom dumpling, and thought to himself what a waste of good food.
Following that, two gourds of wine tied with red string were served. Xie Jing instantly smelled that it was Meishan Snow Brew, surmising that there was only enough fermented wine for the hejin rite and not enough to entertain guests, which was why ordinary fruit wine and rice wine were used for the banquet today.
Lu Lingcong stood a little ahead of Xie Jing, took up the wine, kept one gourd in his own hand, and passed the other to Xie Jing. Entangled by the red thread, he had no choice but to drop to one knee in a half-kneeling position; slightly lower than the seated Xie Jing. He leaned forward a little, lowered his gaze, and drank the wine from the gourd.
The maidservant then presented a lacquer tray, on which rested a small golden pair of scissors, a cloud brocade purse, and a strand of red silk thread, before respectfully saying, “Your Highness and Princess Consort, please perform the ‘hair-tying’ rite.”
Lu Lingcong straightened and looked back, momentarily taken aback, having clearly forgotten all about the hair-tying ritual. Eating a bite of raw food and drinking a cup of warm wine were common, and going along with a performance was fine, but since hair and skin were received from one’s parents, this was not something to be taken lightly.
He looked at Xie Jing and seeing that the latter had no reaction and neither agreed nor disagreed, he said, “Put it down for now.”
In Prince Zhao’s Mansion, Lu Lingcong was truly the absolute authority and never had to read anyone’s expression. The maidservant, hearing this, placed the lacquer tray on the small table by the bed without any objection and then asked Lu Lingcong with her eyes if they should attend to their changing clothes.
Lu Lingcong had not allowed anyone to attend to his daily life and dressing since he left the palace, but he did not know Xie Jing’s habits and was about to ask him, only to find that Xie Jing’s reaction was much bigger than when he heard about the hair-tying rite just now. He seemed very apprehensive, fearing that this group of flower-like maidens would swarm forward and strip his clothes clean.
Lu Lingcong found it amusing and intended to tease him. He deliberately spoke loudly: “Attend to the Princess Consort, except for the wedding robe.”
Xie Jing instantly sprang up from the bed and shouted, “Wait, I’ll do it myself!”
With that, he pushed Lu Lingcong behind him: “I’ll take care of His Highness’s as well!”
The maidservant was very tactful, lowering her gaze submissively: “Princess Consort is of noble body, there is no need to condescend to do these small tasks.”
Xie Jing loudly declared, “It’s alright! It should be this way! Thank you all for your hard work!”
He looked back at Lu Lingcong for confirmation: “Do I have a say in this mansion?”
Lu Lingcong suppressed a laugh and nodded, adopting an expression of respectful attention.
Xie Jing then said, “Then let’s establish a rule today, His Highness’s daily life from now on will be personally attended to by me; you all do not need to touch any of these matters—and certainly not touch me.”
When he was at the Xie’s Mansion, he had his father and older brother above him, so his words carried little weight, and he rarely paid attention to major family affairs. Only at this moment did Xie Jing, like the fox borrowing the tiger might, experience the pleasure of having “supreme authority,” and the servants and maidservants immediately bowed and said yes, retreating quietly and swiftly.
Xie Jing let out a sigh of relief, turned around, and looked at Lu Lingcong, whom he had naturally pressed back onto the side of the bed. Just as he was about to voice a small complaint, he suddenly caught sight of the other party’s odd expression of biting his lip, clearly struggling to hold back laughter, he hissed, “Did you do this on purpose?”
Lu Lingcong raised an eyebrow and, instead of answering, asked, “Didn’t you just set a rule? Shouldn’t the lower follow the example of the higher?”
Xie Jing was silent for a moment, looking at him deeply: “Are you sure?”
Lu Lingcong spread his hands, signaling him to proceed as he pleased.
Xie Jing, however, took two steps back as he pointed beyond the thick crimson curtains: “Lead the way.”
Lu Lingcong hadn’t expected him to take it seriously. He burst out laughing, then stood up and made a “please” gesture. Xie Jing followed him all the way out of the bedroom, walking through the back hall to the side room on the west side of the small courtyard—he was quite certain this distance already put him on the other side, and that walking along the corridor should have worked as well, yet perhaps because he was barefoot, Lu Lingcong did not take him outside.
Upon entering the side room, the first thing that met the eye was a screen embroidered with the complete scroll of Zhan Ziqian’s [Spring Outing], sealing off the inner space tightly like a spirit screen. Passing around it, the space suddenly opened up. To his surprise, there was a lotus-shaped bathing pool with a bottom carved from white jade; at its four corners, chiwen-shaped gargoyles gurgled forth hot water. Beside the pool stood a long couch and a clothes rack, already hung with a clean change of garments.
Prince Zhao’s Mansion was built in a bustling city, thousands of miles away from Mount Tang, so drawing spring water must not have been easy. Xie Jing didn’t know how Lu Lingcong managed to carve out such a hot pool, he only thought to himself that he was indeed worthy of having been immersed in the frivolous circles of Jinling for many years; Prince Zhao not only had fund to spend but also the skill to enjoy.
Lu Lingcong went in first, bent down to test the water with his fingertips, then turned to face Xie Jing, who stood quietly behind him. He spread his arms slightly and said, in a leisurely tone, “Come on.”
It wasn’t as though Xie Jing had never seen Lu Lingcong change before. That night in Mount Tang, Lu Lingcong had shed his soaked clothes right in front of him, and the two of them had faced each other bare-chested, soaking in the steam-filled water for half the night. There was nothing to feel awkward about. But at this moment, Lu Lingcong stood there in an inviting stance, waiting for him to personally undo the sash of his formal wedding robes, a sight that filled Xie Jing with an indescribable sense of awkwardness.
Luckily, undressing Lu Lingcong was never his real aim, so Xie Jing let out a quiet breath of relief, stepped closer, stretched out his arms, and, in a posture faintly like an embrace, rested his hands at Lu Lingcong’s waist.
He set them there with the lightest touch, so gentle it was almost as if there was no weight at all.
He hesitated there for a long while without making any further moves. With his arms held out, Lu Lingcong was beginning to feel sore, so he dipped his head slightly; his breath brushed past Xie Jing’s cheek, close enough to be clearly heard, and he softly let out a sound through his nose: “Mm?”
Xie Jing felt Lu Lingcong’s breath lift the loose, unbound strands of hair and blow them back behind his ear; the ticklish brush against his skin made him shiver involuntarily and draw his shoulders in.
Lu Lingcong clearly noticed his reaction. Just as he raised his head to slightly increase the distance between them, Xie Jing’s fingers suddenly applied force, pinching the lean, firm muscle at Lu Lingcong’s waist.
Then he tickled him a few times.
Lu Lingcong was unmoved.
Xie Jing scrunched his nose, slid his hand a few inches upward to Lu Lingcong’s ribs, and gave him a few tentative ticklish prods.
Lu Lingcong lifted his brows high, fixing his gaze on Xie Jing as he looked at him.
Xie Jing was a bit embarrassed but also unwilling to give up and looked away: “Oh, so you’re not afraid of—”
Before he could get the rest of his words out, Lu Lingcong had already seized Xie Jing’s wrist with one hand and pivoted his whole body around, turning him to face the bathing pool with his back to the screen. His nape was pinned beneath a palm with his head forced sharply down; his slender shoulder blades jutted out in a helpless line, leaving him held in near disarray before Lu Lingcong.
“So, I’m not afraid of being tickled?”
Before Xie Jing could cry out in pain, Lu Lingcong abruptly released him; his palm only gave a mild shove forward, and with his support gone, Xie Jing was immediately tipped by him into the steaming hot spring.
The water was neither deep nor scalding, but being plunged into it all at once, while not harmful, was still undeniably uncomfortable. Xie Jing tumbled in sideways, coughing as he swallowed water and flailed briefly. A splash sounded behind him, Lu Lingcong had presumably entered the pool, and almost instantly, he felt strong arms wrap around his waist, lifting him out of the water.
Xie Jing lifted his head and drew in several sharp breaths while pressing against Lu Lingcong’s shoulder and back as he coughed for an extended time. Sensing the other’s hand still moving over his back, he was immediately filled with both anger and distress, which made his coughing worsen even more.
At last, regaining his breath, he swept aside his drenched sideburns; his eyes and earlobes-tinged crimson as he shot a cold glare at Lu Lingcong, who was observing him with interest.
The wedding clothes were richly embroidered, and after being soaked in hot water, they clung to his body in an unbearably oppressive way. Xie Jing ignored everything else, impatiently shoved Lu Lingcong’s arm off him, and hurriedly stripped off his outer garment until only his undergarment was left, flinging the crimson robe aside; it twirled like a falling petal and slowly sank to the bottom of the pool.
His gaze did not waver an inch throughout the process; he just stared intently at the culprit in front of him, extinguishing the triumphant smile that was initially on Lu Lingcong’s lips, making him realize that he had indeed done something wicked and outrageous, and he could no longer stand idly by under that look of accusation and reproach.
“Did you get scalded?” Lu Lingcong said sheepishly.
Xie Jing’s lips were tightly sealed; he did not want to say another word to Lu Lingcong. Only his eyes did not let him go, making Lu Lingcong feel as though daggers were behind his back.
He didn’t know what kind of mentality Lu Lingcong had that made him so happy to see him make a fool of himself. Was it because he viewed him the same way as the local capital’s gentry boys, and so he was being playful and jesting with him, or was it because the entire day had been too boring and procedural, and he was simply having fun at his expense?
Lu Lingcong truly hadn’t fully realized that Xie Jing was different from his close friends who grew up rough housing around the drill grounds and military camps. The idea that “hitting shows affection, scolding shows love” was nonsense; he couldn’t just throw a few punches when in a good mood or deliver a few kicks when annoyed, and problems certainly couldn’t be solved with blunt, crude force.
The core issue was that he didn’t know how to interact with Xie Jing—not the kind of brief interaction they had during their quick meetings over the past few months, but the “interaction” of being together day and night as a couple. He didn’t know how to live a life with Xie Jing.
He could not treat Xie Jing the way he treated Lu Lingzhen, nor as he did Li Qi, and even less could he treat Xie Jing the way he treated Miss Cui.
Now that he had angered the Princess Consort he had just married three hours ago, who was going to tell him what to do?
Before he could figure out a way to placate him, the only thing Lu Lingcong could do was apologize sincerely, so he said, “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have teased you just now, and I certainly shouldn’t have pushed you in.”
He actually wanted to add an explanation of “I know the temperature and the risks, if you went down, I would also follow, so I wouldn’t let you get hurt, bruised, bumped, or scalded,” but he was afraid of being too clever for his own good, so he stopped himself in time.
“I’m truly not ticklish under my ribs or on my waist, but I am ticklish on the soles of my feet. If you don’t mind the feeling, you can tickle them as much as you like. I promise not to fight back; no, not to kick back.”
Xie Jing was taking down his hair bun, flicking the gold hairpin onto the edge of the pool. His water-soaked sleeve clung tightly to his raised pale arm, while the heat had steamed his elbow to a faint pink.
He was still glaring chillingly at Lu Lingcong while listening to the other party sincerely saying, “I am not the one of high rank, you are. In the first place, I ought to be serving you; there is no need for the Princess Consort to lower himself to such trifling tasks. You bathe at ease first, and I’ll go fetch your shoes—”
Xie Jing’s expression finally softened slightly under this piece of nonsense. He slowly spread out his dripping wet long hair, looked down, and glanced at his outer robe quietly lying in the water, and said,
“I don’t like outsiders touching me.”
Lu Lingcong was stunned for a moment, then realized that Xie Jing was protesting his earlier act of falsely ordering the maids to help him change his clothes—in Xie Jing’s subconscious, all the servants and maids of his “new home,” Prince Zhao’s Mansion, were still considered outsiders.
There weren’t many servants in Xie Jing’s dowry; Lu Lingcong had quickly glanced at them in the afternoon and, without much thought, handed them all over to Steward Zhou to settle. It seemed he would have to give an order after the bath to call for two maids born and raised in the Xie’s Mansion to wait on him.
At once, Lu Lingcong realized that, though there had been a gradual process of adjustment, Xie Jing had never resisted physical contact with him, whether it was supporting each other, holding hands, being carried on his back, having his ankle grasped by him, being carried over the threshold, or even having breath passed from lips to lips, Xie Jing had shown no obvious rejection.
After struggling for quite a while between “I’m not an outsider” and “I’m not even human,” Lu Lingcong belatedly chose the former.”
Xie Jing saw him stand there motionless and irritably shouted again, “It’s too hot!”
This was an answer to “Did you get scalded?” Lu Lingcong woke up as if from a dream, suddenly realizing that his mission to appease seemed to have succeeded on the first try, so he waded over to Xie Jing and softened his tone: “I truly know I was wrong. From now on, I will follow the rules you set, and no one will touch you.”
Saying this, he took Xie Jing’s forearm and pulled him close, making him stand with his bare feet on his insteps, which were even cooler than the bottom of the pool. The excessive proximity forced Xie Jing to turn his face to one side, and his two arms were guided by Lu Lingcong to loop around his back neck, practically sticking intimately close to each other.
Then Lu Lingcong deliberately emphasized, “No one will touch you.”
Xie Jing hadn’t expected Lu Lingcong’s solution to the ‘too hot’ problem to be simply letting him stand on the top of his feet. Initially, he didn’t dare to step firmly, just standing on his tiptoes and wrapping his arms around Lu Lingcong’s neck to barely steady himself. But tensing his feet for so long in the water would cause cramps in his soles, so Xie Jing wanted to step back and stand apart from Lu Lingcong, but the latter suddenly gave a lift to his buttocks, and using the buoyancy, lifted him horizontally into his arms, then sat down against the pool wall by letting Xie Jing lean against his chest.
The water rose to just below Lu Lingcong’s shoulders. Xie Jing sat astride his thighs, slightly higher than him with half his back exposed above the water, and with the sudden movement, he tightened the arms hooked around Lu Lingcong, clinging firmly to his chest.
Lu Lingcong patted his shoulder: “Loosen up a bit, you’re going to choke me.”
Xie Jing quickly loosened his elbows and switched to using his right hand to grasp Lu Lingcong’s shoulder, while his other hand rested awkwardly on his bent knee beneath the water.
It was only then that he noticed Lu Lingcong hadn’t worn his outer robe when he came over, and his outer shirt was already off before he got into the water. At that moment, like Xie Jing, he wore only a plain white undergarment with the sash loosely fastened, and the front hanging half open, with the lines of his collarbone and chest clearly on display.
Lu Lingcong’s left arm encircled him, his palm resting against his slender waist to hold him in place as he said quietly, “You’re too thin.”
Xie Jing remembered the words his mother had said to him that morning and tentatively said, “I’ve been like this since I was little.”
Lu Lingcong nodded with no specific reaction, only saying, “I previously arranged for a cook skilled in Yu cuisine, who is said to be coming to the mansion after the fifteenth. You can try his food then, and we can change him if he’s not suitable.”
“Thank you.” Xie Jing had to admit that Lu Lingcong’s attentiveness towards him did not conflict with his eagerness to annul the engagement when he found the chance at all, but this was not what he wanted to talk about.
“You don’t remember any of it either?”
Lu Lingcong turned his face to slightly look at Xie Jing’s delicate eyelashes: “Remember what?”
Under his gaze, Xie Jing found himself at a loss for words. He lowered his head, resting his chin on the back of his right hand hooked over Lu Lingcong’s shoulder, almost leaning into Lu Lingcong’s arms in an intimate embrace.
Immediately, Lu Lingcong heard a muffled whisper coming from a few inches behind his ear: “My mother said I ran into you when I went to kowtow in the West Palace when I was little.”
Lu Lingcong hadn’t fully adapted to the sensation of having someone embraced in front of him and said somewhat stiffly, “…Really? Then I probably don’t remember.”
His candid admission of “not remembering” made Xie Jing feel a little indignant. He thought, according to Lu Lingzhang, Lu Lingcong’s life before leaving the palace should have been quite dull and boring. Wouldn’t an accidental encounter with an unfamiliar peer be enough to make the memory fresh for him?
So, Xie Jing emphasized, stressing the point: “She said you even took me to have a snowball fight.”
Lu Lingcong: “Can we even have a snowball fight with this little snow in Jinling?”
Xie Jing: “……”
Lu Lingcong suddenly said, “Oh”, as if having a sudden realization: “Now that you mention the snowball fight, I do remember. Yes, there was such a thing.”
He wasn’t Indulging him; it was genuinely because, as far back as he could remember, there had only been one occasion when the snow in Jinling was deep enough for a snowball fight. Although it was nearly ten years ago, it was a very rare experience, and a few clear images did remain in his mind.
Xie Jing heard him stop talking and pressed his fingertips on him: “And then?”
Lu Lingcong patted his lower back in agreement: “I’ll tell you, but you’re not allowed to get angry.”
Xie Jing vaguely said, “That depends. You tell me first.”
Lu Lingcong seemed to let out a short laugh: “I vaguely remember that it might have been because when I first saw your back from behind that day, I thought you were Li Qi—my childhood friend, he was also with me that day when we went hunting outside the city.”
“Mmm, and then?”
“Then… then I grabbed a handful of snow, rushed up, and shoved it down your collar.”
Xie Jing abruptly sat straight up. Lu Lingcong quickly grabbed his free left wrist to prevent him from acting on his sudden anger and rocked it soothingly, unable to suppress the smile on the corner of his mouth: “After that, I genuinely don’t remember. I guess my mother must have given me a severe scolding, and I probably apologized and was extra careful with you, just like I did just now. But I also don’t remember being beaten, so you must have forgiven me very quickly.”
As he spoke, he slid his hand down from Xie Jing’s wrist, clasped his five fingers, and used the bottom joint to gently squeeze Xie Jing’s fingertips while the smile lingering in his eyes with a hint of sly pleading: “Princess Consort was already very magnanimous as a child, and now you are even more benevolent and wouldn’t hold a grudge against me, right?”
Xie Jing gazed at Lu Lingcong, his eyes half-lidded, a subtle curve lifting his cheeks, his canine tooth just visible, and his lips tinged a light pale. He didn’t answer, so Lu Lingcong continued to rock him, even learning quickly and using his other hand to lightly rub the ticklish spot on his waist.
Xie Jing suddenly arched his back; he was ticklish, and to avoid giving in, he could only withdraw his right hand from Lu Lingcong’s shoulder and drop it into the water to swat away the mischief-making claw on his waist, but before he could, he was tickled again, making his body sway and fall back to his original position.
Lu Lingcong burst out laughing.
He unconsciously tightened his arms, as if wanting to hug Xie Jing a little closer, but the latter stubbornly pushed for a little distance, lifted his face, and stared intently at his laughing lips with those cat-like round eyes.
Lu Lingcong recognized that familiar, mischievous expression in Xie Jing’s eyes again and, as if sensing something, pressed his lips together.
Then he heard Xie Jing slowly say, “Noble Consort even wanted me to call you gege.”
Saying this, he leaned in, tilting his head slightly to offset the angle. First gently rubbed his own nose against Lu Lingcong’s nose and then gave him a serious kiss with his soft, wet lips.
Immediately, Xie Jing pulled back a few inches, smiling through the water vapor, and looked directly at Lu Lingcong, “Do you even have the face to accept this address? Zifeng Gege?”
