SEHE Chapter 39

Intention and Movement 

Pei Yanci turned past the screen, and inside the chamber, a circular pool had been carved into the ground. It was about one zhang and five chi in diameter, with varying depths—the deepest parts were three to four chi, while the shallow areas were just over two chi, convenient for sitting and bathing while enjoying the service of maidservants and eunuch attendants.

The pool walls were lined with white jade, and the clear, fragrant water gave off a subtle scent like orchid or musk. White heron bronze branching lamps were arranged all around. A group of maidservants and eunuch attendants knelt respectfully in two rows with bowed heads. When he stretched out his arms, they rose in an orderly fashion to help him remove his clothes and shoes.

Once in the water, beautiful maidservants used silk cloths to wash his arms while young eunuch attendants massaged his shoulders and neck for relaxation. Pei Yanci couldn’t help but sigh with pleasure.

It had been less than a month since his soul had possessed this body, and the events of his previous life already felt like distant memories. It had been so long since he’d felt this comfortable.

Looking at the furnishings and arrangements in Gu Jiuqing’s courtyard, they couldn’t compare to the luxury of a single eunuch.

He sank down slightly in the water, tilting his head back to rest against the pool’s edge. Above him, he saw a string of fist-sized night-pearls embedded in the arched ceiling beams, surrounded by paintings of five men and five women, completely naked, engaging in perverse acts that defied the natural order of heaven and earth.

“……”

Looking more carefully, the people in the painting weren’t copulating but rather killing each other. They used their mouths to tear flesh from each other’s bodies, and their fingernails had become weapons, stabbing toward each other’s eyes. Splattered blood formed blooming red flowers. Their limbs were twisted and broken, yet their expressions were joyful and satisfied, completely immersed in this feast of human flesh.

Even Gu Jiuqing didn’t have such malicious taste.

This painting, of unknown origin, seemed to possess some kind of dark magic. Just looking at it for a short while made him feel dizzy and disoriented, as if evil thoughts were entering his body.

Pei Yanci emerged from the pool, and maidservants quickly dried the water droplets from his body and helped him into his undergarments.

Turning past the screen, he happened to see Tang Xizhui entering from outside, water dripping from the ends of his hair—clearly having just returned from bathing elsewhere.

Having shed his elaborate attire, he now wore only a simple white gauze robe, making him appear even more like a lotus emerging from clear water, with a different kind of beauty.

His skin was very pale, so white it seemed to merge with the gauze robe. But under the candlelight, that gauze robe appeared almost translucent as snow, outlining the hazy, ambiguous shadow of his broad back, narrow waist, and straight, strong legs.

Sensing the unusual gaze, Tang Xizhui turned to look.

Pei Yanci quickly averted his eyes, looking elsewhere without purpose.

In this short time, the room’s furnishings had been completely renewed—famous calligraphy and ancient paintings, withered wood and bamboo stones, everything extraordinarily antique. Even the bed curtains had been changed to pine and bamboo gold-painted brown silk to match.

The room wasn’t as bright as the bathing pool had been, and now several more lamps had been extinguished, making it even more dimly lit.

A group of attendants and maidservants silently bowed and withdrew, leaving only the two of them in the room.

Not knowing what to say at the moment, Pei Yanci pretended to yawn and was the first to lie on the bed, even patting the empty space beside him.

“Chief Steward Pei seems to frequent pleasure quarters often—inviting someone to bed with such practiced ease,” Tang Xizhui said with a half-smile, removing his wooden clogs and lying beside him, half-reclining against the couch.

“Naturally I cannot compare to Nine-Thousand-Years. Who knows how much blood this bed has been stained with.” Perhaps because he had patted the bed earlier, he listened intently, “Why do I feel like there’s movement under the bed?”

“Rats.”

“You have rats in your room?” Pei Yanci would sooner believe in ghosts and demons.

“Mm.” Tang Xizhui acknowledged this without changing expression.

Pei Yanci: “……Alright then.”

Besides rats, he couldn’t think what else it might be.

“Are you afraid of rats?”

He asked in a lazy tone, reaching out to brush the stray hair from his forehead.

Pei Yanci caught his hand.

To be honest, he was somewhat nervous at the moment.

In the carriage, he had already sensed the vast difference in their physical strength. If Tang Xizhui really wanted to do something to him, he truly had no way to resist.

“Earlier in the carriage, Nine-Thousand-Years mentioned a whip—where is it?”

Waiting for others to mercifully spare him wasn’t his style—better to take the initiative.

He knew Tang Xizhui had developed an interest in him, the same kind of interest as his desire to inflict violence on others. Perhaps it was because his contradictory identity made him curious, perhaps because he was a close attendant to his political enemy Gu Jiuqing and he wanted to use him as a substitute for venting his anger, or perhaps simply because his temperament suited his taste and excited him, making him want to personally humiliate and abuse him.

But he didn’t want that.

He didn’t want to be hurt, and even less did he want to let Tang Xizhui have his way so quickly, only to lose interest in him afterward.

Dealing with such a person was dangerous, but his status could bring him great benefits.

“You want it?” Tang Xizhui was clearly in good spirits. “This lord has no reason not to oblige.”

“The Crown Prince’s narrow escape from death this time, and His Majesty even gave him administrative power—since I failed to fulfill my previous promise, Nine-Thousand-Years should indeed punish me.” Pei Yanci placed one hand lightly on his shoulder, leaning close to his ear and breathing warm air into his ear canal. “Use the whip to punish me severely.”

Tang Xizhui’s captured hand suddenly tightened, gripping his hand in return, his gaze filled with bone-deep, heart-cutting desire.

“If you truly thought this way, you would have brought it up when we last met.” His voice was calm in its statement, lacking his usual sarcastic tone, though his voice had become tense.

“Taking initiative to admit fault is better than having Nine-Thousand-Years settle old scores and blame me later.” Pei Yanci’s cold nose tip lightly touched his cheek, nuzzling intimately. “I’m merely an insignificant servant. Rather than my admission of guilt and punishment, what Nine-Thousand-Years truly wants is probably the destruction of the Eastern Palace and Gu Jiuqing’s downfall. Could Nine-Thousand-Years spare me this punishment and give this lowly one a chance to make amends through meritorious service?”

This little fox was beginning to switch concepts. His desire to torment people in bed was purely for sexual release, not punishment. Tang Xizhui’s eyes grew dark as deep water, but he didn’t argue the point.

“Tomorrow, people from the Sun family’s trading house in the south of the city will bring servants to the Crown Prince’s Mansion for me to choose from. I will certainly select Nine-Thousand-Years’ people then.” Pei Yanci said, “They’ll start as lowly servants and won’t know how many years it will take to become the Crown Prince’s confidants. But now, you have a ready-made one standing on your side who has already won the Crown Prince’s trust and advises him on strategy.”

Some of the burning intensity in Tang Xizhui’s gaze dimmed.

“Are you threatening this lord?” If he didn’t touch him tonight, Pei Yanci would continue working for him, but if he did, he would lose an ally while Gu Jiuqing would gain someone wholeheartedly devoted to advising him.

“If it were truly a threat, Nine-Thousand-Years probably wouldn’t let me see tomorrow’s sun.” Pei Yanci smiled slightly. “I only want to help Nine-Thousand-Years. Today, Nine-Thousand-Years led the Eastern Palace officials here and demanded me in front of everyone to humiliate the Crown Prince—wasn’t it all to make them recognize the situation? If Nine-Thousand-Years wants complete control over the Eastern Palace, tell me, who else in the Crown Prince’s Mansion understands Nine-Thousand-Years’ thoughts better or could help Nine-Thousand-Years achieve his goals more quickly than I?”

He pressed his upper body against Tang Xizhui’s arm and chest in an ambiguous posture, lifting his head to look at him with completely clear eyes.

Tang Xizhui’s gaze was profound and deep.

“Wang Gu, the Grand Secretary of the Secretariat, is loyal to this lord.” After a long while, he said, “Tomorrow this lord will have someone inform him. In the future, when there are matters, you may confidently order him to act, and he will fully support you.”

“Thank you, Nine-Thousand-Years.” Pei Yanci was somewhat tired and lay back down beside him. “Nine-Thousand-Years’ martial arts are so excellent—when you have free time in the future, could you teach me?”

Having finally regained his health, he had encountered someone with superior martial arts skills. If next time he met not Tang Xizhui but someone else, he feared he would have no power to protect himself.

“With your aptitude, even ten years of training would hardly achieve thirty percent of this lord’s skill.” Tang Xizhui laughed mockingly. “At sixteen, your bone structure is almost set. If you were to learn, it would only be asking for suffering. Better to abandon that notion.”

He waited a while but heard no response. Instead, the breathing beside his ear became long and steady.

Turning his head to look, Pei Yanci’s soft, thin lips were slightly parted, already fast asleep and completely unaware.

Tang Xizhui couldn’t help but laugh helplessly.

He released Pei Yanci’s hand and adjusted his body into a more comfortable position. Pei Yanci frowned and made a soft sound, but didn’t wake up.

Tang Xizhui didn’t dare move him again.

Supporting his head with one hand, he quietly stared at Pei Yanci’s peaceful sleeping face.

In the darkness where no one was watching, within the dark purple pupils filled with shadows, the deepest and most filthy desires buried and suppressed in his heart were finally released without restraint.

His pale, slender hand trembled with excitement as it reached out.

Pei Yanci’s face bore barely visible fine down that fluttered gently with his steady breathing, like a peach just about to ripen, lustrous white with a hint of tender pink.

Just as it was about to touch his face, the hand stopped.

Tang Xizhui knew his hands and fingertips were ice-cold.

Not human—utterly without warmth.

The hand hung suspended in the air for a moment, then instead tucked a strand of hair from Pei Yanci’s temple behind his ear.

A rustling sound arose. Tang Xizhui got off the bed, put on his outer robe, and left the room.

When the sound of the door closing came, Pei Yanci waited a long time before seemingly casually turning toward the wall and opening his eyes.

Before him was complete darkness. The last few lamps in the room had also been extinguished by Tang Xizhui.

There was no second person around.

Beside his pillow lay a martial arts manual and a small, delicate sleeve arrow. If he had truly been fast asleep, he could easily have been injured by the sharp arrowhead.

But they weren’t placed on Tang Xizhui’s side where he had been lying, but on the inner side.

As if he knew Pei Yanci would definitely turn toward the wall and see them immediately, then put them away.

By pretending to sleep, he had kept the conversation within safe, casual bounds, hoping to muddle through the night this way.

Tang Xizhui knew he was pretending to sleep.

Pei Yanci felt somewhat conflicted.

He placed the items outside the bed and pulled up the covers.

The blanket had been lying on by that fellow and had already absorbed some of the aphrodisiac fragrance.

Another sleepless night ahead. Pei Yanci thought with a headache.

Throughout the entire night, Tang Xizhui never appeared again.

****

Early the next morning, Pei Yanci didn’t even eat breakfast, having the mansion prepare a carriage to send him back.

As he yawned and dozed with the swaying of the carriage, he realized that the redness and swelling Tang Xizhui had accidentally caused yesterday evening had almost completely faded.

Without applying medicine, and having only been grasped by Tang Xizhui last night, how quickly it had healed was quite telling.

“Really unnecessary trouble.”

Pei Yanci sighed in frustration, yet couldn’t help but smile.