A sly smile played on Dugu Luanyue's plump, scarlet lips. "To repay a debt of gratitude," she said.
Aunt Mei Jiang went downstairs and fetched a set of guard's uniform, placing it on the table. Softly, she said,
"Your Highness, you can leave the Lantern Festival affairs to this old servant and Yu Zan. After all, back in Southern Chu, this old servant helped your mother handle such matters.
Your Highness, feel free to do as you please. There's no need to worry about anything."
Dugu Luanyue glanced at the darkening sky. If Murong Min didn't send someone to inform her that he was coming to her chambers for the night by now, it was highly likely that he wouldn't come at all.
Her eyes softened as she looked at Aunt Mei Jiang.
"Thank you, Aunt. If it weren't for you during our journey to Northern Yan, I don't know how difficult my life would have been."
Aunt Mei Jiang handed over the clothes. "Your Highness, change quickly. This old servant will always stand behind you, no matter what."
Dugu Luanyue gave Aunt Mei Jiang a grateful look before quickly changing into the clothes. She coiled her hair into a guard's topknot and slipped out of her chambers under the cover of night.
As she walked, she thought that the hot - spring palace was much better than the imperial palace. There were fewer guards, and the lush trees provided excellent cover.
Wearing the scarlet uniform of a guard, she walked along several hidden and winding paths before reaching the door of the chambers where Huo Wei lived.
The noble Prince of Yuzhang lived in a secluded chamber. It wasn't that he was being humble; in fact, it was Dugu Luanyue's own arrangement so that she could easily find him.
"Where did you come from, little guard? What do you want with our Prince?"
Meng Tan blocked the door. He was tall and imposing, exuding a rough and wild air of a warrior.
Dugu Luanyue lowered her head. "I'm an informant of the Prince. I'm here to report new clues."
Meng Tan sized up this skinny figure. "Do you have any weapons? Let me check."
Just as his hand was about to reach out, a voice from inside stopped him. "Let him in."
Dugu Luanyue walked in with her head down. She saw Huo Wei standing in the corridor under the night sky. He was looking at her with a cold expression, showing no sign of joy. Slowly approaching him, she said, "What, not happy to see me?"
Huo Wei stood there with his arms folded, not moving an inch. His black eyes scrutinized her several times.
He didn't expect Dugu Luanyue to look so special in men's clothing. Her delicate and charming face was still alluring, but now with a touch of masculine handsomeness. Her eyebrows and eyes were extremely delicate and lively.
"What do you want with this King?" he asked calmly.
Dugu Luanyue stepped on Huo Wei's long boots embroidered with gold - lined cloud patterns with her black military boots. Leaning in closer, she said with a coquettish smile, "To repay a debt of gratitude."
Huo Wei looked down at his shoes and then at her. Suddenly, he pulled his feet away. Dugu Luanyue leaned forward and fell into his arms. Laughing, she said,
"Fun, isn't it, Huo Wei?"
Huo Wei's face remained cold. Only then did he realize that she had deliberately waited for him to pull away so that she could fall into his arms.
He pushed her away from his embrace. "Go back on your own. There's no need for you to repay me."
Dugu Luanyue said, "Last time, you really said some harsh words to me, and I almost believed them. But in the Biqing Pond incident, you did so much for me. You can't just say that you were being helpful, right? Why did you save me?"
Huo Wei said coldly, "Just think of me as being meddlesome. This is a one - time thing."
Dugu Luanyue could sense that Huo Wei was being extremely cold to her today, even colder than in the Biqing Pond.
She leaned closer to Huo Wei and sniffed. "Why do you have the smell of roses on you?"
There were definitely no roses in this season. Even the rose cakes she ate last time were made by the shopkeeper preserving roses as rose jam during the rose - blooming season.
Huo Wei took a step back. "Are you a dog?"
Dugu Luanyue walked over and wrapped her arms around his slender and firm waist. Looking up at him with her bright, watery eyes, she coquettishly said, "Then will you keep a puppy? Woof, woof, woof..."
Huo Wei didn't want to have any entanglement with her and stopped looking at her. "No. I only eat them."
She gave him a resentful look, and her hands started to get naughty. She reached into his warm chest just to warm her hands.
"Huo Wei, you're so cold to me. Do you really not like me at all? Or, what do you want me to do?"
Huo Wei lowered his long eyes and glanced at her. He felt the coldness from his chest. "Stop fooling around," he said, but he didn't pull her hands out. He just let her warm them.
Dugu Luanyue turned around and stepped on the railing in the corridor. She jumped onto Huo Wei's back and wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Isn't that why I came here tonight, just to cause trouble for you?" She clung to Huo Wei's back and refused to get off. She kissed his earlobe from behind.
The sweet and charming fragrance unique to Dugu Luanyue wafted over, and there were two soft mounds pressing against his back. Huo Wei was, after all, a young and passionate man. He couldn't resist the slightest provocation. His Adam's apple rolled.
He growled, "Do you believe I'll throw you off?"
Dugu Luanyue whispered in his ear, "I don't believe it."
Huo Wei took a deep breath. Shen Guilan's words echoed in his mind again. He gritted his teeth. "Dugu Luanyue, there's a generation gap between us!"
Hearing this, Dugu Luanyue jumped off Huo Wei's back.
"I came here today to ask you seriously.
Why did you say those words to me that day? And does our cooperation still count?"
Huo Wei said, "What this King wants, you can't give; what you want, this King can't give either.
Let's call off the cooperation. Please leave on your own, Your Majesty the Queen. After spring comes, this King will petition the Emperor for conscription and advance the southward - going plan ahead of schedule."
Dugu Luanyue's eyes widened in shock. "Huo Wei, what do you mean!"
Huo Wei said, "Assisting the Emperor in unifying the world is the only ambition of this King, Huo Wei."
After saying that, he took out the rose cake from his bosom. "I'm fulfilling the promise I made to you last time. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other."
Dugu Luanyue glanced at the rose cake but didn't reach out to take it. Her voice was a bit excited.
"You're saying this because you don't trust me.
You don't believe that a mere woman like me can help you gain power. It's not that you look down on my status; it's that you look down on me for being a woman!"
Perhaps, except for her father, all other men in this world were biased against women, believing that women were born weak and couldn't accomplish great things.
Huo Wei's hand holding the rose cake remained still. "Do you want it? If not, I'll throw it away."
Dugu Luanyue was so angry that the corners of her eyes turned red. There was anger and helplessness in her charming eyes. "Don't want it. Throw it!"
Suddenly, the place on Dugu Luanyue's chest where she had once been stabbed throbbed with pain. She quickly covered her chest and frowned tightly.
Slowly, she hunched over. The place where she had been injured for Huo Wei last time was hurt again by him.
Huo Wei looked at her coldly. "Stop pretending."
Dugu Luanyue supported herself on the railing of the corridor and stood up with difficulty. After taking a look at him, she didn't say another word. She turned around unsteadily and left, with the pain in her chest still lingering.
It turned out that she couldn't even exchange her life for a glimmer of affection from Huo Wei.
Huo Wei looked up at the direction where she left. Then he noticed footsteps at the corner. He knew those footsteps all too well.
He quickly stepped forward, grabbed Dugu Luanyue's arm, and pinned her against a pillar in the corridor. Looking down at her, he pressed his thin lips against her rosy ones and kissed her passionately and wildly.
Dugu Luanyue was furious. At this moment, he even stuck his tongue in. She bit his tongue hard.