A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 72.1

As soon as Chen Liangyu saw her arrive, she could not stop laughing. She held up a wine cup, posturing as if inviting the moon to drink with her, even though the cup held not a single drop of wine. She slurred drunkenly, “Your Highness, give me five thousand more carts of grain/fodder. I want… I want to defeat the chieftain… Jing Ming is still waiting for me at the post house.”

Rong Jun quickly bowed in apology, “Your Highness, your servant knows his fault.”

Xie Wenjun descended the steps one by one. Though there were only three steps, she seemed to be descending from the Ninth Heaven. Every step she took was imperious.

The white-robed youths and the Longning Guards were already kneeling on the ground below.

Xie Wenjun, like a pine on a high cliff, followed by the wind and clouds, strode past everyone and stopped in front of Chen Liangyu. Chen Liangyu thought Xie Wenjun’s head was too plain, and she took the flowers she had plucked, one by one, and tucked them into Xie Wenjun’s hair, like a floral wreath. Finally, she had two small flowers left in her hand.

Chen Liangyu thought for a moment and crowned herself with them.

They were pinned on a bit crookedly. She fumbled on the top of her head for a moment to straighten them, and then gazed at Xie Wenjun.

“Is it beautiful?”

“It is beautiful.”

Chen Liangyu’s body swayed. She held onto the edge of the table and sat down, pulling on a corner of Xie Wenjun’s clothing. She pointed to the group of white-robed youths, “Since it’s beautiful, send all of them away and keep/support me.”

The kneeling people in the courtyard simultaneously lowered their heads another degree.

Lu Sutai and the others had busied themselves concocting various fruit wines, and a colorful assortment filled the table. Even a moderately heavy drinker could get half-drunk, let alone Chen Liangyu with her low tolerance.

Chen Liangyu seemed to be filled with grievances: “They are not as good as me.”

Xie Wenjun glanced up at Rong Jun, who quickly dismissed everyone else, removed the guards at the door, and then retreated himself.

Xie Wenjun leaned down slightly, “Do you know what they were sent here to do?”

Chen Liangyu propped herself up against the table and managed to stand steadily. She cupped Xie Wenjun’s chin in her hands.

Their breaths drew close, and she exhaled a sweet, drunken scent.

With her cheeks gently held in a pair of palms, Xie Wenjun was completely unguarded when a piece of searing warmth fell upon her lips. Chen Liangyu was still thoroughly drunk, and even her gaze was tinted with an unspeakable warmth, “Is it like this?”

Xie Wenjun asked, “Is this what you want?”

Chen Liangyu: “I don’t want…”

Xie Wenjun’s hands stopped halfway through the motion of supporting her. The lights in her eyes seemed to extinguish like smoldering lanterns, one by one, “If you don’t want it, why do you still do this?”

“…I don’t want you to do this with others.”

“Good.” Xie Wenjun put her arm around the other woman, dragging her toward the room, “Daiqing, tell Rong Jun to inform Jing Ming that the Great General is staying here tonight.”

Chen Liangyu was indeed in great need of a place to lie down and close her eyes. She flopped onto the bed, her legs dangling, mumbling, “Give me the grain/fodder.”

Xie Wenjun let her lie flat on the couch. Daiqing brought a basin of clear water, and a towel was soaked, wrung out, and then used by Xie Wenjun to gently wipe the sweat from Chen Liangyu’s forehead and neck, having sent everyone else away.

“No talk of grain tonight.”

Chen Liangyu sat up with a sudden arch of her back, showing great displeasure, and said, “Didn’t we agree you’d keep me? As the dignified Princess Longning, you must keep your word.”

Xie Wenjun pressed close to her. Chen Liangyu could only retreat, but with only a bed behind her, she ended up semi-reclined on the couch, propped up on her elbows. She found herself completely cornered by Xie Wenjun’s deliberate advance.

Everything around them was red.

Shi Tan had actually arranged red silk bed-curtains in this wing.

The temperature in the room abruptly rose, as if sparks flew from their gazes, and the atmosphere within the red silk curtains grew unspeakable in the night.

Chen Liangyu thought of that night in Liangyuan again. She had repeatedly warned herself not to think about it, forcing that unspeakable memory down. Now, she could no longer suppress it.

She was afraid once more. She ducked beneath Xie Wenjun’s arms, scrambling off the bed to sit on a chair.

Xie Wenjun was helpless and amused, saying, “Keep you. Waiting for me here? Chen Liangyu, I almost don’t recognize you. You weren’t this shameless before.”

Her hand choked Chen Liangyu’s long, slender neck again.

Chen Liangyu backed away to avoid it, then seized Xie Wenjun’s face, tugging and kneading it, rolling and flattening it: “Before, you called me A-Li. Now your wings have hardened, and you call me Chen Liangyu.”

Xie Wenjun said, “There is no grain/fodder. But if you would beg me, I might be able to think of a way.”

The two were so close that Chen Liangyu could feel their noses touching, rubbing together.

“I beg you.” Chen Liangyu blurted out without a second thought.

But clearly, Xie Wenjun did not mean it this way, and she was unmoved by those three brazen, dispassionate words.

Lu Sutai asked from beyond the door, “Your Highness, do you require anyone to attend to you tonight?”

Chen Liangyu: “Get lost!”

The sound of quick, running footsteps came from outside the door, and the person was gone in an instant. The wind picked up, and raindrops pattered on the eaves.

Chen Liangyu closed her eyes, and a moment later opened them, saying, “Does Your Highness truly lack someone to warm her bed?”

“Yes. What about it?”

Chen Liangyu pulled Xie Wenjun into her embrace, “Your servant’s looks are acceptable; I offer myself to share your bed!”

With that, her lips pressed close and ground against Xie Wenjun’s for a long time, only releasing her when Xie Wenjun was out of breath.

Xie Wenjun said, “Wait.”

Chen Liangyu counted Xie Wenjun’s “crimes” one by one.

“The Shuofang trade route, Nanzhou, schemes and tricks pulled on me… What’s wrong with me taking some interest?”

Chen Liangyu forced Xie Wenjun to straddle her thighs, pulled away the clasp on her dress, and with a gentle tug, the garment slid from her shoulders, pooling at her waist.

Yet, Chen Liangyu’s own clothing remained neat, not a thread out of place.

Chen Liangyu pulled out two sleeves and knotted Xie Wenjun’s wrists together, crossing them.

A dense cascade of kisses rained down from her neck, traveling downwards.

In no time, she had stoked a raging lust within herself.

“Do you want it?” Chen Liangyu asked.

“Not here.”

Chen Liangyu untied the fabric bound around Xie Wenjun’s wrists, circled her waist, and lifted her. The silk curtains were smooth, made of top-quality silk, cool against the skin yet carrying a slight warmth. There was a fragrance in the curtained space, a rich blend of sandalwood and floral scents.

Two long legs wrapped around Chen Liangyu’s powerful waist.

Their teeth lightly clicked, their lips clung together.

A blinding flash of electric light streaked through, followed by a deafening thunderclap. The mountains and earth seemed to tremble.

Chen Liangyu’s head was spinning. She struggled to part their lips, letting out a long sigh.

She forcefully held onto the last vestiges of her sanity, compelling herself to regain her clarity.

Just as Gu Xie had once warned her in Linxia, she had truly developed a sacrilegious desire for the Princess, and had even taken the next step to commit a sacrilegious act.

What she could not forgive was that she craved the feeling.

She was addicted to everything about Xie Wenjun—her body temperature, her subtle fragrance, and the soft moans that escaped her lips—she did not want to lose any of it for a moment.

Just like now, Chen Liangyu finally understood that her deep regard for Xie Wenjun was different from her concern for others. From the moment she voluntarily took Xie Wenjun’s hand, or perhaps even earlier, the promise she had made to Empress Huixian had quietly transformed into an obsession to be with her forever.

That was why she missed her like a madwoman, and why she repeatedly let herself be thrown into mindless abandon by a single sentence from Xie Wenjun.

She loved her for her talent like willow catkins [talented in poetry], and she also loved her for her political shrewdness.

She loved her brilliance, and she also loved her dark nature.

But why did Xie Wenjun repeatedly tolerate such filthy desires from her?

Was it for the military power in her hands?

If so, Xie Wenjun did not need to make such a great sacrifice. If she only asked, Chen Liangyu would give it willingly.

But the person beneath her, oblivious to danger, uttered a sentence right when her boiling blood was about to cool: “If you can’t do it, just lie down!”

The heat that was just beginning to fade was instantly brought back to a boil by these words.

Chen Liangyu placed a hand beneath Xie Wenjun’s head, held her shoulder, and pinned her down, “Since Your Highness says so, then forgive your servant’s presumptuousness.”

Many years ago, perhaps in the sixteenth or seventeenth year of Xuanyuan, she could no longer recall clearly, a few months after Emperor Xuanyuan and Chen Yuanqing revealed the intention of marrying her to Crown Prince Yizhang, He Yunzhou invited a matron from the palace to the Marquis’s residence to teach the art of the bedchamber and attending to a husband. This was customary for high-born daughters like her before marriage. She understood some things. Xie Wenjun did not.

No one had ever taught Xie Wenjun even a tiny bit about matters of the body.

How dare she be so arrogant?

[Censored Here]

Xie Wenjun furrowed her brow, turned her head, and buried half her face in the pillow, her eyes tightly shut.

“So scared, yet you use words to provoke me?” Chen Liangyu said.