On The Self-Cultivation Of A Favored Concubine - Chapter 38

Liu Qinglan subconsciously touched her small belly. What? Have little cubs with the beautiful Empress? Such a thing had truly never crossed her mind!

Now, reminded by the White Rabbit Spirit, she thought about it and felt a little spark of excitement.

“Then how do you have little cubs?” Liu Qinglan asked with humble studiousness.

“By sleeping together, obviously~” the White Rabbit Spirit said as if it were common sense. “Whenever spring arrives, it’s the season for breeding. But I hear that humans are very vigorous in that regard; they don’t care about the season. All year round, as long as the mood strikes, they mate!”

Small animals treat the earth as their bed when they speak of the great matter of reproduction, they are perfectly serious and don’t consider it shameful at all.

Liu Qinglan knew she went into heat every spring, but she had never put it into practice, so she only understood the surface of the matter. Recalling her previous state of arousal when playing in the water with the beautiful Empress at Chenxin Palace, she fell into thought. “Is it because I’ve spent too much time with humans that we feel like mating anytime, anywhere?”

While asking this solemn question, Liu Qinglan was being led by the hand by the beautiful Empress, all while innocently picking small wild flowers.

Xie Xuanzhao had no idea that the “pure white flower” in her heart was currently having a heated discussion about bedroom affairs with a group of small animals! Furthermore, Liu Qinglan was unselfishly sharing all their interactions.

The small animals let out a chorus of “Oohs” and “Aahs,” expressing that it sounded very exciting while looking at their Boss Liu with pity. “It seems humans really are quite powerful in that area. Little Liu, can your waist handle it?”

Liu Qinglan: “…”

The White Rabbit Spirit hopped out again and said, “But from what I heard Little Liu say, it’s always you who wants to show your tail, while that human woman has no reaction. I think when humans are moved by passion, it’s not like that at all.”

That’s right. Liu Qinglan suddenly realized a problem. She was the one showing her tail and getting nosebleeds, but looking back at the beautiful Empress, she hadn’t really seen her “moved” much.

“B-but she doesn’t have a tail. If she did, she would have shown it long ago,” the Little Willow Sprite forced an excuse to save face. “Besides, do you even know what humans look like when they are moved?”

“N-no.” The small animals tried hard to think, but they were all “good kids” with little worldly experience; they truly hadn’t seen it.

Liu Qinglan felt an itch in her heart. She couldn’t help but look at the beautiful Empress beside her, wanting to ask: Empress Sister, what do you look like when you are moved by passion?

She then thought that such a question was too private. If someone asked her that, she wouldn’t be happy either.

The White Rabbit Spirit looked at her teasingly. “Little Liu, it looks like you really like this human woman. But to me, it doesn’t seem like she likes you that much.”

Liu Qinglan sat on a grass pile, watching the Empress picking flowers. Her face flushed, and she stubbornly said, “I don’t ‘like’ her! I just want to take her as my ‘Boss’ to soak up her spiritual energy!”

The small animals rolled on the ground laughing. “You don’t like her, yet you show your tail and get nosebleeds? Just admit it, you’re using the excuse of ‘taking a Boss’ to trick her into your hands. Boss Liu, you’ve turned wicked.”

Her secret thoughts being exposed made Liu Qinglan feel embarrassed and annoyed. “All of you, get lost! Roll away smoothly!”

“We still want to watch you and her pledge your union under the peach tree! We’re not leaving!” They began discussing fervently again. “But I heard that you can only form a ‘Love Bond’ if your hearts are connected.”

“Also, the two of you haven’t truly slept together yet,” the White Rabbit Spirit added.

So, the “sleeping” they spoke of was different from the “sleeping” she understood.

Liu Qinglan scratched her ear and cautiously looked at the Empress, who was still focused on picking flowers. Am I really going to do ‘this and that’ with her…

Thinking about it was a mix of shyness and excitement~

Xie Xuanzhao suddenly turned back and smiled at her. The half-picked bouquet of daisies swayed in the mountain breeze. When the beauty looked back, her smile was breathtakingly beautiful.

Liu Qinglan clutched her small heart, which was thumping wildly. What to do? I want to… with her even more.

Lying in the grass, the White Rabbit Spirit whispered gloomily, “Forget it. Little Liu, you must kidnap her and take her home! Use that ‘taking a Boss’ reason.”

Liu Qinglan couldn’t help asking, “Why?” Was it because that reason had a high success rate?

The White Rabbit Spirit chuckled. “I just feel like such a wonderful human woman couldn’t possibly take a liking to our Boss Liu!”

The other small animals nodded in unison, expressing their complete agreement.

The despised Little Willow Sprite puffed out her chest. “I’m very good too, okay!”

The White Rabbit Spirit glanced at her “small steamed bun” chest, the meaning left unsaid.

Liu Qinglan grabbed the rabbit’s ears. “Don’t look, don’t look!”

Xie Xuanzhao finally finished picking a bouquet and walked back to Liu Qinglan’s side. Then, she saw a large group of small animals lying, sitting, and crouching around her.

“This…” Xie Xuanzhao found it miraculous. The Emperor wasn’t wrong. Liu Qinglan truly could summon small beasts to surround her.

Liu Qinglan still needed this group of “bad influences” to give her advice, so she didn’t make them disappear. She boasted awkwardly, “I’m probably just liked by small animals. It’s been like this since I was little.”

Her friends all let out a synchronized “Ehhh?”

Xie Xuanzhao smiled tenderly and sat with her in the grass, looking at the wild flowers and the rolling mountains.

“For you.” Xie Xuanzhao handed the carefully picked bouquet to Liu Qinglan.

A mountain breeze blew, scattering the fragrance of flowers. Liu Qinglan held them in her hands and lowered her head to sniff them, feeling a secret joy.

Seeing her look, Xie Xuanzhao knew she liked them, so she said, “When we return, I’ll have people send flowers to your Qinglan Palace every day.”

“I want them hand-picked by you,” the Willow Sprite pushed her luck, acting spoiled.

At the same time, she used her demonic power to talk to the animals, sounding a bit smug. “I forgot to tell you, we’ve already kissed! Do you understand kissing?”

The animals pretended not to understand, turning into curious babies. “What is kissing? Why don’t you act it out for us?”

Liu Qinglan: “!”

“Hurry, hurry! Teach us too!”

The Willow Sprite reluctantly “offered” her generosity. “Fine, I’ll let you learn what kissing is. The beautiful Empress taught me this.”

“Ooh-la-la~”

Xie Xuanzhao rubbed Liu Qinglan’s fair fingers and said with a smile, “As you wish. But you forgot how you should express your gratitude to me.”

If she was angry, she wanted a kiss, if she was happy, she wanted a kiss and if she was expressing gratitude, she definitely wanted a kiss!

This was one of the rules of the “Xie Family Boss Taking” ritual.

Liu Qinglan acted bold. “I haven’t forgotten. Here I come.”

She grabbed the Empress’s sleeve and leaned in slightly.

Beside them, dozens of pairs of eyes were bright and focused, watching in anticipation.

Liu Qinglan faltered, feeling incredibly shy.

Seeing her retreat at the last moment, Xie Xuanzhao smiled. She reached out to hook her arm around Liu Qinglan’s snow white neck, lowered her head to find her lips, and kissed her.

In the mountain wilds, this kiss was intense and lingering, possessing a unique flavor.

At first, Liu Qinglan was completely immersed in it, until she heard the cheers and jumps of her companions behind her.

The White Rabbit Spirit’s voice was even louder: “What are you waiting for? Go! Form! The! Love! Bond!”

“If this isn’t love, then what is!”

“Form the bond! Form the bond! Form the bond!” In the end, they even clapped their paws in rhythm, chanting the words.

One of them got too excited and let out its natural sound: “Chirp!”

The lingering pair separated. Xie Xuanzhao looked up at a small mountain sparrow standing on a branch singing loudly and asked, “What is that sparrow so excited about?”

Its little wings were flapping so happily.

Liu Qinglan looked at her companions, who were as excited as wolves seeing a rabbit, and wiped away a sweat. If I had known, I wouldn’t have let them watch!

The White Rabbit Spirit nibbled on grass and whispered to Liu Qinglan, “Your beautiful Empress’s ear tips are red. Look.”

Liu Qinglan immediately looked at Xie Xuanzhao’s ears. Sure enough, they were as red as crystal carrots.

“I really want to take a bite,” the White Rabbit Spirit said with glowing eyes.

Liu Qinglan quickly pounced on the Empress, covering her ears. “No biting!”

Then, as if declaring ownership, she lowered her head and gently bit Xie Xuanzhao’s ear tip.

Xie Xuanzhao’s ear tips grew even redder, though her face remained calm. “Qinglan, what are you doing?”

“I’m licking them for you. Your ears are so pretty.” Liu Qinglan mumbled while holding the contour of her ear in her mouth, then switched to the other ear to nibble.

Xie Xuanzhao felt a wave of numbness in her heart from the licking. Finally, she took a deep breath, unable to take it anymore, and grabbed Liu Qinglan’s wrist. “Alright, I’ll let you lick them after we go back.”

Only then did Liu Qinglan lick her lips unsatisfactorily. The beautiful Empress’s ears look so good when they turn red~

“Didn’t you say you were going to take me to find the peach blossoms?” Xie Xuanzhao finally remembered the main business.

The small animals nearby started getting restless again. “You dummy boss, she already likes you. How do you still not know? You even lied to us.”

Liu Qinglan argued back, “I didn’t lie! I didn’t know she liked me!”

“You’ve already kissed and touched, and you still say she doesn’t like you? You’re so stupid.” The White Rabbit Spirit roasted her mercilessly.

Liu Qinglan scratched her ear and asked with an uncertain sweetness, “You guys… are you saying the beautiful Empress really likes me?!”

The animals all collapsed in exasperation.

Boss Liu was definitely the most dull-witted and foolish person in the world when it came to love!

So, what was there left to say? Grabbing the Empress’s wrist, they immediately ran toward the peach tree!

Clear spring water flowed slowly through the mountains. The peach tree rooted nearby had green leaves, and the buds that were originally waiting to bloom burst into flower the moment they saw the two figures running toward them.

In an instant, the branches were full of blossoms. The breeze swayed them, and petals danced in the air; this corner of the mountain spring was filled with the breath of spring.

Xie Xuanzhao stared blankly at this wondrous scene. There really were peach blossoms.

Liu Qinglan pulled her hand and led her right under the tree.

Peach blossoms danced in the air and settled in their hair like fluttering butterflies.

Liu Qinglan put her hands together as if praying, looking up at the branches full of blossoms, and said piously, “Peach tree, O peach tree, I have brought her here today. You…”

“Wait.” Xie Xuanzhao suddenly spoke, interrupting her prayer.