The Regent Keeps Flirting With Me - Chapter 34.3

Plop another splash, and water scattered everywhere. Shen Lingyan was utterly speechless, choking on a few mouthfuls of water, her face still adorned with a few rose petals.

“Zhou Jin!!” Shen Lingyan’s exasperated voice echoed through the room. Yun Zhu, who had just rested, passed by and, hearing such a scream, was terrified, thinking an assassin had arrived.

“Your Majesty!! Help, help, help!!!!” Yun Zhu shouted as she ran in, only to see an extremely amorous scene.

Zhou Jin and Shen Lingyan were both completely naked. Zhou Jin was holding Shen Lingyan in her arms, and the Empress’s face was completely red. Their lower bodies were submerged in the water, making them indistinguishable.

“You, you, you… What are His Majesty and Her Highness doing?” Yun Zhu instinctively turned around, not daring to look at the scene in front of her. After what felt like a long time, a soft laugh sounded behind her.

Yun Zhu cautiously turned around and saw a fully dressed Zhou Jin standing behind her, holding Shen Lingyan, who was wrapped in a brocade cloth, in her arms.

“I don’t know what kind of servants you all are. Don’t you know to bring His Majesty a change of clothes?” Zhou Jin smiled without a hint of anger, while Shen Lingyan angrily pounded Zhou Jin’s shoulder with her hand.

Shen Lingyan: Isn’t this person wearing her own clothes?

To her surprise, Zhou Jin, despite being hit, was not angry at all. Instead, she laughed and carried Shen Lingyan back to Chaohui Hall. Along the way, the palace maids who saw this scene consciously turned away, but Shen Lingyan, in Zhou Jin’s arms, was roaring inside: “Why are you turning away? We are two women, WOMEN!!!”

However, Shen Lingyan could not bring herself to shout out loud. She simply resigned herself, burying her face in Zhou Jin’s chest and softly cursing. Zhou Jin was like a masochist. Every time Shen Lingyan hit or cursed her, she felt extremely happy, even laughing out loud. Her clear, spring-water-like voice made Zhou Jin’s laughter sound captivating.

The distance from the bathing area to Chaohui Hall was not long, yet Shen Lingyan felt the journey was infinitely long. Having just bathed, a thin layer of sweat had already appeared on her forehead. The sky was dark, and the only light source shone on her sweat beads like crystal.

Zhou Jin carried the person to Chaohui Hall and carefully placed her on the bed. She took out a handkerchief embroidered with small patterns to wipe Shen Lingyan’s sweat, all the while teasing her mischievously.

“I didn’t complain about carrying you, Sister, even though you are so heavy. Why are you blushing and sweating instead? Could it be that something else made you tired?” Saying this, Zhou Jin leaned closer to Shen Lingyan, as if to peer into her eyes to detect any sign of lies, making it look very realistic.

Shen Lingyan immediately rolled herself into a corner of the bed, covering her head with the thin, gold-threaded silk quilt, too embarrassed to look at Zhou Jin.

She was also a little angry. Shen Lingyan suppressed her irritation and angrily said from under the quilt: “If you think I’m heavy, then don’t carry me again!”

Even Shen Lingyan did not notice the slight shyness in her heart when she said this. Zhou Jin looked alarmed, then laughed and also jumped onto the bed. It felt like young girls playing around, but both of them were blushing.

“Zhou Jin! You have the nerve to talk about me, you are blushing too!” Shen Lingyan struggled out from under the quilt, her hair messy, and exposed Zhou Jin’s embarrassment without regard for her own image.

After some more playful wrestling, both lay down, staring at the exquisite bed canopy. Shen Lingyan was very confused as she tried to sort out her relationship with Zhou Jin.

Friends? She was still the Regent, holding half the court’s power. Arch-enemies? They had fought side by side a few times now. Sovereign and subject? Shen Lingyan looked at Zhou Jin, who was still playing with her hair, and immediately dismissed the idea.

How was that possible!

Zhou Jin did not care what Shen Lingyan was thinking. She paused the fingers playing with her hair, her eyes deepening. She took the long whip placed on the bedside table and handed it to Shen Lingyan: “Seriously, these recent events have made me realize the importance of martial arts. Starting today, I will teach Your Majesty how to use the whip. There can be no delay.”

Shen Lingyan was bewildered, looking at the long whip stuffed into her hand. Although she had planned to learn martial arts after returning to the Palace, she never expected it to be a whip.

“Why a whip?” Shen Lingyan was confused. She did not even know how to swing it and could easily hit her own face.

“The whip is compact when stored, it doesn’t need daily polishing, and…” Zhou Jin deliberately kept her in suspense, turning her head to look at Shen Lingyan very seriously.

This suddenly serious Zhou Jin made her feel a little nervous. She tentatively asked what else.

“It looks good! Sister Empress, look, doesn’t it look good?” Zhou Jin took the whip back and held it up to the candlelight.

The beads on it shimmered with a gentle light, beautiful to behold. Although Shen Lingyan’s face was dark, she unconsciously nodded.

Just as the two were immersed in the beautiful glow of the beads, Zhou Jin’s expression suddenly changed, and she sat up seriously: “The seriousness of the border country’s rebellion is something I never anticipated. Before, I thought there was time to delay, but now, it is time to dispatch troops.”

The sudden change in topic and tone was so fast that Shen Lingyan could barely keep up. She tried hard to think for a while, looking ahead: “Although that is true. But before, you didn’t mobilize soldiers or provisions from my side. Is dispatching troops now a bit too reckless?”

Sometime, Shen Lingyan had naturally transitioned from referring to herself as “Zhen” I, the Emperor to “Wo.

Zhou Jin also looked troubled upon hearing this. She could not even sit still on the bed, pacing back and forth in Chaohui Hall until Shen Lingyan felt dizzy.

“It’s not too late to start mobilizing now. Let’s draft some initial secret edicts.” Shen Lingyan rubbed her hands in anticipation and got off the bed, walking to the large red-wood table where she handled state papers.

Yun Zhu consciously came over to prepare the ink. The royal-exclusive Xuan paper was spread out on the red wood. A brush dipped in dark ink was respectfully handed to Shen Lingyan. She quickly wrote a few characters on the Xuan paper. Before Zhou Jin could read it, she had already covered the secret edict with the Imperial Seal.

At this moment, the entire Chaohui Hall was filled with the fragrance of ink and paper. Zhou Jin did not insist on seeing what was written on the paper. She simply picked up a lock of Shen Lingyan’s dark hair, twirling it around her finger, a look of utter trust in her smile: “I trust Sister Empress.”

Having said that, she did not continue to dwell on the issue with Shen Lingyan. Instead, she looked out at the beautiful moonlight outside the courtyard. The moon hung high, not the full moon they saw that day at the Zhang family’s house, but a graceful crescent moon.

After bathing, they should have rested, but the crescent moon stirred their hearts. Zhou Jin looked full of anticipation: “How about presenting A-Jin with another crescent moon?”

Shen Lingyan instantly understood the meaning of her words. Her eyes also curved like a crescent moon, and her smiling gaze shifted to the window.

“Full moon, crescent moon… Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.” Shen Lingyan did not know why a bossy CEO-like line popped into her head. The embarrassing thing was that whatever she thought of, she said out loud.

Zhou Jin first chuckled, then placed her large hand on Shen Lingyan’s head, rubbing it with a gentle, fatherly affection: “Whatever Your Majesty wants, A-Jin will do her best to give it. What’s in A-Jin’s hands will definitely be offered with both hands. What’s in others’ hands, A-Jin will snatch it for you.”

After she spoke, Shen Lingyan just quietly stared at her. Everyone knew that Shen Lingyan only wanted the remaining half of the political power, yet Zhou Jin remained silent about it.

With the crescent moon hanging high, Shen Lingyan did not want to bring it up now either. She just suppressed the thought, continued to smile, and pulled Zhou Jin to walk outside.

Just as they stepped out the door, the evening breeze blew on their faces. The palace maids had already followed the instructions and moved the small water tank into the courtyard, and the angle had already been adjusted. The crescent moon was perfectly reflected in the water tank, glowing with the cool light of the night.

“Actually, that day, when Song Kang’an came with the scroll, I was indeed scared…” Shen Lingyan

Yan suddenly said such a sentence. Her eyes were fixed on Zhou Jin without moving, her expression cold as never before.

“Perhaps you think I’m foolish?” Shen Lingyan asked herself, then answered, no longer looking at Zhou Jin but turning her head to gaze at the moon in the water basin.

“What makes Your Majesty say that?” Zhou Jin clenched her fists, but did not let panic show on her face.

She maintained that same lazy, perpetually casual demeanor.

“All of this, was it arranged by someone?” This doubt had always lingered in Shen Lingyan’s heart. She had already deviated significantly from the original plot, but every time she woke up at midnight, the original body’s voice echoed in her ears: “Be careful…”

“Should I be careful?” Shen Lingyan reached out and stirred the moon in the water basin into ripples.