Chapter 8.2

Xie Yan gave a slight nod.

Chang Yi’s small tricks were enough to fool Deputy Minister Su, but they weren’t enough once Su Wei was involved.

“No need to investigate further.”

“But this subordinate still hasn’t found…”

“He’s already on guard. Going again would be useless.”

“Then we just leave it uninvestigated? The First Prince…”

“There’s no need to look into it from the shadows anymore.”

“Your meaning is…”

Xie Yan’s gaze fell on the sleeping Su Jiao.

Whether she truly wanted to dissolve the marriage or not — as it happened, there was now a ready-made means to put it to the test.

“I’ll go look into it myself.”

His throat moved, and after a long pause, he spoke.

****

Three nights in a row, Su Jiao waited on the long ladder every evening for Xiao Tang.

But she didn’t know whether Xiao Tang at this point in time had not yet been transferred to the Laundry Bureau — three nights straight, she waited until curfew each time, and never caught sight of Xiao Tang on the path.

She had frozen herself to the bone for nothing. Each night when Su Jiao went to the front hall to sleep, she came back wilted.

Her urgency to ask her brother about a way to leave the palace was one thing; the other was her father’s rebellion from her past life.

If she wanted to protect her mother and her brother, she needed to understand these things as early as possible.

After yet another night of waiting in vain, Su Jiao yawned and climbed onto the bed.

It was strange, when she thought about it. She and Xie Yan from her past life were technically newlyweds — by all accounts, having only met a handful of times, sharing a bed so suddenly ought to have felt somewhat uncomfortable. Yet aside from the awkwardness and tension of that first night together, over the nights that followed the two of them had tacitly each claimed half of the bed, never crossing into the other’s space and rarely speaking — just as a couple married for many years might.

Truly strange.

She had things weighing on her mind and her expression was listless. As she tucked the corner of the blanket, her cold fingers accidentally brushed against Xie Yan’s, and in an instant, the man lying on the other side turned his head toward her.

Their eyes met. Su Jiao immediately pulled her hand back.

“I didn’t mean to…”

“There’s something…”

“You go first.”

Su Jiao curled herself back into her corner of the bed. Thinking of how she was still stuck sharing this half-sized bed with Xie Yan, she couldn’t help feeling a little dejected.

If she were at the Su manor right now, it would be better than this no matter what.

And she still didn’t know when Xiao Tang would…

“Imperial Grandmother has given her word — she is permitting us to return to the Su manor tomorrow for a family visit.”

“What?”

Su Jiao’s eyes went wide as she snapped her head up, her heart thudding heavily.

She thought she had heard wrong.

“What did you just say?”

Watching Xie Yan stay silent, Su Jiao urgently reached forward and grabbed his hand.

“You said a family visit?”

She lunged forward so suddenly that the unprepared Xie Yan was knocked back slightly. He instinctively braced himself against the edge of the bed. Su Jiao didn’t notice at all that she had nearly pressed herself right up against him — her eyes, bright and glittering, were locked entirely on him.

“Xie Yan!”

Xie Yan was stunned for a moment by those radiant eyes, and after a beat, gave a nod.

“Yes.”

“That’s wonderful!”

Su Jiao instinctively tightened her grip around Xie Yan’s hand, delight rising across her face.

If she could go back, it meant she could see her mother and her brother sooner.

The joy had come so unexpectedly that Su Jiao was elated for a good while before she caught herself.

There had been no family visit in her past life.

“Why did Imperial Grandmother suddenly decide to allow this?”

Xie Yan was quiet for a moment.

“The other day when you came back from Qianqing Palace, Imperial Grandmother saw you.”

The Empress Dowager was a person of strict temperament who placed great weight on propriety and appearances — all things were as if measured by a ruler, not to deviate by even the slightest margin. A prince’s family visit was also a matter of some importance. In her past life, the Empress had deliberately let the matter slip through the cracks, and with no one to handle the arrangements, no family visit had been granted. But in this life…

“Imperial Grandmother saw you, and it happened to coincide with Imperial Aunt returning from her own family visit. She casually asked after it, so today the Empress had someone make the arrangements.”

Su Jiao hadn’t imagined that yesterday’s walk from Qianqing Palace would incidentally lead to such a fortunate turn of events. She was overjoyed — her heart full of thoughts about her family’s affairs, she couldn’t hold back and leaned forward a little closer.

“When do we go back tomorr— ah—”

Her whole body pressed fully onto Xie Yan. His knee wound hadn’t yet healed, and at that sudden impact, his balance gave way and he fell backward, taking her with him.

The two of them tumbled clean off the bed together. Su Jiao fell without any control straight into his arms — seeing that she was about to crash down, Xie Yan moved swiftly and caught her waist with one hand.

“Mmph…”

The impact had pulled at his wound. Xie Yan’s face went white and he let out a muffled groan.

Su Jiao hurriedly struggled to get up and help him.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

His whole body was almost flat on the floor. The jostling had caused his robes to fall open slightly. Xie Yan had one hand at her waist. In the quiet of the room, all that could be heard was his breathing at her ear. Their breaths mingled, the finely-textured skin pressing close against each other. Their eyes fell on each other without meaning to, and both went still at once.

The color rose to Su Jiao’s face in an instant.

The warmth at her waist was particularly scorching. That hand holding her waist made her, most inopportunely, recall certain things from the past.

In the first year of his ascension to the throne, he had been injured in the leg for a time, and those nighttime hours had been particularly inconvenient.

After she had firmly turned him away several times at first, he had learned a new trick.

It had been like this then too — him lying beneath her, hand wrapped around her waist, half the night and a whole evening of tumult. The feeling at her waist had been exceptionally thick and cloying, and he had left many red marks pinched into her skin. She hadn’t been willing, yet Xie Yan had been particularly fond of it, tormenting her this way for a good half-month — so much so that afterward, whenever she saw him reach for her waist, she would step back and keep her distance.

That memory remained especially vivid.

Su Jiao’s eyes shifted away in a panic, and her hands drew back along with them.

“You… you can get up yourself.”

It wasn’t as if he’d broken his leg — he needn’t help.

The figure at his waist vanished in an instant, and the warmth at his fingertips faded. Yet his fingertips still seemed to hold the lingering softness and fragrance of that slender waist. Xie Yan, too, had recalled that incident from three years ago, and for a moment felt a scorching heat gather in his chest.

He released his hand uneasily, pulled himself out of his thoughts after a long pause, and his throat moved.

The Su Jiao of five years ago may have been stubborn in words, but her waist was still as yielding as ever.

Xie Yan smoothed his robes with a quiet laugh and braced himself against the edge of the bed to make his way back up — yet having barely moved, he seemed to notice something.

He lowered his head.

And saw that beneath his robes, one particular place had been pushed into a very conspicuous shape.