A three-meter-high perimeter wall... and she called it a little picket fence?!
Unbelievable!
Damn it all!
The worst part was that he actually let Qingniao toss him right over it!
"Qingniao, wait for me by the gate! The second there's any danger, hurry inside and save me!"
"Got it!"
With Qingniao out here, he was totally safe!
Jia Lingyun skirted past the palace maids and eunuchs stationed by the archway, reached the entrance of the palace hall, and gently pushed the doors open.
Creak!
The moment he stepped into Huaqing Pool, Jia Lingyun finally understood why it was called Huaqing Pool.
Wisps of mist swirled through the air, and vaguely visible amid the steam was a young woman, completely bare, bathing with her back turned to him.
Four jade screens surrounded the edge of the pool, dotted with candlelight that made her skin look as translucent and lustrous as Bai Yu.
Three thousand strands of dark hair cascaded like a waterfall over her shoulders, and a few slightly damp locks clung to her waist, adding an even more enchanting allure.
"Take that, you pest!"
"Take that!"
"Jia Lingyun!"
At first, Jia Lingyun had been entirely lost in admiring the beauty of Huaqing Pool, right up until the woman spoke, and he realized the person taking a bath was none other than the Empress Dowager!
And the moment he heard his own name, he understood that the Empress Dowager... seemed to be stabbing a voodoo doll of him!
Hearing a sound from behind, Murong Qingqing assumed it was her personal maid, Shangguan Wan'er.
"Wan'er, why are you back so soon? Come here and massage my shoulders!"
Massage... massage her shoulders...?
That wouldn't be appropriate, would it...?
Jia Lingyun ultimately lacked his father's daring gall. Panic set in, and he thought about waiting for another opportunity to ask the Empress Dowager for the Nine Bestowals—today seemed a bit inconvenient!
"Time to retreat!"
Before he could make his escape, Murong Qingqing noticed that Shangguan Wan'er still hadn't moved. Turning her head to urge her on, she instead caught sight of that utterly hateful face!
Terrified out of her wits, Murong Qingqing turned pale and hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming!
If she screamed, the maids and eunuchs outside would rush in at the sound, and upon seeing such an embarrassing scene, she would likely lose her reputation entirely—how could she possibly continue ruling behind the curtain then?
Murong Qingqing decisively slipped beneath the water, her eyes practically shooting fire as she glared resentfully at Jia Lingyun.
"This is Huaqing Pool! How on earth did you get in here?"
"Don't you know that trespassing in the inner palace is a capital offense?"
Though it had only been a fleeting glance just now, the amount of information was staggering!
Jia Lingyun had to admit that initially he had intended to leave, but now, seeing the Empress Dowager's flustered state, he felt a sudden surge of that classic fill-in-the-blank audacity: "My dear lady, I daresay you wouldn't want your husband to..."
"Your humble servant knows the Empress Dowager has been missing me, so I hurried here without stopping to be by Your Majesty's side!"
Murong Qingqing snapped indignantly, "Shameless!"
"I... I have not missed you at all!"
Jia Lingyun pointed at the small doll resting on the tray by the pool's edge. It was exquisitely crafted and bore a striking resemblance to him.
"Your Majesty, this is irrefutable proof of your longing for your servant. Now that your servant is right here beside you, I am more than willing to scrub the Empress Dowager's back!"
Murong Qingqing flushed crimson with embarrassment and shame.
"Don't you come any closer! One more step and I'll call for help!"
Jia Lingyun showed not a shred of fear as he walked closer from the edge of the pool. The Empress Dowager was a young woman at heart, and the helpless look in her eyes completely betrayed the panic in her soul.
"Go ahead and call out. Let them all see how deeply the Empress Dowager misses your humble servant—the two of us, sneaking around for a tryst in Huaqing Pool!"
Murong Qingqing's face burned red, and for a moment, she was completely at a loss for words.
Jia Lingyun drew closer and closer. Murong Qingqing clenched her fists, her heart pounding frantically against her ribs, sending tiny ripples dancing across the surface of the hot spring.
Seeing Jia Lingyun raise his hand, Murong Qingqing squeezed her eyes shut.
"You... you are too audacious!"
Huh?
After a long moment, when Murong Qingqing didn't feel Jia Lingyun's touch, she slowly opened her eyes.
She found Jia Lingyun squatting right in front of her, holding up the doll, pulling out the silver needle, and shaking it at her.
"This doll is made to look just like me!"
Murong Qingqing was speechless.
It had been made in Jia Lingyun's likeness to begin with, so of course it looked like him!
The whole point of the voodoo doll was to get revenge for being bullied by him in court today!
Murong Qingqing slipped beneath the water and swam over to the other side.
"M-Minister Jia, you must have come to see me about something important. Y-You can just stand right there and speak! I can hear you!"
This was Murong Qingqing's delaying tactic!
She was waiting for Shangguan Wan'er to return. Wan'er was a Grandmaster-level martial artist, and killing Jia Lingyun would be as easy as turning over her hand!
Jia Lingyun wore an expression of profound heartache and earnestly lectured Murong Qingqing.
"Your Majesty must have some self-respect!"
"Is it proper for a court official to converse with the Empress Dowager in such a state of undress? If outsiders were to see this, wouldn't it be the laughingstock of the realm?!"
"Where are the Empress Dowager's clothes? Your humble servant will go get them for you."
The phrase "state of undress" dyed Murong Qingqing's face a blazing red while she cursed Jia Lingyun's eighteenth generation of ancestors.
If Shangguan Wan'er hadn't taken her old garments away to exchange them for a new phoenix robe, how would this little villain ever have had the chance to sneak in!
Now look at this—she had somehow ended up being the one lacking self-respect!
It was simply outrageous!
Murong Qingqing was entirely certain that Jia Lingyun knew full well there were no clothes nearby, and was only asking to deliberately humiliate her.
"I... I..."
Murong Qingqing was bullied to the point of tears by Jia Lingyun, filled with bitter regret.
Why on earth had she ever come to Huaqing Pool in the first place?!
Why take a bath for no good reason at all?!
"Waaah! Empress Dowager, why are you crying? Your humble servant will come wipe your tears away for you!"
My lord, there is still more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading; the best is yet to come!
Jia Lingyun declared as he hitched up his robes and stepped down into the bath. The water was pleasantly warm, and he could faintly catch the natural fragrance of Murong Qingqing's skin.
Murong Qingqing wished she could tear Jia Lingyun into a thousand pieces.
It wasn't enough that he bullied her in the imperial court; now she was being bullied by this little bastard in the inner palace as well!
He even wanted to wipe her tears—he probably had other things on his mind besides her tears!
Panic gripped Murong Qingqing's heart, and her voice choked up.
"Sob, sob... Thank you for your kind intentions, Minister!"
"I... I am not crying... Sob... I... I am just a little emotional!"
"You... Don't come any closer! Sob, sob, sob!"
Murong Qingqing shielded her vital areas, her cold, sharp eyes looking rather pitiful.
"If you have something to say, just stand there and... and say it!"
Jia Lingyun had already reached the center of the pool by now. The hot spring water soaked through his robes, outlining the sturdy, well-defined curves of his chest muscles.
"Your humble servant wishes to request that the Empress Dowager grant me the ritual of the Nine Bestowals: entering court without hurrying, not having one's name spoken when paying homage, and wearing shoes and a sword upon the imperial throne!"
A flush of red flitted across Murong Qingqing's cheeks, and she turned her face away to keep from looking at Jia Lingyun's muscular physique any longer.
"No!"
"Ever since the founding of Dawei, no minister has ever received such extraordinary honors. If I were to grant this to you, I would fail the Late Emperor!"
Splash, splash~
Splash, splash~
Hearing the sound of ripples shifting across the water, Murong Qingqing looked up and saw that this scoundrel had closed the distance even further.
"Since Your Majesty did not clearly hear your humble servant's request, I have no choice but to step a bit closer to the Empress Dowager before speaking!"
Murong Qingqing gritted her teeth and said, "Even if you approach me closely today, I will never agree to it!"
"Fine, fine. In that case, you must not blame your servant for being impolite!"
Murong Qingqing's pretty face flushed red as she let out a muffled groan.
"Nn~~"
It turned out that Jia Lingyun had reached out and grabbed her slender foot right out of the water.
Her foot was delicate and shapely, her ankle bone perfectly rounded, and holding it felt just like stroking a piece of fine jade!