A flicker of panic flashed across Murong Qingqing’s eyes.
"What... what are you talking about?!" she stammered. "I... I was kind enough to let you hide! How could you think I wanted to kill you?"
Jia Lingyun gave a cold snort. "You told me to come ashore so that I wouldn’t become a hostage for you to use against me. Once Shangguan Wan'er entered Huaqing Pool, there would have been no way out for me, hiding behind that screen."
Murong Qingqing’s lovely face flushed red. "But... but you kissed my back!"
"That was to stop you from signaling Shangguan Wan'er. It was a last resort; I had no choice!"
Jia Lingyun admitted to himself that this was a lie. There had been no necessity at all; he had kissed her with complete willingness! And in one word: divine!
"Empress Dowager, you deliberately engaged Shangguan Wan'er in conversation, claiming the Emperor's maid had arrived, all to plant a flaw in your story. Your goal was to let Shangguan Wan'er realize something was amiss, wasn't it?"
Caught by Jia Lingyun’s insight, Murong Qingqing argued indignantly, "I did no such thing!"
"The situation was urgent! It was just a flimsy excuse I made up on the spot!"
A woman can always find the most convenient excuse for any of her actions.
"That was a truly hole-ridden excuse. Could the Emperor's maid really enter Huaqing Pool so easily? Even if she could, would the eunuchs and palace maids guarding the arched entrance not notice?"
Murong Qingqing said coldly, "What you did to me in Huaqing Pool today is enough to have the entire Jia Mansion razed and your clan wiped out. If you leave now, I can overlook all of this!"
"But I can't overlook it, Your Majesty. Being played for a fool and having to swallow the grievance is not my style."
Murong Qingqing bit her lower lip with her pearly white teeth. "Then what do you want?"
"I want to experience what it feels like to be the Late Emperor."
Murong Qingqing curled her lip. "The Late Emperor is dead. Why don't you go join him?"
Jia Lingyun stared into her eyes. A blaze filled his gaze, one so intense that Murong Qingqing felt a flicker of fear. She swallowed hard.
"Official Jia... I was only speaking metaphorically. Don't be angry!"
In this situation, any man would be filled with fire. But remembering that Murong Qingqing was the reigning Empress Dowager—that he had the life to force her but not the life to stay with her—Jia Lingyun teetered on the edge of agony.
"My meaning, Your Majesty, is that I want to experience how you served the Late Emperor."
Murong Qingqing’s willow-leaf brows arched, her almond eyes widened, and her chest heaved violently. She was clearly incensed. "Insolent! How dare you!"
Seeing her look so luscious and tempting, Jia Lingyun’s heart melted. "The Empress Dowager calls me a little villain; a villain ought to act the part."
"Whether it’s insolent or not, I’ve already crossed the line. Once we part ways today, I fear I won't have another chance to talk like this. I beg you to indulge me, otherwise, neither of us is leaving here today!"
A threat!
Murong Qingqing remembered how this man had submerged himself in the water just to hide from Shangguan Wan'er. Her face turned redder, and her breathing grew more rapid. She compromised.
"What... what do you want me to do?"
Jia Lingyun patted his own shoulders. "I humbly request that the Empress Dowager massage my shoulders."
*Pfft!*
Murong Qingqing wanted to kill him! She was on the verge of madness! This was the second time! Twice now he had baited her into going down the wrong path, filling her mind with all sorts of improper thoughts, only to turn around and treat her like a formal business negotiation! This man was absolutely doing it on purpose!
"I am, after all, the Empress Dowager... is it not a bit inappropriate for me to massage you?"
Jia Lingyun thought about it and conceded there was some truth to that. "Then how about this? From now on, don't refer to yourself as 'this Empress Dowager.' Just call yourself Qinger."
Murong Qingqing froze. "Qin... Qinger?"
"Yes! That way, it’ll feel much better when you’re massaging my shoulders!"
*Go to hell!* Did she really have to care about how he felt? Calling her Qinger... he was treating her like his own personal maid! Murong Qingqing rejected the idea without a second thought. "Absolutely not!"
Jia Lingyun shrugged and did a backstroke in the pool. "Very well. Then I’ll just have to ask the Empress Dowager to keep me company swimming in Huaqing Pool. Once the palace servants come in to pay their respects and see the Prime Minister of Dawei bathing with the Empress Dowager of Dawei... if that gets out to the commoners, they’ll surely say the Empress Dowager is so compassionate toward her officials that she would even sacrifice her own virtue. Given time, it might even become a legendary tale!"
Her reputation ruined, and he called it a "legendary tale!" Murong Qingqing was burning with shame. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire, and she desperately fanned her face with her small hands, trying to cool down. She didn't realize that this motion caused a sudden, turbulent surge in the water that left Jia Lingyun dazed.
"What a swell!"
When Murong Qingqing realized what had happened, she let out a muffled groan and submerged herself, covering her flushed face. "Shameless!"
Murong Qingqing wanted to die. To this little villain, she seemed to have... no secrets left at all! He knew... basically everything! *Ugh, ahhhhhhh!* She might as well be dead! She just wanted to find a hole to crawl into or be buried alive!
The voice of a palace official calling out from the entrance echoed through the room. "Is the Empress Dowager well? Does Your Majesty require this servant to come in and attend to you?"
"I... I am well! Do... do not come in!" Murong Qingqing felt like weeping. Does wanting to die count as being unwell?
"Empress Dowager, it is nearly midnight. I beg Your Majesty to move to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to check on the Emperor's studies!"
"I know!"
"Empress Dowager, you are far too hardworking," Jia Lingyun complained as Murong Qingqing surfaced. "It’s so late, and you still have to tutor the Emperor? I’m asleep by this time every day!"
Murong Qingqing glared at him. "You think being Empress Dowager is so easy? Not only am I exhausted day and night, but the one time I finally get to rest and relax, I have to be bullied by a little villain like you!"
"If there is a next life, I would rather be a villain than an Empress Dowager!"
"In that case, forget about tutoring. Let's just soak here all night!"
Murong Qingqing gave a coquettish snort. "Dream on!"
The Empress Dowager had no better way to deal with this little villain, so she decided to go along with his wishes for now, just to escape the situation! "Just... just this once, and never again!"
Jia Lingyun, genuinely surprised that she had agreed, nodded like a jackhammer.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"Young and foolish, unaware that a mature woman is a treasure!"
"Stop 'hey'-ing! Turn around!"
"We’re... we’re already so familiar with each other, is there really a need to turn around... *Hiss—ah!!!*"
Jia Lingyun hadn’t expected Murong Qingqing to launch a surprise attack, reaching out with her slender, jade-like fingers to pinch his waist. The pain made him yelp.
Having taught the bully a lesson, Murong Qingqing laughed until she shook, feeling as though she had finally vented some of her frustration.
Jia Lingyun admitted to himself that it was all his own cowardice; otherwise, if ten Empress Dowagers came today, he’d have them all bearing his children before they left!
Soon, he felt her soft, boneless hands on his shoulders, gently kneading them. He had to admit, the feeling of an Empress Dowager’s massage was quite different from the one he got from the girl at the club.
Jia Lingyun closed his eyes in bliss. "Won't you introduce yourself?"
"My lord... Qinger... Qinger is massaging your shoulders."
"Don't call me 'my lord.' If I call you Brother Murong, what should you call me?"
"Uncle. Qinger is massaging your shoulders."
"That... that sounds a bit stiff, not smooth at all. Shall we try again?"
"See if I don't strangle you to death, Qinger!"
"Er... alright, alright, I’ll make do with that!"