That night, the man indeed behaved himself properly, not even taking care of himself. Qi Yue was truly exhausted and slept soundly until dawn.

When the sumptuous breakfast was served, she ate refreshingly while listening to the man sitting across from her, who clearly had dark circles under his eyes from a sleepless night.

“…Mother said you were tired, so you don’t need to observe those courtesies. As for what happened that day, as long as you know you were wrong in your heart, it’s over,” Chang Yuncheng said.

Qi Yue looked at him suspiciously. Madam Xie would say such words? That would be seeing ghosts.

“Really?” she asked.

Chang Yuncheng nodded without blushing or stammering. Never mind her—even he himself wasn’t being acknowledged by Madam Xie now.

“Actually, it’s nothing. That day it was indeed my fault for falling asleep. I don’t know how I just fell asleep,” Qi Yue smiled. “Since she’s your mother, naturally I should be more respectful. Don’t worry, I won’t stoop to her level.”

Chang Yuncheng’s face darkened. Why did these words sound so awkward…

However, it seemed Fan Yilin was right again. As soon as he mentioned that Madam Xie was being considerate of her, this woman had backed down a step…

After repeatedly reassuring Qi Yue, Chang Yuncheng couldn’t wait to rush to Madam Xie’s place to test his theory.

After kneeling for three consecutive days, Madam Xie finally felt sorry for her son. Seeing Chang Yuncheng kneeling outside at the drop of a hat all day long, she finally called him in.

“…I know Mother feels sorry for me and fears I’ll be wronged. I just want Mother to know I’m fine, that I haven’t been wronged, so I had Yueniang do those things to let Mother see that woman doesn’t dare to act up in front of me…” Chang Yuncheng said, half-kneeling before Madam Xie.

These words made Madam Xie feel comfortable.

As long as it wasn’t for that woman…

“However, what do you plan to do about that woman?” Madam Xie asked with a stern face.

“Whatever Mother says to do, that’s what I’ll do,” Chang Yuncheng replied. “If Mother doesn’t want to see her, then you don’t have to see her.”

Madam Xie nodded, but felt something wasn’t quite right.

Wouldn’t that be letting that woman off too easily?

However, giving her the cold shoulder would be the greatest torture for her, especially once there was a new daughter-in-law. With that comparison, she wouldn’t have good days in this household…

Thinking of this, Madam Xie smiled.

Chang Yuncheng breathed a sigh of relief, his hands hanging at his sides clenched into fists.

Good, if the two of them didn’t meet, surely they could live in peace.

“…Ailisha threw all the clothes in her hands out… immediately eleven handsome princes appeared, but unfortunately the youngest prince still had one arm as a swan’s wing…”

“…I can speak now, I am innocent… Ailisha said loudly…”

“…Fresh red roses grew from the firewood, the king walked over to pick these roses and personally put them on Ailisha…”

“Alright, time to sleep,” Qi Yue reached out and patted Yan’er’s head, smiling. “Story time is over.”

Yan’er looked at Qi Yue with satisfaction and obediently closed her eyes.

Chang Chunlan, standing nearby, lowered her head and wiped away tears.

“Thank you for taking the trouble,” she said, walking Qi Yue out.

“Elder Sister, you’re speaking like an outsider again,” Qi Yue smiled, then sighed and took Chang Chunlan’s hand. “That day you went to kneel at Mother’s place? Saying it was because of you that I couldn’t fulfill my duties as a daughter-in-law?”

The day Yan’er had just finished surgery, Chang Chunlan said she was going back to get something, and “getting something” took half a day. When she returned, she was limping. Sharp-eyed Que Zhi noticed and inquired, discovering that she had gone to kneel in Madam Xie’s courtyard for half a day.

Chang Chunlan lowered her head and wiped away tears.

“It was because of me to begin with…” she choked up.

“Elder Sister, don’t be silly. It wasn’t because of you,” Qi Yue smiled, patting her shoulder. “Don’t overthink it.”

Concubine said the same thing, and she said the same thing. Chang Chunlan sighed—only those who truly cared about her would comfort her this way.

When Chang Yuncheng returned from his routine visit to pay respects and dine with Madam Xie, he first asked the maid what Qi Yue had eaten and how much.

“Oh my, stop being such a busybody,” Qi Yue laughed from inside the room. “I’m not a masochist—how could I bear to mistreat myself?”

Chang Yuncheng entered sheepishly and saw Qi Yue sitting on the kang, fiddling with something strange.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“A wind chime,” Qi Yue said, lifting it up. The small bell-like objects strung on the rope made clear, crisp sounds.

Women love these little trinkets…

Chang Yuncheng immediately began thinking about where he’d seen similar things at whose house, so he could go ask for one.

“This is for Yan’er to practice speaking,” Qi Yue said, handing it to Chang Yuncheng.

Chang Yuncheng took it, puzzled. Qi Yue stood to one side and blew on the wind chime, making it spin and produce clear, crisp sounds.

“Practice speaking?” Chang Yuncheng asked, confused. “Speaking to the wind chime? Isn’t that silly?”

Qi Yue laughed heartily.

“You’re the silly one,” she stood up and said. “It’s blowing on the wind chime to practice breathing.”

“Breathing? That’s even sillier,” Chang Yuncheng said, trying to blow on it himself.

The wind chime spun and chimed melodiously.

He couldn’t help but smile. Here, Qi Yue also blew on it, and in the candlelight, the woman’s beautiful face bloomed like a flower.

Chang Yuncheng’s heart raced, and he struggled to look away.

“Give it to me,” Qi Yue reached out.

Chang Yuncheng instinctively raised his hand, and Qi Yue’s hand missed.

“What are you doing?” she laughed, raising her hand to playfully hit him. “What’s wrong with you?”

Chang Yuncheng swallowed and handed her the wind chime.

“Blow on it again,” he said.

Qi Yue smiled and indeed raised her head to blow again. Just as she blew out a breath, Chang Yuncheng leaned over and kissed her lips.

Qi Yue was startled by this surprise attack, her eyes widening.

This wasn’t the first time. By now, they had kissed before, touched before, but this time felt different from the previous times.

This time his movements were gentle and slow. Through the experience of the previous times, this man’s technique had become naturally skilled. His tongue rolled and sucked in her mouth, causing Qi Yue to unconsciously make gasping sounds.

After a breathless moment, they temporarily parted, or they would have suffocated.

Chang Yuncheng looked at the woman close to his face with reddened eyes, the wind chime still clutched in his hand.

After the passionate kiss, the woman’s face was flushed red, her eyes watery, and her swollen lips were even more enticing.

“Pah, pervert,” Qi Yue said with a red face, pushing him away and turning to hurry away.

Chang Yuncheng put down the wind chime and reached out to grab her.

“Yueniang,” he called hoarsely, his voice carrying heat.

Qi Yue felt as if what was holding her was a furnace, burning hot and making her panic.

“Yueniang…” Chang Yuncheng called again softly, pulling the woman in front of him and lowering his head to kiss her again.

This time, when he pried open the woman’s mouth, the little tongue inside actively intertwined with his.

Chang Yuncheng’s whole body shook violently, and his hands around Qi Yue’s waist pressed and kneaded forcefully.

Qi Yue was nearly suffocated by the pressure and let out a muffled groan, escaping from Chang Yuncheng’s lips.

“Be gentler…” she panted, but before she could finish speaking, the frenzied man picked her up and placed her on the nearby daybed, his weight pressing down heavily.

“Yueniang, is tonight alright?” Chang Yuncheng supported himself on his arms, asking in a trembling voice.

Qi Yue’s heart beat like a drum.

Is it alright?

This… this…

“Haven’t washed yet, go wash first…” she gritted her teeth and said, raising her hand to push him.

With this movement, Chang Yuncheng’s hand that had already slipped inside her clothes felt the fullness beneath grow even more substantial.

Wash…

Remembering the previous interruptions, Chang Yuncheng made up his mind this time. Never mind washing—even if the sky fell, he wouldn’t let go…

If he didn’t have this woman tonight, he would definitely die of frustration.

Roughly tearing and pulling at her clothes, he saw the dazzling white flesh emerge in the lamplight. Chang Yuncheng couldn’t be bothered to remove her lower garments and sat on the woman, hastily stripping himself naked.

This kind of thing wasn’t much… men and women enjoying each other… human nature…

They were all adults… when things naturally progressed, just go with the flow…

Qi Yue looked at the naked man above her with a flushed face. Although she had seen before, that was inappropriate viewing, so she hadn’t dared look. At this moment, looking at her own man, that wouldn’t be inappropriate, would it…

Her own man…

These words flashed through her mind, and Qi Yue’s face grew even redder…

She really hadn’t expected that she would be doing that with a man from a thousand years ago…

Oh my… this… this really was…

The somewhat dark skin, the bulging hard muscles, the iron-pillar-like arms busy removing the last of his undergarments, and below the sculpted abs, the man’s symbol sprang forth, tense and trembling as it faced her…

Qi Yue couldn’t help but cry out, covering her face with her hands.

The lamp in the room suddenly went out. The people standing outside were startled, then immediately heard the woman’s suppressed muffled groan.

“It hurts… slower…”

A’Ru was frightened out of her wits and fled like the wind, hurriedly driving people away in confusion. The courtyard gate was locked, and in the maid’s room, doors and windows were tightly shut, but it seemed those embarrassing sounds still drilled in.

“…be gentler… you bastard… don’t bite… ah… it hurts…”

Qi Yue knew the first time would be painful, but this was too painful. This body was too tight and narrow… most importantly, this man was too impatient…

Accompanied by her low cries, the man above her moved even faster. Qi Yue couldn’t help but grip the bedding tightly to prevent herself from being pushed away entirely.

She couldn’t control herself, gasping and moaning to relieve the painful yet tingling, numb yet itchy sensation.

Chang Yuncheng felt like he was going mad. He also felt pain—that kind of swollen, maddening pain. The woman beneath him cried out again and again, making his whole body tremble. Damn it, it wasn’t enough, still not enough, he needed to go deeper…

He straightened his back, pressed down on the woman who kept trying to escape beneath him, threw back his head and gritted his teeth, forcefully thrusting himself in again and again.

God… the feeling of being tightly wrapped, sucked by that narrow, tight warmth…

The woman beneath him cried out louder and louder. Looking down, he saw her long hair spread beneath her, the stark contrast of black and white, her chest surging like turbulent waves with the movement, the swollen cherry-red peak fresh and enticing.

Chang Yuncheng suddenly bent down, bit it with his mouth, let out a low growl, and his back moved even faster.

This stimulation from above and below left Qi Yue with no rational thought. She reached out to embrace the stone-hard back of the man above her, bit down hard, and with this bite, the man thrust fiercely. Qi Yue released her bite, threw back her head, and let out a trembling cry.

“Chang Yuncheng…” she called tremblingly, the tone drawn out, her whole body shaking uncontrollably.

This call made Chang Yuncheng’s whole body tense. Combined with being gripped by the rapidly convulsing passage, layer upon layer of searing heat, he let out a low growl, bent down to block the woman’s gasping mouth, moved rapidly up and down a few times, growled low as he released, and collapsed heavily on Qi Yue.

“What are you crying out for… don’t call my name…” the man panted with annoyance, “I’m not done yet…”

Qi Yue was completely dazed and had no idea where she was, couldn’t hear what he was saying at all, and just closed her eyes and fell asleep from exhaustion.