As events unfolded in an instant, Ming Tan hadn’t even had time to consider whether her fall would result in injury or death before she plummeted into a cool embrace.
Bai light flashed before her eyes, accompanied by a momentary dizziness. Through the haze, she vaguely discerned her husband’s familiar, handsome face.
Nearby, Imperial Consort Lan stood stunned.
Drawn by the cry of alarm, she had rushed to the courtyard just in time to witness the Northern Duke’s consort falling from mid-air, straight into the Duke’s arms. The Duchess’s legs wrapped around the Duke’s waist, her entire body clinging tightly to him. Despite his profound inner strength, even the Duke was forced to take a small step back from the impact.
Silence fell over the courtyard; even the cicadas ceased their chorus. For a moment, the scene seemed frozen, the wind itself standing still.
The maids were the first to regain their senses. Their hearts had seemingly taken flight alongside Ming Tan, and now, as reality settled, they hurriedly knelt and kowtowed, admitting fault: “This lowly servant deserves death! This lowly servant deserves death!”
The admission of guilt jolted Ming Tan back to awareness. As her senses gradually returned, her initial shock gave way to lingering fear. Her blurred vision slowly cleared, and she found herself gazing into a pair of calm, familiar star-like eyes.
Their gazes locked.
After a long moment, she finally processed what had just transpired—
She had accidentally flown off the swing, hurtling forward in a most undignified manner, utterly unlike the descent of a celestial maiden, accompanied by an uncontrolled, piercing scream.
Then, her husband had caught her.
This meant that, following the incidents of being exposed by Ming Chu while sneaking into the military camp for a look and being caught trying to steal the fire-avoiding diagram at Bie Yu Tower, she had now created a third pinnacle of embarrassment before her husband—one that seemed impossible to surpass.
For this time, witnessing her humiliation was also Imperial Consort Lan, whom she had always privately considered a half-rival.
Ming Tan stiffly turned her head to glance at Imperial Consort Lan, then shifted her gaze back to Jiang Xu. Her scalp tingled, her expression frozen, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Inwardly, she felt so mortified that she could have dug out the Thirteen Ming Tombs with her toes.
After the maids finished their apologies, they remained kneeling fearfully, awaiting punishment from their masters. Finally, Jiang Xu broke the courtyard’s silence: “For failing to protect your mistress, you will all receive twenty strokes of the cane.”
Hearing this, Ming Tan momentarily forgot her embarrassment and stammered a quiet explanation: “My lord, it’s not their fault. They warned me it was dangerous to swing so high. I insisted on doing it myself…”
Her voice grew progressively softer as she spoke, eventually becoming almost inaudible.
But Jiang Xu remained unmoved: “As personal attendants, they must advise and dissuade. If one warning is not heeded, they should give a second. Otherwise, should their mistress one day commit evil, would they become accomplices? Su Xin, Lü E, thirty strokes.”
Ming Tan: “…?”
How had the punishment increased? It was just swinging; how had it escalated to being an accomplice to evil?
She was about to speak again, but Su Xin and Lü E quickly interjected, kowtowing vigorously and speaking in unison: “We thank the Duke for his guidance. This lowly servant willingly accepts the punishment.”
Not only were their words in perfect harmony, but they also shared the same thought: Please, Young Mistress, say no more!
Jiang Xu’s unsparing rebuke also snapped Imperial Consort Lan out of her daze.
Sometimes, accidentally stumbling upon an awkward scene can be more uncomfortable for the witness than for those creating the awkwardness.
She curtsied from a distance and cleared her throat before saying, “This concubine came to deliver tea. The tea has been delivered, and there are matters to attend to in the palace. This concubine will not further disturb the Duke and Duchess.”
With that, she gestured for her palace servants to bring forward the tea, curtsied once more, and hastily departed.
After Imperial Consort Lan left, silence again fell over the courtyard.
Ming Tan continued to cling to Jiang Xu. She was so mortified that her eyes were vacant, her limbs and thoughts finding no place to rest.
Jiang Xu, who had been holding her face-to-face, suddenly tossed her up slightly and slung her over his shoulder. As he walked towards the room, he coldly ordered: “Dismantle the swing.”
Whether triggered by these four words or something else, Ming Tan suddenly began to struggle, kicking her legs and beating her hands against Jiang Xu’s back: “Put me down! Wuwuwu… It’s so embarrassing, I don’t want to live anymore!”
Jiang Xu ignored her, carrying her directly into the inner chamber and tossing her onto the bed.
Ming Tan landed on the soft couch, instinctively grabbing the brocade quilt to cover her face. She kicked her legs and vented her frustrations, muffled by the quilt, for quite some time before finally calming down.
“Finished throwing a tantrum?”
Jiang Xu had been standing by the bed watching her. Seeing her quiet down, he suddenly reached out and pulled away the quilt.
Ming Tan’s hair was disheveled, her eyes vacant, and her face red in patches from her rubbing—she looked every bit like a little madwoman.
However, even in this state, the little madwoman never forgot to mind her image. Despite her condition, she immediately turned her back to Jiang Xu.
Initially, Jiang Xu had been somewhat angry, but for some reason, seeing Ming Tan in this state, his irritation suddenly dissipated, and he even found it somewhat amusing.
“What would you like for lunch?”
“Do I look like I can swallow anything right now?” Ming Tan’s voice was very small, tinged with a hint of resentment.
“…”
Indeed.
Ming Tan turned over the embroidered pillow to cover her face, her voice muffled by it: “My lord, can you let me be alone for a while?”
Hearing this, Jiang Xu didn’t say anything. After a brief pause, he quietly withdrew.
Outside, Su Xin and Lü E had already received their caning. The fact that they could still walk, albeit stumbling, after thirty strokes showed just how much the punishment had been mitigated.
Seeing Jiang Xu, the two apologized and bowed fearfully, then cautiously asked if they could enter to attend to their mistress.
“No need. Let her be alone for now.”
The two responded with a “Yes” and exchanged glances, not daring to disturb their mistress.
–
Ming Tan’s solitude stretched from noon until evening.
Initially, Jiang Xu hadn’t taken the matter too seriously, thinking the young girl was just thin-skinned and would recover on her own. However, when he returned from a trip to the garden and heard that the Duchess hadn’t eaten or left her room since noon, he was somewhat surprised.
He lifted the curtain and entered, walking slowly to the bedside.
Ming Tan didn’t use perfume in summer; the room only held the faint fruity scent of fingered citron and pear.
She wasn’t asleep. Hearing footsteps, her body noticeably tensed.
Jiang Xu sat on the edge of the bed, first glancing at Ming Tan, then slowly reaching out to brush away the stray hairs on her face. “Are you sulking at me?”
Ming Tan shook her head slightly: “I’m sulking at myself.”
“About what?”
“About embarrassing myself.”
“Who said you embarrassed yourself?”
She suddenly turned to face him, her eyes red: “Even if no one said it, everyone must be thinking it!” Especially you!
Jiang Xu seemed to know what she was thinking: “Regardless of what others think, I don’t think so.” He paused, looking at her reddened eyes, “Did you cry over this?”
Ming Tan quickly covered her eyes, but they hurt, so she ended up covering Jiang Xu’s eyes instead, unreasonably declaring: “Which law of Da Xian forbids women from crying when upset!”
Jiang Xu inwardly laughed, his large hand covering her small one, just about to remove it when she put on a slightly fierce expression: “Don’t look, I’m ugly!”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re ugly. After all, a humble wife is not to be abandoned.”
“…?” Ming Tan dropped her hand on her own, staring at Jiang Xu in disbelief: “How am I a humble wife!”
The scene from their wedding night when her husband told her “My wife is not ugly, but very beautiful” was still vivid in her mind, yet in less than half a year, she had become a humble wife whose ugliness didn’t matter.
Truly, all marital affection in the world was so fleeting!
Her heart suddenly felt cold, and her mouth turned down.
Seeing Ming Tan about to take it seriously, Jiang Xu stroked her soft cheek, his thumb wiping away the tear marks under her eyes. He decided to stop teasing: “I was just joking.”
“…”
“Since when does my lord joke? It’s not funny at all!”
Ming Tan was genuinely upset! She turned her back to him again.
But unable to let it go, she quickly turned back, looking at Jiang Xu accusingly: “Can’t you say something nice to compliment and comfort me? You brute! You have no sense of romance.”
“Romance?” Jiang Xu slowly repeated the word, then suddenly chuckled and called out, “Someone prepares water. The Duchess will bathe.”
“…?”
“I don’t want to bathe!”
Jiang Xu effortlessly lifted her into his arms, feeling her sweaty back: “You don’t want to bathe?”
“Then… I’ll bathe alone. I don’t want to bathe with you.”
When he mentioned romance and immediately called for bath water, she knew what mischief he was planning. She refused! Every time in the water, they would end up splashing water all over the bathing chamber, making such a commotion. It was too embarrassing.
As they haggled, the bathing chamber quickly filled with steam. The gauze curtains swayed gently, and flower petals floated on the water’s surface, creating a hazy, intimate atmosphere of red.
Jiang Xu carried her into the bathing chamber and set her down on a stool beside the bath. The Spring Star Pavilion’s bathing chamber had a white jade bath. Since coming to Yongchun Garden, they had only made love twice and naturally hadn’t yet tried this pool.
Ming Tan nervously rubbed her small feet, her whole body radiating resistance: “I, I can wash myself. I don’t want to bathe with you.”
After many days without intimacy, she had a premonition that if he had his way tonight in this bath, she wouldn’t be able to get out of bed tomorrow.
Jiang Xu laughed very softly: “I’m afraid that’s not for you to decide.”
Hearing this, Ming Tan knew it wasn’t good. She stood up to flee, but how could she be a match for Jiang Xu? She was quickly caught and pinned against the screen.
Jiang Xu whispered in her ear: “Move again, and the screen will fall.”
“…”
And then the maids outside would think the Duke and Duchess were being very passionate.
Ming Tan stopped moving, pretending to surrender. But just as Jiang Xu’s handsome face slowly approached, she suddenly headbutted him, gaining half a breath’s time to try to run again.
However, she hadn’t noticed that Jiang Xu still held the ties of her clothes. This movement not only caused her clothes to be half pulled open, exposing her shoulders but also nearly made her trip forward.
Jiang Xu steadied her, saying with a half-smile: “Is the Duchess personally demonstrating the art of playing hard to get?”
“…”
Not at all!
She was both embarrassed and angry. She pushed Jiang Xu, but instead of moving him, she lost her footing and fell backward—
“Splash!”
She tumbled into the bath.
Outside, the maids thought: The Duke and Duchess are indeed passionate.