"How can the graceful posture of dancing girls compare to Your Highness's golden branch and jade leaf status?" Qiu Shuzhi smiled faintly, her gentle voice dispelling all his anxiety.
Yue Guanyi's face turned red, his ears flushed almost to the point of bleeding, like ripe red berries, so soft it made her want to pinch them.
"Your Highness, we've arrived at the villa," Chang'an's voice came from outside as the carriage stopped.
Clarity instantly returned to Qiu Shuzhi's eyes, dispelling all her thoughts. No matter how soft and vulnerable the person before her appeared, he was still the current Crown Prince, Commander of the Imperial Guard, wielding great power - a living King of Hell.
If she dared to touch him, her head would likely be hanging high on the city gate tomorrow.
Qiu Shuzhi lifted the curtain and stepped down from the carriage.
Before her eyes was an elegant and imposing villa. Located right by the imperial city, tall walls surrounded a large courtyard with green bamboo partially visible, their cool shadows extending beyond the wall to form a bamboo screen.
Yue Guanyi followed behind her, about to descend from the carriage when Qiu Shuzhi naturally extended her hand to support him.
Yue Guanyi's eyes trembled, nearly stumbling and falling from the carriage again as he had that night. He tightly gripped his fingers, avoiding her hand as he got down.
Supporting someone from a carriage was typically a servant's job. How could he let Qiu Shuzhi do such a thing? She was the eternally cool and pure moonlight in his heart. Even if dust fell at her feet, he would kneel before her to brush away every speck. She was the bodhisattva in his heart, and he was willing to be the mount beneath her.
"Now that Your Highness has arrived at your residence, this official shall take his leave. Farewell!" Qiu Shuzhi cupped her hands and prepared to leave.
"Official Qiu, please stay. Since you've already come to my residence, why not come in for a while?" Yue Guanyi called out to detain her, his slender fingers clenched into a fist.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he inwardly cursed himself for being insatiable, greedy for more and more. He berated himself for being like a gluttonous beast, never satisfied, yet greedily longing for Qiu Shuzhi to be with him at all times.
Qiu Shuzhi paused her steps, looking at the fine beads of sweat on his forehead that had dampened his bangs. She felt somewhat puzzled - why did this person seem so nervous, yet still insist on detaining her?
Though she didn't understand what was so frightening about herself, wasn't he just tormenting himself by forcibly detaining her like this?
"Your Highness, men and women should maintain proper distance. It seems inappropriate for this official to enter your elegant residence," she politely declined.
Yue Guanyi's face flushed lightly as he forced himself to speak through his highly tense nerves: "It's just to discuss official business. Official Qiu need not mind those worldly customs."
Official business?
This reason she could not refuse: "Very well then."
Yue Guanyi let out a sigh of relief, like a drowning man finally getting a chance to breathe.
They entered the villa together. Befitting the royal family's grandeur, even this separate residence was a world unto itself. Within the capital, it recreated landscapes with flower shadows on walls, mountains, waters, and pavilions exuding refined leisure at every turn, as if an entire Jiangnan villa had been transported here.
Qiu Shuzhi sat on a zitan wood chair in the inner courtyard. In the spacious courtyard there were only the two of them, with Chang'an standing guard far outside.
"Please have some tea, my lady." Yue Guanyi personally poured her a cup of tea, offering it with a red face.
Qiu Shuzhi accepted in a daze, watching the tea leaves float up and down in the cup as she asked, "What matter did Your Highness summon me for?"
Yue Guanyi sat in the chair beside her. Perhaps due to nervousness, he perched only on the very edge of the seat, sitting rigidly upright like a schoolboy left alone to face the teacher.
"I asked you here because of Her Majesty."
"What about Her Majesty?" Qiu Shuzhi immediately tensed.
Seeing her so nervous about that puppet emperor, Yue Guanyi felt a twinge of jealousy, but still pretended to be calm as he said: "Your previous suggestion has made the Empress Dowager take special notice of you. Qin Shu will be exiled to Baiyue in a few days. The Empress Dowager now thinks very highly of you and will certainly want to recruit you as his protégé. Her Majesty's meaning is to have you-"
"This official understands. This subject will remember the imperial grace and certainly not betray Her Majesty's goodwill by allying with the Empress Dowager." As soon as Yue Guanyi began speaking, she understood what the young emperor wanted to say.
She could understand - after all, no emperor could tolerate someone biting the hand that feeds them.
"No!" Yue Guanyi uncharacteristically interrupted her words: "That is only Her Majesty's meaning."
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