The Pearl on the Emperor’s Crown

Chapter 7 – Princess’ Scent

“Elder Sister, elder cousin is here!” Zhu Xiu Li announced. “Elder Cousin, sit down for a while, and I’ll make you tea myself!” Since he really wanted his elder cousin to teach him, he had to show his sincerity first.

Zhu Yi sat on the chair by the window, quietly putting away the unhappiness in her heart. She found herself thinking that she really wasn’t a sharp person. When she was a child, Aunt Lin, the nursemaid who took care of her, gave her some advice before she died and Zhu Yi still remembered every word clearly.

‘Princess, in this palace, you have to be clever and pretend to be foolish. Don’t think about things that you shouldn’t think about.’

Xie Ying’s previous relationship with Zhu Yi was one in which she couldn’t control her thoughts and emotions, but that was before. It was different now. Therefore, when Xie Ying walked towards her, she greeted him with a polite smile. “Your Highness.”

Xie Ying stopped right in front of her. 

“Princess, will you come with me?”

Although it was a question, Xie Ying’s gaze made Zhu Yi feel that even if she didn’t agree, he would still somehow get her to agree anyway, so she went out with him.

When they arrived at the West Hall, Zhu Yi wasn’t in the mood to go inside anymore. Xie Ying cast his servants a look, and Tao Shan and the others immediately withdrew from the room.

“I went to Jade Island in Sangyang City last night,” Xie Ying admitted, watching Zhu Yi closely. “But it was just to enjoy the song and dance performances.”

“You don’t need to tell me that, Your Highness,” Zhu Yi replied steadily. “It’s none of my business where you go.”

Zhu Yi felt a force on her back, and then she found herself leaning with her head pressed against Xie Ying’s chest. “You can smell it,” he told her, his voice low.

She felt wronged for no reason, and she desperately wanted to break free from his restraint.

“What are you doing? Who wants to smell you? Do you think you smell nice? It stinks!”

Xie Ying laughed, and finally let her go. “That is naturally so, since the princess’ scent isn’t on me. But I haven’t changed my clothes since I came back from the outside. There is no smell of perfume and cosmetics, right?”

“I already said it has nothing to do with me,” Zhu Yi repeated sullenly, avoiding his gaze.

“Well, that may be so, but this official himself wants to report this to Your Highness,” he said, still laughing.

Zhu Yi couldn’t help but glance at him. Xie Ying still called himself an official? Since when did he ever consider himself an official? As long as he wanted her to have whatever virtues he wanted, he was the princess instead, right?

“Since Your Highness will stay by Ah Li’s side for a while, will you wait for me?” Xie Ying requested. “Help me drink the tea Ah Li made.”

He then added, “Princess said that I stink, so I have to take a bath and change my clothes first.” He leaned his body down and sniffed Zhu Yi’s hair lightly. “After all, the princess is indeed very fragrant, I am afraid the smoke will affect Your Highness.” 

Zhu Yi took three steps back to avoid him, found that she had nowhere to go, so she turned around and left.

Zhu Dai thought she was seeing things when she saw Zhu Yi coming out of the West Hall. 

“Is that Zhu Yi?” She asked her palace maid.

The palace maid replied in affirmation. Zhu Dai trembled all over, and she hurriedly ran over to stop Zhu Yi, who was about to enter the East Hall. 

“What were you doing with my elder cousin?” she demanded.

“I was helping seventh brother to send things over to the prince,” Zhu Yi replied lightly.

Zhu Dai looked at Zhu Yi and saw that she was not acting unusual, so she had to let her go.

Since Xie Ying didn’t return all night, he had to take a bath when he came back the next day. Tao Shan was familiar with his habits and had already ordered for his bath to be prepared earlier.

It happened that there was no one in the main hall. When Zhu Dai burst into the room without giving notice, Xie Ying was wearing only a pair of plain silk trousers, and his upper body was naked.

It was a masculine adult male body with broad shoulders, a strong narrow waist, and smooth skin that was like the finest silk satin that made people eager to touch. The texture of every inch of the chest and abdomen was amazingly beautiful and smooth. The part further down was hidden in the trousers and left to the imagination.

Although Xie Ying pulled a robe over his body almost instantly, Zhu Dai was still dazed.

A light flashed in Xie Ying’s eyes. Zhu Dai’s entire face turned red and she turned around.

“Elder Cousin, I-I will wait for you outside,” she stammered out.

Zhu Dai’s heart almost jumped out of her chest. Although she had never seen the bodies of other men before, she knew that her elder cousin had to be the best. She suddenly pinched her fingers tightly, feeling both shy and happy. She was glad that she was still young and didn’t usually have to deal with rumours over interacting with her elder cousin. At the same time, she hated that she was still young and had such a large age gap with her elder cousin, and she feared that she might not be able to be his princess consort.

When Tao Shan served tea, she glanced at Zhu Dai, who was still in a daze, and thought in her heart that it was unfortunate. She knew that the prince was afraid that Princess Xi Zhen would be embarrassed when she saw a lot of people coming and going, so she had dismissed them. Who knew that Princess Hua Xian would happen to crash in.　　

When Xie Ying reappeared, he was wearing a snow-white silk robe with a round collar, embroidered with a silver dragon and dark green curlicues. The fine stitching was done by the best embroiderer, and the light-coloured clothes make him look exquisite and elegant.

Zhu Dai thought that when her cousin put on his clothes, the feeling was different from before, but she still loved it no matter what.

Zhu Dai pretended that she hadn’t seen anything before, but instead said prettily, “Elder Cousin, did Tao Shan inform you yesterday? Shall we go horse racing today?”

Xie Ying glanced at Tao Shan, and Tao Shan said knowingly, “Princess, the prince didn’t come back last night. This slave has just seen the prince, and I haven’t had time to talk to His Highness yet.”

“I promised the seventh prince that I would teach him boxing for a few days.” Xie Ying said. “Let’s go riding another time.”

“Oh.” Zhu Dai couldn’t hide her disappointment. “Elder Cousin, will you get married next year?” She asked ignorantly.

Xie Ying looked at her and said nothing.

Zhu Dai had to carry on the conversation herself. 

“I really don’t want Xi Zhen to become my elder cousin-in-law.”

Xie Ying, who had been tapping his fingers carelessly on the arm of his chair, abruptly stopped his movements. Tao Shan’s expression changed, and she quickly retreated from the room.

Zhu Dai ordered her palace maid to leave as well before she leaned forward to whisper to Xie Ying.

“Elder Cousin, I heard that when Xi Zhen was still young, she had an ambiguous relationship with an imperial guard. I don’t know if the adult guard seduced her or if she was like that by nature. Anyway, the guard died protecting her during the Autumn Hunt the year before last. When my father saw her grieving, he realized that she actually had an affair with the guard.”

With the dubiousness of the crown prince and Zhu Yi coming out of the woods that day, coupled with this incident, Zhu Dai hoped that her elder cousin would not want to marry Zhu Yi, no matter how attractive she was. 

There was no expression on Xie Ying’s face, and Zhu Dai couldn’t read anything from him, so she continued. 

“Therefore, my father bestowed her a title with ‘chastity’ in her name1, probably as a warning.”

“But don’t tell anyone about this, Elder Cousin,” Zhu Dai said hastily. “Xi Zhen is still my sister after all, and I don’t want to talk badly about her. It’s just that I worry that Elder Cousin will be blinded by her appearance.”

Xie Ying’s gaze was deep and bottomless.

“I see.”

When Xie Ying went to the East Hall to ask about Zhu Yi, Zhu Xiu Li said, “Elder Sister left after she drank the tea I made.” He didn’t dare to say that Zhu Yi left because he had annoyed her by pretending to have a headache and rolling around the arhat bed when she asked him about his homework.

Not long after Zhu Yi returned to Joyous Hope Pavilion, Zhu Xiu Li’s palace maid came to deliver a message, saying that he wanted to go horse riding with her in the back mountain at seven in the evening.

Zhu Yi thought it was just like Zhu Xiu Li to do this. Whenever he made her angry, his way of making it up to her was to play with her. Zhu Yi accepted the invitation.

What she didn’t know was that it was really someone else who had extended the invitation to her.

The biggest difference between the temperature of Sheng River Palace and the Forbidden City was the coolness of the night in Sheng River Palace. This was especially true at the racecourse that was located on the other side of Jiming Mountain. At seven in the evening, the sky was not too dark for horse riding, and the refreshing air of the mountain shade also fully emerged. If you went horse riding, the wind would rush at you, and it was much more comfortable than the artificially cooled air in the palace.

Zhu Yi also liked to ride horses, and her riding skills were excellent. Contrary to her usual caution, she liked to gallop when riding, pushing the speed of the horse to the limit. Most men couldn’t even catch up with her. She was like a beautiful shadow flying like the wind, which often frightened and worried people, lest she fall down and break her slender neck.

In this regard, the emperor did not shy away from once saying, “There is a shadow of Qing Rang from the past.”

Pei Qing Rang was Zhu Yi’s biological father.

When Xie Ying and Zhu Xiu Li arrived at the racecourse, they saw Zhu Yi, who had arrived ahead of time and was already riding a horse, but she saw them too and quickly turned back and headed towards them.

It felt really good to be able to stare down at Xie Ying condescendingly from her high position on the horse, so Zhu Yi also forgave Zhu Xiu Li for bringing along other people without her permission.

Zhu Yi had picked a tall dark horse from the imperial stable. She was wearing a snow-white plaid riding outfit, and her hair was tied high in a ponytail with a golden ring of lotus petals. The extremely pale black and white colours of her dress in contrast to her skin made the alluring outline of her face more vivid, especially her delicate and appetizing red lips. When her lips parted and closed with each word, it was as if it was magic, tempting any man at that moment to ruthlessly and relentlessly kiss and bite that small mouth, instead of listening to her talk.

Although Xie Ying’s gaze was fixed on Zhu Yi’s lips, he still clearly heard what Zhu Yi said.

“Your Highness is here as well.” She said, with well-hidden provocation. She was obviously very confident in her riding skills, and it was rare to find such confidence in front of Xie Ying.

Xie Ying smiled faintly and replied to Zhu Yi with a more provocative sentence. 

“Well, the teacher wants to check that the student has made progress this year.”

Bah! He actually claimed to be her teacher. In fact, Zhu Yi learned to ride a horse when she was seven years old, and Xie Ying didn’t teach her at all. But when Zhu Yi remembered how she pestered Xie Ying for ‘guidance’ on horse riding at that time, her face flushed, and it was not easy for her to refute that too much.

“Ah Li, Shen Xing Liu’s riding skills are first-class,” Xie Ying said to the young boy. “I will only teach you once you pass his test. I’ll go ahead and run two laps now.”

Zhu Xiu Li was so obedient towards Xie Ying that he immediately agreed. Besides, he also understood that his elder cousin wanted to teach his elder sister!

Xie Ying then jumped on his horse. Zhu Yi incessantly coveted Xie Ying’s horse, and at the same time, she immediately glanced at the man on the horse. She squeezed her thighs to cue her horse, and the dark horse under her charged out first.

Xie Ying followed behind her, keeping a moderate distance between them without catching up with her.

The racecourse was deliberately levelled out. When Zhu Yi reached the edge of the racecourse and was about to ride her horse around the bend, Xie Ying’s horse suddenly caught up with Zhu Yi like a thunderbolt. The two horses rode side by side and Xie Ying stretched out his arm and gently scooped up Zhu Yi with ease.

Xie Ying was extremely quick in picking her up and Zhu Yi was suddenly nestled into Xie Ying’s arms. When her horse reached the other end, Xie Ying’s horse had already carried the two of them into the woods outside the racecourse, and she finally registered what the man had done. 

“Xie Ying! We’re in public!”

Zhu Yi was so angry that she actually called out his name, but Xie Ying just chuckled. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. No one will ride so far out except for us.”

Zhu Yi’s back was close to Xie Ying, and her slim legs were also firmly pressed against his own legs by the horse’s belly. Summer clothes were originally light and thin, but because of the sharp jerking motions of the horse’s back, she felt like her whole back was about to ignite. 

“It’s not good if there’s no one. You need to let me get down right now.”