Chapter 82 Leveraging a Favor
A few days prior, a heavy snowfall had blanketed the main road in a pristine white. Carriage wheels carved two deep ruts through the accumulated snow.
It was late now, and every household had its doors and windows tightly shut. The New Year's charms pasted on the doors heralded the festive joy of spring. Yan Xuerui traveled with a minimal escort. Regardless of her relationship with Gu Yan, she harbored deep affection for the Old Madam and the Marquis's household. Given the festive season, she wished to avoid causing a grand commotion for the residence.
An unassuming black carriage slowly emerged from the palace's side gate. The roads were nearly empty at this hour. Yan Xuerui, cradling a gilt hand warmer, was lost in thought when suddenly, a small, thin figure darted past. The horse pulling the carriage reared violently, its hooves digging into the ground, causing Yan Xuerui to lurch forward and nearly collide with the small pearwood table in front of her.
“Guard the Princess!”
The accompanying guards reacted swiftly, drawing their swords and rushing forward. A cold glint flashed across the snowy ground as two guards quickly seized the intruder's arms, twisting them behind her back, and forced the person in front of the carriage.
“Your Highness, a beggar startled the horse by darting in front of it. Are you injured?”
Yan Xuerui composed herself. She lifted the carriage curtain, but it was too dark to discern the person’s features clearly. She could vaguely make out a woman with disheveled hair, wearing a starched, faded quilted jacket, her body somewhat soiled.
“I’m fine.”
Seeing the woman struggle fiercely, Yan Xuerui lightly furrowed her delicate brows. “Does she wish to speak to me?”
This person had suddenly rushed out. Unlike the heavily guarded palace, the guards dared not allow the stranger to approach Princess Changle and aggressively questioned her for answers. Unexpectedly, the woman turned out to be mute, emitting only hoarse sounds from her throat. Only her eyes shone brightly, fixed intently on the carriage, seething with venomous resentment.
After questioning her for a long time and getting nowhere, the guard rose and reported, “Your Highness, this person cannot speak. Shall this humble servant take her in for further interrogation?”
It was New Year’s Eve. After a moment’s thought, Yan Xuerui said, “Forget it. Let’s go. Let’s not create complications.”
…
After this interruption, by the time Yan Xuerui arrived at the Marquis of Jingyuan’s residence, the banquet had already concluded, and all was quiet. Yan Xuerui gracefully alighted from the carriage and gazed at the tightly shut vermilion gates.
She had come impulsively, but now that she was here, she felt a pang of hesitation.
As she wavered, uncertain whether to turn back to the palace, the gates suddenly slowly opened from within.
“This old servant respectfully welcomes Her Highness Princess Changle.”
The gatekeeper, arms tucked into his sleeves, ordered the heavy iron gates to be pulled open and said cheerfully, “It’s cold outside, Your Highness. Please come in quickly.”
With so many people watching, Yan Xuerui was placed in an awkward position and couldn’t simply leave. She quietly instructed, “It’s late. There’s no need for such a grand display. Opening a side gate would suffice.”
If nothing else, the heavy, grating sound of the vermilion lacquered gates dragging across the flagstones was enough to disturb everyone. At this hour, the Old Madam and the children in the household had probably already gone to bed.
Moreover, she and Gu Yan were not exactly on proper terms as husband and wife now. Her visiting so late at night would inevitably stir gossip.
She didn’t want to make a scene, but the gatekeeper widened his eyes and said, “Nonsense! How could we let Your Highness enter through the side gate?”
“If the Marquis found out, he would surely punish this old servant for neglect of duty.”
Yan Xuerui detected the implication in his words. “Did he tell you to come receive me?”
He had guessed she would come?
The gatekeeper realized he had misspoken and pretended to slap his own mouth twice before bowing and smiling apologetically to Yan Xuerui. It was New Year’s Eve, and she didn’t want to make things difficult for the servants. She had some silver given as a reward and, guided by a maid holding a lantern, stepped once again into the courtyard that had confined her for so many years.
Her frame of mind was entirely different now.
The main courtyard lay deep within the Marquis’s residence. Yan Xuerui walked for a long time. The light from the lanterns under the eaves cast shadows through the window paper—a tall, slender figure of a man sitting upright by the daybed, seemingly waiting for her to enter.
Yan Xuerui’s breath hitched. She reached out and pushed the door open.
Inside, a warm brazier burned, a stark contrast to the bitter cold outside. Yan Xuerui curled her cold fingers, moved to the clothes rack, and untied the fox fur cloak she was wearing to hang it up.
“What? Am I some monster that you dare not come in?”
Dissatisfied with Yan Xuerui’s dawdling in the outer room, Gu Yan spoke in a deep voice. Yan Xuerui compressed her lips and lifted the bead curtain to enter. Sure enough, Gu Yan had partially undressed. His dark silk trousers were loosely tied at his waist, his upper body bare, revealing a firm, well-defined chest.
Unlike usual, a white bandage was wrapped over his shoulder, tightly binding his chest and back. The air carried a faint scent of blood. On the small table beside Gu Yan sat a bowl of amber-colored ointment, clearly untouched.
“You haven’t been applying the medicine on time again.”
Yan Xuerui frowned deeply. She moved behind him and saw that the blood on his back had seeped through, staining a large area, looking utterly terrifying.
Gu Yan looked up, his deep gaze fixed on Yan Xuerui, and said without evasion, “I was waiting for you.”
During the incident with the Crown Prince, he could have dodged, but he had chosen to protect Yan Xuerui, hence suffering this misfortune. This, he knew, and Yan Xuerui knew it too.
Gu Yan had never been a man of high moral character. With this chance to leverage his kindness, he naturally intended to make the most of it. Before, he had been the one chasing after Yan Xuerui; now, the tables had turned. It was Gu Yan’s turn to play hard to get.
His wound needed dressing every other day. Yan Xuerui had wanted him to recuperate in the palace, but he refused, forcing her to travel back and forth. It was as if only this could prove her feelings for him.
Today was the thirtieth of the twelfth month. Officials were already on break. With Gu Yan overseeing court affairs, Yan Xuerui didn’t need to worry, but palace matters were hectic. Rewarding palace staff, attending to the Emperor Emeritus, and numerous other trivial tasks had kept her busy. She had already sent word that the physician should change his dressing and and that she couldn’t come.
The Emperor—oh, no, now he should be called the Emperor Emeritus—Yan Xuerui still attended to him daily, but the Emperor Emeritus resented her. Faced with a face so similar to Imperial Consort Chen’s and the daughter he had once doted on most, he glared coldly, his eyes wishing her dead.
The warmth of the past was gone. After serving the Emperor Emeritus some meat and rice porridge and unfastening her clothes to feed Young Slave, Yan Xuerui found herself alone. Young Slave, full and content, had fallen fast asleep. Facing a table full of delicacies and the vast, empty palace, she suddenly felt a sense of loneliness.
Yan Xuerui lowered her eyelashes and reached out to untie the bandage on his back. Over the past few days, she had become quite skilled. She first called for hot water and a towel, gently wiping away the blood around the wound, then applied the cool ointment and wrapped it with a fresh bandage. She paused for a moment before tying a tight knot over his shoulder.
There were plenty of physicians and servants he could use, yet he insisted on troubling her. How annoying.
She held back her strength, intending only to make him uncomfortable for a moment. But unexpectedly, Gu Yan, who had been expressionless, suddenly grunted and grabbed her hand.
“Don’t tease me.”
Her cool fingertips brushed against his waist and abdomen, sending a tingling sensation through him. Gu Yan held her hand, exerting a little force, and pulled her into his embrace.
He was severely injured. During these days of changing his dressings, he had always been proper. Yan Xuerui hadn’t expected him to be so bold now. She didn’t dare struggle, afraid of reopening his wound. She had just seen it—it hadn’t scabbed over yet and couldn’t withstand vigorous movement.
Yan Xuerui could only glare at him with her beautiful eyes. “What’s gotten into you? Let me go at once.”
“No.”
The usually composed Senior Tutor Gu now sat bare-chested, a rogueish smile playing on his lips, exuding a somewhat unruly air.
He lifted her delicate chin flirtatiously and said, “You were so rough just now. What, have you found a lover outside, eager to move on?”
Gu Yan had a bad habit: he held grudges.
Even though he knew Yan Xuerui had said those things to provoke him that day—claiming she wouldn’t remain chaste if he died—he still couldn’t let it go. He seized every opportunity to jab at her with his words.
“There’s no lover, and no moving on.”
He had been injured for her sake. Yan Xuerui endured it.
She was truly afraid his wound would split open again. Surprisingly patient, she explained softly, “I was talking nonsense that day. I only have you.”
“Please let me go. I won’t leave tonight; I’ll stay with you. I’ll go make the bed for you.”
At first, the two had been at odds. Later, forced to yield to Gu Yan's domineering presence, Yan Xuerui had no choice but to play the role of a docile “Marquise,” compliant on the surface though unwilling at heart.
So the duties a wife should perform for her husband, such as serving meals and helping him undress, were things she had never done for Gu Yan. Gu Yan was easygoing; as long as she was by his side, he didn’t care about these trivial matters.
Now that she had suddenly become so "virtuous," a faint glint flashed in Gu Yan’s eyes. He had another bad habit—"testing limits."
There were few people in this world who could hurt him, and he couldn’t let this chance slip away.
His hands wandered, freely teasing the body in his embrace. Watching her snow-white cheeks flush crimson, itching to squirm but afraid to resist, his gaze gradually deepened.
"Your hands are as fair as jade; I’d never make you do rough work like folding quilts and making beds."
His throat moved slightly as he said hoarsely, "Rui Er, as the saying goes, saving a life means owing a life. I saved your life—tell me, how will you repay me?"
At this moment, all of Yan Xuerui’s loneliness and sorrow vanished. Lust was a knife overhead; she truly couldn’t understand how Gu Yan still had the mind to entertain such thoughts at a time like this.
She deeply felt that coming to the Marquis’s residence today was a mistake and said through gritted teeth, "Marquis Gu, you are injured."
"Once you’ve recovered, you can have your way."
She wasn’t some blushing virgin—she had already given birth to three children. Yan Xuerui wasn’t one to play coy. Gu Yan nodded, silently marking this IOU in his heart. He would claim what was due in the future, but he also wanted it today.
Gu Yan said, "I’m in pain."
Yan Xuerui didn’t dare struggle at all and hurriedly soothed him, "Alright, let go of me. I’ll massage it for you."
"Really?"
Gu Yan hesitated for a moment, his expression skeptical. "Your Highness’s word is as good as gold. Please do not deceive this subject."
Yan Xuerui gritted her molars and nodded, thinking to herself that she had been too comfortable for too long and had come to Gu Yan’s place asking for trouble. She would never come again!
Before she could finish her lament, Gu Yan smiled and said, "Then this subject… won’t say no. Thank you for your hard work, Princess."
□*□
"Gu Yan, you have no shame!"
…
Gu Yan showed by example that having shame was useless compared to the warmth and softness of Princess Changle. Taking advantage of his injury, he insisted on watching her do it herself. They fooled around deep into the night, only settling down after changing his bandages once more.
Early the next morning, ashamed and furious, Yan Xuerui didn’t even have time to see the Old Madam or Ming Wei before hurriedly returning to the palace. She sent someone to deliver New Year’s gifts to everyone in the Marquis’s residence, then had Ming Wei summoned into the palace.
Ming Wei had rushed back from Egret Mountain Academy just before the New Year. In the time she was away, her younger brother had become emperor. She felt dazed; ever since her parents separated, each day felt like a dream. It took Ming Wei several days to accept this news. She never used to like coming to the palace, but now that Empress Xu had become Empress Dowager Xu, she lived a secluded life in Cining Palace, and the palace was under her mother’s control.
She happily packed her bags to join her mother, only to find that her father often stayed overnight in the palace. It seemed her father had angered her mother and was now humbling himself to coax her. Her mother ignored him but still worried daily about changing his bandages.
Strange. Even though they were separated, it seemed… their relationship was even better than before.