Vol 1 Chapter 1.13 (1/2)
Just A Straight Road (Part 13)
Xu Zhi dismisses a formal request to take the prisoners penned by the Minister of Law himself, and sets to leave. “Ignore the letter. Ting Wei merely wanted me to admire his calligraphy. Ah Jiu, I will wait for your good news. Tong Mo, keep the bell safe and make sure that no one touches it.”
At the door, she pauses and turns back to look at Jiu Xing. “Since you will be seeing to my matters in future, follow Jiang Jiu and learn the ropes.”
As everyone leave to do her bidding, Tong Mo pa.s.ses an umbrella to Zhou Wen Wu. Watching her signs, Zhou Wen Wu makes no move to take the umbrella while Xu Zhi dismisses. “It is alright Tong Mo. Go do your stuff and forget about an umbrella for me. How can a short walk under the sun cause my headache to worsen?”
Turning around, she walks off but it is not long before the shadow of a man with an umbrella pa.s.ses over her. “Xu Zhi, once they have cured your headache, I’m going to turn them into mincemeat.”
When she shots Zhou Wen Wu a look of censure, he asks once more on what happened while they were held captive, to which she responds with no expression whatsoever. “There are some things in life that it is better not to know.”
Zhou Wen Wu tightens his hold on the umbrella until she wonders if the handle is going to splinter. “What. Else. Did. They. Do. To. You?”
Xu Zhi sighs and walks towards the lake. “There are people in the study making copies of the books. Let us take a seat by the lake.”
“You know, you are the most useless mistress I know. You must let your servants know who is the boss and if you need to use the study, then they better make sure you are done with using the study before they use the place to copy books.”
“Oh… I am in a rush you see.” Seeing that he has fallen behind, she walks back to him. “Ah Wu, the copies they are making will be placed in my tomb together with me. By the way, you will definitely live to see Zhou Wen Cheng’s ending right? Can you as a favour to me, make sure that you witness his ending?”
Something flickers in his eyes and she reaches out to remove his mask. “I have said before that you need not wear the mask while you are in the residence.”
She has never been good at reading people and she finds that even without the mask, she is still quite clueless to figuring out the confusing man before her. “Ah Wu, can you kiss me?”
Despite the bright sun above, such a request from a beautiful woman like her is hard to resist and Zhou Wen Wu dips his head and kisses her. At first, the contact is brief and light but when he deepens the kiss… he tightens his hold on her waist and starts plundering. When he finally feels her responding, he makes a guttural moan and walks her backwards until her back is to a tree. He left her mouth to trail his lips up to her ears…. and meets her amber eyes.
A pair of watchful amber eyes with just a tint of cloud in them to mask their sharpness. “Xu Zhi, who am I?”
“Zhou Wen Wu.” Looking at his face that is flushed from pa.s.sion, she continues. “It was you last night too, is it not?”
“You know it is me?”
“Of course. I’m not dead you know. The meds may dull my brain but I can still register the feeling that someone is kissing me. I may not know who it is at that time but when I saw you in my room when I woke up, the answer become obvious.” Such simple deduction is still within her capabilities.
But his vigor is a surprise to her. He is over thirty is he not? Why does he behave like a youth when it comes to pa.s.sion? She only responded after a long time but his pa.s.sion seems easily ignited, almost from the start! Didn’t he say that he feels too pressurized to enjoy s.e.x anymore? Perhaps…. “Did you confuse me with Xu Da again?”
“No. Unlike you, I do not respond to simply anyone, much less if it is someone whom I do not know.” His sarcasm trails off as he feels anger boiling up again. Fearing that he may crush her waist in his anger, he forces himself to let her go least he triggers another headache.
“You use to have a stable of concubines. Are you sure you do not respond to them too?”
Her curious question is like a slap in the face and his expression turns ominous as he glares at her. “Xu Zhi, are you telling me that I am only one bedmate out of many?” He grabs her wrist in a death grip. “If you are saying that anyone who can ignite your pa.s.sion is welcome to share your bed, I will tell you straight – don’t you even dare think about it!”
“Then what should I think?” She is always open to suggestions for improvement.
It is at the tip of his tongue to say that she can only think of him, but Zhou Wen Wu swallows his words and forces himself to relax. “Xu Zhi, there is a portrait in the palace that probably belonged to your ancestor. The woman in the painting is 30% like you, 70% like Xu Da. I am not comfortable that the Yi fellow mention your resemblance to a woman in one of their old paintings and I would strongly suggest that you find a chance to destroy that portrait in the palace.”
“Oh… When did you see this portrait?”
“More than 10 years ago, before Xu Da left for Wei.”
Xu Zhi connects the dots immediately. “So you like women who looks like the person in the portrait? That is why you are so hot for Xu Da back then? Because she resembles the woman?”
When he did not answer, she continues along her line of reasoning. “So you are the kind that is love-at-first-sight? You like woman with a certain look? When you pursue me all those years ago, it is because I have the look and when you saw that Xu Da looks even more like your ideal woman, you started pursuing her?”
He tries to interrupt her but she continues. “Although I have no idea you are pursuing me back then had Zai Lin not alerted me…” His face has turned black when she faces him squarely. “Ah Wu, I have seen that portrait.”
“What?”
“I have seen the portrait with His Majesty.”