Chapter 103: Falling in Love with Your Bed
He walked to the bedside and pushed through the blanket. The clear sensation transmitted through his fingertips reminded him that he should switch to a thicker quilt... Hmm, because autumn had arrived and the weather was turning cold?
Mo Yu opened her eyes and woke up. She removed the fur plugs from her ears, sat up, stretched, yawned, rose as if no one else was there, and sat before the bronze mirror to tidy her appearance. She combed her black hair until it was smooth, then began washing the residual makeup from her face.
Once again, she displayed the miraculous abilities of a Star Gathering realm expert. Between her slender fingers, several water orbs appeared out of thin air, shimmering like gems in the sunlight.
Watching her gently pat those water orbs onto her face and rub them in meticulously, Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but shake his head.
Ever since he had last seen Mo Yu wake up and do her makeup, he often thought about this matter, feeling it was a terrible waste of life.
Yes, not a waste of divine gifts, but a waste of life.
Those crystalline water orbs were condensed from her true essence, which was converted from starlight drawn through meditation. Meditation required time, and time was life.
To have cultivated to such a level, yet use her abilities to wash off residual makeup—of course, that was a waste of life.
Seeing the disapproving expression on the young man’s face in the bronze mirror, Mo Yu knew what he was thinking and said, “Only water condensed from heaven and earth is the purest water. It needs no vessel to hold it and cannot be contaminated. It is the supreme choice for cleansing the face.”
Chen Changsheng remained silent.
Mo Yu took a piece of cotton paper from the drawer and gently dabbed away the remaining water marks on her face, thinking that discussing such matters with a man was like talking to a brick wall.
Then, she felt that analogy was inappropriate.
Then, she wondered why she felt the need to explain herself to him.
“The peace at the National Academy these days will last until the Grand Examination.”
She stood up, looking at Chen Changsheng with an expressionless face, and said, “You should be very clear about what kind of leniency and mercy this represents, so you’d better behave yourselves.”
Chen Changsheng thought it over and said nothing.
“I heard... in the Grand Examination, you plan to take the top rank?” Mo Yu asked him with interest.
Chen Changsheng was slightly surprised at this.
He had come from Xining to the capital, and his most important goal was to take the top rank in the Grand Examination. But if such a thing were spoken aloud, it would invite even more ridicule and gossip than his intention to marry Xu Yourong. So he had only mentioned it to two people he trusted completely.
Luo Luo and Tang Thirty-Six knew. That black dragon knew too.
Where had Mo Yu heard about it?
He recalled something, but couldn’t remember clearly whether he had mentioned it while speaking with Shuang’er from the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion.
He didn’t want to broadcast his goal to the world, but since he was asked directly, he wouldn’t deny it. Lying and covering up were never his usual style.
“Yes, I want to try and see if it’s possible,” he said, looking at Mo Yu.
Mo Yu’s expression gradually grew calm, because the serene look on Chen Changsheng’s face when he said this made her feel she couldn’t mock him. She furrowed her brow slightly and said, “Although I don’t like you, I know you’re not the kind of arrogant and ignorant fool.”
Chen Changsheng said, “Just thinking about it.”
“Have you seen anyone in the past few days?”
Mo Yu suddenly asked. She asked about seeing someone, without any specific description or even a name, because she was certain that if Chen Changsheng had seen that person, he would definitely remember and know who she was asking about.
Chen Changsheng’s intention to take the top rank in the Grand Examination was something the Saintess had told her.
The peace at the National Academy was also a gift from the Saintess.
She had never understood the Saintess’s attitude, why it had changed that night, and she wanted to try to find the hidden connection between these events.
Chen Changsheng was momentarily stunned, thinking that these days he had been cultivating and reading at the National Academy without even stepping out the gate, so how could he have encountered...
He suddenly remembered the middle-aged woman who had sat drinking tea with him in silence at the Hundred Herbs Garden, and he grew alert. Was Mo Yu inquiring about that middle-aged woman? What did she want to do? Given Mo Yu’s overwhelming power in the palace, he feared it might bring trouble to that woman.
“Who?” He neither admitted nor denied, but asked back.
This was a clever response. Mo Yu indeed didn’t think too much about it. She looked at Chen Changsheng’s clean features, recalling the Saintess’s emotional tone when mentioning this young man, and found the whole thing increasingly strange.
Her mind shifted, and she looked at Chen Changsheng with a smile. In her usually indifferent and proud eyes, a seductive charm suddenly appeared. She asked softly, “I’ve slept in your bed twice. I wonder if I left any fragrance behind. When you covered yourself at night, did you take a sniff?”
Her eyes narrowed as she smiled, turning the charm into threads. Her voice grew slightly husky, but it was pleasant to hear.
Chen Changsheng stepped back two paces, keeping his distance, and replied, “No.”
Mo Yu followed him forward, opened her eyes wide, and looked at him from very close, asking seriously, “Why?”
She seemed to do nothing deliberately, but her eyes were very bright, easily unsettling a man’s heart.
“Because after you left that day, I changed the blanket.”
Chen Changsheng said, “After you leave this time, I’ll change the blanket too.”
The room fell silent. Outside the window, the golden autumn forest swayed gently in the wind, as if mocking the clumsy jumping postures of those grasshoppers.
Mo Yu’s body grew stiff. After a moment, she slowly straightened up, looked into his eyes, and asked, “Why?”
Chen Changsheng answered honestly, “Hygiene issues.”
Mo Yu’s breathing became heavy. She asked coldly, “You think I’m unclean?”
Chen Changsheng replied seriously, “I know cleanliness obsession isn’t a good habit, and you never take off your outer clothes when you sleep... That really won’t do.”
Mo Yu forcibly suppressed the urge to destroy this entire small building and grind Chen Changsheng to dust. She stomped heavily to the door, then suddenly stopped. She thought about what Chen Changsheng had said earlier, turned around, tilted her head, and asked, “You think my clothes are dirty, not that I’m dirty?”
Chen Changsheng didn’t know how to answer. From his angle at that moment, the way she tilted her head and asked curiously was actually quite cute, even a bit like Luo Luo—where was the venomous, power-hungry Miss Mo Yu?
Mo Yu smiled sweetly at him and asked in a seductive tone, “If that’s the case, then next time I’ll take off my outer clothes to sleep. I might as well take off everything underneath and wrap myself naked in your blanket. That way, would you still change it afterward?”
Chen Changsheng had never encountered such a scene. His mouth slightly opened, and he didn’t know what to say.
Mo Yu lowered her head with a hint of shyness and said, “If that still won’t do... then I’ll bathe first, wash myself clean and white. Would that be acceptable?”
Chen Changsheng’s mouth opened wider, and he could only produce one syllable—a syllable that was definitely not the dragon language taught by the Daoist priest.
“Ah?”
“Blushing?” Mo Yu covered her mouth with her hand and laughed, a hint of triumph flashing in her eyes.
“Better not.”
Chen Changsheng came to his senses and said to her earnestly, “After all, men and women are different. And you have the Dark Palace in the imperial city and a mansion in the Little Orange Garden. Why must you come to the National Academy to sleep? Why must you sleep in my bed? If others found out, it would harm your reputation...”
Mo Yu had no time to listen to his lecture. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she asked softly, “Aren’t you tempted?”
Chen Changsheng thought it over, scratched his head, and said, “I rarely think about matters between men and women... and honestly, I don’t really understand.”
Mo Yu’s eyes were full of laughter. She said, “You don’t understand... I can teach you.”
Chen Changsheng stepped back two more paces to the window and said with righteous indignation, “Miss, I am engaged.”
His room wasn’t high, just on the second floor. Jumping to the ground would be easy.
“I’m done teasing you, little child.”
Mo Yu giggled and said, “Speaking of which, you and that crazy girl Xu Yourong are really alike. Whenever needed, you can pull out the engagement as a shield. But if you weren’t Xu Yourong’s fiancé...”
Chen Changsheng shook his head and said, “No.”
He answered without a second thought, which was hurtful.
Mo Yu was a bit annoyed and asked, “Why?”
Chen Changsheng said, “Because you’re sick.”
Mo Yu was furious and said, “You’re the one who’s sick!”
Chen Changsheng thought to himself that he was indeed sick, but that wasn’t something to share with outsiders. He looked at her seriously and said, “I mean a real illness. You’re overburdened with worry, have night sweats and insomnia. I think whether in the palace or the Little Orange Garden, you can hardly sleep, which is why you wander around in the early hours.”
Mo Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, looked at him without a word, thinking, how do you know?
Over the past year, she had suffered greatly from insomnia and night sweats. She simply couldn’t sleep at night, and during the day she had to attend the Saintess and review memorials, with no time to close her eyes. She could only force herself to endure. Day after day, even as a Star Gathering realm expert, she was nearing her limit.
She carried soundproofing fur with her and wore a calming sachet at her waist, all in hopes of being able to sleep.
But none of it worked. Until a few days ago, when the Tianhai family attacked the National Academy. As the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, she came to watch the excitement and control the situation, wanting to force Chen Changsheng to break off the engagement—and then, without realizing it, she fell into a deep sleep on this bed.
She didn’t understand why.
Chen Changsheng’s bed, aside from being clean, had nothing special about it. So why could it make her sleep so soundly? The blanket had plain colors and was made of ordinary cotton, yet why did it have an elusive scent that made her feel incredibly at ease?
Mo Yu couldn’t figure it out and thought that day’s experience was just a coincidence. But these days, her insomnia had grown worse. Especially after the Saintess went to the Hundred Herbs Garden, she had too many things on her mind and couldn’t sleep at all. Today, she simply couldn’t bear it anymore, so she came here.
She told herself that coming to the National Academy today was to warn Chen Changsheng and to try to find out the connection between the Saintess and this matter. But the moment she saw Chen Changsheng’s bed, she knew—she had only come to sleep in his bed.
“Overburdened with worry?” Mo Yu asked him, her expression grave, with a hint of coldness deep in her eyes.
(To be continued)