Chapter 239: Chapter 104 Jade Pillow & Hairpin Sound Broken_2

And Pei Yunmeng, as the Princely Heir to Lord Zhao Ning, knew that the powerful always had to be cautious and accommodating with one another.

She looked toward Pei Yunmeng.

Pei Yunmeng rose from his chair with a smile and shook his head at Lu Tong.

"I cannot."

"I am neither kith nor kin to Doctor Lu. Helping Doctor Lu would mean offending others. The mad dogs of Shengjing are difficult to deal with, and I never trouble trouble until trouble troubles me."

He moved past Lu Tong, seemingly intending to open the door and leave.

A hand caught hold of his sleeve.

Pei Yunmeng lowered his head.

Delicate fingers clutched his black robes, displaying a kind of desperate determination. Lu Tong said calmly, "Lord Pei seems to have forgotten, you still owe me a favor."

Pei Yunmeng paused.

Lu Tong lifted her face to look at him. "That day outside the Military Inspection House, I used myself as bait and gave Lord Pei a gift. At the time I said, ’No need to repay me now, Marshal. One day when I have need of it, I will ask for it back.’

She stepped forward, closing the distance with Pei Yunmeng, "Now, I want to ask Lord Pei for that debt of gratitude."

He said with a laugh, "You’re holding a favor over my head in return, aren’t you?"

"Does Lord Pei intend to go back on his word?"

His eyebrows lifted, about to speak, when there was a sudden knock on the door from outside.

"Is anyone there?"

Lu Tong’s gaze tightened; they had arrived.

The relentlessly pounding knocks like urgent drums shattered the silent rain night, and Pei Yunmeng suddenly sighed. The next moment, he grabbed Lu Tong and moved behind the screen.

The candlelight flickered from the wind they stirred up, as the Pearl Lamp’s peony branches bloomed splendidly.

A mist descended from above, gently wrapping around the pair’s silhouettes on the Mandarin Duck couch.

Lu Tong flinched, instinctively trying to struggle, but her wrist was pressed down into the quilts, immobilized.

Jade-green bed curtains and splendid lotus canopies. The intertwining mandarin ducks embroidered on the joyful quilt shone with brilliance, while his stiff robe hem mingled with her soft sheer skirt, the black brocade gaining a touch of a radiant blue.

In the warmth of the golden curtains and silver screen, Lu Tong was pressed down by him in the quilts. A silver ornament clinked crisply upon the Green Jade Pillow, quite the picture of ’hairpin sounds breaking upon jade pillows’ allure.

But the man before her remained unmoved by the beauty, as Pei Yunmeng released her wrist without a single amorous glance, only whispering a warning: "Don’t move."

Lu Tong’s eyes flitted.

There were rumors of a man, that when the neighbor’s wife would feign drunkenness and gentlemen would come to drink, if they ended up sleeping by the wife’s side, they’d hear the drop of her hairpin through the curtain and still not entertain thoughts of desire, claiming him a true gentleman.

Looking at it now, Pei Yunmeng seemed to be no different from the gentleman in those stories—

Outside, the knocking grew more urgent. Lu Tong had caught on to his plan, and after a moment’s thought, she wrapped her arms around his waist, drawing even closer to him.

Pei Yunmeng stiffened, taken aback as he looked down at Lu Tong.

Lu Tong met his gaze frankly.

If their deception was to fool outsiders, it had to look convincing. His off-putting, distant manner—so aloof that not even Yin Zheng could be fooled—how could it fool anyone else?

Lu Tong saw no issue with this; she had spent too long isolated on Luomei Peak. Decorum between the sexes, modesty—they were far too remote to her.

In that moment, she was only closely pressed against the man before her, embracing him, leaning on him, just like countless true lovers in this city of romance and trysts.

Downstairs, a faint singing could be heard.

"Grasping the fine weather, the mountains clear and waters serpentine, the moon lighting the West Lake, scattering the chill. With the loved one, under the jade and vermillion, beneath the lanterns, we tease our hair and paint our brows..."

"Tasting fine tea together, our sentiments shared, through misty waters hazy, petals falling feebly..."

"Cloud and rain over Mount Wu, dreaming awake of envy for the mandarin ducks, not the fairy..."

The singing downstairs was charming and alluring; outside was a fierce storm. Within the shimmering light of the flickering phoenix candles, silks and robe hems coyly entangled, casting a blurred pair of shadows on the rose-colored canopy.

He and she were very close; were it not for the veil between them, their lips could almost touch.

Suddenly, the knocking outside ceased abruptly, followed by a dull thud as someone barged in.

The various footsteps surged behind the screen, and an unapologetic voice commanded, "Come out!"

Lu Tong looked toward Pei Yunmeng.

Pei Yunmeng’s expression unchanged, he reached out to lift a corner of the bed curtain and lazily asked, "Who is it?"

Someone’s voice spoke, carrying a hint of uncertainty, "Marshal Pei?"

Pei Yunmeng smiled as he pulled Lu Tong close into his embrace, casually drawing the brocaded quilt over her to wrap her tightly. Lu Tong followed his cue, wrapping her arms around his waist and half-burying her head in his chest as if she were a frightened dancer.

The curtain was completely drawn back, and in Lu Tong’s view appeared a corner of a cinnamon-colored brocade robe. Whether intentionally or not by Pei Yunmeng, as she was pressed against his chest, she could smell the faint musk scent on him but could not lift her head to see his face. She only heard Pei Yunmeng chuckle, "Young Master Qi."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read