Standing by the couch, Yun Lie smiled as he examined her strange sleeping posture. He then gently and patiently moved her back into place, supporting the back of her head with one hand and her waist with the other.
After finally placing her head properly on the pillow, he straightened up and let out a silent sigh of relief.
The wedding candles burned brightly, illuminating every corner of the bridal chamber with a joyful red hue. The thin red silk quilt was embroidered with mandarin ducks, the pillows were decorated with a pair of wild geese symbolizing unwavering commitment, and the wedding robes were adorned with blooming crabapple blossoms representing a harmonious union.
In this situation, Princess Zhao was able to sleep soundly, which shows a complete lack of romantic understanding.
Yun Lie didn't want to wake her. He originally planned to take a bath in the clean room first and then make a decision, but when he turned around, he saw the nuptial wine on the table.
We can skip the formalities, but we can't skip drinking the nuptial wine, can we?
His eyes were full of indulgent smiles as he turned to fetch the two cups of nuptial wine.
He knelt on one knee beside the bed, gazing at her sleeping face. He first finished his own cup, then took hers, lightly dipped his index finger in it, and then touched it to her lips.
****
When Luo Cuiwei finally woke up, it was already midnight. The pair of red candles on the bedside table, which were meant to burn all night, had already burned down to about half their original length.
In the past few days, she and Yun Lie had always slept in the same bed, so when she turned her head in a drowsy state and caught a glimpse of Yun Lie sleeping next to her, she did not immediately think that tonight was any different from the past.
After lazily stifling a yawn, she finally felt hungry.
She groggily tried to get out of bed to find something to eat, but her scalp was suddenly pulled painfully. She clutched her head and cried out softly, her head falling back onto the pillow. She stared wide-eyed and saw a strand of her black hair connected to a strand of Yun Lie's black hair by a small wedding knot. Only then did she wake up as if from a dream.
When she lowered her eyes and saw that she was not wearing the auspicious clothes she had worn before falling asleep, but rather a plain undergarment, a faint blush immediately appeared on her fair and delicate face, like a red plum blossom falling on snow.
From the time the two submitted their marriage certificate to today's formal wedding ceremony, both the female officials sent by the Imperial Household Department and her stepmother had subtly and patiently given Luo Cuiwei guidance on several occasions. Therefore, she knew everything she needed to know about the last and most important part of the "joining bed ceremony."
She was well aware that tonight's sleeping together would not be as peaceful as before.
****
Yun Lie had been pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, but after her series of movements, he naturally opened his eyes and turned his head to leisurely take in her every move.
Seeing that she finally realized that her clothes had been changed, Yun Lie's thin lips curved into a half-smile. When she met his trembling, questioning gaze, he lazily said in a low voice, "I tied the knot in your hair."
"Oh." Luo Cuiwei coughed awkwardly and slightly surprised several times, lowering her eyes to avoid his burning gaze.
Yun Lie added, "I also changed your auspicious clothes for you."
Only heaven knows how "laborious" it was for him to change her into her wedding dress.
Luo Cuiwei stammered in shame, "I..."
Yun Lie suddenly flipped over, his handsome features looming before her, his tall figure trapping her beneath him.
"Given that I have fulfilled my duties as a husband to the best of my ability and served you with considerable care and consideration, Your Highness, perhaps you would consider..." He paused deliberately, watching with satisfaction as she nervously swallowed, before continuing, "and perhaps consider taking some responsibility for me as well?"
As he spoke, his body slowly moved closer, and the meaning of this profound "responsibility" became clear.
Luo Cuiwei blushed and looked away in a panic, as if admitting defeat, and whispered, "I...I'm hungry."
“I’m hungry too,” Yun Lie said with a serious face, but a hint of tenderness appeared in his eyes. “Think about it again. Should you eat first, or should I ‘eat’ first?”
When certain indescribable parts of her body experienced some astonishing changes, Luo Cuiwei felt as if she were about to ignite.
She simply couldn't answer Yun Lie's "serious" question.
He immediately made her understand with countless wet and hot kisses that she didn't really need to answer the question; he was just being polite.
Those wet kisses were completely different from before. They were urgent and passionate, moving from her neck to her earlobe, to her face, and to her lips, clearly, vividly, and fervently conveying to her the fact that "her husband was much 'starving' than she was."
Luo Cuiwei was so embarrassed and flustered that she felt short of breath. She bit her lip and used a lot of effort to suppress the gasps and moans rising in her throat.
In her hazy state of consciousness, she realized that her clothes were gradually "abandoning their owner." However, at this moment, not only was her body weak, but her heart was also weak. She became as docile as a lamb entering a tiger's mouth, obediently letting the long-starved beast skin the last of the lamb's wool.
When he and she were intimately entwined again—
Great, everyone is now free of "fur," so no one has suffered a loss; it's fair.
****
In her confusion and infatuation, a surge of pain rushed to Luo Cuiwei's head, making her head go numb and bringing tears to her eyes instantly.
When Yun Lie's lips and tongue sealed hers, swallowing the sob that was about to escape her lips, she really wanted to...
Let's just bite him to death.
Who told her it was just "a little pain"?!
She closed her eyes in distress and helplessness, and limply raised her hand, not knowing what she was going to do.
She inadvertently touched the bandage wrapped around his arm, and her heart went limp. She slowly opened her misty, tearful eyes and looked at him pitifully.
As if sensing her pain, Yun Lie's lingering kisses gradually became more soothing and coaxing, like a beast about to feast suddenly closing its gates.
Once the paleness on her face caused by pain gradually returned to its spring-like rosy hue, the "beast" could no longer be contained.
Yun Lie, who "emerged from the gate," truly lived up to his name. He was like a "volcano" described in the "Classic of Strange Things," his body seemingly carrying towering molten lava with raging flames, undiminished by storms and unextinguished by torrential rain.
As the pain gradually subsided, Luo Cuiwei felt as if she had been thrown into the raging magma, floating and sinking helplessly.
A myriad of feelings swirled in her mind, leaving her in a state of confusion.
She couldn't stop her soft sobs, her voice trembling, and she couldn't explain why she was crying; just as she couldn't tell whether all her subsequent sensations should be "pain" or "pleasure".
In the very end, in the bright light of red candles in the room, she felt as if her vision suddenly darkened, only his deep eyes, like two pools of stars in the night sky, completely engulfed her, body and soul.