Yao Youqing stood by the pool, her eyes wide. Wei Hong walked over and said, "There's a small room outside the washroom where servants can boil water anytime."
"The other end of this rope is connected to a bell, which leads to that small room. If you pull it, the servants will hear it and know that hot water is needed. They will then pour the hot water in through the animal's mouth."
"One more pull is enough, and the servants will stop, so the water in the bath is always hot during the bath."
He had previously instructed Cui Hao to tell the servants here to repair the residence. Although Cui Hao could not personally come to oversee the work after giving the instructions, he urged them to complete the work as soon as possible, because the prince and princess might come to stay at any time.
The servants here dared not delay and worked day and night to repair the house, which is why we have the results we see today.
After the servants finished the repairs, they made a special trip to report to them, telling them all the changes that had been made to the house, including the washroom.
Wei Hong was already somewhat distracted when he heard this. As soon as Zhou's mother and the others left, he came here to take a look and was very satisfied. As soon as he left, he urged Yao Youqing to come and soak in the water.
Yao Youqing's eyes lit up as she said, "It's like soaking in a hot spring, as if we've brought the hot spring pool home."
The word "home" made Wei Hong's smile widen: "If you like it, I'll have someone change the washroom in the Prince's mansion to look like this too."
The palace's clean rooms were much larger than this one, and the pools could be dug much bigger, so there was naturally more space to move around.
Yao Youqing was in high spirits and hadn't thought of so much. Hearing this, she smiled and nodded, "Okay."
After saying that, she seemed to remember something and pointed to the bottom of the pool, asking him, "Your Highness, can the water in the pool be drained from the bottom?"
Wei Hong nodded: "After you're done washing, just have someone drain the water and clean the pool. It's very convenient."
Otherwise, it would be too troublesome to pour it out bucket by bucket.
After he finished speaking, he put his arm around the girl's waist and whispered above her head, "The water is all ready, let's take a soak."
Yao Youqing readily agreed, but then he added, "I can shower with you, if you'd like."
Yao Youqing quickly shook her head: "No...no need."
Wei Hong was just teasing her. Hearing this, he smiled and rubbed her head, then called over Zhou Mama and others to help her take a bath.
I've been on the road a lot lately. Although I'm not in such a rush as when I came to Shangchuan from Beijing, I get a good rest at night and sometimes stay in inns where I can take a shower. But it's still not as comfortable as being at home.
Soaking in the hot water, Yao Youqing felt all her fatigue washed away and grew to love the pool even more.
After she finished bathing, she came out of the bathroom and asked Zhou Mama to help her dry her hair, while the servants went to change the water in the pool.
The room was warm and cozy, with a charcoal brazier burning inside. She had just finished bathing and was only wearing a single layer of clothing, her hair loose at her sides. Wei Hong's throat tightened at the sight.
Women have many different hairstyles and countless headdresses, but for some reason, he liked to see her with her soft, black hair draped over her shoulders, without any jewelry. He felt that she was most beautiful like this, just like the saying "a lotus emerging from clear water, naturally beautiful without any adornment."
He stared at him in a daze until the servant told him that the water was ready before he went to the bathroom to bathe.
Wei Hong always takes a much faster shower than Yao Youqing, so he should be out in no time.
But as he soaked in the pool, thinking about the images that had flashed through his mind when he first saw the pool, and the way Yao Youqing looked when she came out of the bath, his body grew increasingly hot and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
Suddenly, he didn't want to wait until evening anymore, not at all. He licked his lips and soaked in the pool for a while until he heard Zhou's mother leave outside. Only then did he get up, haphazardly wipe the water off his body, and grab the clothes from the hanger to put on.
He stopped halfway through putting it on, thinking, "Why bother putting it on at all? I'll have to take it off anyway."
So he went out wearing only pants and with his upper body bare.
Hearing the noise, Yao Youqing turned around and saw a tall man walking out of the bathroom. His upper body was naked, and his half-dry hair was still dripping water, with water droplets sliding down the lines of his chest and disappearing into his waistband.
Her face flushed instantly, and she quickly turned her head away.
"Your Highness, why aren't you dressed?"
Wei Hong chuckled and walked to her side: "It's hot, I'm too lazy to wear it."
hot?
How is that possible?
It's late autumn now, and although there's a charcoal brazier burning in the room, it's only warm, not hot at all.
Yao Youqing lowered her head and didn't speak. Wei Hong pinched her chin and forced her to raise her head: "Dry my hair."
He then stuffed the clean cloth in his hand into hers.
Yao Youqing took it tremblingly, still not daring to look at him, and groped around haphazardly with her eyes closed, accidentally pulling Wei Hong's hair several times.
Wei Hong clicked his tongue and simply took the cloth back.
"I'll do it myself. By the time you finish wiping, I'll be bald."
Yao Youqing lowered her eyes sheepishly: "I'm sorry..."
Wei Hong didn't mean to blame her; he was just saying it casually. Seeing that she kept blushing and turning her head away, not daring to look at him, he asked, "Why won't you look at me? Am I ugly?"
His appearance resembled that of Emperor Gaozong; he was very handsome and certainly not ugly. The question now is not about his appearance, but about his physique.
Yao Youqing was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked up, only to find that his shoulders and back were covered with all kinds of scars, some new and some old, some deep and some shallow, which was quite different from his handsome appearance.
These intertwined scars, though not on her own body, are painful to see, let alone to the person who is actually injured.
"Is this... a wound sustained on the battlefield?"
She asked in a murmur.
Wei Hong nodded, then asked, "It looks terrible, doesn't it?"
He had only made up an excuse to get the girl to open her eyes and look at him, but now that she had actually opened her eyes, he suddenly became concerned about whether she really thought he looked ugly.
Yao Youqing stared blankly at the scars, no longer looking away in embarrassment. Instead, she reached out and gently touched them, her fingertips lightly gliding over each scar.
She had accidentally hit Wei Hong's foot with her armor, causing him to bleed a lot, but Wei Hong didn't care and told her it was a minor injury and didn't hurt.
At the time, she thought, "How could it be a minor injury? It hurts a lot when I accidentally prick myself while doing needlework."
Now she knows that it was really a minor injury for him.
Because compared to the injuries on his body, they were insignificant.
So he was so numb from the pain that he felt that the little injury was nothing to worry about?
Yao Youqing's eyes reddened for some reason, and she shook her head.
"Not ugly at all. This is the mark of a hero, how could it be ugly?"
Wei Hong was startled and stopped drying his hair.
The Mark of a Hero...
He has suffered so many injuries over the years, some minor and some serious. Some left scars, while others, such as bruises and sprains, disappeared without a trace as he recovered.
He felt that as long as he wasn't dead or crippled, it wasn't a big deal, so he didn't take it to heart. He only paid a little attention when he asked her just now, but he didn't expect to get such an answer.
After more than a decade of trials and tribulations, the open and covert attacks from enemy countries or people in the government seemed insignificant at this moment.
Wei Hong's eyes welled up with tears, as if something was about to spill out uncontrollably.
He reached out and pulled the girl into his arms as if to cover it up, looking into her clear eyes and saying, "You just touched me."
Yao Youqing never expected him to suddenly say such a thing, and quickly withdrew her hand from his chest.
"I...I didn't, it wasn't..."
She didn't know how to explain, and Wei Hong didn't need her to explain. He said in a hoarse voice, "I want to touch it back."
He lowered his head and kissed her, his hand on her waist deftly slipping under her thin clothes and climbing upwards.
Yao Youqing's body suddenly tensed, her mind went blank, and all she could see was the man's tightly closed eyes right in front of her.
Wei Hong had touched her on the way, but always through her clothes and never so directly.
She vaguely sensed what he wanted to do, turned her head away, and gasped, "Your Highness, I...I didn't kiss you."
Wei Hong gave a muffled "Mmm": "I kissed you, will you kiss me back?"
Yao Youqing didn't mean that. She frowned and huddled in his arms, wanting to say something, but before she could speak, he pushed her down onto the bed.
Seeing the man lower the bed curtains, Yao Youqing's eyes reddened with anxiety.
"Your Highness, please...please wait until tonight. Such licentious behavior in broad daylight...is probably inappropriate."
"Daytime debauchery?"
Wei Hong raised an eyebrow and smiled, "I like that way of putting it."
He then sealed her lips with his own again.
Yao Youqing couldn't resist him and could only endure it, letting the man strip off her clothes.
Wei Hong gazed at the girl's fair, smooth skin, his fingers following his gaze as they swept over her body, sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily, occasionally unable to resist gently nibbling.
His breathing grew heavier and heavier, and as he gasped for her lips again, she made him laugh.
"Are you scared because you're closing your eyes so tightly?"
Yao Youqing nodded, then shook her head: "I'm not afraid, Aunt Zhou said it will all be over once I close my eyes."
Wei Hong: "...Not that fast."
Yao Youqing knew, of course, that it wouldn't really happen that quickly; it was just a statement. But Wei Hong's words still made her tense, and she opened her eyes.
"Will it take a long time?"
Wei Hong smiled, nuzzled her cheek, and whispered, "If you could take the initiative... maybe it would be faster."
But Yao Youqing couldn't bring herself to do it; her words were as good as saying nothing at all.
Wei Hong chuckled: "Just open your eyes and look at me. Don't close them again."
He loved looking into her eyes, especially the way they looked when he bullied her, her eyes glistening with tears and a bewildered expression.
But soon he regretted what he had said.
As soon as he took off his pants, the girl's expression changed, and her body, which had just been tense, began to tremble.
He thought she was just scared of what was about to happen, so he went over to comfort her. But the girl's eyes reddened and tears started flowing.
"What's wrong?"
Wei Hong wiped away her tears with a puzzled look on his face.
He thought he had been careful enough, afraid of scaring her with his eagerness and rudeness, so why did she still cry?
Yao Youqing trembled with tears streaming down her face: "Your Highness... you are not the same as the one in the picture book."
Catalogue?
Wei Hong was slightly taken aback, but quickly understood what she meant. He suppressed a laugh and asked, "What kind of pictures are depicted in the album?"