“?”
Yue Jin couldn’t quite maintain her facade of aloofness, nearly breaking it. She turned back doubtfully, looking at Fu Lingyi: “Are you… asking this esteemed one to do that?”
Fu Lingyi raised an eyebrow: “Yes, I want to eat ten dishes, balanced with meat and vegetables, and I also want congee.”
Ten dishes, and congee.
Let alone the time Yue Jin spent roughing it outside when she wouldn’t know how to cook, even later when she got to Qingyuan Palace, she never needed to do the cooking. How would she know how?
She knew in her heart that Fu Lingyi was just teasing her, and she was very reluctant: “This esteemed one is usually very busy, how would there be time? Besides, you’re a cultivator, you don’t even need to eat…”
“Ah, fine then.” Fu Lingyi interrupted her. She leaned against the windowsill, her voice sounding listless. “Then I’ll just be here by myself. Don’t bother with me, you can go.”
Yue Jin: “…”
“Then is there anything else you…”
“No.” Fu Lingyi answered crisply, her intent to dismiss her obvious.
Yue Jin left the place, suppressing a breath of frustration, and returned to her own palace quarters.
Her own quarters weren’t far from where Fu Lingyi was staying; she had used a bit of subtle scheming to specially arrange it, just so they could live together and occasionally have a chance encounter. But actually, she wanted to cling to that person’s door all the time, so she really didn’t need to go to this trouble.
Yue Jin lay down on the soft bed. The demonic beast down quilt wrapped her whole body, and also enveloped her thoughts. Within three hours, she leaped up from the bed, jumped down, and jogged all the way to the kitchen.
It was just cooking, after all. She would just do it!
The sun was setting in the west. Fu Lingyi had been sitting by the window for a long time and was feeling bored. She wondered if she should tell the attendant outside the door to let her go see how Yun Lingyue was doing now.
Just as she was having this thought, she heard the door open with a boom. That flash of red stood at the palace chamber entrance, and attendants filed in like fish, placing plates of food one by one onto the square jade table.
Not until everyone had finished bringing the food and withdrawn did Fu Lingyi speak at the right moment: “What is this?”
She didn’t ask something like “Did you make these?” but rather “What is this?”. After all, no matter who looked, they wouldn’t be able to recognize what these dishes were even made of.
There was fish not steamed properly that was still twitching, spiritual plants so fresh they were dripping water, and a blackened mass of food in a pot that you couldn’t even tell what it was, sticky and gooey.
Yue Jin felt sheepish seeing it. She had asked the cook to teach her for a long time, but she didn’t want anyone else to do it, stubbornly insisting on doing it herself in a messy way. Seeing that dinner time was almost over, she rushed to have someone bring it over.
Even though Fu Lingyi asked, she didn’t dare to confidently announce a dish name. She only dared to lift her head and puff out her chest, indicating that she had made them herself.
Fu Lingyi didn’t ask further. She sat in front of the table, picked up her chopsticks, looked around at the dishes, and picked up a spiritual plant leaf with morning dew, putting it into her mouth. After eating that, she took a bowl of the blackish congee, blew on it, and drank it.
Seeing her expression remain unchanged, Yue Jin strongly suspected that maybe her cooking just looked unappealing, but actually tasted good.
“Is it delicious?”
Fu Lingyi didn’t look up: “For a beginner, it’s not bad.”
Yue Jin was full of confidence. She picked up her chopsticks, also wanting to try some, but was stopped by Fu Lingyi: “Didn’t you make this for me to eat? Then it’s all mine.”
Tch, stingy. If I don’t eat, I don’t eat.
“Sit down and keep me company.”
Yue Jin was incredulous: “It’s one thing that you won’t let this esteemed one eat, but you’re also making this esteemed one watch you eat?”
“Aren’t you planning to satisfy me?” Fu Lingyi raised her gaze to look at her, and sighed “ai” again. “Okay then, you can leave…”
Yue Jin pulled open a chair and sat down with a scrape.
Anyway, she’d stay as long as she could. No matter what the reason, she wasn’t picky.
Have to say, Fu Lingyi’s appetite was really good. She slowly drank the whole pot of black congee. Except for the lively, twitching fish, she ate everything else clean.
Yue Jin just kept staring at her. Time was quiet. For a moment, she actually felt a little bit of the feeling from before. But before, she was the one eating, and Fu Lingyi had kept watching.
Yue Jin felt that cooking was really quite hard. Wanting to cook thoroughly, make it taste good, and also keep each dish at a suitable temperature and palatable, and even mastering the cooking order.
Thinking this way, previously Fu Lingyi cooked for her every day, but she herself had never asked if she was tired. At that time, she was full of happiness, and never complained in the slightest that she wasn’t thoughtful.
Thinking of this, Yue Jin lowered her head. Now, in Fu Lingyi’s eyes, there was no longer that star-like sparkle. She also didn’t dare to look closely again to confirm.
Their relationship, after all, was no longer like before. And her being able to stay by her side was something she had forced. Everything was a vain hope.
Attendants surged in, collected the plates, and also caught that fish, planning to release it again.
Fu Lingyi saw the expression of loneliness on her face, unable to be hidden at all. So she deliberately teased her: “It’s already dark. Does Esteemed Demon Lord want to stay here with me for a late-night snack?”
Yue Jin’s eyes were even more helpless, but her mouth was harder than a city wall. She slammed the table and stood up: “It was you who made this esteemed one stay. If you talk about leaving, this esteemed one couldn’t wish for it more!”
Having finished speaking, she walked towards the door, but was just barely called to stop.
“Come here.”
That tone of voice for “Come here” was clearly no different from before.
“I’m tired. Come help me massage my legs.”
Yue Jin’s mind boomed, and a strange blush crept onto her face, impossible to suppress.
That beautiful scene from a year ago, something she had clearly practiced countless times in her mind, yet when it was right before her, she was so completely flustered.
Fu Lingyi, on the other hand, had no psychological pressure at all. She picked up a cushion, sat on the bed, closed her eyes to rest, and propped one leg on the edge of the bed. Her fair thigh had a little bit of lean muscle, straight and slender.
“This este… this esteemed one will help you…” Yue Jin spoke incoherently, “Mass… mass…”
Fu Lingyi shook her leg a little: “Hurry up, don’t dawdle.”
Swallowing saliva, Yue Jin stepped forward and sat onto the bed. She almost didn’t sit steadily, and moved further inside.
That leg she thought about day and night was right before her eyes. Her fingertips trembled, not daring to stroke it.
Under Fu Lingyi’s continuous urging, only then did she dare to actually begin, massaging little by little, without the slightest transgression.
The tender, smooth calf under the green robe went all the way up, revealing the beautiful scenery hidden under the clothes. Yue Jin didn’t lift her eyes, staring at her own hands, unable to move her gaze.
Fu Lingyi chuckled inwardly: “Use a little more force, your hand is too light.”
Yue Jin was bewildered: “I can’t control the strength… What if I hurt you?”
“Then you try and see,” Fu Lingyi heard these words and lifted her eyes. She leaned forward and got closer, smoothing back the braid near her ear with one hand, holding it, and giving a light tug. “See if you can hurt me.”
Yue Jin slightly raised her head. Her hair was like her lifeline, grabbed by the person opposite, making her unable to move. She just looked at her with those moist, sparkling eyes, pursed her lips slightly. The movements of her hands stopped, both hands still touching that leg, not letting go.
Fu Lingyi curved her lips, smiling even more freely. She used her finger to wind that strand of hair, winding it several times: “What is Esteemed Demon Lord thinking about now?”
In Yue Jin’s eyes, there was only that pair of lips opening and closing. Her ears felt like they were covered with a layer of cloth; she couldn’t hear clearly, and also didn’t want to hear.
She only saw the person looking down from a slight height get even closer, brushing away the wisps of hair on her forehead with a finger. Her upward-curving eyebrows and eyes were full of tenderness.
“What you’re thinking about, is it related to me?”
Yue Jin nodded her head.
“What part?” After brushing her hair, Fu Lingyi didn’t leave, continuing to trace on her face.
She moved downwards little by little, slowly, touching her cheek: “Here?”
Further down, she then pinched her jaw: “Here?”
“Or…” Fu Lingyi’s fingers extended to the side, lightly rubbing her lips, “Or here?”
Yue Jin’s eyes at this moment were comparable to a wet little puppy’s. Her cherry lips were half-opened, and she looked back at her, full of longing.
Fu Lingyi used the pad of her thumb to press down the corners of her lips, then massaged her lower lip towards the middle. Her breath wafted onto Yue Jin’s face, and she cupped her face with one hand.
Afterwards, she lowered her gaze, staring intently at those red lips, and kissed them.
A touch, then separation.
Yue Jin was clearly unsatisfied in her longing, and licked her lower lip, indicating she wanted more.
Fu Lingyi’s lips were stained a little red by Yue Jin’s lipstick, making her look quite radiant and dazzling.
Seeing Yue Jin so obedient, this person clearly had some mischievous thoughts. Perhaps she could take this opportunity to trick the truth out of her.
The hand playing with her hair moved upwards, hooking the pendant by her ear, then inserted itself into the strands of hair, wrapping around the back of her neck.
Afterwards, she untied the sash around her waist.
She slipped her outer robe down to below her shoulders, and propped one leg onto Yue Jin’s leg. Looking from outside the bed curtains, it was like she was sitting on her.
Yue Jin was completely stunned. She had never thought there would be a day like this.
She could just barely support Fu Lingyi’s waist, helping her sit a bit more steadily. Her other hand rested on her exposed calf, not daring to use force.
Her long hair hung down like a waterfall, carrying a pleasant scent. It brushed past Yue Jin’s cheek, making her feel ticklish, and her heart also itched.
Fu Lingyi’s collar was wide open, the depth at her chest faintly visible. She tilted her head left and right, seemingly choosing. In a moment, she unexpectedly leaned down to Yue Jin’s ear and blew a breath.
“And now? What is Esteemed Demon Lord thinking about now?”
Yue Jin could barely breathe.
“Red suits you very well,” Fu Lingyi’s eyes curved at the corners. One finger slid down from Yue Jin’s collar, stopping when it reached her waist, not continuing further. “It matches your personality very well. If I had known earlier, back at the Chongxiang Sword Sect , I would have bought you more red clothes to wear.”
“Goo… good… good, is it… is it good-looking?” she spoke haltingly, stuttering several times.
She had only put on her makeup to come and see her, so naturally she wanted to hear a compliment.
“Not just good-looking,” Fu Lingyi yanked off her own sash, threw it onto the ground, and pulled Yue Jin closer, rubbing her own face against hers. “It’s captivating, captivating enough to make me want to…”
“…Want what?”
Fu Lingyi wouldn’t say. She glanced at the bed behind her, then turned her head to look into Yue Jin’s eyes.
With just one look, Yue Jin understood everything.
Her mind was so dizzied by the seductive atmosphere of this moment that she couldn’t find north, south, east, or west. Her face was flushed red, impossibly cute.
Fu Lingyi lay back, bringing Yue Jin with her to lie on top of her, propping her hands on either side of her own head.
Above the loose, simple robe was the dazzling red.
In a moment, the colors couldn’t be separated, tangled and mixed together.
Fu Lingyi wrapped both hands around Yue Jin’s neck. That kiss wasn’t like tenderness, but an attack, like making up for the passion that had been absent for a long time.
Lipstick stained from one person’s lips to the other, then was all swallowed into her mouth, eating away the deep red lip color.
Yue Jin seized the opportunity to raise her hand, snapped her fingers, and pulled down the bed curtains.
Blocking the view of the room.
(Author’s note: Almost trained Yue Jin into a dog…)