The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 283

Bonus Chapter 19

Ning-jiejie’s lips are so soft. May I kiss her once more?

A smile touched Zhao Ningying’s face. She patted Qu Ning’s back gently. “We’ve been away from the great camp too long. Time we headed back.”

            

Reluctance swelled in Qu Ning’s heart, but she had no choice except to loosen the embrace.

Looking at that bewitching face of Qu Ning’s, Zhao Ningying silently mocked herself — what demon had possessed her to say yes?

The two left the room together and went to the hall in the courtyard to bid farewell to Qu Zhimu and Zhu Qianjie.

            

Qu Zhimu handed the reply letter she had written to Zhao Ningying. “Give this letter to Jin’er. Once she’s buried in work, she forgets everything. Look after her for me, and remind her to eat and rest on time.”

Zhao Ningying took the letter, her lips curving. “Rest easy, Mu-jiejie. I’ll keep a close watch on Jin-jiejie — I guarantee that the next time you see her, she’ll still be bursting with life and vigor.”

Qu Zhimu laughed. “Good. The sky’s getting dark — off you go, both of you.”

            

“Come see me again.” Zhu Qianjie took a few steps forward and hugged Zhao Ningying, unwilling to let go.

Zhao Ningying ruffled her head. “All right. When I get a few days free, I’ll come see you again. Take good care of your health — and no more overeating.”

Zhu Qianjie nodded her little head and gave an “mm.”

            

Watching the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms, Qu Ning felt a sour twinge in her chest — though not quite jealousy. Zhao Ningying had already agreed to be with her. There were no betrothal gifts yet, no formal words, but Zhao Ningying was beginning to try to accept her. That was enough.

The two left the front gate of the little town house and, their party in tow, rode out beyond the town.

The place sat a little under half a shichen¹ from the great camp; by the time they reached it, night had already fallen.

            

Zhao Ningying dismounted, handed her whip to a guard, and headed toward the tents. Qu Ning, dismounting, saw Zhao Ningying walking straight in and hurried to catch up. “Ying-meimei, why are you walking so fast?”

Zhao Ningying glanced sideways at her with a smile. “Jin-jiejie has surely been waiting forever for Mu-jiejie’s letter. If we don’t hurry, I’m afraid she’ll come down with lovesickness².”

At the teasing, Qu Ning laughed too. Wasting no more time, they entered the tent grounds and went straight into Qiao Jin’s tent together.

            

Qiao Jin was still drafting official documents. Seeing the two of them come in, she asked, “Are you here for dinner?”

Zhao Ningying and Qu Ning exchanged a glance. Qu Ning waved a hand and had the food brought from the town house set out on the table nearby, while Zhao Ningying produced Qu Zhimu’s letter.

Qiao Jin had been feeling hungry when she looked up — but at the sight of the letter, a sheepish note crept into her smile.

            

Qiao Jin sat reading the letter while Qu Ning and Zhao Ningying arranged the food they had brought, laid out the bowls and chopsticks, and set the pot of wine they had carried on the table as well.

“Come eat once you’ve finished reading, Jin-jiejie,” Zhao Ningying reminded her.

Qiao Jin read the letter twice for fear of missing anything, then looked up at the sound, put the letter carefully away, and tucked it inside her robe.

            

Watching Qiao Jin’s movements, Qu Ning thought: in the past she would have thought nothing of it — she would even have found Qiao Jin excessive. But now, watching her beloved, she knew that if they were ever apart and letters passed between them, she would want to carry them against her body every single day.

The three of them ate. Zhao Ningying described Qu Zhimu’s condition and mentioned Zhu Qianjie in passing.

Qiao Jin nodded. “Good, as long as they’re both well. Things on my end will be about wrapped up in three more days. The grain seeds the court dispatched have all arrived too. Ying-meimei, take some men over there tomorrow. Most of our soldiers come from poor families — plowing and sowing are nothing to them. But there are some who’ve never done such work. The local authorities have already assigned dedicated instructors, so those problems aren’t serious. What worries me now is how much harvest the seeds will actually yield once they’re in the ground — and whether the soldiers will farm with their hearts in it.”

            

Qiao Jin paused, then went on. “Field stations have already been built at the plots in advance, and the soldiers are eating and sleeping over there for now. But away from the great camp, slack discipline is inevitable. That’s what I’ll need Ying-meimei and Ning-meimei to handle.”

Qu Ning nodded. “Rest assured, I’ll assign dedicated overseers. I won’t let them go slack.”

Qiao Jin shook her head. “Ning-meimei, you’ve missed my meaning.”

            

Qu Ning was puzzled for a moment. Zhao Ningying looked over and explained, “Soldiers away from the camp might harass the nearby commoners at night. What Jin-jiejie means is that we must keep our military discipline strict.”

During her time on the Northern Frontier, Qu Ning had never heard of such things.

Seeing that Qu Ning understood, Zhao Ningying looked at Qiao Jin. “Don’t worry, Jin-jiejie. Ning-jiejie and I will handle it well.”

            

Qiao Jin smiled and went on with her meal.

After the evening meal, Zhao Ningying and Qu Ning left the tent, planning the troop deployments. Quite naturally, Zhao Ningying followed Qu Ning back to her tent. But when the business was done and she moved to leave, Qu Ning’s never-before-used clinginess rose to the surface.

“Stay tonight. We’ll only talk, like we used to.” By the time Qu Ning said it, she no longer dared look at Zhao Ningying.

            

Before, she truly hadn’t had many designs. But now it was different — Zhao Ningying was her beloved, for whom no betrothal gifts had yet been presented.

Zhao Ningying raised her eyes to those gentle, guileless, heart-melting eyes of Qu Ning’s, lowered her gaze in thought for a few moments, and said, “All right.”

Qu Ning’s face lit up at once. She called for attendants and had hot water brought in for washing.

            

When they lay down, though, Qu Ning kept exactly to her word — lying primly beside Zhao Ningying, discussing nothing but proper business.

When Qu Ning went to the Northern Frontier, she hadn’t been a commanding general; she had only gone to temper herself alongside the soldiers. The winter there was bitterest cold, and Qu Ning had never uttered a single complaint. Zhao Ningying was different — she had led troops in battle and had far more experience commanding men. Qu Ning lay quietly listening, interjecting a line now and then.

Their conversation was as proper as proper could be — but there was always more to say, and when it was time to rest, they rested.

            

Today had passed like a bird crossing the mountains: Qu Ning’s heart had died and come back to life, and that surge of excitement had yet to settle.

Zhao Ningying fell silent, and so did she. Yet in both their hearts, they seemed to sense what tonight would bring.

Had it been mere wishful thinking³, one of them would still have put a stop to it. But two people willing on both sides — and in the flush of youth besides — how could they possibly keep from crossing the line even once?

            

After a long silence, Qu Ning slowly stretched her arm across.

Zhao Ningying sensed it. Her breath shivered for an instant — and then she slowly raised her head to meet the gesture, pillowing herself in the crook of that arm.

She turned her eyes to Qu Ning, her gaze soft. Qu Ning, pressing down the excited smile tugging at the corner of her lips, shifted her body closer to Zhao Ningying’s side.

            

And just as Qu Ning was smugly savoring the success of her little scheme, Zhao Ningying rolled over to face her.

Qu Ning’s heartbeat quickened of its own accord; the smile on her face froze at the movement. She turned to look into Zhao Ningying’s eyes — and found them easy and composed, utterly different from anything she had imagined.

Qu Ning banished the shame welling up inside and looked back openly, meeting Zhao Ningying’s gaze.

            

A faint smile hovered in Zhao Ningying’s eyes. “Ning-jiejie, have you ever heard the story of how the elders came to be together?”

Qu Ning cast her mind back. She had heard of it — but only the broad strokes. The elders’ road had never been easy: mountains of corpses and seas of blood, schemes and stratagems, the mortal perils of war. They had borne so much, and only then came the peace under heaven of today — and the sheltered space in which the younger generation could grow up safe.

“I’ve heard some of it. Why do you ask, Ying-meimei?”

            

Zhao Ningying nestled closer still, pressing her cheek against the side of Qu Ning’s shoulder and neck, nuzzling her with quiet attachment. “My mother told me that she and my other mother once went through a dark time — and it was in those very days that they fell in love with each other.”

Qu Ning’s lashes fluttered a few times. She had never heard that story. She had heard, though, that Aunt Bingying still had a didi⁴ in the Jin Kingdom — but no one ever seemed willing to speak of him, and the two households had never been in contact.

“Mm. It’s in adversity that true feelings are proven most clearly,” Qu Ning said, going along with her.

            

Zhao Ningying gave a soft laugh and looked up at her. Qu Ning heard it and glanced down — Zhao Ningying’s eyes were bright and warm. “Did I say something wrong?”

Zhao Ningying answered with a smile. “The words are right. But you don’t have to be in adversity to see true feelings.”

Even as Qu Ning blinked and nodded, she heard Zhao Ningying add, “For instance — you and me.”

            

“Mm?” Qu Ning froze at the words “you and me.”

She looked at Zhao Ningying, found her staring straight at her, and her heart tightened with nerves.

As Zhao Ningying gazed at that tempting face of Qu Ning’s, she traced its lines for a few moments, her probing, ardent gaze drifting lower.

            

What was it, exactly, that addled her mind so? The novelty of what she had never tasted before? Or was it that this person occupied too much of her life, and she wanted to try?

Warm breath fanned across Qu Ning’s cheek.

Qu Ning felt that heat steal the very air from her lungs, leaving her, for a moment, unable to breathe. And yet the soft lips drawing slowly near stopped a mere hair’s breadth away.

            

Lips gradually closing the distance, Zhao Ningying breathed softly, “May I kiss you, Ning-jiejie?”

Qu Ning — still feverish with excitement and unease — could only stare back at the words, blank and helpless.

Zhao Ningying’s lips curved. She had her answer.

            

When those impossibly tender crimson lips pressed softly against hers, Qu Ning felt as if her whole body had been flung up among the clouds — dreamlike, drunk on it.

Zhao Ningying held the kiss for a few moments, then slowly drew apart. She looked into Qu Ning’s unblinking eyes; in those outwardly gentle depths there was nothing but disbelief and barely leashed feeling. Zhao Ningying said softly, “Ning-jiejie’s lips are so soft. May I kiss you once more?”

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The author has something to say:

            

Qu Ning: “Ahh!! Screaming groundhog⁵!!”

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