Volume One, Chapter 53: I Didn’t Peek—I Was Looking Openly and Proudly

"Where is my maid?" Xie Shu turned her head, but there was no one in sight.

Pei Xuanqing gathered the woman into his arms from behind, his fingertips gently lifting her chin, forcing Xie Shu to raise her gaze to him. "Rest assured, she is just outside. Merely fainted."

Forced to tilt her head back toward him, Xie Shu felt the jade clasp at the back of her neck undone. The man's thumb trailed upward along her collar, exposing the jade-white skin of her slender neck. His fingertips lingered there, yet pressed right against her throat—a hair's breadth away from cutting off her lifeline.

"Is this the exemplary demeanor of a Grand Tutor, a role model for others?" Xie Shu broke out in goosebumps from his actions. Why did this man always love grabbing people by the neck?

Having suffered the trauma of being strangled in her past life, Xie Shu detested having her neck touched above all else. That suffocating feeling, inch by inch, made her reluctant to even wear a scarf in the bitter cold of twelfth lunar month; if not for the chill, she wouldn't even be wearing this high-collared long coat.

"The Heir Consort lingered outside my manor for so long. I assumed you were extending a special invitation to me?" Pei Xuanqing's thin lips brushed past Xie Shu's ear, grazing it ever so lightly. His murmurs were ambiguous and intimate, instantly making Xie Shu feel deeply uncomfortable.

He was clearly the imperial tutor, yet his words and actions were so vulgar. Suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, Xie Shu firmly grasped Pei Xuanqing's wrist with one hand. After a couple of struggles, she finally forced the man behind her to loosen his grip slightly.

"What is the Grand Tutor implying? I merely happened to pass by your estate." Xie Shu stubbornly refused to play along with Pei Xuanqing's words, even though that had indeed been her original intention from the very beginning.

Pei Xuanqing twirled a lock of the woman's raven hair that rested upon her shoulder, white strands intertwining with dark ones. He raised his gaze to look at the bronze mirror standing opposite them, which reflected their intertwined figures. "You little thief, you certainly have a stubborn mouth."

"Who is a little thief? Why do you go around bestowing such titles arbitrarily?" Xie Shu could be stubborn about anything else, but being labeled a thief was something she simply wouldn't accept.

"The Marquis of Cheng'en's estate lost something last night. Where is that item?" Pei Xuanqing rested his chin on the woman's shoulder. He was a full head taller than Xie Shu, and the posture proved quite comfortable.

Especially given her unique, faint orchid fragrance that seeped from her neck straight into his heart and mind. For the very first time, Pei Xuanqing felt that women in this world might possess a rather unique charm after all.

Xie Shu truly disliked Pei Xuanqing's behavior—it was utterly intimate, as though the two of them were already secretly colluding. With her palm facing upward, she pushed hard against Pei Xuanqing's heavy head, forcing him away from her, and said righteously, "Grand Tutor Pei, please maintain your self-respect. I am already a married woman."

Amused by her words, Pei Xuanqing let out a scoff and straightened up. "Self-respect? Rest assured, Heir Consort, I have no interest in tempting a wall-crossing apricot."

"Where is the item?" Pei Xuanqing looked at the woman before him with playful amusement. While he did harbor a certain degree of interest in Xie Shu, it amounted to mere curiosity. As for losing his heart? Impossible. He, Pei Xuanqing, could never lose his heart to a woman.

In this world, women were merely the appendages of men. Only a few days ago, his grandfather had already selected a prospective wife for him—the legitimate second daughter of the Qinghe Cui clan, graceful, virtuous, reserved, and demure.

A woman like Xie Shu was entirely unworthy of bearing the title of a Pei family matron.

Not to mention, she was already a married woman.

With her body suddenly liberated from restraint, Xie Shu finally regained a modicum of a sense of safety. Remembering the viciousness with which Pei Xuanqing had clamped his hands around her throat that night, she vaguely felt as though she were consorting with a tiger.

"You—turn around." Xie Shu glanced at the bronze mirror. Even if that man did nothing at all and merely stood before her, he inexplicably radiated an oppressive aura.

Pei Xuanqing shrugged. Unsure of what tricks Xie Shu was up to, but seeing her displeased expression and the way she glared at him with puffed-up cheeks, he obediently turned around. "Done."

"You are not allowed to peek." Xie Shu simply wanted to hand the item over quickly so that her trip out wouldn't be in vain.

"Fine, I won't peek," Pei Xuanqing replied. What on earth was there to look at anyway?

Beside his ear came the rustling sound of clothing being removed.

Pei Xuanqing never imagined she would be so bold! Yet in his mind, the memory of her hiding beneath the water's surface suddenly flashed—the forbidden sensation of being so close yet unable to look or touch made Pei Xuanqing's heart race instantly, his earlobes tinged with a faint blush.

"You! You promised not to peek!" Just as Xie Shu stripped off her outer robe and looked up, she caught sight of the man in the bronze mirror staring fixedly at her, a look of distinct regret lingering on his face.

"I wasn't peeking, I was looking fair and square." Pei Xuanqing turned his head away, though seeing that she had only removed her outer garment, a trace of disappointment unexpectedly welled up in his heart.

So, he wasn't much of a gentleman either, Pei Xuanqing thought to himself.

Xie Shu was so furious she felt smoke puffing from her nose. How could there be such a shameless wretch?

"Here!" From the interlining of her outer garment, Xie Shu pulled out a rolled-up painting. Fortunately, the scroll was small; while hiding it in the lining made it look slightly bulky, as long as the padding was thick enough, it remained virtually unnoticeable.

Flinging the scroll viciously into Pei Xuanqing's arms, Xie Shu swiftly put her outer garment back on. Even though she wore a long-sleeved plain under-tunic beneath it, she had no intention of letting anyone catch a free look at her.

Especially not twice!

Catching the scroll, Pei Xuanqing gripped it at both ends and unrolled it. Sure enough, it was the very painting he had been searching for.

"The favor the Grand Tutor owes should be repaid now, shouldn't it?" Xie Shu reminded him. Pei Xuanqing did things completely without rhyme or reason, and she harbored deep misgivings, firmly believing he could not be trusted.

Noticing the woman's expression full of distrust, Pei Xuanqing rolled the painting back up and tucked it into his sleeve. "A gentleman's word is as good as a team of four horses."

"The Grand Tutor doesn't look much like a gentleman," Xie Shu couldn't help but sneer.

Unfazed, Pei Xuanqing replied, "A so-called gentleman is not like those found in storybooks. In this world, anyone can act as a gentleman, and anyone can act as a hypocrite.

"The difference lies in whether you benefit from that person. If you benefit, to you, he is a gentleman. If you do not benefit, to you, he is a hypocrite." Pei Xuanqing casually explained, "Even you, Heir Consort, could likewise be called a gentleman."

"All these twists and turns make my head spin." Xie Shu detested dealing with these pedantic scholars the most. They never spoke plain human language, leaving one dizzy and confused.

"Ha ha." Pei Xuanqing was amused by her. He had previously heard others' evaluations of Xie Shu as "possessing mere beauty and an empty head."

Seeing her today, she truly was "completely empty."

"Very well, there's no point in arguing with you." Pei Xuanqing shook his head. Why bother preaching such grand principles to her? Besides, he wondered when he had picked up this bad habit of "fondness for playing the tutor."

"I shall fulfill what I promised you." Tucking the painting away securely, Pei Xuanqing turned and strode out of the inner chamber.