Night had grown deep.
Bai Shuangshuang was dragged all the way to the entrance of the bathing chamber by Zhao Qingyue, who had a firm grip on her sleeve.
“I’m not washing!”
Bai Shuangshuang grabbed the doorframe.
“I washed yesterday! You wash yourself!”
“You washed yesterday, so you don’t need to wash today?”
Zhao Qingyue tugged at her wrist.
“You ran around with me outside all day today. How much sweat did you work up? You know that in your heart.”
“Then I’ll wash after you finish!”
“Wouldn’t that waste water?”
“…Does the Prince’s Mansion lack this little bit of water?”
“Whether it lacks it or not is one thing. Whether it’s wasteful is another.”
Zhao Qingyue said it with utter confidence, putting strength into her hands.
“Get in there now. Don’t dawdle~”
In the end, Bai Shuangshuang couldn’t win against her.
Inside the bathing chamber, steam curled thickly.
Hot spring water gurgled from the mouth of a bronze crane, and a thin layer of white vapor floated on the pool’s surface.
Zhao Qingyue stripped herself bare in two or three moves, casually tossed her clothes over a folding screen, and stepped into the pool with bare feet, letting out a satisfied sigh.
“Ahhh, that feels good—what are you still standing there for?”
Bai Shuangshuang stood by the edge of the pool, both hands covering her eyes, fingers squeezed tightly shut.
“I… I’ll wash in a bit…”
“You haven’t even taken off your clothes. Are you waiting for me to take them off for you?”
“No need!”
Zhao Qingyue ignored her, stood up, water droplets streaming down her collarbone and shoulders, over the rise of her chest, along her abdomen, sliding all the way down.
She stepped out of the pool, and her wet hands touched the sash at Bai Shuangshuang’s waist.
Fingertips warmed by water vapor brushed against Bai Shuangshuang’s side.
Bai Shuangshuang gave a start.
“Don’t—Zhao Qingyue, you—”
With her eyes still covered, Bai Shuangshuang had no way to resist.
Her sash was untied.
The outer robe slipped off.
Her inner garment was pulled open.
The moment the cool evening breeze touched her skin, her whole body went rigid.
Zhao Qingyue’s fingers hooked the collar of her clothes and slid them downward.
Her fingertips grazed Bai Shuangshuang’s shoulder—a faint roughness from calluses—leaving a trail of elusive warmth on her smooth skin.
“Lift your arm~”
“I won’t—”
Before she could finish, Zhao Qingyue pulled the last piece of clothing straight off over her head.
As the fabric brushed past her face, Bai Shuangshuang felt her own cheeks burning.
Burning hotter than the Red-Gold Flame.
She kept her hands pressed tight over her eyes, crouched down, curling herself into as small a ball as possible, arms hugging her chest.
“Hey, I mean it, I don’t get it. What are you so afraid of?”
Zhao Qingyue finally couldn’t hold back as she watched her.
“We’re both girls. You’ve got what I’ve got. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Bai Shuangshuang didn’t speak.
It wasn’t fear.
It was… she didn’t know how to face it.
In her past life, she had been a male body.
Now, being asked to calmly accept this body—so completely different in structure from her previous one—she found it very difficult.
She couldn’t even look at herself, let alone look at someone else.
Zhao Qingyue didn’t waste any more words.
She simply reached out, grabbed Bai Shuangshuang’s wrist, and dragged her from the edge of the pool into the water.
“Ah—!”
Bai Shuangshuang’s foot slipped.
Her whole body pitched forward, crashing solidly into Zhao Qingyue’s arms.
Warm pool water splashed both of them in the face.
In that instant, Bai Shuangshuang’s senses were amplified a hundredfold.
Zhao Qingyue’s body pressed against hers—soft and warm.
Bai Shuangshuang’s chest was flattened against Zhao Qingyue’s.
The two softnesses, separated only by a thin layer of water, squeezed together.
She could clearly feel the other’s contours and warmth.
Each breath slightly deformed the points of contact—like two warm jade pieces fitting and rubbing against each other, sending waves of a strange, numbing sensation through her.
Bai Shuangshuang’s face was buried in the hollow of Zhao Qingyue’s neck.
She could feel the pulse beating on the side of Zhao Qingyue’s throat—thump, thump—as if resonating with her own heartbeat.
Rising steam carried an indescribable intimacy.
Her arms didn’t know where to go.
Instinctively, she braced them against Zhao Qingyue’s waist.
Her fingers closed unconsciously, digging into the soft flesh at the waist.
She felt the other woman tense slightly.
Bai Shuangshuang tried to pull back, but the pool bottom was slippery.
The moment she moved, she only pressed in tighter—like she was knocking on the door of Zhao Qingyue’s heart.
Bai Shuangshuang’s mind went completely blank.
“See? That’s the first step taken, isn’t it?”
Zhao Qingyue’s voice came from above her head, tinged with laughter.
She reached an arm around Bai Shuangshuang’s back.
Her hand slid slowly down the spine, finally coming to rest at the small of her back.
With a little pressure, she pulled Bai Shuangshuang even closer.
Bai Shuangshuang was trembling all over.
She could feel Zhao Qingyue’s fingertips tracing circles on her lower back—light, ticklish.
Zhao Qingyue lowered her head and saw that Bai Shuangshuang still had her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Her lashes, damp, were fluttering.
Her face was buried in Zhao Qingyue’s neck.
Her ears were red enough to drip blood.
Her whole body was rigid with tension.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you—”
Zhao Qingyue sighed, pushed her away from her embrace a little, and reached out to pry open the hands covering Bai Shuangshuang’s eyes.
“You have to open your eyes eventually, don’t you? How can you wash without opening your eyes?”
Bai Shuangshuang bit her lip as Zhao Qingyue pried her fingers apart one by one.
And then she saw.
The water surface shimmered faintly, reflecting candlelight and starlight.
Her own body and Zhao Qingyue’s were immersed in the warm water.
As the water rippled, those two soft curves trembled gently, and the droplets clinging to them rolled down, sparkling in the candlelight with a fine glimmer.
The shapes below the water’s surface were faintly visible…
Bai Shuangshuang’s brain was blank for a long time.
Zhao Qingyue leaned against the pool wall, watching her go from flustered to resigned, her eyes curved in a smile.
“Getting used to it?”
“Shut up.”
“When you pounced just now, you brushed against me.”
Zhao Qingyue said it with a perfectly straight face.
“Really soft. Really comfortable. Really… smooth.”
Bai Shuangshuang’s face reddened again.
She scooped up a handful of water and splashed it at her.
Zhao Qingyue laughed and dodged, then retaliated.
Water flew everywhere, soaking them both.
After fooling around for a while, they both grew tired.
Each leaned against the pool wall, looking up at the night sky overhead.
The hot spring water gurgled on.
The mist rose slowly, veiling everything in a soft gauze.
Zhao Qingyue stared at the stars.
Suddenly, she grew quiet.
She thought of Zhao Qingyao.
That little girl had also loved soaking in the bath.
She would only get out when her fingers were all pruny.
When she was in the water, she was especially talkative—chattering nonstop.
One moment she’d say she saw a dragonfly today, the next that Sister’s hair was so long, and then she’d say, Sister, let me tell you a story…
It had been a long time since she’d thought of these things.
Not because she forgot.
But because she didn’t dare to.
Zhao Qingyue turned her head to look at Bai Shuangshuang.
In the mist, Bai Shuangshuang’s profile was soft.
Droplets still clung to her lashes.
Her lips were pressed together slightly—lost in thought.
Sometimes, she really did see a lot of Qingyao in Bai Shuangshuang.
Not in looks—but in that feeling.
That feeling of wanting to protect her, to spoil her, to give her all the best things.
Bai Shuangshuang was also lost in her own thoughts.
The residual toxins in her meridians had been completely cleansed.
Before returning to Lingxi County, she could condense her Dao Seed and formally step onto the path of immortal cultivation.
With the Jingnan Prince Manor’s protection and resources, this path would be much smoother than she had ever imagined.
She thought of her senior sister.
Luo Zhiwei.
In her past life at the Qingyun Sword Sect, she had been the senior brother—the pride of the sect, a Sword Immortal Seed well-known throughout the Great Yan Dynasty.
In front of her junior brothers and sisters, she had always been the composed and reliable senior brother.
But every time she met her senior sister, she turned back into that clumsy junior disciple.
She had so much she wanted to say, but she could never get the words out.
She wanted to get closer, but she always felt at a loss.
Her senior sister never rushed her.
Her senior sister just watched her with a smile, waiting for her to slowly organize her words, to finish stumbling through them—and then she would ruffle her hair and say, “I know, little fool.”
Bai Shuangshuang’s eyes suddenly felt a little hot.
She glanced at Zhao Qingyue.
In the mist, Zhao Qingyue’s profile was also hazy.
That face looked nothing like her senior sister’s, but for some reason, she suddenly saw a hint of her senior sister in Zhao Qingyue.
Both spoiled her—but in different ways.
Her senior sister’s spoiling was open and unreserved, as if everything she did was right and good.
Zhao Qingyue’s spoiling was grudging and hidden.
Her mouth said harsh things, but her hands shoved the best things over anyway.
But the result was the same—they both made her feel like she mattered.
Bai Shuangshuang looked away.
She stared up at the stars.
The ripples around her chest moved gently.
Shoulder to shoulder, their bare skin occasionally touched in the warm water, then parted, then touched again.
They each thought of their own heartaches—of those people far away, perhaps never to be seen again.
And yet, in each other, they saw that person’s shadow.
It was strange.
Really strange.
Bai Shuangshuang suddenly muttered softly.
“From now on… can you stop pulling my collar all the time?”
Zhao Qingyue snapped out of her thoughts and turned to look at her.
“Why?”
“Because I’m a special envoy for the Prince’s Mansion’s Spirit Fields now. It’s kinda an official position. Give me some face, okay?”
“Fine.”
Zhao Qingyue thought for a moment.
“Then you can’t dodge when I want to pat your head!”
“…”
“Deal?”
Bai Shuangshuang turned her face away.
Her ears were red again.
“Deal.”
Zhao Qingyue smiled and reached underwater to squeeze Bai Shuangshuang’s fingers.
Bai Shuangshuang struggled a little, but couldn’t get free, so she let her hold them.
Neither of them spoke again.
The hot spring still gurgled.
The stars still twinkled…