Chapter 2: Often Appearing as Prey

He stopped looking at her and only held her in the circle of his arms. His broad palm warmed the line of her waist while his other hand took up a wine cup and slowly poured.

Ming Yi was flustered. She tried to slip out of his embrace, but the moment she moved, he clamped her down.

“You want some too?” he asked.

She shook her head like a rattle drum, yet he seemed not to see it at all and brought the cup to her lips: “You are the considerate one. You know this lord cannot drink any more.”

If you cannot drink any more, why do you keep pouring?

She grumbled inwardly, wrinkled her nose and sniffed, then grudgingly licked a little.

It was so strong.

She took the cup but did not hold it steady. The wine spilled and soaked half of her collar. The thin silk clung to her skin, steaming out a warm fragrance.

Ji Bozai lowered his head and saw rosy clouds flying to both her cheeks and mist rising in her eyes. She looked like pink jade soaked in water, glistening and translucent.

She was clearly someone who could not hold her liquor.

He looked a few more times, then steadied the cup and fed her several more mouthfuls.

The wine rose to her head. Ming Yi’s eye corners turned red, and she mumbled as she nuzzled into his arms: “I will not drink anymore.”

She rubbed against his chest like a kitten. Her fair, tender little hands unconsciously circled his waist and held on tight, like clinging to a floating log in water.

Ji Bozai enjoyed it very much. He half-embraced her shoulder and, in excellent spirits, picked up some food and fed her a bite.

Yan Xiao watched with great curiosity: “Are you really planning to take her back?”

Ji Bozai glanced at him sideways: “What of it?”

“This is not like you.” Yan Xiao shook his head. “With all those dancers before, I never saw you keep a single one. Do not act on impulse out of a moment’s spite, only to cast her aside again in the end. Everyone at this banquet is to be pitied.”

So long-winded.

Ji Bozai could not be bothered to talk to him. Seeing the person in his arms growing muddled, he stood up: “You settle things with Qian Li. I will be leaving first.”

“You are quite good at assigning me tasks,” Yan Xiao scolded playfully.

Ji Bozai snorted softly, held the soft jade in his arms securely, turned, and left through the side door, without even bidding farewell to the grand overseer on the dais.

“That man…” The celestial official beside the grand overseer watched Ji Bozai’s back and shook his head slightly. “He has talent to spare, but not enough composure.”

The grand overseer smiled: “Fighters are rare. It is a good thing that he has something he likes. That is better than being interested in nothing at all.”

“Your Excellency is wise.”

The silk and bamboo music in the hall played on. Ji Bozai passed through the moon gate of the inner court and walked onto the imperial road paved with bluestone.

“So shaky,” the person in his arms mumbled.

Ji Bozai said meaningfully: “It will be shakier later.”

Hearing that, she immediately covered her forehead in a panic: “If it shakes any more, it will spill.”

Her breath carried orchid fragrance and wine, tipsy and also very lovable.

He could not help asking: “What will spill?”

“Me.”

“What are you?”

“I am a gold cup.” She covered her forehead foolishly and looked up, her eyes misty. “I was just poured full of wine. I cannot spill.”

He laughed softly, leaned close to her, kissed the back of her hand, and teased: “If I drink it, it will not spill.”

She thought about it in confusion for a good while, decided it made great sense, and let go of her hand, offering her forehead to his mouth: “Drink a little. Just a little is enough.”

He truly could not hold back. He laughed loudly, lifted her up, and let his thin lips brush past her forehead before kissing her chattering little mouth directly.

Ming Yi’s pupils shrank slightly, then were quickly wrapped in mist again.

She whimpered and tried to resist, but his movements were practiced and gentle, not making her uncomfortable in the least. Instead they seemed soothing, and between one turn and the next, her strength was gone.

There were many stars in the sky, scattered near and far across the whole night. Several were even bigger than the moon, icy blue, deep purple, and pale yellow, floating in the dusk with halos of light, fantastical and magnificent.

She looked and looked, her eyelids slowly sinking, heavier and heavier, until she could not open them.

Ji Bozai carried her onto the beast-drawn carriage, his eyes very tender.

The driver could not help asking: “My lord, shall we head straight back to the residence?”

“No. To the villa in the east of the city.”

“Yes.”

Ming Yi lay on his lap, sleeping quietly and obediently. He twirled her silky hair between his fingers and glanced at her hands.

The backs of her hands were fair and tender, but the pads of her fingers felt a little hard, like a layer of callus had been scraped over them.

He lowered his eyes, pretended not to see it, and went on lightly stroking her cheek.

When they reached the villa, he instructed the driver: “Tell Bu Xiu to bring my things over.”

The driver left to carry out the order, and the maidservants and old women in the courtyard hurried out to receive her.

They were experienced. They took Ming Yi and sent her to bathe and change, and to have her body inspected as well.

Ji Bozai was very particular. He did not keep anyone with scars on their person, and he did not keep anyone unclean.

Fortunately, the old woman finished the inspection and only nodded to him with a smile all over her face, saying nothing.

He nodded, changed his clothes, and went to her room.

Ming Yi slept sweetly, with no intention of waking at all. When he reached out, she even gurgled softly and rubbed against the back of his hand.

What a waste of a beautiful night.

With rare patience, Ji Bozai lifted the brocade quilt and lay down, shifting her onto himself.

Her black hair was spread loose, giving her two more parts of softness and allure than at the banquet. Her small face was still flushed, yet the skin of her body was snow-white. Lying on top of him, she let him see her two slender collarbones and the exceptionally full curve below them.

His throat tightened slightly, and he raised his hand.

“My lord… this lowly servant deserves ten thousand deaths, but please come to the front quickly. Something has happened!” A badly timed voice suddenly sounded outside.

Ji Bozai impatiently swept down the bed curtain: “Tell me tomorrow.”

“But someone has brought palace guards. They are blocking the gate outside and say they want to see you.”

The palace guards were for the inner court only, and they did not come out and walk about without a major matter.

He tensed, laid Ming Yi back on the pillow, then rolled off the bed, threw on a robe, and opened the door.

“What happened?”

“I do not know, but everyone who went to the inner court tonight is being questioned one by one.”

Such a commotion was truly strange.

He went out to meet them and ran right into the guard captain, who cupped his hands with a grave face: “Lord Ji, a murder occurred in the inner court. We are under orders to search. Please forgive us.”

Ji Bozai raised a brow: “Is it serious?”

Meng Yangqiu first waved a hand to send the men behind him off to look around, then walked aside with him: “To be honest with you, I find it strange too. The victims sat right there at the banquet and lost their lives in front of everyone. The people beside them all thought they were drunk and passed out. Who would have thought that after the banquet ended, a eunuch would give them a push and discover they stopped breathing a long time ago.”

To kill someone right under the grand overseer’s nose, whoever did it had plenty of nerve.

Ji Bozai asked: “With such skillful methods, what do you expect to find by searching?”

“One of the dead has blood under his fingernails. The magistrate suspects he scratched the killer before he died, so the grand overseer has ordered us to search everyone who attended the banquet today, fearing the evidence will be gone in a few more days,” Meng Yangqiu answered truthfully.

Hearing this, Ji Bozai smiled and waved his hand: “Then you will find nothing at my residence. You know I am very demanding. The dancer I just brought back has no scars on her body, not even an extra mole.”