Mei Gongqing

Without looking at him, she bowed her head saying: “You are a god on earth. Your aura is so superior that I had had difficulty controlling my heartbeat the first time I met you. My admiration for you has always been sincere.”

At this juncture, she wryly smiled. “Of course, if not for the Prince of Nan’yang, I might never say these words to you nor play that song. And perhaps even when I’m laid six feet under and my soul has returned to my hometown, my hair then gray and my children abundant, you would never know that a tawdry girl called Ah Rong of the Chen house had once harbored such affections for you.”

Her head bowed lower and lower, her voice shaking: “My origin is humble, my nature vulgar. I took advantage of your generosity to express myself, taking this as a gamble hoping to escape from my clan’s arrangement.” She briefly paused, her voice growing even more fearful: “Regardless of whether my feelings for you are true or not, at the moment I did what I did, my motive wasn’t simply to find an escape. Since then, I’ve repeatedly evaded your questions whenever you asked. I’ve always felt sorry about this, so I’ve especially come here tonight hoping to have your forgiveness.”

At this time, she had bowed so low that it seemed she could not rise.

The starry sky and distant lights shed a faint sheen on her graceful and voluptuous curves and on her raven hair. Her tilt of the head gave her a beguilement that turned his mouth dry. Unconsciously, Wang Hong diverted his gaze.

Only an instant later, however, he was turning his head to watch her, his eyes fathomless.

“I already know these things,” he said.

“I am ashamed.”

He slowly approached her.

Coming to stand before her, he lowered his head and watched the beautiful girl under the moonlight. Very slowly, he outstretched his hand to stroke her hair.

“Ah Rong.”

His touch was extremely gentle.

“Aye.”

“Why have you come to explain everything to me today?”

Words were caught in Chen Rong’s throat before she could murmur: “Young Mr. Sun Yan has returned. While he is here, I do not need to be afraid of the Nan’yang Prince. As my fear lightened, I thought of you and felt awful for what I’ve done.”

“Is that so?”

“I would not lie to you.”

Wang Hong suddenly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him.

His movement took Chen Rong by surprise. Caught off guard, she fell forward into a warm embrace.

Wang Hong’s embrace.

Flummoxed, Chen Rong stared at his lapel, slightly gaping her rosy mouth. She stiffened, not daring to move.

Wang Hong held her in his arms and with his head slightly tilting, leaned his mouth against her ear, tickling her with his breath. While she trembled involuntarily, he whispered: “And then what? Do you want me to explain to the world that whatever happened that day was just forced by circumstances? Do you want me to say that though you love me, you are not good enough for me? Would it be best to let the world feel that your admiration for Wang Qilang is a thing of the past? That you can still find a good man to marry?”

His voice sounded in the air like silky tendrils, very gentle, but also very cold. In its elegance hid a wisp of frosty chill.

Chen Rong was too tense to move.

Wang Hong slowly turned to face her, his hands cupping her cheeks. His inky eyes were slightly squinted, but he did not smile. “Have I been so consistently magnanimous that you can just use me when you want to use me and then leave me when you want to leave me?”

Chen Rong finally recovered. Her rosy lips trembled as she hastily tried to clarify: “No, that’s not true.”

Wang Hong’s hands suddenly stilled on her cheeks. He kept them firmly there and lowered his head to catch her lips.

Their lips met.

With her eyes widened, Chen Rong dazedly let him inhale her lips and intrude inside to probe deeper into the depths of her mouth.

Abruptly, Wang Qilang parted her lips with the speed of light in the middle of the fiery kiss and tilted his head away.

He gasped for a brief moment.

Then he pushed Chen Rong away, turned around and, without another word, flapped his long sleeves and strode away.

Chen Rong gave a cry only by the time he was off in the far distance. As quiet as she was, it was uncertain whether she wanted to stop him or to question him.

In a blink, Wang Hong’s elegantly white and spotless figure completely disappeared from her sight.

Some time passed when Old Shang went to her and pulled on her hand. “Miss, what’s wrong? What happened? Why are you standing here stock-still like this?”

Chen Rong looked up in a daze. She vacantly looked at Old Shang and muttered: “He... got angry.” Then she moved her hand to her lips and flushed even redder as she brushed across them.

Her blush soon spread to her neck. Furiously rubbing her lips, Chen Rong railed: “The rotten rogue! He dared took liberties with me...”

At this point, Chen Rong noticed Old Shang’s curious and confused expression and clamped her mouth shut. She leaned on him to stand upright, her knees numbing, as she murmured: “Let’s go, let us leave now.” She repeated herself, sounding a little as though she was crying: “Old Shang, let’s go!”

The elderly man was completely flummoxed to see her angry, embarrassed, and crying. He quickly helped her, replying as he walked: “Aye, we’ll leave at once. We’ll leave at once.”

This translation belongs to hamster428.wordpress.com

......

At long last, Chen Rong found her voice again. “Old Shang, was there any outsider nearby just now?”

“I don’t think so,” he told her after thinking about it. He turned to Chen Rong, asking quizzically: “Miss, is something wrong?”

Chen Rong only blinked, saying nothing in return.

She couldn’t tell him Wang Hong took liberties with her. She wouldn’t believe such words herself, much less Old Shang.

So she clamped her teeth and feebly said, “No, nothing’s the matter.”

“Nothing’s the matter,” she repeated as she angrily wiped her lips.