The atmosphere in the bedroom remained silent for a long, long time, so long that it became almost awkward.
Qiu Che never received an answer to her question. After thinking for a moment, she rephrased it in a more tactful manner, breaking the suffocating silence:
"When I requested an imperial decree from His Majesty, he told me that you had already made the same request earlier."
"Did you know me back then?"
But Li Qingwu remained silent for a while longer, lowering her head and once again avoiding her gaze.
In a soft voice, she said, "It was just a passing encounter."
A passing encounter? Which one?
Was she referring to that time in the attic?
Qiu Che frowned slightly. Deep down, she didn't quite believe those words.
Yet seeing Li Qingwu bowing her head, fingers nervously twisting her handkerchief, she seemed truly anxious about the question.
Inexplicably, Qiu Che lost the desire to press further.
She parted her lips slightly, then raised her hand and gently rested it on Li Qingwu's shoulder.
A thousand doubts condensed into a single sigh: "Get some rest early."
Tomorrow will be a busy day.
She turned away and had just lain down, ready to close her eyes, when she heard Li Qingwu's soft voice:
"Are we... sleeping in the same bed?"
Qiu Che opened her eyes, her tone slightly lazy with fatigue. "We're both women. What are you afraid of?"
Li Qingwu: "..."
As she spoke, Qiu Che reached under the quilt and felt something.
She pulled it out and found it was a neatly folded white handkerchief.
Assuming it belonged to Li Qingwu, Qiu Che paused for a moment, then simply put it back.
Before settling in for the night, Li Qingwu slowed her steps and, for some reason, glanced at the half-draped bed curtain.
Qiu Che was half-reclining against the headboard, long hair cascading over her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, her breathing already steady.
She always carried a composure far beyond her years, rarely showing any vitality, as if the heart beating in her chest had been lifeless for a long time.
Only when she closed her eyes did that exhaustion, that depth, that unfathomable quality momentarily fade from her face, making the sharp edges of her beauty more pronounced.
Li Qingwu lingered for a few more seconds before, almost on impulse, turning back.
Following the actions from that hazy dream, she carefully wrapped the wooden comb in a handkerchief and tucked it into her sleeve pocket.
She couldn't quite explain why she did it.
If she had to, perhaps... that unfinished dream had left her with a vague sense of unease.
That night, the two said no more.
One faced inward, the other outward, lying quietly side by side. A gap, neither too wide nor too narrow, stretched between them, like an invisible boundary, distinct and unbroken.
It should have been the closest distance in the world.
Yet, somehow, it still felt so far apart.
—
The next morning, Qiu Che was startled awake by a loud clattering noise outside.
A voice called out energetically: "Your Highness, the Princess! Prince Consort! It's already the hour of the Rabbit! You must rise and serve the morning tea!"
Instinctively, Qiu Che turned her head, only to find the space beside her empty. The bedding was smooth and untouched, even the quilt still cool to the touch.
Before she could respond, she heard Yu Ming quietly replying to the maidservant outside: "Madam Du, Her Highness the Princess has already risen early and gone to present tea to my Lord and Lady. She has yet to return. Before leaving, she instructed me not to disturb my young master, as she drank quite a bit last night."
"Oh, I see," Nanny Du said, sounding pleased. "Then it was my mistake. But tell me, when will the Prince Consort awaken? I must also inspect the consummation handkerchief to set my mind at ease..."
Consummation handkerchief?
Qiu Che had no time to wonder why Li Qingwu had woken up so early for the morning tea. Instead, a sudden realization hit her.
The handkerchief she had found last night, was it meant for the consummation night's proof of chastity?
She had heard that this tradition still existed in Great Xia, where a bride's virginity was proven by the blood on the handkerchief on her wedding night.
But in her previous life, this had never come up. Last night, she had been too sluggish to even consider the possibility.
Why hadn't it happened before, but it has now?
Retracing her memories of this life, Qiu Che quickly reached a conclusion:
In her past life, she and Li Qingwu had been forced together due to scandal. Everyone had assumed they had already been intimate, so proving her virginity had been unnecessary.
But in this life, they were still entirely innocent. Furthermore, the Emperor might still be suspicious of the previous incident in the Imperial Garden, why had Qiu Chudong implicated Li Qingwu by name?
And why had Li Qingwu, who should have been the main character of that event, conveniently taken leave and missed the banquet?
Where had she gone?
Could it be, as Qiu Chudong had insinuated, that she had been tangled up with someone in a secret chamber?
To make matters worse, not long after, Qiu Che had gone to the Emperor to request marriage, declaring her love for the Eldest Princess.
Li Shi must have investigated.
But since this arranged marriage aligned with his own interests, he hadn't probed too deeply.
Still, it wouldn't stop him from testing Li Qingwu.
Having the maidservant check the handkerchief was a simple task that could easily confirm her purity, an effortless but effective probe.
Qiu Che's expression darkened as she considered whether to simply prick her finger and smear some blood on it.
But as she lifted the quilt, she saw the handkerchief neatly folded in the corner.
Unfolding it, she found a small, already dried bloodstain.
Qiu Che froze.
The door swung open.
Outside, Nanny Du, still chatting with Yu Ming, immediately turned and smiled, greeting her with a bow. "Ah, Prince Consort is awake? I was just about to call for you…"
Qiu Che frowned as she fastened her robe, glancing at her coldly. "With how loudly you were shouting, it would be stranger if I didn't wake up."
Yu Ming pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh, stepping back to avoid trouble.
Nanny Du's smile stiffened.
She had heard that this new Prince Consort had a sharp tongue and was painfully straightforward.
She hadn't expected her to be this sharp and this straightforward.
Qiu Che couldn't be bothered to deal with her. She stepped out, intending to head straight to the hall, only to be blocked by Nanny Du.
"Ah, Prince Consort, please wait. May I take a look at the consummation handkerchief?"
Li Qingwu sat quietly at the lower seat in the hall, wrapped in a thin shawl. She lowered her gaze, unmoved by the commotion.
Because of the wedding, her long hair had been styled up and secured with a silver hairpin.
Worried Qiu Che might lash out again, Nanny Du added cautiously, "It is His Majesty's order. I must report back to him."
Irritated and embarrassed, Qiu Che muttered under her breath, "Having to inspect something like that, honestly..."
She said impatiently, "It's in the room. Find it yourself."
Then she strode away.
As she stepped outside, her embarrassment vanished, her face regaining its usual calm.
While Nanny Du gleefully carried the handkerchief back to the palace, Qiu Che had just entered the main courtyard, where she was met with the sight of Qiu Chudong, face flushed with rage, pointing at Li Qingwu and shouting incomprehensibly.
Two strands of hair gently fell beside her temples, complementing her dark blue dress. She appeared both graceful and intelligent, like a painting untouched by the world.
Standing beside her, Fu Ling placed her hands on her hips and huffed angrily. "What did my mistress say that was wrong? It's an unspeakable matter to begin with, yet you insist on bringing it up and tainting her ears. I've never seen my in-laws behave like this!"
Qiu Chudong, however, turned on her with a scowl. "Since she has married into the Qiu family, she is now a Qiu woman! She ought to show respect to her elders! And you, you lowly servant, still calling her 'Your Highness', anyone who hears you would think she's still an unmarried noble lady!"
Amidst the heated argument, Qiu Che leisurely stepped inside. "What's all the noise about?"
The hall instantly fell silent.
Li Qingwu was the first to rise. She took a few steps toward her and softly said, "…You're here."
She seemed to want to call her by name, yet hesitated, unsure how to address her.
Qiu Che simply let out a quiet "Mm" and asked, "What happened?"
Li Qingwu paused for a moment before replying, "Just a minor issue."
At this, Fu Ling nearly choked on her words, clearly holding something back.
Qiu Che turned to Qiu Chudong, who let out a cold scoff. Her guilty expression had momentarily shown earlier, but after Li Qingwu's response, she regained her smugness. "What are you doing here?"
Qiu Che raised an eyebrow. "The commotion in the main courtyard was loud enough for the palace nanny to hear. I came to take a look. is there a problem?"
The palace nanny? There was only one—Nanny Du.
She was planted by her father to monitor her, and there was no way she would intervene in trivial matters like this.
Li Qingwu glanced behind Qiu Che, and as expected, there was no sign of Nanny Du.
She immediately realized Qiu Che was just bluffing.
Qiu Chudong, however, was unaware of this and grew even more uneasy at the mention of a palace nanny. She swallowed nervously and stammered, "W-Well, she was the one who failed to show proper respect first! She couldn't even serve tea properly and spilled it! As her elder, what's wrong with giving her a few words of reprimand?"
Qiu Che's gaze swept over the surroundings, and sure enough, there were a few faint tea stains on the floor near the head seat.
They were barely noticeable—easy to overlook unless one was paying close attention.
Fu Ling could no longer hold back. She burst out, "Qiu—er, Lord Qiu! That's not how it happened at all!"
"Her Highness merely spilled the tea by accident! But this person twisted the story and even had the audacity to say that forgiving her mistake was fine, but my mistress must—must—"
Fu Ling's face flushed as she struggled to finish her sentence.
Then, lowering her voice, she dropped a shocking revelation:
"—Must serve Young Master Qiu Zhe!"
In truth, when Qiu Chudong had helped Li Qingwu up after the spilled tea, she had spoken in a hushed tone. Fu Ling hadn't caught the full sentence, only hearing fragments like "serve" and "Qiu Zhe."
At first, she thought she had misheard. But the moment she saw Li Qingwu's expression change, she realized something was terribly wrong.
Upon hearing this, Qiu Che's expression turned ice-cold, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Utter nonsense!" Fu Ling fumed. "My mistress is of noble birth, she is a Princess of the highest rank! Even if she is now married, that does not give commoners the right to humiliate her!"
"Besides, what kind of family forces a newlywed bride to serve another man right after marriage? And not just anyone, her husband's own elder brother! If word of this spread, what kind of disgrace would it bring?"
At this, Li Qingwu lowered her gaze and softly interjected, "Fu Ling."
Fu Ling, still brimming with indignation, finally fell silent.
Qiu Chudong grew increasingly uneasy as Qiu Che's expression darkened.
And yet, after everything, she still had the audacity to mutter under her breath, "If she were still an unmarried princess, it'd be one thing. But now, she's already part of the Qiu family. Even her surname is no longer Li, but Qiu…"
Qiu Che understood immediately.
Qiu Chudong had never given up on the idea that since the princess had married into their family, they had the power to dictate her fate.
After all, Qiu Che didn't seem to care for her. Who knew why she had even agreed to the marriage?
If Li Qingwu were to be defiled by Qiu Zhe, would she dare speak of it?
Even if Qiu Zhe couldn't replace Qiu Che, at the very least, he would have taken his wife from him, a form of revenge for all the hardships he had endured.
Qiu Chudong smugly entertained the thought.
If she wanted to keep her secret—that she was a woman—then she had no choice but to swallow this insult.
How utterly foolish.
By the time Qiu Chudong finished speaking, not only was Qiu Che's expression grim, but even Madam Liu's face had darkened.
Qiu Che let out a light chuckle and suddenly called out, "Father."
Qiu Chudong flinched violently.
Ever since Qiu Che had returned from the temple a month ago, she had never addressed him so formally.
For a brief moment, Qiu Chudong's vanity swelled, but then, instinctively, he stammered, "W-What do you want?"
"Who gave you the audacity to openly humiliate a royal princess?"
Qiu Chudong froze.
Qiu Che then took two slow steps toward him.
Lowering her voice, she said, "She is my wife now. That means she is mine."
"I hope you haven't forgotten who it was that sent you to the dungeons of the Ministry of Justice last time."
"If I could put you there once, I can do it again."
"Or… do you feel that the punishment wasn't harsh enough? Would you like to experience firsthand what it's like to be tortured under severe interrogation?"
Qiu Chudong's body trembled as memories of the dark, damp prison flooded his mind, rats scurrying, insects swarming.
He instinctively reached out to grab Madam Liu's shoulder, seeking shelter behind her, but this time, she did not stand motionless as before. Instead, she coldly shook off his hand.
Before he could react, Qiu Che, hands tucked into her sleeves, leaned in with a smile.
"This kind of talk—"
"Don't let me, or her, hear it a second time."
"Understood?"