Chapter 1
Master Xuanling returned from his pilgrimage to the Western Regions with a young monk in tow.
His name was Yujingzi.
At the welcome banquet, I sat in the place of honor, second only to one person and above all others, idly turning a crystal goblet in my hand.
“Yujingzi? Who gives a man a snake’s name? I hate snakes more than anything. They give me chills!”
My maid, Zhuyu, whispered, “Your Highness, you said that far too loudly. Master Xuanling and the monk both heard you.”
I arched a brow and glanced up. The instant I caught my imperial mother’s displeased look, I straightened in my seat.
Then my gaze shifted and met a pair of midnight-blue eyes.
The young monk looked to be barely twenty.
He wore a white, cross-collared robe with wide sleeves beneath a kasaya trimmed in pale gold, and a coarse brown cord around his waist.
He was quiet and delicate, elegant in an otherworldly way.
When our eyes met, he lowered his lovely, peach-blossom eyes.
My heart skipped a beat, and I was seized by the urge to ruin that immaculate composure.
How could a monk be this bewitching?
He was no monk. He was a demon sent to tempt me!
For days afterward, I could find no peace. On the flimsy pretext of a headache, I went to Daoqing Temple to pray.
As I rose from the prayer cushion, I swayed on my feet. “Monk, I feel faint. Help me.”
He supported me by the forearm, keeping a careful distance between us.
That was hardly enough for me. I let my ankle buckle and fell straight into his arms.
Startled, he had no choice but to catch me.
Then he hurriedly stepped back. “This humble monk meant no offense, Your Highness. Please forgive me.”
I laughed softly and brushed a fingertip across his palm, making him shiver.
“What offense? I ought to thank you. You look so slender, my dear Yu, yet you managed to hold me up.”
He bowed his head.
“Please forgive me, Your Highness…”
Having discovered such an entertaining pastime, I often went up the mountain to tease him. Sometimes I stayed at the temple for days.
Zhuyu was puzzled. “The monk is certainly handsome, but he has no obvious advantage over the men in the capital. Perhaps this servant is too ordinary to see it, but what makes him worth so much of Your Highness’s attention?”
I thought for a moment before answering:
“He feels familiar somehow. And I want him.”
“Maybe if he were too easy to get, I’d tire of him, just like all those boring beauties in the capital. This is perfect as it is.”
I never noticed the figure concealed not far away.
Whenever I climbed the mountain,
I brought Yujingzi delicacies from the city below.
“This is osmanthus cake from Fragrant Crisp, lotus-seed porridge from Fine Feast, and plum-blossom noodle soup from Emerald Fragrance. They’re all vegetarian.”
“Did you ever have any of these before you came to the capital?”
He shook his head. The tips of his ears had turned pink, and the way he blinked at me was so adorable that my heart melted.
“Then hurry up and try them!”
When he had finished, I asked, “Does that mean you’ve never had a proper look around the capital either, my dear Yu?”
He pressed his lips together and nodded. “I have not.”
When my imperial mother learned that I kept visiting the mountain, she warned me to stay away from the monk.
After I pestered her relentlessly for several days, she finally relented.
“Very well.”
“Chu Yuan, if you truly like him, then treat him sincerely. One day, he can leave the monastic life and settle down with you.”
With her permission secured, I rushed joyfully to the temple in search of Yujingzi.
“Your Highness,” he greeted me gently.
I loved his voice, mellow and polished as fine jade, and always teased him for more. “Say something else. Call me that again.”
Then he would grow shy and fall silent.
“Today is the Lantern Festival. I’ve already asked the abbot to excuse you for the day. Come with me!”
“But this humble monk has renounced the world… I cannot leave the mountain.”
At a loss, he tightened his fingers around his prayer beads and looked from the abbot to me, his eyes as limpid as water.
The abbot turned his back. “If Her Highness asks you to go, then go.”
I dragged him down the mountain to the busiest streets in the city.
We watched fireworks and lanterns, lion dancers and performers on stilts, and played riddle games together…
I had expected to teach him, only to lose so badly that I wailed, “Aren’t you from somewhere outside the capital? How can you beat me?”
The corners of his lips lifted. “Beginner’s luck.”
I pushed into the bustling crowd to buy candied hawthorn.
When I glanced back, I found him standing where the lantern light faded, staring at me in a daze, his ears scarlet.
Once I emerged from the crowd,
I pressed the candied hawthorn into his long, fine-boned hand.
He still had not come back to himself.
Smiling, I asked, “Am I really so beautiful that you couldn’t look away?”
His long lashes trembled violently.
He ducked his head as if fleeing from me.
“Y-Your Highness…”
“Why do you always hang your head? Look up at me.”
Yujingzi raised his face. My reflection filled his deep blue eyes, and a delicate flush rushed over his cheeks.
I smiled at him.
“Never mind. If you’re too shy to speak, then I’ll say it—I like you!”
At my confession, he seemed to awaken from a dream.
He retreated two steps and said in a low voice, “This humble monk… This humble monk is unworthy of Your Highness’s affection. I am afraid.”