My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 61

The true city of Loulan was hidden in the heart of the vast, complex desert.

This city rested quietly within the boundless sands, backed by an unusually large oasis rare in desert regions.

A horse path was built along the inside of the city walls, and a waterway drawn from the oasis flowed through the city like a white silk ribbon cutting through the golden flood of sand.

Not all citizens within the city were foreigners with deep-set features; nearly half resembled people from the Central Plains. Many children of mixed heritage from marriages between locals and foreigners also ran and played throughout the city.

In winter, snow gathered on the roofs of Loulan citizens’ homes. Though not thick, it gave the city a winter charm, while the waterway running through the city maintained its gurgling rhythm of life.

****

Around the hour of Xu , Yan Hongyin gradually awakened to the sound of birdsong. (TL: 7-9 PM)

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

Everything she saw was no different from usual scenes, except that looking out the window, she no longer saw the swaying green willows of the capital or Jiangnan, but rather a grove of tall date palms. Shifting her gaze slightly, she could see a lake surface more pristine than the finest copper mirror.

There were no attendants in the room, only Yu Luocha sitting in a chair by the window, supporting his head with his hand as he watched Yan Hongyin with smiling eyes.

Yan Hongyin naturally extended her hand toward Yu Luocha.

Yu Luocha was startled.

Yan Hongyin tilted her head. “Didn’t the High Priest welcome this princess to marry into Loulan, as the future queen? In the Central Plains, the prince consort is supposed to serve the princess. In Loulan, the queen should…also be required to do so, right?”

Yu Luocha raised his eyebrows, his expression complicated.

He truly hadn’t expected that even without her memories as a Jinyiwei commander, Ah Yin’s innate nature of placing herself above others hadn’t changed at all. Despite being in his territory, her first action upon waking was to challenge him for authority.

“As a prince consort, shouldn’t the High Priest serve his wife at the bedside?” Yan Hongyin withdrew her hand and sat up, half-leaning against the headboard. Her voice carried a slight hoarseness from just waking up. Seeing the Western Region beauty before her not answering, the dangerous undertone in her voice became apparent. “Could it be that the Loulan Queen is merely a figurehead without real power?”

Princess Qu Ya was unlike ordinary princesses sent for political marriages. She truly possessed her own fiefdom, her own subjects, and her medical and poisoning skills were exceptional. This marriage alliance was Loulan’s attempt to obtain her expertise in plant cultivation techniques that allowed crops to survive more easily, trade routes connecting to the outside world, and effective methods for treating illnesses and injuries with scarce medicinal resources.

This was the foundation of Princess Qu Ya’s confidence in this marriage alliance.

Yu Luocha: “…”

Although when Yu Luocha first didn’t know Ah Yin’s identity, his reason for wanting to bring her to the great desert was because he admired her medical skills and extensive knowledge, he truly hadn’t expected that after successfully bringing her here through such a roundabout journey, he would face this probing confrontation from square one.

Remembering the various early interactions with Ah Yin, Yu Luocha felt somewhat headache-inducing.

But as the prince consort, he had established this position himself, formalized the relationship himself, and serving her at bedside was indeed something he should do… right?

Yu Luocha watched as Yan Hongyin naturally rose from the bed and spread her arms, but his movements remained stiff as he held her robes.

After a good pause, Yu Luocha finally reached for the sash of Yan Hongyin’s inner garment, inadvertently looking up and meeting Yan Hongyin’s downcast gaze.

“Forget it.” Yan Hongyin stepped back, raising her hand to pull the sash from Yu Luocha’s hands, then taking the clothes from him and setting them aside. Her expression was magnanimous. “It was my oversight. The esteemed High Priest has likely never been trained in how to serve his wife. Moreover, given your noble status, it would indeed be somewhat demeaning for you to do such things. I’ll manage myself.”

Yu Luocha, who hadn’t even finished speaking: “…”

While Yu Luocha was still pondering where things had gone wrong, Yan Hongyin’s fingers were already untying a section of her inner garment’s sash. She calmly asked him, “Does the High Priest wish to remain?”

Yu Luocha stood there, projecting an aura of gentle dignity, though his gaze was profoundly deep. “If Her Highness desires, Ah Yu has no objections.”

Ah Yu?

Yan Hongyin silently noted the Loulan High Priest’s name, then waved dismissively. “Your Excellency the High Priest should first learn from the instructional matrons another day.”

Watching the Loulan High Priest’s departing figure, Yan Hongyin exhaled in relief, removing her hand from the sash.

Indeed, although this High Priest had an alluringly beautiful face, Yan Hongyin’s deliberate pulse-taking had revealed that his yang essence remained intact, making him refreshingly innocent and manageable in this regard.

Had she not discovered this point in the previous days, she truly wouldn’t have known how to deliver this warning shot—the person who establishes the rules first holds more rights.

The Loulan High Priest had seemed to be in a hurry throughout their journey, which meant they had arrived at Loulan City in the dead of night. Nevertheless, Yan Hongyin had managed to glimpse the land of Loulan from beneath her hood.

Yan Hongyin walked to the window.

Her room was located at the highest point of the High Priest’s residence. In Loulan, the High Priest was most revered, and his residence was built within the oasis most vital to Loulan’s citizens, facing the lake of life, protecting the city’s people from above.

From here, she could see citizens bustling about the city as dusk approached. This must have been the Loulan High Priest’s room before.

No annoying imperial consorts, no two princes fighting like roosters, no messy court affairs… and no harem conflicts she would have faced after taking a husband.

Now she possessed a bustling city with simple folk customs and a prince consort who was alluringly beautiful yet refreshingly innocent.

All she needed to do now was probe the extent of her authority as Loulan’s queen, or rather, what she could obtain from this beautiful Loulan High Priest…

Yan Hongyin slowly curved her lips into a smile. The city lying amidst the vast yellow sands spread out before her eyes. At the lakeside nearest to her view, the gold-adorned Loulan High Priest seemed to sense something and looked up, meeting her gaze.

Yan Hongyin nodded dignifiedly and gently to her prince consort.

—This marriage alliance was truly excellent.

……

“Your Excellency, how could you so rashly bring the princess back to Loulan?!” An elderly man, red-faced with anger at the High Priest’s improper conduct, stamped his cane on the ground. “Just the two of you on one horse—this is completely against propriety!!”

“Oh come now, we in Loulan don’t care about such things. Don’t let reading a few stuffy Central Plains books lead you astray,” replied Yu Luocha, who had been lost in thought and now found his head buzzing with this lecture. “The Central Plains Emperor has already approved, so there’s no problem!”

“That’s still not acceptable! This is too disrespectful. You and Her Highness will be living together from now on. We cannot let Her Highness develop dissatisfaction with you!”

Loulan City revered its High Priest above all, and beneath him were four Grand Priests.

Yu Luocha didn’t spend much time in Loulan, and all city affairs were managed by these four Grand Priests.

These four Grand Priests held special significance for Yu Luocha. They weren’t merely loyal to him; they were also his saviors who had rescued him as a child from the frost and snow of the great desert, carefully nursing him back to health.

Yu Luocha wasn’t particularly motivated by aspirations to help the world. His gradual gathering of small nomadic tribes, refugees, and merchants to establish Loulan City and provide protection was initially only because these four benefactors who had saved and raised him for several years had expressed such a wish.

Now elderly, these four Grand Priests worried about Yu Luocha like elders concerned for a younger family member.

“This won’t do. I must quickly give orders. Since you’ve promised the position of Loulan Queen, we must begin preparations for the wedding and coronation ceremonies!”

“Mmm, yes, whatever you say,” Yu Luocha nodded absently, not really listening to what was being said. He turned and headed up the stairs. “I’ll go see why Her Highness hasn’t come out yet!”

When Yu Luocha entered, Yan Hongyin was sitting before a copper mirror, face-to-face with her reflection.

She wore clothes that Yu Luocha had prepared in her usual style—white wide-sleeved robes with gold embroidery along the edges, showing nobility in the details. However, her hair was somewhat disheveled as it fell over her shoulders, and Yan Hongyin held an ivory comb with some broken strands tangled in it.

Yu Luocha immediately understood the situation.

Even Ah Yin with complete memories didn’t know how to arrange her hair; now, with her current state…

Yu Luocha walked behind Yan Hongyin, gathered her ink-black hair, and gently took the ivory jade comb from her hand. Looking at her reflection in the mirror as she studied him, he smiled with tenderness. “Shall I help Your Highness arrange your hair?”

Yan Hongyin silently permitted Yu Luocha’s actions, watching in the mirror as his fingers moved through her hair. She felt an inexplicable discomfort and stiffness, along with an impulse to kick him away.

Strange—she never felt this way when matrons and palace maids arranged her hair in the palace…

Yu Luocha had never touched Yan Hongyin’s long hair before.

After all, the head was covered with vital points and acupressure points. For the previous Yan Hongyin, it would have been like entrusting her life to Yu Luocha’s hands.

Yu Luocha sensed Yan Hongyin’s current discomfort. His fingers moved swiftly, and he soon finished arranging her hair.

It wasn’t a complex hairstyle. Yu Luocha took two locks from beside her ears, braided them, and directed them backward. Together with Yan Hongyin’s loose hair, he tied it into a ponytail at the back of her head, producing from somewhere a golden vine-shaped hairband that he fastened at the base of the ponytail.

Yan Hongyin moved her head slightly. The clean, neat ponytail was secured, and the two small braids woven into it slid to the front with her movement.

“Impressive skill,” she suddenly spoke, her eyes narrowing. “It seems Your Excellency the High Priest is quite adept at such romantic attentions?”

Yu Luocha: “??”

Why was it that even something like hair-arranging, which should have brought them closer in a romantic way, could be turned by her into a suspicious questioning?

Under Yan Hongyin’s increasingly dangerous gaze in the copper mirror, Yu Luocha’s mouth twitched slightly before he slowly replied, “…I am accustomed to… trying different hairstyles on myself.”

This wasn’t an excuse. Yu Luocha had learned women’s dressing and hair-arranging to better disguise himself and change his appearance.

Yan Hongyin raised an eyebrow, her tone peculiar. “Including women’s hairstyles?”

Yu Luocha: “…”

Yan Hongyin stood up and turned to face Yu Luocha.

Although she had heard earlier that the Loulan High Priest had a delicate constitution, seeing was believing—her gaze swept over the skin and contours exposed by the High Priest’s split collar, and something flashed in her eyes.

Her mother had taught her not to let palace etiquette constrain her views on male-female relationships. Life was but a few decades long and shouldn’t be bound by others’ perspectives, though one shouldn’t indulge excessively in pleasure either.

If one found a beautiful person appealing, one shouldn’t let them slip away, but neither should one abuse one’s status and position to be promiscuous.

And now this prince consort, who was aesthetically pleasing from every angle… was perfectly suitable in every way.

—She would continue to observe him.

A smile appeared on Yan Hongyin’s face, the curve of her lips conveying respect, understanding, and acceptance. She raised her hand and lightly patted Yu Luocha’s arm. “It’s all right. I can accept that.”

It was just a special preference, after all.

Compared to those pampered nobles in the capital who played with cats, teased dogs, and hid filth, what was this minor, harmless quirk of her prince consort that she couldn’t accept?

Yu Luocha suddenly felt a familiar sense of frustration at being rendered speechless by Yan Hongyin’s shocking statements.

—So, back when they first met with the gold needle sealing technique, Ah Yin’s irritating temperament was indeed her true personality, right?

“Next time, you needn’t dress in secret. You can wear them for me to see,” Yan Hongyin’s eyes brightened as if already envisioning the beauty displayed before her. Her tone was sincere. “My prince consort is so handsome, anything would look extremely beautiful on you.”

Yu Luocha felt a strange shiver run from his tailbone up to the crown of his head, unconsciously taking a small step back.

Looking closely, Yan Hongyin’s expression remained normal, with nothing unusual.

He took a deep breath and silently retracted his half-step backward, nonchalantly changing the subject. “It’s getting dark. The citizens have prepared a bonfire celebration for us. Would you like to go see?”