Just You Wait

Gu Chengyin thought she was faking it.

After all, this was Lin Qingyan.

This celestial maiden had been acting since the very first time they met.

Every word, every glance, every movement had been meticulously crafted.

So when Lin Qingyan said no for the first time, Gu Chengyin judged it as playing hard to get.

The second time, he saw it as retreating in order to advance.

The third time, he began to feel uncertain.

By the tenth time, he finally understood: Lin Qingyan truly couldn't take it anymore.

Gu Chengyin, recalling this, glanced again at the lump of bedding.

Invincible at the Golden Core stage?

Ha.

Gu Chengyin strode toward the door, his steps steady and unhurried.

After the night's and morning's fierce battle, he not only felt drained but, on the contrary,

it was as if something had cleansed him, leaving him utterly relaxed and refreshed.

The spiritual energy in his dantian circulated more smoothly than usual, and a faint warm current surged through his meridians.

As if activated by some force.

As he walked, Gu Chengyin sorted through the tasks for the day in his mind.

Too many things had happened yesterday—from the three-ministerial trial, back to the Crown Prince's palace to find Gu Xiaoli,

then Lin Qingyan's exposure, and returning to the palace to lift Luo Zhao's hypnosis.

Now that a new day had dawned, the official business couldn't be neglected.

Cui Zhenji's resignation memorial should now be in Luo Zhao's hands.

Gu Chengyin had calculated this since the three-ministerial trial.

Cui Shifan was a clever man. He knew when to advance and when to retreat.

Having Cui Zhenji resign willingly was the most dignified option the Cui family could take.

According to procedure, the resignation memorial would first go to the Ministry of Personnel.

Now that Luo Zhao oversaw the Ministry of Personnel, it was bound to be with her.

Gu Chengyin's steps quickened slightly.

He needed to have a serious talk with Luo Zhao.

Not just about Cui Zhenji's resignation.

But about the succession to the Minister of Rites, and subsequent entry into the cabinet.

And even...

Gu Chengyin paused mid-step.

He might also need to explain what happened last night with Lin Qingyan.

Not to Luo Zhao, but to Shangguan Yunying.

Gu Chengyin rubbed his temples.

That matter might be trickier than the official business.

After Gu Chengyin left, the room fell silent for a long time.

It was the silence of exhaustion, where even the air was too tired to stir.

Sunlight streamed through the window lattice, with specks of dust drifting slowly in the light.

Their drift was more than half as slow as usual, as if even the dust was weary.

Finally, movement came from under the blanket.

A few fingers emerged from its edge—pale and delicate, their tips faintly reddened.

Lin Qingyan's head peeked out from the bedding.

Her hair was a mess, like a bird's nest ravaged by a fierce storm—strands sticking out in every direction.

Some strands were plastered to her cheeks, some stuck to the corners of her mouth, and a few were tangled around her neck—like a ball of ink-black silk gone wild.

Her face was also reddened, not from embarrassment or anger, but from... how to put it.

It was the flush of capillaries dilated from prolonged, intense exhaustion, radiating from deep within.

Lin Qingyan's eyes narrowed as they adjusted to the light, her pupils contracting twice before slowly opening.

The rims of her eyes were red, the corners of her eyes were red, and a faint, almost invisible trace of moisture clung to her lashes.

Leftover from a certain moment this morning, when she could no longer hold back and it spilled from the corners of her eyes.

She had cried.

But even so, Gu Chengyin had not spared her.

Lin Qingyan glared resentfully at the closed door.

If her gaze could turn into something solid, it would have bored two holes right through it.

She simply couldn't understand.

Gu Chengyin was merely at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

And she, invincible at Golden Core.

Yet in physical confrontation, she couldn't overcome Gu Chengyin?

Lin Qingyan recalled the scene this morning. She was on top of him, hair cascading, robe hanging open.

In what she thought was a seductive, assertive, dominant pose, she said something.

Then the world spun.

And she was pressed back onto the pillow. Then... there was no "then."

Because from that moment on, she never got a "then" again.

Gu Chengyin, this man, looked lean and tall, with sharp shoulders and a narrow waist.

When dressed, he had a youthful, slender look.

But when undressed, those lines surfaced in Lin Qingyan's mind.

His muscles weren't the exaggerated, knotted kind—they were like a riverbed sculpted by millennia of flowing water.

Every inch held strength disproportionate to his frame.

And that strength was fully displayed when he controlled her.

His fingers would always stop at the most unbearable moment.

His lips would always pull away just as she was about to break.

His body would always, just when she thought she'd finally take charge,

press her back down.

Every time.

Every single time.

Lin Qingyan turned over in bed, burying her burning cheeks into the pillow.

The pillow still carried Gu Chengyin's scent—clean and faint.

But now, mingled with her body heat, it had changed.

Like ice soaked in warm water, the edges melting, the sharpness dulling—yet the core remained cold.

Lin Qingyan's attempt to reverse the roles had shattered before Gu Chengyin.

"Why..."

Her voice was muffled into the pillow, slurred:

"He doesn't even have a Golden Core. Once he breaks through to it, wouldn't he be..."

At this thought, Lin Qingyan's face grew even redder.

Enough.

Lin Qingyan shook her head vigorously, tossing the imagined scenes out of her mind.

In the end, she gave up thinking—because she was truly spent.

Not spiritually drained.

Her spiritual power had hardly been used. The reserves of the Golden Core stage were deep as an ocean.

Last night's exertion was mere spray off the waves, not even lowering the sea level by a hair.

What Lin Qingyan had exhausted was her spirit.

Trapped by those three rules, with nowhere to hide, every reaction laid bare before his eyes.

Don't hold back.

Those four words were more torturous than any physical ordeal.

Because they meant she couldn't bite her lip, couldn't close her eyes, couldn't bury her face in the pillow, couldn't use any of her usual ways to conceal herself.

Gu Chengyin demanded she look him in the eyes, demanded her truest reactions.

Demanded her at the edge of her limits to beg him, again and again.

Until her voice went hoarse.

Lin Qingyan lifted her face from the pillow and let out a long breath.

The breath, hot and searing, formed a puff of white mist in the cool morning air before slowly dissipating.

"Gu Chengyin."

"Just you wait!"

But even Lin Qingyan knew that this threat carried about as much weight as a feather.

Because as she said it, she didn't even have the strength to crawl out from under the covers.