Chapter Ninety-Three: No Regrets

“You, don’t keep sniffing it so much,” Jade Maiden said, blushing as she could not help whispering a reminder.

Dragon Tang lifted his head and smiled. “Have you never heard that warm jade gives off a fragrance?”

Blushing harder, Jade Maiden answered in a small, embarrassed voice, “I have heard that, but, but you really shouldn’t keep sniffing it like that. It’s not proper.”

Dragon Tang looked at her in surprise. “Not proper? Why not?”

According to rumor, the fragrance of warm jade could be almost soul-snaring, and once it entered the body, it could even improve one’s constitution.

Jade Maiden let out a soft cry of distress and, twisting with mortification, said, “Anyway, it’s just not proper. You shouldn’t keep sniffing it!”

There was no great mystery about it, and how was she supposed to explain such a thing to him on her own?

Dragon Tang did not pay her any mind. He held the warm jade to his nose with one hand and sniffed it, while idly turning the ice jade over in his other hand.

One warm, one cold; it truly was a singular sensation.

He had no idea what Jade Maiden was thinking. What he was thinking was that, by rights, these two things ought to count as rare treasures, the kind that improved one’s body simply by being worn. But they were somewhat heavy; how was one supposed to wear them every day?

Dragon Tang looked up and, with a mischievous grin, asked curiously, “Beauty, these two pieces have such unusual shapes. How do you usually keep them with you?”

Jade Maiden blushed so deeply she almost wanted to bury her face in the water. She stammered for a long time, yet no words would come.

When he pressed her, she snapped back in annoyance, “I wear them every day, all right? Why do you have so many questions?”

She had in fact been provoked into irritation by Dragon Tang.

Dragon Tang did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had only wanted to ask how she normally carried those two warm stones, one warm and one cool, about with her.

Jade Maiden seemed to realize that she should not have lost her temper with him. She looked up in embarrassment and said softly, “S-sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Dragon Tang shrugged and smiled easily. “Do I look like such a petty man?”

Jade Maiden bit her lip. After hesitating for a moment, she stood up from the jade bathtub. “Didn’t you want to know how I usually carry them?”

She took the warm jade and the ice jade from Dragon Tang’s hands, turned around, and demonstrated it to him right there in front of him.

Dragon Tang’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, and his mouth fell open in a huge, dumb stare. No wonder she would not let him keep sniffing them all the time. Thinking of it now, he felt a little... miserable.

“So that’s how I carry them.”

Standing in the jade bathtub, Jade Maiden muttered softly, her face red as she looked at Dragon Tang’s stunned expression. She wanted to laugh, yet she was also mortified.

Dragon Tang collected himself, rubbed his nose with a wry smile, and gave her a thumbs-up. “I am utterly convinced.”

Jade Maiden was blushing so hard that she only grew more embarrassed. In all her life, this was the first time she had ever shown him how she carried them.

“I’ve been wearing them since I was twelve,” she said shyly. “That’s also one of the reasons he disliked me.”

There are things you may be able to accept, while others cannot. Most people may understand, but there will always be a few who look down on it.

Dragon Tang muttered, “I suppose his head is full of water.” After a pause, he asked with renewed curiosity, “Don’t you feel awkward wearing them every day?”

Jade Maiden blushed and said, “It’s been nearly thirty years already. I’m long used to it.” After a brief pause, she went on, “Without them, I’d feel awkward instead, and not quite comfortable.”

Yes, after all, habit makes everything natural.

Once one is used to something, anything can be spoken of.

“Will you... mind?” Jade Maiden asked, lifting her head slightly and meeting his eyes as she blushed.

Some things have to be said plainly before both sides can truly understand. She had now shown him everything, leaving nothing hidden. Her confession had been complete and utterly without reserve. What remained was only his judgment.

“No,” Dragon Tang said, shaking his head with complete certainty. “I think it’s fine. Besides, these two things have greatly improved your physical constitution. Judging by how delicate your skin is, if one were to test you with scientific instruments, your true age would probably come out very young. This is a good thing. I don’t know who gave these to you, or who taught you to carry them this way, but it’s certain that the person who entrusted them to you knew exactly what those two treasures, the warm one and the cool one, were for.”

“Thank you,” Jade Maiden said tenderly, still blushing.

Dragon Tang froze for a moment, then gave a wry smile. “Thank me for what? This is your own business to begin with. If they can improve your constitution and never become a burden to you, then that is the reward of all these years of persistence.”

“But they... some people would mind them. They’d feel they’re unclean,” Jade Maiden muttered softly, still red in the face.

Dragon Tang smiled and looked straight at her. “Whether others mind or not, does it really matter? People ought to live for themselves. As long as you think it’s fine, then there’s no problem at all.”

“Mm,” Jade Maiden answered. The heavy stone that had seemed to hang in her heart was finally set down. As long as he did not care, that was enough.

After all, for the rest of her life, she belonged to him.

Things had progressed to this point far beyond Dragon Tang’s expectations. He had never imagined that the two of them would move this quickly.

Still, since some things had already happened, any further coyness would only make him seem unmanly.

Dragon Tang suddenly crooked a finger at Jade Maiden with a wicked smile. “Come here. Let me study you properly.”

Jade Maiden’s face burned. After a moment’s hesitation, she still walked over. Since it had come to this, however he wished to “study” her, she would simply submit.

And she had already prepared herself.

This jade bathtub really was excellent; it was spacious, with room enough to move her arms and legs.

“Do you regret it?” Dragon Tang asked softly, feeling the smoothness of her skin, delicate as silk and satin, cool and warm and as soft as jade.

Seated in his lap, Jade Maiden’s face was flushed scarlet. She shook her head lightly. “No regret.”

As for why she had no regret, only she herself knew.

At this point, regret was a meaningless word. Even if she did regret it, what could she do now?

All Dragon Tang could do was act with a clear conscience. As for what Jade Maiden was thinking, he did not want to ponder it, nor could he fully understand it.

After all, people sometimes had to be a little muddleheaded to get by.

Jade Maiden said shyly and softly, “Then... should I take them out?”

Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, almost impossible to hear.

Dragon Tang gave a sly grin and leaned close to her ear, whispering a few words. That made Jade Maiden squirm all over with discomfort.

She kept saying in a tiny voice that it would not do, that it was embarrassing, that it was dirty, and the like.

The night was thick and heavy. No one knew whether the moon had seen some shameful sight, but it had hidden itself behind the dark clouds and refused to show its face.

A black figure vaulted backward over a wall from the street and slipped into the Treasure Phoenix Carving Factory. After identifying the direction, it moved swiftly toward the three-story building.