More Than You Asked For
Mu Wan’s body grew hotter.
The warmth passed through her skin into his.
Her cheeks were flushed, every part of her sending an unmistakable invitation.
Both arms remained looped around Liu Qianxiu’s neck. With her back suspended above the bed, the position was beginning to tire her.
Liu Qianxiu placed one hand around her waist.
Fabric rustled softly.
Then he drew her fully into his arms.
Mu Wan hooked both legs around his waist and settled onto his lap.
The position was intimate enough to blur the darkness around them.
Liu Qianxiu’s eyes remained deep and calm.
Bottomless.
Unreadable.
They looked at each other.
One of his hands rested against her back.
When he spoke, his voice was low and hoarse.
“Mu Wan, I’m a doctor.”
He paused.
“There’s nothing here for protection. You could get pregnant.”
The warning was so blunt, so explicit, and delivered with such professional seriousness that it only added another layer of heat to the darkness.
Mu Wan’s body burned hotter.
The restrained sandalwood scent surrounding him had become the most effective aphrodisiac imaginable.
“If I get pregnant, you’ll be the father.”
Mu Wan tilted her face up, smiling.
“I’m not afraid.”
She had no father.
No mother.
Nothing that truly belonged to her.
Now Liu Qianxiu was her god.
Her world.
She really was not afraid.
Like some little spirit that had only just cultivated itself into human form, she possessed the reckless courage of someone who did not yet understand fear.
Her eyes shone as she spoke.
Sweetness flowed from their corners.
For love, she seemed willing to disregard everything.
To dare anything.
There was something so pure about that fearlessness that it made a person want to tear out a burning heart and place it directly in her hands.
Liu Qianxiu looked at her smile.
Then he said quietly,
“I haven’t given you anything yet.”
Mu Wan shook her head.
“You have.”
Her voice softened.
“You like me.”
She looked directly at him.
“You gave me love.”
A slight pause.
“No one has loved me in a very long time.”
Then she lifted her face, seeking his lips.
Reckless.
Unrestrained.
Her warm, soft mouth brushed his jaw.
Their skin touched.
Something flickered through Liu Qianxiu’s eyes.
Then his gaze cleared again.
He gathered her into his arms and pressed her face against his shoulder.
Mu Wan rested there.
She heard him sigh softly.
“That’s what you want.”
His voice was quiet.
“What I want to give you is far more than what you’re asking for.”
Light shifted through Mu Wan’s eyes.
Only now did embarrassment finally catch up with her.
She held him.
Her body slowly softened against his.
“You don’t act like a Daoist at all.”
Her voice was sweet and soft, like strawberry slush.
“What kind of Daoist is this good at saying romantic things?”
Some of the charged heat between them faded.
What remained was warmth.
Tenderness.
Mu Wan felt Liu Qianxiu’s lips beside her ear.
Every word turned the tip of it scarlet.
“If I weren’t a Daoist…”
His voice lowered.
“I wouldn’t be only holding you right now.”
Mu Wan braced both hands against his shoulders.
Her body seemed to melt.
Her heart tingled.
Listening to his heartbeat, she suddenly wondered whether she was really the dangerous little spirit between them.
Perhaps he was.
Life at Qingyuan Temple was monotonous.
Other than quiet cultivation, there was reading.
After several days, even Mu Wan’s interest in her novels began to fade.
Her greatest source of entertainment became the occasional sweetness Liu Qianxiu gave her.
The weather had been poor too.
Clouds.
Rain.
More rain.
Then one afternoon, Mu Wan woke from a nap and finally found the sky clear.
Still half asleep, she stumbled out of her room.
Liu Qianxiu heard the door open from the main hall and looked over.
A moment later, Mu Wan came trotting toward him.
Incense was always burning in the hall.
Fresh from sleep, she was unprepared for it and gave a small sneeze.
Then she dragged over a meditation cushion and sat directly beside Liu Qianxiu.
Her head dropped against his shoulder.
Both arms wrapped around his waist.
From a distance, Liu Qianxiu always looked lean.
Now that she could touch him without restraint, Mu Wan knew better.
Through the thin fabric of his robe, she could feel firm lines of muscle beneath.
Her hair was loose.
Thick and black.
Her small head pressed against him, a smile lingering across her face.
Her hands moved lightly at his waist.
She was clearly trying to provoke him.
Qingchan was still asleep.
For now, she could afford to be bold.
The corner of Liu Qianxiu’s mouth lifted faintly.
He lowered his gaze to his book.
Outside, the rain had stopped.
Sunlight spread across the wet courtyard.
Even the air felt cool and refreshed.
“Liu Qianxiu.”
Mu Wan looked at the Tao Te Ching in his hands.
“Do you really spend all day either meditating or sitting here reading?”
She narrowed her eyes sleepily.
Her arms remained wrapped around him.
It was three in the afternoon.
The air after the rain was cool, so Mu Wan had put on a jacket.
Her slender fingers were half hidden inside the sleeves, making her hands look like two little paws curled around his waist.
Without changing position, Liu Qianxiu added,
“Sometimes I sit with you.”
Mu Wan closed her eyes.
Her lips curved.
A quiet laugh escaped her.
Liu Qianxiu lowered his book.
He turned slightly toward the woman leaning against him.
Her hair was thick and loose.
A few strands lay across the corner of one eye.
Her curled lashes cast layered shadows beneath them.
This was her first time at the temple.
The days really were monotonous.
After several of them, it was natural that she would begin to feel bored.
Liu Qianxiu looked toward the doorway.
Sunlight was bright outside.
But thick white clouds were already gathering again.
It might rain before long.
“Do you know how to catch fish?”
As he asked, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Mu Wan immediately looked up.
Surprise lit her eyes.
“There are fish here?”
“Mm.”
He said quietly,
“We’ll make fish for dinner.”
“Okay!”
Mu Wan agreed instantly.
Whether she actually knew how to catch fish did not matter.
At least she would not spend the entire afternoon sitting in the main hall watching Liu Qianxiu meditate and read.
She jumped up and hurried to the side room to change.
Liu Qianxiu rose too and collected the fishing equipment.
A woven fish basket.
And a fishing net.
Mu Wan followed him toward the rear courtyard.
She looked at what he was carrying.
“You can really catch fish with those?”
“Mm.”
Liu Qianxiu answered,
“We have plenty of time. We’ll take it slowly.”
The point clearly was not really to catch fish.
He was taking her out to play.
That realization made Mu Wan even happier.
She followed him out through the rear gate.
The fishing spot lay behind the mountain.
A narrow path descended from the rear courtyard.
They crossed a bamboo grove and entered a valley.
A long river ran through it.
The Qingyuan River.
A tributary of the Su River.
Almost no one came here throughout the year.
The water was so clear that Mu Wan could see straight to the riverbed.
Pebbles.
Clean sand.
Clear water.
The terrain on Qingyuan Mountain’s side of the valley was relatively gentle.
Across the river, however, the mountain rose steeply.
Its base plunged directly into the Qingyuan River.
Crooked trees grew near the water.
Their thick branches stretched outward, dense crowns casting shade across the surface.
Cool wind moved beneath them.
The whole place felt like somewhere a wandering martial artist might choose to disappear from the world.
A stony bank ran along the river.
Mu Wan removed her shoes and stepped barefoot over the stones.
Water covered the tops of her feet.
The cold went straight through her.
An old wooden boat rested against the bank.
Its weathered hull showed its age.
Liu Qianxiu stepped aboard first.
Then he reached out and pulled Mu Wan up after him.
There was a meditation cushion on the boat.
Mu Wan sat cross-legged on it and watched Liu Qianxiu pole them away from shore.
“Do you come here to catch fish often?”
“Qingchan likes it.”
In the past, whenever Liu Qianxiu came here, Qingchan came with him.
This time, however, he had brought Mu Wan.
She tilted her head up at him.
His pale blue-green Daoist robe blended with the distant mountains and nearby water.
Like a figure painted into an ink-wash landscape.
Mu Wan trailed one hand through the river.
She smiled.
“Then why didn’t you bring him today?”
The boat reached the middle of the river.
Liu Qianxiu set down the wooden pole.
Then he looked at her.
“Should I go back and get him?”
“No.”
Mu Wan answered immediately.
— To be continued in Part 2 —
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