The Cold Minister and the Substitute Bride novel · Chapter 7 of 24
Chapter 7: Dawn at the River
The river ran gray and fast under the morning mist.
Gao Wenjing stood on the stony bank with his hands tucked in his sleeves, and behind him, in the shallows, a dozen ministers were taking off their robes.
Zhiruo watched it from the edge of the willows.
She had followed Biyan at a distance, in her jacket and bare feet, with her braid still half undone.
Nobody had told her to stay in the tent, because nobody had known she was awake.
"Minister Xue," Gao called warmly. "Come, join us. After a hunt, we cleanse ourselves in the river before the Emperor's table. It is the custom of the older ministries."
Biyan stopped at the water's edge.
Her face was very pale.
"I do not bathe in company."
"All of us do."
"I have a rule of my father's."
"Then it is a pity." Gao smiled, and the smile did not reach his eyes. "Thirteen years, Minister, and I have never once seen you take your robe off at the river. At the baths. In the barracks. At the Examination Hall. Men do remark on it."
"Men may remark."
"Men do."
A silence stretched, and the ministers in the water had gone quiet to listen.
"Last night, I sent my physician to your tent to offer a hunting tonic," Gao said, as if it were nothing. "Your steward turned him away at the flap. Politely, of course. He said the Minister washes alone and receives no one."
"My steward has done so for thirteen years."
"So I understand. A very loyal man."
Gao took one step closer.
"It would be a simple thing to end all this talk. A robe. A river. Ten minutes."
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