Synopsis:
"Your Majesty, do you know that betraying your teacher and ancestors is a grave crime?" The Imperial Preceptor suddenly asks, eyeing the person leaning against him.
She moves with graceful steps. "The late emperor once told me that appearance reflects the heart. Your looks are exquisite, a gift from Heaven itself." She smoothly settles onto his lap and gives him a bewitching smile, her red lips hovering by his ear. "Is that not so?"
He stiffens at once. "It is."
"Then I believe the crime does not apply to me. Imperial Preceptor, how can you say I betrayed my ancestors? They are all enshrined in the ancestral hall, where they receive offerings from later generations and the worship of the people. Have I betrayed them?" Her slender hand climbs onto his shoulder, and she gives a delicate yawn. "The Grand Tutor resigned long ago. I granted him a beautiful maid to share his bed and a thousand taels of gold. Could that be called betraying my teacher?"
He stammers, at a loss for words. "I taught Your Majesty the Book of Changes and the Eight Trigrams. Could that count as..."
She bends down and kisses him. "It's late, and I'm tired. Are you going to defy the emperor?"
In plain terms:
Ask what love is, and it is simply one thing bringing another to heel.
This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.
