Escape the Miaojiang Villain - Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Prophetic Bizzare Dream-Reward
Her soft, delicate body nestled against his chest, with the faint fragrance of Chinese schima lingering at the tip of his nose. During all these days since she had been captured, she had been using his bath beans and soap pods, so her body was filled with the exact same scent as his.
A light, sweet, and fragrant aroma of Chinese schima.
The memory of the night he was injured and unconscious surged back again. At that time, he had also held a woman in his arms, and the feeling was remarkably similar to now—yet that person had been Sang Yu.
He asked, “That night, were you not staying together with Sang Yu?”
Upon hearing this, Tu Lingxiang knew he was doubting her again.
She answered, “We were together! But later I fell asleep. Young Master, as you know, I am very prone to sleepiness.”
Lian Jing’s eyes darkened. What on earth was he fantasizing about?
Whether it was Sang Yu or Tu Lingxiang, wasn’t it all the same?
Neither was someone he should be holding.
“Are you leaving or not?”
After a long silence, he finally asked in a cold voice.
Yet the person in his arms gave no reply. Could this wretched girl have actually fallen asleep?
“Hey! Wake the hell up!”
He tried to push her away, but he didn’t dare make too much noise. The person in his arms clung tightly to him, muttering softly, “Young Master… hold me…”
For the first time, Lian Jing was entirely speechless. She really was as prone to sleeping as she claimed.
He gave up trying to push her away and resignedly leaned back against the inner wall of the cabinet, merely hoping the people outside would finish quickly.
Snuggled in his arms, a small smile slowly curled on Tu Lingxiang’s lips. She hadn’t fallen asleep at all; she was merely pretending.
She hadn’t expected Lian Jing to accept his fate so easily and actually let her hold him.
Her ear was pressed against his chest, and his heartbeat echoed clearly into her ear. She noticed that his heart was beating exceedingly fast, unlike a normal heartbeat.
Huh, how strange.
Why is his heart pounding so fast?
Could it be… that Lian Jing has never held a girl before?
Still, his heartbeat sounds really nice.
Later on, she actually ended up falling asleep in his arms. Perhaps due to wandering around in that maze continuously for the past two days, leaning against such a warm chest made her unable to suppress the overwhelming surge of drowsiness.
When she woke up the next morning, a bright ray of sunlight penetrated through the crack in the wardrobe. The dust particles floating in the light fluttered like countless fine, golden sugar grains.
She opened her sleepy eyes and stared at that beam of light for quite a while, completely forgetting that she was still snuggled in Lian Jing’s arms.
“Awake?”
Above her head, Lian Jing’s clear, resonant voice suddenly sounded, laced with a trace of a smile that gave Tu Lingxiang a fright.
She instantly bounced out of his arms. Goodness, did she really sleep in his arms for the whole night?
I’m doomed, I’m completely doomed.
His voice had carried a smile just now, and that kind of smile made her scalp go numb.
She quietly raised her head to peek at him and uttered softly in a voice as tiny as a mosquito, “Young Master?”
Lian Jing’s face was hidden in the pitch-dark cabinet. Although there was sunlight, it didn’t shine onto his face. He remained in the same posture as last night, sitting leaning against the cabinet wall. Only now, after she moved away, did he stretch and move the muscles in his arms.
“Was it comfortable?” he asked with a smile.
Hearing this, Tu Lingxiang felt her shoulders shudder, and she shook her head vigorously.
“Oh? This young master hasn’t satisfied you yet?”
His words, dripping with sarcasm, echoed throughout the wardrobe, making Tu Lingxiang feel thoroughly embarrassed. She immediately nodded and said, “It was comfortable.”
“You still dare say it was comfortable? Who do you take this young master for?”
Lian Jing’s angry voice sounded again. Tu Lingxiang wore a bitter expression, thinking in her heart: Do you want to hear ‘comfortable’ or ‘uncomfortable’?
She lowered her head and said, “Young Master, I won’t dare to do it again next time.”
Lian Jing glanced sideways at her and let out a cold snort full of disbelief. Grabbing her arm, he dragged her over to his side. His peach-blossom eyes curved slightly upwards as he said, “This young master let you rest comfortably for a whole night. Shouldn’t you make me comfortable now as well?”
“Huh?” Tu Lingxiang looked at him in surprise. The tip of his nose almost touched hers. At such a close distance, she felt her cheeks burning hot.
“Young Master, what do you mean?”
Lian Jing squeezed her flushed cheek and said with dissatisfaction, “Can’t you tell what I mean?”
“Young Master…” Can you please not always speak in half-sentences?
Tu Lingxiang felt utterly desperate. She could never guess his thoughts, yet Lian Jing specifically enjoyed making her guess.
Outside the wardrobe, the voices of the two people from last night were gone; they had probably both left.
If Lian Jing meant what he said, could it be…
“Young Master, I really don’t know how to…”
She panicked, feeling completely lost. Although she was a slave, she really didn’t know how to do that.
“You don’t know how to massage my shoulders and pound my legs?” Lian Jing’s voice raised an octave, clearly furious.
“What is the point of me feeding and keeping you every day?”
“Shoulder massage and leg pounding?”
She froze and asked. It turned out she had guessed wrong again.
How embarrassing!
She muttered under her breath, “You’ve never even given me a single bite of food, how does that count as keeping me?”
“What else then? This young master stayed in this posture holding you all night long until my arms and legs went numb. Is it too much to ask you to massage them a bit?”
She shook her head like a rattle.
“Not too much, not too much at all.”
Smiling, she raised her hands to massage his arms, asking flatteringly, “Young Master, is this amount of pressure suitable?”
“Use a bit more strength! Have you not eaten?” Lian Jing said discontentedly.
“…” I really haven’t eaten.
She exerted a bit more force. Having to do manual labor first thing in the morning—she was truly miserable.
After massaging both of his arms, she went on to pound his legs. The space inside the cabinet was too cramped, so his long legs had to be crossed over each other. She opened the wardrobe door, straightened out his long legs, and casually chatted.
“Young Master, what did you eat when you were little? How did your legs grow so long?”
Lian Jing rolled his eyes.
“Human flesh. Specifically human legs.”
“???” Tu Lingxiang was so scared her palms broke into a sweat.
“Is this what they call ‘you are what you eat’?”
Seeing that she actually believed it, Lian Jing was even more speechless.
Once the cabinet doors opened, the bright morning sunlight poured in, illuminating Lian Jing’s body and rendering his handsome, radiant face as flawless as jade. As he leaned inside the wardrobe, he exuded a somewhat lazy grace.
“Help me up,” he raised his hand and commanded.
Tu Lingxiang hurriedly supported his arm and helped him out of the cabinet. As they passed the bed with fluttering drapes in the room, she consciously or unconsciously cast a glance at it, then immediately lowered her head.
She had slept deeply last night and didn’t know when those two people had left.
“Help me over there,” Lian Jing suddenly said.
“Ah?”
Is he a pervert?
Why go to someone else’s bedside?
She helped him over to the bed. Lian Jing picked up a small jar resting by the edge of the bed; a black Gu insect was lying quietly inside—left behind by the person from last night.
He scrutinized the Gu insect for a moment, then moved it in front of Tu Lingxiang’s face, saying evilly, “Little slave bell, want to give it a try?”
Tu Lingxiang’s face froze in shock, and she immediately took several steps backward, shaking her head wildly, “Young Master, no… please don’t…”
Perverted Lian Jing was just as perverted as those two people from last night. Falling into his hands meant kissing any good days goodbye.
She edged her footsteps toward the doorway, inwardly cursing Sang Yun for not taking this Gu insect with him when he left.
Her legs felt weak. Thinking that if she were afflicted by that aphrodisiac Gu, her behavior while in heat would surely be unbearable to watch, and she would definitely crawl onto Lian Jing… Goodness, just thinking about it was embarrassing.
Lian Jing raised the corner of his eyes slightly and looked at her.
“What are you running for? I was merely asking you.”
Tu Lingxiang thought to herself: Would a high-and-mighty young master like you ever consult a slave’s opinion?
“If you don’t want it, then forget it.”
He tossed the small jar backward, throwing it back onto the bed, and walked toward the door.
“This young master is so understanding; I wouldn’t force you.”
“???”
You… Lian Jing… understanding… not forcing?
She stared at him as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world.
Lian Jing walked over, pulled open the room door, and swept his gaze across the area below the stilt house.
At this moment, almost everyone in Guyue Village had gone to Baiyue Pool; Sang Lie had probably gone as well. After pondering for a moment, he turned to her and said, “Wait for me here. I’ll come back to pick you up tonight.”
With that, he slipped out of the room.
“Young Master?”
What is he playing at?
Leaving her here all alone?
What if that Sang Yun came back looking for this Gu insect? As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she promptly hid back inside the wardrobe and shut the doors tightly.
She waited inside for a whole day. When she heard faint footsteps coming upstairs, she subconsciously thought Lian Jing had returned. Her expression turned joyful, and she pressed her face against the gap in the cabinet door to look. However, she saw that the person walking in was not Lian Jing, but the Third Young Master, Sang Yun, from last night.
He walked to the bedside looking for the Gu insect, placed the small jar against his lips, and kissed it.
“Little darling, you worked hard last night.”
Hearing this voice, Tu Lingxiang almost felt like throwing up.
As if it could understand human speech, the Gu insect hopped joyfully, jumping out of the jar and landing on the floor.
Sang Yun squatted down to pick it up.
“So playful! Compliment you a bit and you think you can fly.”
He picked up the Gu insect and was about to stand up when his gaze turned toward the wardrobe where Tu Lingxiang was hiding. She gasped in horror and shrank backward, but the person outside was walking straight toward the wardrobe. His tall shadow projected into the gap of the cabinet door, looming over her like a giant monster.
It’s over.
I’m doomed.
I’m going to be discovered.
If she got caught, how could she possibly explain herself?
There were only a few colorful garments inside the wardrobe. She picked one up to cover her face, thinking she would delay as long as she could.
Lian Jing, hurry back!
Just as Sang Yun placed his hand on the cabinet door, prepared to pull it open, a red figure appeared behind him swift as lightning and struck his neck forcefully. He slumped onto the floor just like that.
The cabinet door was pulled open, and a hand like green jade and long bones reached in, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her out.
Lian Jing dragged her as they sprinted through the moonlit night, passing through the clear radiance, stepping over the scattered moonlight—like a pair of colorful butterflies dancing toward spring, flying hand-in-hand toward a rainbow world created by the gods.
Tu Lingxiang followed behind him, her eyes fixed on the back of his head. In her vision, there was no bright moon, no starry river, no lofty mountains, and no village lights; she could only see his red hair ribbon and silver tassel chain fluttering in the wind.
The back of his head really looks quite nice.
She was starting to swoon again.
Wake up! Wake up!
“Young Master, where are we going?”
Lian Jing pulled her and quickly arrived at Baiyue Pool. There was not a soul around. He stopped, turned around to face her, curved his eyes in a smile, and said, “Get in the water.”
Immediately after, he struck her shoulder with a palm, pushing her down beneath the waters of Baiyue Pool.
“???”
Tu Lingxiang fell into the bone-chilling cold water. Lian Jing followed right after and jumped in as well.
When they reached the bottom of the pool, she looked at him resentfully and said, “Young Master, can’t you be a little gentler…”
In the next moment, Lian Jing brought his palm down and knocked the back of her neck.
Her vision went completely dark, and as she collapsed toward the ground, she managed to utter, “Take that back…”
Expecting him to be gentle was like expecting a pig to climb a tree.
Lian Jing also lay down beside her. He deliberately chose a prominent spot, needing only to wait here for Sang Yue to find them.
When Tu Lingxiang opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on a bed, surrounded by several people: Sang Yue, Sang Yu, Huo Xin, and some others.
“Miss Ling, you’re awake?” Sang Yue was the first to notice her opening her eyes and walked over to the bed.
Tu Lingxiang searched the room with her gaze but didn’t see Lian Jing. She raised her hand to rub the back of her neck; Lian Jing’s hit had really hurt.
“Where is the Young Master?” she asked.
“Your Young Master is fine, don’t worry about him. What about yourself—does your body feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
“I…” She moved her body slightly.
“I’m fine. Miss Sang Yue, did you save us and bring us up?”
“Mhm. Don’t worry, the demon beast has been subdued, and you will be fine too. Don’t be afraid, just rest well here.”
This room was a guest room arranged by Sang Yue. For the following period, she stayed here to recover. Sang Yue and the others didn’t ask her anything further about what happened underwater, presumably because Lian Jing had already explained it to them.
Because of this accident, the third round of the marriage contest was postponed by three days.
Tu Lingxiang felt uneasy in her heart and desperately wanted to leave this Guyue Village. She remained constantly vigilant about whether the Miao King would send someone to assassinate her, poison her, or afflict her with Gu.
Not being able to see Lian Jing made her anxiety even worse. Toward evening, she got out of bed and walked out of the room.
She heard that the place where Lian Jing stayed was quite far from her. This was the custom of Guyue Village; male and female guest rooms were generally not in the same area.
She walked out to look for Lian Jing, wanting him to take her back to Xiaoli Village—living in this place truly did not bring peace of mind.
Before she had gone very far, she ran head-on into a young man dressed in Miao attire. Taking a closer look, she realized it was Sang Yun, whom Lian Jing had knocked unconscious earlier.
At this moment, she had to pretend not to recognize him.
This was a three-foot-wide paved stone path. She lowered her head to yield the path to him. Sang Yun walked up to her side and barked coldly, “How bold! Where did this girl come from? To not even greet this young master upon seeing me!”
Truly an arrogant and rude person, just like Lian Jing.
She immediately bowed to him.
“I’m so sorry, Young Master. This is only my second time at Guyue Village, and I didn’t know which grand figure you were. Please forgive me, Young Master.”
She thought to herself: As the author, I am truly humble.
Sang Yun lowered his gaze to sweep over her, raising her chin.
“Could it be that you are that servant girl who fell into the water?”
Tu Lingxiang met his gaze. His looks were hardly considered beautiful—lacking Lian Jing’s enchanting, striking presence, and lacking Baili Xi’s gentle elegance.
The only memorable feature was his pair of somewhat narrow, long phoenix eyes.
“Young Master, it is me,” she replied while shifting her face away.
“I still need to find my Young Master, so I’ll be taking my leave now.”
Saying that, she made to run off, but Sang Yun grabbed her arm. “You want to find your Young Master? How about I take you there?”
“No… no need to trouble you.”
“It’s no trouble. I happen to be going the same way.”
Tu Lingxiang was forced to walk a distance with him, but seeing that the direction he was leading her grew increasingly remote, she knitted her dark eyebrows and asked, “Young Master, my Young Master doesn’t seem to live this way.”
“I have lived in this Guyue Village for decades. Could I possibly know it less well than a little girl like you?”
“But Miss Sang Yu said my Young Master is staying near the lotus pond.”
Sang Yun continued to persist.
“Passing through this path leads right to the lotus pond.”
Tu Lingxiang looked at that remote, deserted small path, flanked by stacked rockeries and lush vegetation. If she went in there and happened to be assassinated, she wouldn’t even have the chance to yell for help.
Just as she was wavering, a crisp, tender voice sounded from diagonally across. It was Sang Qing walking over.
“Third Brother, what are you doing over there?”
Sang Qing looked very young, appearing to be only around sixteen years old. His voice was also extremely youthful, and his eyes shone with a clear, bright light.
His puzzled gaze fell upon Tu Lingxiang, and pointing at her, he said, “Isn’t this girl that servant who fell into the water? Why are you with her?”
Seeing this, Tu Lingxiang took the initiative.
“You call him Third Brother, so you must be the Fourth Young Master of Guyue Village? The Third Young Master said he was going to take me to find my Young Master. Your sister said my Young Master is at the lotus pond, and the lotus pond is up ahead, right? We reach it by crossing this path?”
She pointed her finger at that remote path, intentionally asking like that.
Sang Qing strode over and said, “The lotus pond isn’t over here. Third Brother, you were knocked senseless by that assassin—how could going down this path lead to the lotus pond?”
Sang Yun showed a look of embarrassment and laughed twice.
“Look at me. My head was struck by an assassin yesterday, and I actually remembered the path wrong. Miss, please don’t laugh at me.”
“Of course not,” Tu Lingxiang shook her head with a smile, inwardly thinking: He sure knows how to act.
Sang Qing stared at her, scrutinizing her for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, “You foreigners look quite nice wearing our Miao clothing.”
Tu Lingxiang politely returned a smile. Perhaps due to the scene she had witnessed two nights ago, she didn’t have a good impression of either of these two.
Their act of afflicting a girl with an aphrodisiac Gu was truly vile to the extreme, so she only wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible.
“Miss, Third Brother got his head knocked dizzy. How about I take you to find your Young Master instead?” Sang Qing offered proactively.
“Alright, alright.”
Sang Qing walked ahead to lead the way, and Tu Lingxiang had no choice but to follow, hoping he wouldn’t lead her off to some random place again.
Seeing how extremely nervous she was, Sang Qing asked, “Miss, are you very uncomfortable in Guyue Village?”
“No, I’m not,” Tu Lingxiang shook her head.
“You look quite tense to me. Did my Third Brother say something to you just now?”
Tu Lingxiang continued to shake her head.
“No, he didn’t say anything.”
Sang Qing offered comforting words, “Don’t be nervous, you’ll see your Young Master very soon. By the way, is this your first time accompanying your Young Master on a long journey?”
This time she finally nodded.
Sang Qing turned his head and smiled down at her.
“Hey, although all of us in Miao Territory use Gu, you don’t need to be so scared, do you? I won’t afflict you with Gu—look at how frightened you are.”
Tu Lingxiang raised her head, only then realizing that the youth was actually quite tall, just a little shorter than Lian Jing. The smile on his face was like a spring breeze, lacking even half of Sang Yun’s frightening demeanor.
She wasn’t afraid of him; rather, she was pondering how Sang Lie intended to silence her. Would her plan to escape during Lian Jing’s grand wedding be disrupted? Would she still have a chance to escape from Miao Territory?
“Fourth Young Master, how many Gu insects have you raised?”
Sang Qing straightened up, counted on his fingers, and said, “That’s quite a lot. Just the ones I’m raising right now number over a dozen, not to mention those that died previously.”
Tu Lingxiang found it scary just listening to it. Seeing her expression, Sang Qing said, “I don’t have any Gu on me, so don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” she said calmly.
Sang Qing was amused by her expression and turned back around to keep walking ahead.
“Though I must say, it’s normal for you to be afraid. It wasn’t easy for you to visit Guyue Village, yet you accidentally fell into Baiyue Pool and narrowly escaped from the jaws of that demon beast. If it were any other girl, she probably would have been driven mad with fear by now.”
“Fourth Young Master, I hang around with my Young Master, so my courage isn’t that small.”
Even if she was terrified inside, she didn’t want to be made fun of by him.
“True enough. Those who drive corpses generally have pretty big guts.”
Tu Lingxiang spotted the lotus pond not far ahead, and her heart finally felt much more at ease. Sang Qing turned back to her and said, “Your Young Master lives up ahead. Do you remember the way now?”
She let out an “mhm” and smiled as she thanked him: “Thank you, Fourth Young Master.”
After thanking him, she trotted forward. Huo Xin was over in that courtyard, and seeing her arrive, he was slightly surprised: “Why did you come over?”
“I just came to see the Young Master.”
“Hold on a moment, Miss Sang Yue is inside.” Huo Xin pulled her over to the side of the lotus pond.
Tu Lingxiang blurted out.
“What is Miss Sang Yue doing inside?”
Huo Xin tapped her on the head and lowered his voice, “What else could she be doing? Applying medicine, of course. Don’t you go running in to disturb the Young Master, or you won’t escape another punishment.”
She pouted her lips.
“Oh, got it.”
“What are you two talking about? Why aren’t you going in?”
Sang Qing’s voice suddenly sounded from behind.
Tu Lingxiang was startled, turned around, and saw that he hadn’t left yet and had actually followed her over.
Huo Xin immediately bowed to him.
“Fourth Young Master.”
Sang Qing waved his hand and asked again, “Miss Ling, why aren’t you going in to find your Young Master?”
Tu Lingxiang sat down at a nearby stone table, looking at the boundless green lotus leaves covering the pond, and said, “The Young Master is busy, I’ll wait a bit.”
Sang Qing also sat down on the stone stool opposite her. The evening breeze was cool and refreshing, carrying a wave of fresh lotus leaf scent.
Huo Xin sat beside him, looking at him and saying, “Fourth Young Master looks so much like Second Miss Sang.”
Only then did Tu Lingxiang carefully observe his appearance. He was Sang Yu’s younger brother, and the two of them looked extremely alike—unlike Sang Yun and Sang Yue, who didn’t look alike at all.
He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, fair skin, red lips, and a high nose bridge. When he smiled, he even had dimples—decidedly a standard handsome man.
“My sister and I both take after our mother in appearance, so we look quite alike.”
His gaze drifted toward Tu Lingxiang opposite him, and he added, “Miss Ling’s appearance doesn’t look like someone from Miao Territory, but wearing Miao attire suits you extremely well.”
This was already the second time he had complimented her on looking good in Miao clothing.
Tu Lingxiang felt a bit embarrassed and smiled, changing the subject.
“Then do you think my Young Master looks like someone from Miao Territory?”
He recalled slightly, “Now that you mention it, if he put on Miao attire, he probably would look quite like one.”
Tu Lingxiang thought to herself that Lian Jing was a genuine, full-fledged Miao person. As for that prophetic dream, why those people called him Young Master was something she still hadn’t figured out to this day.
Even more incredible was that the daughter of the grand Miao King, Sang Yue, actually served him as Young Master too.
What on earth was going on?
Before long, Sang Yue walked out of the room holding a medicine box. Seeing the few of them outside, she was slightly surprised—especially upon seeing Sang Qing, she was most surprised.
“Sang Qing, why did you run over here?”
“I just came over to hang out.” Sang Qing stood up, grinning mischievously.
“Sister, are you going back? I’ll go with you.”
Inside the room, Lian Jing walked over to the window, took a glance at Sang Qing’s departing back, and only then shifted his gaze toward Tu Lingxiang.
She strode inside toward the room and called out, “Young Master, when are we going back?”
Lian Jing stood before the half-open carved window, the orange-red setting sun casting its light on his side profile.
His serene gaze turned toward her as he spoke, “You didn’t say things you shouldn’t have, right?”
“No. I didn’t say a thing.”
He sat down on the round stool beside the window, picked up a cup of green tea from the table, took a small sip to moisten his throat, and only then said, “Tu Lingxiang, do you want to live?”
“I do! Of course I do!” She stepped closer to him.
Lian Jing turned his face. His entire face was bathed in the glow of the setting sun, so beautiful that she forgot to blink.
She heard him say into her ear, “If you want to live, then help me win this marriage contest.”
“Huh??”
Lian Jing explained slowly, “As long as I become the Miao King’s son-in-law, he won’t kill us.”
The logic made sense, but while the Miao King wouldn’t kill him, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill her.
Lian Jing stared into her eyes and added, “I will protect you.”
“???”
This was definitely the most absurd sentence Tu Lingxiang had ever heard.
A person who spent every day thinking about killing her was actually saying he would protect her.
Utterly absurd.
She didn’t believe it, not one bit.
“But Young Master, as for this marriage contest, you just need to work hard yourself. How can I help you?”
His gaze turned cool as he stared at her, asking back, “Do you really not know?”
“Know what?” As the author, she was completely bewildered by this wild, off-rail plot.
“Young Master, if you have something to say, just say it clearly. I really can’t guess. Whatever you need me to do to help you, I will definitely try my best to help you. But you said you would protect me—you aren’t allowed to go back on your word.”
He set down the teacup in his hand and asked, “When have I ever gone back on my word?”
Tu Lingxiang thought to herself: The times you went back on your word are almost more than the steps I’ve walked.
She said, “That time you said that if I served you well, you would give me a reward. But so much time has passed, and you haven’t given it to me at all.”
“A reward, huh…” He paused for a moment before raising his eyelids to look at her, saying, “But you didn’t serve me well at all.”
“Young Master, you still say you don’t go back on your word! You are clearly going back on your word!” she said crossly, even gathering the courage to say, “Every time I wash your feet, don’t you enjoy it quite a bit?”
Lian Jing glared at her, cold light shooting from those narrow, long eyes—feeling a sense of humiliation at having his secret thoughts exposed.
Tu Lingxiang shrank back in fear at his gaze, thinking he was going to fly into a rage. However, she heard him say, “What reward do you want?”
“Huh?”
She nearly dropped her jaw in shock.
After a long moment, she finally believed she hadn’t misheard—Lian Jing was really going to give her a reward!
Her face beamed with smiles, and after hesitating for a moment, she timidly opened her lips: “Young Master, I… I want… you to help me break the seal on my body.”
After saying that, she immediately explained, “Last night, if you hadn’t arrived in time, I might have been exposed. Me being exposed isn’t important, but what’s important is that you would be exposed as well. If I knew spellcraft, I definitely wouldn’t have let Sang Yun discover me.”
Lian Jing replied without the slightest room for negotiation, “No.”
“Young Master!” Tu Lingxiang ran over and tugged at his long sleeve, not even realizing herself that there was a touch of coquettishness in her gesture.
Lian Jing glanced at her hand, his tone softening as he said, “Pick another one.”
Breaking the seal was absolutely out of the question.
Tu Lingxiang stared at him for a good while, and seeing no movement of sympathy from him, she knew in her heart there was no hope for this. She released her grip and said, “Then Young Master, let me sleep in your bed once.”
Lian Jing raised his long eyelashes, his tone filled with shock.
“What did you say?”
“I said, I’ve had my eye on your bed for a long time!” Every day she could only sleep on the cold, hard wooden floor, and seeing him lying on the bed sleeping soundly filled her with envy, jealousy, and hatred.
Lian Jing’s eyes were filled with astonishment. For some reason, he recalled the dream he had in the underwater palace again—absurd and ambiguous.
He didn’t understand how he could dream of such a scenario. It was utterly impossible for him to fall in love with her—could it be that she had intentionally seduced him into it? Otherwise, why couldn’t he control the urge to kiss her?
His gaze turned a few degrees colder.
“Tu Lingxiang, I advise you not to harbor such thoughts.”
Tu Lingxiang felt an overwhelming surge of anger upon hearing this. Clearly he was the one who said he would reward her, yet now he repeatedly made up all kinds of excuses to shirk it.
“Young Master! You really know how to go back on your word!”
Lian Jing also grew angry and said, “How did I go back on my word? I said I’d give you a reward, but I didn’t say I’d reward myself to you. You wretched girl, you’re truly a toad wishing to eat swan meat—foolish fantasies.”
“Me??” Tu Lingxiang was completely speechless, pointing at herself and asking, “A toad wishing to eat swan meat? What am I eating? Am I eating you?”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, shouting loudly.
“Young Master, although your looks are one in ten thousand and extraordinarily outstanding, that doesn’t mean every woman in the world can’t walk upon seeing you! No matter how useless I, Tu Lingxiang, am, I wouldn’t fall in love with such a… such a…”
Villain. Demon. Pervert.
She didn’t shout out the words at the end—after all, her courage was limited.
Yet Lian Jing refused to let her off, an inscrutable smile swirling in his eyes as he asked, “Such a what?”
She rolled her dark pupils.
“Young Master, in any case, I will absolutely never have any improper thoughts toward you, so set your heart at ease!”
“Set my heart at ease? Heh…” Lian Jing lowered his head and laughed coldly, thinking in his heart: Then why did you barge into my dream?
It had disturbed him so much that he hadn’t dared to close his eyes to sleep for the past two days, terrified he would dream of such scenes again.
Tu Lingxiang added, “What I said just now about sleeping in your bed didn’t mean sleeping with you! Young Master, clearly you overthought it yourself, yet you blame me…”
Narcissist!
Lian Jing’s gloomy eyes swept toward her, grinding his teeth in hatred toward her.
“You coveting this young master’s bed is simply unacceptable.”
“Got it. Rascal…” She said those last three words extremely softly.
Lian Jing had extraordinary hearing and clearly heard her muttering.
He stood up, took a step closer to her, stared at her with eyes suppressing rage, snapped his sleeve, and pointed at the bed inside.
“Go sleep!”
“Ah?”
Tu Lingxiang glanced inside, surprised that he had actually agreed.
“Really? Young Master? I’m really going to sleep?”
A smile suddenly broke across her face. Even a rascal is afraid of others calling him a rascal.
Seeing Lian Jing nod, she immediately rushed over to the side of the bed without being polite at all.
However, after lying down for a moment, she sat back up with a start, shaking her head and saying, “Wait, that’s not right, Young Master. I don’t want to sleep in your bed now—I meant when we go back to Xiaoli Village.”
She already had a guest room to stay in today; sleeping here would be wasting a reward for nothing.
Lian Jing ground his back molars and said word by word, “Sleep. Right. Here.”
“No, no, no, Young Master, we’re still at Guyue Village. It will damage your reputation, and if Miss Sang Yue misunderstands, it won’t be good.”
She nimbly jumped off the bed and smoothed out the bedsheets for him again.
Lian Jing walked over in front of her, pressed her down onto the bed, leaned over, and said, “What are you afraid of? You are my maidservant; everyone knows our relationship crystal clear. Do you think there’s any innocence left between the two of us to speak of?”
Thinking about it carefully, that seemed to make sense.
She asked curiously, “Then aren’t you afraid Miss Sang Yue will misunderstand?”
Sang Yue was his favorite girl; how could he bear to let Sang Yue misunderstand him?
Lian Jing remained silent, his gaze lingering on her face.
“How about I go explain to Miss Sang Yue for you?” She made to stand up as she spoke.
However, Lian Jing grabbed her hand, restraining her on the bed, leaned close to her face, and asked, “Are you afraid of Sang Yue misunderstanding our relationship, or are you afraid of others misunderstanding?”
“???”
Tu Lingxiang blinked her fawn-like eyes in confusion. Others? Who?
Lian Jing narrowed his eyes and asked again, “That Sang Qing just now—why was he following by your side?”
Tu Lingxiang finally understood this time; the “other person” he meant was Sang Qing.
“That… we just bumped into each other on the road.”
His hand stroked her cheek, his voice carrying a threat, “I’m telling you, Tu Lingxiang, you’d better behave yourself and not go around flirting, or beware of coming back reeking of fox scent.”
“Yes, yes, yes, Young Master, I understand.”
Constantly warning me about this and that—isn’t it just because he’s afraid I’ll run away? Honestly, where does Sang Qing have any ‘fox scent’ on him?
She asked about proper business again, “Young Master, when exactly are we going back?”
Staying one more day in this Guyue Village meant one more degree of danger. Right now, Lian Jing hadn’t become the Miao King’s son-in-law yet, so it was very likely that the Miao King would move against them before the third match.
Lian Jing chuckled softly,”Are you that obsessed with my bed? Can’t wait to go back?”
“…”
She simply grabbed his red robe, looked up, and said, “Yes, Young Master, I’m very obsessed! Let’s go back tonight!”
Lian Jing met those eyes of hers that shone like bright stars, and the scene in his dream shimmered before his eyes once again.
In the dream, she had looked at him just like this and said to him.
“Lian Jing, I don’t want you to kiss me!”
Yet the more she cried that she didn’t want it, the more insanely he wanted to kiss her.
His gaze drifted downward, falling onto her lips. Those two petals of lips were brightly colored, glossy, and plump, like premature peaches in spring, with sweet juice eager to spill forth.
“Young Master, say something! Are we going back tonight or not?”
Seeing him lost in thought, Tu Lingxiang asked again.
Lian Jing watched those red lips opening and closing, and said with malicious playfulness.
“Give me a kiss, and we’ll go back.”
