Shen Lixue understood Nangong Xiao's intention: "You pretended to be drunk just now to make it easier to catch the eavesdropper?"
Nangong Xiao nodded and swiftly opened his fan: "That person is very clever. Before I even left the courtyard, she noticed something was amiss and tried to slip away!" He threw the stone quickly, but still failed to hit the person's vitals!
“The Prime Minister’s residence doesn’t have anyone that powerful. The security inside is relatively tight. That person must be a guest at the banquet!” Shen Lixue curled her lips into a cold smile. She had guessed the identity of the eavesdropper.
"Li Xue, you must be careful in everything you do!" Lin Yan solemnly warned. Anyone who could sneak into the Prime Minister's residence to eavesdrop without being discovered was no ordinary person.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful!" Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction where the eavesdropper disappeared. She would investigate the person's identity thoroughly.
Nangong Xiao and Lin Yan were about to reach the door when Ye Qianlong remained standing still. Lin Yan looked at him in confusion: "Isn't Crown Prince Ye going back to the inn?"
"Li Xue, is he going to spend the night here?" Ye Qianlong glanced at Lin Yan but didn't speak. He then turned his gaze to the inner room where Dongfang Heng was and asked in a low voice.
“He is seriously ill and needs to rest. He cannot move for the time being and must stay here!” Ye Qianlong did not mention his name, but Shen Lixue knew that the ‘he’ he was referring to was Dongfang Heng.
"Then I'll go back to the inn!" Ye Qianlong said softly, a hint of anticipation in her clear eyes.
It was getting late, and Shen Lixue was a little tired. She didn't notice Ye Qianlong's unhappiness. When she heard that he was leaving, she said with concern, "Be careful on the road!"
Ye Qianlong's eyes instantly dimmed, and he softly agreed. He slowly turned around and lingered to catch up with Lin Yan and Nangong Xiao, walking together. Occasionally, he would look back at Shen Lixue, his eyes revealing an indescribable sadness.
Shen Lixue's thoughts were focused on the seriously ill Dongfang Heng, and she did not notice Ye Qianlong's sorrow. Standing at the entrance of the bamboo garden, she guessed the identity of the eavesdropper and watched Lin Yan, Nangong Xiao, and Ye Qianlong walk away.
A cold wind blew by, carrying gusts of chilly air. Shen Lixue tightened her clothes and was about to go back to her room to rest when a series of angry shouts came from afar: "Who are you... what are you doing sneaking around here..."
"What happened?" Shen Lixue frowned, looking towards the direction from which the noise was coming from.
A guard hurried over, clasped his hands in a fist and reported, "Your Highness, it was a vegetable farmer who came to deliver vegetables. He accidentally fell asleep while waiting to pay the bill!"
"If the investigation confirms it, let him go back!" With so many guests at the banquet and the kitchen so busy, it's entirely possible that they forgot to settle the bill with the vegetable farmer.
"Yes!" The guards accepted the order and left. After a few moments of questioning, the guards left with torches and continued to patrol the Prime Minister's residence. The vegetable farmer, 'escorted' by two guards, picked up two large baskets and quickly ran towards the back gate of the Prime Minister's residence.
The baskets were empty, with nothing in them. The vegetable farmer, dressed in loose clothes, carried two empty baskets, and his tall figure was still somewhat hunched and unsteady as he walked.
Shen Lixue's gaze sharpened, her eyebrows slightly raised. Why did that vegetable farmer's figure look a bit like Mu Zhengnan?
"Miss, it's late, be careful not to catch a cold." Qiu He quickly came to the door and draped a coat over Shen Lixue with concern.
Shen Lixue agreed, and when she looked up again, the vegetable farmer had already turned the corner and disappeared.
He walks very fast!
Shen Lixue frowned and turned to walk into the room: "Qiuhe, give the order that no one is allowed to enter the inner room without my permission!" Dongfang Heng is recuperating and should not be disturbed.
"Yes!" Qiu He replied respectfully and quickly relayed her orders.
After taking the medicine and receiving acupuncture, Dongfang Heng's complexion improved slightly. He lay in bed in a deep sleep, breathing evenly.
Shen Lixue stood by the bed, checked his forehead temperature, and, confirming he didn't have a fever, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She carefully pulled up the thin blanket for him, lowered the bed curtains, took out a silk quilt from the cabinet, and lay down on the soft couch by the window.
A night breeze blew into the room through the half-open window. Shen Lixue closed her eyes and thought about things, and unconsciously her consciousness gradually faded away.
In a hazy state, the faint scent of pine resin lingered around her nose. Her small waist was tightly held, her face pressed against the silk clothing, and warm breath sprayed onto her hair. Shen Lixue opened her eyes and, sure enough, saw Dongfang Heng's naked chest.
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow. Just like before, as soon as he woke up, he would run to where she was sleeping.
"You're awake!" A deep, magnetic voice sounded above her head. Shen Lixue nodded, sat up, and gently rubbed her still-drowsy forehead. "When did you wake up?"
"Just now!" Dongfang Heng sat up as well, his strong arms pulling Shen Lixue tightly into his embrace: "Why don't you go to bed?"
He had confessed his feelings to her yesterday, and she did not reject him. He thought their relationship would take another step forward, but when he woke up, he still saw her sleeping on the soft couch.
“Your illness has flared up, you need to rest well. That small bed isn’t very big, I’m afraid it will make you feel cramped!” Faced with Dongfang Heng’s intimacy, Shen Lixue felt a little awkward, subtly pushing him away with her arms, trying to create some distance: “Are you hungry? Do you want to have breakfast?”
"It's still early, no rush to eat!" The small body in his arms was soft and boneless, extremely comfortable to hold. A faint, elegant fragrance wafted through the air, a delicate virgin scent lingering in his nostrils. Dongfang Heng was somewhat infatuated and couldn't help but slowly lower his head, his sexy thin lips gently moving towards Shen Lixue's cherry-red and alluring lips. He had longed for that sacred place for a long time.
As Dongfang Heng's handsome face drew closer to Shen Lixue, looking into his eyes with tenderness and doting affection, Shen Lixue recalled that every time he escorted her back to the Prime Minister's residence, he looked at her with the same gaze...
His warm breath sprayed on her cheek, and Dongfang Heng's sexy thin lips were so close that he was about to kiss her lips. Shen Lixue panicked for no reason, turned her head, and Dongfang Heng's lips landed on her cheek.
"What's wrong with you?" Dongfang Heng's hazy gaze instantly cleared, and there was no blame in his deep eyes, only doubt and confusion. She had already accepted him, so why was she still rejecting him?
"We're not married yet, it's too intimate for us!" Shen Lixue made up a reason to cover up her panic.
In her previous life, she had always been single and had never been in a relationship. She had only been in Qingyan for two months when Dongfang Heng suddenly confessed his feelings to her. She didn't know how men and women should interact in a relationship, and she couldn't get used to Dongfang Heng's intimacy.
“We are engaged, there’s nothing wrong with being intimate!” Dongfang Heng thought of Shen Lixue, who was a well-educated and virtuous young lady from a prestigious family, and who was raised by her mother, Lin Qingzhu. He was sure she would abide by etiquette and keep her distance from men before marriage. He sighed inwardly, but did not insist any further.
"Can you give me some time to adjust?" Shen Lixue's love life has always been a blank. She can kill villains and fight bad guys with ease, but when it comes to falling in love, she needs to adapt step by step. She can't adapt to a sudden, intense romance.
"I won't force you!" Dongfang Heng held Shen Lixue tightly, comforting her softly, but in his heart he was thinking about how to quickly find a way to make her get used to his closeness and stop resisting...
"Thank you!" Dongfang Heng hugged her tightly. Shen Lixue struggled a few times, but his embrace didn't budge. Shen Lixue frowned as she looked at him. He was an ancient man, and his thinking should be as feudal as Zhou Wenxuan's, adhering to etiquette every day. How could he hug and cuddle all the time, more open than her, a modern person?
"Between you and me, there's no need for thanks!" Dongfang Heng said softly, and a light kiss quickly landed on Shen Lixue's forehead, which she couldn't avoid even if she wanted to.
"It's a bit hot, I want to take a shower, let go of me first!" To prevent Dongfang Heng from doing anything else unusual, Shen Lixue prepared to create some distance first.
"Didn't you just take a shower last night?" Dongfang Heng raised an eyebrow, not only not letting go of her arms, but hugging her even tighter.
"How did you know?" Shen Lixue stopped struggling, looked at Dongfang Heng, and narrowed her snowy eyes slightly.
“You have the scent of lotus on you. I remember you liked this scent the most when you bathed!” Dongfang Heng explained, resting his chin lightly on Shen Lixue’s shoulder. His dark eyes gleamed with a hint of darkness. He wouldn’t tell her that he had been lucid since his illness flared up. Only after she had bathed and fallen asleep did he lie down on the soft couch and hold her as they slept.
Snow Garden
Shen Yingxue sat before her dressing table, gazing at her reflection with self-admiration. The beauty in the mirror had eyes brimming with tender affection, her face exquisitely beautiful, her gaze captivating. Her long, ink-black hair cascaded down like a waterfall, loosely tied into a simple bun, exuding a refined and natural beauty. Her gentle smile was like a spring flower in bloom, breathtakingly beautiful. No man could resist such beauty, except for him…