Chapter 104
Chapter 104
After dismissing Rong Li, only Shengsheng Zhou and Siran Ming remained in the room.
Siran walked up to the expressionless Shengsheng and said softly, “I was wrong.”
Shengsheng tugged at the corner of her mouth and asked coldly, “What did you do wrong?”
He confessed honestly, “I shouldn’t have sent Rong Li to watch you. I only missed you too much, Shengsheng. Whenever I had free time, I couldn’t stop wondering what you might be doing.”
His once-bright eyes dimmed, and Siran’s voice dropped.
Shengsheng patted his dog head. “Don’t do it again. I don’t like it.”
What a joke. The feeling that even using the privy might be written down was far too terrifying.
Siran nodded. “I understand.”
He had bent obediently to let her pat him, bringing their faces extremely close.
Shengsheng could even count Siran’s eyelashes clearly.
And she truly did.
Damn it! How could a man’s lashes be longer than hers?
Siran leaned back when her finger nearly poked his eye, only for Shengsheng to catch his chin.
“Don’t move,” she ordered.
Then she continued counting his eyelashes with her finger.
Siran gazed at the person inches away, especially those red lips opening and closing before him.
His eyes darkened. He had promised never to do anything she disliked, but Siran was no saint.
With the person he yearned for tempting him so closely, how could he restrain himself? He caught Shengsheng’s finger, bent down, and moved to kiss those red lips.
Then something smashed him on the head…
Clutching his aching head, Siran could not react for a moment.
Shengsheng cried out in delight, “Pecky! My darling!”
No, surely her darling Siran Ming ought to be more important?
Tears of pain filling his eyes, Siran glared bitterly at the shit-yellow bird that had flown into Shengsheng’s hand.
Damned bird. You again.
Pecky glanced at him with disdain, then Shengsheng seized the bird and began kissing him wildly.
How Siran read the mingled disdain and mockery known as “contempt” in a bird’s tiny black eyes was anyone’s guess.
“Shengsheng, it hurts,” Siran said plaintively. His normally sharp eyes brimmed with unshed tears, making him look terribly pitiful.
Shengsheng’s heart softened again.
“See? Don’t try that again. Our captain of the vice squad caught you red-handed.”
Shengsheng tenderly examined the pecked spot while using her other hand to stroke the bird.
Fusheng Duan, newly awarded the title Captain of the Vice Squad, fell silent.
“Oh no, Little Ming!” Shengsheng’s horrified scream rang beside his ear.
It made Siran panic too. “What is it?”
“You’ve entered a second growth spurt! Another head is growing on your head!”
*Help, I shouldn’t laugh, hahahahaha, but honk honk honk–how did anyone grow a bump that huge? Hahahahaha!*
Shengsheng’s wild laughter reverberated through both their minds.
Siran’s external head injury instantly became internal emotional trauma.
Fusheng merely stamped his claws on Shengsheng’s shoulder.
Please, restrain your divine power.
—–
“Dailuan still refuses to eat?” Yan Yu paced anxiously across the hall.
The servant kneeling below said respectfully, “My lord, this subordinate has tried many methods, but it refuses every bite. At this rate, the Dailuan bird will die young…”
Yan Yu waved irritably for him to leave.
Before withdrawing, the man suggested, “Dailuan is closest to that person. Perhaps…”
Yan Yu thought that was their only option.
“Do it.”
Dailuan could not die. The three divine birds symbolizing sanctity were indispensable to the revival of the Qing Kingdom.
The thought made her even more irritable.
“That damned Jiang family! Once the weather turns cold, hurry up and exterminate their nine clans for this dowager!” Yan Yu snapped.
The man acknowledged the order, then withdrew.
—–
Things at the Jiang family were nearly settled. Every procedure was unfolding methodically, leaving little for Shengsheng Zhou to worry about.
All that remained was to wait for news of the Jiang family’s treason and defection to spread, for panic to seize the household, for Madam Jiang to faint, and for Zhiyu Jiang to step forward and take control, just as the plot required.
But that was still some time away.
Shengsheng now had something more important to do.
Did you think the plot could distract her enough to forget that kick from that dog Xunlan Liu?
Your daddy’s coming, Xunlan Liu. Get ready for my brilliant plan.
Wait. Before that, a new problem appeared.
“Your Highness, what are you doing?”
Staring at the huge tub steaming before her, Shengsheng’s mouth twitched as she looked at the man beside it.
Instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, he had materialized from nowhere just as she was preparing to explore the palace.
Even more bizarrely, the bathing tub in her room was filled with hot water!
*Let’s be clear: a lovers’ bath is absolutely impossible!*
Shengsheng clutched her collar tightly.
Fusheng Duan folded his arms and said without a trace of suggestion, “Go bathe. You reek of dog.”
Shengsheng fell silent.
Still…
Was this the special understanding shared by people who had kissed?
She instantly understood that Fusheng’s “dog” meant Siran Ming…
She sniffed herself but smelled nothing.
First Zhiyu, now Fusheng–how were all their noses so unnaturally sharp?
Not wanting to delay her plan, Shengsheng saved whatever time she could and truly went to bathe.
Fusheng sat in the outer room, absently turning a hairpin he had swiped from parts unknown between his fingers.
Heather blossoms were carved upon it.
When Shengsheng emerged trailing steam, he sat in a chair with his head lowered, lost in thought, her hairpin still in his hand.
“Your Highness… this servant is finished,” Shengsheng said.
Fusheng did not look at her. “Come here,” he said softly.
After thinking for several seconds, Shengsheng slowly shuffled over.
As expected, he caught her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
“Your Highness…” Shengsheng started to move.
Then she remembered the scenes in Weiqing Song’s storybook where the hero bit the heroine’s ear and asked hoarsely, “Are you doing that on purpose?” before the two of them tumbled into bed. Shengsheng immediately sat perfectly still.
Fusheng took the towel from her hand, draped it over her head, and carefully dried the water dripping from her hair.
Shengsheng remained silent for a long while. When he pulled her hair painfully yet again, she said, “Your Highness… let this servant do it herself.”
As expected of the pampered Fusheng. Aside from braiding hair, he had no business attempting a servant’s task like drying it.
Apparently realizing his own lack of skill, Fusheng pressed his lips together.
Sensing his embarrassment, Shengsheng wanted to laugh.
It was rare indeed to see Fusheng Duan thwarted.