Why Did He Keep Feeling Her Up?

At his words, Su Luoqian steadied herself and rose to pour Lu Jingsi some wine, looking as though she wanted to seize the chance to ask for a proper status.

Lu Jingsi took the cup she offered with his long fingers, then covered the small of her back with his broad palm, rubbing it with varying pressure.

But the moment he moved, Su Luoqian went limp in his arms.

He lowered his eyes and she dipped her head, their gazes meeting directly.

With her back to Lin Yonghong, Su Luoqian frowned slightly and glared at him.

No one knew that the spot on her lower back was her most sensitive weak point. The slightest knead from his palm sent a jolt through her whole body.

It was one thing for him to hold her there, but why did he keep feeling her up?

He was nothing but a lecherous rogue.

Su Luoqian secretly pressed her fingertips into his brocade robe, but the muscles of the man's arm beneath the fabric were so firm that she couldn't pinch him.

She could only move her hand down and try to push away the hand across her waist.

Noticing her little movements, Lu Jingsi raised a brow. He simply gripped her waist and lifted her onto his lap, smiling like a debonair rake as though he were seriously considering Lin Yonghong's words.

"Whether I take her into my residence depends on what this little beauty can do."

As soon as he finished, Lin Yonghong laughed in tacit understanding and "kindly" offered Su Luoqian a few pointers. "Did you hear that? Serve Young Master Lu well, and boundless wealth and honor will be waiting for you."

Still held on Lu Jingsi's lap, Su Luoqian turned sideways and gave Lin Yonghong half a curtsy. "Thank you for the advice, Young Master Lin."

At that point in the conversation, Lu Jingsi picked up his cup and gently rubbed its side with his long fingers. With a hint of deeper meaning, he said, "I hear you have a great many interesting things here, Brother Lin. Could you introduce me to a few?"

At that, Lin Yonghong's hand around the beauty beside him seemed to pause. Then he smiled. "Last time, my men acted far too rashly and spoiled your pleasure, Brother Lu."

After Lu Jingsi and his party left that day, Lin Yonghong had gone to the room in the east wing.

Faint traces of the aphrodisiac incense still lingered in the room, and the bedding was in disarray. The jade phallus that had been by the head of the bed had been snapped in two and hadn't been used at all.

Thinking of this, Lin Yonghong went on, "For things like that, Brother Lu, you've certainly come to the right person."

"I have plenty of fine things to heighten the pleasure." He smiled frivolously. "Consider it my apology for that day, Brother Lu. I'll show you later."

When he had come here last time, Lu Jingsi had already suspected that there was a secret chamber in Lin Yonghong's estate. Now that Lin Yonghong had agreed, it counted as something of a breakthrough.

After lunch.

Lin Yonghong waved aside the beauties beside him and led Lu Jingsi around the main hall, past the rockery and flowing water in the courtyard, and farther inside until they reached a room.

Once the door was opened, the furnishings inside were no different from those in the eastern room earlier.

Lin Yonghong stopped in front of a lacquered wooden display shelf and reached up to give an inconspicuous ornament on it a gentle turn.

The shelf made a faint sound and opened to the side.

A secret chamber lay within.

Lin Yonghong looked at Lu Jingsi and smiled. "Brother Lu, there are plenty of fine things inside. Just tell me if anything catches your eye."

He glanced at Su Luoqian a few times. "If you want to do it right here, Brother Lu, you can set your mind at ease. Someone comes to clean it every day."

Lu Jingsi sneered inwardly, though nothing showed on his face. He nodded. "In that case, thank you, Brother Lin."

With that, he wrapped an arm around Su Luoqian's slender waist and took her into the secret chamber with him.

Lin Yonghong smiled smugly, believing he had won Lu Jingsi over by doing this. As he walked out, he remarked, "Men, after all, only care about those few things."

Candles burned in the secret chamber, and there were even several luminous pearls to light it, making it seem all the more spacious and bright.

A black-lacquered luohan bed stood in the center, with a daybed against the wall on the left. Besides those, there were several pearwood chairs of peculiar designs. Even the placement and angles of the bronze mirrors looked strange.

Strong incense burned in the room. Lu Jingsi's nostrils twitched, and his expression changed. He swiftly took two brown pills from his sleeve.

He swallowed one himself.

Gripping Su Luoqian's delicate chin with his long fingers, he forced her mouth open and fed her the other pill.

"There's something wrong with the incense."

Caught off guard by his grip, Su Luoqian was about to speak when she heard him. She immediately shut her mouth, tipped back her head, and swallowed the pill whole.

The objects on the antique display shelf in the room came in all manner of strange shapes.

She walked slowly forward, her almond-shaped eyes wide as she stared at the oddly shaped things for a long time.

"What are these things for?"

She asked softly, reaching out to pick one up as she spoke.

Lu Jingsi abruptly caught her hand. "Don't touch anything in this room carelessly. They're unclean."

Su Luoqian didn't understand what he meant by "unclean," but instinctively thought of Peilan's death.

Her heart sank, and her voice grew serious. "Could this be where he killed her?"

The antique shelf was meant to display jade objects and curios, but everything on it now was intended to add spice to bedroom affairs.

Jade phalluses, silver supports, lovesickness sheaths, hanging jade rings...

Lu Jingsi swept his gaze over them, his contempt and scorn for Lin Yonghong deepening.

Hearing Su Luoqian's question, he shook his head. "It's not very likely."

Even though Lin Yonghong himself had said someone cleaned the room every day, servants were bound to make mistakes.

If he really had killed her here, he probably wouldn't have let them know about it and come in so readily.

His gaze shifted, and he spotted an ordinary-looking wooden chest at the very bottom of the display shelf. It was medium-sized, with a lock on the outside.

Lu Jingsi held the lock through a white handkerchief and examined it closely.

He could have broken the lock by force, but if he couldn't restore it to its original state, Lin Yonghong would surely grow suspicious.

While he hesitated, Su Luoqian crouched down beside him. "Do you need to open the lock?"

As soon as she spoke, she heard Lu Jingsi answer, "The key should be on Lin Yonghong."

Su Luoqian casually removed the hairpin Zelan had put in her hair before she left that morning. "There's no need for a key. I can open it with this."

Lu Jingsi looked at her from the corner of his eye, his expression unreadable.

Still crouching, Su Luoqian shuffled a few steps until her arm was against his, then slipped the hairpin into the keyhole.

The man's gaze was almost tangible as it rested squarely on her face.

Su Luoqian kept working with her hands and gave a light cough. "I had a sweet tooth when I was little, and even after I got cavities, I still couldn't stop thinking about candied fruit. My mother locked the cabinet where she kept it, so I used one of her hairpins and fiddled with the lock until it opened."

From then on, she had acquired the skill of picking locks.

But she couldn't open locks with overly complicated keyholes.

Hearing her words, Lu Jingsi's already dark gaze grew deeper. He was just about to speak when—

Click.

Su Luoqian looked up at him in delight. "It's open."