Chapter 18

A crisp sound of falling into the water.

A miserable sound of bubbling.

Cool water poured into her mouth and nose, choking her severely. Waterweeds drifted all around, and she kicked hard to swim toward the surface, only to look back and see Li Chenjing slowly sinking. His long hair flowed and tangled among the waterweeds, and he looked like a sleeping sickly beauty with a pale complexion and no trace of color. He was not joking; he really did not know how to swim at all, and he had just jumped down along with her so recklessly.

Gathering the very last breath of air in her mouth, she really could not bear to leave him behind to escape alone. If he kicked the bucket, wouldn't she have ghost dreams every night hereafter, with waterweeds spreading and a man dragging her feet by his hair, and all sorts of terrifying things? For the sake of her future peace, she turned around and swam back toward the bottom of the water.

He seemed to have swallowed a fair amount of river water, and in his daze, he opened his eyes to see her swimming hard toward him.

Bub-bub-bub-bub. Her mouth bubbled as she tried to pull him close, yet found herself unable to exert any strength. Fortunately, the buoyancy in the water outweighed everything else, so she swung her arms wide and hugged his waist. He coughed out bubbles in agony, struggling incessantly in the water, but she refused to let go, hugging him tighter and tighter as if to repay the grace of him protecting her earlier.

Don't move around! She furrowed her brows to glare at him, reproaching him with her gaze.

She wanted to swim upward, but the waterweeds snared his long hair, as though determined to keep this beauty at the bottom of the water. She flew into a rage, opening her mouth to bite through those broken grass roots. That desperate, life-risking appearance made him laugh out loud, though who knew that this laugh would cause him to choke on water instead, draining away much of the air in his lung lobes. His hand tightened as he tried to grasp her shoulder, haphazardly brushing against her upper body.

Huh? Bub-bub-bub-bub! She shoved him away abruptly and shielded her chest. Would he not discover it? If he discovered that she was a woman... what would she do then? Dressing as a man to sneak into Dongxu Mansion and deceiving the sovereign was a crime punishable by the extermination of all nine familial relations.

Before she had time to realize whether her identity had been exposed, she lost the strength of her support and he lost his balance, sinking downward. She had no choice but to fish him up again and lock eyes with him.

His complexion was deathly white, his thin lips coughed out tiny bubbles, his chest heaved violently, and his eyelashes fluttered lightly with a hazy gaze that was gradually about to close.

Terrible! He could not hold on any longer; she had to impart some breath to him immediately!

Cupping the head of the frail person whose breath was weak, a trace of mild warmth spread near her lips. Disregarding everything, she was about to press forward to contribute the air in her lung lobes to him. Before her thin lips could succeed in descending, faster than speech, a malicious, strong-sleeved, dark-robed giant hand suddenly flew from above, blocking horizontally in front of her pouted lips and ruthlessly flicking her with a backhand strike.

Ouch! Why did he smack her mouth?! And he even used profound internal energy! It hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt! Her mouth went numb and her hands loosened, instantly pulling the dying beauty away from her sphere of influence. The newcomer firmly guarded the beauty in his arms, not even sparing her a glance as he brushed past her with cold eyes, turning around to charge toward the river surface against the clock.

Clutching her numb and aching lips, Zhu Bafu guiltily turned around to follow and climbed toward the water surface. Breaking out of the water with a single thrust, she gulped down a huge mouthful of air, her lung lobes throbbing with satisfying pain. Steadying herself, she anxiously searched all around for the young master's figure.

She only saw that on the bank, the young master with disheveled long hair was leaning and sitting against the chest of a man in black. The man supported the young master's upright body, using one hand to stroke his spine while using the other to press down on the water he had swallowed into his belly. Several guards knelt beside him, all wearing anxious expressions.

"Lord Wei, is the young master all right?"

"Lord Wei, why have you hurried back overnight?"

"Lord Wei, have the matters of the Ministry of Punishments entrusted by the Holy Emperor been settled already? Did you not forget to bring some cat food along for the Holy Emperor by the way?"

"Is this how you protect the young master when I am not around?" A chilling, stern gaze swept across the crowd of people before him. "Bring my fur robe and drape it over the young master!"

"Yes!" A black fur robe was wrapped around Li Chenjing's body.

"What on earth is going on? How did the young master accidentally fall into the water?" Seeing that the young master had coughed up a few mouthfuls of river water and recovered his breath, he grew slightly more at ease, then cast a sideways glance at Zhu Bafu, who had just crawled out of the river. "Who is he, and why is he with the young master?"

"He..." Several guards exchanged glances, none willing to speak first. They pushed this one and nudged that one until the last unlucky fellow had no choice but to speak weakly. "He was brought back by the young master... as a new lover."

Busy probing her lips, which had been numbed by internal energy, the innocently named Zhu Bafu froze, meeting the piercing, probing gaze of the dark-clad, strong-attired man.

"Is that what the young master said?" That Lord Wei asked the subordinate behind him while sizing up the wet young master before him.

"It was precisely because the young master brought him to show the master that it sent the master into a towering rage, otherwise why else would he have let loose the dogs to bite people overnight? Now that you are back, it is all for the better, and the few of us brothers can properly teach that sissy boy who seduced the young master a lesson!"

Lord Wei did not speak, carefully handing the young master in his arms over to the subordinate behind him before finally standing up and pacing toward the wretchedly disheveled Zhu Bafu.

"Hey, hey, hey! Just now in the water, I thought of him that way solely to save your young master, and I didn't mean anything else at all! Furthermore, I hadn't even touched him yet, and your young master didn't suffer any loss either, so don't use your internal energy to smack me again!"

"..." He remained silent, stepping forward step by step in his black leather boots.

"Don't you come over here! Even if I had any messy thoughts, it would still just be an attempted offense, and there is still state law in this world. If you dare to hit me again, no matter what official you are, I will report you to the yamen!" Her mouth was swollen, numb, itchy, and painful. Ugh! To use such profound internal energy against a rookie like her, just how much did he hate her?!

"..."

"Hey, don't you come any closer! If your young master and I really did that... then it was also out of mutual consent! If you beat me, I—I'll file a complaint! I'll have him give you fifty heavy beatings, a hundred heavy beatings, and a hundred and first heavy beating!"

Ranking List

|

Historical Romance

Woman Dressed as a Man