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A black jade seal was stuffed into Zhu Bafu's palm. She lowered her eyes and saw that it was a seal for each of the six ministries. The vermilion word "work" hung on the mark.

"Why don't you believe me for a while?"

"..."

"I will be a good emperor and restore justice to the Zhu Household."

"..."

This was an immense temptation. Why had she and Xiaojiu struggled to make a living? Why had she entered the Dongxu Mansion in the first place? Zhu Bafu's lips trembled as he looked up, about to answer, when he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.

"... What are you doing?"

Li Chenjing stood pale-faced by the door, a thin layer of sweat beading on his forehead, his hair disheveled and draped over his shoulders. He was panting heavily, clearly having run all the way here. The hand he raised to wipe away the sweat gradually clenched into a fist as he looked at the scene before him. His eyes, dangerously hidden behind his hair, seemed to be about to shoot out icy arrows at the two people entwined in ambiguity in front of him.

"What... are you doing?"

"... Young Master? What brings you here?" Zhu Bafu was stunned. She wanted to walk to his side, but when she looked down, she realized that she was kneeling on His Your Majesty's lap inappropriately. His Your Majesty was holding her hand on his chest with one hand, while his other hand was lightly resting on her waist.

The whole scene looked like—she and His Your Majesty...

"Young Master, you've misunderstood. His Your Majesty and I... His Your Majesty and I were..."

"Just chatting." His Your Majesty interrupted her, seemingly in perfect sync, "Look, we haven't even taken our clothes off. Right?"

"Your Majesty!" Don't make things worse by trying to explain.

"Alright, alright. I won't say. You explain."

"What do you mean by explanation? We didn't do anything."

"Please, you Pig Kid, be more careful! What kind of day would you be sitting on my lap?"

"You! You! It was Your Majesty who forced me to sit here!"

"And you didn't resist, did you? You sat and chatted for quite a while, didn't you?"

"... you!"

"So emphasizing that he didn't take off his clothes is more convincing." Turning his head, he raised his two unruly hands and grinned at Li Chenjing by the door. Unsurprisingly, he noticed that Li Chenjing's fists under his Wide Sleeves were clenching tighter and tighter, his knuckles turning from red to white, and his veins bulging.

"Xiaojing, I swear I have never done anything to betray you."

"Your Majesty! What do you mean?!" Does this mean that their current ambiguous relationship is solely her fault? She hurriedly jumped off His Your Majesty, turning to look at the door. "Young Master, let me explain... Wow!"

Before she could utter her explanation, and before she could even climb down from His Your Majesty's lap, she felt a dark shadow suddenly loom behind her. Turning her head slightly, she caught a glimpse of the Young Master's gloomy face. The next instant, the world spun around her, and she was lifted up like a chick by a large hand and hung on the man's shoulder.

"Young... Young Master, what are you doing! Put me down!"

She angrily kicked her legs in protest, but the Young Master seemed not to hear her and remained silent, carrying her out of the teahouse.

"Young Master, please put me down! How can you carry a grown man like me like this...?"

"... Young Master, Young..."

"Shut up." The Young Master paused slightly, glancing sideways. He spoke to her, but his icy gaze was fixed on His Your Majesty, who sat calmly with his legs crossed to the side. "Otherwise, I have plenty of unseemly ways to silence you."

"..."

The door was kicked open with a bang and then slammed shut with a thud.

His Imperial Noble Consort at his feet meowed in fright. He chuckled and pulled Imperial Noble Consort back onto his lap. "So this is how Xiaojing acts when he's jealous. I've never seen that before, have I?"

"Meow--"

"I really wish Rongrong could see this too, but she probably has never seen it before either."

Prime Minister's Residence

In broad daylight, the Prime Minister's Young Master openly carried a struggling and writhing scholar into his room.

He slammed his foot on his bedroom door and quickly locked it.

I walked to the bedside.

He roughly tossed the young master from his shoulder onto the Bed, haphazardly pulled down the bed curtains, and forcefully ripped open the embroidered collar of his robe. His intentions were obvious.

The Jade Belt around his waist fell to his feet, the jade crown rolled off the Bed, and a cascade of long, black hair flowed down, a strand biting into his lips. He looked down at Zhu Bafu, who was struggling to get up from the Bed.

"Young Master, stop fooling around, please let me down."

Seeing that she was trying to slip away from his arms, he remained silent, grabbed her leg, and pulled her down to him. Then, he knelt on one knee on the edge of the bed, leaned forward, and held her firmly by her sides, his entire body enveloping her. He lowered his head and looked up into her eyes.

Staring at him with eyes that couldn't discern his emotions but were filled with ulterior motives, Zhu Bafu felt a chill run down his spine. He looked away and cautiously clenched his hands and feet, not daring to touch him.

"From now on, I'm going to hold Little Eight." He gently stroked her earlobe with his moist lips, his dark eyes narrowing as he glanced at the trembling of her shoulders. He chuckled softly, "Even if you cry and say no, that you hate me, that I'm disgusting, I won't stop."

"..."

"Will you take it off yourself, or will I take it off for you?"

"..." The explicit words made Zhu Bafu's eyes widen.

Seeing that she hadn't moved for a while, he blinked and a cool smile appeared on his lips. "It seems that Little Eight prefers me to do the work."

His fingertips lightly touched her sash, but his tenderness was limited. The next moment, he roughly tore off the collar of her Confucian Robe, opened his lips and bit her fair, bare shoulder, his teeth sinking into her tender flesh, as if venting his frustration.