To Xue Lingjun's surprise, Hu Xiaotian neither dodged nor ducked, letting her splash the entire half-cup of wine into his face. There was not much of it, really. This fellow always did the unexpected. The anger he had stirred in her vanished like smoke, and not only that-she even felt a little in the wrong. She had laid the trap first, only for Hu Xiaotian to see through it and successfully provoke her. He had taken complete control of the situation. In their first clash since their reunion, Xue Lingjun had come off decidedly worse.
Even after being splashed, Hu Xiaotian kept grinning, as though someone else had been doused. He stuck out his tongue to lick the wine from the corner of his mouth, smacked his lips, and said, "Fragrant. Very fragrant indeed!"
Watching him, Xue Lingjun was genuinely puzzled. He behaved like a seasoned veteran of romantic affairs, yet back in the Yong Capital, she had sent her personal maid Jian Ping to test him, even having her bathe him herself. Jian Ping had sworn that Hu Xiaotian was a genuine eunuch, without so much as a manhood. Later, however, news from Great Kang claimed he was a false eunuch. Then he had even become engaged to Princess Yongyang, making him Great Kang's future imperial son-in-law. That had truly aroused Xue Lingjun's suspicions. Surely the Old Emperor would not marry his own granddaughter to a eunuch. Could he bear to push her into a pit of fire with his own hands? But who could fathom matters of politics? When their own interests were at stake, what monarch truly cared about family bonds?
Her smile blossoming like a flower, Xue Lingjun said, "Not a single word out of your mouth is true." As she spoke, she picked up the