Chu Xinian turned around and pressed the other under his body again, preventing Xie Jingyuan from moving. The curtains weren’t, but any gust of wind could still lift it. It would be amusing for the other party to spin around and accidentally hit them.
“General is so troublesome. Do you want me to do something?” He looked at Xie Jingyuan up and down, showing his venomous nature for the first time.
There was only a thin blanket between the two of them. The scorching heat from their breaths intermingled, seemingly able to melt them. It made no difference to Chu Xinian whether the person below him was male or female, but that didn’t mean Xie Jingyuan was indifferent as well.
Finding out that maybe Chu Xinian wasn’t thinking about having sex, Xie Jingyuan shook off the tension he was holding up a moment ago. He looked at Chu Xinian’s face and smiled slyly, “Are you sure you want to do something?”
His fingertips rested on the edge of the mask, lightly tapping it, as if he was a bit worried, thinking whether he should scare Chu Xinian. However, before he could make a decision, he heard the person above him whisper, “Don’t worry, I won’t touch you.”
Chu Xinian’s tone was serious and seemed earnest. He was not interested in matters between men, and he rested one hand on Xie Jingyuan’s side as he slowly groped the bed with the other, as if examining something.
Entering the mansion today pretending to be harmless to humans and animals, Xie Jingyuan thought he was a rich son who knew nothing of the world. Looking at him now, Chu Xinian can even fool that slave dog of Nanny Ge. He was just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Xie Jingyuan whispered meaningfully, “Chu Xinian, I underestimated you…”
He pulled another dagger out of nowhere. The sharp blade was in front of Chu Xinian’s throat, it moved smoothly over the surface of the skin and slowly moved towards the heart. At the slightest advance, blood would spill out on the spot.
As soon as Chu Xinian took his hand, the tip of the dagger also stopped. He looked at Xie Jingyuan and found that he was smiling.
“It’s not too late for the General to find out.”
With those words, Chu Xinian took the dagger out of his hand and threw it to the floor with a clatter. And he continued to examine the bed, never taking his eyes off every nook and cranny.
The more Xie Jingyuan looked at him, the more he felt that he looked like a spy, and offered “politely”, “What are you looking for, how about this General help you?”
Chu Xinian smiled, “No need, you won’t be able to find it.”
If Xie Jingyuan could find it, would he still be poisoned?
Chu Xinian wasn’t looking down on Xie Jingyuan.
Xie Jingyuan’s expression froze when he heard those words, and the smile on the corner of his mouth gradually faded. What did Chu Xinnian mean by this?
Chu Xinian checked every corner of the bed and found no problems. The large carved bed had exquisite workmanship and exuded the unique fragrance of wood, nothing out of the ordinary.
He couldn’t help but frown and ponder, where exactly had the poison been placed?
At that moment, through the curtains, Nanny Ge’s voice suddenly sounded from outside, “Lords, it’s getting late, it’s time for this maid to return to the Palace.”
An hour had already passed, so it was almost time to finish, and there was no point in staying any longer.
Xie Jingyuan was reluctant to do so and felt that letting this slave dog leave in one piece would defeat his prestige. Chu Xinian had been waiting for her to leave for some time, so he nodded slightly, “You may go.”
Nanny Ge stood outside, bent her knees, and bowed. But as she was about to leave, she stared at the blurry figures inside hesitantly. Gritting her teeth, she slammed up the curtains, rushed inside, and knelt, “Do you need water to be prepared for Young Master and General?”
As she said this, her shrewd eyes stared at the bed. Chu Xinian lay on Xie Jingyuan’s neck, panting, with a large red quilt over their bodies, but it was easy to see from the bare shoulders that they were wearing no clothes.
Xie Jingyuan cocked his head, unable to see her expression. Chu Xinian looked up after hearing her voice and looked lazily at Nanny Ge. His chest was rising and falling, and his voice satisfied and hoarse with lust, but those light-colored eyes made people dare not look directly, “Who let you in?”
His long dark hair was spread over his shoulders, and his face was so beautiful that he looked like an exiled immortal. It’s just that the scene in front had nothing to do with the word “immortal”, it was just ambiguous.
Nanny Ge hurriedly bowed, “This old slave forgot the rules for a moment, please punish me.”
She was a slave who was not afraid of death.
Xie Jingyuan lay under Chu Xinian’s body and said fiercely, “Gouge her eyes out for me!”
Chu Xinian covered his mouth and indicated to keep quiet so as not to make a claim. He looked at Nanny Ge lightly, “Leave your people and go get thirty floggings. If you dare to talk nonsense, I will inform Her Excellency.”
Nanny Ge hastened to reply and withdrew. With the sound of the door opening and closing, the inner room was completely silent.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The two people on the bed remained motionless.
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But Chu Xinian reached out and took the jade pendant around his neck, “This jade…”
Xie Jingyuan seems to have reacted to something abruptly, one hand grabbed the jade pendant around his neck, and with the other hand pushed Chu Xinian out of his body. However, this hurried push caused his mask to suddenly drop, revealing the other half of his face. Their gazes clashed against each other, and the air suddenly fell silent.
“…”
There were rumors that Xie Jingyuan’s face had been disfigured, but no one knew exactly how. Now at last the face was revealed.
Under the light of the candle flame, the other half of his face was covered with crisscrossed scars. Long, short, too many to count. They climbed up the skin, enough to ruin a dazzling young man beyond human recognition.
One half was in the sky, the other half was on the ground.
Chu Xinian did not speak.
Xie Jingyuan stared at him, and when he saw that he did not move, he thought he was scared to death. He slowly leaned closer, not knowing what he was thinking, and suddenly revealed a strange smile, his voice was eerily cold, reminiscent of a poisonous snake in a damp environment, “What do you think? Do you still want to do something with this face of mine?”
Of course not.
Any normal person would not have any thoughts about this face.
Xie Jingyuan had thought Chu Xinian was bold, but now that he saw him, he was nothing. A slight sneer appeared in his narrowed eyes as he picked up the dropped mask and was about to wear it again when suddenly a warm touch came to his cheek, “How did General hurt his face?”
Xie Jingyuan was stunned.
Chu Xinian slowly stroked his scarred right cheek with his fingertips with extremely light strokes. And to facilitate observation, he brought his body closer, almost touching the tip of Xie Jingyuan’s nose.
He asked again in a low voice, “How has General injured his face?”
Xie Jingyuan felt that the area that was touched tingled, and did his best to ignore the feeling, replying mockingly, “Of course, on the battlefield.”
“No.” Chu Xinian shook his head, “I don’t think so.”
There were at least a dozen lines on Xie Jinyuan’s face, and they were rough around the edges, not from sharp swords or stray arrows. The person seemed determined to destroy his face, not letting anyone see the original one, and the cuts came one after another.
Chu Xinian slowly felt the face and found that, in addition to lines, there were many irregularly shaped mottled marks. It seemed to be caused by rubbing with something hard stone-like.
“It hurts…” Chu Xinian said without warning.
Xie Jingyuan’s breathing was erratic for a moment when he heard his words, and stared at him silently. Chu Xinnian’s old habit of studying medicine in the past had jeopardized him, and he couldn’t help but look at the wound. At this moment, he also realized that his question was a little strange.
He smiled and slowly withdrew his hand, “It will be better when it heals.”
For just now, to deceive Nanny Ge, he hurriedly took off his robe, leaving his upper body bare. Chu Xinian put his clothes back on and handed over Xie Jingyuan’s underwear, “Here.”
The person lying under the blanket had taken off more than him.
Xie Jingyuan took the clothes and put them on in a couple of seconds. The sheet slipped off as he sat up and came into contact with the chill in the air, so he couldn’t help but cough, then frowned and restrained himself.
Chu Xinian got up from the bed and poured him a cup of hot tea, “Why doesn’t the General keep someone in his room to serve him?”
Xie Jingyuan took the tea and replied, “I don’t like it.”
Chu Xinian thought this was probably a disadvantage. Xie Jingyuan did not like people waiting in his room, even if those servants came in, they would not stay long and leave, so he was the only one who was poisoned.
There are many ways to poison someone silently, and they can be divided into two categories: food poisoning and gas poisoning.
The mansion has strict controls on food, so there should be no problems with this. Then there was only gas poisoning left.
Chu Xinian, already dressed, walked around the room, slowly observing the inner room.
In the center burned a censer.
The carved bed had the smell of wood.
There was an early spring peach branch in a porcelain vase.
On the end of the bed hung a ball of incense.
In the yard outside the windows were evergreen trees that bore fruit but no flowers. When it was cold, fruits the size of black beans fell from the branches and, when stepped on, gave off a characteristic sweet smell. It can also be scented in the inner room.
All were decorative things that every nobleman would always have in their house. The concept of ancient people was different from that of modern people, some things were necessary and must be placed according to the rules, and not one can be missing.
Chu Xinian untied the incense ball from the end of the bed, opened the outer hollow gold shell, twisted a grain of incense, and passed it to the end of his nose to smell it. It was a common noble incense, mainly used to repel insects, the main ingredients were mint ice chips, so it was easy to identify.
Chu Xinian smelled it for a while but found nothing unusual and hung it up again.
Xie Jingyuan lay lazily on the bed, and a look of interest shone in his dark eyes, “What, you suspect it’s poison?”
Xie Jingyuan never thought that Chu Xinian was researching drugs for him, but suspected that he was going to kill him.
Xie Jingyuan slowly put on the mask, hiding the hideous scar. The other half of his face was as flawless as beautiful jade, but his words were unpleasant, “If I wanted to kill you, I would only have to lift a finger, why go to such extremes?”
Chu Xinian ignored him, uncovered the lid of the censer, and took a piece of unburnt incense, again finding nothing wrong.
It wasn’t that Xie Jingyuan was dumb, so naturally he had checked the contents one by one, and it must be fine.
So what’s the problem?
Chu Xinian went to the bed and down, and gently took Xie Jingyuan’s icy hand. This action stunned the latter again, but before he could shake it off, Chu Xinian asked with a smile, “Does General think he is sick?”
Xie Jingyuan narrowed his eyes, “What do you mean?”
Chu Xinian touched the purple fingernails and pointed to the blue lips, “I think General’s illness is due to poisoning.”
As soon as Chu Xinian finished speaking, Xie Jingyuan grabbed him by the wrist and frowned tightly, “What did you say?”
Chu Xinian smiled, “General himself is also suspicious, isn’t he?”
The burning incense was different from morning, noon, and night. The flower arrangement in the porcelain vase was a few willow leaves in the early morning, and then turned into an early spring peach in the evening. Chu Xinian vaguely recalled that a maid said that every time the incense ball was hung overnight, it was discarded first thing in the morning the next day and replaced with a new one.
Was the reason Xie Jingyuan changed the incense in his room so often because he was sick? Of course not.
He suspected the source of the poison, and by randomly changing the fragrances every day, he was conducting a test to find out where the poison had been planted.
However, Xie Jingyuan’s brain power value was not as good as his strength value, and he hasn’t found anything after testing for a while.
A… somewhat foolish villain specimen.
No wonder the rebellion failed in the end.
Chu Xinian planned to continue the investigation tomorrow. He wanted to withdraw his hand, but Xie Jingyuan grabbed it and could not move, looked at him with a smile, and said, “General, my hand hurts.”
He had a way of pretending to be harmless. Xie Jingyuan unconsciously let go of his hand and was about to speak when suddenly, he saw Chu Xinian slowly approaching, raising his hand to remove the mask from his face.
“It’s better not to wear it.”
And he put the cold, suffocating mask on the bed.
Suddenly, Xie Jingyuan found himself unable to see through the man in front of him and asked meaningfully, “Chu Xinian, do you still remember your identity?”
The second son of the Marquis of Quyang Manor, a member of Prince Jin’s party.
Hostile to the Crown Prince, and naturally hostile to him, Xie Jingyuan.
“I remember.” Chu Xinian went to the outer room and lay down on the low sofa, his voice like jade falling, serious and calm, “I am Chu Xinian.”
He was only himself.
Even if he had transmigrated, it would not change this fact.
Xie Jingyuan looked at him but saw that Chu Xinian had closed his eyes and fallen asleep. He repressed his coughing and also slowly lay down. He rubbed his uneven scar and slowly tightened his grip on the jade pendant around his neck, closing his eyes and wondering what he was thinking.
Chu Xinian closed his eyes and was almost falling asleep. But there must be something strange in this room, something that always unsettled people. Just as he was thinking about how to experiment tomorrow to find out the origin of the poison, System suddenly rang very softly in his ear.
[Attention Host]
The candlelight flickered and gradually faded, and the words “happy” on the window that had not been plucked out in time were very conspicuous.
[The villain’s blackening level has dropped to 98%, continue to work hard!]
Chu Xinian slowly opened his eyes, and unconsciously looked at Xie Jingyuan, but saw that he had his back to him and seemed to be asleep.
The blackening level?
Chu Xinian smiled, feeling novel with this thing, he closed his eyes again, “Got it…”
System was a bit emotional because of the upset last time: [Hmph, what are you laughing at! You’re the worst class I ever brought! The worst!!!]
Only dropped 1%, what’s there to be proud of.
The corners of Chu Xinian’s mouth stiffened, “The worst?”
System’s body floated up and down, nodding heavily: [The worst! The previous Host was much better than you!!!]
Chu Xinian, “…”
This night was destined to be sleepless.
The next morning, when the maids came in with water to wash up, they saw the table that Xie Jingyuan had kicked over the night before, and the scattered bottles and jars, everything was a mess.
Chu Xinian didn’t know what they were imagining, but they all looked a little sad and angry as if their General had suffered great humiliation. Yun Que was even more tearful and whispered as she handed over a towel, “My Lord, are you all right?”
She feared that her young master would not be able to subdue General Xie and would be cut down with a sword.
For this reason, she had stood vigil in the outer room while being watched by that dead face Jiu Yong, staring at her like a thief all night long.
“It’s nothing.”
At this moment, Chu Xinian thought of something else, which was the military list for the cheap brother. He didn’t intend to steal it for Chu Jiaoping, he just intended to write down some names casually to get out of the way.
But the thing is, names can’t just be written down. If he gives the made-up names to Prince Jin and it turns out that there was no such person in the army, wouldn’t he have exposed himself at all?
Chu Xinian assigned a task to Yun Que, “I want you to do something.”
Yun Que’s expression froze, “Yes My Lord.”
Chu Xinian looked at Xie Jingyuan who was grooming himself in the inner room, seeing that he could not hear his conversation, he lowered his voice and said to Yun Que, “First, find a way to get along with the people in the manor.”
“Then, find out the roads and the places that are most guarded.”
Yun Que, “…”
The author has something to say:
Yun Que: My Lord, there is one thing you don’t know. This servant is terrified.
You’re asking too much of Yun Que, Chu Xinian! Homegirl is scared!!
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH I REALLY LOVE THIS NOVEL! THIS ARC! THE COUPLE! EVERYTHING IS SO GOOD!
I love our power bottom Xie Jingyuan and clever top Chu Xinian. Their personalities just match! The chemistry is soooooooooo goooodddd!!!
thanks for the chapter 💜
Thank you for the chapter 💝
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Yun Que you’re great hahaha awwww
maybe the mask is the poison? idk