Chapter 126: Provocation

Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Provocation

「The Lu Family Villa.」

Lu Zhan had just finished bathing when Nanny Fang walked in, carrying a bowl of sobering soup.

"Princely Heir, the Miss said you drank quite a bit at the banquet, so she had me prepare some sobering soup for you. Please drink it and rest early."

Lu Zhan paused, then reached out to take it. "Thank you for your trouble, Nanny Fang."

Nanny Fang smiled and waved it off. "I didn’t notice myself. I only knew you’d been drinking because the Miss told me."

An imperceptible smile touched Lu Zhan’s lips. He drank the sobering soup.

Nanny Fang took the empty bowl and withdrew.

When she returned to the adjacent courtyard, Zhi Wan had also just finished bathing.

Seeing Nanny Fang return, she asked, "Nanny Fang, did you deliver the soup?"

"I did, and the Princely Heir drank it all," Nanny Fang said with a smile.

"Then you should go get some rest. I’m going to bed too," Zhi Wan said with a yawn.

She hadn’t slept a wink the night before and had only managed a short nap on the road back to Yangzhou. She was exhausted.

She fell asleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow.

She slept deeply. It felt as if she had been asleep for a long time, and yet only for a moment. When she awoke, she found herself in an unfamiliar bedchamber.

’Where is this?’

Zhi Wan blankly surveyed the room’s furnishings. She was certain she had never been here before.

The next moment, she saw a man lying on the daybed by the window.

He seemed to have fallen asleep while reading, a book covering his face.

At the sight of the man, Zhi Wan relaxed.

She tiptoed over. Just as she was about to lift the book from the man’s face, a low voice suddenly spoke. "You’re here."

Zhi Wan froze. The man, who she’d thought was asleep, removed the book from his face and slowly sat up.

"You weren’t asleep?"

"I was, but I woke up." The man’s deep eyes lingered on her face, as if trying to peer through an obscuring mist to get a clearer look at her.

"What are you looking at?" Zhi Wan asked, raising an eyebrow at his scrutiny.

The man paused, his dark eyes smiling as he looked at her. "I wanted to see just how beautiful you are."

Hearing the teasing in his words, Zhi Wan faltered. ’This man clearly remembered her nonsense from last time.’

"I’m very ugly," she said, deliberately trying to scare him.

"How ugly? If I remember correctly, last time you said you were a natural beauty!" the man said slowly.

Zhi Wan: "..."

’This man really did remember that.’

"I was just fooling you. In reality, I’m uglier than a yaksha," Zhi Wan said.

The man chuckled. "This is the first time I’ve heard a girl say she’s uglier than a yaksha."

"I’m telling the truth," Zhi Wan said. "It’s a good thing you can’t see my face, or you’d throw up last night’s dinner." As she spoke, she suddenly leaned close and sniffed him. "Why do I smell alcohol? Have you been drinking?"

The man paused, then nodded. "Mm, I had a few drinks with someone tonight."

"No wonder you smell like alcohol." The girl paused as she said this, as if she had just thought of something.

Catching her hesitation, the man asked in a low voice, "Did you think of something?"

Zhi Wan snapped out of it and shook her head. "It’s nothing. You just reminded me of a cousin of mine."

"Cousin?" The man watched her, his expression unreadable.

"Mhm," Zhi Wan nodded. "My cousin also drank quite a lot tonight. He smelled of alcohol, too."

The man’s long fingers suddenly clenched. He asked in a low voice, "Am I like your cousin?"

Zhi Wan’s lashes, like the wings of a butterfly, fluttered once. She didn’t answer right away, but looked at him in silence.

The man’s breath hitched, and he watched her nervously.

However, the next moment, the girl shook her head and said, "Not really. My cousin is a good person, but you’re not."

The man’s dark eyes narrowed. "Your cousin is a good person, and I’m a bad one?"

Zhi Wan nodded affirmatively. "That’s right. My cousin is a true gentleman. He respects rules and etiquette. He and a flower-stealing, jade-pilfering scoundrel like you are two completely different kinds of people."

The man: "..."

"A flower-stealing, jade-pilfering scoundrel? I thought this was mutual," the man’s voice sounded as if it were being squeezed through his teeth.

"But in the beginning, I was a proper lady. It was you who entered my dreams night after night to seduce me," Zhi Wan said defiantly.

The man: "..."

Seeing him choked speechless by her words, Zhi Wan let out a pleased laugh and suddenly straddled his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his jade-like chin. "But you don’t have to blame yourself, and I don’t blame you either. After all, I enjoy it very much."

With that said, before the man could react, she reached directly into his robes and caressed his firm chest.

"I like your body," Zhi Wan said, kissing his Adam’s apple as she began to pull off his nightclothes.

Although the man was long accustomed to her boldness, tonight, faced with her frivolous actions, his handsome face was tinged with a faint blush and a hint of unease.

It took a great deal of self-control for him to grab the girl’s audacious hand and pull it out.

Zhi Wan, panting slightly, said with dissatisfaction, "Why won’t you let me touch you?"

A vein throbbed on the man’s temple. He straightened his nightclothes and said in a hoarse voice, "I want to have a proper talk with you."

Zhi Wan looked at him suspiciously. "What is there for us to talk about?"

The man pressed his thin lips together and said nothing. Instead, he looked down and smoothed out her rumpled dress. Just as he was about to lift her off his lap, she hugged his waist tightly, refusing to let go.

"We haven’t seen each other in so many days. Don’t you miss me?" Zhi Wan whispered in his ear, her breath fragrant.

The man restrained himself and said nothing.

"Well, I’ve missed you terribly." Zhi Wan kissed the base of his ear, then his Adam’s apple. Then, while he was distracted, her hand reached for him down below.

The man let out a muffled grunt and looked at her in shock.

Zhi Wan quickly withdrew her hand, her gaze shifting away as if she had done something wrong, and hastily jumped off his lap.

The vein on the man’s temple throbbed again. Just as she turned to run away, he suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto the daybed.

The familiar scent of cedarwood filled her nostrils.

Zhi Wan was dazed for a moment. The next, the man had pinned her beneath him.

Their eyes met. Zhi Wan came to her senses, tilted her head up, and kissed the man’s lips.

The man froze, his eyes darkening.

In his moment of distraction, the girl pushed him down.

The girl’s soft, tender body was already straddling his waist. Her cloud-like hair cascaded down as she leaned forward.

The fragrant tips of her hair swept across the man’s face, and an exquisite agony washed over him.

His body tensed like iron.

The girl’s soft lips ground against his, then nimbly slipped into his mouth, wreaking havoc.

A knot of heat tightened deep in the man’s belly. His Adam’s apple bobbed. The hand clamped on the girl’s waist tightened, and then he pushed aside her skirt and slipped his hand inside.

With a soft cry, Zhi Wan woke to find herself lying in her own bed.

She was gasping for air, the blush yet to fade from her face.

Remembering what she had done in the dream, she threw off the covers, rushed to the table, and poured a cup of cold tea, gulping it down.